Part Seven
~**~
Buffy stood up and backed
away. "Don't get a happy, bud. We're just here to see you get what you wanted
and then go away."
Willow sat down hard on the
ground. "Still no Xander," she observed mournfully.
"Now that I've seen you, I
think I've found what I wanted," Sammy replied smoothly.
*Keep your paws off of her,
pal*, someone shouted in Sammy's mind, *Or I'll find a way to make you
walk into a wall or something.* Sammy shook his head, wondering why he was
hearing things. He turned and looked at the redhead sitting cross-legged on the
ground. *She's off limits, too. No touchie.*
"Who are you?" he asked
aloud.
Giles began to speak, but
Sammy held up Xander's hand, listening to the voice inside first. *The name's
Xander Harris, hotshot, and you're wearing my body. Those are my friends, and I
don't know who you are or why you're here, but you mess with any of them, and
I'll find a way to make the rest of your visit here a living hell, trust me.*
*Defensive*, Sammy
answered him mentally. *How do you know I'm only here for a visit?*
*Been there, already done
that*, Xander replied. *Except the first time, I could talk. Last time, I could
only watch. This time, I guess I can only talk to you. You'd better tell them
I'm in here.*
After he was shushed, Giles
began watching the being wearing Xander's body closely. He seemed to be having
some type of internal struggle, if the play of emotions across the boy's face
was any indication. After a few moments of expressive silence, he looked up,
and announced, "Xander's here."
Willow jumped her feet
eagerly. "Where?"
Sammy pointed to his head.
"Here. I can hear him, inside."
The redhead stood on her
tiptoes and looked into Xander's ear. "You okay in there?" she yelled from only
a few inches away.
Sammy flinched and pulled
back. "Ouch! We're sharing the ears," a moment passed, "Willow; it's just the mouth he can't use
right now. He can hear you fine." The girl blushed. "And," Sammy turned to the
blonde after another brief introspection, "he says to tell you that if he still
has bruises from that fight on the pier when he gets his body back, you owe him
big time." Sammy turned internal again for a moment. "No, I'm not tellin' her
she owes you *that*. I hardly know the girl."
"Yup, that's Xander," the
Slayer confirmed.
"Does he have any idea why
he seems to be operating as a sort of spiritual Days Inn right now?" Giles
asked. "And by the way, who are *you*, and what is your quest?"
A short pause. "Xander says he's as clueless as the rest of you.
My name's Sammy Williamson, and I need to see my woman."
Oh, Gawd," Buffy moaned
dramatically. "A Neanderthal sexist pig. This is the scariest persona so far."
She rolled her eyes. " 'My woman.' Let's be a little more degrading to the
female of the species."
"I meant that as a loving
kind of thang, girl. Back off. Who you think you are, anyway? Gloria Steinem or
somthin'?"
"Uhm, excuse me, Mr. Sammy,
sir, how long have you been waiting to return?" Giles felt the need to change
the subject quickly before fisticuffs ensued, as seemed always imminent when
Buffy was riled.
He got a distant look on his
face. "I've been gone seventeen long years. They say you don't notice time
passing in the afterlife, but you do when you have something you're trying to
get back for. I had Gloria."
"This one is a romance. Oh,
tell us," Willow begged eagerly, bouncing to one of the chairs. Buffy rolled
her eyes. But Sammy needed little encouragement.
"I grew up poor, and didn't
do so good in school, but I was good with a pool cue and the ladies liked me. I
dropped out of high school and drifted from place to place, makin' money
playin' pool. I'd stay in a particular bar for as long as it seemed ripe, then
I'd move on. But one night, in a new bar in a small town, I met the most
beautiful woman I'd ever laid my eyes on. I was a goner from the first."
"Gloria?" the redhead had to
ask.
"Gloria," Sammy confirmed.
"She was something else – eyes as dark as night, and," he started to motion
with his hands, "round in all the right places. She had the most beautiful…" He
stopped himself, catching Buffy's glare. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, she
was perfect. And she was always nice to everybody. There was only one problem –
she was married. He was a jackass, though. He beat her, some. She was in a
miserable life, but she refused to let it get to her."
Sammy paused to gather his
thoughts. *Hey,* Xander interrupted mentally, *I want to hear more about the
round parts, personally.*
Willow was murmuring to
Buffy. "Look, you can tell Xander must be talking to him. He's probably
comforting him – he doesn't have such a great home life either, you know."
*Can it, pervert,* Sammy
responded to his body-mate. *Besides, women don't want to hear about other
women's sexiness. You'll never score that way.*
*I think I'm going to enjoy
having you here,* Xander responded in awe. *I can use the tips.*
*If you still haven't gotten
anywhere with either of those two, I'd say that's a given,* Sammy chided.
Looking up, he noticed the others watching him expectantly, and realized how
long he'd been silent. "So," he went on, as if the long pause hadn't occurred,
"We'd talk. She'd tell me about her dreams, and how things were gonna get
better, she knew it. I couldn't help but fall for her. Soon we were meeting
secretly, whenever we could. I promised her we'd go someplace and start over –
we'd be happy. I was just savin' up to get us far enough away that Hank, her
husband, wouldn't be able to find us." Sammy's eyes grew misty. "Then one
night, she told me she was pregnant. She hadn't let Hank touch her in weeks,
and he was starting to get antsy about it, but she'd been able to hold him off
so far. Still, we knew it was time to make our move. There was our baby to
think about, now, too."
Even Giles was caught up in
the tale, in spite of himself. "And what happened then?" he asked, then looked
away slightly at the crooked grin Buffy shot his way. "Well, we can't help the
man if we don't know the whole story," the librarian responded defensively.
"Hank walked in. He'd been
askin' around, even had one of his friends follow us. He hit Gloria, hard, when
she stood up to him. I tried to defend her, but he was lot bigger than me. I
got away from him – a couple of times, actually. But I wasn't leaving without
her, and she was having trouble getting' up. I think he busted her leg when he
kicked her. Anyway, we ended up in the kitchen, and he grabbed a knife off the
counter, and," the face that was so familiar, yet alien, forced a pained smile,
"here I am, seventeen years later."
"I hate to be pragmatic
here," Giles said, "but how can you be sure Hank didn't go back and kill
Gloria, also?"
"He wouldn't have unfinished
business then, right?" Willow surmised. "Gloria woulda been there with him,
right?"
Sammy shrugged. "That's what
I kinda figured, anyway."
"So, what exactly was the
name of this small town you met Gloria in, anyhow?" Buffy asked, wondering what
her mom would say if it was somewhere across the country. *Hey, Mom, Xander,
Giles, Willow and I are going to Florida – catch ya later!* Yeah, sure.
"Sunnydale, California."
~**~
It was odd, Willow mused.
She was used to Xander leaning over her shoulder while she searched the net –
but he even seemed to be *breathing* differently with Sammy in his body. She
really hoped they could figure out what was opening his body to these rotating
spirits, and that they would do it before someone dangerous or insane ended up
inside him.
They had returned to
Sunnydale, after calling Detective Collier for an update, and learning that the
case against Kyle Martinson was already proceeding, and that Martinson's wife
was cooperating with the investigation. Now they were in the library, and
Willow was tracking details on both Sammy's death and the whereabouts of his
lost love.
The papers weren't terribly
helpful – a jealous husband's murder of his wife's lover wasn't exactly
front-page news, unless they were famous people. Seventeen year old police
reports or coroner's reports weren't on the 'Net, either. There was no listing
in Sunnydale for a Gloria Cardwell, which had been her married name, nor for
Gloria Stevens, her maiden name.
"It seems I'm gone and
forgotten," Sammy said mournfully. "Gloria probably left town, too."
"But Hank couldn't, if he
was arrested," Willow said, thoughtfully. "Chances are, he couldn't afford a
fancy lawyer to get him off, and he's still in the Sunnydale Prison." She did a
quick search, hacked through a few security protocols, and pulled up the
records. "Hank Cardwell, Second Degree Murder – twenty years. Up twice for
parole, both times denied due to a poor prison record." Willow looked up from
the screen. "Seems Hank has fallen in with a bad crowd in prison – not like
they have a group of Boy Scouts there anyway. But he's currently the prime
suspect in the murder of another inmate, and the trial is scheduled for next
month, so chances are, he's not gonna be walking around Sunnydale for a
considerable length of time, even after his original sentence is served."
*Whew,* Xander said to
Sammy. *I don't know how long you're gonna be here, but I really was counting
on getting my deposit back on the bod when I was through with it, and if you or
your honey's ex break it, I can't.* Sammy was still considering his response
when Willow picked up again.
"Here we go – emergency
contact: ex-wife, Gloria," she grinned from ear to ear, "Williamson!"
"She took my name? Freaky!
So where do we find her?"
~**~
They didn't call first. What
would they say? "Hey, we're here with your dead lover in our friend's body, and
he wanted to see you and find out how you and his illegitimate child were
doing?" Somehow, it didn't seem like the right way to approach the situation.
They just went.
"Xander wants to know if
this feels familiar to any of you. What the hell is he talking about?" Sammy
asked, as they waited at the door of the condominium on the edge of town.
Willow shrugged, but Buffy grinned.
"Sarah," the Slayer
murmured, but the answer at the door cut off further discussion.
"Gloria," Sammy breathed,
awed.
The woman at the door was
around forty, but still very attractive. The color of coffee with cream, her
skin was flawless, and her eyes were, as Sammy had said, dark as night. Her
figure was a bit soft around the edges, and there were wrinkles around the dark
eyes, but her hair was stylishly cut, and her clothes fit her well.
Xander wolf-whistled in
Sammy's head, much the to spirit's annoyance. *You're too much like I was at
your age, boy, don't end up like I did.*
*Was she worth dying for?* Xander
asked, genuinely curious. Then he caught a glimpse of Buffy through their
shared eyes, and said, *Then again, never mind. I think I understand.* Sammy
didn't answer, back to being enthralled by his first look at his lost love
after so many years.
"Gloria," he said again.
"Do I know you?" the woman
asked, confused. "Because if you're here to see my daughter, she's at some
meeting or another, and won't be home for a while."
*She doesn't know who you
are, Sams. You look like me, 'member?*
Buffy stared at the woman,
who struck her as vaguely familiar. "Williamson?" she whispered to herself.
Giles stepped up. "Ms.
Williamson," he began, "we have some interesting and slightly unbelievable
things to share with you. Would you mind if we came in?"
"Do I know you?" the woman
asked again, this time directed at Giles.
"I'm the librarian at
Sunnydale High, ma'am. But this has nothing to do with the school."
"Come on in," the confusion
still on her face, Gloria stepped aside as the man and the teenagers entered
her home. The blonde girl was the last through the door, and once inside, she
turned anxiously to the older woman.
"Don't ever do that again,"
she said forcefully. "Don't ever invite total strangers in your home. It's
dangerous."
"Uh, Buffy?" the redhead
interjected softly. "Not helping our case here. Back off."
The blonde girl shrugged.
"Occupational hazard."
Gloria Williamson was more
than confused. A group of kids her daughter's age and the high school librarian
had just come to her home, then one had lectured her about letting them in. The
boy knew her name. They were too well dressed to live in this area, and she was
pretty sure she'd never seen them before. She sat down hard on the couch.
"Gloria," the boy said
again, "You're still the most beautiful woman I've ever met."
His voice had a tone to it
she hadn't heard in years. He looked at her the same way only one man in her
life had ever looked at her. But he was just a kid – a white kid from the
better part of town. He wasn't her Sammy.
The kid went on. "We were
gonna go to Atlantic City, weren't we, baby? I knew I could get a good job
there, make lots of money. We almost made it, too. Another hour or two, we'da
been outta here, and Hank would've never found us." He was kneeling before her.
"Sammy? You can't be my
Sammy." The tears were running down her face. "I don't know who you are, but
you came here to torture me, didn't you? Why, after all these years?"
"It's me, baby." And she
could see him. Instead of a white teenaged boy, she could see her dead lover
kneeling before her – his sparkling brown eyes in his even browner face; his
tight dark curls against his scalp. She almost reached out to touch them, but
she drew back.
"No. He's gone. Stop it."
She was crying in earnest, now.
"Ms. Williamson," the
librarian said gently, "Sammy's spirit is occupying the body of this young man.
We're here because his spirit couldn't rest until he saw you again. It seems
incredible, but I promise you, it's true."
Sammy took her hands, and
she could even feel the calloused palm he'd had on the left hand from years of
sliding a cue across it. "And our baby, too. You did have the baby, right? I've
spent years wondering if it was a boy or a girl."
Gloria couldn't fight it
anymore. Her heart knew, even if her eyes told her otherwise, this was her
Sammy. "She's beautiful, Sammy. She looks like both of us, and she has your
smile. And she's so *smart* - you'd be really proud of her. You know she's
gonna go to college? They're even calling *her*!" He moved to sit beside her,
sliding his arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, you're the smartest
girl I ever knew, baby. You're the only one who ever caught me, weren't you?"
She giggled like the young girl she'd once been, and he couldn't help himself –
Sammy pulled Gloria to him, and kissed her.
The front door slammed open,
and closed again, and a beautiful black girl strode into the room, then
stopped, frozen by shock. "Mom? Why are you kissing," the couple broke apart,
and the girl's already shocked face went pale with recognition, "XANDER
HARRIS?"
Sharlayne. Sharlayne
Williamson. The co-captain of the cheerleading squad, and one of the most
popular girls in Sunnydale High. The group sat in a frozen tableau, the young
boy with his arms around the older woman, the girl too stunned to move.
*Sammy?* Xander finally choked out. *When you're done with my body, just kill
it, okay? I'll never live this one down.*
~**~
