Chapter 2:

Saffron looked down at herself, unsure about her outfit. She was supposed to be going out, which she felt like she hadn't done in ages, what with the string of apocalypses ruining her nights out. Once again she found herself putting her night on hold because Giles had called asking for her help. Naturally, she went straight over there in a hurry, as she was expecting a crisis. Her usual styling of jeans and a band t-shirt were replaced with a denim skirt, laddered tights and a black halter top under her fake leather jacket. Her idea of 'dressing up'. She still wore her usual silver jewelry and her reliable combat boots, she wasn't the biggest fan of heels; especially as she was usually running away from some big demon when she went out at night. When she entered Giles' house, she noticed nobody else was there, only Giles who had let her in with a frown as he noticed the cigarette in her hand.

"I do wish you wouldn't smoke those things, Saffron. They are not good for you at all and you need to be in good shape in our particular, um, field of work" Giles commented, whilst cleaning his glasses and shaking his head.

"And I do wish you wouldn't speak so proper, G." she mimicked, "You're a real British stereotype, you know that? I also know that you used to smoke when you were younger so you can give up on the little speech" she continued as she flicked the cigarette outside. "So, what's the deal?"

"The… deal?" Giles looked confused

"Yeah, the deal. The situation. Why did you call me over here when I'm so clearly going on my annual trip to the opera?" she emphasised her point by gesturing towards her outfit. Giles smiled at her humour, he did like Saffron and although she wasn't much like Buffy, he still saw her as close family. He knew she wasn't going to be keen on what he was asking of her though, and usually he wouldn't ask especially after what happened last time Saffron was left alone with Spike.

"You want be to babysit Spike?!" Saffron asked, shocked.

"It would only be for a few hours, after which Buffy and I will have returned. I just need you to ensure he doesn't break anything, I can't leave him here unattended" Giles explained.

"Fine, but you owe me big, G." Saff said after an overexaggerated sigh. She wouldn't really mind looking after the apartment, if anything she was honoured he would ask. The problem was Spike. After closing the door behind Giles, she knew she had better go and check that Spike was still chained to the bath. She grabbed a stake and held it in an exaggerated way as she walked into the bathroom.

"You come back to finish the job, honeysuckle?" Spike asked without looking at Saffron, who had stopped in the doorway.

"I only stamped on your foot a little, can you blame me after everything?" Saff replied, lowering the stake from above her head as Spike sat and appeared to be considering what she said.

"Way I see it, we're even then" he shrugged casually.

"You tried to bite me Spike, I don't think we can compare the two!" she raised her voice as her hand rubbed against the side of her neck. Spike looked away, seemingly bored with her outburst before looking back to take in her outfit, "You all dressed up for me, love?" Spike arched his eyebrows suggestively.

"N-no. I was supposed to be going out but now I'm stuck here with you" she tried to snap, as she smoothed down the denim skirt down before lowering the toilet seat and sitting herself on the edge furthest from spike. He chuckled at her discomfort, before saying, "Don't worry, pet. Silver linings and all that, Passions is on later!"

xoxoxo

Saffron looked down at the end of her cigarette, before flicking ash into Giles' white bathroom sink. Spike stared longingly at the cigarette she had been smoking as Saffron smiled and blew her last breath of smoke his way.

"Tsk, tsk, I don't think dearest Rupert will appreciate you setting fire to the place" Spike called over, knowing she had done it on purpose.

"I think he'd be fine with it as long as you were part of the blaze" Saffron replied quickly. Spike turned to face Saffron, looking right in her eyes then slowly over looking at the rest of her face and over her body.

"All sour tonight then, honeysuckle? Don't really suit you much"

"Who said I care what you think, Spike?" Saff rolled her eyes as she took out her Tarot deck and started to shuffle. She decided to do a two-card spread for herself, she closed her eyes as she split the deck and balanced the cards on the side of the sink. This was the moment Spike decided to scoff loudly, which in turn meant Saffron knocked her cards over the bathroom floor. She cursed Spike and wished she had left the room before shuffling the deck. As she moved to pick up her cards, she noticed that only one out of the whole pack had landed face up. The Lovers. Saffron looked up and met Spike's eyes, they both lingered there for what felt like hours. She shook her head and began to turn back to the mess of cards on the cold, tiled floor of Giles' bathroom. Saffron believed that there were no true accidents and this card was trying to tell her something, she just wasn't sure what. She didn't have much time to think about this further as she heard the front door unlock and she quickly packed up her deck and made her way out of the bathroom to meet Giles, ignoring Spike's calls for her to turn on the telly. She stood in the hallway, crossing her arms and Giles walked in with a big stack of books, which was probably the extent of his plans for the evening.

"Did you sort everything? Where's Buff?" Saff asked, looking through the open doorway for her slightly older cousin.

"Oh yes, I have a lot of research to be getting on with. She has gone to the Bronze on the promise that she will be doing a late patrol afterwards."

"The Bronze! That sneaky b-" Saff stopped herself from saying something Giles would definitely disapprove of, "That sneaky Buffy!" She amended as she grabbed her jacket and left, saying her goodbyes to Giles and almost sprinting out of the door and all the way to the Bronze.

When Saff eventually got there the first person she saw was Willow and she was drinking a beer. She smiled at the red head as her eyes widened when she realised, she had been spotted by Saffron. Saff slowly walked over, crossing her arms and shaking her head, as Willow looked down at her shoes.

"As if you started drinking without me, Will!" Saff laughed as she eventually stopped her act and started smiling again and the red head smiled back and took another sip. Saffron recognised she was doing this since she was hurting because of Oz but decided that a night of carefree drinking was probably what she needed. Saffron went and got herself and Willow a beer that they mostly drank, before they stashed the bottles under Will's coat at the table that Willow said the rest of the gang had been sat at. They continued this for a while until Saffron decided it was time to dance. She smiled and extended her hand to Will, a flash of pink sparkly nail polish visible as she made a joke of asking her to dance with her. Willow agreed, fuelled by alcohol and the will to be happy, as she followed Saffron onto the dancefloor where she tried her best to follow Saff's movements. Saffron was not what you would call a good dancer, but she at least looked cool enough to get away with her movements which she had been trying to teach to Willow subtly but eventually gave up when she noticed Willow seemed to be having a good enough time anyway. That was when they noticed the rest of the gang and Saff smiled and sat herself down next to Anya, complimenting her hairstyle which made Anya bob her head around and beam. The conversation soon turned to Willow's changed attitude and eventually a lecture on her drinking.

"Back off guys, we're in college! Let her drink herself into forgetting you-know-who and let me finally have someone fun to actually drink with" Saffron theatrically whispered you-know-who and put her hand next to her mouth as if Willow would be saved from hearing anything because her mouth was hidden. She abruptly ended the conversation, which was turning into a confrontation, by grabbing Will's hand and leading her back to the bar to replace their beers which had spilt all over the floor. She was determined to give Willow a good time, even with the disapproving stares of Buffy and the others from the other side of the Bronze.

xoxoxo

Saffron woke up with a groan as she realised she was not in her own dorm room. She was curled up on the floor in between Willow's and Buffy's bed. She yawned as she sat up and tried to flatten down her chestnut coloured hair, which was usually tied up and out of her way, but she had apparently lost her hair ties the night before. The other two were still asleep so she decided to walk to the bathroom which she knew was only down the corridor. She sleepily walked into the shared facilities and stumbled right into a funky looking wiccan circle, knocking over a bunch of red candles.

"Is nothing sacred in Sunnydale?" she said out loud, smiling at her own joke, then sighed as she stepped over the wrecked circle to splash some water on her face and freshen up. When she returned from down the hall, Willow had woken up and was sat on the end of her bed brushing her hair and looking a little hungover.

"How are we this morning?" Saffron asked playfully as she swallowed some aspirin and grinned at Willow, who only groaned in reply. "Buffy was right last night you know, it will take time, but that heart will heal" Saffron concluded, as she put her hand over her own heart.

"You told Buffy to stop being a boring-Buffy when she said that last night"

"It was the booze, Will! But don't tell her I said she was right; I'll never live it down" She whispered loudly as she glanced over at her still sleeping cousin.

"Anyway, refresh my memory, did we find you anyone to replace Oz last night?" Saffron asked, playfully but regretted her words as soon as she said them. She could feel the sadness rolling off Willow in waves as she didn't reply. "Sorry Will, I know the relationship thing can be hard" Saffron amended.

"You have the entire campus trying to go out with you, Saff. You should have a sign-up sheet on your door" willow said as she sighed, pitying herself and her heartbreak over Oz.

"I can't help being irresistible!" Saff grinned at Will, both knowing Saffron didn't have that much confidence in herself "Thing is, they only ever want a cheap shag, babe. It's not the same thing" She replied, not realising that Willow's will was already at work.

Saffron spent another hour listening to Willow's thoughts about Oz and her frustration with her lack of success with her spells and then she decided it was time to leave and get herself dressed before she needed to make her way to her shift at the second hand bookstore on the outskirts of Sunnydale. She couldn't be late again, the miserable owner was already annoyed with her for taking Tarot readings on quiet shifts, which is why she had started hiding in the back of coffee shops to give readings. Saffron was walking down the steps towards her dorm when she bumped into someone, she paused to apologise but got interrupted.

"Will you go on a date with me, Saffron?" The stranger said looking up at Saffron with a nervous smile, as if the answer to his question was the most important thing he would ever hear. Saffron was flattered, she asked for the cute blonde's number and said she would call him soon. The poor guy looked like he was going to faint in surprise as he rushed off to tell a jealous-looking group of friends. Saffron had barely walked a couple of steps along the corridor before she was interrupted again.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Saffron, I think I love you" A young woman said in a sweet and sincere voice, as she rushed up to Saffron presenting her with a single rose. Saff cautiously reached out and took the pink rose and smelled it, whilst the girl gazed at her with a face that Saffron could only describe as lovingly.

"Hey, how about a coffee before we start professing our love, yeah?" Saffron smiled as she tried not to upset the sweet girl who had come on way too strong. Her brown eyes seemed to sparkle as she nodded enthusiastically at the idea of coffee. Saffron said her goodbyes to the girl and managed to walk around the corner to her corridor. When she turned the corner the sight before her filled her with dread.

"Has someone died?" Saffron questioned in horror as she saw a mountain of flowers outside a dorm room, before inspecting the shrine more closely and realised that it was the entrance to her shared room. This confused her, and she worried about her roommate, but as she got closer it made much more sense.

She looked down to see several shiny boxes of chocolate in heart-shaped boxes as well as a large collection of love poetry in different handwriting that had been written on a stack of ripped out pages of notebook paper. 'The spice of my life, the passion in my heart…' She read, quickly flicking through the stack of juvenile poems, as another page posed 'Saffron, Saffron you set my heart aglow…' She rolled her eyes at the poems and waded through the bouquets to open her door. She was relieved to get back to her room but stopped dead in the doorway as she was greeted with rose petals, balloons and about thirty stuffed toys that she had never seen before all around her bed. She knew something was wrong, but all she could feel was this strange fluffy feeling of genuine love and care all around her. She decided she would drop in and ask Giles about it after work.

xoxoxox

Saffron had hoped that everything would be okay when she got to work, but that was not the case. On her walk to work, Saffron had received 21 people saying 'I love you', as well as 36 separate people asking her on various kinds of dates. The most ridiculous had been one guy asking her on a date to explore the ruins of her old high school, which she quickly declined and told him she'd prefer something less hellish. He laughed and told her that her sense of humour is the reason he loves her. She was no longer amused by the events of the day and desperately wanted everyone to leave her alone. Saffron started sprinting the rest of the way to work to hide amongst the books. To her horror there was a crowd, including a lot of faces she recognised from UC Sunnydale, forming around the usually deserted book shop as she made her way inside. The crowd buzzed with excitement as she brusquely walked past, she heard a few whispers asking their friends if they thought they had a shot with her. It was one of the most surreal things, and Saffron had grown up in Sunnydale. She lasted only ten minutes behind the counter ringing up books before she had to lock herself in the back room, so she didn't have to face anyone else. She dialled Giles' number and tapped her turquoise nails impatiently on the wall as she waited for him to pick up.

"Giles, someone has cursed me! Everyone is hitting on me"

"Really, Saffron now is not the time to be bragging, I am hardly impressed"

"No! Giles! This one's a Sunnydale special for sure, it's some kind of bloody love curse! I'm hiding in the stock room at work can you come and get me?"

"Well, ah, that may not be at all possible as I cannot see"

"You can't see? Giles, what do you mean?"

"I'm, ah, rather blind"

"Stay where you are, I'll just have to face my suitors" She ordered as she slammed the receiver down and without any explanation to anyone, she ran out of the shop and all the way to Giles' house.

By the time she had actually arrived at Giles' house it was pitch black. She had had to hurdle a lot of people to get there and that had slowed her down, which filled her with worry for Giles as she struggled with the door in her haste before letting herself in. She rushed into the living room to see Giles rubbing his eyes as Buffy kissed Spike passionately in the corner. Wait, Buffy was kissing who?

"What in the fuck is going on today?!" Saffron shouted in disgust as she couldn't take her eyes of the unlikely pair who hadn't stopped kissing despite her outburst. "Is the whole of Sunnydale one big bloody love shack?" Saffron screeched louder as Giles didn't know what to say. Buffy had finally stopped for air and noticed that Saff had arrived. She reluctantly moved from Spike's lap and stood in front of Saffron holding both of her hands in her own. She looked up at her younger cousin with the biggest smile on her face as she announced the coming wedding to the love of her life, eagerly awaiting Saffron's blessing.

"You know you're supposed to slay vampires, not shag them, right?" Saffron asked slowly emphasising the word slay so that her cousin might realise what a big mistake she's making. Buffy pouted and looked at her shoes, and Saff could feel a cold sensation of disappointment like she had been punched with it in the stomach, making her instantly feel horrible for her words but there was no way she could encourage this. Whatever the hell it was.

"I know it might take a bit of getting used to, but I really think this will work" Buffy stated, self assuredly as she looked for a hint of anything positive on Saffron's face. Saffron was not convinced, and Buffy replied, "I guess I will have to ask someone else to be my maid of honour then…" as she dropped Saffron's hands and went and took her seat back on Spike's lap.

"Don't listen to her, love. She'll come round, you know she will" Spike assured Buffy as he stroked her cheek lovingly. Saffron just stood and stared at the pair, they really seemed to be in love and it was scary.

At that point, Anya and Xander burst into the room in a panic about all the demons that had been following them around. During this time, Saffron went to sit next to Giles and rubbed his shoulder to try and give him some sense of comfort and she could feel a small niggle of fear that he was hiding well from the others. Xander was just as horrified at the engagement as everyone else as he struggled to comprehend what was happening in front of him. Xander eventually realised that he had heard Willow say that Spike and Buffy might as well get married at the same instance as Saffron remembered their hungover conversation that morning.

"She told me I was a demon magnet and you two should get married."

"And that I didn't see anything."

"Yeah, she said the whole campus is trying to go out with me, I'm just glad there wasn't some big campus-monster making me it's bride" Saffron added, as everyone just looked at her blankly, "What? It's Sunnydale, that sounds like the most obvious outcome"

xoxoxo

The gang managed to fight off the demons long enough for Willow to reverse her will. Saffron was beyond relieved when she could walk back through the campus without having a sonnet recited to her by some love-sick college student. She had to admit she liked the attention at first, but after that it got tiring. There was only so many ways to let someone down easy, and she had burned through all of them in the first hour. Saffron was outside of Giles' house, which seemed to be her second home at the moment, as she finished her cigarette and thought about her life in Sunnydale. It was so different to anything she had experienced in England, and in a way, she felt grateful for having met Buffy and the others. However, a part of her longed to have her life back in England, or at least for the time in her life where she could see her parents again. Saffron's thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and the smell of freshly baked cookies mingled with the smoke of her cigarette, and her cousin's head popped out of the door.

"You coming in? Willow's baked more apology cookies"

"Just give me a few more minutes" she replied with her back to Buffy as she raised her hand to wipe away a stray tear that she hadn't realised had been falling. Buffy frowned and walked out of the doorway to stand next to Saffron. She looked at her cousin with concern as she took the burnt out cigarette from her hand and disposed of it and asked what was wrong.

"I was just thinking about England and-and my parents" Buffy could barely hear the end of Saffron's sentence as she started to sob, "I know it's been years Buff, but I can't help wondering what my life would have been if nothing had changed" Seeing Saffron be so openly vulnerable with her reminded her of the grieving, timid girl that had first moved in with them years ago. Buffy wished there was something she could do to change it, but all she could do was be there for her cousin. Despite their usual disagreements they had always had an unspoken bond that they both had felt since the moment they had first met.

"What happened was not your fault, you know that right?" Buffy asked as she moved to hug her cousin. Saffron hugged back, tighter and thanked Buffy for everything, not answering her question, "Maybe we should get inside before someone asks for your hand in marriage" Buffy joked instead of leaving them in silence, and Saffron smiled despite herself.

"I don't think Auntie J could take it if there was a second engagement announced this week" Saffron smiled as she wiped the last tears from her eyes with the sleeve of the grey hoodie she was wearing. Buffy groaned at the thought of her and Spike as they both walked back into the house to grab any cookies that the Scoobies had hopefully left for them.