A/N: Okay, people, I am up and happy and ready to put up a new vignette. I'm sorry I didn't update last night. Before I could finish, okay, well, even start, I went to my own little dream-world, and unfortunately, mine does not make as much sense as Buffy's does. I may be able to get 2 up today because I'm feeling energetic after I got an e-mail from Haley Teague. God, people around here are so nice! I've reviewed fics and on more than one occasion I've gotten an extremely lovely e-mail back. I will stop rambling now.
Buffy burst into tears and clutched to William for support. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. It was my fault. I pulled someone out of heaven......." Buffy whispered. She couldn't remember feeling more guilty about something, especially now that she knew what it was like. William bent down and looked into her eyes. He said calmly, "It was Spike's choice, pet, not yours." "But he got it for me," Buffy cried, "If it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have gotten it-you! I as good as pulled you out myself," she added miserably. "After you left," William said seriously, "I couldn't help but missing you. And now you're here, and you're feeling guilty over what Spike did, not you, love, Spike." He wiped her tears away. "Sorry," Buffy said quietly, "Little emotional." William raised his right eyebrow, then smiled. "It's natural in this dimension. For you, it would seem like being on-on, er, pre-menstrua-" he flushed a bright red and bit his lip. Buffy smiled. "I know what you mean." William sighed in relief, grateful not to have to finish his sentence.
"Are you sure you're not mad at me?" Buffy asked timidly a few moments later. "Of course not," William said. "It's just," Buffy said, looking down at the ground, "I know what it's like to be pulled out of Heaven." "I know you do," he said quietly, "But it's really nothing to cry over, especially since you didn't do anything." With a smile, William told Buffy, "You know, they say that when a Slayer cries, the Earth cries with her." Buffy chuckled a bit at that. "Somehow I doubt that." "I know for a fact that when you cry, Spike does," William said, so quietly Buffy had to strain to hear.
Buffy thought about that. "I'll bet he does," she whispered. The conversation seemed to be getting quieter and quieter as it went on. "Sometimes I feel bad for how I treated Spike," Buffy admitted to William. "Did he not get you back?" he asked her. "He did, but now he's paying for it." "Are you paying for it, too?" William asked rhetorically, in a gentle tone. Buffy didn't know how she would answer that question. She'd understood that she'd done wrong, but had never thought about paying for it. William seemed to understand what she was thinking. He took her hand, and Buffy was surprised by how warm it was, as opposed to Spike's walking-undead coldness. "I have to show you something, Buffy."
An old-fashioned carved wooden door appeared in the air in front of them at William's words, and opened to reveal a patch of beautiful scenery. At the bottom of the portal door was a patch of tall yellow grass backed by an azure sky with lazy clouds drifting across the gentle late afternoon sun. "It looks beautiful," Buffy murmured. "I'll take you there," William said, and together they stepped inside.
As soon as they both stepped inside the little world, the portal door closed behind them, and Buffy got a full view of the place. She and William stood on the side of a hill surrounded by yellow and red trees that were ripe with autumn. At the top of the hill was a lovely quaint house, the color of periwinkle, and done in the style of the Victorian Era. It had a white painted porch that overlooked the hill. Buffy's eyes drifted to the base of the hill, where a fancy black carraige rested on a circular cobblestone drive. A dirt path led off to the east from the pathway to a small wooden building that Buffy assumed was a stable for the horses.
"This is your home," Buffy realized. "No one's here. It's a copy of it that I took with me to Heaven," William said, obviously happy to be there. "This place is what Spike fought for before he fell in love with you," he said. "Of course, he was fighting for evil then, but you understand my point." Buffy nodded, then thought of something. "What was your family like?" she asked curious. "It's rather a confusing story. I was born in 1861to my mum and my father and two years later, he died, leaving my mum, who was pregnant with my sister Charlotte, alone. I met him in Heaven, and he's a very nice man, but while I was alive I had no recollections of him. Then a man who was decidedly richer than we were, named Robert Burnett, fell in love with my mother while married to a woman named Caroline. She had given him a four-year-old named Charles, but he left her for my mum. About six months later, Robert and Mother married, and moved me and the newborn Charlotte into this house you see here. In those days it was a bit of a scandal, because Robert left Caroline with nothing," William added in a morose sort of way.
"Did you like Robert and Charles?" Buffy asked softly. "Charles was a bit of a bully, and not only to me, but I learned to stay out of his way. He was never a nice person, but he did grow out of the bullying," William said slowly. "And Robert?" Buffy pushed. "He was a pretty good man, blind as a bat to his son's behavior, a jolly old soul," he said. "But," Buffy said. "Oh, yes," William said unhappily, "Robert was very nice. Unless you gave him alcohol." The pair sat in silence for a moment. Buffy was unsure of what to say, as, Buffy thought, was William. "Do want to see my room?" William asked, in an effort to break the tension. Buffy smiled gratefully. "I would love to."
~TBC~