New Horizons: Chapter Ten
By Annie
04-30-2002
"Bloody hell, Buffy! Can't find a slightly nicer way to wake a bloke up?" he grumbled annoyed and she crossed her arms over her chest, watching him sit up in bed.
"Well." she said. "I know the way you'd prefer.But see, I don't DO that anymore, and so since you're such a perk in the morning I thought I'd make it quick, for both of us."
He looked at her, his eyes growing to slits.
"Are you still mad about the fight we had last night? I mean, I was just trying to be honest."
She rolled her eyes, walking to the door.
"Just get dressed and come down stairs," she said and he watched her as she went.
He sighed.
"I will NEVER understand that woman," he mumbled, combing his hands through his hair.
Then he got up and quickly dressed, coming downstairs he was met by the Lil'Bit who looked sourly at him.
"What'd I do?" he asked, holding his hands out in front of him and raising his eyebrows at her.
"Oh, nothing YOU did," she said wretchedly and he lowered his hands, giving her a small smirk.
"Ah, troubles with sis again, eh?" he asked and the look on her told him the answer since it was that of a thundercloud about to go off. "Look, your sis is really trying, okay? She's got a LOT to.deal with right now and everything, y'know?"
"Well, that doesn't give her the right to go and." she suddenly looked at him, pausing long enough for him to notice the sudden remorse in her expression and he sighed.
"Look, niblet, I don't want you to fight for me, okay?" he said, smiling a little, trying to comfort her even though it felt like his heart was slowly sinking in his chest. "It's a lost cause, anyway," he added and then she frowned.
"I don't think so, I just really don't, 'cause where does she come off always being all I-know-best when she won't even stop to think about others feelings? MY feelings, and YOUR feelings."
Spike smiled bitterly.
"See, to her vampires don't HAVE feelings. I'm just an evil, soulless thing," he mumbled and regretted it the moment angry tears filled Dawn's eyes.
"Yes, and then she goes and dreams about you and everything and saying she 'can't remember', which I think is just a load of CRAP!"
"Hey, now, don't you be using that kinda language, you hear? That's not the way for a lady," he said and a light quickly started to show in her eyes as she wiped at her tears.
Then she smiled a little.
"Am I a lady, then?" she asked and he smiled back at her.
"You're MY lady, that's for sure," he answered and she beamed at him before giving him a huge hug.
"I'm gonna miss you," she mumbled and he pulled back a little to look down into her face.
"I'm gonna miss you too, niblet, you know that."
She smiled once more; looking like she was tearing up again and he let her go, feeling a little like he was choking up too and not exactly willing to show it.
"Now listen," he said. "I don't wanna be the reason for you and your sis not to get along, so I really hope you can try to see that she's been dealing with.with my kind since she was your age, and she knows that most of us aren't to be trusted.well, unless we have a soul or a deadly crush on her, that is," he added and Dawn laughed, the sound making him feel relieved. "What I'm saying is that the life she's led, it has toughened her up and.I guess it just takes some time to really get through the rough exterior, but on the inside there's something REALLY special."
"Sorta like you," Dawn said as she threw her arms around him and he felt tears rise in his eyes again.
Damned Summers girls, he thought but returning her hug rather gratefully.
Buffy walked into the hallway just then, stopping looking at them she sighed a little. Dawn having been all Princess Frost since she came back down she couldn't help but envy that wretched vampire. Then the two let go of each other and as Dawn turned to her she could sense something had changed. Dawn gave Spike a quick glance, and he smiled a little, then she nodded and went up to Buffy.
"Buffy," she said and the tone in her voice sounded so grown up and serious that Buffy blinked. "I love you, but you need to stop being so judgmental all the time. Everything isn't always black and white, there are grays too, and you should stop to think about that."
Then she embraced Buffy, hugging her tightly before stepping back and walking into the kitchen.
Buffy just kept on blinking and Spike couldn't help but feel a bit proud of the niblet.
"Did.that just happen?" Buffy asked and since there was no one else around he took the liberty of answering.
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"Are you ready?" Sarah's voice was heard and Buffy turned to Spike, they looked at each other for a moment before simultaneously answering:
"Yes!"
Entering the living room Buffy noticed that everybody had gathered around the mirror. Sarah looked up at them as they approached, smiling.
Buffy was a little nervous, but she was sort of glad that she didn't have to go alone.
"Okay," Sarah said. "Are you really willing to do this?"
"Why, can anything go wrong?" Dawn asked, her dispute with Buffy already forgotten, at least for the time being, and her love and concern for her sister evident on her face.
"No, nothing will go wrong, I assure you," Sarah said. "But I wouldn't want there to be any doubt," she added with a look on Buffy.
Buffy turned to Dawn and after a moment they hugged each other.
"I love you, Dawnie," she said and Dawn nodded as they pulled apart.
"I love you too. And think about what I said," she added with a slight smile and Buffy returned it with a nod.
"Bye, Buff, for now," Xander said, bending down to embrace her. "I'll see you soon."
She hugged him back and before they let go she whispered:
"Anya will come back, you'll see, it'll all be fine."
Xander looked down on her, thankful for the support, and she smiled as she turned to Willow.
"You WILL be back, right?" Willow asked silently and Buffy smiled reassuringly.
"I usually am, aren't I?" she asked and Willow smiled faintly as they too embraced.
Buffy smiled at Tara and hugged her tightly.
"We'll miss you," Tara said and Buffy nodded.
"Me too."
Spike watched the love fest with as much disdain as he could bring forth, at this particular time it wasn't much, especially when Dawn came up and put her arms around his neck in a hard hug.
"I'll miss YOU," she whispered and he smiled weakly. "Promise you'll be back."
He pulled away to look into her eyes and said:
"I promise I'll be back."
Then they let go and Sarah smiled at the assembled group of people before looking at Buffy and Spike, who both nodded solemnly, coming to stand beside her in front of the mirror.
She turned back to it, whispering words too low for anyone to hear as she raised her right arm and made three big circles in front of the glass.
The wave, which had signaled her arrival the night before, suddenly appeared and the glass started to look almost like it was melted, its color high lightening to a bright silvery.
"Wow," Dawn breathed as Sarah grabbed Spike's hand with her left and signaled to Spike to take Buffy's.
He hesitated a moment, looking at her questioningly and she shrugged, reaching out her right hand to take his left. Buffy tried to ignore the sense of security that firm grip implanted in her heart, but couldn't; it chased too much of her nervousness away and she looked at him with a little smile. He smiled back; reassured that she wouldn't go all uh-let-me-go! in the middle of their journey.
"Hold on," Sarah now said. "This is going to feel rather unusual."
Then she took a step forward, the others following one step behind. Before the ones watching them leave knew it the three were gone and the glass was going from sharp silver to its normal color and all was well with the world.
***
The sensation as they took that first step through the mirror was hard to really describe, but it was almost like having water not only surround them but somehow flow straight through them. It was as though they were waves blending with the one in the mirror glass.
The first step bringing them into the mirror was icy cold, Buffy finding it hard to breathe but still able to she drew a shaky breath. As they took the second step the chill turned into heat and Buffy almost wanted to scream, her hand squeezing Spike's hard enough for the bones to shift slightly, and then, just like that, they left the mirror behind them, stepping out into a large room with an almost breathtaking décor.
Buffy stared at it; it was incredible.
A huge bed in dark wood stood against the wall to her right and furniture of the same material in the shape of a desk, a small table with two chairs and a large bureau were placed out in the room. A large picture window was in the wall in front of her and practically covering the wall to her left, where there also was a door, were floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with rows and rows of books.
The whole room seemed to go in a soft peach tone with dark green traces in the large rug on the floor and the cloth in the chairs and on the bed.
"Wow." she said and then she suddenly felt how incredibly thirsty she was, the room started spinning and she took a step forward, loosing her balance and crashing into Spike who had just turned around.
"Woah, there, Slayer!" he said, grabbing a hold of her and keeping her on her feet.
She shook her head, trying to get rid of the feeling. She had eaten a great breakfast, what was going on now? Then she remembered Sarah falling to the floor after her dramatic entrance the night before.
"Here," Sarah said, turning around with a glass filled with water in one hand, already holding one for herself in the other. "Drink this, you'll feel better."
Buffy tried to push Spike away, she wasn't a damned damsel in distress and she didn't need to lean on him! But he held her firmly until she didn't want to struggle him anymore, after reaching out a hand to take the glass she started to greedily gulp down the water.
After having a refill and drinking that as well she felt practically restored and pulled out of Spike's hold. He merely smirked at her before he started walking into the room, picking objects on the desk up and inspecting them with a look and a smile of recognition.
"This place sure haven't changed," he said and Sarah laughed, putting her empty water glass down on the tray containing the one Buffy had used and a pitcher.
"Of course not," she said. "It's only two years since you disappeared," she added, reminding him.
He grinned, but then sadness poured into his features as he said:
"I'm sorry about that, I just."
She walked up to him, placing a gentle hand on one of his arms and nodding.
"I know, Will. And I understand."
Buffy was looking at the books on the shelves. There were one section that seemed to hold works of authors she knew, such as Dickens and Shakespeare and others, and fiction or poetry of authors she had never heard of, but when she kept moving she soon came upon title after title that sounded related to her own line of work, and some with titles she couldn't read the language of.
"You have quite a collection." she said, still eyeing the books and thinking of how Giles would have thought himself in seventh heaven had he been there.
"Yes," Sarah said, coming up to stand beside her. "But I've only bought about a tenth myself, the rest Mr. Auburn, the man I told you about, he left me the rest when he passed away."
"Quite a friendly old poof," Spike said, once more indulged in walking around the room, looking at the paintings and the exquisite porcelain figures placed on the small table.
"He was that, and so much more. He was a dear friend," Sarah said, reaching out and stroking the book in front of her, reminiscing.
Buffy left her side quietly to walk up to the window. She carefully pulled the white lace curtain aside and peered out.
They were on the second floor, she concluded, and her eyes grew a little wide as she watched the street outside, cobblestone and all, and people walking around looking as though they were getting ready for a movie shot. Ladies in pretty, wide dresses and gentlemen in hats and strict looking suits paraded arm in arm on the sidewalks as little children played in the streets, squealing with pleasure as they had to get out of the way for a carriage or a wagon.
"Pretty, ain't it?" Spike asked behind her and she let the curtain fall back into place before turning around.
"Yes," she answered him. "Very."
He smiled a little when the door suddenly opened and a clever eyed, middle- aged man appeared in the doorway.
"Father," Sarah exclaimed, happily meeting him as he stepped inside the room, giving him a big hug.
"Child, I've asked you to come and TELL me when you get back, ease my worrying at least by a few minutes," the man smiled at her as they let go and she smiled back.
"I'm sorry, father, I was a little preoccupied," she said, turning to Buffy and Spike.
The man's eyes widened considerably as he looked at Spike, then a smile split his face and he walked up to the vampire, disregarding his tentatively outstretched hand and grabbing him by the shoulders to give him a warm hug.
Spike was as stunned as the man, it had been over a century since he saw him, so much had happened, and it was somewhat of a shock to all of a sudden be back in the place and with the people he had grown up, especially since THEY hadn't changed in appearance one bit.
The welcoming act of the man who, just like Sarah, must know what he was and what he had done was almost too much for him and this time he couldn't just blink the tears away, they filled his eyes as relentlessly as the rain fills an already full lake, and just like it they soon flooded.
"Jacob," he said in a hoarse voice, hardly even recognizing it.
"William," Jacob said, pulling away with the smile still on his features. "It is so wonderful to see you, finally."
Spike's eyes widened a little at that, he couldn't believe that Jacob could really mean that, then the words Sarah had spoken the night before came back in his mind.
'You're in the eyes, William. You show in your eyes, and I don't think you can ever get out of there.'
And he realized that Jacob would, if asked, without any hesitation agree with that. This marveled him to the point of no speech and he just stood dumb-founded looking at the man who, for a while, had acted like his father and who he always had considered a second one.
Then Jacob turned to Buffy, who silently had been watching the reunion. She couldn't help but wonder what Spike was feeling, what he was thinking about all this. Then Jacob took a step around the vamp to approach her with a friendly smile.
"My dear," he said, reaching out his hand and gripping hers firmly, "you are more than welcome to our home."
Buffy returned the smile, feeling any anxiety she might have had in meeting the man melt away and she said:
"Thank you."
Then Jacob let his eyes swiftly move down, looking her over in a manner she could tell wasn't sexual in any way and then he let her hand go, turning to his daughter.
"Are ladies wearing TROUSERS in the future?" he asked, astounded, and Sarah laughed.
"Oh, daddy, don't be an old poof!" she said with a wink at Spike, who grinned at her, now trying to discretely get rid of the tears staining his cheeks.
Jacob scratched his head thoughtfully, before smiling, shaking his head at her.
"Yes, yes," he said distractedly, then corrected himself. "I mean, no, of course not. I'll try not to be, but see, this won't do, now will it, Sarah?"
Sarah smiled at him.
"Did you really think that I would not take care of it?" she asked and he looked at her, and then chuckled.
"No, of course not. I'm sorry, darling," he said. "How ARE you taking care of it, if I may ask?"
"Why, of course you may," Sarah said. "I have arranged for Miss Talbot to come over at three o'clock for measuring and then it will all be done. I am paying her a little extra and so she will have at least two dresses ready by tomorrow."
"That's quite quick," Jacob said, a little surprised.
"Well, she has Fiona and Clara and a handful of girls to help her with them, so in all accounts it's almost a bit slow," she declared and Jacob smiled.
"Well, then, that's settled."
Buffy listened and when she saw a chance she spoke up:
"I really hope I'm not causing you any trouble with, well, the money and everything."
"Oh, such a delightful American accent you have, my dear," Jacob said before adding with a wink: "Don't you worry, we have a few pounds to get by on."
Buffy smiled a little at that, still feeling rather low for making them spend money on someone they barely knew the last name of.
"And.me?" Spike now asked and Sarah laughed.
"Silly William, you just go into your old room and pick whatever clothes you would like," she said and he stared at her for a moment.
"You mean you've left it the way it was when I left?" he asked, disbelieving.
"Of course we did," Sarah said. "Now go on, I need to help Buffy get ready for Miss Talbot."
Buffy watched as Spike left the room with Jacob. Had she been completely wrong or had he been crying?
"Are you ready for this?" Sarah asked and Buffy turned to her a little confused. "It's a whole other world out there than what you're used to," Sarah explained and Buffy smiled.
"Isn't it always?" she asked.
By Annie
04-30-2002
"Bloody hell, Buffy! Can't find a slightly nicer way to wake a bloke up?" he grumbled annoyed and she crossed her arms over her chest, watching him sit up in bed.
"Well." she said. "I know the way you'd prefer.But see, I don't DO that anymore, and so since you're such a perk in the morning I thought I'd make it quick, for both of us."
He looked at her, his eyes growing to slits.
"Are you still mad about the fight we had last night? I mean, I was just trying to be honest."
She rolled her eyes, walking to the door.
"Just get dressed and come down stairs," she said and he watched her as she went.
He sighed.
"I will NEVER understand that woman," he mumbled, combing his hands through his hair.
Then he got up and quickly dressed, coming downstairs he was met by the Lil'Bit who looked sourly at him.
"What'd I do?" he asked, holding his hands out in front of him and raising his eyebrows at her.
"Oh, nothing YOU did," she said wretchedly and he lowered his hands, giving her a small smirk.
"Ah, troubles with sis again, eh?" he asked and the look on her told him the answer since it was that of a thundercloud about to go off. "Look, your sis is really trying, okay? She's got a LOT to.deal with right now and everything, y'know?"
"Well, that doesn't give her the right to go and." she suddenly looked at him, pausing long enough for him to notice the sudden remorse in her expression and he sighed.
"Look, niblet, I don't want you to fight for me, okay?" he said, smiling a little, trying to comfort her even though it felt like his heart was slowly sinking in his chest. "It's a lost cause, anyway," he added and then she frowned.
"I don't think so, I just really don't, 'cause where does she come off always being all I-know-best when she won't even stop to think about others feelings? MY feelings, and YOUR feelings."
Spike smiled bitterly.
"See, to her vampires don't HAVE feelings. I'm just an evil, soulless thing," he mumbled and regretted it the moment angry tears filled Dawn's eyes.
"Yes, and then she goes and dreams about you and everything and saying she 'can't remember', which I think is just a load of CRAP!"
"Hey, now, don't you be using that kinda language, you hear? That's not the way for a lady," he said and a light quickly started to show in her eyes as she wiped at her tears.
Then she smiled a little.
"Am I a lady, then?" she asked and he smiled back at her.
"You're MY lady, that's for sure," he answered and she beamed at him before giving him a huge hug.
"I'm gonna miss you," she mumbled and he pulled back a little to look down into her face.
"I'm gonna miss you too, niblet, you know that."
She smiled once more; looking like she was tearing up again and he let her go, feeling a little like he was choking up too and not exactly willing to show it.
"Now listen," he said. "I don't wanna be the reason for you and your sis not to get along, so I really hope you can try to see that she's been dealing with.with my kind since she was your age, and she knows that most of us aren't to be trusted.well, unless we have a soul or a deadly crush on her, that is," he added and Dawn laughed, the sound making him feel relieved. "What I'm saying is that the life she's led, it has toughened her up and.I guess it just takes some time to really get through the rough exterior, but on the inside there's something REALLY special."
"Sorta like you," Dawn said as she threw her arms around him and he felt tears rise in his eyes again.
Damned Summers girls, he thought but returning her hug rather gratefully.
Buffy walked into the hallway just then, stopping looking at them she sighed a little. Dawn having been all Princess Frost since she came back down she couldn't help but envy that wretched vampire. Then the two let go of each other and as Dawn turned to her she could sense something had changed. Dawn gave Spike a quick glance, and he smiled a little, then she nodded and went up to Buffy.
"Buffy," she said and the tone in her voice sounded so grown up and serious that Buffy blinked. "I love you, but you need to stop being so judgmental all the time. Everything isn't always black and white, there are grays too, and you should stop to think about that."
Then she embraced Buffy, hugging her tightly before stepping back and walking into the kitchen.
Buffy just kept on blinking and Spike couldn't help but feel a bit proud of the niblet.
"Did.that just happen?" Buffy asked and since there was no one else around he took the liberty of answering.
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"Are you ready?" Sarah's voice was heard and Buffy turned to Spike, they looked at each other for a moment before simultaneously answering:
"Yes!"
Entering the living room Buffy noticed that everybody had gathered around the mirror. Sarah looked up at them as they approached, smiling.
Buffy was a little nervous, but she was sort of glad that she didn't have to go alone.
"Okay," Sarah said. "Are you really willing to do this?"
"Why, can anything go wrong?" Dawn asked, her dispute with Buffy already forgotten, at least for the time being, and her love and concern for her sister evident on her face.
"No, nothing will go wrong, I assure you," Sarah said. "But I wouldn't want there to be any doubt," she added with a look on Buffy.
Buffy turned to Dawn and after a moment they hugged each other.
"I love you, Dawnie," she said and Dawn nodded as they pulled apart.
"I love you too. And think about what I said," she added with a slight smile and Buffy returned it with a nod.
"Bye, Buff, for now," Xander said, bending down to embrace her. "I'll see you soon."
She hugged him back and before they let go she whispered:
"Anya will come back, you'll see, it'll all be fine."
Xander looked down on her, thankful for the support, and she smiled as she turned to Willow.
"You WILL be back, right?" Willow asked silently and Buffy smiled reassuringly.
"I usually am, aren't I?" she asked and Willow smiled faintly as they too embraced.
Buffy smiled at Tara and hugged her tightly.
"We'll miss you," Tara said and Buffy nodded.
"Me too."
Spike watched the love fest with as much disdain as he could bring forth, at this particular time it wasn't much, especially when Dawn came up and put her arms around his neck in a hard hug.
"I'll miss YOU," she whispered and he smiled weakly. "Promise you'll be back."
He pulled away to look into her eyes and said:
"I promise I'll be back."
Then they let go and Sarah smiled at the assembled group of people before looking at Buffy and Spike, who both nodded solemnly, coming to stand beside her in front of the mirror.
She turned back to it, whispering words too low for anyone to hear as she raised her right arm and made three big circles in front of the glass.
The wave, which had signaled her arrival the night before, suddenly appeared and the glass started to look almost like it was melted, its color high lightening to a bright silvery.
"Wow," Dawn breathed as Sarah grabbed Spike's hand with her left and signaled to Spike to take Buffy's.
He hesitated a moment, looking at her questioningly and she shrugged, reaching out her right hand to take his left. Buffy tried to ignore the sense of security that firm grip implanted in her heart, but couldn't; it chased too much of her nervousness away and she looked at him with a little smile. He smiled back; reassured that she wouldn't go all uh-let-me-go! in the middle of their journey.
"Hold on," Sarah now said. "This is going to feel rather unusual."
Then she took a step forward, the others following one step behind. Before the ones watching them leave knew it the three were gone and the glass was going from sharp silver to its normal color and all was well with the world.
***
The sensation as they took that first step through the mirror was hard to really describe, but it was almost like having water not only surround them but somehow flow straight through them. It was as though they were waves blending with the one in the mirror glass.
The first step bringing them into the mirror was icy cold, Buffy finding it hard to breathe but still able to she drew a shaky breath. As they took the second step the chill turned into heat and Buffy almost wanted to scream, her hand squeezing Spike's hard enough for the bones to shift slightly, and then, just like that, they left the mirror behind them, stepping out into a large room with an almost breathtaking décor.
Buffy stared at it; it was incredible.
A huge bed in dark wood stood against the wall to her right and furniture of the same material in the shape of a desk, a small table with two chairs and a large bureau were placed out in the room. A large picture window was in the wall in front of her and practically covering the wall to her left, where there also was a door, were floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with rows and rows of books.
The whole room seemed to go in a soft peach tone with dark green traces in the large rug on the floor and the cloth in the chairs and on the bed.
"Wow." she said and then she suddenly felt how incredibly thirsty she was, the room started spinning and she took a step forward, loosing her balance and crashing into Spike who had just turned around.
"Woah, there, Slayer!" he said, grabbing a hold of her and keeping her on her feet.
She shook her head, trying to get rid of the feeling. She had eaten a great breakfast, what was going on now? Then she remembered Sarah falling to the floor after her dramatic entrance the night before.
"Here," Sarah said, turning around with a glass filled with water in one hand, already holding one for herself in the other. "Drink this, you'll feel better."
Buffy tried to push Spike away, she wasn't a damned damsel in distress and she didn't need to lean on him! But he held her firmly until she didn't want to struggle him anymore, after reaching out a hand to take the glass she started to greedily gulp down the water.
After having a refill and drinking that as well she felt practically restored and pulled out of Spike's hold. He merely smirked at her before he started walking into the room, picking objects on the desk up and inspecting them with a look and a smile of recognition.
"This place sure haven't changed," he said and Sarah laughed, putting her empty water glass down on the tray containing the one Buffy had used and a pitcher.
"Of course not," she said. "It's only two years since you disappeared," she added, reminding him.
He grinned, but then sadness poured into his features as he said:
"I'm sorry about that, I just."
She walked up to him, placing a gentle hand on one of his arms and nodding.
"I know, Will. And I understand."
Buffy was looking at the books on the shelves. There were one section that seemed to hold works of authors she knew, such as Dickens and Shakespeare and others, and fiction or poetry of authors she had never heard of, but when she kept moving she soon came upon title after title that sounded related to her own line of work, and some with titles she couldn't read the language of.
"You have quite a collection." she said, still eyeing the books and thinking of how Giles would have thought himself in seventh heaven had he been there.
"Yes," Sarah said, coming up to stand beside her. "But I've only bought about a tenth myself, the rest Mr. Auburn, the man I told you about, he left me the rest when he passed away."
"Quite a friendly old poof," Spike said, once more indulged in walking around the room, looking at the paintings and the exquisite porcelain figures placed on the small table.
"He was that, and so much more. He was a dear friend," Sarah said, reaching out and stroking the book in front of her, reminiscing.
Buffy left her side quietly to walk up to the window. She carefully pulled the white lace curtain aside and peered out.
They were on the second floor, she concluded, and her eyes grew a little wide as she watched the street outside, cobblestone and all, and people walking around looking as though they were getting ready for a movie shot. Ladies in pretty, wide dresses and gentlemen in hats and strict looking suits paraded arm in arm on the sidewalks as little children played in the streets, squealing with pleasure as they had to get out of the way for a carriage or a wagon.
"Pretty, ain't it?" Spike asked behind her and she let the curtain fall back into place before turning around.
"Yes," she answered him. "Very."
He smiled a little when the door suddenly opened and a clever eyed, middle- aged man appeared in the doorway.
"Father," Sarah exclaimed, happily meeting him as he stepped inside the room, giving him a big hug.
"Child, I've asked you to come and TELL me when you get back, ease my worrying at least by a few minutes," the man smiled at her as they let go and she smiled back.
"I'm sorry, father, I was a little preoccupied," she said, turning to Buffy and Spike.
The man's eyes widened considerably as he looked at Spike, then a smile split his face and he walked up to the vampire, disregarding his tentatively outstretched hand and grabbing him by the shoulders to give him a warm hug.
Spike was as stunned as the man, it had been over a century since he saw him, so much had happened, and it was somewhat of a shock to all of a sudden be back in the place and with the people he had grown up, especially since THEY hadn't changed in appearance one bit.
The welcoming act of the man who, just like Sarah, must know what he was and what he had done was almost too much for him and this time he couldn't just blink the tears away, they filled his eyes as relentlessly as the rain fills an already full lake, and just like it they soon flooded.
"Jacob," he said in a hoarse voice, hardly even recognizing it.
"William," Jacob said, pulling away with the smile still on his features. "It is so wonderful to see you, finally."
Spike's eyes widened a little at that, he couldn't believe that Jacob could really mean that, then the words Sarah had spoken the night before came back in his mind.
'You're in the eyes, William. You show in your eyes, and I don't think you can ever get out of there.'
And he realized that Jacob would, if asked, without any hesitation agree with that. This marveled him to the point of no speech and he just stood dumb-founded looking at the man who, for a while, had acted like his father and who he always had considered a second one.
Then Jacob turned to Buffy, who silently had been watching the reunion. She couldn't help but wonder what Spike was feeling, what he was thinking about all this. Then Jacob took a step around the vamp to approach her with a friendly smile.
"My dear," he said, reaching out his hand and gripping hers firmly, "you are more than welcome to our home."
Buffy returned the smile, feeling any anxiety she might have had in meeting the man melt away and she said:
"Thank you."
Then Jacob let his eyes swiftly move down, looking her over in a manner she could tell wasn't sexual in any way and then he let her hand go, turning to his daughter.
"Are ladies wearing TROUSERS in the future?" he asked, astounded, and Sarah laughed.
"Oh, daddy, don't be an old poof!" she said with a wink at Spike, who grinned at her, now trying to discretely get rid of the tears staining his cheeks.
Jacob scratched his head thoughtfully, before smiling, shaking his head at her.
"Yes, yes," he said distractedly, then corrected himself. "I mean, no, of course not. I'll try not to be, but see, this won't do, now will it, Sarah?"
Sarah smiled at him.
"Did you really think that I would not take care of it?" she asked and he looked at her, and then chuckled.
"No, of course not. I'm sorry, darling," he said. "How ARE you taking care of it, if I may ask?"
"Why, of course you may," Sarah said. "I have arranged for Miss Talbot to come over at three o'clock for measuring and then it will all be done. I am paying her a little extra and so she will have at least two dresses ready by tomorrow."
"That's quite quick," Jacob said, a little surprised.
"Well, she has Fiona and Clara and a handful of girls to help her with them, so in all accounts it's almost a bit slow," she declared and Jacob smiled.
"Well, then, that's settled."
Buffy listened and when she saw a chance she spoke up:
"I really hope I'm not causing you any trouble with, well, the money and everything."
"Oh, such a delightful American accent you have, my dear," Jacob said before adding with a wink: "Don't you worry, we have a few pounds to get by on."
Buffy smiled a little at that, still feeling rather low for making them spend money on someone they barely knew the last name of.
"And.me?" Spike now asked and Sarah laughed.
"Silly William, you just go into your old room and pick whatever clothes you would like," she said and he stared at her for a moment.
"You mean you've left it the way it was when I left?" he asked, disbelieving.
"Of course we did," Sarah said. "Now go on, I need to help Buffy get ready for Miss Talbot."
Buffy watched as Spike left the room with Jacob. Had she been completely wrong or had he been crying?
"Are you ready for this?" Sarah asked and Buffy turned to her a little confused. "It's a whole other world out there than what you're used to," Sarah explained and Buffy smiled.
"Isn't it always?" she asked.