New BeginningsBy PSUBrat
Denial
"Maybe she knows where Spike is," Dawn said the excitement building in her voice, "we should go ask her right now!" The teenager turned to make her way back to the Magic Shop.
"No," Buffy exclaimed as she put her hand on her sister's shoulder and spun her around, "She doesn't know where he is; and besides, she has no idea that Spike is William." She was certain that Cecily was the woman that Spike loved before he died. All of the evidence pointed to that conclusion. How would Spike react to this news, if he ever decided to come back? She tried to push the thought from her mind.
Dawn stared at her sister's face. She could tell that Buffy was emotionally overwhelmed by the revelation. "Are you afraid that if Spike comes back and finds out that Halfrek is Cecily, he'll instantly forget about you and want her back?"
Buffy was shocked by her sister's bluntness. She took a step back and glared at her. "I don't care what Spike does!"
"Yes you do," Dawn whispered back to her. "Otherwise you wouldn't be taking his coat out of the box and sleeping in it every night."
"I don't do that!"
"Yes you do Buffy, I've seen it. Why can't you just admit to yourself that you're in love with him?"
"I'm not having this conversation with you," Buffy growled as she stomped up the steps and into the house.
***
Lilah hesitated as she neared the semi-open office door. The nameplate on the door read Gavin Park. Should she knock? No. That would mean she had respect for this man. Instead, she opened the door wider and sauntered into the well-lighted corner office. The senior partners had chosen Gavin to head up the Sunnydale office. To say she was angry was an understatement. She knew that he had somehow weaseled his way into this coveted assignment on the Hellmouth. "Congratulations Gavin," she said as she leaned against the wall with a smile.
"Come now," he grinned, "I know you don't really mean that." He continued to pack up his desk savoring the look of disdain on Lilah's face.
"No. Really Gavin," she purred, "Great job. You must have really impressed the senior partners. What did you do? Shine their shoes? Knit them sweaters?" She crossed her arms against her chest and smirked at him.
Gavin looked up from packing to return her smirk. He knew that his promotion was eating her up inside and he wanted to enjoy every second of it. "Lilah you poor unfortunate soul…whatever will you do without my help?"
She knew he was goading her. He was pushing all of the right buttons. She wanted to reach out and throttle him; instead, she smiled sweetly and strolled over to his desk. "You know what Gavin? You can be as smug as you want. But I know, in the end, you'll fail and I'll have to come pick up the pieces."
The smug smile he had on his lips faded as he clenched his jaw, making his cheekbones more pronounced. He came around his desk and stood in front of her. "And what makes you think I'll fail?" He demanded staring at her intently.
"Because Gavin," she cooed, "you don't have what it takes to handle the slayer, the boy or the other one."
"Oh. And you do?"
She smiled coyly at him and batted her eyelashes.
"Get over yourself Lilah. My name is not Lindsey McDonald. Now if you'll excuse me, I do have a lot of packing to do." With that, he turned his back to her, picked up an empty box and proceeded to the corner bookcase to empty it.
"Bastard," she whispered to herself as she left the office. She'd show him. She'd show them all what a huge mistake they'd made. She made her way to her office and picked up the phone.
"Hello," the decidedly British voice on the other end of the line said.
"It's me. Listen. I don't have a lot of time to explain. I need you to meet me down at the bar tonight."
"What makes you think I'd meet you anywhere?"
"Because. It involves Connor…and Buffy."
There was a slight pause and then a deep breath, "What time?"
***
Dawn followed Buffy into the house. There was no way she was going to let her sister just stomp off without facing her feelings. She felt that it was about time Buffy came to grips with the truth and she was going to be just the person to help her with that. Buffy was already in the kitchen pulling out the ice cream when Dawn caught up with her. "Buffy what are you doing?"
"I'm eating ice cream," Buffy said nonchalantly, "what does it look like I'm doing?"
"Hiding," Dawn said staring at her sister.
"What?" Buffy demanded as she speared the ice cream with her spoon.
"Buffy you're hiding from your feelings for Spike. Just admit it already."
"Dawn you've finally gone insane. I do not have any feelings for Spike whatsoever so just get off this train before I totally derail you."
"I'm not going anywhere Buffy. How long are you going to do this to yourself? How long are you going to drive me crazy? Why do you think Spike left to begin with, huh?"
She could feel the anger welling up inside of her. "This conversation is over," she said trying to keep her emotions in check. "I think you better get back to the Magic Box before Anya sends out the cavalry." She picked up the ice cream and started for the living room.
"Like I said…I'm not going anywhere," Dawn insisted as she reached out and turned her sister around to face her. "We're going to talk about Spike, whether you like it or…"
Suddenly, the room darkened and the air next to Buffy and Dawn began to hum and ripple. The two girls took a step back and shielded themselves with their arms. Electricity flowed around the ripple as it grew in size.
"What's happening," Buffy yelled above the increased humming sound.
"I don't know," Dawn screamed back with widening eyes. "Oh my god! Buffy! I think it's a portal!"
Hesitantly Buffy moved from in front of the portal to behind it. She could see her sister clearly, as if there was nothing there. She reached out to touch the air but it didn't feel any differently from the air to her left or right. She saw Dawn reach out to do the same from the front. "Dawn! No!"
Dawn pulled her hand back with a jerk at the sound of Buffy's voice. Her sister was back at her side now. "W-What do you think it is?" She asked.
"I think it's like you said, a portal."
"Duh, Buffy...But what's on the other side?"
"I'm not sure, but it looks like a dorm room or something." Once again, Buffy reached out to touch the air. It hummed and felt warm to the touch. She looked over at her sister.
"We should see where it goes!"
"Absolutely not," Buffy shot back at her. "We have no idea where this goes. It could go to a different world or something."
Dawn walked over to the portal and put her hand through.
"Dawn," Buffy shouted. But it was too late. Dawn had walked through.
***
Buffy's watcher-to-be tried desperately to walk without falling. He was extremely pissed. The boys had taken him down to the pub for his last night in London and proceeded to make him drink pint after pint. "Bloody hell!" He yelped; as he tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and went sprawling to the ground. He laid there for a few seconds hoping that the world would stop spinning. He heard laughter coming from somewhere around him. He managed to pull himself up to his knees to look around. Over to his left Garrick and Geoffrey were grinning madly at him.
"Mate," Geoffrey laughed, "you're so bloody pissed, you're never going to make your flight tomorrow."
"Sod off," he said to his friend. This brought a whole new round of guffaws from the other two.
Garrick walked over to him and helped pull him to his feet. "You know we're really going to miss having you around, mate."
"Right," Geoffrey added, "who else is going to get us into scrums over football?"
"Ha, bloody ha," he said still swaying on his feet as they started walking again. "I'll have you know that ManU will prevail!"
"Right, mate," Garrick teased, "and I'm Buffy Summers."
"What did you say?" The man asked in a much more sober tone now.
"He said that there's no way Manchester United could dance their way out of a paper sack."
He eyed Garrick suspiciously. "He did not. He said something about Buffy."
"Oh no," Geoffrey sighed, "Now you've done it. Garrick you shouldn't have brought up her name. Now he's going to start blubbering again."
"Sorry Geoff," Garrick said wincing, "I just thought I'd tease the ponce a bit is all."
"Right then. Help me get him up the stairs before the git starts singing again."
Too late, they thought. The man had already started humming a catchy little ditty.
***
"Dawn," Buffy shouted, "Get back here now!"
"Buffy this is so cool," Dawn exclaimed as she bounced on the bed and looked around the room, "This definitely isn't Sunnydale."
"Don't make me come in there and drag you out!"
"Sheesh. Non-adventurous much." She got up and walked around the room trying to understand her surroundings. As she looked out the window, she could see that it was nighttime. The room was similar to that of a dorm room. It had a bed, a dresser, a closet, and lots of books. There were also a couple of suitcases sitting by the door. "I think it's some type of university or something," she explained as she looked back through the portal at Buffy.
"Dawn, I really think…"
"Buffy," Dawn squealed, "there's a picture of you on the desk, and there's some type of journal here." Just then, she heard voices coming closer to the door.
"Dawn someone's coming! Get back here now!"
Dawn looked around to see if she could grab something to prove to herself that this had really happened. She looked down at the book on the desk. "A Watcher's Guide to Slaying…what the…?"
The lock on the door tumbled over and the doorknob began to turn. Quickly she picked up the book and dove through the portal. As soon as she crossed the threshold back into Sunnydale, the portal closed. Stunned, she pulled herself to her feet and stared at her sister.