STANDING: CHAPTER FOUR
Buffy lay curled in a ball on the sofa, Spike sitting in the one seated, his bare feet resting on the coffee table. Dawn lay asleep, leaning her head on Buffy's shoulder.
"You have fun today pet?" Spike asked.
Buffy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I did. Plus.that whole car thing really put a nice spin on the day. I can't say I was even expecting that."
Spike grinned. "That was awful nice of him," Spike said, thankful that she had brought up the topic that he had wanted to speak about.
"You spoken to Rupert lately?" he asked casually.
She shook her head. "Nah, not yet. I uh.I've written him dozens of letters though," she admitted. "But I uh.I haven't sent any of them."
"Oh? Why not?" he asked, genuinely curious.
Buffy grinned sheepishly. "Well, the uh.the first few, I would never send anyone. There was far too much name-calling. I kinda threw them away anyway."
Spike grinned, thankful that he hadn't been on the receiving end of the mean streak that ran through the Slayer when she was hurt.
"And the others?"
"Well.they're a lot better. Just telling him I miss him and.and that I'm doing okay now. I mean.things still aren't fantastic but.I'm finally on my feet. My own feet. Without a leaning post. And.surprisingly it feels really good," she said.
He smiled and nodded at her, thankful that she was doing a lot better lately. She still wouldn't discuss the finer points of her experience with Spike, the emotions a little too raw to be able to express in words what she had felt there, but he was slowly becoming her confidante and friend.
"You should call him," Spike suggested.
Buffy hesitated. She had been considering calling him so many times over the last two weeks. Every time something went wrong, and especially when things had gone right, she had wanted to talk to him and tell him the news, but she had refrained. She thought that it would be better for her to leave him to his own life, for him to make the first call.
"You're gonna regret not calling him," he said simply.
She nodded, knowing his was right. She looked at him curiously.
"I uh.I wanna see him," she said.
He looked at her, a scarred eyebrow raised. "You want him back here?"
"No, I.I want to go see him. In England," she said.
She had been considering that option all day at the beach, and had been bursting with the news. Him giving her the car made the wanting so much more.
"Oh. Uh.you got a passport?" he asked.
She nodded. "I just.I want to surprise him you know. But.I don't even know how to get to where he lives," she said.
"Well, London's not hard to get around. You'd just have to get a bus from Heathrow airport and go to Bath. From there, you're pretty much unable to get lost," he said.
She nodded, hoping that she would remember all of this.
"The thing is," she started slowly, "I.I need someone to take care of Dawn."
He looked up and caught her eyes. "Til the end of the world," he promised.
She smiled at his words, remembering that night. Things had changed so much since then.
"Thank you," she whispered.
She fiddled idly with Dawn's hair and shifted her position, waking Dawn up from her light slumber. "Bed time for you kiddo," she whispered.
Dawn nodded and stumbled off the couch. She gave a tired grin to her sister and gave her a hug. "Have fun," she whispered quietly.
She straightened up and mumbled goodnight to both Spike and Buffy and left the two blondes to sit and talk.
"I kinda.I wanna go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" he asked, surprise in his voice.
She nodded. "I've already got the tickets. And.I just need to say goodbye to the gang. But I was wondering.could I maybe get a lift to LA with you tonight?"
He hesitated but nodded, seeing as how he knew that she would either go with him or go with one of the others. And, with his newly acquired motorcycle, he would be able to get her there a lot faster.
"Yeah sure pet. Should I even ask if you're packed?"
She grinned and pointed to a medium sized suitcase by the end of the couch. He hadn't even noticed it until she had pointed it out.
"You really are organised Slayer. I'll give you that."
She grinned, taking it as a compliment. "I've already told Dawn. We did the whole goodbye thing earlier when you went to grab your bike from your place."
Spike nodded. "Uh.well, I'd be more than happy to give you a ride. I'm guessing you wanna go say your farewells to the gang."
Buffy nodded and looked upstairs to where Tara and Willow were sleeping. "Hopefully I won't be disturbing anything up there," Buffy said with a grin.
Spike grinned back and listened carefully. "Nah, they're not doing anything. Just chatting nice and quiet like."
Buffy grinned, not even wanting to know how good vampire hearing truly was. "Thanks."
"Are you gonna tell him?" he asked.
She looked at him, a little unsure of what he was talking about.
"Tell who what?" she asked.
Spike rolled his eyes. "Are you gonna tell your Watcher that you're in love with him?"
Buffy hesitated and nodded. "I have to. Even if he doesn't love me.I have to tell him."
He grinned at the absurd thought of her Watcher not loving her back. "Somehow I think you're in with a fighting chance luv."
She smiled her thanks and he nodded, watching as she walked up the stairs. Spike, like Dawn, would always have trouble keeping up with her. But, he was definitely up to the challenge.
~*~
Thirty hours later
Buffy looked at the address on the small slip of paper in her hands. She had written it down at least five times in five different places so that she wouldn't be able to lose it. One of those places had been on her ankle above her anklet socks in case she got mugged of all her possessions.
She checked her watch once again. She had been checking it constantly, her body not having had a chance to adjust to the new time zone, which meant that she was completely tired when it was only just seven in the evening for Giles.
She breathed in deeply and knocked on the door.
Nothing.
She hadn't counted on him not being home. She frowned a little and tried again, calling his name as she knocked.
Nothing.
She frowned even more and went to turn away, about to give up completely, when a door across the hallway opened and a man stepped out. He gave her a strange look, wondering why she was standing in front of Rupert's doorway.
"Are you right?" he asked politely.
His question startled her a little. She had expected him to just ignore her, but at least now she had an in.
"Um, sort of," she replied. "Do you know Rupert Giles?"
"Yeah, you could say that. He's uh.in my apartment, having tea with my wife and I," he explained.
Buffy's face lit up when she realised her Watcher was in the vicinity.
"Really? Uh.I don't suppose you could.send him out," she suggested.
Daniel looked at her curiously. The accent wasn't British, in fact he could tell se was American. He did a double take as he recognised her as the girl from Rupert's photograph album.
"You're Buffy Summers, aren't you?" he asked.
Buffy looked a little taken aback. "Wow. Good guess," she said.
He laughed slightly and held out his hand. "My name's Daniel Taylor. We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago," he reminded her.
She shook his hand, remembering their conversation. She grimaced as she remembered how incredibly not nice she'd been to him that day. "Oh god. I'm really sorry. I'm usually not that rude, honest, I was just."
"Having a crappy day?" he offered.
She nodded, grateful for his understanding. "To say the least."
He smiled and pointed towards the apartment, telling her she was welcome to go in. She hesitated for just a moment before stepping inside.
"Daniel?" she heard a female voice call out.
A woman in her early thirties appeared in the hallway and was about to give a startled yelp on seeing a strange young woman in her hallway.
From behind Buffy, Daniel held up a finger to his mouth. Emma walked up to them, her face demanding an explanation.
"Emma, this is Buffy Summers," Daniel whispered.
The look of recognition on Emma's face was almost priceless. She took a quick look at Buffy and quickly gave her a tight hug. Buffy hugged her back, a little startled by what was going on.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Emma said, whispering frantically. "It's just.he's said so much about you, and.I've been dying to meet you."
"He uh.he mentioned that he'd made some friends here," Buffy said, keeping her voice at a whisper also.
"Oh, this is such a lovely surprise," Emma said. "It is a surprise, isn't it? I mean, he would have said something if he had known you were coming. I doubt he would have been able to sit still for more than a minute if he had known."
Buffy smiled, Emma's rambling reminding her so much of Willow. "No, he didn't know. I was uh.hoping to surprise him."
Emma smiled knowingly. "I think something can be arranged. Come, just wait in the doorway, I'll do a proper introduction for you. Buffy's short for Elizabeth, yes?"
Buffy nodded, and let herself be dragged to the doorway. She didn't dare to peek around for fear of just rushing towards Giles and throwing herself into his arms.
Daniel walked into the room, Emma closely following him.
"What was all the whispering about?" she heard Giles ask.
Her resolve almost flew out the window when she heard that he truly was there.
"Oh, there's uh.there's someone we want you to meet," Emma said.
Giles voice dropped to a whisper, but Buffy was so very used to listening to his whisper and she picked up on every word.
"Emma, I don't mean to be rude, but I really don't want you meddling in my love life, or lack of same," he whispered.
"Oh Rupert, you'll love this one," she said.
Giles just groaned and sat himself down on the chair, his back facing the doorway. She looked towards Daniel who nodded for her to come in. She approached nervously and swallowed hard when she saw her Watcher.
"Rupert, I want you to meet Elizabeth," Emma said, a smile on her face.
Giles stood politely and turned. "Nice to meet-"
Buffy stared up at him nervously, her heart pounding in her throat.
"You," he finished softly, staring at his Slayer.
He felt his heart begin to beat rapidly, his mouth going completely dry.
Emma and Daniel watched on in amusement. They were both suckers for a good romance.
"Buffy," he whispered, his voice barely audible.
She couldn't restrain herself any longer. Without any reservation, she flung herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. He nearly fell over from the impact of Buffy flinging herself at him.
He held on to her just as tightly, lifting her up and holding her easily.
"God I missed you," she whispered into his shoulder.
He put her down but didn't let her go.
"What on earth are you doing here? How did you.I mean, when did you." he trailed off, not even able to think clearly with her in the room.
She giggled a little and hugged him again.
"I had to see you. So.I booked a ticket and.voila. Buffy in England," she said.
He smiled and brought his hand to her cheek as he had done the first time he had seen her after she had been brought back.
"It's so very good to see you," he said.
She grinned and buried her face in his shirt, taking in his scent. She had missed the smell of him, that mixture of books and his cologne. She had missed everything about him.
He looked up suddenly to see Daniel and Emma with wide grins on their faces.
"Did you two know about this?" he asked accusingly, still smiling.
Daniel held up a hand to keep the peace between them. "I had no idea Rupert. I told you I heard knocking, but she was knocking on your door, not mine. When I realised who she was.well, Emma and I love surprises."
Giles smiled, knowing both of them extremely well.
"You uh.you won't be offended if I take a raincheck on dinner will you?" Giles asked.
Emma grinned and shook her head. "Are you kidding me? I'd be insane to ask you to stay."
Giles went a little bit red. What little information he had given them about Buffy had been enough for them to make their own conclusions. And, after their little display only a moment ago, he wouldn't be surprised if they started making wedding plans for the two of them.
Buffy grinned and smiled apologetically at Emma and Daniel.
"Sorry. I really hadn't bagged on him being busy tonight."
Daniel waved his hand to stop her from apologising. "Trust us, it's fine. Tell us when you two have a free moment, we'll have tea. I'd really like to get to know the girl who seems to have Rupert completely besotted."
Giles glared at Daniel for his incredibly forward manner. He looked towards Buffy, expecting to see a horrified look on her face. He found only an amused grin there. He shrugged, not wanting to question it.
He walked Buffy quickly to the door, not wanting Daniel or Emma to embarrass either of them any further. Daniel shut the door and grinned at his wife.
"No wonder he's so smitten," Daniel said. "She's nearly as gorgeous as you are."
Emma smiled at his words and leaned into his embrace. "Sweet-talker. I didn't realise she was so."
"Young?" he offered.
Emma nodded. "But, she looked.old for her age."
Daniel nodded, remembering the conversations he had had with Rupert about the young girl. "Rupert said she'd been through a lot of awful stuff. I think she was in a coma for three months or something. He thought she was dead."
Emma frowned and hugged her husband tightly, not wanting to imagine what life would be like without him. "Perhaps it was just the wake up call he needed."
Buffy lay curled in a ball on the sofa, Spike sitting in the one seated, his bare feet resting on the coffee table. Dawn lay asleep, leaning her head on Buffy's shoulder.
"You have fun today pet?" Spike asked.
Buffy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I did. Plus.that whole car thing really put a nice spin on the day. I can't say I was even expecting that."
Spike grinned. "That was awful nice of him," Spike said, thankful that she had brought up the topic that he had wanted to speak about.
"You spoken to Rupert lately?" he asked casually.
She shook her head. "Nah, not yet. I uh.I've written him dozens of letters though," she admitted. "But I uh.I haven't sent any of them."
"Oh? Why not?" he asked, genuinely curious.
Buffy grinned sheepishly. "Well, the uh.the first few, I would never send anyone. There was far too much name-calling. I kinda threw them away anyway."
Spike grinned, thankful that he hadn't been on the receiving end of the mean streak that ran through the Slayer when she was hurt.
"And the others?"
"Well.they're a lot better. Just telling him I miss him and.and that I'm doing okay now. I mean.things still aren't fantastic but.I'm finally on my feet. My own feet. Without a leaning post. And.surprisingly it feels really good," she said.
He smiled and nodded at her, thankful that she was doing a lot better lately. She still wouldn't discuss the finer points of her experience with Spike, the emotions a little too raw to be able to express in words what she had felt there, but he was slowly becoming her confidante and friend.
"You should call him," Spike suggested.
Buffy hesitated. She had been considering calling him so many times over the last two weeks. Every time something went wrong, and especially when things had gone right, she had wanted to talk to him and tell him the news, but she had refrained. She thought that it would be better for her to leave him to his own life, for him to make the first call.
"You're gonna regret not calling him," he said simply.
She nodded, knowing his was right. She looked at him curiously.
"I uh.I wanna see him," she said.
He looked at her, a scarred eyebrow raised. "You want him back here?"
"No, I.I want to go see him. In England," she said.
She had been considering that option all day at the beach, and had been bursting with the news. Him giving her the car made the wanting so much more.
"Oh. Uh.you got a passport?" he asked.
She nodded. "I just.I want to surprise him you know. But.I don't even know how to get to where he lives," she said.
"Well, London's not hard to get around. You'd just have to get a bus from Heathrow airport and go to Bath. From there, you're pretty much unable to get lost," he said.
She nodded, hoping that she would remember all of this.
"The thing is," she started slowly, "I.I need someone to take care of Dawn."
He looked up and caught her eyes. "Til the end of the world," he promised.
She smiled at his words, remembering that night. Things had changed so much since then.
"Thank you," she whispered.
She fiddled idly with Dawn's hair and shifted her position, waking Dawn up from her light slumber. "Bed time for you kiddo," she whispered.
Dawn nodded and stumbled off the couch. She gave a tired grin to her sister and gave her a hug. "Have fun," she whispered quietly.
She straightened up and mumbled goodnight to both Spike and Buffy and left the two blondes to sit and talk.
"I kinda.I wanna go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" he asked, surprise in his voice.
She nodded. "I've already got the tickets. And.I just need to say goodbye to the gang. But I was wondering.could I maybe get a lift to LA with you tonight?"
He hesitated but nodded, seeing as how he knew that she would either go with him or go with one of the others. And, with his newly acquired motorcycle, he would be able to get her there a lot faster.
"Yeah sure pet. Should I even ask if you're packed?"
She grinned and pointed to a medium sized suitcase by the end of the couch. He hadn't even noticed it until she had pointed it out.
"You really are organised Slayer. I'll give you that."
She grinned, taking it as a compliment. "I've already told Dawn. We did the whole goodbye thing earlier when you went to grab your bike from your place."
Spike nodded. "Uh.well, I'd be more than happy to give you a ride. I'm guessing you wanna go say your farewells to the gang."
Buffy nodded and looked upstairs to where Tara and Willow were sleeping. "Hopefully I won't be disturbing anything up there," Buffy said with a grin.
Spike grinned back and listened carefully. "Nah, they're not doing anything. Just chatting nice and quiet like."
Buffy grinned, not even wanting to know how good vampire hearing truly was. "Thanks."
"Are you gonna tell him?" he asked.
She looked at him, a little unsure of what he was talking about.
"Tell who what?" she asked.
Spike rolled his eyes. "Are you gonna tell your Watcher that you're in love with him?"
Buffy hesitated and nodded. "I have to. Even if he doesn't love me.I have to tell him."
He grinned at the absurd thought of her Watcher not loving her back. "Somehow I think you're in with a fighting chance luv."
She smiled her thanks and he nodded, watching as she walked up the stairs. Spike, like Dawn, would always have trouble keeping up with her. But, he was definitely up to the challenge.
~*~
Thirty hours later
Buffy looked at the address on the small slip of paper in her hands. She had written it down at least five times in five different places so that she wouldn't be able to lose it. One of those places had been on her ankle above her anklet socks in case she got mugged of all her possessions.
She checked her watch once again. She had been checking it constantly, her body not having had a chance to adjust to the new time zone, which meant that she was completely tired when it was only just seven in the evening for Giles.
She breathed in deeply and knocked on the door.
Nothing.
She hadn't counted on him not being home. She frowned a little and tried again, calling his name as she knocked.
Nothing.
She frowned even more and went to turn away, about to give up completely, when a door across the hallway opened and a man stepped out. He gave her a strange look, wondering why she was standing in front of Rupert's doorway.
"Are you right?" he asked politely.
His question startled her a little. She had expected him to just ignore her, but at least now she had an in.
"Um, sort of," she replied. "Do you know Rupert Giles?"
"Yeah, you could say that. He's uh.in my apartment, having tea with my wife and I," he explained.
Buffy's face lit up when she realised her Watcher was in the vicinity.
"Really? Uh.I don't suppose you could.send him out," she suggested.
Daniel looked at her curiously. The accent wasn't British, in fact he could tell se was American. He did a double take as he recognised her as the girl from Rupert's photograph album.
"You're Buffy Summers, aren't you?" he asked.
Buffy looked a little taken aback. "Wow. Good guess," she said.
He laughed slightly and held out his hand. "My name's Daniel Taylor. We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago," he reminded her.
She shook his hand, remembering their conversation. She grimaced as she remembered how incredibly not nice she'd been to him that day. "Oh god. I'm really sorry. I'm usually not that rude, honest, I was just."
"Having a crappy day?" he offered.
She nodded, grateful for his understanding. "To say the least."
He smiled and pointed towards the apartment, telling her she was welcome to go in. She hesitated for just a moment before stepping inside.
"Daniel?" she heard a female voice call out.
A woman in her early thirties appeared in the hallway and was about to give a startled yelp on seeing a strange young woman in her hallway.
From behind Buffy, Daniel held up a finger to his mouth. Emma walked up to them, her face demanding an explanation.
"Emma, this is Buffy Summers," Daniel whispered.
The look of recognition on Emma's face was almost priceless. She took a quick look at Buffy and quickly gave her a tight hug. Buffy hugged her back, a little startled by what was going on.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Emma said, whispering frantically. "It's just.he's said so much about you, and.I've been dying to meet you."
"He uh.he mentioned that he'd made some friends here," Buffy said, keeping her voice at a whisper also.
"Oh, this is such a lovely surprise," Emma said. "It is a surprise, isn't it? I mean, he would have said something if he had known you were coming. I doubt he would have been able to sit still for more than a minute if he had known."
Buffy smiled, Emma's rambling reminding her so much of Willow. "No, he didn't know. I was uh.hoping to surprise him."
Emma smiled knowingly. "I think something can be arranged. Come, just wait in the doorway, I'll do a proper introduction for you. Buffy's short for Elizabeth, yes?"
Buffy nodded, and let herself be dragged to the doorway. She didn't dare to peek around for fear of just rushing towards Giles and throwing herself into his arms.
Daniel walked into the room, Emma closely following him.
"What was all the whispering about?" she heard Giles ask.
Her resolve almost flew out the window when she heard that he truly was there.
"Oh, there's uh.there's someone we want you to meet," Emma said.
Giles voice dropped to a whisper, but Buffy was so very used to listening to his whisper and she picked up on every word.
"Emma, I don't mean to be rude, but I really don't want you meddling in my love life, or lack of same," he whispered.
"Oh Rupert, you'll love this one," she said.
Giles just groaned and sat himself down on the chair, his back facing the doorway. She looked towards Daniel who nodded for her to come in. She approached nervously and swallowed hard when she saw her Watcher.
"Rupert, I want you to meet Elizabeth," Emma said, a smile on her face.
Giles stood politely and turned. "Nice to meet-"
Buffy stared up at him nervously, her heart pounding in her throat.
"You," he finished softly, staring at his Slayer.
He felt his heart begin to beat rapidly, his mouth going completely dry.
Emma and Daniel watched on in amusement. They were both suckers for a good romance.
"Buffy," he whispered, his voice barely audible.
She couldn't restrain herself any longer. Without any reservation, she flung herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. He nearly fell over from the impact of Buffy flinging herself at him.
He held on to her just as tightly, lifting her up and holding her easily.
"God I missed you," she whispered into his shoulder.
He put her down but didn't let her go.
"What on earth are you doing here? How did you.I mean, when did you." he trailed off, not even able to think clearly with her in the room.
She giggled a little and hugged him again.
"I had to see you. So.I booked a ticket and.voila. Buffy in England," she said.
He smiled and brought his hand to her cheek as he had done the first time he had seen her after she had been brought back.
"It's so very good to see you," he said.
She grinned and buried her face in his shirt, taking in his scent. She had missed the smell of him, that mixture of books and his cologne. She had missed everything about him.
He looked up suddenly to see Daniel and Emma with wide grins on their faces.
"Did you two know about this?" he asked accusingly, still smiling.
Daniel held up a hand to keep the peace between them. "I had no idea Rupert. I told you I heard knocking, but she was knocking on your door, not mine. When I realised who she was.well, Emma and I love surprises."
Giles smiled, knowing both of them extremely well.
"You uh.you won't be offended if I take a raincheck on dinner will you?" Giles asked.
Emma grinned and shook her head. "Are you kidding me? I'd be insane to ask you to stay."
Giles went a little bit red. What little information he had given them about Buffy had been enough for them to make their own conclusions. And, after their little display only a moment ago, he wouldn't be surprised if they started making wedding plans for the two of them.
Buffy grinned and smiled apologetically at Emma and Daniel.
"Sorry. I really hadn't bagged on him being busy tonight."
Daniel waved his hand to stop her from apologising. "Trust us, it's fine. Tell us when you two have a free moment, we'll have tea. I'd really like to get to know the girl who seems to have Rupert completely besotted."
Giles glared at Daniel for his incredibly forward manner. He looked towards Buffy, expecting to see a horrified look on her face. He found only an amused grin there. He shrugged, not wanting to question it.
He walked Buffy quickly to the door, not wanting Daniel or Emma to embarrass either of them any further. Daniel shut the door and grinned at his wife.
"No wonder he's so smitten," Daniel said. "She's nearly as gorgeous as you are."
Emma smiled at his words and leaned into his embrace. "Sweet-talker. I didn't realise she was so."
"Young?" he offered.
Emma nodded. "But, she looked.old for her age."
Daniel nodded, remembering the conversations he had had with Rupert about the young girl. "Rupert said she'd been through a lot of awful stuff. I think she was in a coma for three months or something. He thought she was dead."
Emma frowned and hugged her husband tightly, not wanting to imagine what life would be like without him. "Perhaps it was just the wake up call he needed."
