Well here is the next chapter! I'm not going to go into too much detail as I reckon this chapter pretty much explains itself!
Thankyou to all those who reviewed and for being so patient!
So here it is, the eighth part of Stuck in the Past: Choices Part 2 - Home Truths.
Another Dimension
Buffy glanced around her. From the looks of her location, she was still in Sunnydale, though it had aged somewhat. The streets were lined with new trees, trees which seemed the same for every house. Finally noticing where she was standing, Buffy gasped. It was her house, but it had changed. There were children's toys strewn all over the lawn, a family car parked in the drive way tools left lying around, evidence of a small garden project. Before she could take a step forward, someone touched her lightly on the arm.
"You must wait." The voice whispered softly.
Buffy turned, her eyes widening at the person standing beside her. "Kendra." She breathed.
Kendra smiled. "Buffy. I am your guide here. Do you know where you are?"
Buffy nodded. "That's my house." She frowned, "at least I think it is. How far ahead is this?"
Kendra started walking across the road. Turning back she slowly answered Buffy's question. "This is 17 years into the future. You are married to a Riley Finn and have four children and are currently pregnant with your 5th and 6th...it seems this Riley wanted a large family. This is your life had you not have gone to the past and married Angel."
Buffy felt her heart speed up slightly. She was married with four kids and two more on the way. "6 Children? What about being a Slayer, what did I just give that up?" Not to mention the toll that was going to have on her body.
Kendra smiled sadly. "It was not a choice you chose, it was made for you. Mr Finn did not want you to put your children's life in danger, so he ordered you stop slaying."
Buffy frowned. "And I gave up, just like that?"
Kendra nodded. "When you could no longer see Angel, you stopped fighting. Instead of making the orders, you started following them. You will see for yourself now." Kendra grasped Buffy's hand and teleported them inside, revealing an extremely chaotic house, the future Buffy nowhere in sight.
"Where am I?" Buffy whispered, looking around the room. No sooner had she spoken than her future self walked into the room, her large tummy making it hard for her to walk. Buffy gasped at the state her future self was in. Her face was drawn tight, making her look older than her mere 35 years. Her clothes were worn and extremely baggy, even though she was heavily pregnant. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, the blonde dull and lifeless, like she had lost the will to take care of herself. Taking a step back, Buffy shook her head. "What happened to me?"
Kendra motioned to the front door, grimacing as 4 children spilled in, aged 17, 12 and the last two 5. As the children made their way over to their mother, Kendra motioned to the oldest, who's dark hair and eyes were such a contrast to the blonde of his parents and siblings.
"How was your day Liam?" Buffy gasped again as her future self spoke softly to her eldest son, her face relaxing into a smile as her eldest son took a seat next to his mom.
"It was great Mom. I tried out for the football team today, and I think I got in!" Liam smiled brightly, his dark eyes dancing.
Buffy opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Trying again, she managed to whisper hoarsely to Kendra. "Is that?"
Kendra nodded. "Riley thinks Liam is his son, but he's Angel's. In this reality, you fell pregnant on the day that wasn't – which I will fill you in on later. It was around the same time you and Riley first slept together, but you didn't bother to correct him. Liam knows the truth, Riley and Angel don't. Liam is your only connection to Angel, that and you were afraid Riley would harm him if he found out."
Buffy swiped at the tears that coursed down her cheeks. "I'm afraid of Riley?"
Kendra turned back to the front door, just as Riley Finn walked in, his face creased in a frown. "Didn't I tell you to clean up the lawn?" he barked at future Buffy. This Riley was such a contrast to the Riley Buffy barely knew. The one she knew was too eager to please, to bother with being harsh or handing out orders. What had happened?
Future Buffy sighed heavily and got to her feet. "It is hard to bend down with these two. I was about to ask the kids to clean it."
Riley sighed. "Do I have to do everything around here?" he screamed, startling the 5 year old twins, who started crying.
Liam stood up. "Leave them alone. I'll clean the yard; you don't have to yell all the time."
Buffy laid her hand gently on her son's arm. "It's ok Liam. Get the boys to help you; I'll take Katie to help me with dinner."
Riley threw his bag on the floor. "Darn right you will make dinner, what have you done all day? Sat on your ass and done nothing?" Riley advanced towards Buffy, ready to lay into her when Liam stepped into his path, blocking Buffy from view.
"Leave my mother alone." He hissed.
"Tough guy huh? Let's see how tough you are." Rising his hand, he swung it down to strike Liam, unprepared for Liam's counter attack, which saw Riley thrown across the room.
Riley sat up, his eyes dark. "Get out." He hissed.
"No." Liam answered, his body still shielding Buffy from view, which should have been a hard task, considering she was 7 months pregnant with twins. Buffy, despite her state was still tiny, and heavily dwarfed by her son, who had inherited some of his father's traits.
"I said GET OUT!" Riley screamed, throwing the nearest thing he could reach at Liam.
Liam plucked the object out of the air. Turning he faced his mom. "Come with me." He pleaded. "We can go to Dad's – my real dad's. You can bring Katie and the twin's too. It'll be safer."
Future Buffy regarded her husband, as he leant against the far wall, his face dark and commanding. "I don't know if I can Angel." She whispered using the nickname she had reserved only for her son, something Riley knew nothing about, the only link she had to Angel, apart from the child in front of her.
"Sure you can. You pick up Adam, Katie picks up Andrew, I get the bags and we leave. I'll even drive. I can't keep watching him destroy you Mom." Liam leant down to peer into his mother's face. That was something he had inherited from his father – the strength, the height and those fathomless eyes.
Buffy nodded slowly, her hands clutching at her tummy. Long awaited anger bubbled to the surface, the dormant slayer rising from beneath the surface to regard the man still sitting on the floor. "You know I can seriously hurt you, though Liam can hurt you more. We are leaving. You will not follow. I have a lot of anger stored up for you, that I would seriously not bother fighting."
Riley slowly got to his feet. "As soon as you are out of that door, I will have a hundred men looking for you, and I will find you and make you come back, I don't care if it is by force. You are MY wife, and nothing will take you from me."
Buffy laughed. "Not any more. I want a divorce, and if you don't give it to me than I'd think twice about living." Turning she addressed her daughter "Katie, take Adam and Andrew out to the car please. Don't bother packing anything, we'll buy new." As soon as they were out of the house, Buffy let loose, punching Riley in the jaw with enough force to throw him into the wall again, this time breaking the wall, sending him out into the yard.
"Come on Mom. We need to hurry." Liam grabbed his mother's hand. "I need to tell you something. Dad knows about me. I've been calling him all the time and telling him about us. He knows about Riley, and has wanted to come and rescue for a while."
Buffy stopped. "He doesn't mind that I'll be turning up with 5 kids that aren't his?"
Liam shook his head. "He's always wanted a large family." Wrapping his arms around his mother's shoulders, Liam led her out to the car.
Buffy turned to Kendra. "This was my alternative?" she whispered.
Kendra nodded. "It wasn't always like this. Sometimes he was nice."
Buffy rubbed her hands against her temple. "Tell about the day that wasn't."
Kendra took Buffy's hand in her own again, teleporting them to a quiet location near the sea. "Angel was human for a day, but found out he could not fight to protect you and took it back, trading his life for yours."
Buffy stood up. "He was human? Why don't I remember it?" Buffy frowned. Surely she would remember human Angel.
Kendra sighed. "Because he made them erase the day from your memory. He figured if you could not remember, than you could move on, he figured you would live a life that would be full of love and sunshine and more sunshine and kids. He always figured you were happy with Riley. It took a lot of persuasion from Liam, for Angel to wait until you were ready to leave."
Buffy angrily chucked a handful of sand into the air. "When I see him next, we are so having words. I can't believe he would make that sort of decision without me."
Kendra placed a soothing hand on Buffy's arm. "You must understand his reasoning."
Buffy sighed. "Fire away."
Kendra looked out at the ocean. "While he was human, he fought a monster, and almost died. You thankfully came to his rescue. It was then he realized that as a human without his supernatural strength he would only be a burden. He figured you would spend too much time worrying about his safety to consider your own."
Buffy smiled sadly. "I hate it when he plays all noble."
Kendra smiled softly. "Have you had enough?"
Buffy sighed heavily. "I don't suppose you could give me a glimpse of what my life would be like if I chose Angel could you?"
Kendra stood up, her head firmly moving from side to side. "I'm sorry I can't. The only way to find out what your life would be like would be to choose him and live it."
Buffy nodded slowly. "But what about my friends, and Giles. Surely they would not have let me live that life?"
Kendra considered the question. "You know the powers will probably kill me for this, but I will show you the continuation of what you saw. I will show what happened when you went to L.A with the kids and met up with Angel."
Buffy held out her hand, ready for the dizzying rush that came with each travel she took with Kendra. Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped loudly at the scene before her. Her friends were sitting with Angel; their worried faces such a contrast from the happy smile on Angel's face.
"Are you sure she's coming alone? This isn't some trick to rub in the fact she's in Sunnydale with "Regular Joe" is it?" Willow frowned heavily, standing to nervously pace the foyer of the Hyperion Hotel.
Angel shook his head. "I spoke to Liam. She's coming alone, well she's bringing the kids, but she's not bringing Riley."
Xander nodded. "How long will she be?"
Angel shrugged. "Liam said an hour or so. He's driving, and from what he's told me, Buffy taught him, so it could be minutes."
Giles grimaced. "I do hope they get here safely then."
Cordelia looked up from the magazine she was reading. "Oh come on. This is Angel's son we're talking about. They'll be here all in one piece. If he's anything like his father, I'm sure he'd brood if they weren't." As if sensing the crowd was talking about someone that wasn't him, 7-year-old Connor stormed into the room, his face creased into a frown.
"Who's Liam?" he asked, climbing into a chair beside Gunn.
Angel glared at Cordelia. "Liam is your older brother."
Connor glared at the table. "I have a brother?" he asked. "Sam at school has a brother. His dad takes him to basketball games and leaves Sam at home. You're not going to do that are you Dad?"
Angel chuckled and crossed the room to lift his other adopted son into his arms. "I don't know Liam very well yet. I don't even know if he likes Basketball."
"He doesn't. He prefers football!" Everyone in the room spun to stare at the crowd, standing in the doorway. Liam was holding a boy, who was hiding his face in Liam's shoulder. A girl was holding another boy (obviously the other one's twin). Then there was Buffy. She looked so tired. She was having a hard time keeping upright.
Angel moved across the room, and wrapped his arm around Buffy's waist, successfully holding her upright. Smiling at her tear stained cheeks; he helped her to the foot of the stairs. "I'll be right back guys. I think Buffy needs some rest."
Nobody made a protest as Angel half carried Buffy to her room. Once upon a time, she would have stubbornly refused to rest, claiming she was perfectly fine. It seems Riley had had a much larger impact on her life than they were all aware of.
"She's changed a lot." Xander stared sadly up at the retreating Buffy.
"She was forced to. Sorry, I'm Liam." Liam smiled sheepishly at his intrusion on their silent moment. "The girl is my sister Katie, she's holding Andrew, and this shy one is Adam."
Giles rose to his feet and crossed the room to shake Liam's hand. "I'm Rupert Giles, Giles to everyone."
Liam nodded slowly. "I know. I've seen pictures. Mom told me all about you."
Willow nervously chewed on her lip. "Where's Riley?"
Liam scowled darkly, a growl escaping his lips, proving he was indeed the son of their friend. "He is back home, hopefully knocked out. I never knew mom could pack that sort of punch!" he chuckled. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay there."
Angel nodded his face almost identical to his son as he slowly descended the stairs. "I think he'll stay there. I had a run in with him once, he knows what'll happen if he comes here. His little army has no control over MY City."
"Dad" Liam breathed, staring at Angel in awe. It was as if he was staring into his own face.
Buffy tore her eyes away from Liam throwing his arms around his father. "Does Riley ever come and try and get me back?" she asked, her eyes returning to the bonding going on between Liam and Angel.
Kendra smiled slightly. "He does. Would you like to see?"
Buffy shook her head. "I don't think I could stand it." She turned to Kendra. "Your accent, I've just realized it's gone."
Kendra laughed softly. "I have spent a while up here that it's just faded. Besides I think I sound better."
Buffy nodded in agreement. "It does sound better, but I still miss your accent. Anyway, I've chosen."
Kendra's face turned serious. "Are you ready to go back?"
Buffy nodded. "My choice would have been harder if you had have shown me love and flowers with Riley. But still, I'll always choose Angel."
Kendra smiled and took Buffy's hand. "Shall we return?"
Buffy nodded and glanced back at the happy scene behind her. "We shall."
Buffy slowly opened her eyes. She glanced up at the two smiling faces before her. "I've chosen."
The lady smiled warmly. "I'm glad warrior. What is your choice?"
Buffy smiled softly. "It is Angel. Always will be."
The lady's smile widened. "You have made the right choice. Angel should be returning shortly. Fell free to take a seat."
Buffy looked behind her and for the first time noticed the chair. Falling into it, she glanced around the white space. Hopefully Angel wouldn't go all noble on her and choose a life without her. She had only just found him; it was too late to turn back now.
Bwahahahahahhah. Well I have finally finished this chapter, 2762 words later I think I like it. Sorry it has taken so long to finish, but I have been so busy with my new job that everything else has kinda taken a back seat. But I've fought long and hard to perfect this... and I think it is perfect now. This is what the future could have been...definitely not how I want it to turn out...ugh Buffy married to Riley...no thanks.
Anyhoo...i'm starting the next chapter where we see Angel viewing the future...but I think you know what his answer will be...but I think I have to write it anyway...haha...i'm not sure how traumatic I'm going to make it yet.
I'll try and have it finished A.S.A.P...
Cheers,
BeraMoon