Out the Corner of My Eye
Summary: After the collapse of Sunnydale Buffy and her friends are helping to start the new Watchers Council. Things are finally seem to be getting normal until one day Buffy receives a small package with no return address that has the amulet inside.
Chapter 1: The Gift
September 2003….
London, England…
It was late at night when the elevator dinged on the fifth floor of the apartment building. The two sliding doors opened and revealed Buffy balancing a laundry basket on her hip. She let out a little sigh, 'Finally…this elevator is the slowest thing in the world' she thought to herself.
She stepped into the hallway and noticed it seemed too quiet for a large apartment building full of people. Usually Buffy was passing neighbors on her floor every second of every hour. She wasn't use to having the long hallway all to herself.
The sight of the hall looking so empty brought chills down Buffy's arm, and she was sort of waiting for the two little twin girls from The Shining to show up any moment. Buffy shook her head and laughed, 'I've got to stop doing this…just act cool...you're not on the Hellmouth anymore. Remember?' she thought to herself.
Buffy started walking down the long hallway, humming to herself as she passed apartment doors.
When Buffy finally got to her apartment number '59', she set her laundry basket to the ground and quickly reached into her pockets to retrieve her keys.
Down the hallway the elevator dinged and the doors slid open again. Buffy stopped in motion and looked down the hall toward the elevator to see who got off or if someone was getting on, but she saw no one. The suspense of the situation made Buffy's chest rise up and down rapidly, making her eyes become fixated on the elevator.
Buffy's apartment door flew open and made her jump back a little.
"Dawn…" Buffy breathed out in relief when she saw it was only her sister behind the door.
"Hey…what took you so long? Machine broken in the basement?" Dawn asked but when she saw Buffy's startled look she got a little worried, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing just…" Buffy looked back down the hallway and caught a glimpse of the elevator closing shut, not knowing if someone got in or got off.
Dawn stuck her head out the door and looked in the direction Buffy's gazed was directed but saw nothing but an empty hallway, "Something wrong?"
"No…" Buffy said in a daze as she continued to look down the hallway. After a pause she shook her head and picked up her laundry and entered the apartment. Dawn checked down the hall once more before shutting the door.
"Someone following you?" Dawn asked Buffy once they both were in their living room.
"No…" Buffy mumbled as she began sorting her clothes and folding them. "It just me…I'm probably going crazy."
"I think you're tense. This place is not the Hellmouth, not every corner in London has a monster lurking in the shadows." Dawn concluded.
"I know…" Buffy said, "It's just…I don't know…lately I have been getting jumpy. Feeling like something or someone is watching me…" Buffy stopped folding and looked at Dawn to see her sisters face expression had changed to serious.
"Creepy…" Dawn mumbled and thought about it for a moment and came to a solution, "Maybe you should tell Giles…or maybe Willow can do a spell, you know, see if there is someone or something there."
Buffy shook her head at the idea as she went back to folding her clothes, "No…Giles is busy working on the Council and Willow is still on that spiritual guide quest with Kennedy. I don't think they will be back for at least another month, and besides, I don't want Willow worrying."
"Well you know Willow, worries no matter what." Dawn got up and started to her room but turned around quickly, "Also…you got mail on the table." Then she turned and kept walking to her room.
Buffy set a shirt she had in her hands down in the laundry basket and walked over to the table to see a couple of bills, magazines, and a small package. Buffy instant reaction to the package was confusion as she looked at it, 'Who would send me something this small and more importantly, know where I'm living?'
"Dawn?" Buffy called out as she picked up the small package.
"Yeah!" Dawn yelled out from behind her door in her room.
"What's this package?" Buffy called out without taking her eyes off the small box.
Dawn opened her door and peeked out; she was wearing headphones in her ears so she couldn't really hear Buffy's question. She placed the headphones around her neck and asked, "What'd you say?"
Buffy turned to Dawn holding the package in hand, "What's this?"
Dawn shrugged, "Not sure…just something that came in the mail." Dawn said honestly.
Buffy looked back at the package, "It has no return address on it…" Buffy looked back up at Dawn.
"Maybe whoever sent it forgot to put one on…maybe it's from Angel, you know how he loves to be mysterious and…weird." Dawn said.
"He doesn't know I live here…" the words tumbled out of Buffy's mouth.
Dawn started to smirk like a cat, "Ohhhhh….that's interesting..."
"No it's not, it's just…" Buffy stopped in mid sentence, "You know what…that is none of your concern….so…about the box…."
"I don't know Buffy…just open it and see." Dawn said as she put her headset back on and went back into her room.
Once Dawn shut her door Buffy looked back at the tiny little package and examined it more, looking for clues. She examined the fold of the brown paper around the box and the spelling of her name on address label. 'Doesn't look like Willow, Xander, or Giles writing…' she noted to herself. Buffy also noted that it wasn't addressed to anyone else, not to 'Buffy and Dawn Summers', only to herself.
Buffy knew that Giles would probably not want her to open it without consulting him first but Buffy felt like she was being drawn to open it herself, like what was inside was for her and her only.
"Hell with it…" Buffy mumbled and slowly tore off the wrapping and found a little white box with a lid. Buffy took a deep breath and opened the lid and gasped at the gift inside. It was the amulet. The amulet Angel gave to her and she gave to Spike.
"Oh my god…" was all she managed say.