Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

Synopsis: Anyone ever notice that Buffy never returned Spike's ring from when they were engaged? What if Willow's reversal of the Will Be Done spell from the Something Blue episode was not exactly 100% effective? What if Buffy was still under a spell and still considered herself engaged to a horrified Spike?

Author's note: This revision is to fix the French language references in the story. Obviously, I did not take French in school. Google Translate don't fail me now!

…

Chapter 16 (revised)

"I couldn't find anything about the name of Brask beyond the fourteenth century. So I began to research other spellings based upon the phonetics. Accessing the French nobility rolls, I found a family of Norman knights with the extended name of Bras que Manie L'acier Sombre. Cross referencing the first part of that name against the Crusade histories, I came up with a name: Mortimer du Bras que. He was a knight that accompanied Richard the Lionhearted on the Third Crusade. Let's see, it says here that he was one of Richard's champions. He was known for being extremely reliable, faithful and trustworthy." Willow reported as she was staring at her laptop.

"He must have been a real ponce. That description sounds like it apply to a Golden Retriever." Spike said as he wandered back to the entrance of the kitchen. To Spike's chagrin, Buffy got up from the stool and was soon standing next to him, staring at him with a spellbound intensity.

"Oh, there's a problem. He died in Syria in 1190 before they could return to England." Willow said disappointedly. "I guess there was no way that he made it back to England."

"Hmmm. Wait a minute. You said the name was du Bras que?" Giles stated as he started to sort through the mess of books sitting on the table. He put his hands on a particular book and opened it, thumbing through the pages. "I think I found something in this book about the Crusades. Oh here it is.. It mentions du Bras que the younger. So, that means there was another du Bras que on the Third Crusade. Everyone, look up the Third Crusade!"

There was a sudden flurry of activity around the table as books were be flung right and left, and the air filled with the sounds of books being thrown open and pages being roughly turned. Spike walked over to the table with Buffy following not far behind. He paused for a moment and quickly grabbed a book. He walked around the table with a book in his hands, because he realized that if he kept moving he was less of a target for Buffy. It soon became apparent to everyone in the room that a strange pursuit was being conducted around the table. Buffy was followed Spike around the table several times who kept apace of the Slayer as he kept his head down looking at the book. She finally stopped and looked at Spike who stopped his movement around the table at the moment that she stopped. Buffy changed direction for a few steps and noticed that Spike countered her change in opposite direction. To Spike's ultimate relief, he saw Buffy pull out a chair and sit down, frowning as she rested her chin in her hand.

After a while, it appeared that as if the mad search through the books was going to yield nothing. The larger dusty more imposing looking books did not provide much information on the more remote characters of the Crusade. The Scoobies and Spike were getting frustrated at not being able to find out anything on the second du Bras que. Then, unexpectedly, Anya who was looking at a a small worn diary stood up, holding up the book in her hand and making a small sound of triumph.

"You guys are looking in the wrong books. Those old history books are only going to give you the official party line If you want to find out what was really going on, you have to know where to look."Anya stated to the room. "Here's just what we were looking for: du Bras que the younger was dismissed from the Richards' forces for an ill-advised action."

"Where did you find that?" Giles asked, looking up from his book.

"It's a diary of a twelfth century Abbess of a convent in the south of France. Think of diaries as the gossip rags for the Middle Ages." Anya rolled her eyes and continued. "At that time, it was common practice for the male nobility would dump their old wives in convents, so they could marry the next sweet young thing that came along. There wasn't much to do for these, - okay, okay, I'll say it, -'RIGHTFULLY RESENTFUL' ladies after Vespers but talk smack." Anya continued with her hands on her hips, smiling at the memory of old days. "Man, I really cleaned up back then on the whole vengeance demon bit. Yeah, good times! I actually thought about getting a couple of interns to help me out with the workload coming out of those convents. I remember this one time, this woman's gross old husband who was overly obsessed with his hunting dogs…Well, Let's just say after I was done, the words: "in season" would never have the same meaning again in that town.

Giles held up his hand to stop Anya from continuing on about her curses. "Anya, I hate to interrupt your reminiscing, but back to what you've found in the diary…"

"Oh Yeah, okay. It says here that it was right after the Christian forces and the Sultan Saladin had come to some sort of truce, there was an attack on a caravan that was transporting Sultan Saladin's sister by some renegade Christian knights. A lady from the court had been drug away by five of the knights for, you know, to her great peril and stuff. A lone English knight appeared and rode into the fray. The knight managed to rescue the lady without harm to her person from the ruffians, but only by receiving a grievous wound himself. He was personally nursed back to health by the lady he saved. Upon regaining his health, he was presented to the Sultan at Saladin's court, where the Sultan was grateful enough to bestow a boon on the English knight who wields the dark steel. It seems that King Richard was not too happy about the whole thing. Hmm, that's about all it says." She flipped the book over and back and looked up.

"That sounds pretty romantic if you ask me." Buffy lowly murmured as she had now managed to make it around the table unnoticed and was standing next to Spike when he stopped to listen to Anya. She wrapped her arms around his bicep and tilted her eyes toward Spike who had no reaction but sternly staring ahead and ignoring the Slayer.

"So? What has that got to do with Spike's grandpa?" Xander asked, looking puzzled at the ex-Demon.

"Don't you see? You really should have stayed awake in French class, Xander. Bras que manie l'acie sombre means arm that wields the dark steel." Anya said with her palm upraised.

"Anya, does it mention a first name?" Giles interjected.

"Let me see…" Turning her head back to the book, she skimmed her finger along the text until it came to a stop. "It mentions a Ralph."

"Willow, look up Ralph du Bras que on your laptop. Look for something dated around the end of the twelfth century." Giles instructed the young witch.

"Okay…Here's something on the family. The original du Bras que was one of the Norman barons that accompanied William the Conqueror over from Normandy." Willow reported as she stared at the computer screen. "According to the family tree, that was Ralph's great, great grandfather. Ralph was the younger brother of Mortimer, who was the second oldest son. So, he could definitely be our guy. The oldest was Thevenin who stayed in England during the Crusades. Ralph was the fifth son with two older brothers before him in succession, Maugerd and Odo.

"Sounds to me that old Ralph won the name lottery in that family, or perhaps there was a tradition of naming the kids after Hobbits back then. Eh, Spike?" Xander joked. Giving an exasperated sigh, Spike turned his eyes away from the buffoon sitting at the table with the books.

"Uh, Okay…" Willow looked quizzically at Xander and then turned back to the computer. "Ralph accompanied his older brother on the Third Crusade with King Richard. Being the youngest brother, he was in no position to inherit, so he was kinda wild. Heading out on Crusades was also in keeping with his hobbies, it seemed that he liked to fight, drink and act rather recklessly."

"Now, that sounds like family." Spike declared.

Anya jumped in. "Crusades were a great way to distinguish yourself and gain land, especially if you were out of the line of succession. If he was the fifth son, he was pretty much on his own to make his way in the world."

"Just a moment." Giles said as he dug around the pile of books on the table until he came across a diary of a clerk from Saladin's court. After a few minutes of looking through it, he came across something. "It seems like there was a bit of a scandal involving this knight that must obviously be Ralph and a lady from Saladin's court. He was sent back to England by King Richard when it was discovered that he had married the lady without consent of the either sovereign. To marry without consent of the King was bad enough and since this included two kings who were just at war, it would have been considered an act of treason. It was only by personal request from the Sultan that Ralph was spared from execution. It seems that Saladin also asked Richard to grant an estate to Ralph."

"Wow, he was willing to risk everything for his love. Just imagine the spice filled air of desert nights, a lone man in shiny armor riding into the rescue, swords waving around…. that could work on a girl." Anya said, resting her cheek on her hand. After a moment, Xander gave her nudge to jolt her out of her romantic reverie. Anya blinked as she looked around and gave an embarrassed smile.

"Obviously, it did. They had houseful of kids according to the genealogy website." Willow looked over from the laptop.

"Willow, you mentioned a boon. What was the boon that Saladin bestowed on the knight, err Ralph?" Giles said focusing on Willow as she was sitting in front of her computer.

"There's nothing definitive. I think Saladin grudgingly allowed the marriage." Willow reported. "It seems the lady who had been raised as a hostage in Saladin's court. She was the last of a great Constantinople house."

"In those chaotic times, I can see where her sudden marriage would create a bit of a political muck up." Giles replied.

"There's more here….It goes on to say something about a heart of a star was given to the knight. I don't know what that means." Willow cocked her head, while looking over at the group.

"A boon. A boon? Why does that seem so familiar?" Spike asked himself. Then it came back to him, the memory of being at his grandfather's beside, his grandfather whispering the secret in his ear. What he had not understood as a child became crystal clear to him as an adult. He looked at Buffy standing beside him and then at the ring on her finger that was constantly glowing a bright red. He slowly raised his head and swallowed hard, his eyes now betraying a burden that he accepted long ago.

"Oh, Cripes!"