A Different Life: Part 2

Buffy came to with a start. She closed her eyes and then she opened them wide. She was on an airplane. The last thing she recalled she had been in the bar trying to get drunk and that man had started talking to her. Buffy tried to remember. He had done something, he’d…he’d told her to make a wish. Her heart started to pound as she remembered his eyes. Who had he been? What had she done? She tried to remember what she had wished for; the memory seemed so distant.

Then she remembered. She had wished that she hadn’t been called, that she hadn’t become a Slayer. For a minute she was overcome with disappointment. She still had all her memories of being a Slayer. Of dying, of being wrenched out of heaven, of watching it all fall apart.

But then new memories started crowding her brain. And with the memories came emotions. Excitement for her new adventure, sadness at leaving her mom and dad, the thrill of her first overseas trip, a sense of fear mixed with anticipation as to what might happen over this next year, who she’d meet, what she’d accomplish.

Buffy sat there, confused as both sets of memories vied for attention. Both felt so real. She searched for her purse. Finding it she took out her wallet looking for her license. Buffy Summers. That hadn’t changed. She noted the address, the LA address, the one where she used to live before her parents got divorced. But now she had memories of them staying together. Of them staying in LA, of her finishing high school with her friends, of proms, of dates, and being homecoming queen at Hemery High.

She searched again through her purse and found her ticket. Opening it she looked for her destination. She was on her way to London. The needed information was suddenly in her head. She was doing her senior year of college abroad, studying in London, at the University of London. There was a small apartment already waiting for her, and she started classes in a little over two weeks.

Buffy could feel the old memories start to fade. Out of fear she mentally tried to grab hold but they twisted out of her reach like a dream on awakening. As they faded out of reach a pair of glowing eyes seemed to stare back at her but after a minute she couldn’t remember anything at all. Shaking off a shiver down her spine she turned off the light above, curled up in her seat and soon fell asleep.

***

Buffy walked down the steps from her apartment and grinned. She loved it here. She’d had a week of classes already, she thought her teachers were great and she already had made some friends. And she adored the English accents. Although for some reason she couldn’t figure out, every now and then it made her feel so lonely. Not lonely for home, lonely for someone.

Shaking off her weird nostalgia Buffy grinned again. Today she was planning on just roaming. No planned itinerary, no plans of any kind. Just walking and shopping and eating. Heading off the steps she let her feet choose her destination. By early afternoon she found herself standing in front of the British Museum. Buffy knew she’d be spending a lot of time here as her major was in history and much of the material she needed for her senior project was housed here. She toyed with the idea of going in but stuck to her original plan of a free day and kept wandering.

A few blocks up she came to a public garden. Getting out her map she tried to figure out where she was. After noting the street signs she determined she was at Russell Square. Entering the garden she found a park bench to sit on.

At the other end of the park a man was throwing a Frisbee to two dogs, one golden and one chocolate lab. She laughed as the dogs did everything they could to sabotage one another as they raced for the Frisbee. Suddenly the dogs took after some ducks. The man yelled. “Ethan, Rayne, come back here.” The dogs sheepishly came to a halt and after the dark lab scooped up the Frisbee they went lumbering back to the man.

Buffy felt strange. The names of the dogs were jogging something in her memory. Something important. She gritted her teeth as she followed the tenuous lead within her brain and then she gasped as all her old memories came crashing back. They didn’t erase her new ones, and they didn’t emotionally overwhelm her. It was more like she had just remembered a movie she’d seen a thousand times that she’d forgotten all about until just this moment. And as quickly as they appeared, they started to fade again.

Buffy stood and started to walk, feeling the need for movement while she tried to figure out what was going on. Not paying attention she was knocked to her knees when one of the dogs ran sideways into her. The man came running over. “I’m dreadfully sorry. They’re such complete idiots. Are you all right?” He reached down a hand to help her up.

When she looked up at him she froze. Enough of the memories were still there for her to know this man, as well as she knew herself. “Giles?”

He looked surprised but continued to reach down and help her up. “Have we met?” He held on to her tightly as the dogs raced by again. Shaking a finger at them, he scolded them. “Both of you, sit. Consider yourselves quite disgraced.” He pointed at the golden lab that had knocked Buffy down. “Especially you.” As they sat, looking quite forlorn, he turned back to her and grinned. Sensing their movement he turned to the dogs again and he put up his finger as if to warn them off. Disgusted, both dogs flopped down.

Giles escorted Buffy to the nearest bench. Sitting down next to her he checked her over for any overt signs of damage and then apologized again. “I really am sorry. I didn’t even see you. I’m afraid as much as I’d like to blame them, I was the one that threw the Frisbee they were chasing.” He frowned at the shocked look on her face. “Are you all right? Are you afraid of dogs?”

Buffy managed to shake her head. She looked at Giles. He was wearing jeans and a heavy wool sweater with the sleeves pushed up. His tattoo was still on his arm but he was making no effort to keep it covered. He wasn’t wearing his glasses and he looked about ten years younger than when she last saw him. He didn’t look so worn, so worried, so desperately sad. His voice broke into her reverie. “I’m starting to feel a bit worried. Should I call for some help?”

Buffy reached up a hand and touched the familiar crinkles at the side of one of his eyes. He still had them. When she touched him he felt something, felt as if something important had happened but he didn’t know what. Feeling as if he already knew the answer he asked, “Do I know you?” They gazed at one another.

Buffy wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t know her, not in this life. But she knew him, and she ached for him. It felt like years since she had seen him instead of weeks, although even those weeks had been too long. But even as she stared at him, the memories grew fainter. She dropped her eyes finally and shook her head again. “No, I thought you were…I thought you were someone else.” She looked at the dogs and pointed at them. “What are their names?”

He gestured at the golden one first. “That one’s Ethan and he’s Rayne.” He grinned.

Buffy grinned in response although her eyes were quizzical. “Did I miss a joke?”

Giles kept grinning. “Well, it’s sort of a private joke. I get a tremendous pleasure out of yelling that name out loud and knowing that when I do that dogs come running.” He laughed. At her blank expression he laughed again. “Like I said, it’s a private joke. He doesn’t much care for it either.”

“He?”

“The man I named them after, Ethan Rayne. He wasn’t amused.” Giles snickered.

“Is he around?”

“Ethan Rayne, you mean?” At her nod he nodded his head. “Too often. He thrives on making my life miserable.” Again he grinned. “You’re American?”

Buffy nodded. “From California, Los Angeles.”

“Ah, land of sunshine. You won’t find much of that here.” He looked up at the sky with a look of satisfaction. “Every day, something different.” As the dogs whined Giles stood. “Well, I best let them finish their run or they’ll drive me crazy all night.” He looked down at her. “Are you sure you’re fine? Do you need me to take you home?”

Buffy felt confused. She sensed within her such a connection to this man, she wanted to throw herself in his arms and hold him tightly. But he was a stranger to her and lessons had been too well ingrained in her about the danger of strangers so despite her longing to say yes she shook her head. “I’m fine.” She smiled at him, her eyes sad.

He was strangely reluctant to leave her but the dogs were whining more and more loudly. Giving her a small smile he headed back over to the dogs. “Okay, you can get up. Go fetch.” Pulling back his arm across his body he threw the Frisbee and the dogs took off madly after it. He watched them for a minute and then he turned back around to share a grin with the girl at their antics but she was gone. Looking around he saw her at the edge of the park walking away. Feeling a sense of loss he didn’t understand Giles stood there until he couldn’t see her anymore.

***

Giles dreamed about her that night. He dreamt that he was at the edge of a huge scaffolding that went into the sky as high as he could see and then further yet. She was standing at the top of it and she jumped off. He ran to try and catch her but no matter how fast he ran he couldn’t get there in time. Her body hit a pile of rubble and he knew she was dead. Walking slowly towards her, his heart and soul wracked with unbearable pain he finally reached her. Picking her up in his arms he cried out at the night.

Giles woke up and found that he had tears on his cheeks. He lay in bed for a long time, the sadness swirling around him, until he heard a key in the door. He smiled as he heard her speak. “Where are my babies? Where are my puppies?” Giles heard the dogs barking, their toenails scraping on the linoleum as their speed prohibited them from making that last corner as gracefully as they may have liked. Grinning, he hopped out of bed.

She walked into the bedroom, as the door was still open, catching him in his pajamas. “Ru, aren’t you even dressed yet?”

“I overslept. I had the oddest dream.”

“Well go and take your shower and you can tell me all about it over breakfast.”

“I don’t have time for breakfast, Gwen.” He walked over to her and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Are you sure you don’t mind taking them?”

“Are you kidding?” She got down on her knees and the dogs started to wildly lick her face. “These are the closest I’ll ever get to nephews out of you.”

Giles rolled his eyes but chose not to respond. This was a well-worn topic of discussion. He headed into the bathroom and turned on the tap waiting for the water to get warm. “Well, I appreciate it. I don’t know why I arranged for that Egyptian shipment to arrive today, on a Sunday.”

Gwen moved to sit on the bed. She didn’t know why but she had always loved to watch him shave. “I do. You want a chance to play before everyone shows up tomorrow. This way you get to give your undivided attention to your new toys and not have to be bothered by those pesky tourists who insist on the right to see all your treasures.”

“They do get in one’s way.” He sighed. “My life would be so much easier if they’d all just go away.” He put some shaving cream on his face.

“As long as they still make a donation, of course. They could make a small tithe and then just leave. That way the museum could still afford your salary.”

He made a face at her. “Once it all gets organized I’ll have dozens of groups who’ll want to see the exhibit.” He snorted. “And they’ll all know someone who knows someone who’ll know one of the trustees who will insist that I take them through personally on the offhand chance one of them might part with a substantial donation. Actually, it’s already started, I have a group tomorrow.” He shuddered. “I hate it.” He began to shave.

Gwen grinned. “Well, you shouldn’t be so good at it then. You know more than the rest of them combined but you have such a knack for keeping it simple. Of course they want you.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Besides, you’re the man in charge and people with money want to deal with the man in charge.” Gwen ignored Giles’ scowl. She frowned. There was another reason her brother liked to see deliveries before anyone else. “Do you think there’s anything evil in the shipment? Anything dangerous?”

“No, not really. Although I thought the last one would be harmless and I found that cursed tablet. If anyone had read that out loud every person buried within a 100 mile radius of here would have been wandering the streets looking for new bodies to take over.” He blew out a deep breath. It made him nervous, thinking about what potential disasters were laying about in museums all over the world, museums where the Curator wasn’t as intimately acquainted with the reality of evil as he was.

The dogs began to whine. Gwen cooed at the dogs. “Yes, auntie’s going to take you for a walk. Yes, she is.” As Giles shut the door of the bathroom behind him Gwen got up and headed for the kitchen. Opening up the back door to the small fenced in garden she let the dogs out to do their immediate business. She began puttering about in the kitchen, making tea.

When Giles joined her he found Gwen looking at the photographs on the refrigerator. She tapped the one of Olivia. “Why didn’t you marry her? She was willing, and you seemed quite fond of her.”

Giles snorted. “Now that’s a solid foundation to start a life long commitment on. She was willing and I was quite fond of her.” He reached for a couple of teacups. “No thank you.”

“Why do you keep her picture up? You must still like her a little.”

“Gwen, we’ve been friends for almost twenty-five years. That doesn’t go away just because we’re not together anymore.”

“You’d have made such beautiful nieces and nephews for me to dote on.”

Giles snorted again. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

“So, what did you think of Stephanie?”

Giles sent an exasperated look towards his sister. “Would you please stop trying to set me up. I’m perfectly capable of meeting someone on my own.” Giles thought of the young blonde woman he’d met yesterday. The one he’d dreamed of, the one who’d fallen to her death and broken his heart into a million pieces.

“No, you see, that’s where you’re wrong. You must meet a dozen women a day at the museum. I have at least that many friends who are dying to go out with you. You’re handsome, single, reasonably well off, clever, have a great job, have no ex-wives or children hanging around your neck but you just can’t seem to find anyone to date.”

“I go out on plenty of dates.”

“Single dates. You go out once and that’s it. And you know why?”

“I know why you think that happens and I’m sure you’re going to tell me again.”

“Because you are a hopeless romantic.” Despite Giles’ look she further explained. “No, it’s true. Don’t give me that look. Despite all your scientific training, and an IQ that even intimidates me, you still think that’s there’s that one woman out there, one woman who’s your soul mate, your other half, and that somehow, you’ll just know, in this blinding flash, that she’s the one.”

She checked the tea and began to pour. “But there’s a flaw in your plan. You’ll never have the opportunity for any flashes to hit if you won’t hang around long enough with anyone to give it time to happen.” The dogs were scratching at the door and she let them in. As they bounced around her and Giles she spoke to them, again in a high singsong voice. “No, he’ll never find her that way, will he? He’s not lucky like you beautiful babies.”

Giles shook his head and took only a single sip of his tea. “Well, as much as I hate to do it, I guess I’ll have to leave you and my dogs to discuss my love life. I’ve got to go.” He smiled fondly at her. “Thanks again.”

“You see, you’re not even arguing with me, because you know I’m right.” She yelled after him as he opened the front door. “Say hi to the mummies for me.” She looked at the dogs. “Are you boys hungry? Want some breakfast?”

Giles noted the time and walked a little faster while he thought about what his sister had said. He knew better than to argue. He hardly ever won any fights with her unless he could pull out the text in question and show her the facts and this wasn’t that kind of argument. She was also right.

Gwen had given him several books on the subject. Books that discussed how he was keeping women at a distance by creating this mythical soul mate in his head. Books that discussed how because his mother had died when he was young that he didn’t want any other woman to sully his memory of her. Books on how the ideal woman was right in front of him but he was too blind to see it. He had obediently read them all and then thrown them away. He couldn’t help it. He just felt it in his bones. He was meant to be with someone. The other half of him. And she was out there somewhere.

Giles thought of his dream again. He felt another wave of sadness break over him. He let out a half laugh and he tried to shake it off as he reached the back entrance to the museum. After entering his security code into the keypad the door opened and pushing all thoughts of dreams and soul mates aside he headed for the receiving area.

End of Part 2