(cont'd)
Willow sat up. Thank God she was dressed, as was Tara. Tara looked a little lost. I knew the feeling, believe me. We told our story. When words failed me, Spike filled in. Finally it was all out. Poor Dawn. She just sat there crying, silently.
Willow said, "Xander, don't worry. You're just crazy--under a spell or something."
"No. Wil, that's what I thought too, even with Joyce and the touching. But Buffy..."
"She held our hands. She spoke. She told Xander and me to get, and bring you to the Magic Box."
Willow called Giles, and Anya (and I knew I was going to catch hell later for not calling Anya myself, but I couldn't). I don't know what she said to them, but both showed up at the Magic Box while we were parking my car. I had just let Spike out of the trunk, in the alley behind the shop. He'd said the trunk was more comfortable, and I guess exhaust fumes aren't an issue for the undead. I think he just needed a place to cry. I could have used one. He ran for the back door. I left him there, and pulled the car back out front. Giles and Anya met us, and Anya unlocked the shop.
Buffy was seated at a table. She stood as we entered. Spike had again somehow found a way in. He just stood in the doorway to the training room, just looking at her, head cocked to one side.
Dawn ran to Buffy, and hugged her. Giles joined her. Willow pulled them off. She said, "We don't know this is Buffy."
"I do, Wil," I said.
"I do," said Giles.
"I do," said Willow.
"I do," said the Buffy bot. We all turned. It was freaky having the Buffy bot here with Buffy resurrected. It felt dirty. Buffy seemed unbothered by it though.
"Ha. It's the me-bot. Have you been helping them?"
"I've tried," said Buffy bot. "They are sometimes difficult to please. I must adapt. Spike was not difficult to please."
Buffy smiled at that. We all did, even Spike. Can vampires blush? It was probably my imagination, but it looked like it.
Willow's hands shot out in front of her. "Wait! We have to know for sure. How can we know you are Buffy? How can we know for sure?"
"Let's see, I've been dead 147 days."
"148 today."
"But today doesn't count, Spike."
"I don't suppose it does."
Willow was clearly unconvinced. She also seemed...what--angry--I think. She said, "Anyone could know that, anyone at all. Tell me something only you would know."
"Ben is Glory and Glory is Ben."
"Sorry, Buffy--er--whoever. Not gonna cut it."
"After I finished with Glory, Giles suffocated Ben."
"He did not. See? See? This isn't..."
"Ah, but it is. I--I did, Willow. I killed Ben."
"Suffocated him with your hanky covering your hand, right Giles?"
"Um...yes, but how did you know?"
I should mention, we were all startled by this revelation. Giles had never mentioned it over the summer. I guess with doors to demon dimensions opening and closing, and Buffy dying, we just didn't think about it. I always figured Buffy just beat Glory--killed her--won, the way she always had. It's funny now, but at that moment, I felt almost a little disappointed. I think I had built up her death in my mind. She'd killed an evil hellgod, and died saving the world. Now half the story was untrue. Mostly though, I was okay, because this sequel was even better, she was back.
Willow pounded on the table. "Hey, I'm still not convinced. Okay, we mere mortals didn't know this, but that doesn't mean an evil thingamabob in Buffy face wouldn't know it."
"What can I do to convince you, Wil? If an evil thingamabob could know that, couldn't it know anything?"
"Come here," said Willow.
Buffy walked over to her. Willow pulled the shoulder of Buffy's dress down. Her action was almost violent. Her face was white. Buffy's bra was now exposed. I'd had enough. "Willow, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Willow ignored me. "Buffy, reach in your bra, under your left breast. What's there?"
Buffy kind of shimmied her shoulders, looked at Willow's face, and decided to get it over with. She reached in. I think Spike, Giles and I all turned away. The girls didn't, though. Buffy must have noticed us though, because she said, "Okay, guys, it's safe."
"They're there?"
In unison, Giles, Spike and I yelled, "What?"
"You put a cross and a Star of David in my bra Willow. You did it when Giles and the Priest were consecrating my grave. You said, 'May you find wings to the kingdom.'"
Willow said nothing.
Buffy decided to try another route. "Okay, when I first met you, I was with Cordelia. We were at the water fountain in Sunnydale High. Cordelia said something like, 'Willow, nice dress. Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears.'"
Willow was crying. "Oh my God. Buffy?"
"Oh ye of little faith."
"What are you doing here? How did you get back? When? Are you okay? You were in Hell, weren't you? You fought your way out. Can we get you anything? Do you want...need..."
"Hell? Me? Thanks a lot. No, I was in Heaven, or at least I think I was. Wherever I ... was ... I was happy--at peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time didn't mean anything, nothing had form... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm and I was loved... and I was finished."
I don't think any of us spoke for a good minute, which doesn't sound long, but believe me, it was the longest minute of my life. Finally, Anya (of course) piped up, "Then what the hell did you come back to this dump for?"
"Good question," said Buffy.
When Buffy Comes Marching Home
part two
"Aren't you going to answer it?" asked Anya.
"Well, I suppose I didn't really finish. I was at peace, and knew everyone I loved was all right until 3 days ago."
"Actually, you were in the cellar, here," said Anya. "Willow did some sort of spell so you wouldn't stink up the joint, but it was creepy and not pleasant having you around. Let me tell you."
"Well, the conscious parts of me were in a heavenly place. And I thought--as I said--that everyone was all right, and everything was okay. Then I got this image--it was a priest, or maybe a minister--but he had one of those collar thingies on, so I think he was a priest. He was in the woods, praying over--I dunno--the ground. I realized he was praying over me. Then I saw you all clearly."
It always wigs me when people know what I'm doing or thinking, when I don't know they know. One time, Buffy got mind reading powers from some cootie she caught from a demon. It almost drove her crazy. It did drive me crazy. I couldn't stop thinking about sex, because I didn't want her to know how much I thought about sex. And Willow? She just started doing this thing where she talks to us--breaks into our brains--ESP-style. It freaks me right out. Anyhow, when Buffy said she saw us all clearly, I started doing a total recall of the past 3 days. You know, a person does a lot of things in private over a three day period. This could drive me to drink. I decided to just ask--get it over with, you know. "How clearly, Buff?"
She looked at me and laughed. My discomfort must have been written on my face. "I could only see you at certain times, Xander."
"What times?"
"I saw you bury me. I saw Giles come back to the grave later that night, with Dawn. I saw Willow and Tara there, the next morning, and Spike the next night."
"And that made you come back?"
"Well, no. I mean, it was nice, if sad, knowing you missed me, but I saw other things too. I don't know that I was seeing things that actually happened, or if I was having visions."
"What did you see?"
"For one thing, I saw Faith. She's in trouble. She's in prison. We knew that, but someone is trying to kill her. I just saw flashes, though."
This was too much for Willow. "You came back for Faith?"
"I came back because I'm not finished yet. The slayer line, it has to continue. With Faith in jail, who else is there?"
"There's me," said the Buffy bot. I'd say I think she was feeling like Buffy was stealing her thunder, but robots don't think. Do they?
Giles had been silent this whole time. Now he was leaning on the table, head in his hands. Willow asked, "Giles, are you okay?"
"God no. This is all my fault."
"Your fault? Fault? What could be wrong with it," asked Willow.
"Consecrating the ground was supposed to release Buffy from her duties as slayer. Instead, it appears to have dragged her out of heaven."
"I was given a choice, Giles."
"You were?"
"Yes. Well, nobody talked to me, but I came back on my own. I wasn't dragged out."
"For goodness sake, why?"
"I saw other things, too. There's some kind of vicious vampire--like a primeval vampire. First, I saw the first slayer fighting one, and dying, then Faith. Then they took over the world."
"Dear Lord."
"I saw me, too. Although I think it was Buffy-bot."
"How sweet," said the bot.
"Well, I don't know. You looked like you were up to no good."
"With Spike?"
Buffy coughed and rolled her eyes. The rest of us just laughed. Spike was no longer in the doorway. I'm not sure where he'd gotten to. I wasn't paying attention. "No, not with Spike. It looked like you were fighting for the other side."
"Well, how do you know it was me?"
"Who else would it be?"
"How do you know it wasn't you?"
"I don't. But whomever it was, she looked just like us."
"Pretty?"
"Yes, very."
Giles said, "I've got to call Father Iverson, and try to figure out what went wrong."
"But Giles, I told you, it was my choice to come back."
"Yes, Buffy. And I can't even begin to express my joy at seeing you again. But your choice--I was...I was trying to take that away from you."
"How so?"
"There's a fault in the slayer line I think, Buffy. When you died the first time, Kendra was called. When Kendra died, Faith was called. You retained your slayer powers, but when you died, nobody was called."
"Yeah Giles, but we always figured I passed the torch when the Master drowned me. The line goes through Faith, right?"
"That's what I'd always assumed. But there are things I can't go into right now, until I've done a bit more research, and a bit of follow up with Father Iverson. Suffice it to say, with your vision of Faith's death, and these primeval vampires taking over the world, I'm not certain anyone will be called if/when Faith dies."
"Good thing Buffy's back then, right?" asked Dawn. Poor Dawn. She'd hardly said a word. She looked like she was afraid Buffy was going to disappear at any moment. I know I was.
"No rest for the weary, I guess," said Buffy.
To be continued.
(NOTE: I currently don't have a word processing program. I'm working blind. If you notice anything goofy, please let me know.)
QUESTIONS: With an AU--is it okay that I've stolen lines of dialogue from canon? I liked the idea that Spike would still know how many days since Buffy had died, and I liked the idea that Buffy thought of heaven in the same way, but I don't know if it's some fan fiction faux pas.
Anne--thank you! I always like the Spike-Xander dynamic. There was a point at which they could have become friends, if either of them had bent just a bit. I don't want to totally violate that, but I want to keep up that feeling.
