February 13, 2004; Friday
The blue fabric that covered the cushion was clenched between long fingers, hands tense. The young woman, 23 year old Buffy Summers; sat next to the window, legs pulled up underneath her, arms by her side, hands tight on the blue cushion. A big black sweater billowed around the petite frame, the breeze blowing through the apartment from the open window, jeans encasing long legs. The 23 year old blond was currently leaning her forehead against the cool glass, looking out at the scene below her.
Rome. Buffy's home ever since she had left America months before. She had to admit it was a beautiful city in an even more beautiful country. It had interesting people, delicious foods, gorgeous clothes… and Buffy was miserable here. She was in a strange country away from everything she had grown up knowing. The food was heavier, the language unfamiliar, the customs different. There was nothing familiar or comforting in her new city. Everything was completely strange and alien. Well almost everything. There were plenty of vampires in Rome. Of course that was only at night, and right now there was plenty of sunlight streaming in the window to assure her that her services were not needed.
Buffy pulled away from the window and looked around at the beautiful, spacious, apartment that she called home. Giles had managed to gain access to some funds the Council had set aside and given some of them to her and Dawn. Buffy had been slightly annoyed at first. If the Council had had that much money, why the hell had they not paid her? All her stress about financial issues and working at the Doublemeat Palace and all along the Council had more than enough. Okay, so Buffy had been more than slightly annoyed.
The young woman lowered the legs that had been tucked up underneath her to the floor and standing up from her seat at the window, moved across the room, letting her hand glide over the back of the deep brown leather couch Dawn had insisted they buy. Buffy had tried to make the argument about saving money for college for Dawn (and maybe one day her) but somehow Dawn had managed to win the argument. Buffy frowned; she still wasn't sure how that had happened. Of course maybe it was because Buffy had only halfheartedly tried. Her heart just wasn't in it anymore. She missed her friends, she missed Giles, she missed English spoken with American accents, she missed… Spike.
And Angel. Buffy frowned at herself. Angel was… complicated and Spike was dead. Dead, dead, not undead. Hell, she even missed Faith at times. She still wasn't sure what five by five meant, but she kind of missed hearing it. She drew the line at missing Andrew though. Nope, she would not miss that little, well she had a lot of words for what Andrew was.
Buffy had considered trying to get a job in Rome that didn't involve weapons of any kind, but just couldn't work up enough energy to put herself out there. Plus, she found that a lot of the jobs out there required knowing Italian and Buffy had only managed to learn basic phrases. Of course that led to a lot of free time on her hands like today, where she was free to mope around the apartment.
This led to arguments with her rational side that told her she was being overly emotional and stupid. She had been freed from the Hellmouth, she was in a beautiful country, she had money, she was young and healthy, she should be enjoying herself and doing things such as flirting with gorgeous Italian men and shopping by day and killing evil things at night. Strangely enough that voice sound like Faith.
Buffy sighed as she walked through the doorway, leaving the living room behind her. She sat down at the beautifully crafted wood table in the kitchen. She really shouldn't have let Dawn have had as much say as she had in choosing their furniture, Buffy still felt the pain of the financial worries she had gone through a couple of years before.
She flipped open the beautiful and expensive laptop lying on the kitchen table to see if she had received messages from any of her friends. When they had parted ways, a few months after they left Sunnydale, they had found it easier to contact each other by email. At first they had been sending emails all the time. Lately though, the emails had trickled to a stop. Buffy hadn't heard from either of her friends in months. Every so often she received a phone call from Giles updating her on the progress of forming a new council, which sounded like it was moving along a lot smoother than Buffy's new life.
A knock came at the door, interrupting Buffy's thoughts. The young woman stood up as she closed the lid on her small black laptop, making her way over to the door and opening it without looking through the peephole. She stared at the very unexpected sight before her.
A man stood in front of her holding a bouquet of flowers. Roses and lilies were the only flowers Buffy could identify. Purples and pinks and yellow made up the bouquet.
"Miss Buffy Summers?" he asked in an Italian accented voice.
"Yes?" she responded, tearing her gaze away from the colorful confection in front of her, confusion marring her features as she looked up at the dark haired man. He looked to be about 6 feet tall with blue eyes. He also appeared to be in his early twenties. Buffy knew she should think he was attractive, but she wasn't feeling it.
"These are for you," the delivery man said with a flourish, handing the flowers over to the stunned girl with a small smirk.
Buffy, in a state of shock, took the flowers, as the man turned and left the hallway. She turned around shutting the door behind her, failing to notice the way the man kept himself away from the daylight that was streaming in through the windows in the apartment building's hallway.
Who was sending her flowers? Buffy put the bouquet down on her counter, before lifting the card out and opening it.
For you, my love.
Buffy stared at the card, flipping it over and than back. There was nothing more on it. What the hell?
Rupert Giles sat in the small office in the new Watchers' Council Headquarters which was located just outside of London in a nondescript brick building.
After everyone who had survived the fight against the First had left Sunnydale, Giles had suggested going to his home in England to regroup and figure out their next steps. For the next few weeks, Buffy and the other slayers, as well as Xander and Willow had made themselves at home, while discussing what to do. Buffy and Giles had agreed that the other slayers out there had to be trained. This meant they needed to be found. It also meant that they needed Watchers to help train the girls.
Within a few months; after Giles had gained access to what remained of the old Watchers' Council; he had managed to set up training sites in various places across the globe where the slayers could be taken to be trained. A few of the old watchers that hadn't been killed, had willingly come to work for the new council he was setting up. The majority of the slayers that had fought against the First, agreed to help train the new girls.
A few of them however had left, not willing to be a part of this new council. Buffy had stopped anyone from going after them. After all she had quit the council once and had been fine. Faith had taken her side and had pointed out if any of these new slayers did cause problems they could go after them then. Giles had reluctantly agreed.
Giles had also managed to retain a few of the psychics that had worked for the old council so they could help find the newly called slayers, as well as alert the Council to any potential issues. For instance, there had been a few of the surviving watchers who weren't pleased with what Giles and Buffy were doing. Giles knew most of them would find other jobs and let it go, but there were one or two that he was worried about. He had the psychics keeping an extra close eye on them.
Then, of course, there was this whole disaster with Angel running Wolfram and Hart and the run in with Dana. Giles had sent Andrew to Los Angeles to take care of it and try to figure out what Angel was up to. And partially to get rid of the new watcher for a few days.
Andrew had returned reporting that the slayer operation in California was successful in taking Dana off of Angel's hands and they were currently working with the young woman to see what could be done. Giles knew, within a moment of seeing the young Watcher in training, that he was keeping something from him. It took only a few moments of intense questioning to get Andrew to spill that Spike was alive and well in Los Angeles.
That gave Giles a few moments pause, as he debated whether or not to tell Buffy. Andrew begged him not to as he had promised the bleached blond vampire he wouldn't say anything. Giles reassured him that it was their little secret. He hoped that the vampire would refrain from inserting himself into Buffy's life yet again, but he knew deep down it was only a matter of time. Spike had a tendency on showing up when he was least expected and least welcomed.
A.N. Thank you for reading and reviewing!
