CHAPTER ELEVEN: SILVER

It had been a week, and the newly coupled Buffy and Stephen had yet to take things to the next level, though the sexual tension during their sparring had taken on a new twist.  In between punches and kicks, one of them would grab the other and pull them into a kiss, sometimes violent or soft depending on the mood.  The kiss would last for a minute until one of them remembered they were meant to be sparring and would shove them away and continue with their dance.

When Stephen had excitedly told Holtz about their first kiss the week before, Holtz had smiled indulgently at his son but had worried about the logistics of this relationship.  Stephen was innocent when it came to girls, though his sense of humour had become less naïve, something for which Holtz couldn't help but feel extremely grateful for.

Before Buffy had come along, Stephen had been sullen and introspective, a smile was something rare in itself and laughter hadn't been had since Stephen had been a toddler.  Now, he was laughing, joking and falling desperately in love.

But Buffy would never age.  He would grow old and she would be eternally twenty in this hell dimension.  The fact that Stephen had even been able to find love was a miracle in itself, but to find it with someone who he couldn't grow old with was disappointing.

He wouldn't stop their relationship though.  Couldn't stop it really. 

Holtz was, however, brought up in a world where men were gentlemen.  And when he saw the way his son was looking at Buffy, he knew that things were about to take a step up, and, by rights, he couldn't allow that to happen if the two weren't married.

He was thus surprised when his son had come up to him, a smile a mile wide on his face, bursting with excitement.

"You look thoroughly pleased with yourself," Holtz said, a gentle smile on his face.

If possible, Stephen's grin only became larger.

"It's just…I never knew I could feel like this," Stephen said.  "It's like…like my hearts about to burst through my chest at any second and…and I can't help smiling and laughing."

"She's been good for you son," Holtz replied.

"She has.  And…I love her dad.  More than I thought was possible.  I mean…you told me all about Caroline, how much you loved her.  I think…I can finally understand now.  And I want what you and your wife had.  I want to marry her," Stephen said, kneeling in front of his father, their hands clutched together.

Holtz swallowed hard.  If he said it wasn't possible, he risked the chance of losing his son.  If he said yes, he risked having his son's heart broken when he aged and his wife didn't. 

Stephen saw the hesitation written on his father's face and only became more determined.

"Dad, I know that she and I can't grow old together but…but we can share what time we have together.  We can be happy together.  We are happy together."

Holtz smiled and patted his son's hand.  "I know you are.  I can see it in your eyes.  You were meant to be happy.  I just wish it wasn't here."

"If it wasn't here, I would never have met Buffy.  I love her dad.  We've spoken about it for hours on end and…we want you to marry us," he implored.

Holtz sighed but finally nodded, knowing he could not refuse his son anything, especially not something as important as love.

------------------------

Buffy smiled as she saw him enter the small bedroom.  The grin on Stephen's face told her the answer to the question she had been about to ask and she leapt to her feet, hugging her fiancée tightly.

"He said yes?" she whispered.

He just grinned and swung her off the ground, holding her tightly.

"That's fantastic!"

He kissed her passionately, getting lost in the feel of her.  Their hearts increased pace and it seemed as though the entire world slipped away from them.  Of course, they were the only people in this dimension, not including Holtz.  But, Buffy knew the truth about death.  Holtz was close to dying, and they would soon be by themselves.

Stephen would grow old and die and she would still be stuck in Quortoth, alone for eternity.

Tears threatened to well up at the thought, but she quickly dismissed it, and continued to get lost in the feel of her soon-to-be husband's arms.

------------------------

Holtz stood in front of the couple, who, for all intents and purposes were lost in each others eyes.  He smiled at the sight of them, thankful that at least his son would be well looked after when Holtz himself could no longer take on that role. 

"Do you promise to love and cherish each other, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?" Holtz asked.

A single tear fell down Buffy's cheek.  She had never imagined ever getting married, even when she had been in Sunnydale.  As a Slayer, her life expectancy was meant to be extremely limited.  But, not only had she been alive for over four hundred years, she was in love and about to get married.  She smiled and bit her lip to keep from crying.

"I do," they replied simultaneously.   Stephen squeezed Buffy's hand and a tear fell from his own eyes.  Holtz nodded approvingly and gave a small smile when his son stepped forward and gently kissed his new wife. 

Later that evening, Holtz was in a self-inflicted exile on the front porch, letting Stephen and his wife have full control of the house.  He could hear laughter and giggling from inside and he smiled approvingly.  The sound of his son laughing was worth whatever might happen in the future.  And perhaps, miracles could happen after all.

------------------------

The young couple had fallen asleep, wrapped in each others arms, smiles on their faces, completely content in what they had become.  They had been asleep for nearly three hours when Buffy heard a slight creak within the house.  It wasn't altogether unusual, and she thought it might have been Holtz, rejoining them inside to avoid the harsh sunlight of the mornings, but she could hear his steady snoring coming from outside.

She gently extricated herself from Stephen's arms, kissing his forehead lightly.  She grabbed her crossbow from beside the bed and slipped into the white dress that had been discarded on the floor beside the bed the night before.

With the crossbow at the ready she quietly left the room, wondering what demon would dare enter the house that most demons recognised could only lead to trouble.  She was about to shoot when she sensed that even though someone was in the room with her, she wasn't in trouble.

The small demon stepped forward out of the shadows and Buffy lowered the crossbow, sighing wearily.

"You again."

"Yeah me again," he replied.

"It's been a while.  Four centuries at least unless I'm mistaken.  That's a helluva long time for a test."

"Well, nearly four and a half if you're gonna be picky."

"Cut the crap Whistler," she said testily.  "You just interrupted my wedding night, so I'm really not in the mood to do this right now."

"Sheesh, you'd think you'd be less grouchy.  I mean, you finally get laid after four and a half centuries and you're still crabby."

She just glared at him and moved forward threateningly.

"You remember how I almost pummelled you when we met the first time?  Well, I've had four hundred years to perfect my fighting skills.  Don't piss me off," she said.

He held his hands up in a show of surrender and she sighed before backing down.

"I'm assuming you have a message for me."

Whistler grinned.

"Good guess.  You finally figured it out kid," he said, a smile on his face.

"Figured what out?"

"The Circle of Three," he replied.

Her eyes widened.  She hadn't even remembered him mentioning it until he had reminded her then.  Of course, after four centuries, she had given up any and all hope of actually working out what the Circle of Three actually was.

"What…you mean…Stephen, Daniel and I are a Circle of Three," she said.  "So…if that's my ticket out of here, why hasn't it happened before now?  Why take nearly two years to come here."

Whistlers smile suddenly fell and Buffy noticed it immediately.

"What?  You stopped smiling."

"Daniel's not part of it.  He can't go back."

"What?  Why?" she asked, her voice panicked and rising in pitch.

"His time's up kid.  He's not gonna wake up tomorrow.  But you and the boy get to go back," Whistler explained.

She swallowed hard.  He had given her the gift she had wanted for centuries, but it came with a price that she wasn't willing to pay.  Her father-in-law.

"If he can't go back with us then forget it.  You tell the Powers that he's needed back there with us.  He belongs with us," she said, tears coming to her eyes.

Whistler just shook his head sadly.

"They can't.  He's old Buffy.  He's nearly eighty-five.  He's had a long life.  But he's happy now.  He's seen his son fall in love and get married.  His life is finished.  He got his revenge.  He got more revenge than he knows.  Taking away the two people that mean the most to the vampire who massacred his family."

Buffy's heart fell to the floor.  She had always had a niggling thought that Stephen's vampiric father was Angel, but Whistler had just confirmed it.  It didn't make sense though.  Angel would have had a soul by the time that Holtz's family died.

Whistler shook his head sympathetically.  "It's not as simple as that kid.  Holtz found a demon who could transport him through time.  He'd been trying to kill Angelus during the eighteenth century, before Angel got cursed by the Romany."

"So Stephen is Angel's son?"

"Yeah.  He is."

Things fell a little more into place.  Stephen had Angel's eyes.  The hair colour was the same, though Stephen hadn't had the luxury of hair gel to keep it from being unruly.  She felt her heart sink.  Not once when she had been with Stephen had she even thought of her love for Angel.  But…had she, subconsciously, fallen for Stephen as an Angel substitute.

"You love him because of who he is, not cos of who his father is," Whistler said gently.

She felt a little better about that.  She couldn't even begin to imagine that conversation with Stephen when he found out about her connection with his biological father.  She could only imagine that fists would be involved.

Buffy swallowed hard and closed her eyes, trying to think.

"So now what?" she asked.

Whistler touched her shoulder gently and knelt in front of her.

"Now, you're going to go home.  Next week.  You and Stephen can go back.  There's a ritual that you'll need to perform, but after that, you'll be free to go."

"And Daniel?  What about him?"

"He won't make it through the night."

Another tear fell from her eyes and suddenly a thought came into her mind. 

"If Daniel's going to die…how can there be a Circle of Three?"

Whistler grinned at that.

"You and Steve and your baby makes three."

Buffy swallowed hard.  This was far too much to try and take in at once. 

"A baby?"

"S'what happens when you don't use protection," Whistler reminded her.

She felt dizzy and was thankful that there was a chair directly behind her.  She sat on it gingerly and put a hand to her head, trying to make the world stop spinning.

"And this non-aging thing I've got going here…that stops right?  Once I'm back I'll have a normal life?" she asked.

Whistler nodded with a small shrug.  "As normal as a Slayer can get, yeah."

"Uh…what's the ritual?  How do I perform it?" she asked.

Whistler reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.  There were words in a foreign language on it that made no sense to her.  She took it from him and looked at it curiously.

"Basically it says that the Circle of Three has the Power to open the gates.  You hafta sprinkle a bit of your blood and Stephen's onto the ground.  A portal will open and you go through it."

"And we'll come out where?" she asked.

Whistler smirked and gestured towards the bedroom where Stephen was still sleeping.

"That kid's got people trying to open portals to get him outta this hellhole.  The attempts are helping you out a bit, but it means that the portal will open there."

"And where's that?"

"Hyperion Hotel," Whistler replied.

Buffy cast her mind back, trying desperately to remember why that name was familiar.  Of course, it all came back to Angel.  It was Angel's Hotel.

"Just a warning kid," Whistler said as he strode to the front door.  "Your hubby wants justice for what Angelus did to his dad's family.  You gotta decide which side of the fight you're on."