Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, concepts, or universe this is story set in. They are all owned by their respective copyright holders and/or authors
Spoilers: A lot of Buffy, and much of the ending of Angel
Timeline: Non-canon, After the events of the story "Orpheus" by Elizabeth5
Talking in the Diner
It was late at night, if there could be such a thing as night in paradise. Regardless, the retro-style, with formica table- and counter-tops, diner was currently empty, aside from it's current manager and his lovely assistant and former waitress.
Giles reflected that running the diner was different from running the Magic Box, there was no pressure to attract new customers, the diner was one of the arrival points in this paradise dimension. It was seemingly reserved for those who engaged in the epic and never-ending struggle against evil in all of it's varied and horrifying forms. When one of them would die, their souls would appear in the diner or near it, and they would be drawn to it.
Also, there was never any danger of losing the diner due to not making enough money to pay rent and the various other business expenses (inventory, overhead, cost of labor, etc.) nor was there a danger of having it destroyed by a Troll or a very powerful witch, like Willow, in the midst of a grief-induced rage.
But the best thing about the diner was the person sitting across from him. Jenny Calendar had been waiting for years for Giles to join her. There was a sadness that the wait hadn't been decades, but Giles had fallen in the apocalyptic battle caused by Angel and his destruction of the real earthly power behind Wolfram & Hart.
It was a few days since he had arrived, and the two had settled into a routine, they spent the end of each day with just each other. Either in their room or at the diner.
The diner is where they currently ended this day, they were sitting across from one another in one of it's many booths. Giles was drinking his tea, this really was a paradise, the Earl Grey was always steeped perfectly, it was never too sweet and it never got cold.
Jenny would have liked to end her day with wine, but the first time she had brought out the bottle, yesterday, Giles had a stricken look flash across his face. Jenny knew why that would trouble him. She had been a silent witness to how Angelus had used her body after she was dead. Wine had been an important part of his sick presentation to Giles. Jenny still recalled, all these years later, the devastated and lost look he had when he realized the horrible truth of her death. So, for now at least, she was sipping at coffee and Bailey's.
Jenny started the discussion with a question marked by curiosity and teasing, though he didn't know it "So, you and Joyce, huh?"
"W-what?" Giles sputtered after he was done choking on his tea, briefly reflecting that there was no pain, the choking just rendered him speechless. He wondered what she was talking about, He and Mrs. Summers had greeted each other with a respect and understanding that came from guiding and teaching a very special and indelible slayer, other than that he had not spent much time with her since his arrival.
Jenny knew all of this, but like when she was alive, she enjoyed getting under Giles' skin, forcing him out of that calm and boring front he maintained, he was so much more than that, she remembered the dates they went on, their abortive get together that was turned into a mockery by Eyghon, but there was one moment that really showed who he was underneath. It was the foretold night that the Master was supposed to rise and kill the slayer. Giles was determined to face the powerful vampire himself, in order to spare his charge, it was only through an eleventh-hour intervention by Buffy that kept Giles from an almost certain death.
With this in mind she told Giles "Don't you remember? You, her, chocolate, the hood of a police car?"
It was a good thing Giles had stopped drinking his tea, he would have choked again, as it was he blushed and stuttered anyway "Well, you see, the candy was enchanted-"
Jenny laughed at his expression and voice, she always seemed to be able to do this to him, there was quite a bit of the same reaction when she mentioned his friend Olivia. She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly "Oh relax, I was just having some fun, actually, that was one of the few times 'you' had any fun. Why was that Rupert?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, I had many instances of frivolity and, dare I say, shinanigans." Giles was indignant, he was pretty sure she had seen whatever she wanted of his life. Did she not see the Prom he attended, or the many night's helping Buffy and her friends wind down after a patrol or thwarted apocalypse.
Jenny did know all of this, but that wasn't what she meant "I know you did, but I was asking about your heart, you never let anyone get close, and you never risked opening yourself up. Why was that?"
"I suppose, at first, it was you, Jenny. Later, it was myself, the life I had, it didn't lend itself to other pursuits." Giles reflected on what a 'typical' day for him was, researching unholy demons of every kind, and if things were very dire, fighting those same creatures at night.
Jenny knew of this, or suspected, but their time so far had been spent talking about what had happened since she had died, she had been intrigued by the progress and growth Willow had made and undergone. It was a give and take process for them both. Jenny didn't just sit around watching the living with her time, so there was a lot that Giles had to tell her, and she him. Some of the things he had missed with Buffy and her friends while he was in England, she had some enlightening information when it came to his time away.
Jenny was flattered however "Me, did I really mean that much to you?"
"More than I ever had the chance to say." Giles said softly, he was tempted to move them both to their room, he had but to will it, and it would happen, but apparently Jenny wanted to stay here for now.
And the image of his face, first when he saw her body and then later at her graveside, surfaced "Well, we have all the time we could ask for and more." She assured him with affection, but she still wanted to know "How about later, why did you stay alone?"
"Ah, I wasn't really alone, dealing with Buffy and her friends, even Anya and Spike, kept me quite busy" at the shake of her head he continued "however, that's not what you were asking?" She nodded "Jenny, when you were killed, I realized that my vocation was incredibly dangerous, anyone I showed attention towards would be a target. Either because of me or by my proximity to the Slayer, I'll point to Tara as an example."
Jenny had seen what had happened to the kind and generous wicca, as she had watched Willow, and had thus seen the love those two had shared. Because of that love, Tara had nearly been killed on multiple occasions, she was brain-sucked and made insane by the hell-goddess Glory, and had been killed, as simply collateral damage, during an attack on Buffy. "You really thought that?" Jenny was honestly curious, Giles had never expressed such fear, and when he confirmed his thoughts with a nod she started "I'm so-"
Any soothing words she intended to say were interrupted by the bell above diner door and Anya entering at the same time. She looked at the couple and sighed melodramatically "You two again, and I thought Giles junior and Fred were bad enough, get a room already, stop using a booth that could, theoretically, be filled with paying and tipping customers."
"Hello Anya, are you gonna tell us about the bell?" Jenny was more familiar with workings of this paradise dimension, the bell was a signal that one of their number, a hero no doubt, had died.
Anya rolled her eyes "If mister boss-man over here didn't keep losing his pager, honestly how do you let him do that, he would know there was a slayer just outside. She's still shaken up, more than usual. I mean at least Faith found her way to a booth without any trouble."
"Alright, I'll see she gets settled, thanks." Giles muttered as he got up, though the look on his face suggested that he found it far from a bother. As the last of the old guard of watchers to die, even Wesley had went before him, Giles was given the task of welcoming slayers into paradise. He was there when they decided to activate all of the potentials. And at the time Giles was, as far as he knew, the last watcher left.
After Giles had left, Anya turned to Jenny "Well, now that he's gone, you should, you know, leave?"
Jenny smiled and chuckled, she had learned to appreciate Anya and her unique outlook "Okay, but make sure you tell him to come home, I know how he likes to take his time with the new arrivals." Jenny went back to her and Giles' room at that point, one moment she was in the diner and the next she was gone. And Anya prepared to serve the newest member of their little group, given her status as a waitress in the diner, she knew the favorite food of everyone, it helped that person ease into the idea of being dead. Hopefully this slayer was a good tipper, Anya still remembered fondly the day Wesley had shown up, how he had given her the biggest wad of money she'd ever seen in her time here.
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At the same time as Giles and Jenny were having their heart-to-heart, the other couple Anya mentioned were in the midst of their own routine. This one being slightly more intimate.
It wasn't surprising, or at least it wouldn't be to any of their friends. Cordelia, if she saw them, would be happily disgusted with the level of cuteness and contentment.
Fred and Wesley were sitting in the same place, or rather Fred was sitting on Wesley, he couldn't bring himself to object at the awkward positioning, frankly, he and Fred had only one disagreement since he had rescued her from what was essentially purgatory.
They were watching the truly enormous TV in Fred's room, though Wesley had his own place, he never really went there anymore. Thus the less than optimal position for the lovebirds, Fred had to turn her head far over to watch what was on the screen, but she was in no mood to move. Her arms were wrapped around Wesley while her body was at right angles to his own. They had been through far too much, and had been separated time and again. Now they could be together. Their friends had all commented on the couple and their sugary and entirely inappropriate level of affection in every situation. They even sat on the same side of the booth in the diner. Neither would change, however.
When she was lost in that other plain of existence, Fred had come across two old acquaintances. Lilah and Lindsey. Fred and Lilah had a set of encounters that left Fred in tears or wondering whether Lilah was right. It came to pass that she was wrong, about everything. It was something Lindsey had said about Wesley 'He tried to keep to keep on going after you were gone, but even I could see he was different. Broken.' Fred had wondered about that, Lindsey and Wesley weren't friends and had most probably not spent that much time together. So if someone like Lindsey had seen such a profound change in her Wesley, what did it actually look like, and how did Fred's other friends deal with him and her death?
That is what they were watching, Wesley's time after she had died. He had done something similar when he arrived. After he had settled in, he had asked after Fred's soul, only to be told it was lost, that he would never see her again.
After that it was a simple matter for him to wallow in despair. Fred reflected that there were few people who could suffer in heaven, and Wesley possessed that particular skill.
His ability to suffer in life was on the screen. It happened to be his last day, before the fight that would kill him. He and Illyria, the thing that had killed Fred, were spending some time together. Wesley was getting her ready for her own battle and she was continuing her relentless questioning, trying to understand her diminished role in the world. She was perplexed by Wesley 'You are what I don't understand'
Fred turned to Wesley "Why would you help that thing?" It wasn't an accusation, Fred was honestly curious, she had seen Wesley's previous interactions with the demon that had taken her body.
"In some ways, we were both lost, she was simply trying find her way, and I, well, you've seen what happened." Fred had watched, while she was winding her way down the road in purgatory, Wesley was beset by grief, that he had not shown for anyone else, even when Cordelia had died, no matter what Lilah said.
That was the source of their fight, Fred became very angry when she had seen Angel tell Wesley 'When was the last time you slept? You're not her savior. I need you here, working, not off drinking yourself into a coma, chasing ghosts. Fred's dead, Wes. You're still alive. Start acting like it.'
Fred thought it was incredibly callous, didn't Angel see that Wesley couldn't just 'snap out of it.' He had risked his soul to be reunited with her. Wesley had defended Angel, saying that he needed to hear the truth, no matter how horrific, that Angel had actually helped him. Besides, Angel never saw the full extent of Wesley's suffering, the vampire had only seen the aftermath.
They turned their attention back to the screen as Wesley was convincing Illyria that he was spending his last day the only way he could 'There is no perfect day for me Illyria...There is nothing that I want.'
And Illyria's response 'You want to be with Fred.'
Wesley said, under his breath "What a difference that would have made."
"You mean, you wouldn't have died?" Fred answered with a hint of guilt but with more wondering.
Wesley regarded Fred, again reveling in the feeling of her closeness, remembering all the time he spent thinking that this situation was impossible, as everyone had said her soul was consumed "I meant I would have approached the battle differently, as it was I fought not to die. There was nothing I was fighting for at that point." Wesley thought back to what he had told Cordelia 'My soul died the day hers did'
"In the end, though, everything turned out alright, right?" Fred saw the sadness cloud his face, and disappear as he looked at her.
Wesley wondered at the events that brought them here and smiled "I think it should be obvious, after everything, that even heaven couldn't be heaven without you. Yes, everything worked out."
And as the tear-stained Illyria, using Fred's form, kissed Wesley as he was dying. The two souls watching the screen, matched them. The moment was one of bliss.