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Annie
They were escorted in through the front doors of the grand house, the sun’s rays reaching only the back of it and the grounds beyond it and so it was safe for Spike.
They entered a large hall with a high sealing, three chandeliers hung from chains above their heads and in front of them a wide staircase led up to the second floor.
Dark wood made the hall seem smaller than it was, but the scene was still spectacular, especially with all the beautifully dressed guests leisurely spread out talking and laughing with each other on the steps and seemingly throughout the house.
To their left was a closed double door. To their right the big doors had been opened up showing off the incredible grand hall. On either side of the staircase they could see a flow of sunlight and Buffy gathered that doors leading out into the grounds were situated there, now obviously opened for the guests to come and go as they pleased.
Suddenly there was the sound of rapidly approaching feet and she looked up and into a pair of dark brown eyes in a handsome face.
“Dear Mr. Jacob, Ms. Sarah,” the man said, shifting his gaze from Buffy to Jacob and then stopping at Sarah. “I apologize for not coming sooner, I was outside,” he explained, taking Sarah’s hand and bending down to kiss it.
“Oh, not at all,” Sarah said with a smile. “May I present Mr. William Kinsley, a dear friend of mine, and Ms. Buffy Summers with us from the great continent of America.”
The lord nodded his welcome to Spike, who tried not to look too annoyed with his presence, and then he turned his eyes to Buffy.
“Enchanted,” he said, taking her hand and bending down to kiss it as well.
Buffy swallowed, trying to concentrate on Spike’s words, trying to feel that strength he had been talking about…
Oh, help! she thought unhappily as the lord straightened his back again and smiled at her.
She tried to look as relaxed as she could as she smiled back.
“Ms. Summers, welcome to England,” he said, his voice deep and soft.
“Thank you, lord Hart,” she said with a little courtesy.
“I shall look forward to discussing our different cultures with you,” he said, not until now letting go of her hand.
Spike almost huffed at that, but restrained himself. Not a good idea to get on the man’s black list five minutes after walking through the door.
“As will I,” Buffy said, now smiling with a little more feeling and she could tell that the lord immediately recognized the small invitation in her gaze.
“Are most of your guests outside, lord Hart?” Spike now asked, intentionally putting an end to their little exchange.
“Why, yes,” the lord nodded, giving Buffy another smile before gesturing for them to walk with him.
Spike hurried to offer Buffy his arm and at first she didn’t pick up on it but then she smiled a little, he could tell she put that down as the first mistake of the stay on the list that she, without a doubt, was holding in her head. She threaded her arm through the loop his made and looked up at him, a silent thank you in her eyes.
Sarah and Jacob were walking with the lord and discussing some topic that seemed terribly important and so Spike took the chance of slowing down a little.
“First impression of the lord is good?” he asked, trying to hide the jealousy in his voice, not really succeeding.
“You sound grouchy, Spike,” she said with a smile.
“And please call me William while we’re here, pet,” he retorted.
She gulped, looking ahead instead.
“Oh, this will never work,” she murmured. “I don’t know how to speak like a well bread little doll!”
“Thank God for that,” he said in a low voice and she looked up at him again, he smiled faintly. “Just be yourself, like you sort of was at the door, and you’ll charm the knickers off him in no time.”
“Do you have to be so…” she grumbled, trailing off, and he cocked an eyebrow at her.
“’So’ what, pet? Vulgar? I think you’ve heard me whisper worse things to you?” he remarked and suddenly noticed that she was blushing, she was actually blushing.
“Sp-…William, remember, you’re a gentleman,” she mumbled, not willing to meet his gaze.
He smirked.
“Am I now?” he asked as he stopped where the rays of the sun reached their hands into the hall, Sarah, Jacob and lord Hart already stepping outside.
Buffy turned to him.
“First impression of the lord was very good, yes,” she said, answering his first question as apposed to his last. “I think I’ve already gotten him interested. Tell me, Will, are all men in this century such an easy catch?”
He smiled a little.
“Haven’t all the men you’ve been in contact with from this century ended up crawling at your feet?” he asked silently and she widened her eyes a little in innocence.
“Is that MY fault?” she retorted and he shook his head at her, still smiling.
“No, I suppose not… God, suddenly I actually feel sorry for the chap,” he then said, looking out through the doors and at lord Hart’s back.
Buffy followed his gaze and then turned to him, questioningly.
“Why?” she then asked and he smiled wider, reaching up a hand to touch her face, but then changing his mind and letting it fall back down again.
“Because he’ll never now what hit him,” he said and she looked at him for a moment.
“Don’t say that…” she mumbled, feeling like her head was lifting off her shoulders as he held her eyes in his.
“It’s the truth,” he remarked quietly. “This time you’ll actually be thinking about what the hell you’re doing… Let’s face it, he’s as good as dead already.”
Her eyes widened a little at that statement.
“Don’t say that…” she repeated and he smiled.
“Don’t say what, love?” he asked and she found her brain slowly start to grow misty.
“I…I don’t remember…” she heard herself murmur and then she suddenly snapped herself out of it, taking two steps back and into the sunlight.
They stared at each other for an eternity it seemed, him in the shadows, her illuminated by the blazing light.
Then she smiled briefly at him before turning around and walking after the rest of their party.
***
“Are you having fun?” Sarah asked when they, five hours later, were in the room they were going to share, located in the west wing of the ‘house’.
Buffy gave her a smile, sighing.
“Everybody are really nice and so interested in America which I guess would be a really great topic, considering me BEING an American, if I only knew a LITTLE bit more about the history of our great country,” she sighed again, tossing the dress Sarah had helped her get off on the bed and turning to the mirror. “As it is now I almost have to listen really carefully to their conversations about what’s going on over there to really have anything to say in the next conversation I join in,” she added, reaching up her hands to massage her neck.
Sarah couldn’t help but laugh and Buffy ducked as her reflexes warned her of the pillow flying at her head.
Soon the fight was on and it wasn’t until Sarah screamed with laughter and Buffy could do nothing but the same that they finally started to calm down.
Sarah was wiping at the tears in her eyes and Buffy was huffing for air on the bed when there was a knock on the door.
“This is not a good time,” Sarah called out.
“I have a note for Ms. Summers,” a ladies voice with a thick Irish accent said.
Buffy looked at Sarah, both growing serious. The former got off the bed and grabbed the robe Sarah had borrowed her and swept it around herself before opening the door. She took the small white envelope from the made outside with a “thank you”, closed the door and turned to Sarah, who stared at her with a subtle excitement growing on her face.
Buffy opened it quickly and read the short note inside out loud:
“’My dear, I am sure that you feel as I and therefore I will make matters short, let us meet in the orchard at the strike of one tonight to see how we best can find a way to merge our different cultures, yours sincerely, lord H.’”
“Why, of the most disgracing things to do…” Sarah said, clearly appalled.
“But, this is good,” Buffy smiled at her. “This is what we’ve wanted, this is what I’ve been working the whole day for. He’ll want to meet and talk…”
“’Merge our different cultures?’ My dear, he wants to do more than just talk, and if you go see him he will for certain think that you are willing. I cannot let you go to that meeting, Buffy, I cannot,” Sarah said, firmly but obviously very upset. “I thought that he might fall for this, but to be so blunt as to actually ASK you to…to…” She was blushing and Buffy smiled a little as she walked up to her to sit by her on the bed.
“Sarah, it’s okay,” she said. “Believe me, where I come from the fact that he didn’t actually ask me in PERSON would have been the shocker,” she added and Sarah let hear a low huff.
“Well, I know that, I’ve been to your time, remember?” she asked, looking at the note in Buffy’s hand as though it was infested. “At least THERE you are honest about your sexuality, you don’t hide it, lock it away like we do. You’re not ashamed.”
Buffy didn’t want to show her how much those words affected her. What had she done with Spike if not hide it, lock it away and most of all, feel shame about what she was doing.
It was all too easy, she thought. For a few hours he made me forget about the world and the troubles in it… But then, when those hours were over they just added to the burden.
She thought of the way he looked at her, the way he for a moment had been able to touch her without her cringing away from him, and how she had made him hope that she actually felt something for him. And for what? For nothing. She had snatched it away from him just as easily as she had let herself give in to it, and now he was in even more pain.
You don’t know that, her mind pointed out. And what does those thoughts mean? Have you decided that he loves you? That he CAN love?
She shook the question off her thoughts, she had no intention of dealing with it NOW, too much was going on already and she knew that it would only distract her. She needed to be focused for this to work.
“Even though I have seen every decade from this one to yours I am still a nineteenth century woman and this note is just…blasphemous!” she said, still staring at it. “I wish I hadn’t thought of this plan,” she then wined, finally looking away from the small piece of paper and into her hands on her lap. “It’s too much to ask of you, Buffy.”
Buffy put a hand on her arm.
“I won’t…let him take his knickers off,” she said with a small smile and Sarah couldn’t help but laugh. “What I’m saying is, I’m a big girl and I think I know how men thinks women works… I’ll be fine. And if he tries something I can always use the back-up plan, and they won’t even be able to prove it,” she added with a smile.
Sarah stared at her.
“What do you mean?” she asked and Buffy’s smile widened.
“I’ll just get Spike to bite him and then… I can stake him,” she said with a laugh.
“Spike can’t bite humans,” Sarah pointed out and Buffy nodded.
“I know, bad joke…”
“But he could bite you, if he wanted to, isn’t that right?” Sarah now asked and Buffy looked at her, suddenly feeling that small uncertainty about exactly how much the lady knew.
“Yes,” she answered. “How did you know that?”
“Um… observation,” she answered with a shrug. “He can grab you, and I’ve seen you two fight, I mean, not with words but with fists… I just concluded that the chip doesn’t work on you and then I found out that you had been altered when you were brought back.”
Buffy nodded slowly.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “That’s right.”
“Buffy, if he tried to hurt you…”
“He wouldn’t,” Buffy interrupted without thinking and her eyes grew a little as Sarah smiled.
“Good that you know that,” she said. “Now we need to get into our dresses or we’ll be late for supper!”
***
Spike sneaked through the hallways, not making a sound as he approached Sarah and Buffy’s door. He didn’t bother knocking, sure that they would be dressed since it was getting late.
The room was filled with the soft glow of candlelight and the dim light from the last rays of the sun. Sarah was sitting on the bed brushing her hair and she looked up as he stepped inside the room.
He noticed a movement to his left and turned his head only to have his eyes enlarge as he stared at Buffy. She moved gracefully as she took a few steps toward him and then she froze, looking self-conscious.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, starting to fiddle with the hem of the low cleavage of her silk dress, and then correcting the sweeping skirt.
The dress was a wonderfully deep emerald green and so incredible on her that he almost felt like he was bursting with sudden pride. Proud over the fact that he was the only person in this whole bloody house who really knew her, who had been with her through some of the most tough and rough times of her life and seen her walk out of them still standing tall.
He blinked as she started to look more and more nervous.
“Spike, what IS it?” she asked and he smiled at her, shaking his head slowly.
“I…” he started but didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to make her see herself the way he saw her. “You look great,” he simply said and he could tell that that only made her more fretting.
“Thanks,” she said, looking away and turning around.
“You’ll dazzle them, Slayer,” he said and she stopped, turning her head back to him and then smiling brightly.
“What are you doing her, Will?” Sarah asked, now gathering her brown locks in the usual pretty due on her head, securing them with pins and ribbons.
“I don’t have a reflection,” he said and both ladies raised their eyebrows.
He looked at them, not believing they didn’t understand by that simple statement exactly what his dilemma was and then he held out his hands, in which he had his bow tie and a comb.
“I can’t SEE myself,” he elaborated and the women looked at each other before exchanging a mutual giggle.
“Oh, God, I’ll just leave,” he grumbled, turning around, but Buffy grabbed him and turned him back towards her, a small smile still on her lips.
“No, no,” she said, taking the tie and comb. “We’ll help.”
Sarah got off the bed, satisfied with what she had accomplished with her hair she went to help her friends.
“You do this,” Buffy said, handing her the tie, “I have no idea how to work that thing.”
“Oh, I KNOW you have a pretty good idea on have to work ‘that’ thing,” Spike commented with an angelic expression that didn’t quite fit and she shook her head at him, even though she couldn’t wipe the smile of her face.
“Sit,” she commanded and pulled up a chair for him to do as she wished.
He did, and looked up at her.
“Go easy on me, please,” he said as she leaned down to look at his hair, trying to figure out the best approach to making him look presentable, a vague scent of perfume hit his senses and then her own scent, one he knew every turn of.
“Don’t worry,” she mumbled, moving around to stand behind him. “I’ll be gentle.”
He felt a pleasant shiver go through him but quickly got rid of it as Sarah put the tie around his neck.
“I have a mission for you,” she said and he looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I want you to keep an eye on the lord, he’s supposed to meet Buffy at one tonight and I don’t want anything to get out of hand.”
Sarah noticed the hardening expression on Spike’s face and when she looked up she saw the devastated one on Buffy’s.
“You shouldn’t have told him,” Buffy now said and Spike turned his head up to look at her. “She shouldn’t have!” she pressed. “You’ll just overreact.”
“Overreact?!” he exclaimed, getting off the chair. “Bloody right I will.”
“See,” Buffy sighed turning to Sarah with a gesture to the vampire. “See what he does?”
Sarah, looked down, evidently smiling, and then said:
“When did you guys start to exchange such friendly bantering? Isn’t this the part where you two usually fly at each others throat over who’s right in the matter?”
Buffy and Spike both stared at her, and then turned to each other.
“Well…” Buffy said and Spike smirked.
“Oh, the ‘well’ approach again. Worked so WELL for you last time, didn’t it, pet?” he asked and she rolled her eyes at him.
“You really love to put words in my mouth, don’t you?” she asked and he laughed, humorlessly.
“Bloody right I do, and thoughts in your head…” he took a step closer. “And feelings in your chest…”
“I think you got that wrong,” she said, not giving in this time, she had already decided on that very morning, after their arrival, being the LAST time he EVER made her loose her head again.
“Okay, I didn’t mean to make you think that ‘friendly banter’ was something BAD, I think it’s GOOD, so let’s stop this,” Sarah said, shifting her gaze from one to the other, neither one of them backing down but staring at each other with the same amount of challenge.
They’re actually arguing with each other without speaking one syllable! Sarah thought, suddenly fascinated. How extraordinary.
“We need to get ready,” Buffy finally said, breaking the stare-and-glare contest and turning away from him.
“Ah, giving in so soon? I guess you just proved me right then, love,” Spike said mockingly.
“Bite me,” she retorted and he smirked at her.
“Can’t,” he then said with a shrug and threw himself down on the chair again.
“Can’t or won’t?” she couldn’t help but ask and he turned his head to look at her and then said:
“What the hell do YOU think?”
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