1998...sort of
"You walk out of this house, don't even think about coming back," Buffy's heart sank as her mother said the words, but she had no choice.
If she didn't stop Angelus, her mother — everything — would be swallowed into a hell dimension. So, she stared back with wounded eyes, turned and left the house, feeling a stinging crackle of energy as she did. She could think about where to go after saving the world.
Buffy was surprised at how resolute she felt as she made her way back to Sunnydale High to get Kendra's sword. She knew what she had to do, and it was too late now to turn back. The Angel she was in love with was gone, and he would want her to stop Angelus.
Her grief for Angel, for Kendra, for her home, felt heavy in her heart, like stones. For now, it was helping to center her. Buffy didn't know how long that would last.
But, it only needed to last long enough for her to get to the mansion. Somehow, she actually trusted Spike would be able to pull it off — distracting Angel.
Buffy's mind flashed to his shock that her mother didn't know she was the Slayer. It was odd...it almost seemed like he cared?
Odd and impossible. And irrelevant, Buffy said to herself.
Her faith in Spike suddenly evaporated as she strode by Restfield Cemetery and saw….
"Oh my god," Buffy whispered to herself as she watched Spike and well, she wasn't sure.
Because it looked like her. The hair was a little more honey-colored and her gray sweater was way more Mom-tastic than anything Buffy would wear but…it definitely looked like her.
And whatever it was… was making out… with Spike in front of a large mausoleum.
Great job stalling Angel, thought Buffy as her jaw dropped. She crouched down to get a closer look. She kept an extra stake near one of the headstones near the crypt.
"What's the name?" she said to herself as she crawled through the grass. "Laura? Laurel...Lorraine!"
Buffy grabbed the stake hiding at the base of Lorraine Baines' tall, ornate, headstone and hid behind it to keep watching.
When they stopped kissing, Buffy could see the shiny blonde headed man's face definitely looked like Spike's, although he was wearing different clothes than he was earlier. He also seemed to be completely puppy dog for this fake Buffy thing, the way he was staring at it with big saucer eyes.
She watched as he pulled a thin black box out of his leather coat and handed it to the Buffy thing, who seemed very pleased to get whatever shiny gold trinket was in the box.
Buffy ran a finger over the cross necklace Angel had given her.
What was this? Some sort of trick? She did not have time for a bizzaro world Spike and Buffy in the middle of an apocalypse.
Even so, she couldn't help herself but follow them as they walked back to her house arm in arm. New anger rose up to her chest as she thought about what they could do to her mother.
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By the time they made it to the front door of Revello, Buffy's legs were wrapped around Spike's waist. Even so, he managed to get up the porch stairs and fish keys out of his coat pocket.
"Mmmrs. Pratt," he hummed into her mouth as they kissed. "I do believe this is going to be a very special anniversary."
"You have no idea," Buffy whispered into his ear, setting off a shiver that almost made him drop the keys.
"Wait just a minute, love," he said, running a hand up her back. "Don't want to give the neighbors a show."
"You never cared about that before," she whispered again.
"Oh, Buffy," Spike practically moaned as he fought the door open. When he finally backed in through the threshold, they were welcomed by a disjointed call of "happy anniversary," from their friends and family.
For a moment they stared, dumbstruck, at the party guests gathered in their living room, Buffy still wrapped around Spike.
"My god, you two never let up, do you?" said Dawn with a truly massive eyeroll.
"Seriously," said Annie, shaking her head.
"You did tell them the house would be empty, babe," Xander said to Dawn out of the corner of his mouth. "That said, this is one of those moments that I'm happy to have one eye," he said, covering his other.
"That's it," Dawn said. "We're never surprising you two again. Ever."
"Oh, come on guys. It is their anniversary," said Willow, all the while giving Buffy a best-friend secret message face that meant please stop straddling Spike in front of my impressionable young child.
"Wow, guys this is amazing!" Buffy exclaimed with a beet-red face as she did her best to gracefully get off of her husband. "Really, its so great! Look at all this pizza and… Giles? Giles!"
She soon had him in an embrace that seemed mostly full of excitement to see him and also a tinge of desire to hide.
"Buffy, dear," Giles beamed. "Happy anniversary."
"Rupes," said Spike once they finished, leaning forward to shake the watcher's hand.
"Spike," said Giles with a knowing grin and a pat on the vampire's back. "Happy anniversary to you as well. Eighteen years — quite a feat."
"Just blink of an eye really," said Spike before he turned to Dawn. "Thanks for the party, niblet," he said as he pulled her into a hug.
"You're welcome," said Dawn as she hugged back. "You're gross but I still love you."
"All I can ask for, pet," he said with a warm grin.
"You obviously fooled me," said Buffy as she gave Dawn a hug too. "I'm very impressed."
"Annie did all the decorating," said Dawn.
"I might have overdone the glitter," said Annie as she brushed some off her jeans.
"I love it," Buffy put her arm around Annie. "You know I'm a sparkle girl."
"Very Bowie," Spike agreed with a soft smile at their daughter, which she returned.
"Thanks guys," she said.
"But, how are you here?" Buffy suddenly asked, turning to Giles. "I thought you were deep in Avon..."
"Avalon," Giles corrected. "I was, but Dawn was able to fly me out for a few days. And it seems like the timing was actually very fortuitous, considering our unexpected guest."
"Considering you?" said Buffy, her face puzzled.
"No, no, the other one," Giles said before clearing his throat and nodding his head towards the center of the room.
Buffy kept staring at his face, but Spike followed the watcher's cue.
"Oh, bloody, buggering hell," he said when he saw, well, himself tied up in the middle of the room.
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It was the strangest development yet in what had undoubtedly crossed the "strangest night ever" finish line some time ago. Considering the things Spike had been up to the past 120 years, that was saying something.
He wasn't sure he wanted to look but couldn't pull his eyes away from himself. And Buffy.
Is that what I look like? Spike thought. Did he seem taller and more… relaxed? His muscles were coiled tight in that predator-like way that felt familiar, but his body language was confident — no hint of the anxiety of the hunt — so comfortable with these other people.
Buffy still looked young in her tight, faded jeans, hardly older than she did in their wedding photo. It occurred to Spike that at this rate, she must be the oldest Slayer in history. A living legend, wrapped around him like he was her favorite thing in the world.
It was absurd, of course. The whole thing. But, that didn't stop an ache from forming in Spike's chest as he watched them. He had never felt that content, that loved. How could it really be him?
Spike closed his eyes. He tried, and failed, to flood the image of them out of his mind with thoughts of Dru. But those memories now drowned in images of the Slayer's mouth on his, on her flushed face as she entered her living room.
Bagged another Slayer he told himself, trying to drum up any shred of his personality before the Scoobies started talking to him again.
"Oh, bloody, buggering hell," he heard own voice say.
Spike arranged his face into a smirk and squirmed against the ropes.
"If it isn't Mr. Buffy," he said, trying to keep a cool exterior. "Your friends have been telling me lots of little ditties about you."
The other Spike narrowed his eyes but didn't respond.
"What is he?" he asked the room.
"Well, he's you," said Giles, who had of course removed his glasses for a cleaning.
"Oh!" exclaimed Buffy. "Is this like what that weird crackly face demon did to Xander? Is he evil Spike?"
"Well, yeah," said Spike from his chair.
"No...yes and no," said Xander. "He's a time jumper. From 1998."
"The Acathla night," Willow added with a gulp.
"Oh," said Buffy. She and other Spike stiffened at the mention of the name. When he put an arm around her waist, Spike's heart ached again.
"How do we get him out of here?" the other Spike asked.
"Well," said Willow. "We worked out a spell, but we have to do it soon."
"Soon?" said Spike with a sarcastic pout. "But you never told me what that cheese man from your dreams was all about."
Meaningful glances boomeranged around the room at that one. What was that cheese man all about?
"Spike," Willow said sternly to the tied-up blonde, "where were you when you noticed time was different?"
Spike shifted uncomfortably under the Scoobies', and his own, intense gazes.
"Uh the kitchen," he said. "Looked different, and before that…" he suddenly remembered. "The doorknob — when I touched it there was a shock."
"A shock?" Willow frowned.
"Like a bit of energy," Spike said.
"I'm not sure..." Willow started, but she was cut off by someone banging through the front door.
They all watched as a 17-year-old Buffy barreled into the living room with wild eyes, a stake clutched in her hand.
"Don't you dare touch her," she said, before taking in the scene before her. Buffy spun around to look at her house, so different from the one she had just left.
"What...what?" she sputtered. "What is this?"
"Good question, pet," said Spike as he watched her from his chair. "Don't ask this lot, though, they'll give you a whole Song of Ice and Fire plot."
"Spike?" she said, staring at his ropes. "Spike," she said again, looking at the couple she followed home from the cemetery.
The other Buffy was looking at her with a peculiar look of fear and compassion.
"Okay, that's it," said Xander as he jogged to the door and locked it. "No more surprise guests for this party."
"Two Spikes and two Buffys," said Dawn, her eyes darting across the room. "I feel like this is some type of annoying math problem I would blow on a test."
"What is the square root of Spuffy to the power of six?" said Xander with an awkward chuckle.
"Mom, is this you?" asked Annie, her eyes roving over the third unexpected guest of the evening. "Cute shoes," she added.
"Thank you," the younger Buffy said mindlessly, her eyes locking on to the tied-up Spike.
"Not sure if they really go with those pants," said Joyce, causing Dawn to glare at her.
"This, um, complicates things," said Willow with a wince. "The spell," she said looking sadly at the ingredients she had prepared with Frankie. "I don't think this one will work."
The words sounded fuzzy to the younger Buffy, muffled and far away. Willow, Xander, Giles. They were all here. All safe. Older, and was Xander missing an eye? It didn't matter. They were here and in a night where Buffy thought she would never see them again even this weird version of them felt so good. But looking at them — especially that woman who looked like her and the girl who called her Mom — made her feel sort of dizzy. So she kept her eyes on Spike. His face seemed reassuring.
What an odd thing, to find your enemy's face reassuring, she thought.
"Buffy," Willow was calling her name. "Do you remember when time shifted?"
"Time," Buffy said flatly.
"It's the future," Willow was saying.
"The future," Buffy repeated.
"Yep," said Willow. "What was the last thing you remember from the time you came from?"
"You walk out of this house, don't even think about coming back."
Buffy's eyes watered as she thought of her mother's frightened face.
"Mom," she whispered. Then, louder, "Where's my mom?"
Willow and Dawn flinched.
"This is the future?" Buffy said, her voice getting louder. "Then where is my mom?"
"Sweetheart," Willow said, but Buffy kept going.
"Where is my mom?" she bellowed.
And then, the older Buffy's hand was on her back.
"She's not here," the woman said.
"She's," tears began streaming down the younger Buffy's face and she fell to her knees. "Mommy," she whispered.
