HEAVENLY DREAMS?
A Question: What is Heaven? Is it our reward for being good on earth; for doing our duty? Is it a haven we go to when our toil here on earth is finally finished? Is it a dream world we retreat to when our life on earth overwhelms us?
This fiction is something I’ve muddled around in my head since season 5 of BTVS. It’s completely AU and fantasy; but then again? Maybe it’s not. Please read it and give it a chance.
Thanks, spufette.
Summary: This is short fiction for me. It is more Wuffy (William/Buffy) then Spuffy in nature.
The timeline is 1880 and Elizabeth Anne Summers (okay, Buffy) is marrying William Randalph Hampton (okay, Spike). William is an Earl and Buffy is a Duchess in Victorian England. Elizabeth is eighteen-years of age and William is twenty-two; the Summers/Hampton families have arranged this match since the couple was mere children together.
Please stick with me on this one; it might turn out to be quite a surprise in the end?
Heavenly Dreams?
Chapter 1: ‘William and Elizabeth’
“You look radiant Miss Elizabeth,” the proud nanny, Margaret Walsh gushed at her charge. “You look just like an angel, Miss,” the older woman gushed, straightening her darling Lizzy’s wedding veil.
“Thank you, Maggie,” Buffy giggled girlishly. “Mama had this made special for me, Paris, as you well know!”
“It is nearly time, girl,” Elizabeth’s mother, Lady Joyce Summers, stated somberly as she joined her daughter and the nanny in the foyer of the grand church. “You have done your father and me proud Elizabeth,” Joyce murmured, brushing a lock of hair from her beautiful daughter’s cheek.
“I have seen William; he’s as nervous as a virgin bride on her wedding night,” Joyce chuckled gleefully. “Oh, sorry darling,” she muttered when Joyce noted Elizabeth and Maggie’s scandalized expressions.
“Oh come now, Lizzy, sweet,” Joyce grumbled busying herself by checking the last minute details of her only child’s wedding. “After tonight you certainly will not be a virgin and I have a feeling that you will take to the marital bed like I did! Enthusiastically!”
The mother grinned at her blushing daughter, wickedly and patted the eighteen pure white rose bouquet. Elizabeth’s bouquet was huge; made of roses, ivy and Queen Anne’s lace woven together to make an arrangement that was as pure as the bride.
“Mama,” Elizabeth whispered to her mother, suddenly a bit unnerved by this whole production. “I am a little frightened,” the bride mumbled in a shaky voice. “What if I am not what William ‘expects’ I mean tonight and…..”
“You will be fine, Lizzy luv,” Joyce interjected quickly. “William Hampton is a nobleman and a gentleman, Lizzy. He will be kind, patient and loving with you. Of that I am sure,” Joyce finished carefully.
“He better be,” Joyce muttered under her breath, “or I’ll have his balls on a silver platter!”
“What did you say, Mama?” Elizabeth asked curiously with wide green eyes. For some reason, her mother’s serious expression made Lizzy even more nervous.
“I said, dear, everything today and tonight will be perfect; right down to your gift from Auntie Jennifer; the silver platter!” Joyce covered herself the fastest way she knew how.
‘If William is too overzealous tonight with my daughter,' I do not know what I shall do,’ Joyce thought to herself with silent concern. ‘I do not think he will hurt my Lizzy, but he is a man and I am sure he is eager to…’
‘Meanwhile, in the groom’s dressing area…..’
“Dalton,” William Hampton snorted at his best friend and best man, “I look like a bloody ponce!” The groom shook his dark blond curly head as he studied himself in the huge mirror before him.
“William,” the serious Dalton began calmly, “you look rather dashing, I think. I know your Lizzy will think you are the most dashing man in the world. She already does, mate and that’s all that matters, really. Is it not?”
William chuckled softly in resignation. “Yeah, you’re right, Dalt. My Lizzy does love me, as I love her and I’m sure she’ll think I look like a Greek God or something in this get up. I just wish I could see without these bloody spectacles, at least during the ceremony. The damn things make me look like a boyish bank teller; not at all like a Baron.”
“You ‘are’ a banker, Will,” Dalton reminded his best friend with an affectionate punch to his arm. “There is certainly no shame in that, man. Especially since your father owns the bloody bank!”
“Right,” William sighed, “still, I’d rather be writing the next great novel. I’m blessed, that Lizzy supports me on all measures,” he added happily. “I am a lucky bloke, Dalt. To have my Elizabeth by my side,” he finished with a wide grin at his own reflection.
“Don’t I know it,” Dalton smiled reassuringly. “As for the novel? You’ll get to it, I know. Especially with lovely Elizabeth backing you on it. Your folks are smart people, Will, and so are the Summers. They saw a great match, years ago, between you and Elizabeth. It was a wise move on their parts to assure a happy match for you both.”
William smiled warmly, spectacles or not, and nodded happily. “I”ve loved Lizzy since I was a mere young git, Dalton,” he admitted freely. “From the first time I saw her at age nine, she was. She was having a snowball war with that bloody nitwit, Parker Abrams. My Lizzy was winning of course and I was just mesmerized, even then by the vision she was.”
He closed his eyes in memory of the first time he’d spied Elizabeth Summers. His golden goddess who was very soon be wife; taunting that idiot Abrams and his unruly friends.
‘Flashback…..’
“You are so very full of yourself Parker Abrams!” Elizabeth squealed in delight as she catapulted another snowball at her nemesis.
“And you are a beautiful, spoiled little brat, Elizabeth Summers!” Parker retorted, tossing a snowball of his own and hitting Lizzy right in her pretty forehead.
“There!” Abrams snorted arrogantly, “let that be a lesson Miss High and Mighty Summers. Someday I’m going to kiss you, Lizzy and make you mine,” Parker chuckled evilly.
“Hell will freeze over on that day, Parker Abrams,” Lizzy hissed as she threw another snowball. Her parting shot hit the snooty Lord Abrams right in the back of his upright back!
‘Not if ‘I’ get to her first, mate. I’ll make High and Mighty Miss Summers my wife before I’ll ever let you touch her Abrams,’ William had promised himself that historical day.
‘Present day…..
He had, of course, William had won out that day, through hard work, devotion and loyalty to Elizabeth Summers. Now, well within the next half hour or so, he would marry the woman of his dreams. It would prove to make him the happiest man on God’s green earth.
The ceremony had gone beautifully; without a hitch, even when William had stuttered ‘I do’ and Elizabeth had giggled in response.
To everyone present; all who witnessed the lovely wedding nuptials? The innocent nervousness of the bride and groom seemed a good omen that the marriage and the couple’s life together would prove to be a happy, joyous one.
A/N: Okay, so I decided to post this first part of my new story tonight, Christmas Eve. I was going to make it a one chapter fiction, but changed my mind to give a Christmas gift to the readers.
The next chapter will be a bit longer and it will definitely be the final chapter. I am going with my family on a much needed Holiday trip up to San Francisco on the 26th, but I hope to write and post the final chapter of this (and the next chapter of TKTHH) on Monday before we leave.
I can tell you this much about the next chapter…..there is a major twist in it!
Happy Holidays to everyone of you. Peace on Earth and to you and to those you love and cherish.
Thank you for reading and please review, spufette.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!