Chapter thirteen

Buffy fled from the mansion, tears streaming uninterrupted over her cheeks. She felt a swath of her dress rip off but she kept running until she reached a small marble bench. The Slayer collapsed onto it, her chest heaving painfully. After only a few seconds, she could hear quick, worried footsteps hurrying through the garden towards her and William burst through the branches, hair full of brambles and twigs. His fine clothes were just as ripped as her own. He was oblivious to all except her obvious distress.

"Anne" he said, rushing towards her and embracing her tightly before kneeling in front of her.

"I'm so sorry, I knew something like this would happen, I shouldn't have brought you here." He cursed under his breath and Buffy smiled through her tears.

"I'm fine, William, don't worry." William suddenly began fiddling with something in his breast pocket.

"No, you aren't, you're upset. I know this might come as a bit of a shock, that it's a little too sudden but I just couldn't keep it a secret any longer." Finally, from his pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper and a jewelry box. A ring box, Buffy realized with a shock. William gingerly shifted to one knee and cracked open the box for Buffy's inspection. Buffy gasped, the ring was beautiful. An emerald set among three diamonds on a gold band, it matched her dress and eyes perfectly. Buffy suddenly realized what was happening, William was proposing to her. William began to recite something from the paper but Buffy was too caught up in her own thoughts to truly pay attention. William was proposingShe could get married and have children. Her heart ached as the last thought passed through her mind. Children, something her Slayer duties in her own time prevented her from having. The looming threat of omni- present death erased that possibility and neither Angel nor Spike were able to have children in the future. She could be happy for once. But what would happen to her time if she never returned? The tail-end of William's speech caught her ear.

"Your beauty, effulgent." The word struck a chord in Buffy's mind for a reason she couldn't understand. It wasn't a common name but oddly familiar. Her eyes widened as she realized where she had heard it before. When Spike had been hidden away in the school basement with the First plaguing him, driving him insane, she had gone down to sit with him during her breaks. Sometimes he was so far gone into a delusion that he didn't even realize she was there. One such time, he had been reliving the night he was turned, complete with the poem he had written for his lady love. This speech wasn't supposed to be for her, it was meant for Cecily. Fresh tears spilled over onto her cheeks as a cold stab of understanding pierced her heart. Drusilla would turn him tonight and Buffy had to let her. No, no, please, no, give us a few more days together, don't take him now, please, no, Buffy pleaded silently but to no avail. She knew what she had to do.

"Will you marry me, Anne Summers?" Buffy looked down, unable to look into his probing, hopeful eyes.

"I can't" she whispered finally.

"What do you mean? Of course you can." His tone was choked with panic and Buffy closed her eyes, tears leaking out from, wishing she could shut out his pain, the pain she was causing.

"No, I can't, William, this relationship was never anything serious. It was just for fun, a way to pass the time."

"But you said that you loved me" William's voice cracked just like Buffy's heart.

"I say a lot of things"

"You're lying; this is a joke, a prank." Buffy shook her head sadly.

"I'm not lying, not this time." William took a hold Buffy's chin, forcing her to look into his glacial blue eyes. Those eyes that always bored into her soul, made her think, made her feel. She could feel her will slipping away.

"Look into my eyes and say you don't love me." Buffy knew with a stab of comprehension what she had to say, she had said it once before, when she had broken his heart the first time, the second time was bound to be easier, wasn't it? Yeah right. She stared into his eyes, calling upon her best actress charade.

"I could never love you, William, you're beneath me." William got to his feet, tears streaking his face, a broken man.

"Good to know how you truly feel" he said, before fleeing the garden and Buffy collapsed into tears. Sobs racked her thin frame, pain flooding every nerve ending in her brain. After countless minutes of sobbing, Buffy realized suddenly that hard marble beneath her cheek had disappeared, replaced with cheap fabric. She sat up and realized suddenly that she could breathe. She didn't need to use her Slayer eyesight to see that she wasn't in a garden in Victorian London; she was back in her borrowed bed in present-day Sunnydale. She glanced over at the digital display clock on the bed-side night-table. It had the date as well as the hour. 10:30 pm, the night after she had been kicked out of her home. Buffy was dumbstruck at the fact that she had been in Victorian London for almost two months and not even two days had passed in Sunnydale. Buffy lay back down, she was too numb to ponder the intricacies of the universe and she had a lot of things to think about already.

The inhuman roar of fury filled the vineyard's storage chamber, causing several large chunks of plaster to fall from the walls and ceiling. The First changed shapes rapidly, attempting to find a shell able to contain its rage. Caleb stood back, surveying the spectacle with a cool eye. The First finally settled on Angel for the moment and roared into the face of its captive.

"Why is she back? I thought you took care of her." The beyond terrified boy could only cower in fear as he tried to answer.

"I thought I did too. I don't know how she came back. My spell was foolproof. She was supposed to be stuck there, forever." Angel/ the First whirled around to face its prisoner, turning into Darla as it went.

"Well, apparently it wasn't fool-proof, now was it?" The boy hung his head and the First noticed a change in his demeanor. It moved closer to him, malevolent anger in every move.

"What is it?"

"There's something, but it's impossible."

"Well, we've pretty much decided that nothing is impossible when it comes to the Slayer."

"As you know, when someone is sent to a different dimension, it's almost impossible for them not to do something that will alter its basic structure. I mean this is something that isn't supposed to be there, an interloper but if somehow the Slayer managed to keep her particular dimension intact then the universe would realize it didn't need her there and boot her back to her own dimension." Darla's face contorted in rage and for an instant it was impossible to tell if she was in Vamp-face or not.

"You hung all of our hopes on a flawed plan?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand how this could have happened, the Slayer is a powerful being and even if she wasn't. . . . . . I'm really sorry." The boy hung his head in shame. Darla/ the First was unable to put up with his groveling and turned on her/Its heel, and stomped over to Caleb.

"Kill him" she snarled, morphing into Drusilla. "Kill him for Princess, make the wine come out and spill into my cup. I need that cup, because what's a good hostess without a cup to toast with?" She leaned in closer to Caleb and whispered in his ear,

"We're going to have a party with the Slayer's girls as party favors and a big surprise for the door prize" Drusilla clapped her hands in joy and stood back to watch her minion do her bidding.