CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: YELLOW
They ran until they reached the beach where Stephen stopped abruptly, his sudden halt startling Buffy and making her stop as well. She looked at her husband curiously and followed his awe-struck gaze. She smiled softly and leaned closed to kiss him gently.
"It's beautiful isn't it," she whispered.
He could only nod, his eyes still trained on the blue of the ocean in front of them. The beach below them was crowded with people, families with children, teenagers lying on towels working on their tans, but Buffy could only see Stephen as he took in the brand new world that he had only ever heard about.
He had dreamt about the world Buffy had once lived in, relying only on her descriptions of the world. He had never imagined it to be anything like this. The sky was a perfect shade of blue, the water reflecting it as children's playful screams rang in the air.
He looked at her thoughtfully and then looked back at the ocean. He kissed her once more and pulled back a smile on his face.
"I always dreamt about the water being as beautiful as the colour of your eyes. It can't even compare," he said.
She felt tears come to her eyes at his words and pulled him into an embrace that would have been painful for anyone other than them. She pulled him to the stairs that descended to the beach and dragged him across the sand, the texture of it foreign to Stephen's bare feet.
The ground in Quortoth had always been rock-hard and dry, never the softness of the yellow sand on the beach. Closer to the water's edge, she stopped and dropped her crossbow, covering it with her jacket. She unfolded her white dress and laid the journal and her shoes under the black leather. She turned to Stephen and tugged off his string of trophies as well as his shirt. He looked around at all the people on the beach.
"Here love?" he asked nervously.
She laughed at his innocence and just kissed him passionately until he forgot that there were so many people watching them. He held her to him, still astounded by the feel of her body against his.
In a move so quick that anyone who had been watching would still have been left confused, Buffy had changed from her black-tee shirt and leather pants into the white dress. She caught her hand with his and dragged him to the waters edge.
She smiled as he looked at it cautiously. The water pools in Quortoth had been small ponds that hadn't even had a ripple run through them, let along the waves that crashed against the shore.
"Come on!" she said, dragging him into the water as a wave crashed against them. Stephen spluttered but smiled as he saw the smile that lit his wife's face. She looked so young, so innocent in that moment when a wave pulled her under. She jumped through the surface of the water and pushed her wet hair back on her face.
She tackled him playfully, making sure to keep hold of him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to swim. He went under the water and came up with a grin on his face, shaking his head like a dog ridding itself of water. Buffy held her hands over her face to avoid the spray from his wet hair.
Neither of them noticed the young couple standing on the beach guarding their clothing and their weapons with identical looks on their faces.
Both looked as though they wanted to hate the young couple rough-housing in the water, but they were biting back smiles at this playful innocence from the two people that Angel cared most about in the world. They were a little shocked to see Stephen grab Buffy around the waist and kiss her passionately, Fred turning a little red at the thought of being a voyeur.
She had to admit, she could sympathise with the young couple in the water. The joy of new experiences, or even old-experiences re-learnt was something she had revelled in. But Stephen had never been to the beach before, had probably never even seen water before.
As for Buffy, Fred thought, the girl had been dead and was suddenly very much alive. She paled as a thought suddenly flitted across her mind and her legs failed to keep her standing. Gunn noticed the change instantly and helped her to stay standing.
"Fred? What is it baby?"
She turned to him, a horrified expression on her face.
"Buffy…she…she was in Quortoth. With Connor," she said.
He nodded, already having realised that. "I know."
"No, you don't. She…she's been dead for what? Seven months now? I…I think she's been in Quortoth that whole time," she said.
Gunn looked a little worried about that himself. He quickly cast a glance to the water, grateful that the young couple was still in the water, still completely entranced with each other.
"Charles…if Connor was only there for a week and a half in our time, and he's twenty now…how long must Buffy have been there?" she asked.
Gunn completely paled at that and tried to calculate the years in his mind. Fred beat him to it though.
"Oh God…four hundred and forty years. Give or take, depending on the exact day she was pushed into the portal," Fred said. She felt herself wanting to be sick as the thought rolled through her head. Five years in Pylea had been hell, but the young woman splashing playfully in the water had been stuck for over four hundred years.
Fred and Gunn were so completely caught up in trying to comprehend how long that really was and completely missed the saturated couple walking towards them, smiles still on their faces, their hands clasped together.
Stephen faltered a little as he saw them, but Buffy continued walking. Buffy swallowed hard and tried to imagine what must be going through their minds about this revelation. She could remember Whistler telling her how the time difference between this reality and Quortoth worked. Fifteen years was one week here, and if Stephen was only twenty, then he must have only been missing for about nine days.
These people had known him when he was only a few months old, had probably changed him and fed him and done everything that a newly born child needed to have done.
She felt a twinge in her own stomach and put her free hand over it protectively. She couldn't help but feel guilty for wanting to cause Angel so much grief. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for his child to have been stolen from him, only to show up the next week but suddenly be twenty years old. To have missed out on so much life.
It was in that moment that she knew that she and Stephen would have to go back. They would have to face Angel, and they would have to be willing to leave their swords at the door. Stephen wasn't going to like that idea at all.
