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Annie
She put the two pills, which she had just gotten out of the cabinet in the bathroom upstairs, in her mouth, hurrying to wash them down with water before they started to dissolve and staining her tongue with their bitter taste.
“Buffy?” Willow asked behind her and she turned around.
Her friend looked questioning and Buffy smiled, reassuringly, taking another mouthful of water before putting the glass down in the kitchen sink.
“Headache,” she then explained and a flash of relief tore across Willow’s face.
“Oh, I thought that maybe…” she started and then shrugged a little.
Buffy’s smile widened.
“That what? I’d off myself from depression by taking an overdose?” Buffy asked, laughing. “I’m a little down, yes, but I’m not suicidal. Don’t worry,” she added as she walked up to Willow.
“Okay,” Willow said, looking at her friend. “I-I mean, I didn’t THINK that you were trying to… Or that you WOULD! I was just wondering…”
Buffy gave her a quick hug, cutting her friends explanation short.
“I know,” she assured her. “Don’t worry about it, Will? Okay? I’m fine. I’m better now than I have been all week,” she continued walking into the living room, Willow following her. “Now that I’ve finally gotten it off my chest. Actually I’m feeling better than I have in…” her eyes met Spike’s and she paused for a moment before finishing: “…ages.”
“Now we’re all here, let’s continue with the really interesting and not quite finished story!” Dawn exclaimed happily, taking her seat on the couch in front of Sarah.
The woman turned to look at Buffy, who had torn her eyes from the vampires.
“Are you all right?” she asked and when Buffy nodded she smiled.
“Good. I’m glad,” she then said and Buffy smiled back.
Soon they were all back in their places and Sarah once more tried to remember where she had left off.
“Of course… So, I saw you and Drusilla, Will, but I didn’t stay very long when I traveled because there are limitations when you want to go by unnoticed and you always show up in quite the wrong attire,” she made a gesture to her dress and they all smiled, her as well, before she continued: “The reason I decided to seek you out, William, was because of what is about to happen in London. I’m not absolutely sure what it is, I’m not trained enough to read the books properly, but…”
Buffy moaned a little and Sarah stopped herself.
“I’m sorry,” Buffy sighed. “I’m just so sick of people putting me in their prophecies. Why can’t they find someone else to hack on?”
“Because you’re still alive?” Spike suggested helpfully and she turned to give him a glance of utter loathing, but he merely smiled at her and she was about to smile back when she stopped herself.
NOT a good idea at all, and so she turned back to Sarah.
Spike let the smile fade on his face, but he could still feel it and he was sure she had almost returned it. He remembered that so familiar look in her eyes not that much earlier up in her bedroom.
At least I still have it, he thought, at least she was truthful about that; she does want me.
‘I’m using you, and it’s killing me.’
He closed his eyes; trying to shut her statement on the night she ended it all, out. But her face rested on his eyelids, and he popped them open again, almost looking as though something had stung him.
Nobody noticed this though; everybody was too preoccupied waiting for what was next to come from Sarah.
“I’m sorry,” she said regretfully but Buffy just shook her head at her not to be.
“It’s almost an internal joke, by now,” she said and Sarah smiled a little unsurely at that.
“Well, then, this might be a relief: YOU are not really in the books,” she now stated and Buffy raised her eyebrows.
“I’m NOT?”
“Ouch, now THAT stings, doesn’t it, Slayer?” Spike asked and she ignored him completely this time.
Dawn smiled at him though, and he winked at her before turning back to Sarah.
“Ahem, no, you’re not,” Sarah said, smiling a little at the so obvious bond between Spike and the youngest girl in the room, Dawn, she thought her name was. “But during my ‘travels’ I heard of you and then, of course, I finally encountered you through your relationship with William.”
Buffy felt a swarm of butterflies suddenly tickle her stomach at that sentence and she frowned a little.
“My ‘relationship’?” she asked, wavering the feeling in her stomach off with the biggest damn can of bug-spray she could mentally produce.
“Yes…” Sarah said slowly and Buffy was suddenly sure that this lady knew everything there was to know about her and Spike’s ‘relationship’ and the red warning sign with the word Busted! flickered on and off behind her eyes.
Oh my God, she’s gonna tell them! Buffy thought and was about to intervene when Sarah said:
“Your partnership… I’ve watched you slowly but surely grow from true enemies to something that must be close to friends…”
“Wouldn’t push it, precious,” Spike mumbled with a glance at Buffy and she really couldn’t decide whether she wanted to hit him or hold him.
A very un-healthy ‘relationship’, that was what they had.
HAD had, she reminded herself.
“So, as I was saying, I had been observing you both over a period of time, incognito of course, and then, back home, I stumbled over this odd thing in one of my books… My father, who I have dragged into this whole mess of a world we live in, not that he was kicking and screaming but still, helped look it over and it was actually he who really pressed the idea of traveling here to actually make an appearance and ask for your help,” she finished with a look at Spike, who had bent forward, resting his arms on his knees as he with all senses listened to what she told him.
“What? With interpreting the prophecy?” Xander asked, not quite following.
“No,” Sarah said, hesitating but a moment before explaining: “I’m here to ask William and Buffy, if she chooses, to come with me back home, to England… to fight whatever bad there is to fight.”
***
Sarah looked around at the rather astounded faces of these people of whom she had, as a silent and invisible bystander, picked the memories they had collected over a lifetime to involuntarily have them shared with her, as though it was the simplest thing in the world.
Her William had led her here, and still she had always had a small pit in her stomach thinking about the fact that she truly was invading their privacy, being able to see everything without participating. She had almost felt like a thief at times but then decisively turned that thought away since she wasn’t doing any of her prying for her own amusement.
Still, they would all probably be rather upset with her if they knew exactly to what extent she was familiar with their lives.
Of course she hadn’t been lurking in the shadows of their bedroom at night or really stalked them in any way, but she had watched so many moments in their lives that she almost felt like she knew them.
She turned her gaze at William, her strong, handsome, beautiful William who had started to shine so brilliantly in the past few years, overthrowing the cold stare of the demon inhabiting his body.
She smiled a little before once more beginning to speak.
“Yes, I need Will with me home, for sure, and of course it would be a huge relief if I could get the incredible Slayer with me as well. But if you are reluctant…”
“I’m not,” Buffy interrupted her, standing and walking around the table so she had some space, she felt this conversation needed some serious pacing from her part. “What I am wondering, however, is why you think me and Wi- …Spike, can help? I mean, isn’t there an easier way than bringing people back through time to solve this problem?”
“There might be, but honestly me and my father didn’t feel we had the time to do the extensive research it would take to find the kind of people we would need; who would not only be able to fully believe in the prophecy, but also wouldn’t have us locked away for trying to explain the existence of supernatural beings. Since I was already taking these trips, looking in on William from time to time, just to see what he was up to, and since I had on more than one occasion observed your strength in combat and the quickness of your brain we just felt that you two were our fastest and SAFEST bet.”
Buffy was still pacing as she listened to Sarah, her arms crossed thoughtfully over her chest until Spike said:
“Would you STOP that?”
She did, turning to him.
“What?” she asked innocently.
“Can you stand still for one bloody minute, your tramping around is seriously getting on my nerves,” he said and she looked at him coyly, blinking as if surprised.
“Well, you don’t have to mind me, do you?” she asked and he was about to answer when Sarah said:
“If you two would like to take this outside I would be more than happy to tell the others the rest of this whole story and let THEM fill you in, since I’m getting rather tired and wish to withdraw soon.”
“Into the mirror?” Dawn asked breathlessly.
“Well…”
“First things first,” Spike said, suddenly afraid of her leaving and not coming back. “Let’s hear the rest and then we’ll discuss that. Slayer, there’s no need for us to…?”
“No, no need,” she agreed with a meaning look and went back to the couch to sit down.
“Good, then that’s settled,” Sarah said with a laugh. “Well, I just have one last thing to say and that is that whatever is supposed to happen it is called the Birth of Fire in the books and it doesn’t sound pretty.”
“Hmh…Could be a Big Bad,” Spike said and Buffy agreed.
“Well, I have one small question,” Xander said. “Why don’t we all go? I mean, Willow here is a real brainiac when it comes to the books and Tara is really good with magic and me…well, I can pretty much do everything. With the exception of anything requiring super strength, or magic… my brain is accountable though. Anyways, my point is, why can’t we all just go?”
Sarah smiled a little, she recognized this man’s sense of talking for a while to really GET to the point, Alexander she remembered his name was, Xander being a rather funny nickname, or so she thought.
“Because,” she now answered him, “ the mirror can only let so many people through or it will break. We’ll be pushing it with three as it is, should William and Buffy decide to come with me. And so, there is simply no way.”
“And what about getting back? I mean, there won’t be any problems, will there?” Dawn asked, worriedly linking one arm with her sisters.
“As long as the mirror stays intact there won’t be,” Sarah answered. “And I believe that you will take as good a care of it as I have, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.”
Buffy looked around at her friends.
Sarah studied the Slayer. She had noticed some kind of change in the young woman since she had arrived. Sarah thought she looked…more determined somehow. She liked the settle glow in the girl’s eyes which seemed to point at the woman’s determination and inner strength. It hadn’t been there in a while though, until tonight. Except sometimes when…
“I’m coming with you,” Spike’s voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned to him, a smile quickly spreading across her face.
Buffy felt her eyes staring at him, surprised even though she had held no doubt of the fact that he was going to go. Hearing him utter those words were different from thinking them in her head.
“I knew you would,” Sarah said, getting of the armchair to give him a hug. “Thank you.”
Dawn got up and walked over to him and as Sarah let him go she took a step forward, wrapping her arms around his neck.
She didn’t say anything but he could feel her heart beating hard against his chest and he knew that she was scared of what might happen.
“It will be okay, don’t worry, niblet,” he said, holding her to him.
“I don’t’ want you to say any good-byes,” Sarah said rather guiltily.
“No,” Buffy agreed as she got up. “We shouldn’t, because we’ll be back sooner than you know it and then you’ll have to put up with us again.”
Sarah stared at her for a moment and then she drew a deep breath.
“You have no idea how much this means to me,” she said as she stepped forward and embraced the Slayer.
Buffy hugged her back, and then they let go.
“How much time do we have?” she asked Sarah. “Do we have to leave NOW?” she added as Dawn left Spike’s side to come stand by her.
“No, we don’t,” Sarah said, not able to suppress a yawn. “In fact, it might be a good idea to get some sleep.”
Buffy smiled a little and then nodded.
“Yes,” she said, feeling how tired she was. “That DOES sound like a good idea. What time is it anyway?”
“Almost two,” Willow answered and they all started to collect their things and make everything ready.
“Hmh, we might as well all stay here,” Buffy said. “Xander, you take the couch. Tara…” she hesitated with her gaze shifting between Tara and Willow and back again. They both looked slightly uncomfortable and so she continued: “There are extra mattresses in the basement, we’ll bring one up. Sarah, you can sleep in Dawn’s room, Dawn, you’ll sleep in my room and… Hm, what should we do with you?” she then asked mostly herself as she turned to Spike.
He looked at her with a hint of a smile on his lips and she could feel a tingle where his fingers had brushed against her skin on her hand earlier that night.
She reached back and dug it into the back pocket of her pants, hoping the sensation would go away. It didn’t really, but she soon got something else to think about as Spike spoke up.
“Ah, don’t strain your pretty little head on me, love, I don’t mind the night and I best be getting’ back to my crypt,” he said and she waited a moment before disagreeing.
“No, it’s better if you’re here tomorrow so we can leave as soon as possible. Besides, then you don’t have to run here under that ridiculous blanket of yours, smelling like a bat out of hell,” she added and he put on a hurt expression as he turned around mumbling something about she being one to talk.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of remark on how I smell?” she asked and he looked back, smirking.
“Well,” he said, shrugging. “I’m not one to complain…but that damned greasy smell of the Double Meat is just EVERYWHERE now a days,” he explained.
“Break it up, break it up! Gees, and you two are going away together!” Xander said as Buffy took a few steps towards Spike, her face looking quite enraged at the vampire’s remark.
Spike grinned at her.
God! She just wanted to… But, Xander was right and she drew a breath, trying to calm herself down; it didn’t work, those words had stung her too badly.
“Well, you can sleep at my feet, just so you feel at home, I mean,” she spat out before she could contain it and now his eyes started flaming with anger.
“Oh, really? And how the hell would you know, do you ever stop to look what your STEPPING ON?” he yelled at her.
“Oh, so you agree that you’re groveling at my feet?” she burst out at him, Xander now wisely moving out of the way as they approached each other.
“No, what I’m saying is that you’re putting yourself so bloody high that you can’t even look down and SEE your feet,” he growled at her as they stopped, their faces less than an inch away from each other and both pairs of eyes shooting arrows and daggers at the other.
Sarah stared at the scenario. She had seen it before, of course, and wasn’t shocked in any way. But it sure was a lot more intense so close up.
“You know, you keep telling me that and I couldn’t disagree more. I’M not the one who’s riding on high horses here, YOU are!” she hissed.
Now he paused, looking suddenly slightly confused before raising his voice to her again.
“That doesn’t make any sense!” he bellowed. “First I’m low, then I’m high, would you bloody well make up your mind?”
“Maybe I don’t wanna!” she yelled at him. “Maybe I like it this way. Maybe I want you to be all confused and not understand what the hell I’m saying!”
“What the hell ARE you saying?!” now HE yelled.
“I’m saying that…that you can find a place to sleep by yourself. Good night!”
With that, she fiercely pushed passed him and went clambering up the stairs with five pairs of eyes staring wondering after her, and a sixth that couldn’t hide the triumph.
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