You Know Not The Day Nor the Hour, Epilogue (Part 3)
by Lynne C.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: It's all Joss' – I worship at the altar of his genius, and acknowledge that he owns all these folks and everything that they do and say.
Setting: Post-"Chosen"
They'd stood for a long time, staring at the hole in the ground that used to be their very own home-on-the-Hellmouth. They were all a bit giddy with shock and relief. All the other emotions would hit them later: the loss of many they knew, some they loved, and all they owned; the wonder that they had won and a whole world now lay ahead of them, waiting for what they would make of it.
Vi had an hysterical fit, which distracted from their wisecracks and the dark humor that kept them from having to try and assimilate it all. The wounded still needed tending, and the bus was turning into an oven baking in the hot spring sun. The young slayers began to get restive, and finally Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles, one-by-one, turned away from the crater, not really ready to bid farewell to everything left there, but realizing that they might never be really ready. So, they silently thought their thoughts and left bits of their hearts in the yawning hole that separated them from all that had come before, and was now catapulting them into an unknown future.
They drove for less than an hour, finding a motor lodge outside of San Luis Obispo that left much to be desired aesthetically, but which appeared to have few occupants. Giles had rented all of their dozen rooms, thanking the almighty powers of the banking industry for seeing fit to provide him with a great deal of credit. The manager had raised an eyebrow as he looked out the window, and saw several bandaged girls milling outside the schoolbus. "Powder puff football…they take it very seriously," had been Giles' explanation.
They'd settled into their rooms, and tried to relax – not easy after the experience they'd been through, with the residual adrenaline keeping them keyed up for hours. Finally, as evening fell, and the breezes turned to bring refreshing cool sea air inland, a degree of calm descended. And Willow knocked softly on the door of the room Buffy had chosen to share with Dawn.
Buffy opened the door, and bid her friend enter. The theme to "Three's Company" chirped quietly out of the television set, and the bright images from the screen flashed in the darkened room, illuminating Dawn's sleeping form on one of the narrow beds. The older girls sat down side by side on the other, regarding each other solemnly.
"So Buff, how ya holdin' up?"
"You know, about like most times we avert the end of the world ~ in need of some moisturizer and a pedicure."
Though her words were vintage Buffy, Willow could see the exhaustion battling with deep sadness in her eyes.
"Um, Buffy, I…well, about Spike –"
"He was amazing, Willow…you should have seen him. He did it. In the end, it was him who saved us. And I can't believe he's gone. He was so alive, for a dead guy…."
Willow hesitated while Buffy stared at her own hands, folded in her lap. The reverie lasted only a minute or so before Buffy continued, "but what were you going to say."
"Well, Spike gave me a letter some months ago…uh, in January, that he wanted me to give you if he didn't make it through all this…but, it was still in the house. I'm sorry, but it's gone. There were things he wanted you to know, to say good-bye, I guess…." she trailed off, not sure what else to say. She hadn't been aware of conceiving an affection for he wiry vampire, but she was conscious of a lump in her own throat that was not entirely out of sympathy for her friend's pain.
Buffy shook her head, and a small, sad smile played at the corners of her mouth. "It's okay, Will. The last few days…we quit hiding from each other, and said a lot of things that had been there between us for a long time. I – I don't really think there was anything in that letter that we hadn't, in the end, already covered, you know? He gave me so much strength, when I let him, right up to the end. I think a part of me loves him." And then she closed her eyes, and leaned sideways to rest her head on Willow's shoulder. And Willow's arm came up to encircle her shoulders. And they sat that way for a long time.
And a long time later, Willow whispered, "He had really pretty handwriting. I wish you could have seen it." And then they were quiet again.
by Lynne C.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: It's all Joss' – I worship at the altar of his genius, and acknowledge that he owns all these folks and everything that they do and say.
Setting: Post-"Chosen"
They'd stood for a long time, staring at the hole in the ground that used to be their very own home-on-the-Hellmouth. They were all a bit giddy with shock and relief. All the other emotions would hit them later: the loss of many they knew, some they loved, and all they owned; the wonder that they had won and a whole world now lay ahead of them, waiting for what they would make of it.
Vi had an hysterical fit, which distracted from their wisecracks and the dark humor that kept them from having to try and assimilate it all. The wounded still needed tending, and the bus was turning into an oven baking in the hot spring sun. The young slayers began to get restive, and finally Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles, one-by-one, turned away from the crater, not really ready to bid farewell to everything left there, but realizing that they might never be really ready. So, they silently thought their thoughts and left bits of their hearts in the yawning hole that separated them from all that had come before, and was now catapulting them into an unknown future.
They drove for less than an hour, finding a motor lodge outside of San Luis Obispo that left much to be desired aesthetically, but which appeared to have few occupants. Giles had rented all of their dozen rooms, thanking the almighty powers of the banking industry for seeing fit to provide him with a great deal of credit. The manager had raised an eyebrow as he looked out the window, and saw several bandaged girls milling outside the schoolbus. "Powder puff football…they take it very seriously," had been Giles' explanation.
They'd settled into their rooms, and tried to relax – not easy after the experience they'd been through, with the residual adrenaline keeping them keyed up for hours. Finally, as evening fell, and the breezes turned to bring refreshing cool sea air inland, a degree of calm descended. And Willow knocked softly on the door of the room Buffy had chosen to share with Dawn.
Buffy opened the door, and bid her friend enter. The theme to "Three's Company" chirped quietly out of the television set, and the bright images from the screen flashed in the darkened room, illuminating Dawn's sleeping form on one of the narrow beds. The older girls sat down side by side on the other, regarding each other solemnly.
"So Buff, how ya holdin' up?"
"You know, about like most times we avert the end of the world ~ in need of some moisturizer and a pedicure."
Though her words were vintage Buffy, Willow could see the exhaustion battling with deep sadness in her eyes.
"Um, Buffy, I…well, about Spike –"
"He was amazing, Willow…you should have seen him. He did it. In the end, it was him who saved us. And I can't believe he's gone. He was so alive, for a dead guy…."
Willow hesitated while Buffy stared at her own hands, folded in her lap. The reverie lasted only a minute or so before Buffy continued, "but what were you going to say."
"Well, Spike gave me a letter some months ago…uh, in January, that he wanted me to give you if he didn't make it through all this…but, it was still in the house. I'm sorry, but it's gone. There were things he wanted you to know, to say good-bye, I guess…." she trailed off, not sure what else to say. She hadn't been aware of conceiving an affection for he wiry vampire, but she was conscious of a lump in her own throat that was not entirely out of sympathy for her friend's pain.
Buffy shook her head, and a small, sad smile played at the corners of her mouth. "It's okay, Will. The last few days…we quit hiding from each other, and said a lot of things that had been there between us for a long time. I – I don't really think there was anything in that letter that we hadn't, in the end, already covered, you know? He gave me so much strength, when I let him, right up to the end. I think a part of me loves him." And then she closed her eyes, and leaned sideways to rest her head on Willow's shoulder. And Willow's arm came up to encircle her shoulders. And they sat that way for a long time.
And a long time later, Willow whispered, "He had really pretty handwriting. I wish you could have seen it." And then they were quiet again.