Series: Taking Time
Title: Maddening Part 1
Author: Harmony
Rating: PG-13
Description: Buffy and Spike go back in time, and see the events that shaped their lives, and that will change their relationship forever.
Pairing: B/S
Disclaimer: The characters are merely my puppets for the day. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy are head puppeteer guys. They pull the strings.
Distribution: Free Again (http://www.441creative.com/jo) and anyone else I've given permission to. If you want it, e-mail me: harmony@441creative.com
Feedback: Imagine a world without shrimp. Well, I really like shrimp. Feedback is my shrimp.
Dedications: Well…my family as usual. And you know what? James Marsters, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Cos they create these characters for me.
Authors notes : "Maddening" turned out longer than I expected. So it's been split into two parts.
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Spike woke up without opening his eyes. He lay for a while, just savouring the last remnants of sleep.
He was warm. He hadn't felt warm in a long time.
As the last yawn died away, his senses became alert, and he could hear a heartbeat, and steady level breathing.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, and looked over into the bed to see Buffy asleep, with her hands under her head, acting as a pillow.
He was still on the floor.
As he stood up, he noticed the window had swapped walls. It was now on the wall behind him, as opposed to next to him. In fact, the whole room had changed. The bedding was a blue; instead of the lacy pink it had been when he fell asleep.
Debating whether to wake Buffy, he pulled his t-shirt back on.
Unsure of the new layout of the room, he tripped over a chair, sending it, and himself clattering noisily to the floor
"Bloody Hell" he muttered, seeing Buffy stretch her arms above her head
"Spike…jeez. Keep it down" she yawned, as she opened her eyes and blinked sleep away.
"Sorry…it seems the room was changed in the night. I tripped over this chair" Spike shrugged. Buffy sat up, and stared at the new room.
"Ohhh-kay. What's going on? What did you do?" Buffy slid out of bed, and straightened her clothing.
"Me?" Spike sighed. The pleasant almost caring Buffy of the night before was replaced by the grudge holding Spike hating Buffy he knew and loved "I assume the smoky siblings did some mojo on us" he finished, pulling his duster on.
Buffy ignored him, and pulled open the curtains. A burst of sunlight flooded the room, and Spike jumped back, pulling his duster up over his head
"Close the sodding curtain. I'll burn! Close the-hey…not sizzling" Spike's head popped out of the coat, and Buffy rolled her eyes
"Oh great. Fireproof Spike" Buffy sighed, leaning on the windowsill
"Oh great, attitude Buffy" Spike muttered, glaring at the back of her head. Buffy turned at the bounce of the bedsprings as Spike launched himself onto it. He ended up on his stomach, with his arms holding his head up.
"Don't jump on furniture, Spike. We haven't got money to pay for stuff if you break it" Buffy spoke as if scolding a child. Spike responded in kind, sticking his tongue out at her
"So where are we, history guy?" Buffy asked, pointing to the street below. A different street to the one they'd come from the night before.
Horses and carts milled around, stopping to pick up important looking men and women. Flower sellers offered roses to passing couples. The whole place looked like something from the front of a Christmas card.
"London. My hometown" Spike said, quietly, suddenly enraptured by the street. Buffy watched a smile spread across his face.
"What horrific vampiric act are we going to see today then?" Buffy stood up, and prepared to leave the room.
"I don't know. Angelus and Darla spent a lot of time in London. Could be anything. You want to go now, or should we wait? Maybe have a bit of breakfast?" Spike changed position so his head lay on the pillow.
Buffy rolled her eyes
"We have no money. Those freaks back in that field didn't think we needed to eat apparently"
Spike nodded, and smiled innocently
"We don't have to eat…you could…lay down, and we could…think of another way to waste time" Spike bit his lip, and widened his eyes in a suggestive manner. Buffy stared at him, incredulous. He really was in a good mood.
"Either you have a death wish, or you think being in a strange place has made me lose all my inhibitions…" Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled on her shoes.
"Well, have you? Lost your inhibitions?" Spike smiled with mock hope, and Buffy grabbed the pencil lying on the notepad that had been provided with the room.
"I am in dire need of a good slaying, Spike…want to help me with that?" Buffy twirled the makeshift stake in her hand, and came dangerously close to the t-shirt clad chest.
"You'd never do it" Spike complained, sulkily, before springing to his feet, and disappearing out of the door.
Buffy just stood staring at the space he'd occupied. He was driving her insane. It was then that it occurred to her how difficult it was to hate him. When she'd been tired, not in the mood to argue, and they'd actually talked, that was easy. It was pleasant. Now she remembered why she was angry with him, it was difficult again. She had to try not to laugh at the comments he made, and the smile that lit up his face when he saw London. Yeah…this was tough.
---
Joyce rubbed her eyes as she walked sleepily out of her bedroom, feeling the need for a late night glass of juice.
In her slumber induced daze, she almost tripped over the body lying at the top of the stairs.
"Dawn!" she shouted, dropping to her knees beside the unconscious form of her daughter
Joyce spoke quickly, frantically, attempting to wake her "Buffy, can you hear me?"
Dawn came running out of her bedroom, fearing her mother had fallen with another headache. Instead she found her shaking Buffy gently, trying to wake her…what was Buffy doing asleep on the landing anyway?
"What is it? What's wrong with Buffy?" Worry filled the teens voice, and Joyce touched Buffy's face.
"Go…get the phone, call Mr Giles" Joyce moved back a little, and watched her oldest daughters face contort in her comatose state. Her brow wrinkled, as if she was worried about something.
Dawn shakily pushed the memory button. An ambulance might be better…but this was the hellmouth, and her perfectly healthy sister was lying on the top of the stairs. Giles was like a supernatural doctor.
"Hello?" a voice answered. Giles sounded as if he'd been awake for hours
"Giles…it's Buffy, she's…you have to come…now" Dawn stammered into the phone.
"On my way" The phone cut off seconds later, and Dawn ran back to her mother's side.
"What's wrong with her, Mom?" she asked, watching as the troubled expression left Buffy's face, and was replaced by a straight almost contented face.
"I don't know, honey…She's warm. I don't know"
Joyce wrapped an arm protectively around Dawn, and they waited for the doorbell heralding Giles' arrival.
It seemed like only minutes before he arrived.
---
Buffy caught up with Spike, waiting for her on the street below. She'd figured out that she'd have to avoid the owner of this particular place. Money would become a real problem.
"Where to?" Buffy asked Spike, as they walked along. The librarian attire actually made her look like she was one of the Londoners that bustled around. The only way she stood out was by the man walking alongside her in jeans, leather and bleached hair.
"I don't know what marvellous sight they have cooked up for us today. Best to find out the date…"
Buffy let him take charge. She had no clue where she was.
"A newspaper?" Buffy suggested. Spike gave her a nod, and looked around. He spotted something in the distance, and headed towards it
A grubby looking boy, about 10 held up a newspaper, calling out for customers.
Spike gave him a smile
"Can I look at this?" he asked, politely, and the boy nodded, giving Spike a strange look. Buffy giggled. He did look really out of place.
Spike pointed to a date in the corner on the broadsheet, and handed it to Buffy.
"This is the date?" Buffy asked. She missed the roll of Spike's eyes. He was having difficulty reading again, and was hoping she'd read it out, so he wouldn't have to ask her. The print on these papers was small.
"What is it?" he asked, as if prompting her to remember something from her Giles study sessions.
"6th January, 1860" she read, before scanning the page.
The newspaper boy just stared at them
"Oh look…three bodies found…mysterious markings. Police suspect wild animals" Buffy read from a small story at the bottom of a page.
Buffy gave the newspaper boy a smile and handed the paper back, before running to catch up with Spike, who'd walked away.
"Vamps?" she whispered, not wanting to attract attention of the people around her.
"Vamps" Spike nodded in response "Two specific vamps. Darla and Angelus made quite a name for themselves around this time. They killed whole boroughs of London. While doing other evil things to innocent girls…" Spike trailed off. His tone was unreadable.
"What do you mean innocent girls?" Buffy asked.
"Like Drusilla. 1860 was the year Angelus killed her family, and drove her insane. When he turned her…" Spike's voice showed no emotion. His face remained calm. Buffy couldn't tell how he felt about this, or the possibility of seeing this. She only knew that she felt sick to her stomach. She didn't want to watch the monster that had her love's face do that to anyone.
"I don't want to see that" she whispered, her stomach suddenly feeling tight "Do you?"
Spike glanced at her sideways
"I don't know. We might not have a choice" Spike suddenly clapped his hands together and smiled his usual smile. Buffy couldn't help but think he was hiding something. That he was more distressed than he was letting on "What say we go find some food?" he declared cheerily.
"How?" Buffy asked, really not wanting to eat. She'd had nightmares about what Angelus had done to people. Witnessing it first hand would be horrible.
"I know a few tricks…flirting with barmaids being one…stealing being another" Spike grinned as Buffy raised her eyebrow
"I want no part of either" she said "Let's split up…I'll go for a walk, and pretend I don't know you are stealing things and you go get food. Meet back here in half an hour"
Without waiting for an answer, Buffy walked away, not really knowing where she was heading. Spike waited until she was out of sight before clutching his head in his hands.
He felt sick to the stomach too…
---
Buffy watched from behind a stationery horse and cart. Spike stood holding his head, for a minute before starting off, looking more distressed than she'd ever seen him.
The only time he'd ever been that upset before was when she deinvited him. He looked lost…like a little boy.
When he disappeared around a corner, she came out of hiding, and wandered through the streets. London really was very pretty. She'd read about slums and the like, but she was in a wealthy part of London.
Buffy had hoped to see some sights, but daren't wander too far from their meeting place. Instead, she turned off onto a side street, planning to come in a circle.
The narrow street was dark, despite the bright day. The roofs jutted out into the street, providing a shade from the sun.
Somewhere ahead of her, a side door opened, and a woman walked out. Dressed in plain black and white, with an apron, Buffy guessed she worked for the wealthy occupants of the home.
The girl emptied a bucket of dirty water onto the street, and watched it flow down beside the pavement, a small river.
Buffy got closer, and the girl turned to face the owner of the footsteps.
Buffy's breath caught as she came face to face with Drusilla.
The dark haired girl looked different. Plumper than she was as a vampire, and the wild lost look was gone from her eyes. She had a glow to her skin.
But she stared at Buffy, as if she were a ghost.
"You" she muttered, holding a finger up. She pointed at Buffy, with horror on her face "I saw you…My Mum told me to ignore it…but you were there. And a man. You, I saw it"
Buffy wondered if she should speak to her as Drusilla, or just a girl she just met on the street.
"I'm sorry…I don't understand what you mean" Buffy came to a stop two feet away from Drusilla.
"Please don't hurt me" Drusilla backed away, as Buffy stood helplessly. She was completely unrecognisable from the vampire who'd killed Kendra. She couldn't hold that against her. It was then she lost all grip on the black and white theory. This Drusilla was pure, innocent. The Drusilla she knew better was an evil killer.
"I'm not going to hurt you…I promise…I…I have to go"
Buffy took off running in the direction she'd come, looking back once to see Drusilla disappear back into the house.
---
"Buffy!"
Giles shouted, trying to wake his slayer up. He got no response, but she moved her head to the side.
"Is she in a coma?" Dawn asked, her innocence displayed perfectly.
Buffy had been moved into her room, and her mother stood wringing her hands at the end of the bed.
"I don't believe she is. I believe this is supernatural. Willow, can you contact her?"
Willow, who had been called after Giles arrived, knelt beside Buffy and looked at the closed eyes.
"I think she's on a different plane…unconscious to us, but very much alive elsewhere. Almost like a trance, maybe"
Willow reached into her bag, and set up five candles around herself and Buffy.
"Sorry Joyce, I have to spread sand around" Willow smiled apologetically.
Joyce smiled back. Willow was always so thoughtful.
Turquoise coloured sand formed a circle around Slayer and witch, and she looked up once again.
"I'm going to try a spell. I'll enter Buffy's subconscious" Willow paused and thought for a second "hopefully" she finished.
"Well, do you need anything?" Giles asked looking at the candles and thinking it couldn't be that simple.
"Just silence…I need you to go downstairs while I do this"
Giles nodded, and guided the Summer's women out of the room. Joyce gave Buffy a final look, and closed the door.
Willow sat cross-legged on the end of the bed, and took deep breaths to focus herself. She wasn't so confident about this. All she had to do was concentrate on Buffy. Just as she thought about checking the spell book again, there was a flash and she felt herself jolted.
She was now standing in a bright room. Cream walls, with matching red furniture. Not like any place she'd been before. A noise caught her attention, and she walked towards it.
Someone was behind a door, being violently sick.
"Hello? Are you okay?" Willow called, rapping on the door with her knuckles.
As she waited for an answer, she noticed the clock on the wall. The hands moved backwards faster than they should have been moving.
"Will? Wait, I'll be out in a minute"
Willow watched a picture on the wall. Buffy, and Spike stood in her garden at night, kissing. It brought a smile to her face. They looked so in love. As the clock hands moved, the picture changed. Buffy and Spike moved apart. They went from kissing, to hugging, to holding hands, to posing next to each other. The final image Willow saw before Buffy came out of the room was Buffy glaring at Spike, who leant against a tree with a cigarette in his hand.
"Buffy, what happened here?" Willow asked her friend, as she turned away from the picture.
"Oh…you know" Buffy pushed past her, and brought her fingers up to the glass of the photo. She ran a digit over the Buffy in the picture "I can't believe I never saw it before. I should invite him back in"
Willow looked down at the clothing Buffy wore. A lacy grey vest, and black jeans.
"Invite who? Spike?" Willow watched as Buffy changed the picture again. The picture changed again to the original kiss.
Buffy indicated for Willow to follow her, and they walked into the garden. A different Buffy, wearing white, passed them, and walked into the house. Willow watched from the grass as White Buffy sighed and moved the picture again. Now Spike was leaning against the tree again.
Grey Buffy and Willow walked around the garden, and the Wicca noticed flowers growing backwards. A rose closed up into a bud, and soon disappeared into the ground.
"Why are things moving backwards?" Willow asked, looking at the soil where the rose had been. Buffy shrugged
"It's what I'm doing. I went backwards…" Buffy looked as if she was trying to find words "We are watching our pasts go by, and we can't do anything about it. We just watch. And it's horrible…but we are getting through it"
Willow watched Buffy get shorter, and turn into a little girl.
"What do you mean we?" Willow doubted she could get any more information, but tried anyway
"Me and William" little Buffy ran away into the house again, and Willow brought herself out of the trance. Before she came back to reality, a face flashed up in front of her. Drusilla.
"Giles!!!" Willow shouted at the top of her voice, trying to remember as much as she could
The watcher burst in, and took a notepad out of his pocket
"What did you see?" he asked, holding his pen ready.
"I think she's gone back in time. I saw a clock going back, and things growing down. I don't know how she got there" Giles jotted this down and Willow picked up the phone "but she isn't alone" she said, before dialling Xander's number.
---
Buffy paced a small area of pavement. Spike had five minutes to get there before his half hour was up.
Her head felt heavy. The different Dru was a shock. She doubted she'd ever be able to stake Drusilla should she have to…
It wasn't as if she had a choice in becoming a vampire. She was insane, and helpless, when Angel turned her.
She thought about going back to the house Dru had come out of. She thought about talking to her. Getting to know her better. But that might make it more difficult to see what Angelus had in store for her. This was possibly her last night of sanity, before he started to push her over the edge.
As she thought, Spike came strutting across the street, with a basket in one hand, and his pockets full, and a grin plastered on his face.
"Don't ever tell me what you did to get this stuff," Buffy said, as he held the basket out to her.
"Okay…I won't" Spike grinned again, and they started away, with Buffy rifling through the basket. A couple of loaves of bread, apples, and scones.
"What's in the pockets?" Buffy indicated, and he pulled out some cigarettes, and chocolate "Oh yes, because cigarettes are so important to our survival. What's the chocolate for?"
Spike shrugged and handed the packets of chocolate to Buffy
"Thought you might want something"
Buffy took them and muttered thanks.
Spike played vocal percussion to a song by the Sex Pistols, as they walked. The strangeness made her laugh.
"What are you giggling at?" Spike asked, bemused.
"You're singing a song that hasn't even been made yet," Buffy explained.
Spike just smiled, and shrugged. They looked at each other for far too long, with smiles on their faces.
Buffy became quiet again, realising they'd almost had a moment, and looked down at her feet. She couldn't allow herself to get close to him. It just wouldn't work.
"What do you want to do then? We're not far from some of the sights…St Paul's is 'round the corner" Spike was going to try and coax her out of the shell that he'd pushed her into.
"I'm not sure I can carry on walking all day" Buffy sighed "Maybe we should find somewhere to stay for the night. I figured we have to be sleeping for them to do their magic and move us along"
As the words left her mouth, the morning sun went down, and the moon came up in the sky. The streets, once milling with people, were now dark. A few couples walked arm in arm, rushing to avoid the "wild animals". There were a few streetwalkers waiting in alleyways to pick up customers. All round, London changed.
Buffy stopped in her path and nodded
"I should have guessed"
Spike just shrugged
"Well, walking in the sun was fun…while it lasted" he muttered "I wonder what the point was…we didn't see anything that related to us in anyway…well, I didn't anyway"
Spike looked at her questioningly, silently asking if she'd seen anything.
Buffy swallowed. She was supposed to see Drusilla. It was planned that way.
"No, I didn't see anything" she lied "Can we just find somewhere to stay now?"
Buffy hurried along. Spike was all of a sudden a vampire again. Walking in the sun made him almost human, albeit a dead one. Now he was in the dark, and he was back to vampire Spike. She felt uncomfortable around him again.
Spike followed the temperamental Slayer, and hoped they didn't bump into Angelus, Darla, or worse still, Drusilla.
"There used to be a house around here, owned by vamps. They might not have gotten 'round to killing the owners yet though"
Buffy winced, and Spike stopped on the pavement, trying to jog his memory.
Eventually, he sprinted up the steps of a white house, and knocked on the door. Buffy followed and stayed back behind Spike.
The door opened a small way, and a man stuck his head out.
"Hello?" the man spoke with a plummy English accent. Buffy immediately thought of Giles.
Spike seemed to be listening for something. Satisfied with whatever he was looking for, he brought his vamp face to the surface
The man in the house simply nodded, and opened the door wider letting him in.
Aware of Buffy's heartbeat quickening, Spike grabbed her hand, and squeezed reassuringly. He knew she'd shout at him later, but for now, she held on, and stared wide eyed at a few vampires living like humans around the large house. Most were out hunting, but a few sat reading, and sewing.
Spike made his way through the house to one of the many rooms. Buffy estimated that about ten vampires lived there. They came to an unoccupied room, with two single beds.
Spike bustled her in, and shut the door behind them. To his relief, it had a lock. He closed the small latch, and settled himself on the other bed. Buffy threw him a chunk of bread, and an apple.
"Food" she muttered, eyeing it warily…
---
Xander mumbled curses about "Middle of the night" and "dead boy Jr", as he trudged towards Spike's crypt.
Willow had phoned him and practically ordered him to go to Spike's crypt and bring the apparently unconscious vampire to Buffy's house.
He didn't understand why she thought he'd be unconscious, or what she'd said about Buffy. He only knew that Giles would pick them up in his car.
Xander walked into the crypt, and was shocked to see Spike sprawled on the floor…just as Willow had said.
"Spike! Can you hear me?" he shouted. It didn't occur to him why he cared that Spike was unconscious, but he was and he did care.
He got no reply, and lifted Spike under the arms.
A car pulled up outside the crypt, and Giles ran in. He lifted Spike's legs, and they struggled with the deadweight of the vampire to the car. The whole thing looked like a kidnapping, as Spike's unconscious form was bundled into the back of the car, and driven off without a word
---
"I've got a feeling we have to see these things" Spike paced the room, nervously looking out of the window. Buffy had just expressed extreme annoyance at being pushed around time "Kerensa is trying to prove something, right? You know what she's trying to prove…I don't need to go into that"
Buffy lifted her head
"I don't have feelings for you, Spike," she said, calmly.
Spike sighed, and shrugged
"Whatever. I figure there's a strategy. She didn't seem like the type who liked to lose. So she wants you to see your precious Angel being bad…badder than I've ever been. She's forcing you to see things in a different way"
Buffy nodded
"Agreed. But whatever she makes me see…whatever it is, it's not like I'm just going to forgive what you did to me" Buffy stated. Spike sat down now.
"I can't emphasise quite how sorry I am," he said, more to himself than anyone else.
Buffy ignored his apology and drummed her fingers restlessly
"You know she's going to show us what Angelus did from start to finish, don't you?" Buffy's voice was full of disguised fear. Spike knew exactly how she felt.
"How do you know that?" Spike asked, growing worried. He didn't know what to make of the situation. If it was indeed Drusilla's maddening that they would see, then he didn't think he could control his anger. Insane or not, she had the face of the woman he loved for over 100 years. The face that would show pain, and fear.
"When I saw her today, she was-" Buffy froze, as she became aware of what she'd said.
"You saw her today?" Spike asked, sounding calmer than he looked.
"No?" Buffy tried weakly "Yes…I saw her. Down a small street. She said she saw us"
Spike bit his lip, and blinked
"Her visions. What…what did she look like?" he asked, his voice small and quiet
"Like Dru. But not so thin" Buffy explained, wishing she'd kept quiet.
"What was she like? You spoke to her. She said she told you about her vision"
Buffy sighed. His hands clutched at the bedspread.
"She just seemed shy, and scared. I can't tell you much more. That was all it was" Buffy's voice trailed off, as it became clear that Spike wasn't listening.
"I'm going to kill him… If I see him hurt her, I swear, I'll kill him" Spike threatened to nobody in particular.
Buffy slid off her bed, and made her way beside him on her knees. He looked at her, and smiled
"This is my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid, you might have listened to me, and given me a chance, and then we wouldn't be here"
Buffy couldn't disagree, but chose to change the subject slightly.
"You're really in love with her," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Used to be. I mean, really used to be. But I'm not now. I mean I love her, but I'm not in love with her" Spike sighed, seemingly placing that as the root of all his problems.
---
Kerensa relaxed back in the soft chair, and sighed happily. A picture floated in the air, like a mini cinema screen. It was here that she controlled time.
In the floating movie, Spike lay on a bed, and Buffy had her knees pulled to her chest, as she sat against the wall. So far she was winning the bet…Buffy was being civil to him. She just needed some prompting.
A cacophony of footsteps grew louder, as Eros stormed into the room.
"What are you doing, Kerensa?" he demanded. With a roll of the eyes, Kerensa stood and smiled sweetly at her brother
"I can't imagine what you mean," she drawled.
"I just got back from Mother's, and I find this" Eros indicated the picture "You've shown them Drusilla"
Kerensa waved a hand, growing irritated with her brother
"Oh, I only let Buffy see her" she muttered, sitting down again.
"This is why Father wouldn't let you play before, Kerensa. He entrusted you to do this properly. You placed Buffy in a situation where she would encounter Drusilla. You failed to follow rules…I will have to tell him"
Eros started towards the door, satisfied with Kerensa's frightened face. She was powerful, but her father was the one thing that scared her.
"I only did it so Buffy would see vampires in a different perspective. You'd do the same thing to win a bet, Eros"
The man stopped near the door and turned, with a mischievous smile on his face
"Okay. I won't tell Father, but you must let me add a new stop on their journey home" Eros' face lit up in a grin, and Kerensa nodded, defeated, and clicked her fingers.
The floating picture changed to another street.
Taking Time : Maddening continued in next chapter