Buffy the Bachelorette

Week 7--Part 2

Meet the Family: Merlin

Buffy paces in front of Giles, Zander, and Willow, who are all seated on the couches.

"Alright, I want today to go much differently than yesterday. I expect you all to be on your best behavior. And I'm just going to get this out of the way right now: Merlin is a centuries-old wizard from the time of King Arthur waiting for his king to return as a part of some prophesy."

They all nod. "That's cool," Zander says.

"That's it?" Buffy exclaims. "You all freaked out about Wash yesterday, but when I tell you who Merlin is it's just 'cool'?"

"I find it perfectly acceptable," Giles says.

"SERIOUSLY?"

"Well, you have to keep in mind, Buffy, the existence of magic and immortal beings isn't exactly a foreign concept to us."

"Ooh! I wonder if he has any old magic books I can borrow," Willow says. After a sharp look from everyone, she mumbles, "Only light magic, of course."

There's a knock on the door.

Buffy opens it to Merlin's smiling face. "Hello!"

Brief introductions are made, and then Merlin addresses the group. "I know it's traditional to bring flowers to this sort of thing, but when I went to pick them out I couldn't decide what kind to get. So, I thought it might be safest to go around and ask you all what your favorite flavors are and I could maybe whip something up."

"Oh, alright," says Willow. "I love rhododendrons."

"Tulips for me," Zander says stoutly.

"Daffodils," Giles mutters.

"Perfect," Merlin smiles. "Buffy?"

"Oh, um, well I guess a good old fashioned red rose is always a good choice."

Merlin utters a string of intelligible syllables and moves his hands. A bouquet of flowers slowly starts to manifest in the grip of his left hand. Though the flowers are all fairly disparate, the arrangement somehow works.

"There we are." Merlin places them in an empty vase that most likely held Wash's flowers yesterday.

"Wow, even I'm impressed," says Zander. "Those are beautiful. I can't look away. If I still had two eyes they'd both be staring."

Merlin gives a small shrug with a blush.

Zander smiles. "What do you say we go have some mano-a-mano talk in the kitchen?"

"Zander do you know what you just said?" Willow asks skeptically.

"Yeah, we're gonna go have man-talk. Come on, Merlin."

Merlin follows Zander into the kitchen.

Zander leans against a counter. "Alright, Merlin, you seem like a pretty cool guy based off the five minutes I've known you so far. What I want to know, though, is why you think you're better for Buffy than the other guy."

"Oh, um, I didn't really prepare to answer a question like th—"

"Exactly, my friend. Lay it all out there. I want to hear your unfiltered thoughts."

"Well, I guess when it comes to her relationship with the 'other guy,' I don't really know what they have. I've tried to spend my time only focusing on Buffy, so it's hard to compare. But I guess just going off the time I've spent with Wash himself, sometimes he can seem a little...I don't know, moody? I shared a room with him for a couple weeks, so I think I got the full view of it. Like one moment he's the nicest guy ever and the next you want to stay clear out of his way. It's almost childlike, he's so focused on himself and not really aware of anything outside. He shuts down that side when he's around Buffy from what I've seen, but I can't imagine that he would be able to tamper it down forever. All I want is for whoever is with Buffy to really be there for her, you know? Because she's always there for other people and deserves to get the same back. I don't know if Wash could do that for her." Merlin pauses. "Wow, I didn't mean to sound so negative. He really is nice person most of the time."

Zander shakes his head. "No, no, you said what you thought and that's exactly what I wanted."

Sometime later, as Merlin is preparing to leave

"You promise you'll let me borrow some spell books?" Willow asks.

"Of course," Merlin smiles. "In fact—" He rustles around in his jacket and pulls out a small leather-bound book. "This might be able to hold you over for a while."

"Excellent!" Willow eagerly snatches the book, then turns to Buffy. "Oh, he's good."

Merlin says his farewells and leaves.

"What a wonderful young gentleman," Giles says. "Something about him seemed so familiar... I just can't put my finger on it. But, really, Buffy I think he could not only make a good partner but also an excellent addition to our cause."

"Yeah, I liked him, too," says Zander. "Which I wasn't really expecting to. I kind of thought interacting with him would be like talking to Andrew, but no. Merlin's a straight-shooter and has a decent sense of humor when he warms up a little."

Buffy blushes happily. "I'm so relieved you all liked him."

"Um, guys?"

Everyone turns to Willow, who is staring at the spell book in her hands.

"This is a book of dark magic."