"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part VIII...

En route to Rome…

Buffy now listened with the others as Olive filled in some details of the family…

"Amelia lived to 1922…" she noted. "She never gave up the search for William. Though Philip dismissed Henry's stories as nonsense…Assumed William had run off and died in some foolish poet's romantic quest…She believed…And passed the search on to her children and Philip's. By then she'd gathered some evidence to confirm Mr. Foxcroft's tales…"

"Henry…What happened to him? He did find some happiness…?" Buffy asked, anxiously.

"He rejoined our families, Buffy…Married Amelia in 1884."

"Good job…" Dawn patted Xander in their row. "That's for him, you know…"

"Then what…?"

"Well…We continued to try and monitor William. He left enough of a trail that we could follow his exploits, though he was far too elusive and dangerous for us to confront. Especially when paired with Drusilla…" Olive began. "Excuse me…?" she stared at the questioner, a tall, chubby, blonde-if-balding fellow of forty or so, standing in the aisle by their seats…

"Who are you…?"

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Andrew, Dawn all staring…

Ummn… "Great story…" the man nodded.

"Go away, sir…" Buffy frowned. "This is a private gathering…"

Human, unfortunately…she noted to Willow. As the man slouched off, ears still perked…

"Here…" he handed a young woman in his seat row a small pocket tape recorder. "Get this transcribed as soon as possible after we land…" Waving to the group up front glaring down at him. Hey…

"Yes, Mr. Whedon…" the girl nodded.

…..

Rome…

"What did I tell you?" Dawn sighed. "We look like a couple of Iranians. Just need the burkas…"

Buffy glancing round at the young and not-so-young Italian women passing by the hotel's square.

Well…Probably not the best quarter…

Willow repressing a slight smile. For once I'm the one in style…Well, she eyed her own outfit as one young woman passing gave her a slight, rather sympathetic glance…Poor thing…

Maybe not in style…But stylier…She thought.

"Andrew, Sandler…" Buffy turned to the men of the party. "Would you deal with the bags? And watch them at all times…I had a trunk stolen in Rome in 1871."

"Wonderful historic land but thieves everywhere…" she noted to Willow quietly. "I doubt it's changed much…Father always said it was the degenerate element in the Italian character."

Willow blinking…

Well…Buffy beamed at Dawn, Olive, and Willow as the boys attempted to 'deal'…Andrew struggling with the large old trunk Buffy'd insisted on purchasing in a vintage shop in Sacramento. Something sturdy being always preferable on a long foreign excursion she'd explained to Dawn at the time…

"The Eternal City…Fitting home of the Immortal…Oh, I feel like I've returned home. This is one city that never changes. It'll be my turn to show you ladies round…" she smiled. "Now, just let me find my guide to the ruins…"

"A few things have changed in a hundred and twenty five years, Buffy." Dawn noted dryly.

"Yes, the women are as nude as the statues…" Buffy frowned. "Here…Yes…Hmmn…" she thumbed through the book. "Not as good as the one I had on my first trip…" she noted to Willow. "Still…Should be adequate once Henri helps us find a proper guide… Giuseppe!" she called to the clerk at the front desk they were approaching…

"Buffy…" Willow hissed. "It probably isn't…"

"Madame…" the clerk beamed at Buffy. "I see you remember me…A thousand pardons that I seem to have a bit of trouble…"

"Cicely Walthrop and party…" she smiled. "Mrs. Cicely Walthrop…" He turned to his computer.

"One of them is always named Giuseppe…" she hissed to Willow. "My father always said it made for better service if they thought you recognized them…"

Hmmn-hmm…Racial profiling, both national and personal, courtesy Sir Richard Addams. Off to a nice stereotypical start…Willow thought.

"Yes…From California…?" Giuseppe looked up, eyed Buffy. "Sorry, madame…Your accent…"

"I'm originally from London. But, not all of us can be British, unfortunately." she smiled.

"She was not supposed to use that name…" Xander had come over to Willow and Dawn... "Giles only wanted to humor her…That phony passport worked on the plane but it can't be counted on if they check too much…" he whispered. "The Council might not be in shape to provide back-up confirmation of her citizenship in England…"

"You tell her…" Willow hissed back. "Anyway it's only till we meet 'Henri'…And it explains the accent till we teach her some Californian…"

"Summers…" Dawn, at the desk, was firm. A proud defender of the family name, even if an artificial one… "Dawn Summers…"

"Willow.." Buffy had come over. "I was thinking…So long as we have Buffy's passport as well…Are you quite sure you should use your real name?"

"What?"

….

Dawn having been reluctantly released by Buffy to go shopping with Olive for …Anything else, as Dawn put it…And Xander and Andrew busy on phone making contact with Giles' Council agents in Rome…Buffy had been somewhat diffidently attempting to express her delight to Willow at a century of progress among the races and religions…

Thought she'd seemed leery of using the lavatory on the plane after that black girl had used it…Willow thought.

Yes, indeed…So nice there'd been no polite suggestion by dear Giuseppe that Miss Rosenberg might find accommodations in the Jewish ghetto of Rome more to her liking…

"I was here when the new Italian government began closing the ghetto. And heartily approved, you know…"

"Hey…" Dawn waved to them.

Oh, good God…Buffy put a hand to her mouth on seeing her sister's new dress. Which Dawn had insisted on wearing immediately…

After all the trouble I've taken to try and elevate the girl to some semblance of decent standards…

Dawn dropped her bags… "Wait till you see what else I got…" she grinned. "Olive knows those Italian shops…"

"Thank you, niece…" Buffy glared at the sheepish Olive. Likewise bearing bags…

"Anyway…Willow…" she returned to the matter at hand. "I shouldn't wish you to think…"

"That's nice…" Willow nodded. "So you don't mind us living among you…Nice…"

Ummn…

Dawn eyed Olive…Olive, Dawn…

"Now, Ms. Rosenberg...I will have you know I have...Had...have had...Many friends of the Hebrew faith."

"Uh-huh..." Willow stared...

"In case it doesn't fit a cultural reference you're familiar with, that means I'm waiting..." she explained.

Oh...

"Well...There was a bookseller...I frequented...Often...Very sweet man with a stubby beard...Judah...Something...And we often had Mr. Benjamin Disraeli at the house..." arch look.

"England's most powerful politician tolerated in your ambitious father's home...Keep going..."

Oh, God…Dawn sighed. First she kept calling that waiter in Sacramento, boy…Now this…

My sis is a racist?

"Ummn..."

Xander and Andrew were heading over…

"Nice duds…" Xander nodded to Dawn. "She have her fit yet?"

"Yes…" Buffy glared. "Lets all run naked in the streets. Like the pagans of the ancient times in this city…How did your telephoning go?"

"We have made contact…" Andrew announced formally.

"Good…Oh!...Jonathan!" Buffy stood up... "Yes! How could I forget? Well, I have forgotten so much...But dear Jonathan Levinson..."

Ummn...Willow blinked.

Uh-oh...Xander eyed Dawn...

Then again...On the other hand...Hooray... Our Buffy is back...

Though maybe best not to mention why Jonathan wasn't here to greet her return after that nice remembering him...

In fact...I might prefer not to reflect on why that little nerd's memory should have brought her...

'Eye on the Prize'…And maybe some episodes of 'I'll Fly Away'…Dawn thought. That and a view of "Schindler's List" might do it…

"Buffy..." Willow, carefully. All minor racial slurs and intolerances erased and forgiven in the sad moment... "Jonathan isn't with us anymore..."

"Of course not..." Buffy frowned. "Poor lamb must have been dead for sixty years unless he was vamped...My God..." she eyed them, hand to mouth. "He wasn't...Here? Transformed...?"

"Ummn...Buffy..." Willow glanced about…No one close…

"Oh, my poor Mr. Levinson...He was such a good, sweet man. You know I did consider his suit, Willow..." she nodded. "Quite seriously...He was the best of the crop until William came..."

"Buffy..." Willow waved hands...Soothing voice, as Xander stared.

Did she like that Levinson guy? Dawn stared in turn…Maybe some hope. Oh, right...The umbrella thing...Thoughtful nod...Must be a buried Buf memory resurfacing…

Sexual symbolism...She nodded to herself. Just like that story in Psych class...Always the most powerful memories…

"Oh, my...Did I? You know...Buffy? Stake him?" Buffy asked.

"...Buffy...No...Jonathan is a Buffy memory..." Willow explained, carefully. "He lived in our time. One of our friends...Well, Andrew's friend. But he was very nice, as you seem to remember. Honey, I'm so..."

Wait...Suit?

"What?" Buffy stared... "Lived in your time? Jonathan? He was my father's barrister's junior partner...What do you mean, lived in your time? Are you people trying to be amusing?"

"Your father's barrister's what?" Willow blinked...Xander waving Olive in...

"His partner...And one of my suitors..." Buffy, triumphant air. "You see, I...Had a Hebrew suitor..." arch look at Willow again...Slight swagger of the head.

"And found him quite charming, I might add..."

"It couldn't be..." Willow looked at Dawn who looked at Xander who looked at Olive...Then looked at himself in the mirror on the wall across...

She dated Jonathan Levinson?

"Ancestor, maybe?" Willow suggested.

Doesn't take the pain away, Xander sighed to his image...

Yes, I'm sorry, An…

"Would someone please explain what the problem is to me?" Buffy asked. "Has someone raised Mr. Levinson from the dead or something?" Willow frowning as Xander eyed her, catching her eye in turn.

Hey, I be clean over two years now…

"Nah, Willow hasn't tried raising from the dead since you…" Dawn waved a hand. "He was our own Johnny…" Another wave…

That he was…Andrew sighed sadly in his chair…Oh…

"Oh…You mean had a Jonathan Levinson here?" Buffy asked. "Hmmn...Well, surely mine could have been an ancestor...Yes…How nice..." she beamed, nodding. "But he's not with you now...?"

"Afraid not..." Willow shook her head.

Wait...Buffy tensed.

Raised from the dead...? These people can raise from the dead?

I mean...She eyed the group staring at her...These people...?

I mean, dear fellows all and I'm growing rather fond of them and their charmingly bizarre quirks but…

Raise from the Dead…

How convenient…Potentially.

Though perhaps, a bit too so…

Sound of sobbing now...

"Andrew, can it..." Dawn called.