CHAPTER FOUR: ENGAGED
A Week LaterErika sat, her knees huddled at her chest. She was sitting on the front porch of her Watcher's house, waiting for a car to pull up front. Her bags sat next to her, packed and ready to go. In her hand, she held a plane ticket, one way to the Los Angeles Airport. At any other time, she would have been excited to have been going to America, but now, all she felt was complete dread.
She didn't want to leave Sydney, but…she had no choice. She had nothing left here for her anyway.
Her Watcher, friend, confidante, lover and fiancée, Ryan was dead. Killed by vampires. When she had found his body lying on the grass outside his house, his body gone cold and his hands clammy, she had cried for seven hours straight before finally exhausting herself to sleep.
The funeral had been two days later. That was nearly two weeks ago.
It had taken the Council two weeks to make arrangements for her to move o Sunnydale to be put under the care of another Watcher, and in those two weeks, her entire world had completely collapsed around her.
The Master vamp in town had taken a particular interest in her and had begun to stalk her, sending her taunting love notes and small tokens of 'affection'. It was he who had killed her Watcher. For that, she had solemnly vowed to kill him and every one of his minions.
It proved to be a more difficult task than she had imagined.
Surrounded, she looked around in fear, her stake still poised and ready as Ryan had taught her. She quickly calculated how many vamps there were, trying to estimate the odds of her survival.
Eight. Eight of them stood guard around her. She turned in circles, not wanting to take her eyes away from the small army. With only one weapon and still not at her full potential, she knew that the chances of survival were practically slim to none.
A hole was made in the circle and Erika watched as another vampire stepped into the ring, the circle closing behind him. She stared at him, defiance and hatred in her eyes. His demon wasn't showing, which angered Erika even further. He was a monster, he should at least have the decency to show it.
"You seem angry Slayer," he said, his voice gentle as it always was when he addressed her. He spoke to her as one would address a lover, and that angered her to no end.
"You killed my Watcher," she replied, not letting her emotions even begin to surface.
The vampire, who she had found out was named Jack Sampson before he had been turned, gave an apologetic shrug.
"Terribly sorry," he said, his voice showing no remorse whatsoever. He gave a grin, which scared her more than anything else ever had. "Oh, I've got someone for you to meet by the way. My newest childe."
A horn honked and Erika looked up, startled by the presence of a sleek black car. She stood up slowly, her limbs still sore. With her good hand, she picked up her luggage and made her way to the car.
The driver hopped out and helped her with the rest of her luggage. He handed her an envelope with her name typed on it.
"Instructions on where to go when you get to Los Angeles miss," he said politely.
Erika just nodded and got into the car, staring sadly at her Watcher's house as they pulled out of the driveway. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall, trying to remember happier times of her life and unable to even remember that she had been ecstatic only three weeks ago.
The restaurant was crowded, music playing in the background. There were couples on the dance floor, moving gracefully in circles. Ryan looked across at Erika nervously and tugged at his tie.
She smiled at him and he gave a nervous grin back. She suddenly felt a little worried.
"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked softly.
He shook his head, trying to avoid having to answer. "It's nothing."
"Ryan, come on. I know you. You seem…almost nervous," she commented.
He coughed slightly and subtly placed his hand into his pocket, grabbing hold of a small velvet box.
"Well, uh…now that you mention it," he said. "I am a little bit nervous."
Oblivious, she looked at him. "Why?"
He stood up and quickly knelt down in front of her, Erika's eyes going wide as she saw him hold up a small box with a ring inside it. It seemed as though the entire restaurant went silent, several patrons watching the display this young couple was making.
"Erika, I've loved you since the day I met you. You've taught me so much about life and love, and nothing would give me more pleasure than if you would be my wife," he said, thankful that he had memorised his spiel earlier in the week. "Will you marry me?"
She stared at him in shock, not having been prepared for him to propose to her. They had never even discussed marriage at all, and this proposal seemed to have come from nowhere.
She breathed in deeply, her nerves suddenly coming forth. A smile came to her face and a single tear fell from her eyes.
He leant up and kissed her softly. "Is that a yes?" he whispered.
She nodded, too astounded to even form words. She finally found her composure once more and threw her arms around him. "Yes! Of course it's a yes!"
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She fiddled idly with her engagement ring that still adorned her finger. It was a gorgeous silver band with three tiny diamonds closely spaced to each other. She closed her eyes, seeing only Ryan's gorgeous blue eyes behind her eyelids. She sighed and opened her eyes again, staring blankly out the window.
"Attention please passengers, next stop Sunnydale," the driver said.
She sighed and stood up, reaching up to get her luggage out of the overhead compartment. The bus came to a jerky halt and she awkwardly hopped off the bus. She looked around the bus depot and sighed quietly.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," she whispered to herself.
Erika looked up and saw a man holding up a sign with her surname marked clearly on it. The Council had told her that there would be a cabby standing there to collect her, so she wandered over to him. He graciously picked up her luggage without hesitation and walked her to a cab.
She stepped into the car and leant her head against the cool window, just wishing that this day would come to an end. She was sick of travelling, and already sick of the American accent.
Twenty minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of UC Sunnydale, and the driver helped her get her luggage to the front desk.
She had to admit, the Council certainly had made fairly good arrangements for her. They had arranged travel and accommodation, her enrolment at the college, and had given her information on how to get in contact with her new Watcher.
She sighed quietly as the cab pulled away, leaving her stranded in an unknown town in an unknown country. It was all she could do not to curl herself into a ball and cry herself to sleep.
~*~
(Set at the beginning of Life Serial. Sorta. Before he's given her any money. Just pretend she never went to see Angel.)
Buffy watched in fascination as her Watcher paced cross the small training room, cordless phone in his hand. He had been intermittently running his free hand through his hair in exasperation, and Buffy still had yet to figure out whom he was talking to. When she had asked, he had politely brushed her off with a gesture telling her to be quiet.
"Yes…yes, I understand. No, I know that. Yes. Yes. Alright, that will be fine. Uh…yes, yes it is. Oh. You did? Really?"
She stared up at him as she heard the note of interest in his voice. He waved telling her not to question him until he was off the phone.
"Oh…yes, well. Thank you. That was…extremely generous of you. Yes, I'll be sure to relay that message. No. No, I really don't think that's a good idea. Yes, I'm certain. Alright. Yes. Thank you."
With that he hung up and smiled broadly at his Slayer.
"What? You're smiling," she said, a smile creeping onto her face as she watched her Watcher.
He could only keep grinning. He raced towards her and lifted her into the air, swinging her around happily. She laughed at his antics and hit him softly when she was placed firmly on the ground once more.
"Okay, now you're just scaring me," she teased.
He ran a hand through his hair once more and sat her down on the couch, his hands on top of hers.
"That was the Council," he said.
She looked at him, confused. "The Council? As in, stuffy Watchers and tea and scones and glares and rudeness?"
He scowled at her, but the smile remained. "Yes. It seems they heard about you're…well, you being back here. They uh…they're reinstating me as your Watcher."
She smiled, grateful that he would be able to be her official Watcher again, but still unsure as to why he was so excited about it.
"Okay…so…yeah, that's definitely of the good but…why the big grin?" she asked.
"Well, the long and short of it is this. They knew you would have problems getting reinstated back at the college, so they took the liberty of arranging it for you," he said.
A grin broke out on her face. "Are you serious? That's fantastic!"
He smiled at the grin on her face, thankful that some good news had finally come in. "They've also, uh…they uh…looked into your financial situations and uh…cleared your debts."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "What?! Why?"
"Buffy, you are the Slayer. They knew you were in trouble, especially seeing as…well, you don't really have time to get a job that would pay enough to keep you…alive," Giles explained.
"So, they're just…what? Paying all of my bills?" she asked.
"Well, they um…they're taking half of my salary and giving it to you," he explained.
Her face dropped at his words. "Giles, no. I can't take that money. It's yours," she said.
Giles brought his hand up to her cheek, which was a little flushed from her earlier excitement. "Buffy, I would like nothing more than to be able to help you out through all of this. And if you giving you half of what I earn as a Watcher will help you, then I am more than happy to give you half."
She smiled at him, his eyes telling her that he was indeed telling the truth.
"But…how are you going to afford everything?" she asked, still a little concerned.
"I still own sixty percent of the Magic Box Buffy. And if Anya can survive on forty percent with her expensive tastes, then I'm sure I'll be more than capable of surviving on sixty," he said.
She smiled thankfully at him. She sighed in relief, thanking whatever higher powers she had been praying to for a miracle had actually listened and granted her wish.
"Wow. I can't believe the Council would do this for me," she said.
Giles smiled and gave a small chuckle. "After your last confrontation with the Council, I think you made quite a good impression on them. Most of Travers' entourage had never even met a Slayer, and…seeing you for the first time, I think they realised that there's more to being a Slayer than just slaying. There's the person behind it all."
She smiled and leant back against the couch, not objecting to Giles embrace when he pulled her closer.
"Any other goodness from the Council that I should know about?" she asked.
He smiled at her sudden change in attitude towards the Council that had often betrayed her and hurt her more than words could express. It wasn't as though she was easy to please, but…like Anya had said, if Buffy could forgive demons and give them a second chance, why shouldn't she be able to forgive the Council?
"Well, it seems they uh…they got me a job at UC Sunnydale. As a history professor," he said.
She turned in his embrace to look at him. "Really?" she asked, excited for him. He nodded and smiled down at her, shifting his weight to make her more comfortable as she turned back around.
"When do you start?"
"Monday," he replied. "And you can go back on Monday as well."
"Cool. I still can't believe the Council did all of this for me. And you. Thank you. So much," she said softly.
"You're welcome," he replied, his hand coming up to stroke her hair gently, pulling her closer to him.
She closed her eyes, thankful that things finally seemed to be looking up.
"There uh…there is another thing I should probably warn you about," Giles said.
She nodded sleepily, her eyes still closed. "Mmm?"
"The uh…the new Slayer's here in Sunnydale," he said quietly.
Her eyes opened and she leant her head back to try and look at him. "Why? We're not having another apocalypse that I should know about, right?"
He chuckled a little and shook his head. "No, nothing like that. She uh…her Watcher was…killed nearly two weeks ago."
Buffy went quiet for a moment, the comment hitting home a little too close. "Oh." She held onto her Watcher a little more tightly.
"Yes, and uh…there aren't any other…fully trained Watchers except for myself and uh…well, Wesley, but, they fired him, so…I am to be her Watcher as well," he explained.
Buffy felt a twinge of jealousy rising up within her. She really didn't want to share her Watcher with anyone else, especially not the new Slayer. She had never enjoyed seeing Giles' interaction with Kendra, seeing as how well they got on in the research department, and Faith's reaction to her Watcher when she was first in town had certainly made Buffy open her eyes up a little towards him.
Even though she as constantly making jokes about his age, she honestly didn't think too much about his age. It was just to see if she could make him scowl at her, an expression which she thought made him look adorable. Not that he isn't already adorable anyway, some part of her mind whispered. For some reason, when Olivia had been in town so many years ago, she had seen red when she had walked in to see Olivia in one of Giles' shirts.
Buffy sighed and leant in closer to her Watcher.
"You alright?" he asked softly, his breath making her neck tingle.
She nodded, too unsure of her voice to speak. She was afraid that it would waver if she even tried to explain what she was feeling.
He waited for a reply but soon saw he wasn't going to get one. He leant his head against hers and closed his eyes, just marvelling at the feeling of having his Slayer in his arms. Ever since she had been back, he took every opportunity he could to touch her, just to make sure that she was actually there and that she wasn't just a figment of his overactive imagination. Sometimes he would race to her house and check her room to make sure he hadn't been dreaming the entire thing.
"You know you'll always be my Slayer, don't you?" he asked, guessing what had caused her to go quiet.
She nodded, but he could feel her hesitation. "No one could ever take your place. No one."
She smiled a little at his words and didn't stop him when he continued.
"I remember when I was fired," Giles said, his voice low, his mouth still close to her neck, making her shiver slightly. He smiled at her reaction and held her tightly. "I was so afraid that you would hate me. That I would lose you to Wesley. But you made sure that I knew that I would always be your Watcher, no one else. So…now it's my turn. You will always be my Slayer. Mine, and no one else's."
She smiled and felt her body relax in his arms. He bent his head down cautiously, extremely hesitant. He was afraid of her reaction, but he had to know. He brought gentle lips to the crook between her shoulder and her neck and kissed it gently.
He felt her loll her head forward to grant him better access to her skin. The feeling of his lips on her was incredible. She was having trouble thinking let alone remembering to continue breathing.
He smiled against her shoulder and trailed tiny kisses up her neck. He gently shifted her onto his lap so that he could reach her mouth. He teased her for a moment, kissing her jaw, making her give a barely audible whimper. His mouth finally found hers and he kissed her softly, slowly. He brought her hand up to touch his chest so she could feel his heart racing.
She looked up at him, a smile dancing on her lips. She breathed in shakily, and moved her hand up to his cheek, gently touching the stubble on his cheeks. She moved her hand into his hair, playing with the slight curls at the back of his head.
She pulled his head down slowly and met his lips with hers, their tongues dancing, both minds completely void of anything other than the feel of each other.
They both pulled away breathless, still a little unsure of where they stood with each other, though Buffy couldn't have been more thrilled.
"I love you," she whispered, her eyes never breaking eye contact with his.
He smiled and brought his hand up to touch her face, kissing her softly before replying. "I love you."
She smiled and settled into his arms, wondering if this night could possibly have been any better.