Title: Only When You Dream
Author: Xanderschick AKA Sarah
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss owns the park; I'm just playing in the sandpit til my hands get dirty.
Rating: M rated action. Children avert your eyes!
Spoilers: BtVS seasons 1-3
Distribution: Take it; just make sure you let me know when you review (hint, hint!).
Plot: After Graduation Angel didn't leave. He's been visiting Buffy every night since then because he can't bear to be away from her. But now she's moved to college and his nightly visits aren't an option anymore, so after a visit to a local demon/warlock he's found a spell that allows him to enter and manipulate his girls dream to his every will. If only I could do that to David Boreanaz. All I can say is: WOW! Anyways, they've been dream 'getting it on' and after a snap decision to get married Angel finally let Buffy in to the little secret that he's still in SunnyD. He proposes that they give up on their miserable lives and dream forever. She agrees and they do the spell. What happens next?
A/N: Yes, I got the whole dream walking idea from AtS S2 but I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't this be much more fun if it was Buffy instead of the ex-vamp ho?" Answer: "Yup!" After borrowing the fab DVD's off my sister (AKA Xanderschicklet), I've just realised that they have kinda the same thing going on with Isabel in "Roswell" but I didn't know that when I started this.
A/N 2: This chapter is mostly Willow (with a little bit of Angel and Joyce) POV. I apologise for the Disney thing but lets just say that I can't turn down a maxi-triple-double-dare!
A/N 3: This story is 100 Blondie Bear free so don't even ask. Ever. I mean it.
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Chapter Eleven - Sleeping Beauty
Willow…
They planned it.
Can't say I blame them.
I'd go anywhere just to be with Oz if we couldn't be together here. Even if that meant giving up everything. I mean, it would be hard but…I could do it. I think.
From the old Native journal that Giles found on the floor of the apartment we've been able to figure out that Buffy and Angel are in some dimension where they have almost total control over everything. Giles says it's not really happening - their souls are there but they're just in some sort of permanent dream. Their bodies are preserved in this dimension but will eventually die after a few years, leaving their souls in the dream dimension forever.
It's like a fairytale. Live for all eternity with the person you love the most.
No wonder she was acting so weird.
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"There isn't a spell to get her back. We've been looking for six days. Maybe this means we should just leave them alone."
When I suggested this to Giles and Xander a few hours ago they both ignored me. Well, as good as.
"Willow, Buffy has a sacred calling. As much as we all hate it, her life isn't her own. She's needed here."
"But what about the new slayer? Since Faith died there's gonna be a new one, isn't there?"
The rogue slayers death was a surprise to us all. We'd forgotten all about her. The hospital's carrying out an enquiry because they say someone illegally turned off her life support machine.
Last Friday night.
Always new that one of them would be the death of the other.
"The new slayer will not be as trained as Buffy. She will not have the skills or the experience. If something serious were to happen she may die. Buffy has a responsibility to her, to guide her along her new path. Especially after what she did to Faith." The last part came out as barely a whisper.
Giles can be such a wa…Watcher sometimes.
Xander just ranted on about how Angel (well his exact term was dead-boy) must have tricked her into it because she would never abandon us for him. Last summer seems to have completely slipped his mind.
I glimpse at the clock hanging over the bed where they sleep. Eight-Fourteen pm. I need food.
I heave myself up from my place on the bedroom floor and step carefully over the cluttered pile of books blocking my way into the small main room. Xander sits on an old wooden chair his forearms laying heavily on the desk while his eyes scan yet another page of bewildering text. Anya's fast asleep, propped up between the wall and a dusty glass display cabinet. Wow, she's helpful.
"Xand, I'm hungry. I'm gonna…"
"I'll go get Chinese when Giles gets back." His eyes never leave the text. He hasn't talked to me since my 'insane' comment earlier.
Giles and Oz were at the library collecting yet more books. My eyes hurt from all the reading. Every few hours Giles would have a ""Eureka!" moment and take off to get the one book that we needed. He's been wrong every time so far and we're running out of books.
I lower myself back down onto my warm spot on the floor and continue with the next chapter of the Romany journal I'm reading. This is one of the first magic books I bought during Junior Year when we were trying to help Angel. "Out of body." I learn that if we had this one specific key we could open the dimension that she's in and pull her back out. Of course, all hell would be unleashed on Earth from the other dimensions that opened in the process. Probably not a good idea. Last resorts only.
I bookmark the page and let my eyes wander over to the sleeping couple on the bed. They haven't moved an inch. It's like they're dead. Well, Angel was already dead but he was the kind of dead where he moved around a lot.
I bet they're happy. Wherever they are, I bet they're having the time of their lives.
I go back to my book and spend a few minutes flicking lazily through the next couple of pages.
Ouch! Papercut! Stupid page 43!
Page 43. Hey, what's this…return a soul suspended out of place. It makes reference to Angelus and…the gypsy curse! I feel butterflies doing their best kamikaze impressions in my stomach.
Of course! If their souls aren't in their bodies we can use the curse Miss Calendar found to return them! Why didn't I…
I hear the front door click as Giles rushes in. He smiles.
"I think I may have found it this time!"
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"Didn't we already try this one? Maybe your old age is making you crazy and forgetful, you know, like that wrinkly grey guy outside the grocery store who keeps asking us if we won the war." Giles glares at Anya in frustration as she reads leans over my shoulder to read the faded yellow parchment I'm holding. "Careful, you might get blood on it."
I reach into my fluffy purple backpack and pull out a Scooby Doo plaster for my finger.
"We haven't tried this one yet. All I'm worried about is the fact that we're lacking in three colourful fairies and a Prince Philip."
The rest of the group stare at me questioningly. They lost the Disney reference! How can anyone miss a Disney reference!
"The title of the spell? It translates as 'The Sleeping Beauty'. Y'know, the cartoon with Princess Aurora and the owl with the pointy hat and then everyone falls asleep…" My face creases and I can feel my cheeks burn as I glance around the room at them, eager for someone to back me up. Xander smiles a little but before I have time to redeem myself Giles butts in.
"This may be our last hope for now. We have to try it soon. For all we know, she may not be able to…come back if we leave her in this condition for much longer."
I wander over to the desk in the corner of the room, reading the spell I'm holding as I walk. I rummage through the bottles on the table with my spare hand and realise that we're missing a few key elements.
"I need to go to the magic shop first. We've run out of a couple of things."
"Yeah, and I'm gonna go pick up something to eat for all of us. Breakfast was a while ago." Xander heaves himself up off his seat, him and Anya heading out the door quickly.
"Remember the spring rolls!" Giles call out from his new place in the bedroom. He's examining Angel's watch.
Oz volunteers to drive me to the magic shop before it closes and goes to start up his old van while I write my list of things to get.
As I make my way out of the apartment I turn around just in time to catch Giles reading the spell and shaking his head.
"Everything ok?" I stop for a moment and watch his frown break into a not so reassuring smile.
"Fine. Yes. Hurry back." His eyes fall back onto the old piece of worn paper he holds.
I turn round to close the door slowly and I see the sadness flash across his eyes. I know what he's thinking. I realised it too.
There's not a hope in hell of this spell working.
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Angel…I watch her clumsily pull on the grass skirt as the girl next to her, aged maybe around sixteen, demonstrates the dance.
She begins to move her arms in sync with the girls, her hips joining in with the rhythm of the small band playing nearby. She moves like the ocean, her small body graceful like the waves as they gently lap against the sand. How soppy am I! That's what she would say if she could hear my thoughts right now.
She giggles as she begins to get the hang of it. Her eyes shine with the light of the bonfire as she looks over to me, her left hand following the flow as she signals me to join in.
I grin but shake my head, digging my bare toes into the warm sand. My eyes drag themselves away from her for a moment to gaze up at the sky, it's darkness illuminated with the glow from the thousands of stars that decorate it.
When I look back she's adapting the dance to include several rather strange moves including one that looks a lot like…starting a lawnmower!
I can't help but laugh at her inane actions and she spots me, pouting unconvincingly before regaining her gorgeous smile. She runs over to me, dragging me up of the sand and I succumb to her wishes, doing my best impression of a garden sprinkler.
As she skips in circles around the fire I watch her in wonder, eternally grateful for my newfound sense of humour.
I love being married.
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Joyce…"Mrs Summers?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Inspector Dan Bailey and this is officer Anthony Rae. May we come in for a moment?"
I step aside and gesture for the middle aged man and his uniformed escort to enter my quiet home.
"We wanted to ask you about your daughter Buffy."
"What about her?" I feel the muscles in my back tighten. I've been expecting this for days.
"Her college professors have reported her as missing from all her classes from the past few days and a number of the students from her hall of residence confirmed that she hasn't been seen around campus for about the same length of time. We don't mean to alarm you but when we get these reports we have to follow them up. Tell me, have you spoken to your daughter since Friday?"
"I spoke to her ON Friday but not since. She told me she was going to visit an ex-boyfriend of hers. She hasn't called but that's because she doesn't like me interfering. For all I know they could have eloped to Fiji!" I laugh nervously as I try to maintain my composure. The detective holds my stare for a moment.
"Is this the same ex-boyfriend that she stated was the reason for her recent overdose?"
I look fiercely at the man, who I've rapidly decided to dislike, and attempt to put him in his place.
"My daughter made a mistake. She knows that. It can't be taken back. But nothing he could say or do could cause her to make that mistake again. She knows her life's worth. And, just out of curiosity, how do you know about that private medical information." I stare at him defiantly.
"All psychological evaluations are opened to the police during a missing persons investigation" he produces a notebook and jots something down.
"She isn't a missing person," I state bluntly. He glances around the room intently as if looking for something and stops when his eyes meet mine.
"Of course not." He relaxes a little and glances at officer Rae.
"Do you know the name and address or a telephone number that we can contact this boyfriend at?"
"Ex-boyfriend. Angel. I don't know his surname." He nods his balding head at the accompanying officer and they walk slowly towards the door. He hands me a card. "Make sure Buffy calls me or comes down to the station when she gets back. Just to let us know she's alright."
"I will." The men walk down the front porch and I close the door calmly behind them. I wait until I hear the car drive off before hurling the nearby vase of artificial flowers at the wall, the anger causing my entire body to shudder uncontrollably.
I rip up the card in my hand and grab my jacket off the sofa pulling it on as I charge out the door.
I wish these people would hurry up. I want my baby back.
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Willow…I sit on the edge of the bed as I push a loose lock of hair behind her ears. The spell was a bust. Xander went all quiet and took off. Anya ran after him.
Giles is sitting on the floor beside the bed, his eyes studying my book - the one I was reading earlier. He's already ruled out the key thing, and from the rare slump in his shoulders I can tell that he's seriously running out of ideas.
Joyce was here a while ago. Something about cops coming to visit her. I know who she meant. They talked to me yesterday, asking if Buffy had been around. I stuck with our cover story that she told us she was visiting Angel and she hadn't called yet. They gave the impression that didn't believe it but it'll buy us some time for now.
I gaze down at her, her face expressionless.
Where are you? Will you ever come back? I understand what you did but was it the right choice?
The corners of her mouth turn up a little bit and I stare at her closely, my eyes wondering if they even saw that barely-there smile.
My fingers tighten around the rumpled sheet of bloody paper and I slip it back into my pocket.
"Willow, page 43 is missing from this book. Do you have any idea what was on it?"
"Not a clue. Was like that when I got it."
If you're happy where you are, I'm happy to let you stay there
I just wish you had said goodbye.
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Mwah ha ha! Eleven chapters down, Seven chapters to go…
The next chapter takes us back into dreamland and the Buffy and Angel POV's. It's fluffier than a cat that's been put in the dryer! (Sorry to all you people whose cats have been put in the dryer – didn't mean to bring back the painful memories!)
Thanks for reading!