New Beginnings - Chapter 9 & 10
Oct. 6th, 2003 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psubratAuthor: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy and Dawn move back into their home while some of Halfrek's past is revealed...
Timeframe: About a month after "Departures & Arrivals"
It was a typical, gorgeous summer morning in Sunnydale as Buffy and Dawn moved the last of their things back to the house. Buffy was happy that the work on the house was finally finished. Xander and his crew had done a great job rebuilding the front of the house but now with that work done, her and Dawn had a great deal more to do - inside. Fresh coats of paint needed to be applied to the whole house and in some cases, especially at the front; it needed to be painted for the first time. Wallpaper, curtains, carpeting, you name it, they needed it. Not to mention the fact that they didn’t have much in the way of furniture at the moment either. It had all pretty much been destroyed when Warren had attacked them. From the outside, the house looked inviting and beautiful. From the inside, well, that was a completely different story.
Buffy made her way back into the house with her last box. She hadn’t been able to salvage a whole lot from her bedroom after the attack but she was able to save a few things. She had been devastated that her room had been destroyed. But she wasn’t distressed about losing the material things, she could always buy another bed or another lamp and even more clothing, but she couldn’t replace the memories that had been lost beneath the rubble. She had tried though. But most of the pictures of her and her friends had been destroyed beyond recognition. Most of her diaries were gone as well. And the picture of her mom, the one picture in the entire world that she loved the most, was gone. That hurt the most. Now as she walked up the stairs and down the hallway into her newly remodeled room, she couldn’t help but think about her mom and how much she would have liked the new changes.
She had asked Xander to try to keep the house repairs as close to the original house plans as possible. But there had been some problems so things had to be changed up a bit. Why did there always have to be difficulties? Couldn’t things just be easy for once? Of course, that would mean life would be boring which didn’t seem like such a bad thing to her. She sighed and dropped the box onto her bedroom floor. Her bedroom furniture was on back order but the store had promised it would be ready for delivery by the end of today. The living room furniture was due to arrive any minute as well as the dining room furniture. Her and Dawn had felt like two kids at Christmas when they had gone shopping for the new furnishings. It was nice being able to buy things without having to worry too much about money. The expense account that the Council had set up for her paid for everything that pertained to the house. She couldn’t thank Giles enough for getting the Council to agree to all of that. Where would she be without him looking out for her?
She opened the box and started to unpack the contents. It was mostly clothing and a few personal items. She went over to her new walk-in closet to hang up the clothes. The closet was one of the new perks that came with the rebuild. It was huge. It had to be, to be able to house all of her clothes and shoes. And now that she had some money coming in, she intended to fill every part of her dream closet. A knock at her room door brought her out of her thoughts. "Come in," she said as she walked back over to the box.
"Buffy," Dawn said kind of quietly. "You left this box downstairs. I thought maybe you might want to keep it up here."
Buffy looked over at her sister. She immediately recognized the box that Dawn had brought up to her. Her sister was right, she hadn’t meant to leave it downstairs. She went over and took the box out of Dawn’s hands. "Thanks," she said with a small smile.
"Well, I’m just gonna go make sure I’ve got everything out of Xander’s car. And the furniture should be here soon. Do you need anything while I’m downstairs?"
Buffy stood staring at the box in her hands.
"Buffy?"
"Huh? Oh. No. I’m good, thanks." She tried to give Dawn a reassuring smile but she wasn’t sure that it worked.
Dawn backed out of her sister’s room trying to understand Buffy’s reaction. She figured that Buffy would just throw the box down on the floor and continue with unpacking everything else. But now her sister just stood in the middle of her room, box in hand, staring at it like it held some magical answer to questions she didn’t even want to think about, let alone ask. Then it suddenly hit her why Buffy was all wigged out. She smiled to herself. She knew what was happening, even if Buffy didn’t.
Over on the other side of town, businesses were already bustling with customers. Anya had opened the store at the usual time and she and Halfrek began their morning routine. Anya watched as her friend silently opened the blinds on the front window. She could tell that the woman was extremely unhappy about being a human. The poor thing was having an even harder time of fitting in than she’d had the first time around. She had hoped that by giving Halfrek a job and a place to live, that it would make the ex-demon more comfortable with her situation. It hadn’t.
"Hali," Anya smiled. "Why don’t you dust the shelves while I look over the books again?"
"Are you serious?" Halfrek asked in disbelief. "That’s Dawn’s job!"
"I’m very serious. Dawn has the day off. She and Buffy are moving out of Xander’s."
"Well you must be very happy about that," Halfrek said with a grin.
"Yes. It’s a good thing. Now I can have Xander all to myself when I go to visit." In the month since she had become human again, her and Xander had started dating. She refused to just pick up where they had left off. She wasn’t the same person he had left at the altar almost half a year ago. And she certainly wasn’t the same person that had brought him home from the hospital. She was going to make him work for the relationship this time around. He had to prove to her that he was worthy of her love and of having sex with her. So far, things were going just to her liking.
Halfrek studied her friend closely. She had no idea why Anyanka was so fixated on this lowly human. After all, the man wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and he didn’t even have a good job. He was in construction! That certainly wasn’t going to make him rich. She walked over to the counter and picked up the feather duster that Dawn had left there the day before.
Anya smiled brightly at her friend. "That’s the spirit!"
Halfrek rolled her eyes and walked to the front of the store to start with the shelves there. Being a human was horrible. Now she was forced to do manual labor. She even had to ride the bus! She could just hear the laughter coming from the other vengeance demons when D’Hoffryn told them she was dusting shelves in a shop. She’d do anything right now to change this situation. Maybe there was a spell?
"Anyanka?" Halfrek asked.
"Yes Hali?"
"I was wondering. When you were turned human the first time, did you try to find a spell to change back?"
Anya thought back to the time when she had tried to use Willow to get her necklace back and how angry she had been at the girl when it hadn’t worked. "Yes Hali. I did try to do a spell. But it didn’t work. It took me a long time to accept the fact that I was stuck here."
"How long?" The ex-demon inquired.
"Oh, at least a few months. Then I finally asked Xander to go to the Prom with me. I think that’s when I knew that I was going to be here for the duration."
Halfrek thought about what her friend had just said. So there was a spell, or something, that she could at least try. Maybe Anyanka hadn’t done it right. She shook her head at that thought. Anyanka could perform spells with the best of them. She sighed. If Anyanka couldn’t do it, there was no way she was going to be able to do it either. The thought depressed her. It had been over a hundred years since she had been human and even when she had been human, she had been unhappy.
She always figured that her unhappiness was due to the era that she had lived in, Nineteenth Century Victorian England. Everything had been so stuffy and dull then. It had been such a different place than today’s world. Women of her class weren’t permitted to do anything except sit around and look beautiful for their men. The high society parties that her father had forced her to attend were boring, as were the men that he had tried to marry her off to. She hated her father for that. She had wanted to control her own life, marry a man that she loved and who respected her but she wasn’t permitted. Her father had made every huge decision for her. Why? Because, that’s how things were done in merry old England in the Nineteenth Century.
There had been a man in her life once that she thought would respect her and love her until the end of time. But he had disappeared. Actually, she had pushed him away and then he had disappeared. She had told the young man that he was beneath her so that he would hate her. And from the look in his eyes after she had said it, she knew she had succeeded. She’d had to say those hurtful things. Her father had arranged her marriage to a son of one of his business partners. She had been devastated when her father told of her of the news because she had been falling in love with the young poet. He had been so handsome but very bookish. She laughed to herself when she thought of the poetry he had written for her. It had been god-awful poetry. Outwardly, she had ridiculed him with the others at the party that night but inwardly, she was touched that someone was moved to write something so beautiful about her.
As she slowly continued to dust the shelves, she was struck by how much she still cared for the man. Even after all this time. She looked at herself in the mirror she was currently dusting and saw that she had been crying. She hadn’t realized it. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had been given a second chance to do things the way she had wanted to the first time. She was in control of her destiny now. Not her father. Turning to Anya she said, "Anyanka…I mean Anya, I’ve decided that I want to be called by my human name."
Anya was thrilled. This meant that Halfrek was starting to accept her situation. "That’s great Hali," she said with a smile. Then she realized that she didn’t know her friend’s human name. "Hali? What was your human name?"
Halfrek smiled brightly. "It was Cecily. Please call me Cecily."
"Buff," Xander said exasperated. "Maybe you should have wallpapered before you had the furniture delivered." He was fighting with the latest gooey sheet while Buffy and Dawn were trying to set up the room.
Buffy looked at her friend apologetically. "Yeah. Guess you’re right. Okay Dawn. Change in plans. Let’s help Xander with the wallpaper and then we’ll make the living room livable."
Dawn’s eyes widened. Had her sister forgotten? "Buffy," she started. "I can’t get all yucky and sticky! I have a date with Steven tonight!"
"Oh. Yeah. But that’s not for another three hours missy. You can help with the wallpaper and then shower."
"But Buffy! What if I can’t get the stuff out of my hair?"
"Don’t but Buffy me. This is your house too. A little stickiness never hurt anybody." Suddenly she realized how that had sounded. "But not that kind of stickiness. Cause that’s bad. And, just wrong."
"Whatever. Fine. I’ll go put a scarf on my hair and then I’ll come back down to help. Okay?"
Buffy looked over at Xander who was still losing his battle with the wallpaper. He gave her a half smile and shrugged. "Okay. But don’t take too long. The faster we get this done, the more time you’ll have to get ready for your date."
After her sister bounded up the steps to her room, Buffy turned to help Xander with the wallpaper. "Tell me again why I chose to go with full sheets of wallpaper instead of just painting and doing a border?"
"Uhm, because," he said in a mocking voice. "I want it to look the same way as when mom was here."
"Yeah, yeah. I should have my head examined. Next time, I’m going to do it the Buffy Summers’ way."
"Buffy, nothing against you, but, I hope there is never a next time."
She laughed when he said that. That was the first real laugh she’d had since, well, since before Giles had told her she was getting a new watcher.
"Okay. I’m back. Let’s whip this living room into shape," Dawn said, giving her sister a double thumbs up.
Buffy and Xander both rolled their eyes at the younger Summers as she grinned at them.
"I’m serious. I bet we can get this done in no time!"
"Keep dreaming little sister," Buffy said as she handed Dawn a paste brush and pointed her towards the wallpaper. "Now goo."
Buffy stepped into the middle of the room and admired their work. Dawn had been right, once the three of them had started working together; they had finished the wallpapering in no time. She went over to Xander who was also admiring their handy-work and put her arm around him. "Thanks Xan," she said giving him a squeeze. "We couldn’t have done any of this without you. The place looks great."
"Anytime, Buff. We can do the dining room tomorrow and then your bedroom the next day. Now that we sorta know what we’re doing, it should take even less time."
Buffy nodded. "Hey. How ‘bout we order us up some pizza? That way you can be here when Steven arrives. You can be the menacing man of the house tonight."
"Sounds good. I’ll just give Anya a call and let her know that I’m still over here. Just in case she’s wondering." He felt so whipped. He could see by the look on Buffy’s face that she thought so too. "I know. I know. I’m love’s bitch. What can I say?"
"Just say that you’re going to work it out with her and that everything’s going to be okay."
"I’m gonna try. I’ve been such a jerk."
"Yeah, you have," Buffy nodded in agreement.
"Hey. You’re supposed to stick up for me," he said feigning being hurt.
"I only stick up for you when you’re not being an idiot," she said with a smile.
"Have you heard from Willow or Tara lately?" Xander asked, trying to change the subject.
Buffy shook her head. "I haven’t heard from either one of them in almost two weeks. I think we got a postcard today but Dawn grabbed the mail before I could see it. Willow sounded kinda strange the last time I talked to her. I hope everything’s okay."
"I’m sure everything is fine, Buff. They’re probably just getting used to their new surroundings. Probably a bit overwhelmed."
"Yeah. I’m sure you’re right."
Just then the doorbell rang. They heard a screech from upstairs. "Tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes. I’m not ready yet!"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Mind doing the honors, Xander?"
"Not at all." He put on his best menacing face and opened the door.
Author: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy tries to sort out her feelings as Dawn and Steven get closer; Tara and Willow adjust to their new life in England...
Timeframe: A few hours after "House & Home"
Buffy looked up at the stars as she sat by her mother’s headstone. She often visited her mother’s grave whenever she was feeling down. Tonight was one of those nights. Xander had left her place after dinner and she had wandered around the big, empty house by herself. She felt so alone. Dawn was out on a date with a boy she wasn’t sure she approved of yet and Tara and Willow were in England, half a world away. She had done a half-hearted patrol of the cemeteries in the area and then found herself at her mom’s grave. She watched as a shooting star crossed the sky in front of her. Too bad that the wish she just made wouldn’t come true. They never did.
Patrolling had been boring this evening. Totally uneventful. She had taken notice that for that last month or so, the vampiric activity in the area had been way down. She wasn’t sure if that meant anything significant since it did happen from time to time. Laughing to herself, she said to the air around her, "Instead of just enjoying the quiet, I’m sitting here worrying about it." She moved to the front of the headstone and looked at it. Slowly she traced the lettering on the smooth marble. She couldn’t believe that it was over a year since her mother had died. So much had happened in that time that she felt like it had been two lifetimes. Oh. Yeah. It had been for her.
"Mom so much has happened since I came back here. I had a hard time dealing with being alive again. I pushed Dawn away. I slept with Spike. And most of our house was destroyed when Warren decided to go big bad on us." She sighed and leaned her head against the marble stone. Why was she sitting here doing this? It wasn’t like her mom could hear her.
"I miss you so much mom," she whispered. "You always knew what to do."
Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to face whatever it was that was disturbing her time with her mother. "Dawn, what are you doing here?" She demanded.
"Buffy chill. I just wanted to stop by to talk to mom about my date with Steven."
She had turned around to wipe the tears from her eyes before her sister could see them. "Sorry. It’s just I wasn’t expecting anyone and I didn’t hear you come up behind me."
"It’s okay. I should have cleared my throat or something first. Come on," Dawn said extending her hand to her sister. "Let’s go home and have some ice cream."
"Good idea," Buffy said, still trying to compose herself.
Neither of them noticed the boy watching them from shadows.
Back at home; the two girls shared the carton of ice cream. They didn’t even bother with bowls; each had just grabbed a spoon.
"So how come you were out at mom’s grave?" Dawn asked her sister.
"I dunno," Buffy lied. "I guess I just needed to stop by to let her know the house was done."
"Wanna hear about my date?"
"Sure," Buffy said, trying to force a smile and sound like she was interested. She really wasn’t interested in anything at the moment, not even the ice cream.
Dawn began to giggle and Buffy eyed her suspiciously. "Don’t worry, Buffy," Dawn assured her. "He was a perfect gentleman. I’m just giddy ‘cause I had such a good time." The smile on her face proved her point.
"How perfect was perfect?" Buffy inquired with her spoon in mid dip.
"Absolutely perfect," Dawn said grinning. "First we went for pizza and we talked the whole time. He’s really smart, but kinda sad too. Apparently his father was killed not too long ago and he’s been having a hard time with it."
"So him and his mom just moved to Sunnydale then?"
"Yeah. He said his mom just wanted to get away from Los Angeles. Too many bad memories."
"That’s understandable. So what else did you two do tonight?" Buffy asked with a stern look.
"After pizza we went to the movies. He didn’t even try to put his arm around me or anything," she said with a smile, then added with a frown, "Is that good or bad?"
"Very good. Otherwise I’d have to hurt him."
"Yeah. Yeah. I think Xander scared him enough at the door tonight."
"Exactly. And Steven behaved. I call that a good thing."
"Whatever," Dawn said rolling her eyes at her sister. "He wants to go out again. I do too. I really like him a lot, Buffy."
"Just be careful," Buffy warned as she started to clean up their ice cream mess. "And no parking!"
"Buffy! He doesn’t even have a car!"
Buffy looked at her sister and gave her a smile that said, "Good."
"Whatever. I’m gonna go to bed. Are you gonna sleep on the couch tonight since your bed’s not here yet?"
"Nah. Xander brought over his air mattress. I’m gonna sleep on that in my room."
"Okay. Try to get some sleep tonight. I’ll see you in the morning. More of the same?" She asked, referring to painting and wallpapering.
"Yep. Lots to do so you better go get your beauty rest."
She skipped over to her sister and gave her a peck on the cheek. "’Night!"
"Goodnight date girl."
The sun was shining in Devon as Willow and Tara got ready to start another day with the coven. In just the short time that they had been there, they had learned so much about their magic, and where it came from. The leader of the coven had decided that it was best to start with the basics even though both girls already had a firm grasp on them. The thought was, that in order to understand where Willow had gone wrong, she had to understand where she came from. That kinda made sense to her. However, she was really bored with everything right now but didn’t want it to show. Tara didn’t seem to mind going back to basics at all. Then again, Tara was a pretty much a go-with-the-flow kinda gal. Willow sighed. She wished she had as much confidence as Tara did.
"Willow?" Tara asked, tilting her head to the side to study her lover. "Are you okay? You look tired and a little upset."
Willow looked up from putting on her shoes. How did Tara always seem to know when something bothered her? Was it always that obvious? "I’ve been thinking," she started hesitantly. "I feel really horrible about keeping this huge secret from Buffy. I mean, she’s gonna be really mad at us when she finds out we knew."
Tara walked over to Willow and sat down next to her. "I know sweetie, but Giles and Spike made us both promise that we wouldn’t say anything. It’s for the best. It took a lot for Spike to tell us everything so we need to respect his privacy."
"Not when it involves Buffy like this," Willow said, almost shouting. "What he did…he can’t ever take it back! And now this," she said gesturing with her hands not being able to finish her thought.
"I know. Giles has his reasons too. We’re just going to have to trust them on this, Will."
Willow sighed. She knew Tara was right. But it still felt wrong. She hadn’t called Buffy in weeks because she was afraid that she would accidentally slip up and let her know about Spike. She hadn’t even returned Dawn’s phone calls. They would soon have to phone them though, otherwise Buffy would worry that something had happened to them.
"Come on," Tara said with a smile as she lightly tugged on Willow’s sleeve. "Time to head to Hogwarts..."
Willow laughed and smiled back at her blonde beauty. She stood up next to Tara and took her hand. As they closed the door and walked away, the phone started ringing.
Buffy hung up the phone after a few rings. Apparently, no one was home. She looked at her watch and figured that the witches had gotten an early start to their day. She was sure they were busy with potion mixing classes and wand instruction. The thought made her laugh. She should have never watched Harry Potter with Dawn because now she had all kinds of images floating around in her head about what Willow and Tara were learning over there.
Slowly she made her way up the stairs and to her room. She flipped on the overhead light to reveal a somewhat bare room. No posters. No curtains. No nothing. It didn’t feel like this space belonged to her anymore. She knew it would take time to make it feel homey again, but she missed having her bed and she missed having her safe haven to come back to. It was a good thing that Xander had brought over his air mattress. She really didn’t relish the idea of sleeping on the new pullout sofa downstairs. That was for guests. Besides, she wanted to sleep in her own room on their first night back.
She slipped into her pajamas and went to turn off the light, but the box that Dawn had brought up earlier caught her eye. Her feet betrayed what she was thinking as they slowly took her across the room to where she had set it down. Hesitantly she opened it. There was the slightest odor of leather and smoke. Without thinking, she took a deep breath and savored the smell. She pulled the duster out of the box and clutched it tightly to her chest as she dropped down to the floor. Quietly, she rocked back and forth while she hugged the jacket, tears welled up in her eyes. He had left her. She had made him leave. She regretted beating him up. She regretted what had happened in the bathroom. She regretted everything bad that had happened between them.
The only thing she didn’t regret was letting him become her confidant. She had needed someone who would understand her and he had, more than anyone else. More than Angel ever had. At first, she had used him to feel alive again. Then, something had happened. Something inside of her wanted to be with him, every waking moment. And when Riley had come back with his new wife, she had felt betrayed because she didn’t have the same happiness. Didn’t she deserve that? Instead, she had a very warped relationship with the scourge of Europe. She had broken up with Spike the night Riley left. Why? Because she didn’t love him and it was killing her. That’s what she had told him. She had even used his given name, William, to make a point. She had seen the tears form in his eyes. She was always trying to hurt him. Why?
Deep down she knew the answer.
The boy stood outside of the house in the shadows. He could smell the scent of the beast on the tree he was leaning against. Something used to stand here and watch, just like he was doing right now. Anger enveloped him. Had that monster watched her? Had he stood in this same spot? He watched the window as Buffy crossed the room and turned off the light. Angry thoughts swirled through his mind. How could she have loved that thing so freely especially being who she is?
It had been almost a month since he had been following her around daily and then nightly. During the day, she would hang out at the Magic Box or shop at the mall. He had often wondered if she had a job. Most other people her age worked or attended school. Even her sister appeared to be employed. It had taken him several weeks to figure out what was different about her. At first glance, she appeared to be small and weak, a typical blonde California girl. Then one night he had followed her into the cemetery, always careful to keep just out of hearing distance. He didn’t understand what someone like her would be doing in a place filled with beasts; certainly she would get herself killed. She didn’t seem to be afraid and then he found out why. From out of the shadows, a beast flew at her. He had smelled the thing right before it had attacked her. At first, he thought he was going to have to give himself away to help her but she quickly got up on her feet and with a few punches and kicks she had the creature pinned to the ground. That was when she took a stake out of her pocket and rammed it into the demon’s heart.
He had been amazed at how easily she had killed the vampire. He could tell by the way she handled herself that it hadn’t been the first time she had done it either. Incredible. She was a warrior, like him. Realizing that made him even angrier with her. Every night she did the same thing and every night he followed her. He studied her every move looking for a flaw. When the time came, he would take advantage of her flaws.
He looked up at the window one last time before he left. The anger on his face was replaced by a smile as he walked down the sidewalk. He would make her pay for loving the beast.
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy and Dawn move back into their home while some of Halfrek's past is revealed...
Timeframe: About a month after "Departures & Arrivals"
- 9 -
House & Home
House & Home
It was a typical, gorgeous summer morning in Sunnydale as Buffy and Dawn moved the last of their things back to the house. Buffy was happy that the work on the house was finally finished. Xander and his crew had done a great job rebuilding the front of the house but now with that work done, her and Dawn had a great deal more to do - inside. Fresh coats of paint needed to be applied to the whole house and in some cases, especially at the front; it needed to be painted for the first time. Wallpaper, curtains, carpeting, you name it, they needed it. Not to mention the fact that they didn’t have much in the way of furniture at the moment either. It had all pretty much been destroyed when Warren had attacked them. From the outside, the house looked inviting and beautiful. From the inside, well, that was a completely different story.
Buffy made her way back into the house with her last box. She hadn’t been able to salvage a whole lot from her bedroom after the attack but she was able to save a few things. She had been devastated that her room had been destroyed. But she wasn’t distressed about losing the material things, she could always buy another bed or another lamp and even more clothing, but she couldn’t replace the memories that had been lost beneath the rubble. She had tried though. But most of the pictures of her and her friends had been destroyed beyond recognition. Most of her diaries were gone as well. And the picture of her mom, the one picture in the entire world that she loved the most, was gone. That hurt the most. Now as she walked up the stairs and down the hallway into her newly remodeled room, she couldn’t help but think about her mom and how much she would have liked the new changes.
She had asked Xander to try to keep the house repairs as close to the original house plans as possible. But there had been some problems so things had to be changed up a bit. Why did there always have to be difficulties? Couldn’t things just be easy for once? Of course, that would mean life would be boring which didn’t seem like such a bad thing to her. She sighed and dropped the box onto her bedroom floor. Her bedroom furniture was on back order but the store had promised it would be ready for delivery by the end of today. The living room furniture was due to arrive any minute as well as the dining room furniture. Her and Dawn had felt like two kids at Christmas when they had gone shopping for the new furnishings. It was nice being able to buy things without having to worry too much about money. The expense account that the Council had set up for her paid for everything that pertained to the house. She couldn’t thank Giles enough for getting the Council to agree to all of that. Where would she be without him looking out for her?
She opened the box and started to unpack the contents. It was mostly clothing and a few personal items. She went over to her new walk-in closet to hang up the clothes. The closet was one of the new perks that came with the rebuild. It was huge. It had to be, to be able to house all of her clothes and shoes. And now that she had some money coming in, she intended to fill every part of her dream closet. A knock at her room door brought her out of her thoughts. "Come in," she said as she walked back over to the box.
"Buffy," Dawn said kind of quietly. "You left this box downstairs. I thought maybe you might want to keep it up here."
Buffy looked over at her sister. She immediately recognized the box that Dawn had brought up to her. Her sister was right, she hadn’t meant to leave it downstairs. She went over and took the box out of Dawn’s hands. "Thanks," she said with a small smile.
"Well, I’m just gonna go make sure I’ve got everything out of Xander’s car. And the furniture should be here soon. Do you need anything while I’m downstairs?"
Buffy stood staring at the box in her hands.
"Buffy?"
"Huh? Oh. No. I’m good, thanks." She tried to give Dawn a reassuring smile but she wasn’t sure that it worked.
Dawn backed out of her sister’s room trying to understand Buffy’s reaction. She figured that Buffy would just throw the box down on the floor and continue with unpacking everything else. But now her sister just stood in the middle of her room, box in hand, staring at it like it held some magical answer to questions she didn’t even want to think about, let alone ask. Then it suddenly hit her why Buffy was all wigged out. She smiled to herself. She knew what was happening, even if Buffy didn’t.
******
Over on the other side of town, businesses were already bustling with customers. Anya had opened the store at the usual time and she and Halfrek began their morning routine. Anya watched as her friend silently opened the blinds on the front window. She could tell that the woman was extremely unhappy about being a human. The poor thing was having an even harder time of fitting in than she’d had the first time around. She had hoped that by giving Halfrek a job and a place to live, that it would make the ex-demon more comfortable with her situation. It hadn’t.
"Hali," Anya smiled. "Why don’t you dust the shelves while I look over the books again?"
"Are you serious?" Halfrek asked in disbelief. "That’s Dawn’s job!"
"I’m very serious. Dawn has the day off. She and Buffy are moving out of Xander’s."
"Well you must be very happy about that," Halfrek said with a grin.
"Yes. It’s a good thing. Now I can have Xander all to myself when I go to visit." In the month since she had become human again, her and Xander had started dating. She refused to just pick up where they had left off. She wasn’t the same person he had left at the altar almost half a year ago. And she certainly wasn’t the same person that had brought him home from the hospital. She was going to make him work for the relationship this time around. He had to prove to her that he was worthy of her love and of having sex with her. So far, things were going just to her liking.
Halfrek studied her friend closely. She had no idea why Anyanka was so fixated on this lowly human. After all, the man wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and he didn’t even have a good job. He was in construction! That certainly wasn’t going to make him rich. She walked over to the counter and picked up the feather duster that Dawn had left there the day before.
Anya smiled brightly at her friend. "That’s the spirit!"
Halfrek rolled her eyes and walked to the front of the store to start with the shelves there. Being a human was horrible. Now she was forced to do manual labor. She even had to ride the bus! She could just hear the laughter coming from the other vengeance demons when D’Hoffryn told them she was dusting shelves in a shop. She’d do anything right now to change this situation. Maybe there was a spell?
"Anyanka?" Halfrek asked.
"Yes Hali?"
"I was wondering. When you were turned human the first time, did you try to find a spell to change back?"
Anya thought back to the time when she had tried to use Willow to get her necklace back and how angry she had been at the girl when it hadn’t worked. "Yes Hali. I did try to do a spell. But it didn’t work. It took me a long time to accept the fact that I was stuck here."
"How long?" The ex-demon inquired.
"Oh, at least a few months. Then I finally asked Xander to go to the Prom with me. I think that’s when I knew that I was going to be here for the duration."
Halfrek thought about what her friend had just said. So there was a spell, or something, that she could at least try. Maybe Anyanka hadn’t done it right. She shook her head at that thought. Anyanka could perform spells with the best of them. She sighed. If Anyanka couldn’t do it, there was no way she was going to be able to do it either. The thought depressed her. It had been over a hundred years since she had been human and even when she had been human, she had been unhappy.
She always figured that her unhappiness was due to the era that she had lived in, Nineteenth Century Victorian England. Everything had been so stuffy and dull then. It had been such a different place than today’s world. Women of her class weren’t permitted to do anything except sit around and look beautiful for their men. The high society parties that her father had forced her to attend were boring, as were the men that he had tried to marry her off to. She hated her father for that. She had wanted to control her own life, marry a man that she loved and who respected her but she wasn’t permitted. Her father had made every huge decision for her. Why? Because, that’s how things were done in merry old England in the Nineteenth Century.
There had been a man in her life once that she thought would respect her and love her until the end of time. But he had disappeared. Actually, she had pushed him away and then he had disappeared. She had told the young man that he was beneath her so that he would hate her. And from the look in his eyes after she had said it, she knew she had succeeded. She’d had to say those hurtful things. Her father had arranged her marriage to a son of one of his business partners. She had been devastated when her father told of her of the news because she had been falling in love with the young poet. He had been so handsome but very bookish. She laughed to herself when she thought of the poetry he had written for her. It had been god-awful poetry. Outwardly, she had ridiculed him with the others at the party that night but inwardly, she was touched that someone was moved to write something so beautiful about her.
As she slowly continued to dust the shelves, she was struck by how much she still cared for the man. Even after all this time. She looked at herself in the mirror she was currently dusting and saw that she had been crying. She hadn’t realized it. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had been given a second chance to do things the way she had wanted to the first time. She was in control of her destiny now. Not her father. Turning to Anya she said, "Anyanka…I mean Anya, I’ve decided that I want to be called by my human name."
Anya was thrilled. This meant that Halfrek was starting to accept her situation. "That’s great Hali," she said with a smile. Then she realized that she didn’t know her friend’s human name. "Hali? What was your human name?"
Halfrek smiled brightly. "It was Cecily. Please call me Cecily."
******
"Buff," Xander said exasperated. "Maybe you should have wallpapered before you had the furniture delivered." He was fighting with the latest gooey sheet while Buffy and Dawn were trying to set up the room.
Buffy looked at her friend apologetically. "Yeah. Guess you’re right. Okay Dawn. Change in plans. Let’s help Xander with the wallpaper and then we’ll make the living room livable."
Dawn’s eyes widened. Had her sister forgotten? "Buffy," she started. "I can’t get all yucky and sticky! I have a date with Steven tonight!"
"Oh. Yeah. But that’s not for another three hours missy. You can help with the wallpaper and then shower."
"But Buffy! What if I can’t get the stuff out of my hair?"
"Don’t but Buffy me. This is your house too. A little stickiness never hurt anybody." Suddenly she realized how that had sounded. "But not that kind of stickiness. Cause that’s bad. And, just wrong."
"Whatever. Fine. I’ll go put a scarf on my hair and then I’ll come back down to help. Okay?"
Buffy looked over at Xander who was still losing his battle with the wallpaper. He gave her a half smile and shrugged. "Okay. But don’t take too long. The faster we get this done, the more time you’ll have to get ready for your date."
After her sister bounded up the steps to her room, Buffy turned to help Xander with the wallpaper. "Tell me again why I chose to go with full sheets of wallpaper instead of just painting and doing a border?"
"Uhm, because," he said in a mocking voice. "I want it to look the same way as when mom was here."
"Yeah, yeah. I should have my head examined. Next time, I’m going to do it the Buffy Summers’ way."
"Buffy, nothing against you, but, I hope there is never a next time."
She laughed when he said that. That was the first real laugh she’d had since, well, since before Giles had told her she was getting a new watcher.
"Okay. I’m back. Let’s whip this living room into shape," Dawn said, giving her sister a double thumbs up.
Buffy and Xander both rolled their eyes at the younger Summers as she grinned at them.
"I’m serious. I bet we can get this done in no time!"
"Keep dreaming little sister," Buffy said as she handed Dawn a paste brush and pointed her towards the wallpaper. "Now goo."
******
Buffy stepped into the middle of the room and admired their work. Dawn had been right, once the three of them had started working together; they had finished the wallpapering in no time. She went over to Xander who was also admiring their handy-work and put her arm around him. "Thanks Xan," she said giving him a squeeze. "We couldn’t have done any of this without you. The place looks great."
"Anytime, Buff. We can do the dining room tomorrow and then your bedroom the next day. Now that we sorta know what we’re doing, it should take even less time."
Buffy nodded. "Hey. How ‘bout we order us up some pizza? That way you can be here when Steven arrives. You can be the menacing man of the house tonight."
"Sounds good. I’ll just give Anya a call and let her know that I’m still over here. Just in case she’s wondering." He felt so whipped. He could see by the look on Buffy’s face that she thought so too. "I know. I know. I’m love’s bitch. What can I say?"
"Just say that you’re going to work it out with her and that everything’s going to be okay."
"I’m gonna try. I’ve been such a jerk."
"Yeah, you have," Buffy nodded in agreement.
"Hey. You’re supposed to stick up for me," he said feigning being hurt.
"I only stick up for you when you’re not being an idiot," she said with a smile.
"Have you heard from Willow or Tara lately?" Xander asked, trying to change the subject.
Buffy shook her head. "I haven’t heard from either one of them in almost two weeks. I think we got a postcard today but Dawn grabbed the mail before I could see it. Willow sounded kinda strange the last time I talked to her. I hope everything’s okay."
"I’m sure everything is fine, Buff. They’re probably just getting used to their new surroundings. Probably a bit overwhelmed."
"Yeah. I’m sure you’re right."
Just then the doorbell rang. They heard a screech from upstairs. "Tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes. I’m not ready yet!"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Mind doing the honors, Xander?"
"Not at all." He put on his best menacing face and opened the door.
Author: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy tries to sort out her feelings as Dawn and Steven get closer; Tara and Willow adjust to their new life in England...
Timeframe: A few hours after "House & Home"
- 10 -
Summers Blues
Summers Blues
Buffy looked up at the stars as she sat by her mother’s headstone. She often visited her mother’s grave whenever she was feeling down. Tonight was one of those nights. Xander had left her place after dinner and she had wandered around the big, empty house by herself. She felt so alone. Dawn was out on a date with a boy she wasn’t sure she approved of yet and Tara and Willow were in England, half a world away. She had done a half-hearted patrol of the cemeteries in the area and then found herself at her mom’s grave. She watched as a shooting star crossed the sky in front of her. Too bad that the wish she just made wouldn’t come true. They never did.
Patrolling had been boring this evening. Totally uneventful. She had taken notice that for that last month or so, the vampiric activity in the area had been way down. She wasn’t sure if that meant anything significant since it did happen from time to time. Laughing to herself, she said to the air around her, "Instead of just enjoying the quiet, I’m sitting here worrying about it." She moved to the front of the headstone and looked at it. Slowly she traced the lettering on the smooth marble. She couldn’t believe that it was over a year since her mother had died. So much had happened in that time that she felt like it had been two lifetimes. Oh. Yeah. It had been for her.
"Mom so much has happened since I came back here. I had a hard time dealing with being alive again. I pushed Dawn away. I slept with Spike. And most of our house was destroyed when Warren decided to go big bad on us." She sighed and leaned her head against the marble stone. Why was she sitting here doing this? It wasn’t like her mom could hear her.
"I miss you so much mom," she whispered. "You always knew what to do."
Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to face whatever it was that was disturbing her time with her mother. "Dawn, what are you doing here?" She demanded.
"Buffy chill. I just wanted to stop by to talk to mom about my date with Steven."
She had turned around to wipe the tears from her eyes before her sister could see them. "Sorry. It’s just I wasn’t expecting anyone and I didn’t hear you come up behind me."
"It’s okay. I should have cleared my throat or something first. Come on," Dawn said extending her hand to her sister. "Let’s go home and have some ice cream."
"Good idea," Buffy said, still trying to compose herself.
Neither of them noticed the boy watching them from shadows.
******
Back at home; the two girls shared the carton of ice cream. They didn’t even bother with bowls; each had just grabbed a spoon.
"So how come you were out at mom’s grave?" Dawn asked her sister.
"I dunno," Buffy lied. "I guess I just needed to stop by to let her know the house was done."
"Wanna hear about my date?"
"Sure," Buffy said, trying to force a smile and sound like she was interested. She really wasn’t interested in anything at the moment, not even the ice cream.
Dawn began to giggle and Buffy eyed her suspiciously. "Don’t worry, Buffy," Dawn assured her. "He was a perfect gentleman. I’m just giddy ‘cause I had such a good time." The smile on her face proved her point.
"How perfect was perfect?" Buffy inquired with her spoon in mid dip.
"Absolutely perfect," Dawn said grinning. "First we went for pizza and we talked the whole time. He’s really smart, but kinda sad too. Apparently his father was killed not too long ago and he’s been having a hard time with it."
"So him and his mom just moved to Sunnydale then?"
"Yeah. He said his mom just wanted to get away from Los Angeles. Too many bad memories."
"That’s understandable. So what else did you two do tonight?" Buffy asked with a stern look.
"After pizza we went to the movies. He didn’t even try to put his arm around me or anything," she said with a smile, then added with a frown, "Is that good or bad?"
"Very good. Otherwise I’d have to hurt him."
"Yeah. Yeah. I think Xander scared him enough at the door tonight."
"Exactly. And Steven behaved. I call that a good thing."
"Whatever," Dawn said rolling her eyes at her sister. "He wants to go out again. I do too. I really like him a lot, Buffy."
"Just be careful," Buffy warned as she started to clean up their ice cream mess. "And no parking!"
"Buffy! He doesn’t even have a car!"
Buffy looked at her sister and gave her a smile that said, "Good."
"Whatever. I’m gonna go to bed. Are you gonna sleep on the couch tonight since your bed’s not here yet?"
"Nah. Xander brought over his air mattress. I’m gonna sleep on that in my room."
"Okay. Try to get some sleep tonight. I’ll see you in the morning. More of the same?" She asked, referring to painting and wallpapering.
"Yep. Lots to do so you better go get your beauty rest."
She skipped over to her sister and gave her a peck on the cheek. "’Night!"
"Goodnight date girl."
******
The sun was shining in Devon as Willow and Tara got ready to start another day with the coven. In just the short time that they had been there, they had learned so much about their magic, and where it came from. The leader of the coven had decided that it was best to start with the basics even though both girls already had a firm grasp on them. The thought was, that in order to understand where Willow had gone wrong, she had to understand where she came from. That kinda made sense to her. However, she was really bored with everything right now but didn’t want it to show. Tara didn’t seem to mind going back to basics at all. Then again, Tara was a pretty much a go-with-the-flow kinda gal. Willow sighed. She wished she had as much confidence as Tara did.
"Willow?" Tara asked, tilting her head to the side to study her lover. "Are you okay? You look tired and a little upset."
Willow looked up from putting on her shoes. How did Tara always seem to know when something bothered her? Was it always that obvious? "I’ve been thinking," she started hesitantly. "I feel really horrible about keeping this huge secret from Buffy. I mean, she’s gonna be really mad at us when she finds out we knew."
Tara walked over to Willow and sat down next to her. "I know sweetie, but Giles and Spike made us both promise that we wouldn’t say anything. It’s for the best. It took a lot for Spike to tell us everything so we need to respect his privacy."
"Not when it involves Buffy like this," Willow said, almost shouting. "What he did…he can’t ever take it back! And now this," she said gesturing with her hands not being able to finish her thought.
"I know. Giles has his reasons too. We’re just going to have to trust them on this, Will."
Willow sighed. She knew Tara was right. But it still felt wrong. She hadn’t called Buffy in weeks because she was afraid that she would accidentally slip up and let her know about Spike. She hadn’t even returned Dawn’s phone calls. They would soon have to phone them though, otherwise Buffy would worry that something had happened to them.
"Come on," Tara said with a smile as she lightly tugged on Willow’s sleeve. "Time to head to Hogwarts..."
Willow laughed and smiled back at her blonde beauty. She stood up next to Tara and took her hand. As they closed the door and walked away, the phone started ringing.
******
Buffy hung up the phone after a few rings. Apparently, no one was home. She looked at her watch and figured that the witches had gotten an early start to their day. She was sure they were busy with potion mixing classes and wand instruction. The thought made her laugh. She should have never watched Harry Potter with Dawn because now she had all kinds of images floating around in her head about what Willow and Tara were learning over there.
Slowly she made her way up the stairs and to her room. She flipped on the overhead light to reveal a somewhat bare room. No posters. No curtains. No nothing. It didn’t feel like this space belonged to her anymore. She knew it would take time to make it feel homey again, but she missed having her bed and she missed having her safe haven to come back to. It was a good thing that Xander had brought over his air mattress. She really didn’t relish the idea of sleeping on the new pullout sofa downstairs. That was for guests. Besides, she wanted to sleep in her own room on their first night back.
She slipped into her pajamas and went to turn off the light, but the box that Dawn had brought up earlier caught her eye. Her feet betrayed what she was thinking as they slowly took her across the room to where she had set it down. Hesitantly she opened it. There was the slightest odor of leather and smoke. Without thinking, she took a deep breath and savored the smell. She pulled the duster out of the box and clutched it tightly to her chest as she dropped down to the floor. Quietly, she rocked back and forth while she hugged the jacket, tears welled up in her eyes. He had left her. She had made him leave. She regretted beating him up. She regretted what had happened in the bathroom. She regretted everything bad that had happened between them.
The only thing she didn’t regret was letting him become her confidant. She had needed someone who would understand her and he had, more than anyone else. More than Angel ever had. At first, she had used him to feel alive again. Then, something had happened. Something inside of her wanted to be with him, every waking moment. And when Riley had come back with his new wife, she had felt betrayed because she didn’t have the same happiness. Didn’t she deserve that? Instead, she had a very warped relationship with the scourge of Europe. She had broken up with Spike the night Riley left. Why? Because she didn’t love him and it was killing her. That’s what she had told him. She had even used his given name, William, to make a point. She had seen the tears form in his eyes. She was always trying to hurt him. Why?
Deep down she knew the answer.
******
The boy stood outside of the house in the shadows. He could smell the scent of the beast on the tree he was leaning against. Something used to stand here and watch, just like he was doing right now. Anger enveloped him. Had that monster watched her? Had he stood in this same spot? He watched the window as Buffy crossed the room and turned off the light. Angry thoughts swirled through his mind. How could she have loved that thing so freely especially being who she is?
It had been almost a month since he had been following her around daily and then nightly. During the day, she would hang out at the Magic Box or shop at the mall. He had often wondered if she had a job. Most other people her age worked or attended school. Even her sister appeared to be employed. It had taken him several weeks to figure out what was different about her. At first glance, she appeared to be small and weak, a typical blonde California girl. Then one night he had followed her into the cemetery, always careful to keep just out of hearing distance. He didn’t understand what someone like her would be doing in a place filled with beasts; certainly she would get herself killed. She didn’t seem to be afraid and then he found out why. From out of the shadows, a beast flew at her. He had smelled the thing right before it had attacked her. At first, he thought he was going to have to give himself away to help her but she quickly got up on her feet and with a few punches and kicks she had the creature pinned to the ground. That was when she took a stake out of her pocket and rammed it into the demon’s heart.
He had been amazed at how easily she had killed the vampire. He could tell by the way she handled herself that it hadn’t been the first time she had done it either. Incredible. She was a warrior, like him. Realizing that made him even angrier with her. Every night she did the same thing and every night he followed her. He studied her every move looking for a flaw. When the time came, he would take advantage of her flaws.
He looked up at the window one last time before he left. The anger on his face was replaced by a smile as he walked down the sidewalk. He would make her pay for loving the beast.
