Chapter 5
"Stuck?" Buffy stared at Willow incredulously. "You can't tell me we're stuck."
"Well….." Willow started.
"Surely somebody will figure out that we're not there back in our world."
"Buffy, you don't get it. Our world doesn't really exist."
"But you just told me that you can't dimension travel. Which means that our dimension has to exist." Buffy sat down and looked up at Willow. "You don't get it. No matter how great this world is….. Angel's not here. Willow, Angel's not here and it's me. Not the Buffy everyone knows here. I'm a Slayer. I don't know anything about acting. I don't know these people. And most of all, I don't know Orlando. I can't make myself love him."
"Given enough time….."
"I can't learn to act by next month either."
"Maybe….."
"Stop saying maybe, God damn it! Willow, you're the most powerful witch in the entire world. I'm sure there is a way to get us back. So sit your ass down and start working on it because I can't stay here." The front door opened and closed. "Oh, Jesus, what now!?"
"Babe?" Orlando called.
Buffy looked at Willow. "Sit down and act natural." She sat down on the sofa across from Willow, facing the door. "In the living room."
"Hey, what's….. Oh, I didn't know we had company."
"Yeah. This is, uh, this is my friend Willow. She's a super smart computer whiz in San Francisco. I met her when I was there a long time ago."
"Oh. Hi." He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Buffy's never mentioned you before."
"Well, you know, she can be forgetful sometimes." Willow said.
"That she can." He looked at Buffy. "What do you want for dinner? My treat, whatever you pick."
"Well, I think Justin said something about Chi."
"He wants us to come eat there?"
"Yeah. Uh, he said he'd have something special for us."
"You want to go?"
"Uh, yeah. It'd be fun."
"I'll call him. You just stay here and catch up with your friend." He kissed her cheek and left the room.
"Ahh!" Willow said. "He's so cute."
"Willow." Buffy said.
"What? He is. He obviously loves you. What does your mom think of him?"
"Willow."
"Ok, ok. I get it. You want to get out of here."
"Could you keep it down?" Buffy whispered. "I don't want anybody getting too suspicious."
"Listen, I don't know what to tell you. I've ran this over in my head over and over again and I can't think of any way to get out. Maybe this spell has to run its course, like the last one."
"You mean, we have to learn a lesson from it?"
"Maybe."
"Like what would I learn? How to cheat on your husband while on vacation in another dimension?"
"No. I don't know. Buffy, I don't have the answers. I don't have anything. I'm sorry."
"Listen, why don't you call Giles. See if he remembers us. I doubt it though."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I'm stuck in a world with a man I don't even know, with a life that's built on a career I don't know how to do, and I have friends that know me better than I know myself because I don't know who I am here."
"I meant, what are you going to do in the meantime?"
"Babe, Justin says for us to meet him there at seven." Orlando said, poking his head in the room.
"I guess I'm going to Chi." Buffy said.
"Why don't you invite Willow, too? I'm sure she doesn't want to stay here by herself."
"Yeah. Ok."
"Great."
"I guess you're going to Chi too."
"What's Chi?" Willow asked.
"Justin's restaurant, I think."
"Oh. Ok. Is it any good?"
"I don't know. I guess we'll find out."
"Are you gonna be ok?"
"Why?"
"You're gonna have to pretend to be in love with Orlando tonight and any time you go in public with him."
"Oh poo."
"I wouldn't mind if I wasn't gay."
"Well, I'm the one that's married."
"Not here."
"Willow."
"Well, maybe it'll help you work up your acting skills."
"Let's just hope that it doesn't come to that."
"Come to what?"
"Me having to actually act." Buffy sighed. "It's five thirty now. We have an hour and a half. You start cracking on your theories on how to get home. I'll find us stuff to wear."
"Oh, sure. Take the fun job."
"But yours is more important." Buffy shot back as she walked out of the room.
"I don't remember you ever mentioning Willow before." Orlando said as she walked into the bedroom. He was wrapped in a towel headed for the bathroom. Wow. How many girls get to see this!?
"Oh, you know, I haven't thought about her in a while. I read something about her in the paper and I thought, why don't I call her? And then I found out she was coming up to LA today….. for a while….. and I offered to let her stay here instead of a hotel. At least she'd feel more comfortable. Right?"
"You're always being so charitable. That's just one of the many reasons I love you."
Buffy smiled. "Ah, that's so sweet."
"Care to join me?" He asked, nodding towards the bathroom.
"Uh, I would love to, but I told Willow I'd help her set up in the other bedroom and I'd find her something pretty to wear. She didn't plan on going out much." Buffy started to head into the closet, but stopped. "Uh….. What are you going to wear?"
"Jeans and a T-shirt. Same as always."
"Ok."
"But you still better dress pretty. I love it when you dress pretty." He winked at her and went into the bathroom.
"Oh boy." Buffy headed into the closet.
Buffy walked down the street by herself. She had snuck out of the house and gone for a late night walk while Orlando had been asleep next to her. She felt awful that she had allowed herself to go to bed with him when she was married to Angel, but Willow said that she couldn't arouse any suspicions. So, she had pretended to be asleep until she was sure that Orlando was out for the night and then snuck out quietly.
Now, as she walked by herself down the dark road, she found herself thinking what if. What if she really was stuck here? Could she just forget about Angel and move on to Orlando? And the worst part, what if she could? What would that say about the love she would always feel about Angel? Stop it Buffy. She thought. You're going to get back somehow.
Suddenly a horn blared and Buffy turned just in time to get hit by a car. She flew back and into the bushes on the side of the road. The car that had hit her kept driving, obviously scared that he had just killed a person and didn't want to take the rap for it. "Jerk." Buffy stood up and brushed herself off. "People in the Hills think they can….. Oh my God!" She looked down at herself. Nothing broken. Maybe a couple of bruises or scrapes. "Oh my God!" Buffy took off running back to her house. She ran quietly up the stairs and into Willow's room. "Wake up! Willow! Wake up." Buffy turned on the lights. "Get up."
"What?" Willow sat up, squinting groggily against the light.
"You'll never believe this!"
"Buffy….. It's three in the morning. You're supposed to be asleep."
"I just got hit by a car."
"Ok. You're fine, so go back to bed."
"No! Willow, I just got hit by a car and look! No broken anything!"
Willow stared at her and then her eyes widened as it dawned on her completely. "Oh my God! You're still the Slayer!"
"I'm still the Slayer! How's that possible? I thought you said….."
"Apparently, when we got transferred here, our true essence came with us. Or at least a part of it did. Usually you wouldn't even get these scratches."
"Have you tried using magick?"
"What?"
"Have you tried….."
"No. I didn't think it was possible here since this was a world that's not supposed to have magick."
"Try!"
Willow looked around. "What should I try?"
"Float something."
Willow picked up a little crystal dolphin statue and concentrated. After a second, the thing lifted out of her hand and floated back down to the table. "It worked!"
"It worked! Do you know what this means? Willow, we can go home!" Willow's face fell. "What? What's that look for?"
"Buffy….. I don't know how."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what spell I used to get here. It just happened. I wouldn't know how to reverse it."
"Make something up."
"It's not that simple. There has to be herbs and sands that probably aren't sold anywhere. And the spell….. This isn't Charmed. It's not that easy to make up a spell off the top of your head."
"Willow, people believe that magick is real. That's why Charmed is so popular. Besides, there are magick shops all over this town. We could go to one and find the stuff you need. And you know a lot about that stuff, so you could, like, make it or something."
"The magick shops are all cheesy rip offs. There's no guarantee that they'd have what I need."
"Willow….."
"And besides, what magick shop is going to be open this late at night?"
"You can go tomorrow morning. We'll go to everyone we can find and you can get what you need."
Willow sighed. "Ok. Fine. But can I get back to sleep?"
Buffy was the first one up and going. She sat in the living room waiting for Willow to wake up when Orlando walked in, shirtless, and sat next to her. "Hey."
"Hey." Buffy said, glancing at him.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I don't know. You seem….. distant."
"Do I?"
"What happened to you last night?"
"What do you mean?"
"I woke up and you weren't there."
"Oh, I went for a walk. I couldn't sleep for some reason, so I thought the night air would be soothing."
He wrapped his arms around her waist and neck. "Was it?"
"I came back to bed didn't I?"
He smiled. "Good point. Well, I have a surprise for you."
"You do?"
"Yes." He looked at his watch. "We have an hour and a half before we have to be there, so I better get dressed."
"What? Be where?"
"It's a surprise."
"Orlando….."
"Be right back." He kissed her forehead and disappeared.
"Crap."
Willow walked in wearing her PJs. "Morning. What time are we going to….."
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"Orlando's got some surprise planned for me and he wants to leave. As in now."
"Buffy….."
"Take the Mustang. It has that GPS thing in it. You'll be able to find whatever magick shop you want."
"So, I have to do this by myself?"
"Sorry."
"No. I guess it's ok. I mean, you're not the most skilled person at magick."
"I don't have any skills at all. I just wish I could help, you know?"
"It's ok. Act like you're the normal Buffy from this world. Not ours. So, go and have fun with Orlando. After all, once we get back, he won't even know you exist."
"But I'll be back with Angel. And I'll be with my son. That's my family and that's all that matters." With that, the Slayer walked into her closet.
Buffy walked back in to the house with Orlando. "That was amazing! Thank you so much."
"Well, I try." He said, squeezing her hand.
"How did you get us in to swim with them?"
"I just asked. Not hard to get them to say yes when your us."
"I thought you didn't like to use your fame."
"Only when it's to get my fiancé something she loves."
"And I loved swimming with the dolphins. It was a lot of fun."
"Well, I'm going to take a shower. You want to join?"
"Uh….. Later. I want to find Willow."
"Ok." He kissed her cheek and walked to their room.
"Willow!" Buffy headed to Willow's room and opened the door. "Will, you'll never believe what Orlando and I just….." The witch was sitting on her bed crying. "What's wrong?"
"It didn't work." Willow said. "I'm sorry, Buffy, it didn't work."
"What do you mean?"
"I got everything I needed. I even mixed all the right things to make what I needed, but it didn't work."
"Try again."
"I already have. I've tried it six times and they all didn't work."
Buffy leaned against the doorframe and hung her head. "I'm stuck here?"
"We both are."
"I'm really stuck here? I can't believe this."
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I really am."
"It's not your fault."
"No. It is. I'm the one that caused all this. If it weren't for me, you'd be with your husband right now."
Buffy sighed. "I need to go."
"Go where?"
"Out. Away." She turned and headed for the door at a sprint.
"Buffy!"
"Buffy?" Orlando came out of the room and watched her run past. "Buffy!" The door slammed behind her. "What happened?"
"Uh….." Willow looked at Orlando. "I just told her some upsetting news about, um, about me."
"What's that?"
"I'm uh….. I've got this rare disease and I'm probably going to die."
"Oh my God. I'm sorry."
"It's not contagious, so you guys don't have to worry, but, um….. I just got the results back from my doctor."
"I'm so sorry."
"Me too."
"You're taking it well."
"Not really. I'm just good at hiding my emotions. Excuse me." Willow walked back into her room and shut the door.
Buffy walked in later that night and sat on the couch next to Orlando. "Are you all right?" He asked.
"Just….. No." Buffy said.
"Willow told me. I'm sorry to hear that she's dying."
"Yeah. I don't really know how to deal with news like that, so I bailed."
"It's ok. I understand."
Buffy looked Orlando in the eyes. "Do you love me?"
"Of course I love you. Why would you ask that?"
"I don't know. Just making sure."
"I've loved you since the moment I saw you. There's no one else for me, I'm convinced of it."
Buffy nodded. "Can you run a bath for me? A hot one."
"Of course. You want bubbles?"
"Yeah. Sure."
He got up. "I'm here for you and I do love you Buffy. More than you'll ever know." With that, he left.
"I hope I can learn to love you too." She murmured.
After her bath, Buffy went to sleep and curled up on Orlando's chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her. He was comfortable, but he still wasn't Angel. She cried herself to sleep thinking about everything she was being forced to give up. Until this day, the thought of losing those she loved most had never occurred to her in this way. She was being forced to forget people she had known for years and loved deeply for people she barely knew except for what the tabloids and magazines said about them.
The sun shone down on Buffy's face and she opened them. She was still laying on Orlando's chest. Apparently she hadn't moved much all night. "Morning sleepy head."
Buffy shot up and off the bed. She peered over the edge to find Angel sitting there staring at her. "Are you ok?"
"Oh my God, Angel!" Buffy flew into his arms and kissed him deeply. "It's really you! Oh, Angel!"
"Buffy!" Willow came running in the room and jumped on the bed. "We're back. It worked!"
"What's going on? Back from where?" Angel asked.
Buffy hugged Willow tightly. "I'm sorry."
"No I'm sorry." Willow said. "It's my fault it happened."
"But we're back now and it's ok. I didn't mean to run out on you like that."
"No, you were grieving. It's ok."
"What's going on? What are you two talking about?" Angel asked. "You were normal yesterday."
"Yesterday?" The girls asked.
"When we went to the movies. You do remember that?"
"Of course we do." Buffy said. "It's just….." She saw Angel's confused expression. "It's just nothing. We're crazy and that's all that matters."
"Ok, well, would you two like some breakfast?"
"Sure." Both girls said.
"Ok." He turned on the TV. "You guys watch that and I'll bring you up some breakfast." Angel left the room shaking his head. "I swear, they get weirder every day."
"The Awful Truth!" Buffy and Willow looked at the TV. "Are Orlando Bloom and Kate Bosworth engaged? According to my sources….."
Buffy flipped off the TV. "Enough of that for one day."