Do-over!
Two beings exited the portal, a man and a woman.
“You sure this is the right day? We only have 24 hours in their dimension,” the man said.
“I’m sure,” the woman said firmly. They headed in separate directions to accomplish their missions.
~+~
She turned the taps on the tub. Buffy leaned over to check the temperature of the water, putting one hand on her back as she bent over.
“You hurt? You're not moving so well,” Spike said from the door.
“Get out.”
“We have to talk.” Spike closed the bathroom door.
“I really don't.”
“Well, this isn't just about you...as much you'd like it to be.”
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. “You spoke. I listened. Now leave.”
“I'm sorry. Not that it matters any more, but I needed you to know that.”
“Why?” He always baffled her.
“Because I care about you,” Spike reiterated.
Buffy’s face hardened as she said sarcastically, “Then you might want to try the not sleeping with my friends.”
“I didn't go to Anya for that. I was looking for a spell.”
Buffy was outraged. “You were going to use a spell on me?”
”It wasn't for you! I wanted something…anything to make these feelings stop. I just wanted it to stop!” Spike cried, exasperated.
“Freeze!” said a voice outside time. The woman walked through the door, around the Slayer, to the frozen vampire, and touched his shoulder. He instantly came to life again.
“Wha’? Who the bloody hell are you?! Undo whatever you did to her right now!”
The woman in all black rolled her eyes. “I will, in a minute. Listen, you’re at a crucial point, here, and you have to calm down.”
“Who are you to tell me what to do, and how the hell did you get in here?” Spike tried to lunge forward, but found that he could only move his head. “Hey!”
“Will you just shut your mouth a minute and look at her? Tell me what you see!” she said impatiently.
“It’s Buffy,” he replied, not wanting to play this chit’s game.
She rolled her eyes again. “Think less forlorn lover and more perceptive predator. What do you see?”
Spike grimaced at the woman, then took a good look at Buffy, the Slayer. She looked tired, mad, but the way she stood…his experienced eyes could easily tell she was injured, or at the very least, not up to her best. His expression softened as he took in all he couldn’t normally, that she was never still enough for, patient enough for. The woman smiled satisfactorily as she saw understanding cross his face.
“Okay, I don’t care what she says or does, she trusts you, and it needs to stay that way, alright? So be a gentleman and let the lady take her bath, cuz there’s stuff going down soon that she’s going to need your help with, and you won’t be here, otherwise…Anyway, just bow out gracefully and talk to her later, at a better time?”
His head tilted curiously as he appraised the woman in front of him. “Thanks for the advice, but will you unfreeze her now? This is disturbin’.”
“Sure. Adios!” She melted back through the door and time resumed.
Spike spoke before Buffy could react. “Look, luv, I just wanted to explain, but now’s probably not the best time, so I’ll go…if you promise to let me have a few minutes later?”
“Just a few minutes? And if I still want you to go away?” she asked, wary of the deal and his sudden calm understanding.
“Then, I’ll give you your space until you need my services, you know, for the next Big Bad…”
“Fine, Spike,” she sighed. “Now, if you don’t mind…” She gestured towards the bath and the door.
“Already gone.” The vampire left quickly, placing a feather-light kiss to her hair as he passed that she wasn’t sure she felt.
Relieved to finally be alone, Buffy locked the bathroom door and proceeded to take her bath and relax.
Spike shrugged into his duster and opened the front door just as Xander was about to turn the knob. The boy’s expression darkened. Spike held up a hand to cut off the words.
“Just here to apologize, and now I’m leavin’. Don’t get your shorts in a knot, Whelp.” He pushed past the young man without a backward glance.
~+~
“You get your part done?” the woman asked the man as they approached the portal for home.
“Taken care of, as you instructed. Was it really wise, talking to the vampire? He could have recognized you.”
“It was worth it. By the time he figures it out, we’ll be long gone.”
“We didn’t do much, you know. This world could still turn out like ours. I mean, a conversation and a tranquilizer? Teeny tiny things.”
“Trust me, it’s going to work. I lived through all of it before, remember? Just get your butt in that portal, Andrew.” She shoved him through the swirling doorway.
Thirty-year-old Dawn Summers stood at the threshold, and looked back over the town so close to how hers had once been. She blew a kiss and a prayer into the air, then stepped into the portal she had created. With a small bit of luck, her younger self wouldn’t have to see a post-apocalyptic society in the future.
And her sister could know love.
The End.
Care to take guesses who got the tranquilizer? Hope you liked my little "fix-it" - I was lying in bed this morning, and thought it would be cool to play with it like this. I mean, who doesn't want to see the bathroom scene go a nicer way?! Extra points to anyone who guessed the identities of the dimensional traverlers before they were revealed!
Okay, so the tranquilizer was for Warren. If he's out long past the next morning, he can't shoot Buffy and Tara, and the police have a better chance of hauling his ass to jail. And.....it's not a huge change, so it doesn't massively screw up the time continuum. So, we don't get black-haired Willow, or Spike running off to get his soul, or Dawn and Xander chewing out Buffy for not telling them she saw Spike in the basement, or a destroyed Magic Box.....
All kind of hope abounds!
Author's Chapter Notes:
Part of the dialogue is from "Seeing Red", though this is AU.