Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: The characters used in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I do not own them.

Synopsis: After Chosen, what if Anya and Spike were given a second chance, this time in Texas with new lives, new memories and new friends. What if Xander and Buffy find out and come to reclaim them, but discover that they're now the outsiders.

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Chapter 5

Sixteen hours later, Buffy was driving down the country road 211 in the middle of nowhere, Texas. She was cursing the inane GPS device along with a number of crumpled maps and open road atlas sitting on the passenger seat of her rental car. She did not like being lost and this was over the third time today. Coming back late from an intense meeting at the Council's office in New York, she finally saw her voicemail icon lit up on the screen of her phone. Once she heard Xander's message, she immediately called him back; but couldn't get through to him. Unfortunately, Xander who was still wandering around in a cloud of euphoria from his pancake encounter had accidentally turned his phone off. All Buffy's calls went directly to his voicemail. When Buffy called his office, they told her that he said he wouldn't be back until the following Monday, when he took off early on Thursday. That made her panic, what was going on in Texas? She couldn't even find Delbrock Texas. Did this place even exist?

Since hearing Xander's cryptic message, she had moved at lightning speed and with not a little expense to get to Delbrock. It had been a grueling experience just to get to this point. The weather had made her miss her connection in Chicago to Austin. The hours waiting in the airport lounge for the weather to clear and the morning flights to resume had allowed her worry to wear on her. The cajoling at the regional airline counter for a standby ticket to Austin on the first morning flight was interminable. The ominous waiting at the gate before she was given the go ahead to board the flight and take the last seat at the back of the plane was like another kick in the shins. She had rolled her eyes when the car rental agent just tore off the randomly standard map of the Austin area from a pad and proceeded to mark it up illegibly with a pen. He confidently told her that the car had been equipped with the latest model of GPS system, so she should have no problems. All she had to do was to enter the name of the town and it would guide her along the quickest route. After driving an hour, she realized that the agent had had no idea where Delbrock was and had an overly inflated idea of how miraculous the GPS actually was. Buffy stopped at a gas station bought one of every map and the big map atlas for Texas. Buffy cornered the cashier behind the checkout counter of the gas station for information, having no luck finding Delbrock listed in the map's index. Spreading the state map over the counter, she asked the woman to point it out. The clerk said she had never heard of Delbrock, but let her check with the mechanics. She went to the door to the car bays and yelled anyone knew where Delbrock was. A distant man's voice called back that it was somewhere near Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg. Okay, that was on the map, Buffy decided she would just drive to Fredericksburg and ask someone there for directions. Buffy ran back out to her car with her maps. She quickly typed in Fredericksburg and the GPS came to life. "Now where talking here!" she said triumphantly. Her tires screeched, as she pulled the car out of the station's parking lot and on to the Texas highway. Once she got to Fredericksburg, she stopped a gas station to ask about Delbrock. It was another round of ask all the staff at the gas station before someone said it was near Junction. Off she went to Junction; it was another city the GPS device could locate. It was the same story at Junction, till one of the old timers, said he knew had to get there. It had been a long time since he had been there, but he was pretty sure he knew the way. Buffy was pretty sure it must have been around the time of the wagon trains. He told her a long drawn out story of "Turn at a particular oak tree that had a rattlesnake skin nailed to it and drive till you see a rest stop with one picnic table, not the rest stop with two tables, but the rest stop with one table; but if ya saw a property entrance with a large dented red mailbox hanging upside down, you've gone too far". It was a set of directions that left Buffy with no concept of where she should go. Finally, someone mentioned that the county courthouse would know and pointed her down the street. After pausing to look at a Christmas tree made of deer horns proudly displayed downtown, she made her way over to the city offices where she was finally given some actual instructions that she could follow.

So, with the handwritten directions in her hand, Buffy headed off on her quest to Delbrock. She turned on to narrower and rougher roads, till she ended up on a small two lane county road that had definitely seen better days. She got so disheartened that she was just about to start looking for trees with a rattlesnake skin nailed to it, when she thought she saw a small sign at the side of the road that said Delbrock. Buffy looked back over her shoulder at the sign. Was that it? Where was the town? Maybe it was off the road somewhere. She didn't think she missed a turn-off. She only saw open countryside in front of her. She decided she would have to go back. About a quarter a mile up the road, she saw an old property entrance with a cattle guard. It looked like it had been abandoned, but you could tell that it still had some patches of coin size rocks as road filler. It was terribly overgrown, but Buffy thought, I just need it to turn around. It shouldn't be too difficult, so she pulled off on to the shoulder and felt a little bump.

Buffy could tell there was something wrong as soon as she tried to turn the wheel to start the U-turn. Uh oh, she thought when the wheel dragged when she tried to turn it. She put the car in park and got out. There it was a flat tire on the rear passenger's side, not just flat but it looked absolutely trashed. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time she had to change a tire. She was still wearing the linen blouse and slacks along with her fashionable high heel boots that she had worn to the meeting in New York yesterday. She had been in such a hurry to get to the airport; she had thrown a few things together in bag, not thinking to change clothes. Experiencing Texas heat, she was glad that she had worn linen blouse. It at least allowed air flow. They weren't lying about Texas heat and it was getting a little oppressive. Not even the gusty but constant wind offer any relief. Buffy had her hair in a low ponytail, but the wind was teasing a good part of it out of the band. It was whipping around her head, making it look like the spun sugar in a cotton candy machine. Buffy opened the trunk and released the spare tire from its' holding clamp. She pulled it out and rolled it over to the passenger side. She went back to the truck for the jack. She pulled out the jack and placed it under the car. There was something missing. Where was the handle to the jack? She went back to the trunk and looked again. It wasn't there.

"That's great! Oh Well, necessity is somebody's mother.." she said to herself.

Buffy looked around and came back with a dried out piece of cedar. Maybe, this could work. She repositioned the jack under the car and wedged the cedar into the hole for the handle. The cedar just shattered. Well maybe, she could just manhandle the jack into working by using her finger. After a few seconds of trying and ending up with a sore fingertip, she knew that wasn't going to work. She stood up and surveyed the surroundings. What were her options? She could see the rooftops of a small group of buildings back where she had seen the sign. She decided that's the most likely place she would find help.

"Come on boots, start walking" Buffy said as she determinedly set off for civilization.

It was a good fifteen minutes later that she finally made it to the Feed store parking lot. Buffy thought that she would have to send the Italian manufacturer a thank you note regarding how well suited their boots were for walking up a pock marked county road. Her feet were not only stone bruised, but her ankles had decided to accompany that agony with their own symphony of pain. The constant wind and heat had continually thrown up dust so that she felt positively filthy. She knew that she looked a mess. She limped up to the front door of the Feed store and went inside. She made her way through the myriad stacks of feed bags, a table of Dickie's work clothes and a few bird houses made out of old cowboy boots until she reached the counter at the back of the store. She saw an older woman working on a ledger on the counter, with reading glasses balanced on the end of her nose.

"Howdy. What can I do ya for today?" the woman said, still engrossed in the notes she was recording on the ledger.

"Uh Hi. I was driving by and I managed to get a flat tire. It seems my rental company forgot to include the handle for the jack." Buffy said as she walked up to the counter. "I was wondering if you could help me."

The lady looked up with startling bright blue eyes. She smiled at Buffy, who stood there looking and feeling like a chewed up rag.

"One of those days? Sure, we can help you out." She pulled out the receiver off the phone and punched in a few numbers. Suddenly, you could hear a beep sound on the outside intercom and the lady announced that "Service, call 14 please."

"It may be a few minutes; the boys are busy with a special order of deer stands that just came in for the local hunting club. Would you like something to drink?" the woman indicated a table a few yards away. "There's coffee over there or I have some ice tea in the refrigerator?"

"Tea would be great." Buffy said gratefully.

The woman closed the ledger and put it under the counter. She turned around and went back to the office. Buffy noticed a bench over to the side of the counter and sat down. She made a small "oof" sound as she sat down. It was heaven to be off her feet. She pulled up one her leg and placed the ankle over the other leg's knee, while she grasped at her ankle in pain. She wriggled her ankle in an effort to free the tension.

The woman came back with a tall glass of ice tea with so much ice, that the glass was already sweating. Buffy accepted the glass gratefully and downed nearly half in the first sip.

"Wow. You were really thirsty." Said the older woman who was entertained by Buffy's antics.

"It was really hot out there. I guess I am not used to it." Buffy sighed while trying to catch her breath from the long drink

"Where are you from? You can't be from around here with those shoes." The woman said, looking at the five inch spike heels on Buffy's boots.

"Yeah, they are a little out of their depths here. My feet are killing me. Obviously, the shoe designers are exhibiting hatred toward women; but it is such pretty torture. Oh well, the price we pay for fashion." Buffy laughed. "I just flew in from New York this morning."

"Wow, you are out of your element. Don't tell anyone around here, but I liked New York when I went through there. Of course, my favorite city is London." The woman said, leaning back against the counter and sipping her own glass of tea. "I have some very good memories of living there."

"London? I just finished a job assignment in London. I'm Buffy Summers by the way." Buffy brought the tea back up for another long sip. "How did you end up here?"

"Oh, you know the usual reasons..Family. Nice to meet you. I'm Jewel Ann English." said the older woman, smoothing her hair back from her face. "Would you like some more tea?"

"Oh Please. I didn't realize how thirsty I was. Thanks again for the tea. It's wonderful" as Buffy handed her glass to Jewel Ann.

"You're more than welcome." As Jewel Ann turned away to go back to the kitchen. " In Texas, ice tea is about as necessary as bees for honey. There's nothing better for the heat."

A few moments later, Jewel Ann was back with newly refilled glasses of tea.

"So, what brings you all the way to Texas?" Jewel Ann asked when she handed a new glass of tea to Buffy.

"I am here to help a friend." Buffy responded. "You haven't seen anyone new around, have you?"

"No, but if anyone would know if there was a new guy in town, it would be my Ruby. As she says, she is always looking for new talent." Jewel Ann said, casting her eyes to the ceiling with a slight purse to her lips.

Buffy thought there was something familiar about that expression. She had seen it before, but she couldn't place where. The women continued to visit for the next few minutes until Jewel Ann realized that the service department had not responded to her page.

"What is taking so long for those boys to respond to the page? Let me try again" Jewel Ann said looking at the dark lights on the phone. She went back behind the counter and paged them again. After a few more minutes, she sighed.

"I guess they can't hear me with the assembly of the deer stands. You may have better luck to locate one of them, if you go out the back. I know they're out there by the tool noise. Just tell them, that Jewel Ann sent you." Jewel Ann said confidently as she pointed to the door at the rear of the store. "One of them will help you."

As soon as Buffy stepped through that back door, the Texas heat hit her like a slap in the face. She recoiled just a little bit until she could get accustomed to it. The light of early afternoon was shining down harshly giving a hard washed out look to the landscape. Not too far off, on the other side of a large shed; she could hear some pneumatic tools being used. She headed toward the sound. She picked her way over the uneven ground, grumbling about balancing on the tiny heels of her boots on the rocky and beaten ground.

She finally made it to the far side of the shed. There she saw a back of man standing there with a pneumatic wrench in his hands raised about a foot over his head. Staying out of the overgrown weeds that surrounded three sides of the work area, Buffy tiptoed around the stacks of metal supports to get closer and ended up by the end of pickup tail gate which had the supplies for the air compressor being used. The air compressor stood between her and the man. She figured that this was as good a spot to be noticed when the man took a break from assembling the stand. While she was waiting, she took a good look at the man working there. He had been wearing work coveralls, but the heat had been too great, so now the top of it was hanging around his waist. He was wearing one of those sleeveless undershirts called a wife beater. His well tanned arms were shiny with sweat that defined the radical hills and valleys caused by his muscles tensing as the wrench jolted in his hands. He was not overly tall, but the sweaty shirt clung to from his well built shoulders down to his narrow waist. There wasn't an inch of fat on the lean frame. "Talk about talent" Buffy thought to herself.

Buffy noticed that the man was wearing goggles and sound protection earmuffs over his dark blond hair. No wonder the page hadn't been answered, Buffy thought. The man continued to work on the large tripod over his head while Buffy enjoyed the view. After giving a bolt a final turn, the man relaxed and lowered the wrench in his hand, the air compressor by the end of the tripod shifted into a lower gear downgrading the noise level. The man took a deep breath and examined his work. Satisfied, he reached up to pull off the goggles up to his forehead and moved the earmuff off one of his ears to wipe the sweat from his face with the back of his forearm.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Buffy yelled over the air compressor, trying to get the man's attention.

The man looked back at Buffy over his shoulder, his blue eyes catching fire under the intense sunlight. All the oxygen in the atmosphere suddenly evaporated around Buffy as she looked at that face. Buffy stumbled and fell backwards. Her mind wildly rolling the same overwhelming and glorious thought over and over.

It was Spike.