Sunnydale, California 2001
1630 Revello Drive
"Whoa, what?" Xander ran a hand through his hair unable to contain his shock. "Let's put on the brakes for a minute here and explain… Husband?"
Buffy slowly nodded her head. "Yes,"
"And you think he's here?" Xander asked.
"Yes." Buffy replied again twisting the invisible ring around her left ring finger.
"In Los Angeles, California?"
"Yes — or not…" Buffy frowned then tried to explain what had happened. "When I jumped into the portal, I didn't die — not exactly. I died in this… dimension but I... woke up." She felt her words circle around her head confusing the living daylights out of her. "I woke up in another time — another century."
Tara frowned and asked carefully, "What century?"
"The 18th Century. I woke up in a field in Galway, Ireland in the year 1745." Though she knew the bewildered expressions were a given, it didn't mean Buffy wanted them. She knew the thoughts floating across their minds were that she was absolutely insane.
"Whoa… huh?" Xander wasn't sure where to begin with his questions.
Buffy sat down getting the feeling she was going to need to sit. "I was taken in by a family called, the McCale's. Mr. and Mrs. McCale knew I was coming. They knew all about me. They knew I was the Slayer from this time... They knew why I sent to them." Buffy turned her eyes from Dawn landing on the others. "But they hid the reason from me. It took me a while to realise it myself. Its pretty obvious when you think about it. I knew whatever I touched… whatever choice I made would change the future — this time. And I didn't care. That's when I found Liam." Buffy thought back to their first encounter in the town. She remembered being disgusted by his vulgar behaviour. "He was so different — but very much the same." Buffy softly smiled to herself remembering her beloved. "Just like a million times before… I fell in love with him. It was different though. It felt more…" Buffy searched for the right word. "Kindred? There wasn't any pain or agony… only love in its purest form…" Her voice trailed off reminding herself of her lost love.
Dawn felt lost in the aura of Buffy's heartbreak. "What happened next?" She asked needing to hear more.
Buffy blinked from her dreamy state and placed herself back on track with an explanation. She looked at Dawn with a smile, "We got married."
"You — You got married?" Dawn felt tears spring back into her eyes.
"Yeah," Buffy nodded and continued, "It was beautiful and quaint. It was in a small church surrounded by the greenest grass you'd ever seen. There was nothing around us for miles. You could hear the waves hitting the land. The sky was so blue and clear. I wish you all were there — I honestly do. As the years went on, we laughed a lot and shared in heartbreak after losing — We had two kids." She revealed surprising everyone.
Willow let out the breath she had been holding in and tearfully asked, "You're a mother?"
A smile crossed her lips as she thought of the children running about in the front of the cottage playing make-believe. "Yeah, I am. We have a little girl and boy. You would've loved them." Buffy held a hand over her pounding heart as the tears filled her eyes.
"What happened to them?" Willow asked feeling there was to be an agonizing end to Buffy's memory. She felt her guilt in waves. I ruined everything for her.
Buffy ignored the question and looked out the front window for amount gathering her thoughts then said with a quiet voice, "Even in our perfect happiness… it was never supposed to last forever. I thought I could change the events but… His fate could not be changed. I tried to — I watched him die. That was the last thing I remember… was Liam falling to his knees, whispering my name with his final breath." She looked down at her twisting fingers. "Then it all went black and when I opened my eyes again, I was laying in my coffin."
"If Liam was your husband from two hundred years ago and he died then… why the need to drive to LA?" Xander asked.
Willow shifted her eyes to Buffy's face with realisation. "Oh my god." She said with astonishment. "Y—You…?"
Buffy slowly nodded her head with understanding. "Me." She confirmed.
Xander darted his eyes around with confusion. "Okay, I think I speak for everyone when I say, huh?"
Willow covered her hand over her mouth in utter disbelief. "It was you all along?"
Buffy nodded her head wearing a serene expression on her face.
"All this time? That was you? The picture of the woman in the…" Willow stared at the Slayer with huge stunned eyes unable to finish her thought.
Xander turned to Willow holding his arms out wide. "Still not following. Complete sentences people." He waved his hands.
"A — a couple years ago — That Halloween when we all turned into our costumes," Willow began to explain, "Buffy and I snuck into the library taking one of Giles' Watcher Diaries. It was about… it was about Angel. We read about his past." She looked at Xander forcing him to understand. She sighed heavily with disappointment when Xander's focusing expression hadn't changed. "It didn't really say much except, he was married to a woman named Elizabeth. She was a foreigner from America. She had yellow hair and green eyes. They had a great love… There was a drawing of her — Or what she might've looked like. The day Angel died, his wife and their two children suddenly disappeared. Vanished. In-between massacres and getting cursed with the soul, Angel would spend decades — centuries searching for them. But… he never found them." Willow's eyes went to Buffy's face with disbelief comprehending the history she had just recited. Buffy gave the witch a small smile understanding the confusion.
The wheels in Xander's mind slowly turned piecing together the arduous explanation. His eyes widened, also with realization. "And that was you?" He pointed at Buffy.
Buffy nodded her head with a shrug, "Yeah-huh. Everything is changed. But it's so new to me…" She shook her head regaining emotional control over herself. "I need to see Angel. I need to see… to see if he — if he remembers… any of it."
The room was silent. The confusion of mind twists were loud in everyone's mind as they configured the information.
Xander was the first to snap into action when he said, "I'll start the car." He moved across the living room, blindly reaching for the keys tossed on a small end-table near the door. He walked out leaving the door wide open.
Tara then announced, "I'll call Spike and tell him we need him to patrol… indefinitely." She disappeared into the kitchen.
Buffy stood at the center of the living room watching everyone swiftly move around her. She felt still and empty unsure of what to do next when she was jolted back to reality feeling Dawn's hand over her shoulder.
"Come on, Buffy." Dawn softly said guiding her emotionally fragile sister out the front door with Willow, Tara, and Anya following behind.
Los Angeles, California
Hyperion Hotel
On a mission, Angel emerged from the dark office walking straight past Cordelia and the others. They watched the vampire disappeared into another room for a moment then walk back out with a series of books stacked in his arms.
Wesley tilted his head to the side catching one of the titles of the stacked books Angel held. "Ancient Word of the Powers That Be? Hm?" He read aloud then flicked his eyes upwards to Angel's face. "What would you possibly need to know about them?"
Angel's frown deepened eyeing the scruffy ex-Watcher with slight impatience. "That's none of your concern." Angel started back to the dark office.
"Well, it kinda is." Cordelia stepped around blocking Angel's path back to the office. "You've been hulled up in that office for hours tearing it into pieces." Angel opened his mouth to argue back when Cordelia held up her finger. "And don't think we didn't hear something shatter. We left you alone for too long. I know you well enough to know when you're being sneaky and hiding something from us — And buddy, you're as sneaky as Sylvester the Cat." Cordelia narrowed her eyes on his face. "Spill." She folded her arms across her chest.
Angel did not break his silence.
Cordelia released a heavy sigh with an eye-roll and said, "Fine… whatever but if you expect us to deal with scheming a-holes like the Powers That Be, then we definitely have the right to know why. What's going on, Angel?" She asked again.
"Nothing. Its private."
"Oh, Angelcakes!" Lorne interjected dramatically holding his face between his hands. "You can tell us." He tried an easy smile. "We're your friends."
Angel stared at the group silently tossing his eyes left to right to each member. He had spent the last few years getting to know them and gaining their trusts. He was wise enough to know if he expected them to follow him without a doubt, he'd needed to be honest with them. "I'm researching a way to contact the Powers That Be without facing the Oracles."
"You want direct contact?" Wesley said with surprise. "It's impossible."
Angel swallowed and quietly said, "I need to make the impossible possible."
"Why?" Cordelia tilted her head to the side skeptically. She knew if Angel wanted to do something as big and dangerous as directly contacting the Powers That Be, it was for a very good reason. She sensed his reluctance and raised a highbrow challenging him in a standoff. "If you want our help—"
Angel clenched his jaw mustering up his every courage. He knew once said aloud, it was real. Everything… all of the memories, dreams, the trails of happiness and agony were real.
"There's a lot about my past that you don't know — That no one knows. I never let anyone in to hear it. People tried to write about it… but the details were… limited. There are only two other people who know the truth. Darla… and Buffy."
As soon as the fallen Vampire Slayer's name was uttered, Angel knew he had everyone's undivided attention.