A Different Life: Part 3

The further Buffy got away from the park, the dimmer the memories became. Soon, they had faded completely. But Buffy remembered the man. She couldn’t get him off her mind. Him and his two dogs. Ethan and Rayne. Somehow those names seemed important to her but she couldn’t place it.

Buffy stopped and looked back. She had gone too far to see the park any more but she felt a longing to go back. A longing to talk some more with him, find out what his name was, and maybe walk with him for a while. There was something so appealing about him. Something that pulled at her heart. Suddenly the pull became irresistible and she began to run back to the park. Buffy was afraid that she had made a terrible mistake by leaving, that she had missed her chance, that she would never see him again.

As she arrived back at the park she scanned the area and she fought back the tears when she realized he had gone. Still determined she ran through it, looking down streets, hoping she might catch a glimpse of him but he was no where to be seen. Buffy walked back to the bench where they had spoken together and she sat down. For the first time since she had arrived Buffy really, really missed her mom.

That night she dreamed of him. She dreamed that he was holding her. That he held her tightly against him as he ran. They entered a room and he knocked everything off a counter and lay her down on it. Looking down at her he spoke. “I’m going to stop this. I promise.” He took off his coat and folding it, he placed it under her head. “You just hang on.”

Her vision was blurred but she watched him as he opened a book. She knew she was ill. She knew she was dying. A woman spoke to him. “How is she?”

Giles looked over at her. “We only have a few minutes left.” After some ingredients were added to a potion he stood before it. “Right, here we go.” He began to chant. “The center is dark. Centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes. Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears. Hear me!”

Giles picked up the book and began to read. “Unlock the gate. Let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear. Show me Corsheth and Gilail!” Putting the book down he raised his hands in the air. “The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!” Giles plunged his hands into the liquid, wincing. “Be sated! Release the unworthy!”

Buffy could feel the illness leave her. The scene faded out as she stood and when it faded back in she was standing next to Giles as he looked down at her, speaking to her. “I assume the, uh, all the spells are reversed. It was my first casting, so I may have got it wrong.”

Buffy grinned at him. “You saved my life! You were a god!” He nervously grinned back at her.

Buffy rolled over in bed, a smile on her face.

***

When Buffy woke up her first thought was of the man. Him and his goofy dogs. Then she remembered her dream. The dream had been of him but for some reason in the dream she had known him as Giles. And she had felt so safe, so sure that he would protect her.

Buffy headed for the kitchen and automatically reached for the coffee. Her eyes settled on the tea she had bought last night for no reason except that she felt she had to. She pulled the box out of the cupboard and kept it in front of her as she drank her coffee.

Buffy knew she ought to study but she decided to go for a run first. In the back of her mind she knew exactly why she was taking a run and it had nothing to do with exercise. She wore her most flattering shorts and cropped top. She ignored her inner voice teasing her as she put on some make-up. When she opened the door and felt how cold it was she grimaced and threw on a jacket. With one last look in the mirror she headed for Russell Square.

She saw the dogs first and her heart rate started to speed up. She looked for the man but she didn’t see him anywhere. Suddenly a woman’s voice called out. “Ethan, Rayne, come.” The dogs bounded back to her and she wrestled the Frisbee out of Rayne’s mouth. Buffy couldn’t stop the dismay she felt when she saw a woman with the dogs.

When the woman threw the Frisbee again both dogs took after it but Ethan saw Buffy and ran over to her. Buffy patted him and he wagged his tail and looked for all the world as if he was grinning at her. Buffy couldn’t help but grin back. Gwen saw her and headed over. “Sorry, I hope he isn’t bothering you.”

Buffy looked up at the woman. She was tall, several inches taller than Buffy. She shook her head. “We’ve already met.”

Gwen looked surprised. “You have?” She scratched Ethan around his ruff. “Have you been sneaking around behind my back?” She grinned at Buffy. “You can’t trust him for a minute, him or his namesake.”

Buffy shifted to avoid being knocked over as Rayne joined the fray. “His name’s Ethan, right?” At the woman’s nod she continued. “He knocked me over yesterday. Some man came to my rescue.” Buffy tried to nonchalantly look around for him.

Gwen sent a sharp glance Buffy’s way. She could tell the girl was hunting for information. As she looked Buffy over she slowly smiled. “That would be my brother, Rupert.”

“Oh, your brother.” Buffy thought she was doing a good job hiding her relief but she wasn’t.

Gwen bit back a grin. “Did you talk long?”

Buffy shook her head. “No, just for a few minutes.” She looked around. “He’s not here?”

Gwen shook her head. “He had to work today. I’m babysitting. He has someone come in during the week and walk the dogs but he’s stuck at weekends.”

Buffy was dying to be nosy but she didn’t feel comfortable enough to start interrogating this stranger about her brother. Gwen got annoyed as Rayne knocked into her once too often. She threw the Frisbee to get rid of them. She grinned at Buffy. “I know there’s only two of them but sometimes it feels as if there’s at least ten.”

Gwen was dying to be nosy but she supposed it would be quite inappropriate to ask what had happened between her and her brother. Something significant enough to bring this girl back looking for more, that was clear enough. Not that that was surprising. Ru didn’t know his own charm. He left a wake of doe-eyed women everywhere he went and he was clueless about it. That was one of his charms. So, knowing Ru, he probably didn’t even know that he’d snagged another admirer, him and his dogs.

But Gwen remained ever hopeful. It was only the two of them and she wanted nephews and nieces to spoil. And he wasn’t getting any younger. She didn’t want children of her own. She liked to travel and be footloose and fancy-free. Rupert was the settling down sort, so he needed to have the kids. Several of them if she had her way.

There was a moment of awkward silence as they both waited for the dogs to return. Gwen wrestled for the Frisbee again, this time from Ethan, and she threw it off in the other direction. She turned to the young woman. As much as she wanted to, good manners just wouldn’t let her press for details. So she did what she could. “He walks them here more or less every weekend, generally around this time of day.”

She avoided eye contact with the girl and pretended to look for the dogs. When she spotted them she grimaced and shot Buffy an alarmed look. “I’d better go and get them before the gardener shows up and reads me the riot act.” She grinned. “Again.” She took off after them. The dogs had dropped the Frisbee so they could more thoroughly investigate a flowerbed.

Buffy giggled as the woman tried to convince the dogs to chase the Frisbee instead. Eventually they allowed themselves to be cajoled but not without leaving a few glaring gaps in the greenery. The woman looked as if she might head back to Buffy but then she was joined by someone with two dogs of her own who was clearly a friend and they started talking. All four dogs frisked around each other as they got reacquainted. Buffy watched them all for a few more minutes and then with a sigh she began the run back to her apartment.

***

She dreamed of him again. They were in a burning building. They were both coughing as she supported him outside. He had been hurt but she didn’t know why. He pushed her away, his voice angry. “Why did you come here? This wasn't your fight!” He tried to go back in.

Buffy punched him in the jaw. He spun and fell to the pavement. She screamed at him. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” She began to cry and crouching down she reached for him and held him close. He started to cry as well and he clutched at her. Rocking him, through her tears, she spoke in an anguished tone. “You can't leave me. I can't do this alone.”

When Buffy woke up, she felt very much alone.

***

Gwen was there when Giles got home. He could smell something cooking. He grimaced. Heading into the kitchen he gave her a hug. “You could have called. I would have picked something up on the way home.”

She sent him an annoyed look. “It won’t kill you to eat my cooking.”

Giles lifted the top off one of the pots and looked at its contents. “Are you sure about that?”

She shooed him away from the stove. “How were the new toys?”

Giles’ eyes gleamed. “They were wonderful. Wait until you see them.”

She grinned at the excitement in his voice. “Will I be able to get a private tour with the man in charge? Even if I have no vast sums of money to donate to the museum?”

“I think something can be arranged.” Opening the oven door he frowned at whatever was cooking in there. “Assuming he isn’t poisoned by his sister who refuses to believe that she simply shouldn’t try to make anything more complicated than tea and toast.”

She pouted. “I just wanted to surprise you.” The pout turned into a dramatic sigh that she really didn’t mean. “It’s a tragic flaw.”

He nodded. “Very tragic.” He looked in the final pot. “And past the point of rescue I’m afraid. We’ll have to start over again or order something in.”

She handed him a selection of menus. “Here, I had them ready, just in case.”

Giles grinned and selected Chinese. After ordering he went into the bedroom and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. “So, any problems today with the beasts?”

“Other than their predilection for gardening, not a thing.”

Giles got a pained look on his face. “The gardener didn’t see you, did he?”

“No, thank goodness. But if he’d shown up I was prepared to make a run for it.”

Giles let out a laugh. “Gwen, you just need to not throw the Frisbee so close to the flowers.”

Gwen watched him. “I was distracted. I was talking to your new girlfriend.”

Giles turned startled eyes on his sister. “I beg your pardon?”

“This girl, she was looking for you.” She didn’t supply any more information and just kept watching.

Giles looked at her with a furrowed brow and then she saw it, a gleam in his eye. His eyebrows lifted. “Really?” He tried to look disinterested. “What did she look like?”

“Blonde, pretty, American. She said you rescued her from certain death yesterday.”

Giles laughed. “I’m afraid Ethan knocked her right to her knees.” As Ethan heard his name he came over to Giles and leaned against him. Giles scratched him up and down his back. Again the disinterested tone. “You say she was looking for me?”

Gwen grinned. “Yes. She looked quite put out when she saw it was me with the dogs and not you. But don’t worry; I threw her off the scent. I let her think that you and I were an item so she won’t bother you anymore.”

She saw the flash of dismay in his eyes. “What? Why did you do that?”

Gwen let out a cry of victory. “Ah ha, I knew you were interested. You can’t hide anything from me.” She let out a happy sigh and then waved a hand at him. “Relax, I told her you were my brother and she seemed quite pleased with that information. I also told her that you could be found there most weekends, late in the morning, walking Ethan and Rayne.” She looked at her brother, a bit of anxiety in her eyes. “I hope that’s all right.”

Pushing Ethan out of the way he walked over to her and kissed her cheek. “It’s fine.” Grinning at her he scolded. “But no more matchmaking.”

“Did you really like her?”

Giles rolled his eyes. “You’re incorrigible. I barely met her. We only spoke for a few minutes.” His eyebrows furrowed again. “But I had the strangest dream about her last night.”

“You dreamt about her?”

Giles nodded. “She jumped off this structure and I tried to catch her but I couldn’t. She died and I held her while I cried.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine why I dreamed that.”

Gwen spoke in dramatic tones. “Maybe she’s your soul mate and it was your unconscious telling you that you’d done a bad bad thing by not getting her telephone number.”

Giles snorted. “You are better at cooking than dream interpretation and that is a frightening thought. I would advise you to keep your day job.”

Gwen took in a mock wounded breath. “You cut me to the quick.” The doorbell rang. “Just for that you get to pay for dinner.” She held out her hand and Giles, with a roll of his eyes, pulled out a few notes and laid them across her palm.

As she walked to the front door Giles couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Last night and this morning he had been feeling that maybe he had done a bad bad thing by not getting her number. But now, thanks to Gwen, it looked like he might get a second chance.

***

He dreamed about her again. He was with two people he didn’t recognize, a young man with dark hair and a red haired young woman. They were looking across the street. It was daylight where they were standing but it was night where they were looking.

The edges of night were shifting and shimmering. As they watched they realized the night encased a cemetery.

The young woman spoke. “Excuse me, when did they put a cemetery in across the street?”

The young man responded. “And when did they make it night over there?”

The three of them crossed the street and entered the cemetery. Tombstones surrounded them. The young man looked around. “Whose nightmare is this?”

Giles looked at a gravestone that read: Buffy Summers 1981 - 1997. In his mind he saw a brilliant smile, blond hair, bright eyes. He spoke. “It's mine.” He knelt down by the side of the gravesite. His heart was so heavy. “I've failed... in my duty to protect you. I should have been more c... cautious. Taken more time to train you. But you were so gifted. And the evil was so great. I'm sorry...”

He laid his hand on the fresh soil. As he started to rise a hand reached up through the dirt and grabbed him by the wrist. Giles awoke with a start, his heart pounding in his chest.

End of Part 3