Verbena, February 2520
After dinner, Will and Xander vanished into one of the training rooms for a few hours. When they came back, Will looked happy, albeit exhausted, and Xander was standing on his own and breathing much easier. Lacey could see the fresh scars peeking out from the neck of his shirt, but Will had significantly rushed the healing process.
Xander settled into a corner of the couch and pulled Lacey into his lap as his gaze roamed over the room. He paused on Buffy and Xander, who were sitting in a position disturbingly similar to that time they'd been engaged.
"I'm not gonna have to listen to 'Wind Beneath My Wings' any time soon, am I?" he asked a little too loudly.
Giles choked on his tea while Willow proceeded to spit hers out completely. Dawn dissolved into a fit of giggles. Spike was biting his lip nearly hard enough to draw blood, trying not to laugh, as Buffy glared across the room at Xander and Lacey, who was giggling almost as hard as Dawn.
Buffy opened and closed her mouth three times before giving up and just sticking her tongue out at Xander, eliciting another round of laughter from the room at large.
The blonde turned her face back toward Spike, "It's been 500 years. I'm not even gonna act embarrassed that I still want that song."
Spike grinned affectionately, "Just say when, luv."
Silence fell over the room.
Buffy finally managed a stunned, "Huh?"
Spike shrugged as he wrapped his arms around her waist, "Don't rightly remember that we ever did actually break that engagement. Gotta say though, pet, never expected you'd make me wait 500 years."
Silence again.
"Uh, B, think the man's trying to ask you to marry him." Faith piped up.
"What she said." Spike confirmed without looking away from Buffy's face.
The stunned expression fell away from Buffy's face and a smile lit up her face as she nodded and leaned down to kiss the vampire.
About a minute later, Lacey tried to get their attention, "Uh, guys… room full of people still."
Neither seemed to hear her, and if they did, they didn't care. Everyone else quickly filtered out, leaving the space to the Slayer and the vampire.
Lacey turned her face up toward Xander's in the hall, "You know, I'm thinking they might have the right idea. But I vote for a room with a lock."
Xander nodded enthusiastically, "Race ya up the stairs."
Two nights later Lacey was spooned up against Xander, both with books in hand. Xander was being uncharacteristically quiet.
Lacey sighed and slammed her book shut, "What is it?"
Xander started and made a sound of protest as she pulled away from him, witting up and twisting so she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, facing him.
"What's what?" he asked.
"You. With the random broody silence."
"I'm not broody."
"Fine. Contemplative, moody, thoughtful –"
He cut her off and held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright!"
Lacey grinned in victory.
"I was just thinking about Buffy and Spike."
Lacey cocked her head to the side, "What about them?"
"Everything they went through to get to this point, all the doubts that both of them have had for so long, and now they're finally at this point, but it seems so sudden."
Lacey smiled a little sadly, "We've all learned that happiness is a gift to accept regardless of where it comes from… it just took Buffy a lot longer to get there than the rest of us. It's really not that sudden."
Xander nodded slowly in understanding, reaching out to twine his fingers with Lacey's as Simon poked his head in through their open door.
"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting…" Simon started.
Lacey shook her head and smiled, "Not at all. What's up?"
Simon stepped into the room, "Have you seen River?"
Lacey shrugged as she reached with her free hand for her book, "Check Jayne's room."
Simon made a kind of choking sound.
Lacey realized what her absentminded answer must have sounded like, "Gorram it! Not like that. That's not what I meant, Simon. Last time I saw her actually sleeping, she was curled up like a cat at the foot of his bed."
Simon raised an eyebrow warily.
"Come here, xiǎodì, have a seat." Lacey motioned him over and patted the side of the bed. "I know you want to keep River safe, help her get better, but I'm not sure you quite understand what she needs right now."
Simon sat a little tensely on the edge of the bed, but he didn't seem offended, "How do you mean?"
Lacey sighed, "Si, you want her better. We all do. Thing is, I think you've done all you can for her. The meds you've got figured out have fixed her mind as much as they're able. She's been better since Miranda, you said. But those gorram blue hands are still out there, and she's still frightened, doubly so with all the talk of the Academy around here. A sound mind doesn't always lend aid to feeling safe.
"At this point, I'd be her first choice, but she's respecting my space as Xander and I are refigurin' ourselves; I didn't ask her for it, but she's givin' it just the same. Zoe'd be safe, but not necessarily comforting, and River needs that whether she realizes it or not. Kaylee's the sweetest soul in the 'Verse, but farthest thing from a killer. And that's the same problem that comes with you; I have no doubt that you'll do whatever it takes to protect her, but killin' ain't a thing that'll ever sit well with you. Mal'd be the next logical choice; unfortunately, he's wearin' the face of on 'a the biggest bads me an' mine ever faced and that don't endear him none and makes mine feel a bit unsettled still to be honest, so not the safest place right this moment.
"Jayne's the only logical choice. He's a mercenary. Killin's what he does. He understands weapons, and to a point, you have to accept that River is one. It's part of being a Slayer. And even if it wasn't, the Academy would have turned her into a different kind of weapon. There's never before been a psychic Slayer, and that makes her even more special – put's her in more danger in this case.
"I know Jayne's had his rough patches, but he's really come 'round, and he wouldn't let a gorram thing happen to a one of us, mèimei included, if not most of all. But aside from all that, Jayne is a rock, hell, he's a mountain. And without each other, rivers and mountains don't exist to their fullest. Right now, that big, grumpy merc is what River needs. She's safe with any of us, but she feels safe with him. Iffen the rest of us don't see why she wants ta curl up at the end 'a his bunk, we deal. We don't gotta understand, so long as she's secure-like."
"That was right purty, Lacey." Kaylee said, smiling from where she'd appeared in the doorway.
Lacey dipped her chin in acknowledgement.
Simon huffed out a breath, "Well… it sounds like you understand it just fine."
Lacey shrugged and grinned ruefully, "We were cut from the same cloth, River 'n' me. Alliance just hasn't yet had the misfortune of picking me up instead of a young Slayer; I ain't never had no one pokin' 'round my brain pan like it were a playground."
Simon nodded slowly.
"And she'd right, anyhow, Simon." Kaylee said, "River's curled up like a lil' kitten on the end 'a Jayne's bed." A mischievous light came into the mechanic's eye, "And I'd be a new compression coil he'd deny it if ya asked him, but he's got her all covered up with his favorite blanket."
Kaylee's giggles were joined by Lacey and Xander's chuckles as Simon shook his head in something akin to disbelief.
Lacey noticed Xander's gaze had landed on her. When she turned to meet his eye, he started laughing in earnest.
"What?!" Lacey questioned.
Xander took a deep breath and shrugged, "When you get going like that you fall into that backwater dialect everyone seems to use these days. It's kinda cute."
Lacey threw a pillow at his face before joining him and laughing at herself.
Verbena, March 2520
Lacey was sitting on the back porch with Mal, sipping whiskey and discussing Mal's contacts who had responded to their cautious inquiries when Lacey noticed a figure approaching from the back pastures.
"That's weird…" she mumbled.
Mal followed her gaze, "What?"
Lacey realized the figure was likely still too far for Mal to see, "Someone's coming in from the back pastures."
"What's so weird about that?"
"Our land is warded. No one but us could get in unharmed or undiverted."
"So it's one of you. Still not seein' what's weird."
Lacey stood, "No one was assigned to the back pastures today."
Mal understood immediately. He unholstered his gun as Lacey pulled her sward from its sheath and set off toward the figure.
Before they reached the ground, River burst through the back door.
Lacey turned her gaze quickly to the girl, whose expression was alternating between happy and worried.
River's voice was a little strained, "Fell off the yellow brick road on his way home… wizard missed his witch, but got caught in the Black by the blue…"
Lacey's eyes widened as she caught on and she dropped her sword before taking off at a dead run toward the figure in the distance, slowing only briefly to yell over her shoulder at Mal, "Get Simon! And Willow! Tell her it's Oz!"
Translations:
Gorram – damn
xiǎodì – little brother
mèimei – little sister