Author's notes: This story most likely takes place somewhere between "Halloween" and "Lie to Me"...approximately the beginning of Season Two. Oh, have you ever wondered where Buffy got that pretty snowflake necklace she wore in "Amends"......? Also, I have taken liberties with Buffy's 17th birthday and set it in late January.
Dedication: This one goes out to my grandmother who might not know anything about the show ("what's that televison program you like, Kristen?....Muffy the Vampire Killer?"), but provided the inspiration for this story as well as so many other things I've tried in my life. I love you Gran'ma.
The Happiness I Seek by Kristen Elizabeth
"Giles, something's going to happen tonight."
The Watcher looked up from his reading and focused his attention on the Slayer, one Buffy Summers. "How can you tell?", he asked in his soft British accent.
Buffy's brow crinkled in thought. "I don't know. I can just tell. It's a feeling."
"That's good!", Giles encouraged. "A Slayer must develop an innate sense of forthcoming danger if she intends to stay alive....um...succeed, I mean."
"And with that oh-so-happy thought, the tireless crusaders return from their mission of mercy", Xander Harris announced his presensce.
"Did you get any jellies?", Giles inquired.
"Yep. They're in there", Willow Rosenberg pointed to the box Xander carried with her jelly-sticky finger. "A couple of them didn't survive the trip."
Soon fortified with a jelly doughnut, Giles returned his attention to Buffy. "Now, describe this feeling. When did it begin?"
Buffy sat down on the steps leading to the second level of Sunnydale High's library. "This morning. I feel this tightness in my chest, but it's not painful. It's just...heavy. Something big is happening tonight....I just don't know what."
"Is that why you called this way-too-early-for-a Saturday-morning research session?", Xander asked, polishing off his third cruler.
"Giles is responsible for that, Xander", Buffy replied, leaning back against the banister.
"Yes...guilty as charged. We've been neglecting your studies, Buffy. Especially the history of Slaying." Giles cleaned his glasses with his sweater-vest.
"So, why are we here?" Xander licked glaze off his index finger.
Willow looked up from the computer she had situtated herself at. "Where else would we be?" Her oldest friend had to agree with the truth in her simple statement. Ever since they had met Buffy, almost a year ago, the Slayer's secret life had become theirs as well.
"Shall we continue the studying then? We were just about done with the forties, if memory serves." Giles looked at his Slayer for confirmation.
She nodded, distractedly. Her Watcher picked up the book he had been reading. "Now then.....ah, yes. Annaliese Janson. She was a Slayer from her calling in 1943 until her death in 1948."
"How old was she?", Willow asked, her interest peaked.
"Um...she was eighteen when she died", Giles read.
"Died from what?" Xander sat down at the big table.
Buffy glanced over at her friend. "What do most Slayers die from, Xander?"
"Not to be a party-pooper, but isn't this slightly morbid? Learning about how previous Slayers died?" Willow bit her lip.
"I agree Will, but supposedly it's good to know where other Slayers failed. In theory, I can avoid their mistakes." Buffy stood up and stretched. "So, let me guess. Annaliese fought the wrong vamp and got herself drained?"
"Actually, it was a demon. To make a long story short, he was planning to destory the world....", Giles began, before Xander cut him off.
"And after fifty years, the demons still haven't changed their goals." He shook his dark head in mock disappointment.
Giles glared at the boy before going on. "Annaliese managed to stop him, but she died in the process."
"Then the next Slayer was called and fun continued, and still continues", Buffy stifled a yawn. "The story never changes."
"I would think you'd have a little more gratitude, Buffy. The Slayers who came before you had it much worse than you do", Giles reprimanded. "You forget that women were considered the weaker sex until about twenty years ago."
"Well then, that should have made the element of surprise no trouble at all." Buffy bit into an eclair.
"Buffy, you have the luxury of not having to hide your strength and skills on a daily basis. The Slayers before you, like Annaliese, had to pretend to be far weaker and simpler than they were, if they hoped to be accepted by society at all. Most didn't even try. They lived completely isolated from the rest of the world. The ones who tried to maintain their normal lives after their calling, had to be extremely careful about hiding their secret. No one except their Watchers and the Council had any idea who they were. There were no 'Slayerettes' for these girls. They were on their own against some incredibly powerful demons. Imagine what that must have been like." There was a long pause after Giles finished his speech.
"They must have been so lonely", Willow broke the silence.
"Lonely doesn't even begin to describe it", Giles told her. "But, it was their sacred duty and they gave up their lives for it."
Buffy looked extremely uncomfortable. "I do respect that. But can you understand how it doesn't exactly make me a happy Slayer to know who had to die to make me what I am today?"
"Yes, I see that", Giles admitted. "Still, it's a neccessary part of your training."
"Did Annaliese destroy the demon that she was fighting, Giles?", Willow asked, curious to learn more about this Slayer.
"I don't know", Giles answered. He flipped through the book he was holding. "Her Watcher's diary is extremely sketchy. He was grief-stricken. From what I can gather, they were in love."
Buffy looked up suddenly. "Her and her Watcher? In love?"
"Yes. I know it's a rather unsettling thought, but it has happened before."
Xander choked back a laugh at the matching looks of vague disgust on Buffy and Giles' faces. "I don't know. I think it's kind of romantic", Willow said, turning her attention from the computer. "What happened to her Watcher?"
"He died a few years ago. I met him once, at a reception for the Council. Extremely sharp for his age, but very sad, too", Giles mused. "I don't think he ever got over Annaliese's death."
"Can I see the diary?", Willow asked, holding out her hand to take it from Giles.
Buffy finished her eclair and wiped her hands on a paper napkin. She still couldn't shake the forboding feeling. And all of this talk about a dead Slayer was not improving her state of mind.
Willow flipped a few pages and then stopped, suddenly. "Look", she breathed. "It's her." Everyone was quiet as Willow gently lifted a small black and white picture from the inside of the diary. It was of a very young, very pretty woman. She was looking off to the right, a smile on her face. Written on the back were the words "Annaliese January 10, 1948".
"That's a beautiful necklace", Buffy commented, leaning in to see the picture better.
"It must have been taken right before she died", Willow guessed. "According to the diary, she died on January 15."
Buffy paled, all thoughts of the girl's jewelry gone. "You guys, today is January 15, 1998"
There was a momentary silence. "Fifty years ago", Xander finally said what everyone was thinking. "She died exactly fifty years ago. You know, this could explain your creepy feeling, Buffy."
A chill passed through Buffy as she took the picture from her friend's hand to better see this long-dead Slayer. "She looks so happy", Buffy whispered. "She looks like she's in love. Did she have any idea how little time she had left?"
"It's best not to think about that, Buffy", Giles said, gently taking the picture and replacing it in the diary.
The Slayer shook her head, as if to snap herself out of a momentary trance. "I know. Concentrate on the things you can change, not the things that are unchangable."
"You just made that up, didn't you?", Xander smiled.
Buffy returned the smile, almost unthinkingly. "Look, I still think something is going to happen tonight. I'm going to hit the streets. Maybe I'll hear something. See you later, okay?" Without waiting for replies, Buffy grabbed her coat and headed out of the library.
************************************************
Buffy walked aimlessly for about an hour before she realized that she had circled the block his apartment was located on five times. She knew he was probably asleep, the sun rising towards its highest, but somehow, she needed to see him, needed to hold him. Silently, she entered the building and crept towards his door.
"Angel", she whispered, knocking softly. Getting no reply, she tried the doorknob. It was unlocked. Buffy gently pushed on the door with one index finger. It creaked open. "Oops. It just opened all on its own."
The Slayer quieted crept into her boyfriend's apartment. "Angel", she called out a little louder, hoping to avoid startling him. When she again got no response, she knew he had to be sleeping. Walking into his bedroom confirmed this. Buffy smiled as she looked at him. He looked so young and peaceful. Only an occasional wrinkle in his brow betrayed the fact that appearances were deceiving. Angel may have looked like a harmless young man, but Buffy knew all too well that he had not been so since the 1700's. And although his sleep appeared to be deep, he suffered from some of the worst nightmares imaginable. After all, he lived with the knowledge of his two hundred years of vampiric killing.
But these weren't thoughts Buffy had every day. She wasn't sure she could love Angel like she did if she thought of him as a murderer every time she looked at him. She loved Angel, the handsome, mysterious, and good man he had been ever since a gypsy curse had restored his soul. Gently, she sat on the edge of the bed and placed her hand on his cheek. His skin was cool to the touch.
He awoke suddenly at the slight pressure. "Buffy?", he asked, still half-asleep.
"Good morning", she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you." Angel sat up to see her better. "Is something wrong?"
"No. I just wanted to see you", she replied, honestly. As if to prove this, she kissed him.
He smiled a second later when she pulled back. "Good morning to you too."
"Late night last night?", she asked.
"Always. I waited for you at Ridgefield", Angel said, referring to one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries.
Buffy lowered her eyes, apologetically. "I'm sorry. Giles is on a training kick. I was too tired to patrol afterwards. You know though, if you got a cell-phone, this wouldn't be a problem." She smiled, mischieviously.
"Ah..we're not going to have another technology discussion again, are we?", he shook his head. "A vampire with a cell-phone. Far too modern for me."
The Slayer relented. "All right. We'll discuss this later." Angel smiled again. There was a slight pause.
"Are you going to sit there all day or are you going to move so I can put some clothes on?", he asked, teasingly.
She blushed. "I suppose you can get dressed." She stood up and turned to face the wall. Behind her, she could hear the sheets rustling and drawers opening. Buffy decided that this was the best time to ask him what had been on her mind since she had left the library.
"So, like I said, Giles is on a training binge. And today we were talking about Slayer history. We found a picture of this Slayer from the forties. I know you were in America by then, but you probably stayed away from Slayers, so this might be a dumb question but I thought maybe you might have known her", Buffy blurted out, rapidly.
"What was her name?", Angel asked, his voice muffled by the shirt his was pulling over his head.
"Annaliese. Annaliese Janson."
He hesitated for a second. "I remember her."
Buffy spun around to face him. Fortunately, he was already dressed. "You do?"
He nodded. "She was a very good Slayer. I only saw her once, actually, here in Sunnydale. She was surrounded by about seven vamps, grossly outnumbered. I helped distract them away from her, but I didn't stay around to chat or anything. I didn't exactly feel like being around anyone back then. She died awhile after that."
"Yeah, Giles said she was killed by a demon trying to take over the world."
Angel frowned. "Not exactly."
"What do you mean?", Buffy puzzled. Giles was, she had noted, rarely wrong.
Her boyfriend sat back down on the bed. "I heard about the fight with the demon. She was badly hurt. But the demon wasn't what killed her. At least not directly."
"Then how did she die?" Buffy sat next to him.
"Miscarriage. She was pregnant, but she didn't know it. The fight brought it on. She died a few hours after she reached the hospital from complications, loss of blood."
Buffy put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my god. How horrible!"
Angel nodded. "At the time, I didn't think anything of it. Slayers....well...they die....sometimes."
"Yeah, but from vampires or demons or whatever's trying to destroy the world. Not from something like a miscarriage. I mean, we're supposed to be strong, right?"
"She was strong", Angel corrected her. "But there's only so much the human body can take, Buffy."
"Slayers aren't normal human beings, Angel. You, of all people, should know that."
He gently took her hand. "What is this really about? This is a very un-Buffy-like conversation we're having."
Buffy stared down at her lap. "I don't know. I've had a feeling that something big is going to happen tonight, something dangerous. Then Giles wants to discuss dead Slayers, one in particular who died exactly fifty years ago. I don't like hearing that, Angel. I'm almost seventeen years old. I don't plan on dying again anytime soon."
"And that's part of what keeps you alive, Buffy. In the short time I've known you, you've done things that no Slayer has ever been able to do before because you're strong. And stubborn."
"Yeah, but look at Annaliese. She was strong, you said so yourself. And she died from something as relatively normal as a miscarriage. What's going to happen to me, Angel? How will I die?" A tear of frustration slipped down Buffy's cheek.
"You can't think like that and expect to stay alive for long. If you spend all your energy wondering how your life will end, you won't take the time to live it." He brushed the tear away, tenderly.
"After 240 years on this planet, you've gotten fairly smart", Buffy smiled through her tears.
"You'll be alright then?"
The Slayer nodded. "Yeah. Maybe I'll look in all those nice books Giles has and see if anything is *destined* to happen tonight." She stood up to go, but Angel, still holding her hand, pulled her back down.
"I'll find you tonight. And whatever happens, we'll handle it together." He kissed her, letting his cool fingers brush across her cheek.
"See you then", she whispered, breaking the kiss. With a little glance over her shoulder, she left the room.
*****************************************************
"This is it", Buffy whispered to herself. Her quiet statement echoed throughout the empty library.
Apparently, the gang had found other things to do on a Saturday morning. She had had the library to herself for the past hour. She had spent the time looking through various books of prophecy that had proved useful in the past. And there it was in the Codex, the explanation to her feeling of dread. Buffy drew a shaky breath to calm her rapidly beating heart. She leaned over the table and picked up Annaliese Janson's Watcher's diary. Flipping through it, she came upon the the entry she was looking for. As Buffy read, her feeling of dread was replaced by one of mounting fear. She set the diary aside and looked up at the ceiling to blink back hot tears.
"Tonight's the night."
******************************************************
Giles' brow wrinkled as he read the Codex. He had read these prophecies many times before, but until the acutal events started to fall into place, they were too cryptic to understand. "Please tell me I'm not right, Giles. Maybe I just read it wrong. Or maybe I read the wrong passage", Buffy pleaded, her eyes full of worry.
Her Watcher whipped off his glasses and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. "I don't think so, Buffy. What you read is....accurate, as far as I can gather."
There was a moment of silence. "Then, I'm supposed to die tonight....again."
"What?", Willow cried from behind them. Giles and Buffy turned to see her and Xander standing in the library doorway. "Tell me that this is a funny thing.... please?" Buffy lowered her eyes, unable to answer.
"We have a knack for coming in during the middle of important converstations. So, care to fill us in?", Xander asked, keeping his tone light.
"According to the Codex, I'm....I'm going to....", Buffy couldn't go on.
"The Codex? Isn't that the book that said you were going to die when you faced the Master?", Willow inquired, her lower lip trembling. Giles nodded. "Well...it was wrong then....and it's..it's wrong now, Buffy. You're not going to die."
"It wasn't wrong, Will. I did die", Buffy replied, quietly. "I used my 'get out of jail free' card."
"No! I refuse to accept that", Xander declared. "How can some book that was written centuries ago dictate your life today?"
Buffy reached for the Codex. "'The demon shall try but he will not succeed. And after the earth has circled the sun fifty times, the barrier between then and now will be lifted and the Chosen One will again close her eyes, this time forever '", she read, flatly.
"That's why you think you're going to...you knw...tonight? That passage?", Xander exclaimed. "That doesn't tell you anything!"
Giles flipped through the fifty year old Watcher's diary. "'January 16, 1948. Annaliese died last night trying to stop the demon. He got away, yet the world woke up this morning. Only it woke up with a new Slayer. I'll be taking her back to Chicago to be buried'."
"I told you something big was going to happen tonight", Buffy whispered.
"This is absolutely crazy! There has to be another meaning or maybe it's talking about something else", Xander said, firmly. He got no response. "Buffy, c'mon. You're not giving up, are you? Buffy? Say something!"
"Slayers die all the time, Xander. You didn't think I was going to be the exception, did you?", she finally replied, staring off into space.
"I guess I just hoped you wouldn't accept it so easily", Xander shot back.
"What am I supposed to do?", Buffy snapped to attention, angrily. "The Codex says I'm going to die. Why argue with fate? And just because I slipped past the last death prophecy doesn't mean I will this time. If you call that acceptance, then that's what it is. I'm accepting my destiny. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"
There was a long pause. "Buffy, you know that's not what I...", Giles began. His Slayer raised her hand quickly to silence him.
"I don't....I just...want to be alone for awhile. Okay?" Buffy closed her eyes, but the tears she had been fighting fell anyways.
As if to answer her, Willow stood up and walked over to her friend. She put her arms around Buffy and held her for a long moment. "I don't think that's really what you want right now", she said, quietly.
With those simple words, Buffy's stoic resolve dissolved. "I don't want to die, Will. I don't want to die again", she cried.
"And you're not going to", Willow replied, stroking Buffy's hair.
"I won't let you", Xander said, determinedly.
Buffy wanted to believe them. But even she knew how powerful a book the Codex was. More powerful, at least, than the resolve of a group of high school juniors. "Thank you", she said anyways, brushing away the tears. "I really...you don't know how much you....mean to me."
Willow smiled. "Probably as much as you mean to us." She hugged her friend once again.
"I hate to...um...interrupt this, but we do have some major plans to form before tonight", Giles announced from his place across the table. "First of all, we need to find out what demon Annaliese fought and what she did to stop him the first time."
Buffy stared at her Watcher. "What?"
"What do you mean, what? Did you think I was just going to send you out there to fight and..." He took a deep breath to avoid saying the word. "...without trying to figure out some way for you to come through the situation?"
The Slayer was at a momentary loss for words. "Well...no. But what happened to your very Watcher-ey 'accept your destiny always' philosophy?"
Giles cleared his throat. "I may not always express it in terms that an American teenager would be quick to recognize, but you are my Slayer, Buffy. And it is not my job, nor would I ever wish to send you to your death, pre-determined or not."
"Let me translate that", Xander said, eagerly. "He feels the same way we do about you, Buff. But he's English and can't actually say it."
"Thank you, Xander", Giles muttered, throwing the boy a despairaging look.
"So!", Willow exclaimed, with an abundance of enthusiasm. "Where do we start? Ooh!! I can look on the internet and see what I come up with!"
The corners of Giles' lips turned up at her eagerness. "Actually Willow, the terrible thing might not be able to help us this time, and I do use the word 'help' loosely. I think everything we need to know is going to be in actual books."
Willow looked crestfallen. "But..that's my role. Net girl. Hacker Slayerette."
"I'm sure you'll be able to find something, Will", Buffy reassured her. Willow's smile returned as she skipped happily over to the library's computer. The Slayer looked at her Watcher. "Wait a minute. Doesn't the diary tell about the demon Annaliese fought? Isn't that, like, the whole point of a Watcher's diary?"
"The diary is sketchy, like I mentioned before. Not all Watchers are as...fastidious as others. Also, it was a very hard time for him. He left a lot out.....almost everything about the demon and its plans", Giles replied.
During this exchange, Xander had picked up the diary and thumbed through it. "Hey Giles", he called. "What is the Book of Foth?"
Giles looked puzzled. "It's an ancient Germanic volume....sort of an encyclopedia of mystical creatures. Why?"
"Cause it's mentioned, like, twice in the diary." Xander pointed to a particular passage.
Buffy's Watcher quickly read the page. "Well, that's a start. I have a copy of the Book somewhere around here. I just have to find it...." His voice faded as he went off to search for the volume.
"Good job, Xander." Buffy patted his shoulder, awkwardly. There was a lingering wierdness between the two friends ever since a tiny little dance at the Bronze that no one seemed to be able to forget.
"Well, that's *my* role. I'm Stumble-Across-the-Solution-Inadvertantly Slayerette", he smiled, weakly.
Buffy shook her head. "You're far more than that." Xander looked down at his scruffy sneakers to hide a wide grin. Neither one realized that Willow was well within earshot.
"I...I have to go to...the bathroom", she announced, shakily rising to go.
Xander looked puzzled. "Will?" His life-long friend ignored him as she ran out the library doors. "What was that all about?", he asked Buffy.
"You truly have no idea, do you?", she replied, sadly. Xander continued to look confused. "Never mind. I think I'll go help Giles." The Slayer started up the steps to the second level.
Ten minutes later, the group reconvened around the library table.
"This is what Buffy and I found from the Book of Foth and various clues in the diary. The demon Annaliese fought was called Zeitlos, which in German means 'timeless'", Giles translated for the teenagers.
"Timeless", Buffy repeated, thoughtfully.
Willow, who had seemingly forgiven the earlier incident, read her friend's thoughts. "'The barrier between then and now will be lifted", she recalled, from memory.
"Zeitlos is a time-traveler!", Xander put all the pieces together, triumphantly.
Giles looked at the Slayerettes with pride. "That was my guess as well."
Buffy stood up and paced around for a few seconds. "So, the question is, why would Zeitlos, a time-traveling demon, reappear fifty years after he failed to take over the world?"
"He's planning on going back to 1948 to finish what he started?", Willow hypothesized.
Buffy nodded. "And I'm going to have to stop him." She swallowed. "At least...I hope I can."
"I have every confidence that you will", Giles assured his Slayer. "You must. Our entire exsistence depends on it. If Zeitlos succeeds, he will alter everything that happened back in 1948. Even a tiny change in the past, let alone a demon taking over the world, would completely dissintigrate the present. Bearing that in mind, we have to figure out where all of this is going to take place."
"Angel said that he met Annaliese here in Sunnydale awhile before she died. Wouldn't it stand to reason that she was here to fight Zeitlos since she didn't live in Sunnydale?" Buffy looked around for confirmation.
"You...you saw Angel today?", Giles asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
The Slayer sighed. "Yes, I do still see Angel, Giles. I'm different from every other girl anyways. Why not be the only one who's boyfriend is a 240 year-old vampire? I really don't see the problem."
"I think the key part of that problem is the phrase '240 year-old vampire', Buff", Xander said, darkly.
"Way off the subject here", Willow broke in. Buffy threw her a grateful look. "If Annaliese died in Sunnydale, there should be a records. I can hack into the city's files. I mean...then we'd know for sure."
"Good idea. Willow, you get on that", Giles instructed. "Wait a minute. Would a death that happened fifty years ago be on the computer files?"
Willow turned to look back at the Watcher. "The Sunnydale Historical Society just spent two years updating the city's online records. Births, marriages and deaths going all the way back to the turn of the century." The gang stared at her. "What? My grandmother is part of the society."
Giles rubbed his eyes. "The whole world has fallen victim to the charms of the horrible machine."
"Join us here in the twentieth century, G-man", Xander said, slapping the older man's back, heartily. "The girls wear spandex, Twinkies come in boxes of twelve and a bunch of old women know more about the internet than you do."
"Maybe Ms. Calendar could help you overcome your fears", Buffy suggested, innocently. Seeing the look Giles gave her, she busied herself looking through the Book of Foth.
"Why don't we all just get to work." Giles straightened his sweater-vest. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't keep a small smile from his lips at the thought of his lovely co-worker. Buffy looked up and caught the smile. She grinned widely behind the book. Whatever happened tonight, she predicted a long and happy future for the unofficial couple.
"She died in Sunnydale!", Willow exclaimed a few minutes later. The group gathered around the computer. "See, it's right here. Annaliese Imogene Janson. Died at Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, January 15, 1948 from complications due to....." Willow took a deep breath. "From complications due to miscarriage." Buffy looked at her friend's faces as they took in the news she already knew.
"I guess she and her Watcher really were in love", Xander commented, unnecessarily.
Willow lowered her head slightly. "No wonder he was so sad fifty years later. He didn't just lose his Slayer. He lost the woman he loved and his child."
"That's the death certificate, right?", Giles asked the red-haired girl. She nodded. "Is there a newspaper article about her death?"
"Like an obituary? I can look", Willow bit her lip and began typing furiously. A second later she had pulled up the Sunnydale Times archive files. She scrolled down for the right date. "January 16.....here's the obituaries. 'Originally from Chicago, survived by her guardian, James Wellborn'. That must be her Watcher. It doesn't say husband."
"Well so much for my parent's insistance that no one before our generation had pre-marital sex", Xander said, flippantly. He was ignored.
"Hold on a sec. Scroll back up to the local headlines, Will", Buffy leaned in closer to the computer screen as Willow complied. "Stop! There it is." She pointed to a particular article.
Giles read aloud. "The police and fire brigade were called to Weatherly Park last night to investigate a reported brush fire. Despite several calls from local citizens, they were unable to find any evidence of a fire taking place in or around the area. The investigation is ongoing, but the police are doubtful that any new information will surface. 'There's no burned trees, no ashes, absolutely nothing to indicate a fire', Sunnydale Chief of Police, George Stanson says. However, the citizens who reported the occurance stand by their claim. 'There was a huge circle of light', Margaret Rodgers tells. 'If that wasn't a fire, then what could it have been?'"
Buffy looked at her Watcher. "Perhaps a time portal opening?"
He indicated his agreement. "Weatherly Park. Now we know where to go. We just need a plan of attack."
"Here's one. I go to the park, kick the demon's ass before he can do the timewarp again and then.....and then if I make it past that point, I'll think of more." Hearing no voices of dissent, Buffy nodded firmly. "Okay then, let's do it."
************************************************************
"So...when is this going to happen?", Buffy asked her Watcher, her teeth chattering slightly.
Giles looked up at the dark sky. "Soon, I think." His Slayer gave him a look. "Well, actually, I don't know."
"Now was that so hard to admit?", she teased. She pulled her coat tighter around her slender body as a gust of wind swept through the park.
He grimaced slightly. "Harder than one would think."
"I'm surprised you didn't give me another round of your infamous 'half of slaying is waiting' speech."
Giles shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I only use that on special occasions."
"Ooh.....give the Watcher two points for that comeback. But the Slayer is still in the lead", Buffy said, sassily. She could see Giles smile into the darkness. A comfortable pause settled over the slaying duo. "Giles?" Buffy broke the silence. Hearing his responding "hmm?", she continued. "Do you think I shouldn't see Angel?"
Her Watcher drew in a small breath. "Do you really want my opinion?"
"Would I ask you if I didn't?" She rubbed her hands together for warmth.
"Well then. I've actually been giving this...um..a lot of thought. At first, I was completely opposed to it. A Slayer becoming romantically entangled with a vampire goes against everything the Council has been striving to do since the dawn of time." Buffy cut him off before he could continue.
"But he's not like that. He's..." Giles silenced her.
"I know he's not. There are mitigating circumstances. Which is why I..I think you should do what you think is right in this situation", he told her, honestly.
She grinned. "Really? You're not just saying that?"
"I'm not saying it...uh...thrills me, Buffy. But it's not my descision to make." Giles dug his hands deeper into the pockets of his pants. "And Angel is a good....man, I suppose is the right word."
"That's what I call him", Buffy snickered.
Giles held up his hands in mock protest. "Please don't say anymore. That's all I need to....." There was a loud snapping sound from the nearby wooded area. "...hear."
Buffy jumped to her feet and, out of habit, pulled a stake from inside her coat. "What do you think it is? A vamp? Zeitlos?", she asked her Watcher, a little breathlessly.
A figure burst from the woods. "C; none of the above", it announced. "Just a bored Slayerette."
"Xander!", Buffy yelled as soon as she had recovered from her momentary shock. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Xander brushed some stray foilage from his dark hair. "I'm selling my body for chocolate." Seeing their angry looks, he smiled winningly. "Kidding. I thought I could help you slay or help Giles watch."
Buffy threw up her hands. "What on earth am I going to do with you, Xander?"
"Naughty things?", he guessed, hopefully, earning him an incredibly hard punch on the shoulder from the Slayer and disapproving look from her Watcher. "C'mon! Don't tell me that I can't be of some small use."
His friend rolled her eyes towards the sky. "Fine. You can stay. But I don't want you rushing in to play John Wayne if and when Zeitlos shows up, okay? I'm the Slayer; let me do the dirty work."
"Scout's honor", Xander said, taking a break from rubbing his shoulder to put one hand over his heart.
Buffy felt Giles tug on the sleeve of her coat. "What?", she asked.
"He's over there", Giles whispered. "It's now or never." The Slayer peered into the darkness in the general direction her Watcher was pointing. She could make out a large figure moving eratically.
"How do you know it's him and not just a large homeless man?", Xander asked, a little louder than Buffy would have liked.
"It has horns, Xander", she said. Taking a deep breath, Buffy straightened her shoulders and began to walk towards the demon. Xander and Giles watched as she reached him and cleared her throat loudly. "So, do you have a permit for opening a time portal in a public place?", she quipped, folding her arms across her chest, authoritatively. Zeitlos spun around to face her. "Who the hell are you?", he snarled.
"Take a wild guess, and if you say a dead girl, I'm going to be sorely disappointed in your lack of creativity." Buffy made an obvious gesture to her stake.
The demon's grotesque lips curled up in some semblence of a half-smile. "You're fiesty, even for a Slayer." Buffy nodded happily. "But didn't anyone tell you, little one? Stakes don't bother me", Zeilos continued.
"Who said I was going to kill you with this?", Buffy replied, tossing the stake to the side before using her powerful leg to kick the demon's face. He reeled backwards. "I find that a lot more effective."
Zeitlos recovered quickly. "Now you are a dead girl", he growled. "Slayer or not." He backhanded her, sending her flying several feet to the ground. Giles held Xander back before he could run to his fallen friend. It took several seconds for the stars to stop dancing before Buffy's eyes. By the time she had, Zeitlos had somehow managed to complete whatever means were necessary to open his time portal. She staggered to her feet to try to somehow stop him, but he grabbed the back of her coat and lifted her into the air. At that moment, Xander broke away from Giles and ran over to them.
"Let her go!", he yelled, kicking the back of the demon's knee. Zeitlos faltered slightly, allowing Buffy to break free.
"Run Xander!", she cried, before Zeitlos grabbed ahold of her again. But Xander didn't obey. Instead, he rammed his body into the demon, causing as much damage as a fly bumping into a brick wall. Zeitlos let out a hardly laugh. With his free hand, the demon began to choke Xander. This was too much for Giles who ran to help the two teenagers. To distract Zeitlos, Giles picked up a rock and threw it, hitting the demon's eye. Zeitlos roared with pain, but didn't let up. Behind them, the time portal grew in size. Buffy mustered all of her strength and kicked the demon's groin. It was a cheap shot, but it worked. Zeitlos let go of both her and Xander. Apparently, Buffy had really hurt the demon. He threw out one powerful arm to steady himself, sending Buffy and Xander flying towards the open portal.
The last thing they heard before blacking out was Giles calling their names.
*************************************************************
Buffy groaned as she groggily sat up. The ground felt wet beneath her, which was puzzling. She couldn't remember it having rained. Blinking to focus her eyes, she noticed Xander lying next to her. She reached over and shook her friend.
"Xander!", she cried. "Are you okay?"
His head came up suddenly as he looked around, confused. "Buffy? What happened?"
The Slayer shook her head. "I have no idea. Zeitlos must have hit us hard. I can't remember."
Xander sat up, far too quickly, he soon realized. "Oh....my head", he moaned. "Maybe it's a concussion and I can miss school for a few days....or weeks."
"Thank goodness. You two are all right", a voice from behind them said.
Both Buffy and Xander turned their heads. They didn't recognize the voice; it certainly wasn't Giles'. It appeared to belong to a girl, about their age, but no one they remembered from school. She was dressed a little backward for a town so near Los Angeles and her hair was in an unfamiliar style. When neither friend responded to the girl, she looked concerned.
"You are all right, are you not?", she asked, kneeeling down to their level.
Buffy put a hand to her forehead. "Um...yeah. We're okay. A little wigged out, but we'll survive. How long have you been there?"
The girl looked puzzled. "You don't remember?"
"Should we?" Xander sized up the girl. She was cute in a very old-fashioned way.
"Perhaps it's just as well", she said, almost to herself. "You probably wouldn't believe it anyways."
Buffy snorted. "I doubt that." She attempted standing up. The girl took ahold of her arm to help her up.
"You might want to rest for awhile. You had quite a hard hit to the head, from what I can tell."
Not used to being helped, Buffy politely shook off the girl's grip. "Thanks, I'm pretty sure I can handle it."
The girl looked like she wanted to say something more, but she was cut off the entrance of another stranger. "Annie", he said, coming to a stop before them. Noticing Buffy and Xander, his anxious tone changed to one of forced calm. "Did you...take care of the problem?"
"Yes", she replied. "I did." The obviously British man gestured to them. "They got caught in the crossfire", she continued.
Buffy helped Xander to his feet. They exchanged a look.
"Can I talk to you for a second, Annie?", the man asked, taking her aside.
Xander turned to his friend once they were out of earshot. "What is going on here?" Buffy had no answer. She looked over at the strange couple. There was something so familiar about the girl. She couldn't quite place it. It wasn't until the girl turned her head slightly to the right and smiled at the man that the pieces finally fell into place. The Slayer gasped.
"Xander.....I don't think we're in Kansas anymore", she whispered. "What?"
Buffy looked around. The park was so clean, almost brand new. The elaborate children's playground a few yards away had disappeared. It was replaced by see-saw and a swing. Everything looked so old-fashioned. Old fashioned.... "We went through the time portal."
Xander stared at her for several seconds. "Oh no.....no.....we didn't.....did we?" Buffy nodded. "Then...we're in....."
"1948", she supplied for him. "Which means, those two people over there are probably...."
Her friend slapped his forehead. "Annaliese and her Watcher. How come we didn't recognize her right away!"
"She said we got hit on the head", Buffy pointed out. "I can't believe this is actually happening! I feel like if I pinch myself, I'll wake up back in my bed."
Xander gave his arm a hard pinch. "Not gonna happen, Buff."
"I don't know what to do then. I mean, if this is all real, what are we supposed to do? Should we tell them who we are? Would they even believe us? God, I wish Giles was here!" Buffy squatted on her heels in defeat. Xander followed suit.
"Look, Buffy, it's going to be okay. Let me handle this." He patted her back before straightening up. "Hey there!", he called out to Annaliese. "We're having kind of a debate over here. I think it's Monday and she..." He pointed to Buffy. "...she thinks it's Tuesday. Can you help us out?"
"Really smooth, Xander", Buffy muttered.
Annaliese and her Watcher exchanged their own look. She took a step towards them. "It's neither. Today is Friday."
Xander exaggerated a nod. "Ah yes......and that would be what date again?"
"January 14th", she replied, concern growing. "Are you positive that you are all right?"
Buffy stood up. "Actually, we're not. We want to know what happened. To us."
"I was out patroling....um.....taking a walk", Annaliese corrected herself, too late. "There were some...ruffians about and they most likely attacked you. I think I must have frightened them away."
Buffy decided to take a chance. "Oh, now I remember", she lied. "Their faces were horrible. And they had fangs." Annaliese's eyes flew open and she looked over at her Watcher.
Xander caught onto Buffy's game. "Yeah, they did. And they tried to bite our necks."
"Are you sure?", Annaliese asked, seemingly stalling for time.
The two teenagers nodded. "It was almost as if they were......oh but that's silly", Buffy said.
"Almost as if they were what?", the Watcher prompted.
Xander laughed outrageously. "Vampires."
Annaliese was visibly flabbergasted. "Um....James..." She looked to the man for help. The older, yet, Buffy couldn't help noticing, handsome man walked over to them.
"How do you know about....", he started before Buffy cut him off.
"Let's just say that we know a lot of things that most people don't know. For one, does the name Zeitlos ring a bell?" She was happy to see the reaction on Annaliese and James' faces.
"Uh...Buffy?", Xander made a slashing motion across his throat. "Ix-nay on the Eitlos-Zay."
"You know about Zeitlos?", Annaliese asked, once she had recovered from the slight shock. "How? Are you demon-hunters?" She paused. "Or demons?"
Buffy held up one hand. "I can't tell you very much. But what I can tell you is that we are the good guys."
Xander nodded to emphasize his friend's point. "Yep. We don't drink blood, eat babies or virgins, or try to destroy the world."
The strange Slayer laughed at this. "Well, that's a relief." She turned to her Watcher. "I think we're done for the night. I don't see any sign of Zeitlos. Except for that group the other day, there aren't too many vamps in this town."
He agreed. "Not like New York." They both smiled at what seemed to be a private joke.
Annaliese turned to Buffy and Xander. "I'm Annaliese Janson and this is my Wat....James Wellborn. What are your names? Do you live in Sunnydale?"
"Yes", Buffy said, out of habit. Then she thought better. "Well, no. Not this Sunnydale, anyways." She got yet another strange look from the couple. "What I mean is, our town in...um...Kansas is called Sunnydale. It's kind of confusing. Oh, and I'm....Buffy and he's Xander."
"Where are you staying, Buffy? We might need to get in contact with you", James asked, adjusting his glasses in a way that reminded Buffy so much of Giles. But to his question, neither Buffy nor Xander could think of an answer.
"Why don't you stay with us?", Annaliese offered. "That way we wouldn't have to search Sunnydale for you."
Her Watcher didn't seem too thrilled at this prospect, but Buffy nodded. "Thanks. We'd appreciate that." The matter seemingly settled, Annaliese linked arms with James and they began to walk towards the road. Buffy moved to follow them, but Xander grabbed ahold of her sleeve and held her back.
"What are you doing, Buff? We need to figure out how to get back to our time and we're not going to do that by playing houseguests."
She removed his fingers from her coat. "Relax, Xander. I couldn't exactly tell them who we really are, could I? And they're our best shot at not only getting back to 1998, but also in defeating Zeitlos when we do."
"All right", Xander said, reluctantly. "But I want you to know, this all makes no sense."
"I'll explain more later. For now, let's just get out of the park, okay?" Xander nodded and they followed after the Slayer and Watcher.
***********************************************************
"The town looks....nice", Buffy whispered to Xander. They were seated in the backseat of James Wellborn's car, a model that Buffy had only seen in movies and museums.
"It looks like an episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show', Buff. Gives me the creeps." Xander peered out the window.
"So", Annaliese interrupted, turning around to see the backseat passengers. "Have you been to Sunnydale before? This Sunnydale, I mean."
Xander half-snorted. "We're regular guests of the Hellmouth." As soon as the world was out of his mouth, he realized his mistake.
"The Hellmouth?", James repeated, excitedly. "You think the Hellmouth is here?"
Buffy pinched her friend's arm. "Nice going, slick", she hissed. Raising her voice, she attempted to cover Xander's blunder. "Well....we've...um...heard about a lot of underworld activity here....which...uh, is why we come here so often. The Hellmouth is more of a....a pet name we have for Sunnydale."
"Oh." The Watcher relaxed a little.
"James has devoted most of his life to discovering where the mouth to Hell opens. He'll find it someday." Annaliese looked at her Watcher with devotion and obvious love.
"It's about a hundred yards that way", Xander muttered, jerking his head slightly to the right as they passed by a much newer looking Sunnydale High School. He recieved another hard pinch from Buffy.
"May I remind you that Giles discovers the Hellmouth, not James. Are you *trying* to mess up the future?", Buffy whispered, harshly. He shrugged, carelessly.
"You know, there is something so familiar about you", Annaliese said, returning her attention to Buffy. "I feel as though we....I don't know....have a lot in common. Isn't that strange?"
The nineties Slayer smiled. "Not really."
Annaliese searched for something more to say. "I like your.....pants. I've never seen a woman wear pants in public before. I sometimes wish I could though."
Buffy decided to take another great chance. "It would probably make slaying a lot easier. Yes, I know you're a Slayer", she answered the girl's unspoken question.
"How do you know so much about us?", James asked, suspiciously.
She wanted to tell them, but the fear of inadvertantly altering the future was too great. "I just do. But trust me, your secret is safe." Annaliese nodded, but her look of worry didn't completely go away. The rest of their journey passed in silence. Buffy was suprised when the last leg of the trip took them to Revello Drive.
"The boarding house we're staying at is very nice. This little old couple run it and I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you stayed as well." Annaliese told the two teenagers as her Watcher pulled the car in front of a large, familiar looking house.
"Thanks. We appreciate it", Buffy replied, politely. Suddenly she realized why the house looked so familiar. Her voice dropped back to a whisper. "Xander....we're at my house."
"I told you, this whole thing is creepy, Buff. Very creepy." Xander climbed out of the car.
It wasn't exactly her house, she noticed right away after exiting the car. Somewhere in the next fifty years, someone had obviously renovated it. But the basic structure was the same. "This does seem a tad too coincidental, doesn't it? Like the fates are playing a big old practical joke on me", Buffy stared up at the house.
Annaliese called to them from the front porch. "Are you two coming?" Xander and Buffy hurried up the steps and into the house. "The Steins have already retired for the night, so we can't get you a room. But there are plenty of couches downstairs that you could take. Is that all right?"
Buffy nodded. "It's only for one night, after all", she said, under her breath.
******************************************************
"Good morning!", Annaliese's voice greeted Buffy as she sleepily stumbled into the kitchen. "Are you hungry? Mrs. Stein made breakfast for everyone." The little old lady at the stove smiled at Buffy before shuffling out of the room.
"Yes...thank you. I'm starving." Buffy sat across from Annaliese and helped herself to some eggs and toast. "I'd better leave some for Xander, though. He can down an entire box of HoHo's in a sitting."
"HoHo's?"
"They're something we eat at home..." Buffy shook some salt on her eggs before taking a bite. Better to keep her mouth occupied before she said too much.
Annaliese set down her cup of tea. "Tell me more about your home. I'd like to hear all about it."
Buffy swallowed and quickly reached to pour a glass of orange juice. "Well...where I come from...oh geez. What can I say about Sunnydale....Kansas?"
"It must be a very interesting...modern place." Annaliese gestured to Buffy's tight fitting exercise pants and tank top.
The nineties Slayer suddenly wished she had left her overcoat on. "Uh...yeah. It is. Interesting. Even without the vampires and demons."
Annaliese shook her head. "I still can not get over the fact that you know about all of it...about me. And you're so calm about it, too. Have you ever staked a vampire?"
Buffy snorted into her glass. "Just a few times." Xander suddenly appeared in the doorway looking as rumpled and groggy as Buffy felt. "Morning sleepyhead. I saved you some eggs." She pushed the plate acoss the table, towards him.
"Thanks", he mumbled, slumping into a chair beside Annaliese.
"Buffy was just telling me about your hometown", Annaliese said, brightly. "She says it's a very interesting place to live." Xander, who might as well have still been asleep, simply nodded and offered no further information. With growing frustration, Annaliese played with the small, silver snowflake that hung at her throat. "Does anyone want to listen to the radio?" Without waiting for an answer, she went to the very large brown box in the corner of the room and played with the heavy dial. A moment later, staticky music filled the kitchen. Buffy recognized the tune as something she had heard playing in the nursing home her grandmother had once stayed in.
"Don't you just adore Benny Goodman?", Annaliese began to hum along with the tune.
Xander, beginning to really wake up, reached for the toast. "More than life itself." If she could have been inconspicious, Buffy would have pinched him.
Just then, James came into the kitchen. "Good morning", he said, pleasantly, to Xander and Buffy, followed by a much more personal, "Morning", to Annaliese. The older Slayer's face lit up at the sight of her Watcher. "How are you feeling today?", he asked her, concerned.
"Fine, much better than yesterday morning. It must have just been a little stomach bug. Mr. Stein left the paper for you." Annaliese picked it up and handed it to James. "I looked through it; no vampire attacks that I could see."
James still looked uncomfortable talking about such things in front of the two newcomers. "Good...thank you." He sat down and began to read.
"Do you all just plan to stay in town until Zeitlos makes his move?" Buffy sipped her juice.
Annaliese nodded, still humming. "It should be soon. We've been here for almost a week. What about you?"
"The same", Buffy replied, truthfully. The Benny Goodman song ended suddenly and after a second, the opening notes of a new song began to play. Annaliese smiled widely.
"I adore this song! If you don't like Goodman, you must like Sinatra", she told the two teenagers. "He is rather dreamy." She winked at her Watcher, teasingly.
Buffy couldn't help but picture the old man she knew Frank Sinatra as. "Oh yeah...dreamy."
"Heaven...I'm in heaven...and my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak....and I seem to find the happiness I seek....when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek", Annaliese sang along. "Let's dance!" She took ahold of James' wrist. Laughing, he set down his paper and stood to dance with her. Buffy watched the couple. It was heart-breaking to think of how this romance would ultimately end. She picked up the paper James had set aside. The Sunnydale Times, January 15, 1948. January 15. One hand went to her mouth in shock as she realized the significance of the day.
"Xander", she whispered, nudging his elbow. "It's all going to happen today. Today is January 15th."
He looked at Buffy for a long moment, then glanced over at the older Slayer, laughing as her Watcher swung her around the kitchen floor. "Oh god....time travel sucks", he replied, more serious that Buffy had ever heard him be before.
Buffy shook her head. "She doesn't deserve what's going to happen to her tonight." Suddenly, an idea began to form in her mind. "Of course....it doesn't have to happen that way."
Xander seemed to read her mind. "Buffy....if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, un-think it right now. You can't save Annaliese and not affect the future. You were listening to Giles do his 'dangers of altering time' lecture; hell, you pinched me incredibly hard last night for mentioning the location of the Hellmouth!"
"Yeah, but...."
"No 'buts', Buff. We will participate in tonight's events in one way: running for the portal when it opens and praying that it leads back to 1998." Xander was firm.
"When did you become group-leader boy?" Buffy fought back the urge to stick her tongue out at him.
He took a gulp of her orange juice. "About the same time you became go-against-the-laws-of-time-and-space girl."
Annaliese interrupted their conversation. "Come and dance with us, you two!"
"That's okay", Buffy politely refused.
Xander nodded emphatically. "We're not really good at dancing. Mostly because we don't know how to."
"Oh, everybody can waltz. Sure you won't give it a try?", Annaliese asked. Seeing them shake their heads, she shrugged and returned her attention to her own dance.
Buffy watched the couple for another minute. "How do we know that saving Annaliese would really affect the future that much? I mean, if everything is pre-destined, then even if she did live a little longer, I'd still eventually become the Slayer. Right?"
"You can't know that for sure, though. I mean...what if Annaliese did live and she lived so long that the girl who was supposed to be called next, died before she could be called, then someone else was called who wasn't supposed to be and then she lived a long time and..." Buffy held up her hand to stop him.
"Okay, okay. I get the picture", she said, dismissing the subject, from the converstation, but not from the back of her mind.
The song on the radio ended and a man's voice came on with the news. Buffy watched James tenderly kiss the back of Annaliese's hand. Life....it was so damn unfair sometimes.
*************************
"Why are people staring at me?", Buffy asked Annaliese, as they walked towards the center of 1948 Sunnydale. She looked down at her clothes. "Oh...never mind."
Annaliese looked around at the staring citizens. "Are you sure you're okay? There's a Woolworth's up a few blocks....you could buy a dress or two, if you want."
"That's okay. I won't be here long enough to....um....the pants are okay." Buffy mentally slapped her forehead. "Besides, Xander in a dress is a frightening idea."
The older Slayer laughed. "You've got a great sense of humor, Buffy. I'm almost sad that once Zeitlos is dead, James and I will be going back to Chicago. I'd like to get to know you better."
Buffy nodded, unsure of how to answer that. "So...you and James....it's, like, serious?"
"Yes...I think it is", Annaliese answered, after a moment of thought. "He's....he's everything. I don't know what I'd do without him." She blushed, realizing she was talking to a practical stranger. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to get quite so personal."
"Nothing to apologize for. Has he asked you to...I don't know, marry him?", Buffy phrased her question carefully.
Her blushed deepened, giving away the answer. "About three weeks ago. He gave me this...." She pulled the tiny snowflake from under the collar of her blouse. "...on Christmas Eve. He said he'd get me a ring as soon as he could, but honestly, the necklace is perfect."
Buffy choked on the lump in her throat. "It's beautiful. You two seem...very happy." The younger Slayer had to look away. "So...they already have...I mean, there is a magick shop in town, right?"
"James said he saw one the other day. His sense of direction is a little off though. I don't see anything." Annaliese shielded her eyes from the sun to see her surroundings better.
"I think it might be over there", Buffy innocently pointed in the direction she knew the magick shop in 1998 Sunnydale was located. The location hadn't changed; the two Slayers headed into the store. It wasn't an official magick shop, Buffy could tell right away. But hidden behind the "normal" gardening supplies and herb plants, were the tools of witchcraft.
Annaliese dug a list out of her handbag and handed it to the shopkeeper. "Can we get these things?", she asked, quietly. The girl nodded and headed into the backrooms.
"This spell, it's supposed to keep Zeitlos from doing what, again?" Buffy played with the leaves of an aloe plant.
"James thinks that Zeitlos is going to go back in time to bring back some of the world's worst men....assembling an army, if you will. Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini...men like that. We've been tracking Zeitlos all the way to Sunnydale; this is definitely the place he's going to do it. This spell will, in theory, stop him from opening any portals to the past." Annaliese shook her head. "It goes without saying that we have to stop Zeitlos at any cost." She paused. "I was called...after the last Slayer died. She died in one of Hitler's work camps....Bergen Belsen, I think James said it was. We didn't find out until after the war; we always assumed she had simply lost a fight. It doesn't seem quite fair, does it? She had to die in that horrible place, simply because of her faith, to make me what I am today."
Buffy shook her head slowly. "It's not fair at all", she whispered. "But it comes with the job...I suppose."
"It's frustrating the daylights out of me...there's something about you that I just can't put my finger on. I feel like I could tell you anything...and you'd understand."
Before Buffy could answer, the shopkeeper came back with a paper bag. "Five dollars", she told Annaliese. Buffy smiled to herself. Five dollars in 1998 wouldn't even buy a sage wand, but here, they had purchased the workings for an entire spell for the same amount.
Annaliese counted out the bills, took the bag and thanked the woman. She and Buffy left the store. "I could learn to live in Sunnydale", Annaliese confessed, as they began the walk back to Revello Drive. "It's January, and it's balmy outside. There's a magick shop. The people are all nice." She took a small, satisified breath. "It's the perfect place to raise a family."
*************************
"This is torture, Xander. We've got to get out of here", Buffy cornered her friend, once she and Annaliese arrived back at the house. "I can't take it...her life is too damn perfect! And it's all about to end. I can't take it anymore!"
Xander put his hands on Buffy's shoulders. "Buff...relax. You've got to calm down. Now, I know this is tough, believe me. I've just spent an hour listening to James hum Frank Sinatra. But we just have to hold out for a few hours and then we can go home."
"But what if we don't get to go home? What if this spell works and Zeitlos can't open any time portals! Then we'll be stuck here forever!"
"That's not going to happen. I've been thinking this out. If you and I take over doing the spell, we can wait until he's already opened the portal...hopefully the one he's planning on opening to take back to 1998....and then do the spell, making him unable to open anymore. Then you and I make a run for it and the rest, as they say, is history." Xander looked at the Slayer for approval. "Am I good or am I good?"
Buffy glanced down at the polished, wood floor. "It's a good plan; it's our only plan." She chewed on her lower lip. "They're engaged. That necklace, he gave it to her when he asked her to marry him. And she's pregnant....Xander, they don't even know that yet."
"You can't keep thinking about that, Buffy. It all...sucks, to put it mildly. But you've got to remember, this has all happened before. It's just the way things have to be. We're the fluke here; we're the part that's not supposed to be. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be the guy who screws up history."
"You're right....I know you're right. But, promise me something." Buffy waited for Xander's nod before she continued. "Promise me we'll be gone before...before she gets hurt. Before she dies."
He hung his head for a second. "I can't promise that, Buff. All I can do is say, we'll do everything in our power to be gone before it happens. All right?"
Annaliese came into the room before Buffy could answer. "We're getting ready to go out; are you two coming?"
Xander thought of something. "How do you know to go to Weatherly Park?" The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he had just said.
The older Slayer gave him a strange look. "Weatherly Park? James wants to look there again?" Buffy and Xander shrugged, innocently. "I suppose it's as good a starting point as any. I'll go suggest it to James." She disappeared around a corner.
"Ooops....my bad", Xander said, under the weight of Buffy's glare. "Hey, they were going to figure it out eventually, right? I just leant a helping hand."
"So, the line between helping out and completely screwing up the future is drawn where?", Buffy asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Xander put a hand to his heart. "Touche." He got serious again. "Are you going to be able to do this, Buff?"
She paused before nodding. "Yeah. But you're right....time travel does suck."
************************************
"More coffee anyone?", James asked, holding up the thermos Mrs. Stein had packed for their "late night picnic". Getting no replies, he set it down on the bench. "Who suggested we stake out Weatherly Park, again, and why?"
Xander, prompted by Buffy's jab to his ribs, meagerly raised his hand. "A little bird told me to?
Annaliese smiled at him and placed a hand on James' arm. "Let's give it a little while longer." James gave in, and said nothing more.
A gust of wind swept over the group; Buffy was glad to have her jacket on. The surrounding park was almost completely pitch-black. The absence of light unnerved Buffy. Zeitlos could be right behind them, and they wouldn't know until it was too late. She stood up from the bench she shared with Xander and walked a few feet into the darkness. Annaliese unhooked her arm from James' and followed her.
"Are you all right?", she asked Buffy.
The younger Slayer indicated that she was. "I could ask the same of you; you've been wringing your hands since we got here."
Annaliese's arms dropped to her sides. "I was hoping no one would notice. It's hard to explain....I just feel like something....bad is going to happen tonight." She chuckled. "It's probably nothing at all."
"Probably", Buffy replied, choking on the word.
"But, what if it is something?", she could see Annaliese's smooth forehead crinkling. "What if something does happen to James...or even me tonight?"
Buffy lifted her shoulders. "You...you shouldn't think that way...I guess."
"I know. And I'm sure if Zeitlos does show up tonight, I won't be thinking about it. But just in case..." She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. "I want you to hold onto this." She took Buffy's hand, placed the delicate silver snowflake in her palm, and closed Buffy's fingers around it.
"Annaliese...I can't take this....", Buffy began.
"Well, I'd like to have it back if everything goes as it should", Annaliese laughed. "But, please....hold onto it for tonight." Buffy nodded and slipped into her back pocket. "All right...I feel a little better now."
Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the nearby children's play area. James was on his feet before the two Slayers could even turn their heads to see what it was.
"Is this it?", Annaliese asked her Watcher. He squinted into the darkness. Buffy and Xander followed his gaze, but didn't see anything.
"I don't know", he replied. The cloud that hung over the moon moved and the unmistakable shape of Zeitlos came into plain view. "I take that back. Xander, are you ready with the spell?"
Xander crossed his fingers. "Ready."
James took a deep breath and handed a small dagger to Annaliese. She made the sign of the cross and moved forward to engage the demon. "Zeitlos", she called out.
The all-too familiar demon turned around to face her. "Slayer?", he guessed, with an amused snarl. His yellow eyes looked her up and down. "You'd be a great asset to my little army if you weren't...well, a Slayer."
"Lucky for me, then", she whispered. Zeitlos didn't seem to want to talk anymore. He turned his back on Annaliese and mumbled a few words in a language Buffy couldn't understand. Almost immediately, a small flicker of light appeared in front of him. It slowly grew to a circle about the size of a dinner plate. Annaliese took the opportunity to run to him. She plunged the dagger into Zeitlos' shoulder; he grunted in pain and whipped around.
"You shouldn't have done that", he told the older Slayer. With one hand, he punched her. Buffy winced. It was taking every bit of her strength to not run to help. Annaliese swung at the demon, her fist making contact with his side. He bent over slightly and she hit him with a kick to the jaw. He stepped backwards from the force of the blow. Behind him, the portal opened even further. Buffy could hear Xander begin the chant James had found in one of his spellbooks.
During the fight, James was watching Annaliese, his eyes never leaving her. Buffy could sense that he, like her, wanted to help. But this was Annaliese's job. And she was doing it well. Zeitlos tried to trip her, but she jumped out of the way and gave him another hard punch to the ribs. The demon let out a terrible snarl and bent at the waist, his horns catching Buffy's eye in the moonlight. She opened her mouth to yell to Annaliese, but Zeitlos was too quick. He ran for the Slayer, ramming into her small body with every ounce of strength he had. Buffy saw the scene as though it was in slow motion. Annaliese was lifted into the air, one horn tearing a path into her right side. But the real force was applied to her lower abdomen. She couldn't even scream.....in just a second, she had been thrown to the ground.
"Annie!!", James yelled her name. He ran to his fallen fiancee, followed by Buffy. Blood...blood was the first thing Buffy saw....pouring from a jagged gash in Annaliese's side, a trickle flowing from the corner of her mouth. It was all too much to take in. James knelt by her side. "Oh god....Annie!"
She reached for him. "James?" The blood rose in her throat; it kept her from saying anything more. In shock, Buffy looked over at Zeitlos. He seemed to be trying to open another portal, but couldn't. Buffy's gazed moved to Xander. Unfortunately, so did Zeitlos'. Realizing that Xander was probably what was keeping his new portal from opening, he tore the plank from a nearby see-saw and snarled, making a path for the boy. Xander, seeing him coming, stood up. He didn't see the tree branch that hung over him, until his head made contact with it. But he need not have panicked; Zeitlos never reached him. James, half-crazed, grabbed the dagger that Annaliese had dropped earlier in the fight and lunged for Zeitlos. He plunged it into the demon's shoulder blade. Zeitlos roared in pain and reached behind to pull the weapon out. Once it was out, he turned around and swung the plank at the same time. The heavy piece of wood hit the Watcher and he dropped, unconcious.
Buffy's shock dissipated. Zeitlos stood over the Watcher, holding the board at an angle in front of his body in satsifaction. Buffy ran to him, not stopping at the edge of the board. She ran up it in three long strides and kicked the demon directly in the face with all of her might. Zeitlos spun around and dropped beside the Watcher. Buffy fell to the ground, picked herself up and grabbed the dagger. Without hesitation, she stuck the blade deep into Zeitlos' heart. The demon twisted his body as the life drained out of him. Buffy's chest heaved with exertion. She didn't have time to catch it though; Xander scrambled to his feet and ran over to her.
"C'mon", he said, running past her. "We don't have a lot of time."
"Xander, where are you going? We've got to help Annaliese!!" Buffy pulled on her friend's arm, gesturing wildly towards the fallen Slayer.
He didn't allow himself to be dragged back. "No, Buffy, we can't! We have to get to the portal."
"But she's going to...."
"Die. I know. Buff, she has to."
Tears welled up in Buffy's eyes. "We can't just leave her like this! She deserves a chance to live, to have her baby, marry her Watcher....dance to Frank Sinatra. And we can give her that, Xander."
Her friend shook his dark head sadly. "Buffy, if she doesn't die tonight, you won't exsist tomorrow." She stopped as this sunk in. "C'mon....we have to go now. The portal is closing."
Buffy looked back at Annaliese's crumpled form. She wasn't moving at all anymore and a pool of blood had collected around her lower body. James was waking though, and Buffy knew they needed to be gone before he completely came to. Her glance returned to Annaliese. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry", she whispered to the girl's frighteningly still body. She allowed Xander to pull her towards the portal. It had been reduced to half its original size by the time Buffy and Xander reached it. Each taking a deep breath, the two friends ran directly into the swirling light.
****************************************************
Someone was shaking her. "Buffy. Buffy, are you alright?" It was Giles and he sounded concerned. Buffy opened her eyes. Her Watcher's face hovered over her.
"Giles? Where am I? Where's Xander? And Zeitlos...?" She sat up, but Giles gently guided her back down.
"Xander is fine. He's right over there, resting." Giles pointed to a few feet away where Xander was lying in a dazed state. "You two had quite a hard fall."
"Zeitlos?", Buffy asked again.
Giles drew a blank. "He disappeared after you two fell."
Buffy ignored Giles' request for her to rest and sat up again. "That's right...cause we killed him in 1948."
"What?" The initial concern on Giles' face turned to confusion.
"The time portal", Buffy clarified. "We killed him in 1948....I know we weren't supposed to alter the future, but things just got...carried away. He must have been planning to help himself in 1948, but we went through the portal instead."
Her Watcher blinked. "Killed him? 1948? Buffy, what are you talking about? You've been here, unconcious for the past five minutes."
The Slayer put a hand to her forehead. "Five minutes? But we....we were there, Giles. In 1948. We met Annaliese and James....we helped them kill Zeitlos, but...we couldn't save Annaliese." Giles' confused look didn't lift. "You saw us go through the portal...didn't you?"
"Zeitlos knocked you and Xander into what we thought was a portal. But it must have just been an...an energy field of some sort. You simply...passed through it and landed on the ground."
Buffy looked over at Xander who was sitting up and looking more coherent. "Tell him, Xander. Tell him we were there."
"It's true. We did the timewarp." Xander gingerly touched a bleeding wound on his head.
"Your head. You hit your head on a branch when Zeitlos came after you." Buffy pointed to the wound. "See! That's proof. We really were there, Giles."
But Giles was still unconvinced. "In all likelihood, Xander simply hit his head on a rock."
"We were there, I swear. Xander and I didn't have the same unconcious dream, or anything."
Giles rubbed his eyes. "It's not unheard of. You didn't disappear, Buffy. You passed through the energy field and fell onto the ground, unconcious. That's all I know."
Buffy reached into her back pocket to investigate a strange lump she felt there. The lump, she soon discovered, was Annaliese's necklace. She held up it up for her Watcher to see. "Giles, Annaliese gave me this. It's the same necklace we saw in the picture, remember? Please believe us....we didn't imagine this."
He reached for the tiny silver snowflake and examined it with a look of wonder on his face. "My god.....this is extraordinary", he whispered after a long moment.
"The portal we went through in 1948 must have just brought us back to the exact second we went through it in 1998", Buffy theorized. She swallowed a lump in her throat, remembering the long-dead Slayer. Giles handed the necklace back to her. "So...can we get out of here? I've had enough of this park."
Xander shakily stood up and offered his hand to help Buffy stand as well. "I hope so. Cause I feel like sleeping for several years. Just wake me up when I turn twenty-one. I don't want to miss that."
"Yes...I think we've done all we can here. We can iron out the details of Zeitlos' death later", Giles concluded. He took another look around the park, then turned to his Slayer. "You've done it again. You've overcome another death prophecy, Buffy." His voice was both affectionate and proud.
But Buffy was solemn, despite the praise. "It wasn't my prophecy." Xander and Giles looked at her strangely. "'The Chosen One will again close her eyes, this time forever'", Buffy continued.
"Yeah and you're still here, Buff", Xander pointed out.
She shook her head. "It was talking about Annaliese. Now that Zeitlos is gone, she'll rest in peace forever, like she deserves to." Buffy rolled the delicate necklace between her fingers. "I could at least give her that."
******************************************
.....Heaven....I'm in heaven....and my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak....
Frank Sinatra's voice poured from Buffy's boom box. She had kept the song on repeat for the past two days, much to her mother's chargrin. Somehow, the tune Annaliese had loved so much was comforting, and yet, haunting at the same time. Still, Buffy let it play on, again and again. There was a sudden, light tap on her window. Knowing it could only be one person, she crossed over and opened it.
"I was hoping I'd see you soon", Buffy smiled warmly at Angel. She motioned for him to climb through the window. "C'mon in. Oh, I guess you don't really need an invitation anymore, do you?"
"No, but it's always nice to be invited." In a second, he was standing beside her. "How are you?"
Buffy gave a little shrug. "I'm...alive."
Her boyfriend looked ashamed. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I tried to find you, but I ran into some vamps in the cemetery and..." Buffy cut him off.
"It's okay. The fight wasn't very long...at least not the fight that happened here. Anyways, it's over now." She touched the snowflake at the hollow of her throat.
Angel, searching for something to say, pointed at the necklace. "That's new. Where'd you get it?"
"A friend", Buffy whispered. "A friend gave it to me."
"Buffy...are you sure you're all right?"
She looked up at him. "Yeah...yeah, I'm okay. It's...well, it's a very long story and I promise to tell you someday. I just...don't feel like talking a lot about it right now."
The vampire before her nodded. "Your new respect for Frank Sintra wouldn't have anything to do with this melancholy, would it?"
"Can't fool you, can I?" Buffy looked down at the floor, then back up at Angel. "This same friend...she really liked this song. It just reminds me of her."
Angel took a step towards her. "She must have been some friend."
"She was...could have been...we had a lot in common." Buffy fought back hot tears.
There was a short pause, during which the song ended and began again. Angel cleared his throat and took Buffy's hand. "It's been a very long time since I've done this....long before this song was even written in fact, but...would you dance with me, Buffy?" The young Slayer looked up at him with eyes so full of adoration and trust that, if he hadn't known better, he could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.
"I'd love to", she replied, wiping away the tears.
....Heaven....I'm in heaven....and my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak...and I seem to find the happiness I seek, when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek....
"I didn't think I could dance", Buffy commented, allowing Angel to lead her in an up-tempo waltz.
Angel kissed the tops of her fingers, intertwined with his own. "Everybody can waltz."
"I've been told that before." She smiled at the memory.
....Heaven...I'm in heaven....and the cares that hung around me through the week...seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak, when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.....
"Who was the last person you waltzed with?" Buffy moved a little closer to him as she eased into the rhythm of the dance.
He thought for a second. "It doesn't matter. You're the only dancing partner I want to remember, Buffy."
...Come on and dance with me...I want my arm about you.....the charm about you will carry me through to heaven.....
Buffy rested her head against Angel's strong shoulder. "So, can we just stay like this for eternity?"
....I'm in heaven....and my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak......
"That's what I had in mind." Cupping her chin with one hand, Angel kissed her softly.
....and I seem to find the happiness I seek....when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.....
The End