CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: OLIVIA

Friday: 5pm

9th July 1999

California: Sunnydale

Buffy's dreams had taken an even more bizarre twist lately.  Not only was she still dreaming about the boy requesting her to count to twelve, but she had started dreaming of a young blonde girl who sang in a sweet voice, holding a small wooden box in her hands.  The box was decorated with an intricate carved out pattern, painted in different shades of brown.

Can't even shout

Can't even cry

The gentlemen are coming by.

Looking in windows

Knocking on doors

They need to take seven

And they might take yours.

Can't call to mom

Can't say a word

You're gonna die screaming

But you won't be heard.

Buffy had written it down and shown it to Giles and Ethan, but they were as stumped as she was. 

"Can't even shout, can't even cry, the gentlemen are coming by," Giles repeated.  He thought over the words for a moment and looked at his Slayer.

"It sounds vaguely familiar," Ethan volunteered.

"It's creepy, I'll tell you that much," she replied.

"Are you sure it's nothing you heard when you were a child?" he asked.

She looked at him incredulously.  "Yeah, cos the Council just thrives on teaching it's Potentials nursery rhymes."

"Ah.  Good point.  Sorry." 

"So…what do you think it means?" she asked.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the other dream you've been having.  About the needle in the haystack," he suggested.

"It's not a needle," she replied absently.  "It's a key."

"Regardless…do you think they're connected?" he asked.

"Well, they've been kinda bleeding into each other lately, but…I get the feeling that they don't have anything to do with each other," she explained.

"Well…it certainly could be a prophetic dream," he said.  "Or else it could just be the eternal mystery that is your brain."

She scowled at him and picked up the book she'd been reading on dream interpretation.  She looked back at the rhyme she'd written on a piece of paper, reading over the words again.

"They need to take seven," she read quietly.  "Take seven what?"

"What?"

"Oh…I was just wondering.  It says they need to take seven," Buffy explained, showing him the sentence she'd been musing over.  "Seven what?"

Giles took the piece of paper and scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"Well, in some mythologies, seven is a significant number.  All sorts of belief systems use it, so I suppose it's not entirely unusual for anyone to need seven of a particular item."

"Yeah, but what item?" she asked.  "Are we talking fingers, children, goats?  It's kinda vague."

"They're always vague," Ethan complained.  "Couldn't you just dream about something specific luv?  None of this stuff about needles and keys and boys with no shoes."

Buffy rolled her eyes and threw a cushion at Ethan, the older man catching it before it could hit his head.

"Sure Ethan, I'll just whiz over and tell whoever plants these dreams in my brain that we need a clearer road map to interpreting them," she said sarcastically.

Giles rolled his eyes, tuning out the bickering pair.  He was used to it by now and had learned to ignore them when they went off on their own tangents.  He glanced at his watch briefly and then looked more closely.  He winced as he realised he'd completely forgotten to warn Buffy and Ethan about his house guest who was due to arrive -

There was a knock at the door.  He grimaced and wished he'd remembered to tell them.

"I got it," Buffy said, already on her feet.  Giles went to protest, but he was no match for Slayer speed.  Buffy vaulted over the top of the couch and was at the door before Giles could even say her name to stop her. 

Buffy opened the door quickly, a stake hidden in her jacket pocket in case it was anything nasty come to play.  She expected it to be Jay, Willow or Faith who generally always visited her in the afternoons.

On the other side of the door was a young woman in her early thirties, an attractive black woman with hundreds of tiny braids running through her hair.

"Hi," Buffy greeted, unsure of whom the woman was.  She'd never seen her around Sunnydale before, and the woman looked as though she too had been expecting someone else.

"You're not Giles."

She sounded British and Buffy wondered whether or not this woman was a Watcher.  Buffy turned to look inside the apartment, Giles having stood and made his way to the door, Ethan following as well.

"Olivia," Giles greeted warmly.  Olivia smiled and stepped into the apartment, kissing the British Watcher deeply.  Ethan and Buffy's eyes simultaneously went wide.  The two looked at each other, and Buffy could only mouth to Ethan 'who is she?'.  Ethan's eyes narrowed.  He knew who this woman was.

Olivia and Giles pulled apart, the Watcher breathless.  He suddenly remembered the two people in the house and went slightly red under their gazes.  He turned to face his Slayer.

"Oh, uh, forgive me. This, uh…this is, uh, Olivia. She's, uh, an old friend, she's staying here for a few days," Giles explained.

"Couldn't pass through sunny Cal without looking up ol' Ripper," Olivia explained.

Ethan stepped forward and coughed subtly.

"And you uh…you remember Ethan of course," Giles said.

Olivia turned to Ethan and smirked.  "Ethan Rayne," she said.  "How could I ever forget you?"

He took her hand, a charming smile on his face, though Buffy could see the coldness in his eyes, their usual spark depleted completely.

"Olivia.  Always a delight."

Olivia turned to Buffy, a curious look on her face.

"And who's this young woman?" she asked.

"Buffy Summers," Buffy said, holding her hand out for the older woman.

"So you're the girl who took dear Ripper away from our fold," Olivia said, looking the girl up and down.  Buffy felt the need to put her arms over her chest, but she sucked in self-consciousness and stood to her full height.  "I hope you appreciate him giving everything up for you."

Giles and Ethan both looked affronted at Olivia's blunt statement towards Buffy.  Ethan took a menacing step forward, uncaring that he usually didn't hit women.  No one said anything like that to his 'daughter' and got away with it.

"If you call raising demons and getting people killed 'everything', then I have to say that I prefer him right here, thank you," Buffy said.  She had slipped into the slightly British accent that she had acquired, using it at full force.  It wasn't often that it happened, and usually when it did, it was due to her anger.

Ethan nearly cheered when he saw the shocked look on Olivia's face.  Olivia stepped forward, unable to believe that an eighteen year old had just spoken back to her.  Buffy just looked up at Olivia, completely unthreatened as Olivia stood only inches away from her.

"You think you're so tough, just because you're the Slayer," Olivia said quietly, the two men straining to hear what was being said.  "Just remember, I had him first, and I'll have him again.  You'll be out of the picture before you can even say the words 'death to the Slayer'."

"Be glad that you're a friend of Giles'," Buffy said quietly.  "Or I wouldn't walk away from this."

With that, she turned and went upstairs.  Ethan glared at Olivia and turned to follow her.  Giles just swallowed nervously and wondered whether the entire weekend was about to blow up in his face.

------------------------

Saturday: 8am

10th July 1999

California: Sunnydale

She woke up, stretching her aching muscles.  She was always sore in the mornings, though after a brisk jog through the streets of Sunnydale, she seemed to function normally for the rest of the day.  She'd had the same dream that night, the first about the boy in the field, the second about the girl with the box.  And intermingled into those two dreams had been a strange swordfight between herself and Olivia, though inevitably, Buffy always lost the fight.

The Slayer knew that in a real sword fight, she'd be able to take on the older woman, no matter what.  But the woman's words still rang in her ears.

You'll be out of the picture before you can even say the words 'death to the Slayer'.

Olivia had obviously got the wrong impression about Buffy's relationship with the Watcher, but part of Buffy also knew that Olivia was right to be jealous.  She and Giles held parts of each other that no one else had access to.  They trusted each other with their lives, and Buffy for one wouldn't have it any other way.

Buffy supposed that the only reason that the dream-Olivia won the sword fights was because Buffy was aware of her own mortality.  Slayers had an average lifespan of nineteen or twenty years, and at eighteen and a half, Buffy was already living on borrowed time.  She knew that it would only be a matter of years or perhaps even months before she finally found an opponent that she couldn't defeat.

Buffy yawned and rolled off the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  She stumbled into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and washing her face.  She made her way down to the kitchen, busying herself with the kettle to make herself and Giles a cup of tea as was ritual.  Part of her forgot that Olivia was even in the house until she heard Giles begin to rouse.

It wasn't an extra voice that reminded Buffy of Olivia's presence, it was the subtle difference in the noise of footfalls above her.  Buffy rolled her eyes and sat at the bench, her hands coming around the china cup keeping them warm, even though the air wasn't cold.

She looked towards the stairs when she recognised Giles' footsteps behind her.  She smiled, too tired to think of anything to say.  Giles gave her his usual silent greeting and reached for the cup of tea that Buffy had made for him.

'Are you busy today?'

Giles stopped, panicked.  He hadn't heard himself say the words that he was certain his mouth had formulated.  He tried again, Buffy not even realising that he was trying to communicate with her.  Her head rested on her hands, her eyes closed tiredly.  He touched her shoulder.

'Morning Giles.'

She too panicked.  When Olivia finally graced them with her presence, she saw the shock and worry on their faces and went to ask Giles what he was worried about.  The third look of panic preceded the telephone ringing.

Buffy picked it up, going to say 'hello', but realising the futility of such a greeting.  She was met with silence.  She hung up and quickly pressed the code to find out the ID of the previous caller.  Ethan.

She wrote down Ethan's name on a piece of paper and handed it to Giles.  He nodded and took the pen from his Slayer.

'He's probably on his way over here now.'

Buffy nodded, now fully awake.  'I wonder if it's just us or if it's everyone', she wrote.

Giles too pondered the question.  Buffy went to the door and opened it, looking onto the street.  Across the road, one of the neighbours was on the front porch, trying to scream.  There was nothing but silence.  Buffy motioned for Giles to come and look.  He could only furrow his brow and wonder what had happened.

(Quotes from "Hush" and "The Freshman")

Hey people!  I'm back in action with a new fic to boot!  Go check out Balance Restored if you like Spuffy stuff!!  (Shameless plug I know!!)

As to the questions about the noy in the pic, it IS Beau Brady from Home and Away.  I'm Aussie and addicted to soapies!!  Isn't he a hunny?  ;)  Thank you as always to the ppl who reviewed, emailed and signed my guestbook!  You're all wonderful!

Toodles.

K.