disclaimer:Characters of BtVS are owned by Joss Whedon and Co.
feedback to Aurelia
SET AFTER "A New Man", season 4
Galway, Ireland, 2015
As she moved stealthily through the night, Paige thought about how much her life was changing. She had always known that she was going to be the Chosen One, but actually *being* her was completely different. Mr. Giles was to be her Watcher, which was nice. He had been a Watcher before to the people that were closest to her, even if she couldn't even remember them.
She now crept through the night, her grass-green eyes picking up imperfections in the spotted darkness of the Irish January landscape. Out on a patrol, and one that she did not particularly want to be on, she was ready to kill anything evil that came her way, regardless of what it was. She was going to Sunnydale tomorrow, and would rather be sitting at home, enjoying her last night in the only home she had ever known, rather than out slaying in the cold winter air.
So when 2 bright pink demons leapt out of a hole in the ground and rushed at her, she was ready to give them a good fight. One put up little resistance, and was dead in minutes. But the other one ran, after seeing what she did to it's partner in crime.
Following bright pink glowing demons is not hard in January in Ireland. And, being the Slayer, Paige quickly caught up wit it.
She knocked it down and started to come at it with the knife encrusted in the other demon's blood, when the thing reached towards her. She easily moved out of the reach of the slimy hand, but before she knew what was happening, it hit her on the cross she always wore around her neck, the one left to her by her mother.
And she disappeared.
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Staring a the computer screen, silently willing it to hurry up, Willow sat drinking her herbal tea.
Giles walked in, smiling, and set down a heavy book. "Remember that piece of text Vera gave us, but that we couldn't decode? I found it again, and realized that it matched something," he let out something that resembled a sigh and a sniffle cross-bred, "Jenny had. And then, only moments ago, I realized what it was!"
He must have realized he had left Willow hanging after seeing the look on her face. He continued, slightly incoherent, and very loud. "It's the translation annals for the Rituals of the Undead!"
Willow looked puzzled for a moment, and then, "You mean the stuff Jenny was trying to decode, the ones that would give Angel his soul, could have been so much easily decoded if we had remembered this?" He looked very sad, and for the millionth time Willow felt bad for him. But she was kind of angry that he had had this all along, and not realized it. "Sorry," she apologized, "It's just...she was my friend, too, and we've had these for two years now and you just realize it?! With access to them everyday? You framed them and put them in your room, just to remind you of Vera, and how come Angelus didn't take them when he left you Jenny?" She was babbling and getting off track, but that was normal.
Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his nose, signs to Willow he was beginning to get very fed up with it all, it still hurt to remember Jenny. Willow stopped pestering, for now. She'd think about it later.
Her computer beeped at her, and she began to type absentmindedly, searching for anything on a group of demon assassins called Teraka. They knew about them form their last encounter, she shuddered at the memory, but she needed a much more extensive report for Prof. Walsh. Now that the Initiative and the Slayerettes were in league together, it made for interesting homework. Willow got the academic end of it. Buffy got the hunting end. Both girls were at their best.
Just then Buffy returned from her "homework" assignment from Walsh. Arm in arm with Riley, she walked in the door, noticing Giles looking vague and unhappy, and Willow typing furiously on the computer. Doing her own "homework" she assumed, as she led Riley over near Giles.
Riley gave Buffy a small smile as he looked around the room, from her Watcher, to their friend on the computer. "Busy night, then?"
She smiled a little back. "Apparently." She turned to her red haired companion. "What did you find?"
Willow gave her a weary grin. It was obvious Buffy was talking about the "homework". "Nothing, you?"
Riley and Buffy exchanged a look, and he answered, "Even less."
Buffy moved to sit on Giles's couch, and Riley followed her. It was evident he still felt a little uncomfortable around them all.
Willow thought that was perfectly natural. Buffy didnt particularly care. If she had to deal with the commandos and Professor Walsh's extra "homework", he could deal with Willow, Xander, Spike (who had admitted to being the escaped vampire from the lab only at the promise of not being recaptured), Giles and herself. Giles thought it was interesting, and a new source of information, at worst. Besides the fact that he thought Professor Walsh was cute, though very aggravating. Sort of like Jenny had been in the beginning. But he wouldn't openly admit that.
Disturbing the silence, Giles's phone suddenly rang. Being the closest to the phone, Willow answered it as Xander and Spike came in. Riley and Spike exchanged a treacherous look, but Buffy gave them both one that clearly said to stop. They both did, each for his own reasons. Riley's pertained to smootchies, while Spike's were closer to not getting whupped.
"Hello?" Willow's voice was the only noise in the room. Her face brightened as she said, "Oh, hi!" which caused the others to think it was an old friend. They all knew, except Riley and Spike, though, that Willow's friends amounted to those in the room, a wandering werewolf, a Wiccan, who she'd not known for long enough to use that one with, and a few in the remote location of LA.
Xander, for one, was curious who it was. He didn't have the half of a brain it took to figure it out, having been bickering with Spike, and thus wearing down his *actual*-thinking process.
Giles was mildly curious too, thinking it was, perhaps, the new friend of Willow's from the Wiccan group she had gone to, not even considering that Willow had different tones for each of her types of friends, close and not close.
The rest of the group, excluding Buffy, i.e., Spike and Riley, didn't know what to think, and dismissed it.
But not Buffy. She knew that tone. She knew that there was only one person who could get that look in Willow's eye. That only one person could make her giggle that way. And it sure wasn't Oz, not after what had happened, with him leaving and everything. It was an old friend all right.
Angel.
But, being the good friend she was, she kept herself, barely, from exploding. Riley didn't even notice this, as he walked over to Giles, and they chatted about the demon of the week. But Buffy kept her eyes on Willow, silently praying that he would ask to speak to her, and dreading it, knowing he would.
And then the moment came, ushered in much less awkwardly than she had expected. If the fires of Hell had spurted up over where she had walked, that would have been more appropriate, Buffy decided. But Willow just handed her the phone, saying, "He wants to talk to you,"
Gripping the phone like it would attack her if she didn't strangle it, Buffy cautiously put it to her ear. "Hello?" It came out more like a delighted whisper than the bold, not-caring declaration she had been going for. < Oh well. Maybe he'll think I'm sick. >
To her surprise, he chuckled on the other end of the line. She could almost hear him smiling. "Hey," The sound of his voice so happy both brought tears to her eyes, which she promptly choked back, and made her want to kiss him. He continued, sobering a little. "Look, I can understand if you don't want to see me after what happened last time--"
She cut him off, elated. Angel wanted to see her! "Of course I do!"
He laughed again, a bit sadder this time. "We *really* need to talk. Can you come down? Or would you rather I came up?"
She was startled at how frank he was being, and at the remorse filled tone of his voice, when only moments ago it had been happy to hear her. Just then, there was a loud thud outside Giles's door. Torn between wanting to talk with Angel, and curiosity, Buffy answered him, "Can you come up?"
He was puzzled by the rushed tone in her voice, but told her he'd be there a few hours after sunset, said goodbye, and hung up.
Freed from her conversation and it's awkwardness, Buffy rushed to the door to see what had happened.
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Everything was black, blacker than night or even shadows. It was true black, and liquidy.
Paige knew that something miraculous was happening. She knew that this blackness was taking her somewhere, transporting her.
And then suddenly, with a thud, she was there.
Looking around, eyes adjusting from the blackness to daylight, she saw she was standing on a concrete porch, in some place very far from Ireland, for here it was warm and sunny. And green. She had no idea what happened, or where she was, but she knew this was not good. The door in front of her opened.
It was *so* not good.
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The sight that met Buffy was odd, to say the least. Giles was opening the door, only to see a young girl, about 15, standing there, half in a fighting stance, gripping a stake for all the world.
The girl was pretty, long dark hair, and the greenest eyes any of them had ever seen. She seemed to be a picture of Buffy, with the colors distorted, and wearing something Buffy would never have worn. It was disturbing, in the least.
She looked terrified. As she searched the faces of the startled strangers, she noticed they looked almost as scared as she felt. And then she saw him.
Giles was very disturbed when the mysterious girl threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, as if she knew him. "It's you, Mr. Giles! I'm so happy that I know someone here!" She cried in an Irish accent. Then something hit her, and she released the stunned Watcher, staring at the occupants of the room. This scared them more.
The poor girl looked bewildered as realization dawned. "You...you don't know me, do you?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly, emotion surging through her."
The gazes of the Scooby Gang confirmed her thoughts. Backing up slowly, she frowned, and said, "It's me..." They still looked lost as to who she was. "Paige?" She ventured.
They remained unenlightened.
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Angel sat in a chair near Cordelia's desk, sorting through papers. He had gone back to the Oracles amid numerous warnings from Cordelia and Wesley, and asked them that he could have something to enlighten Buffy with. He wanted desperately for her to know about their day together when he had been human. He wanted her to know, really know, to remember. He told himself that anyway. He mostly didnt want to be the person to tell her, because he could picture himself getting beaten up over it.
The Oracles had refused until something else had come into the room they prophetized in. Angel only saw it as a ball of energy and light, but apparently the Oracles saw it as something else, because in a few minutes they handed him a small crystal vial and told him that she need only to drink it.
He reached into his pocket, reassuring himself it was still there. He knew she would believe him if he told her, she knew him well enough to see through his lies now. He remembered when he could lie to her about things worth lying about. Like Drusilla. Or that he was a vampire. Angel grimaced at the memories. But that did not stop his worries.
Angel was, after all, one to brood.
Choosing that particular unhappy moment to enter, Cordelia strode in, flanked by Wesley. Angel smiled a little as he watched the former Watcher titter about Cordelia, obviously smitten with her outfit of the day: a very short black skirt with bright red trim, a tight red 3/4 sleeve v-neck (which plunged beyond the lines of appropriate work wear and was living somewhere in the country of bad eighties clubs), and platform sandals. All of which would have been too cold for January unless one lived in the southern hemisphere or southern California.
Cordelia looked very angry, and Wesley looked apologetic. Angel looked like he was going to burst out laughing when he saw the two. After a glare from Cordelia, though, he fell silent.
Angel was still worrying about how to give Buffy the vial, but Cordelia was more intent upon making sure he had a safe trip. It seemed to be an after effect of being almost-mother to a bunch of demons. Angel hoped it wore off soon, because it was becoming rather annoying. Then he suddenly fell to the floor, unconscious.
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The girl, Paige, looked at them all in shock. Now that she looked, she was sure she had seen these people before. Like in an old....photograph.
Realization hit, and she looked stunned. It was true, she knew it by looking at them now. The woman who stood behind Giles, it had to be.
Looking like she was on the verge of passing out, the girl stared straight into Buffy/s eyes. Buffy stared back, something inside of her saying this girl was no danger. They walked towards each other, as if in a trance. Xander felt the need to comment, but held back.
The girl tilted her head the exact way Buffy did when she was confused. With all the strength left in her, as traveling through time and space really wears one down, she managed one word before she collapsed on the floor. "Mom?"
As she passed out, Paige heard the dark haired boy, who she had placed as her parents' friend Xander, saying, "Okay, I think I speak for everyone here when I say 'huh'?" ********************************************************************************************* "Earth to Angel, woo hoo, out there?" He heard Cordy's voice, but he just couldn't focus. After a moment, he shook his head to clear it, and regained some degree of concentration.
The look she gave him told him he had been out for a little while. Wesley was no where to be seen, but there was his faithful secretary, waving he hand in his face.
Angel tried to be annoyed, but failed. Cordelia was trying to help, after all. She couldn't help it if she was so...unhelpful. "I'm fine, Cordelia. What happened?" He asked as he sat up, and then moved to sit in a chair.
"Well, Wesley and I walked in, and you laughed at us, and then, poof," She waved her hands for emphasis, "You fainted."
Angel didn't know what to make of this. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what to make of it. Suddenly, he became very worried, and reached into his pocket, checking to be sure the vial was safe.
He sighed, very relieved to find it intact. He withdrew it from his pocket to stare at it for the millionth time. The crystal, for Angel was sure it was not glass, glinted with all the colors anyone could imagine, if not more. The liquid inside was clearer than the bottle that held it, which seemed an impossible feat in itself, and, unlike water, did not distort things when you looked through it.
Disrupting his thoughts, Cordelia pointed to the clock, "Angel? Promised Buffy you'd leave at sunset? Little late."
He mentally slapped himself, because it was now almost 7pm, and the sun had set nearly an hour earlier. He rushed to his apartment, and packed hurriedly, and hopped in his car. As he drove off, Cordelia called after him, "Hey! Be careful!" Angel smiled, and drove off to his ex-girlfriend, and the fight he could not escape.
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Buffy didn't hear a word of Xander's rushes comments. Something about this girl, Paige, she had said her name was, was familiar, like remembering a dream. The way she moved, the way she talked, even the way she stood. So Buffy lifted the tiny, frail girl in her arms and carried her to Giles's bed.
Xander trailed behind Buffy, unsure if he should help. After laying the girl on Giles's bed, she whipped around, glaring at Xander.
"That girl...Paige...I am connected to her. Don't ask, "cause I won't be able to answer. I just know that....some how...I'm related to her" Xander looked stunned. Had Buffy really just said that the mysterious girl was a relative of hers? Man, this was all so confusing.
Willow, every ready to help, voiced this confusion. "Buffy, she called you 'Mom'. Okay, that doesn't work. Your 19. She's 15, 16 tops. That's not possible."
Buffy practically collapsed the a chair near the bed. She was confused, and very worried. As much as she didn't like to think it, this girl *was* related to her. Some inner-sense told her that. Suddenly, overcome with confusion, and blindingly painful cramps, she lurched to the bathroom, and began to vomit.
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Angel did not smile as he drove to Sunnydale. He did not turn on the radio. He could have been a robot, and no one would have noticed. He just drove, straight to Sunnydale. When he had left, he had promised himself he would not look back, and never return until Buffy and all of her--their--friends were long dead.
The pain was too much. He had promised to forget about her. And now he was returning to Buffy in Sunnydale for the second time in 2 months. He would never get over her, he was a goner.
And then Angel smiled.