Buffy stands and regards her, "What do you mean? You're the one you hit me."
Sydney looks at her as if she was a complete idiot. "Why in the name of everything holy would you do something so stupid? What in the hell were you thinking? Do you know what you could have done?" This went on for several more minutes. Sydney kept finding new and interesting ways of telling Buffy she was an idiot for what she did and Buffy could only assume Sydney was talking out giving Spike the amulet. She didn't understand what the big deal was. Some of the bystanders did notice a snow-white owl that seemed to be circling the bus and found it odd since it was the middle of the day.
In the middle of her tirade, Sydney suddenly fell silent. She then strode purposely towards the front of the bus breezing past Buffy as if she wasn't there. "Stop the bus." She commanded to Robin. He glanced sideways at her and questioned "why?"
The past few years had been too much for Sydney. She had already exploded twice in as many days and decided that she didn't want to make it a third. She said as calmly as she could muster, "Please stop the bus."
Robin did. The owl that had been flying about them came to a rest outside the door and shimmered until a woman stood in the same spot. She was dressed in a style that seemed to meld ancient and modern into one. She looked like an older version of Sydney. In fact they were spitting images of each other right down to the black hair with the white streak.
Sydney quickly opened the bus's doors and the woman boarded the already crowded bus. She drew Sydney into her arms and gave her a hug and a kiss atop her head. She ended the hug and looked into Sydney's eyes and asked, "How are you?"
To that Sydney just rolled her eyes and took her hand and led her to the back of the bus where Spike was sleeping soundly. "Look what the stupid bitch did to him," Sydney said gesturing to Spike.
Although, the burns had faded from his flesh both women knew the wounds went much deeper and hadn't begun to heal yet. The new woman noticed for the first time the bite mark on Sydney's neck. She disapprovingly said, "I can see you've done everything you could for him."
Pretending she didn't notice the tone of the comment, Sydney responded, "I did. I think he's stable for now and if I keep him on a good diet for a while he should recover completely. Rest is the best thing for him so I put him to sleep."
"Your right sleep is the best thing for him now. We'll take care of the rest as it comes up." The new woman spoke with a confidence that is mostly found in only the most experienced doctors. She turned and for the first time acknowledged the rest of the bus's occupants. "So, who's the worst off?"
Sydney took in everyone's blank faces and decided an introduction was in order, "Everyone, this is Lady Polgara. Aunt Pol, meet the new slayers. Now Aunt Pol is well versed in the art of medicine and will be able to take care of all of your wounds, the most serious first." She then turned back to Pol and asked, "Do you need me?"
Polgara looked at Spike then back at Sydney and said, "Not as much as you need to be with him. Watch over him and let me know if anything changes."
Sydney smiled at her and said, "You know I will."
Polgara went on about her business patching up the wounded, doing her best with the stolen hospital supplies. Sydney climbed in the seat where Spike was laying and gently pulled his head into her lap. Sally who had been waiting in the back of the bus during the battle knew that everything was going to be calm for awhile came and laid down on Spike's chest. The Scoobies were waiting their turn to have their various wounds to be taken care of and began discussing the events that took place earlier in the day.
Xander had been watching the exchange between Sydney and Polgara and wanted to know what the group thought about it. "I don't know what her deal is," Xander said gesturing towards Sydney. "I mean why did she hit you, Buffy? And why the hell is she so concerned about Spike?"
Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes. "For a man that is supposed to see everything you really are blind. She loves him."
"Spike? Really? But he's a vampire." Xander went immediately to the worn out excuse he always used.
Dawn felt something that had been buried and hidden deep within her brain begin to stir and she said "No, before that."
Buffy asked "Before what?"
Dawn looks over at Sydney and says "Give me a moment I think I'm remembering something." Sydney who had been listening to the entire conversation without them realizing it looked up and caught Dawn's eye and gave a slight nod. No one else witnessed the exchange but Dawn knew she was on to something. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what had awakened in her mind.
After a few moments keeping her eyes closed she began to speak, "Before Spike. She loved him before Spike. She loves William. The details are fuzzy but she knew William. There was a party where she was going to see if she could get him to start courting her but before she could let her feelings be known he left and was sired that night. She was mad, furious. I remember a lot of glass being broken. She was going to kill the demon that rose wearing William's body. But, the more she observed him the more she realized that William was still there. Yes, he had changed but he wasn't gone. She spent more and more time getting to know the new vampire until she fell in love with William the Bloody all over again."
Dawn opened her eyes and once again looked at Sydney. She was still sitting there holding Spike's head in her lap. Her body language said she hadn't heard a word of what Dawn had been saying but Dawn knew that was a lie. Sydney listens to everything going on around her.
Dawn turned to the group once more. "See, that's why she reacted the way she did. She thought she was going to lose him again. Try to see this from her point of view. How old did you say she is, Anya?"
Anya thought about it and finally said, "Well, I know she's been in the dimension for about a thousand years but I've heard stories about her in other dimensions for 2,000 to 2,500 years before that. So, at least 3,000 years old." After doing the mental calculations, Anya realized where Dawn was headed with this and took over. "Remember what she said last night. She said that a lot of her family had been lost years ago including her sister, husband and lover."
Dawn nodded, "Exactly. Buffy, you've been fighting this fight for the past 7 or 8 years and look at how much you've sacrificed. It wasn't two years ago that you couldn't lose me and died to prevent that. Sometimes you must do the impossible to save what is precious to you."
A light went off in Dawn's mind and everything fell into place. She looked at the group wide-eyed at the new revelation but she realized it hadn't clicked for anyone else. So, she explained, "You see. That's why they made me human. That's why they blocked my memories. I was the barrier that stood between Sydney and victory. Without my consent she would have destroyed herself down there today. I never would have let her do what she did if I didn't understand love." She turned and looked at her sister. "That's why you had to jump. I had to know that sometimes you break all the rules, that you sacrifice everything for love."
No one had noticed that Polgara had now reached their group prepared to bandage their wounds. She spoke up. "Dear child, you're right. Now stand up and let me look at your arm."
Dawn did as she was instructed. As Polgara was dressing her arm, Dawn nodded over to Spike and asked, "Is he going to be alright or does the damage go to deep?"
Polgara never looked up from her task. "Only time will tell. With vampires it's hard to tell how badly hurt they are because the surface heals so quickly but I think that Sydney did help him in time."
Always the blunt one Anya asked, "What happened to him?"
Polgara said nothing but went on with her task. After realizing that she wasn't going to give any explanations, Buffy spoke up. "He was wearing an amulet that Angel gave me. He said he didn't know what it was supposed to do only that it had some sort of cleansing properties."
Without moving an inch or looking at them, Sydney spoke "That's exactly what he was doing. He was cleansing the demons from the area."
"So, how is that a bad thing? It's that what we wanted, dead demons?" Xander asked.
Sydney looked up at him, caught his eye and simply said, "Including his own."
Despite what he had told Andrew earlier that year he didn't understand what it was like to be empty, what it was like to have your heart replaced with darkness, to live without anything to look forward to again. Ever. No, he didn't really understand until he looked in her eyes when she talked about losing the man she loved.
Xander felt the same moment of clarity that had hit Dawn only a few minutes before. He looked at Anya and knew.
Polgara patched up the rest of the group and went back to the front of the bus. Buffy wanted to go see if there had been any changes in Spike. As she approached him with his head still in Sydney's lap and Sally curled up in a ball on his chest, she heard a low growling. She looked at Sydney who had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly and steadily. Buffy took this opportunity with all of them asleep to see if she could assess the damage. Buffy reached her hand out to lift his shirt. As soon as her hand was in striking distance, Sally got up, hissed and scratched the offending extremity, drawing blood with all of her claws.
Buffy quickly withdrew her hand and Sydney said, "Baby Girl, that's really not necessary. She's just checking on him. She's not going to do any more harm." Sydney opens her eyes and looked a Buffy. "Sorry, but she gets a bit protective."
Buffy only nodded then asked, "How's he doing?"
"Not sure exactly. His demon is still pretty weak. I think it will be awhile yet until it's strong enough to properly begin the healing process. But, he'll sleep for a while yet."
Buffy once again nodded then returned to her own seat. The rest of the drive to LA was quiet and uneventful.
Sydney looks at her as if she was a complete idiot. "Why in the name of everything holy would you do something so stupid? What in the hell were you thinking? Do you know what you could have done?" This went on for several more minutes. Sydney kept finding new and interesting ways of telling Buffy she was an idiot for what she did and Buffy could only assume Sydney was talking out giving Spike the amulet. She didn't understand what the big deal was. Some of the bystanders did notice a snow-white owl that seemed to be circling the bus and found it odd since it was the middle of the day.
In the middle of her tirade, Sydney suddenly fell silent. She then strode purposely towards the front of the bus breezing past Buffy as if she wasn't there. "Stop the bus." She commanded to Robin. He glanced sideways at her and questioned "why?"
The past few years had been too much for Sydney. She had already exploded twice in as many days and decided that she didn't want to make it a third. She said as calmly as she could muster, "Please stop the bus."
Robin did. The owl that had been flying about them came to a rest outside the door and shimmered until a woman stood in the same spot. She was dressed in a style that seemed to meld ancient and modern into one. She looked like an older version of Sydney. In fact they were spitting images of each other right down to the black hair with the white streak.
Sydney quickly opened the bus's doors and the woman boarded the already crowded bus. She drew Sydney into her arms and gave her a hug and a kiss atop her head. She ended the hug and looked into Sydney's eyes and asked, "How are you?"
To that Sydney just rolled her eyes and took her hand and led her to the back of the bus where Spike was sleeping soundly. "Look what the stupid bitch did to him," Sydney said gesturing to Spike.
Although, the burns had faded from his flesh both women knew the wounds went much deeper and hadn't begun to heal yet. The new woman noticed for the first time the bite mark on Sydney's neck. She disapprovingly said, "I can see you've done everything you could for him."
Pretending she didn't notice the tone of the comment, Sydney responded, "I did. I think he's stable for now and if I keep him on a good diet for a while he should recover completely. Rest is the best thing for him so I put him to sleep."
"Your right sleep is the best thing for him now. We'll take care of the rest as it comes up." The new woman spoke with a confidence that is mostly found in only the most experienced doctors. She turned and for the first time acknowledged the rest of the bus's occupants. "So, who's the worst off?"
Sydney took in everyone's blank faces and decided an introduction was in order, "Everyone, this is Lady Polgara. Aunt Pol, meet the new slayers. Now Aunt Pol is well versed in the art of medicine and will be able to take care of all of your wounds, the most serious first." She then turned back to Pol and asked, "Do you need me?"
Polgara looked at Spike then back at Sydney and said, "Not as much as you need to be with him. Watch over him and let me know if anything changes."
Sydney smiled at her and said, "You know I will."
Polgara went on about her business patching up the wounded, doing her best with the stolen hospital supplies. Sydney climbed in the seat where Spike was laying and gently pulled his head into her lap. Sally who had been waiting in the back of the bus during the battle knew that everything was going to be calm for awhile came and laid down on Spike's chest. The Scoobies were waiting their turn to have their various wounds to be taken care of and began discussing the events that took place earlier in the day.
Xander had been watching the exchange between Sydney and Polgara and wanted to know what the group thought about it. "I don't know what her deal is," Xander said gesturing towards Sydney. "I mean why did she hit you, Buffy? And why the hell is she so concerned about Spike?"
Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes. "For a man that is supposed to see everything you really are blind. She loves him."
"Spike? Really? But he's a vampire." Xander went immediately to the worn out excuse he always used.
Dawn felt something that had been buried and hidden deep within her brain begin to stir and she said "No, before that."
Buffy asked "Before what?"
Dawn looks over at Sydney and says "Give me a moment I think I'm remembering something." Sydney who had been listening to the entire conversation without them realizing it looked up and caught Dawn's eye and gave a slight nod. No one else witnessed the exchange but Dawn knew she was on to something. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what had awakened in her mind.
After a few moments keeping her eyes closed she began to speak, "Before Spike. She loved him before Spike. She loves William. The details are fuzzy but she knew William. There was a party where she was going to see if she could get him to start courting her but before she could let her feelings be known he left and was sired that night. She was mad, furious. I remember a lot of glass being broken. She was going to kill the demon that rose wearing William's body. But, the more she observed him the more she realized that William was still there. Yes, he had changed but he wasn't gone. She spent more and more time getting to know the new vampire until she fell in love with William the Bloody all over again."
Dawn opened her eyes and once again looked at Sydney. She was still sitting there holding Spike's head in her lap. Her body language said she hadn't heard a word of what Dawn had been saying but Dawn knew that was a lie. Sydney listens to everything going on around her.
Dawn turned to the group once more. "See, that's why she reacted the way she did. She thought she was going to lose him again. Try to see this from her point of view. How old did you say she is, Anya?"
Anya thought about it and finally said, "Well, I know she's been in the dimension for about a thousand years but I've heard stories about her in other dimensions for 2,000 to 2,500 years before that. So, at least 3,000 years old." After doing the mental calculations, Anya realized where Dawn was headed with this and took over. "Remember what she said last night. She said that a lot of her family had been lost years ago including her sister, husband and lover."
Dawn nodded, "Exactly. Buffy, you've been fighting this fight for the past 7 or 8 years and look at how much you've sacrificed. It wasn't two years ago that you couldn't lose me and died to prevent that. Sometimes you must do the impossible to save what is precious to you."
A light went off in Dawn's mind and everything fell into place. She looked at the group wide-eyed at the new revelation but she realized it hadn't clicked for anyone else. So, she explained, "You see. That's why they made me human. That's why they blocked my memories. I was the barrier that stood between Sydney and victory. Without my consent she would have destroyed herself down there today. I never would have let her do what she did if I didn't understand love." She turned and looked at her sister. "That's why you had to jump. I had to know that sometimes you break all the rules, that you sacrifice everything for love."
No one had noticed that Polgara had now reached their group prepared to bandage their wounds. She spoke up. "Dear child, you're right. Now stand up and let me look at your arm."
Dawn did as she was instructed. As Polgara was dressing her arm, Dawn nodded over to Spike and asked, "Is he going to be alright or does the damage go to deep?"
Polgara never looked up from her task. "Only time will tell. With vampires it's hard to tell how badly hurt they are because the surface heals so quickly but I think that Sydney did help him in time."
Always the blunt one Anya asked, "What happened to him?"
Polgara said nothing but went on with her task. After realizing that she wasn't going to give any explanations, Buffy spoke up. "He was wearing an amulet that Angel gave me. He said he didn't know what it was supposed to do only that it had some sort of cleansing properties."
Without moving an inch or looking at them, Sydney spoke "That's exactly what he was doing. He was cleansing the demons from the area."
"So, how is that a bad thing? It's that what we wanted, dead demons?" Xander asked.
Sydney looked up at him, caught his eye and simply said, "Including his own."
Despite what he had told Andrew earlier that year he didn't understand what it was like to be empty, what it was like to have your heart replaced with darkness, to live without anything to look forward to again. Ever. No, he didn't really understand until he looked in her eyes when she talked about losing the man she loved.
Xander felt the same moment of clarity that had hit Dawn only a few minutes before. He looked at Anya and knew.
Polgara patched up the rest of the group and went back to the front of the bus. Buffy wanted to go see if there had been any changes in Spike. As she approached him with his head still in Sydney's lap and Sally curled up in a ball on his chest, she heard a low growling. She looked at Sydney who had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly and steadily. Buffy took this opportunity with all of them asleep to see if she could assess the damage. Buffy reached her hand out to lift his shirt. As soon as her hand was in striking distance, Sally got up, hissed and scratched the offending extremity, drawing blood with all of her claws.
Buffy quickly withdrew her hand and Sydney said, "Baby Girl, that's really not necessary. She's just checking on him. She's not going to do any more harm." Sydney opens her eyes and looked a Buffy. "Sorry, but she gets a bit protective."
Buffy only nodded then asked, "How's he doing?"
"Not sure exactly. His demon is still pretty weak. I think it will be awhile yet until it's strong enough to properly begin the healing process. But, he'll sleep for a while yet."
Buffy once again nodded then returned to her own seat. The rest of the drive to LA was quiet and uneventful.