7.5

Episode 7.5

"Insinuation"

written by: Doyle

November 2nd, 2001

Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Buffy met Grant and she decided to pursue a career in law enforcement. She passed the tests and physical training. The Captain of the Sunnydale P.D. was revealed to be one of the cloaked people and for whatever reason, he smashed a magical pendant. Buffy also met "Fence" a pawn shop owner who knows stuff. Xander and Anya found out they are going to be parents and asked Willow and Tara to be their child's godparents. Buffy witnessed Spike stake Drusilla.

Buffy's training. Punching, kicking, that sort of thing. We find out though she's not in the danger room at the Magic Box but at the precinct when Grant appears from out of nowhere, surprising Buffy and almost getting punched in the face. He asks how she's doing and Buffy apologises for almost giving him a broken nose. To her credit, though, Buffy asks why Grant would be, "Here at this time?" He says he works there, then grins, "And now so do you." He tells Buffy that she'll be accompanying him tomorrow night as she, "Gets her first taste of patrolling." Buffy laughs nervously.

Opening Credits.

Spike's in his apartment doing what Angel used to do so well: brood. We see flashes of his final encounter with Drusilla, his staking her, her ashes blowing away in the wind. He's suddenly jolted out of his flashback by a knock at the door. It's Buffy. He asks her what she wants, any help or anything. Buffy says she just stopped by to let Spike know that she saw what he did. At first he's a mix of shocked and slight agitation that she was there, "spying" on him. Buffy says she wasn't and that the whole point of her being there (at his apartment) was to be there as someone he could talk to. Spike says he doesn't want to talk about it and Buffy leaves him be. As Buffy walks out the door she glances at Spike but stops herself from saying something.

That night, as Buffy is patrolling with Grant in his police car, Xander, Anya, Willow and Dawn are doing the traditional patrolling of graveyards. Xander apparently has been over-protective husband guy, trying to get Anya to stay at home where it's safe for her and the baby. Anya goes off at him (this is apparently not the first time) saying she doesn't want to become, "One of those stay-at-home house wives." and Xander jokingly makes a sexist remark but cowers when he realises that he's outnumbered by girls. Anya gives him a wrist slap. Willow wonders if Buffy's patrolling is as uneventful as theirs is.

Apparently so, as Grant and Buffy drive around their section of Sunnydale ("beat") for what appears to be not the first time. Buffy comments on some guy not having moved from a certain spot for ages. She asks Grant if they can bust him for loitering but Grant says no. "This patrolman stuff is *fun*." she comments sarcastically. Grant mutters something about "babysitting" but Buffy doesn't hear him. She asks, "Hey, why is there only "patrolman"? Shouldn't there be like, "patrolwoman" or "patrol person"? It would at least be p.c." Grant suddenly relents and says they should go check out what the guy who-hasn't-moved is doing.

Commercials.

We're back at the cemetery (this is the fifth one they've been to) and everyone's bored. Dawn's listening to her portable CD player but is attuned to what's going on around her. She gets ahead of the others and comes across an open grave. Before she can call anyone over to take a look, Spike stumbles (is thrown out of) some bushes behind Dawn and knocks her into the open grave. Spike almost falls in himself. He apologises to Dawn and bends down to help her out when a big hulking demon follows Spike from out of the bushes, picks him up and tosses him away. The demon moves in close to Dawn (in that I'm-going-to-eat-you manner) then decides not to dine on Dawn and runs off. Dawn is crying a bit.

Buffy and Grant walks towards the non-moving guy who's having a smoke. Grant asks the guy who he's waiting for and he replies, "Your date." Grant looks at Buffy and notices the look on her face - she recognises the guy. It's Fence the pawn shop owner. Grant asks what's goin on between them and Fence quickly tells Grant not to get all riled up, he's not there to steal Grant's "date". Both Buffy and Grant say they're working together strictly on business but Fence doesn't believe it. He pushes past Grant to talk directly to Buffy. He tells her that, "There will be a shipment of dangerously powerful amulets and charms being loaded tomorrow night at the docks. Some demons are very interested in these items and then so are some cops." He looks sideways at Grant. "The point is you've gotta stop these illegal dealings, you and your cop buddy, because if the demons I know who'll be there get their hands/claws on those amulets..." Buffy cuts him off and says she'll be at the docks the following night so long as she doesn't have to listen to any more of his cryptic messages."

Dawn's out of the grave and being comforted by Spike when the rest of the gang finds them. Xander accuses Spike of putting the moves on Dawn. "Even if I was, why would you care?" he glares at Anya who looks at Xander waiting for an answer. "Well?" she says impatiently. After a moment Xander has an answer, "Well, because you're like 156 and she's only..." Spike corrects him, "...sixteen and well...it's gross! Am I the only one here feeling the grossness of Spike putting the moves on Dawn?" he asks everyone. "Hey! At my age Buffy had already boinked Angel and made him lose his soul and turn evil. Plus I'm not interested in Spike that way anymore." She turns to Spike, "Sorry." (Spike notices the "anymore.") "Hey, an open grave." Dawn points out.

Commercials.

The next day the news of goings on at both the docks and the cemetery is brought up in the conversation as Buffy's back to training at the Magic Box training room. Buffy says she'll be going out again with Grant then quickly rephrases what she just said, "Going out to fight crime." Dawn smirks and leaves for school. Willow asks Buffy why she avoids the topic of Detective Grant and Buffy says she isn't avoiding anything because there's nothing to avoid. They just work together. Nothing more. Willow brings up the idea of maybe Buffy going out with Grant in a non-patrolling (in police car or through graveyard) way. Buffy explains that, "He's nice and all but remember my first nice boyfriend? He left. Then there was that little thing where I thought Ben was nice but it turned out he shared a body with a hell god. Plus Grant is kind of...mysterious. I don't know enough about him yet. And let's review my list of mysterious guys I've dated...and ooh, I don't know his first name even." Willow comments on how Buffy's having some fun listing all the reasons why she shouldn't ask Grant out. Buffy finishes with, "I want someone I can just sit and talk with. Not someone who's in the line of business of possibly getting shot. I don't want Mr. Adventure."

That night Buffy and Grant wait in his car for anything to happen. Before Buffy can finish asking Grant his first name, Grant notices someone carry a small box to the docks. They both get out of the car and follow the box-carrying dude. The person is wearing a cloak just like the cloaked guys Buffy encounted two weeks ago. As they watch, the cloaked person meets with a demon (the same demon from the graveyard, but Buffy doesn't know that). The person pulls back the hood of his cloak. It's the captain of the Sunnydale P.D.

Commercials.

Grant and Buffy both look at each other but before either of them can get a word out a bunch of demons surround the captain and the big hulking demon from the night before. Grant wants to go help the captain but Buffy holds him back and tells him they should wait and see what happens. Hulky demon asks the captain if everything else is on the ship and the captain confirms it. The demon takes the box the captain was holding and gets his lackeys to hold the captain. Hulky demon opens the box and pulls out a hand device. He says it won't fit over his claw and the captain demands to know what's going on and the demons holding him break both his arms. Grant runs out towards the demons firing his gun. He kills several of them but is quickly set upon by the rest. The head demon makes Grant watch as he breaks the captain's neck. Grant yells at the demon and the demon says the captain got it easy and that he's got something much worse in store for Grant. Before he gets close to Grant he is interrupted mid-speech by a sword in the spine. "I hate it when they just keep talking." Buffy says.

Buffy decapitates one of the demons holding Grant and he breaks free of the grip of the other. Buffy tosses him a fighting axe and checks whether he knows how to use one. He says he'll figure it out. They both fight the demons. One smaller demon picks up the hand device that didn't fit the head demon and puts it on. He launches himself at Buffy and grips her by the throat. Grant's injured and can't reach Buffy as she's having her oxygen cut off when Spike, driving a forklift, heads straight for the demon choking Buffy and knocks it into the water. Spike helps Buffy up and Grant looks annoyed that he didn't save Buffy.

Buffy's at Spike's apartment. She thanks him for his helping her out. He asks her if she was at all interested in Grant. Instead of her usual, "None of your business." Buffy admits she maybe was slightly interested for a while but not anymore. There's a moment of silence before Spike tells Buffy what happened between him and Drusilla the night he staked her. Buffy listens as we fade to black.

End Credits

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