"Daughter of Rosenberg..."
Summary: One year after the events of "Groom of Rosenberg" Buffy
the Rosenberg Monster and her honey have returned to ask a special
favor of their creators Rosenberg and Praetorius...While Tara faces
the
more or less Big Bad...
Disclaimer: Would Joss want his name associated with this? I think
not...But anyway all BTVS characters remain the property of Joss
Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the
Vampire Slayer series...Though his brother Mort gets nothing...
Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse,
www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Cicelypg.html
Part VI...
Not without considerable grumbling on Bud's part, the two security
guards/assistant curators had managed to help Oz out of his crate and
to an ornate couch destined to bear the wax figure of a dying
Cleopatra=BCFortunately protected by a plastic liner given the amount of
blood still trickling from Oz's wounds=BC
Nor had Bud been much reassured by Oz's feebly?voiced insistence that
he was innocent of ill intent=BCSounded like a story he'd read about a
master international art thief...Able to assume disguises of all
kinds...
Though he had to concede the wounds did look real enough...As did the
oozing blood as well...
"You don't look much like a master thief..." Lou noted...
"If you're innocent, what were you doin' hiding in that crate?" Bud
growled... "Not to mention how ya managed to get shot..."
"I wasn't hiding..." Oz sighed... "Look, I can explain...But I'm hurt
and I got stop this bleeding...Please, ya gotta help me..."
"I've called an ambulance...They're on the way..." Lou said=BCOz trying
to rise=BCNo=BC
"Careful=BC" Bud displayed an iron poker, seized from another display=BC
"Take it easy, kid=BCThey'll be here soon=BCBud, he's in no shape to hurt
anyone=BC" Lou waved his partner back=BC
"No...No, please...I don't need an ambulance...And it could be
dangerous...I mean, expensive..."
Hmmn?...Bud dropped his frown at his soft?hearted and -headed
colleague to eye Oz who'd sunk back to the couch=BC
"I don't have insurance=BCI wouldn't want you guys or the place
here=BCSay?..." he made a vague wave=BC "=BCWhat is this place,
anyway?..."
"McNabb Museum=BC" Bud, curtly=BC "Which you know darned well=BC"
"The hospital's gotta take ya, kid=BC" Lou noted=BC
"If you know the Rosenbergs for real=BC" Bud cut in, sternly=BC "You won't
have any problems payin' a hospital bill=BC"
"Rosenbergs=BCSure=BC" Oz nodded=BC "But look=BCIf you could just call
Will=
ow
Rosenberg=BCShe'd take care of everything=BCPlease=BC"
"Absolutely=BC" Willow's voice, behind them=BCA startled Bud and Lou
whirling to see a water?sodden, bedraggled Willow, Tara beside her,
both dripping steadily on the newly-lain carpet=BC
Hey...Tara made a feebly pleasant wave...
***
"Here come the cops..." Xander nodded slightly at the car windshield
in the direction of the just-halted Sunnydale PD car, light quietly
flashing... "Should I...?"
"Just keep going..." Giles, quickly... "We'll have to trust that
Willow and Tara can take care of Oz until we can reach them...It will
do no good for us all to be arrested..."
Amen to that, Anya thought...Blinking a moment as she caught the faint
view of a shadow from the corner of her eye, fading back to the
rear...
A rather tall shadow...A chill crossing her heart...
"Fellas..." she hissed, looking away before spying a second, slighter
shadow...Turning back again and pointing, even as the car moved past
the museum and entered a stream of traffic, now somewhat slowed by the
curious pausing to view the parked police car and its disgorged
officers busily checking the scene before moving up to the museum's
front door...
"What?..." Xander, keeping eyes on the road...Giles and Faith turning
to look...
"Something...Near the back of the museum..." Anya, unable to resist a
slight tremble...
Why am I getting this feeling?...Just like back at Willow's...
"I don't...Is it the others?..." Giles asked, staring...
"No, it was headed for the back, not coming out...And it sure wasn't
Willow or Oz..."
"I'm on it..." Faith sat up...Stake in hand...
"No...Wait, Faith..." Giles insisted..."Lets not make a bad situation
worse by rushing in the back way..."
"But..." Faith, readying her new mantra..."It's what Buffy..."
"=2E..Lets go in the front door asking what all the excitement's
about...Like any overly curious, somewhat voyeuristic bystander..." he
concluded...
"Sounds good to me..." Xander nodded... "Just call me Charles Voyer..."
The others, excepting Anya, looked at him...
"What?...We watch Boyer movies...After all, I was the one who cursed
him..." Anya noted... "If you can call it that..."
"Cursed?..." Giles stared...
"He was six foot one when I met him and headed for an easy ride in the
movies...But after I was done with him, he got determined to make it as
a great movie lover, whether or not he was shorter than his female
leads...One of the few times I actually inspired a guy..." she smiled at
the thought...
"With a curse I mean..." she patted Xander's shoulder...
"Damnit, girl..." Will hissed at the tall figure next to
him...Motionless now as they stood just inside the back entrance of
the McNabb House of Horrors... "This is insane, coming right in like
this..."
"Sh-shh...Gotta know what's up..." Buffy hissed back, waving for
quiet, straining to hear what was being said through the closed door
to the museum lobby before them...
***
"You see guys, my cousin Danny didn't mean any harm...You know how
those idiot frat boys at UCal-Sunnydale are...He was totally not to
blame for this, he didn't know what they were up to..." Willow hastily
continued as she knelt by Oz on his couch, eyeing the front door for
the approach of the Sunnydale men in blue... "And it would look
terrible for him if he got mixed up in this kind of trouble...Please,
guys...Tara and I did our best to get here and stop them, soon as we
heard..." 'Cousin Danny' groaning...Perhaps as much at his new
title...As Tara on his other side gently as possible helped him to his
feet...
"I don't think he oughta be moving around..." Lou shook his head...
"Your ambulance still isn't here..." Willow pointed out... "We'll get
him to the hospital a lot faster than the cops could..."
Tara offering her warmest, most convincing smile as she supported
Oz ...Arranging the blanket Lou had provided for him around his
trembling form...
"Prank, huh?...Since when is shooting a guy a prank?..." Bud
frowned...
Ummn...Willow blinked...Well...
"Oh, my God!!..." Tara clapped hand to mouth... "You mean they
actually shot him?!!...I thought he'd fallen or something...Oh,
no!!..."
"That 'element' creeping in..." Willow sighed, nodding solemnly...
"You guys know what I mean...I will have my dad speak to the Dean
tomorrow...That animals' house has gotta be closed down..."
A bang at the locked front door...
Oh-oh...
"Fellas, please...Just let us take Danny out the back way...I promise
you, I will call Mr. McNabb in the morning myself and arrange to cover
any damages..."
"A little hard to explain blood all over the place..." Bud frowned...
"Hmmn?..." Willow, brightly... "Oh, that..." she indicated the now
clean couch and carpet around it...
Huh?...Bud and Lou...And Oz, a bit feebly...Staring where the blood
had been...Now clean as new...
"We got that covered..." she smiled... "Tara's such a whiz at
cleaning...A little salt and a rag and bingo..."
"When did she...?" Bud began...
Another bang...
"Guys...Please?..." Willow tried... "You know where I live...And Mr.
McNabb doesn't want any scandal before his place opens...Just tell 'em
the new alarm system went screwy and you thought
there might be a burglar till the sprinklers came on..."
"Bud, the kid has gotta get to a doctor...We can sort this out
later..." Lou insisted to Bud's glare...
"Yeah?...But what about the Dracula exhibit...?" Bud frowned... "Did
those punks take it?..."
"Dracula?..." Willow looked at Tara...Who staggered a bit as Oz now
passed out in her grip...
"Oz!..." Willow grabbed at him as the third and loudest series of
bangs was heard at the front...
"Ah...Take him...But tell those punks if the exhibit's not back in an
hour...!" Bud waved them off... "And you better square things with
our cousin Art or you'll be getting a visit from me...And the
cops!..."
"Yeah...Sure...Thanks..." Willow hastily nodded, carefully dragging Oz
back, Tara helping on the other side...Lou turning to Bud...
"You better let those cops in before they break the door down...I'll
see they get out back..."
"All right, all right...But I mean what I say..." Bud strode off,
grumbling...
"Lets go, ladies..." Lou urged the two on...
"Really, thanks..." Willow whispering huskily as they pulled Oz to the
rear exit, Lou moving to clear the way and at last hold the door...
"Just get him to a doc...And tell the Slayer about Dracula...She's
your pal, right?..." he eyed Willow who stared back...The two ladies
carefully supporting the unconscious Oz between them, his blanket
beginning to stain with blood...
Hmmn...That blood removal spell sure has a limited time range...Willow
thought...
"You know...?" Tara asked...
"I've lived in Sunnydale since I was a kid...Tell her I saw
it...Him...Moving around after we pulled his crucifix out of his
mouth..."
"But Dracula..." she began...
"We'll tell her...Thanks..." Willow cut in...
"Right...See ya tomorrow...And I mean that..." Lou gave a hard look...
"Ok..." Willow sighed, nodding...
Oughta be a ball explaining yet another huge insurance bill to Dad...I
better use the 'sorry, an experiment went wrong' excuse...He'll have me
in rehab if I try the 'little accident with the car' again...
They dragged Oz off, Lou closing the rear door after them...
"Phew..." Willow gasped... "Hang on Oz, I'll teleport you in..."
"Dracula?..." Tara looked at her... "He couldn't be back...?"
She shrugged, trying to concentrate for the spell...How should I
know?...Some poseur like those phony Lestats Buffy always used to run
into...?
"Probably the other guy's right and it was just a wax statue...Some
guys here get an over-active imagination..."
***
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