Buffy woke up and snuggled into the body next to her, her whole body singing.
“Last night was incredible” she murmured, her eyes still closed.
“Glad you thought so too” the voice belonging to the body she was snuggled against answered, and her eyes popped open. Whoever had just answered wasn’t James. This voice didn’t belong to the sexy as hell cowboy from just hours earlier.
‘Don’t panic Buffy’ she told herself, ‘stranger things have happened…less slutty certainly, but definitely stranger’
She closed her eyes and tried to relax, hoping to let some memories flood her.
“Don’t I always Cole?”
“You better” he answered with a smile in his voice.
She tried to place the accent she was hearing, or could a drawl be considered an accent? She decided he…they, were southern.
She found her body getting out of bed against her minds demands, “I better leave before someone realizes I’m here.”
He sighed and held her tighter, “Why won’t you just run away with me Buffy?”
And then she looked at him, Spike again – but again not Spike at the same time.
Cole’s hair was a deep black – and currently in unruly spikes from having been asleep, and thoroughly fucked the night before she guessed with a small feminine smile.
“They would find you Cole” she murmured, running a hand down his cheek and cupping it, “they would find you and make you leave, and I’d be left with nothing. I’m too selfish to risk that.”
Buffy saw flashes of this world’s ‘her’, she was a maid (Buffy cringed inwardly – she hated cleaning) and Cole, well Cole was the Lord of the Manor’s son.
“You’re not selfish, just stupid” he said with a twinkle in his eye, contradicting the harshness of the statement.
“Will I see you tonight?” he asked, letting her go to retrieve her clothes from the chair next to the bed.
“Every night, until you wish to no longer see me.”
He stood up and smiled at her, but it was filled with pain, “If we do not run away forever is not an option.”
Buffy nodded her head, could feel the sting of tears behind her eyes.
“I know.”
“I can’t keep avoiding my father on the topic of marriage Buffy, its set, father will never let me out of it. The only hope we have is to leave this place and its archaic rules.”
She could hear the pleading in his voice, knew how badly he wanted her to give in but she couldn’t. If anyone ever found them he and his family would be ruined. Of course a dalliance here and there with a servant was to be expected, a growing man had needs, but he was an adult now, and his one and only ‘dalliance’ had turned into a full fledged love affair. She was beneath him.
She almost burst into tears at the thought of feeling that way about herself and bit her lip to hold her tears back…she had called Spike that, threw shredded money on him like he was a whore…
‘Who am I?’ she screamed silently inside her head.
“I know” she whispered.
“Don’t make me have to live without you” he whispered softly, coming up behind her to help her button her pain, gray dress.
“I don’t deserve you.” she answered, believing every word, this feeling was so alien.
“Because of what you are?” he asked, his voice laced with anger.
She felt herself nodding in agreement.
“You’re a fool. What does your role in the world have anything to do with love? Love knows no bounds Buffy, and what you are means nothing to me, who you are is who I’ve fallen in love with.”
“I have to get to work Cole; can we finish this discussion later?”
She saw the sigh he refused to release, “Certainly Elizabeth”
Buffy winced, he only used her real name in front of others; she would have to soothe him later if she could.
***
The day seemed to go by quickly, the tedious chores of dusting, washing dishes, and hand scrubbing laundry (thank God her body came with the memories of how to do that because she had trouble switching her washing machine from hot water to cold), before she knew it a Willow doppelganger approached her and she had to fight the instinct to hug her.
“Elizabeth, it’s time to start serving dinner.” she said with a shy smile and Buffy nodded, following her to the kitchen where she and Willow, and three other woman she knew she knew but didn’t know, grabbed the trays.
She didn’t even bother to look down at what they were serving; this would be her first time seeing Cole since his bitter dismissal of her this morning.
And when the double doors opened wide, showing the dining room and the people in it, she almost dropped her tray.
‘Druscilla’ her mind hissed at her, but the fading rays of the day’s sun that filled the living room testified that in this dimension at least, she was human.
She lowered her eyes and began setting the plates on the table, her body going through the motions her mind didn’t know flawlessly.
It was then that his father’s voice boomed out – she recognized the voice as belonging to Giles but couldn’t even muster an inner laugh at the irony - raising his glass in a toast, “To Cole and Druscilla and their upcoming wedding.”
She wouldn’t look at him, couldn’t even if she wanted to her body told her, it wasn’t her place.
Instead she finished the task with the other servants and left the room as quietly as possible, feeling his eyes on her for just a moment. He couldn’t look either, even if he wanted to.
She helped the other women finish the dishes; the ones from dinner would be washed later in the evening by those working the later shift in the Manor.
Once she was done she found herself going to the stables where she was pleasantly surprised to see Xander.
“Beautiful night isn’t it Elizabeth?”
She nodded in agreement through her tears.
“Elizabeth? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, really I’m fine.”
“So this has nothing to do with Master Cole’s new fiancée?”
Buffy looked at him, how much did he know?
“I can assure you it does not” she replied after a moment but he smiled sadly, seeing right through her charade.
“It would never have worked Elizabeth, he’s from another world entirely, and it’s one you don’t belong to. You belong with someone like you, not like him”
Buffy flinched at the familiar but altered speech, was Xander the same in every dimension?
“I know” she heard herself saying but without any feeling.
“Maybe you should go down to the pond and relax, I know how much you love it there.”
She nodded and smiled, “I’ll see you tomorrow Alexander” she answered and pressed a small platonic kiss into his cheek.
“Sure you will” he answered, and for a moment she was sure she saw something in his eyes that told her this Buffy would not in fact see him again.
It was starting to get dark but Buffy knew the way to her spot without fail, and it was no wonder she loved it here.
The small pond was in the middle of a clearing and offered a clear, crisp view of the stars above. The sounds of chirping crickets and the occasional frog made her smile slightly.
She didn’t know how much time she had spent there, but knew it had been at the very least two hours when she heard the footsteps approaching.
Without looking up to see who had come behind her she spoke.
“I suppose I should offer you congratulations.”
“It is what most people would do, but we’re not most people are we Buffy?”
She shook her head ‘no’ and he sat down beside her, his hand absentmindedly going to her now freed hair and running his fingers through it.
The kiss came slowly and arrived gently and Buffy found herself fighting back tears. This overwhelming heartbreak had thankfully not been present in the Buffy 2 of the more Western dimension, she didn’t know how much more of this she could handle.
He pulled back and looked her in the eyes and for a moment she wondered if his eyes had stolen some of the shine from the stars they we’re sparkling so brightly.
And then she understood, he was fighting not to cry and her own eyes spilled over.
“Please don’t cry Buffy, I don’t know if my heart could take it right now” he pleaded.
“Why should you concern matters of the heart with me, in a few months time you’ll have signed it over to another” she sniffled and she saw the first tear slide down his cheek.
“Your tongue can hurt me so much more than your hands Elizabeth, even more than I care to let you know.”
He stood up as if to leave and she leapt to her feet, there was no way in hell she was going to let this Buffy lose this man.
“Cole, please, I’m sorry…”
He sighed and looked down at her with both love and firmness. “We can’t see each other anymore Buffy, I am a lot of things, but I am not an adulterer.”
Buffy had three seconds, three seconds to keep him from leaving; she could see it in his eyes.
“Don’t marry her!” she blurted out, her own tears falling quite freely now.
He stayed quiet and waited for her to say the words he’d wanted to hear for the last two years, “I’ll go with you. We’ll run away, we’ll be together.”
The sob that tore from him when he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his face into the rough fabric of her dress, tore through her and she knelt down so that she could see him.
“You’re beautiful” she whispered, wiping away his tears.
“I’m yours” he answered and kissed her desperately, never wanting to let go. “I love you”
“I love you” she answered, closing her eyes and letting the kiss take her away.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok guys, here’s the deal; I am having a blast throwing Buffy into situation after situation, all of which Spike is involved in.
To promote reviews/ego lifts and the incorporation of anyone reading this I’m opening a little contest:
Contest:
Underneath your review (if you really don’t want to leave one by all means don’t) write the word CONTEST followed by the name Spike will have and what profession he’s chosen – if he is not old enough for a profession write his age and whether or not he’s a student, or a drifter or anything like that – and then please specify what stage of the relationship they’re at (i.e.: sexual or not sexual or about to become sexual, you get the drift lol)
and what he is meaning human, vampire, weird demon, girl: same goes for Buffy The three ideas that I find the most fun and adventurous will each have a chapter dedicated to the person who brainstormed the idea.
To promote reviews/ego lifts and the incorporation of anyone reading this I’m opening a little contest:
Contest:
Underneath your review (if you really don’t want to leave one by all means don’t) write the word CONTEST followed by the name Spike will have and what profession he’s chosen – if he is not old enough for a profession write his age and whether or not he’s a student, or a drifter or anything like that – and then please specify what stage of the relationship they’re at (i.e.: sexual or not sexual or about to become sexual, you get the drift lol)
and what he is meaning human, vampire, weird demon, girl: same goes for Buffy The three ideas that I find the most fun and adventurous will each have a chapter dedicated to the person who brainstormed the idea.
Chapter End Notes:
Ok guys, here’s the deal; I am having a blast throwing Buffy into situation after situation, all of which Spike is involved in.
To promote reviews/ego lifts and the incorporation of anyone reading this I’m opening a little contest:
Contest:
Underneath your review (if you really don’t want to leave one by all means don’t) write the word CONTEST followed by the name Spike will have and what profession he’s chosen – if he is not old enough for a profession write his age and whether or not he’s a student, or a drifter or anything like that – and then please specify what stage of the relationship they’re at (i.e.: sexual or not sexual or about to become sexual, you get the drift lol)
and what he is meaning human, vampire, weird demon, girl: same goes for Buffy
The three ideas that I find the most fun and adventurous will each have a chapter dedicated to the person who brainstormed the idea.
To promote reviews/ego lifts and the incorporation of anyone reading this I’m opening a little contest:
Contest:
Underneath your review (if you really don’t want to leave one by all means don’t) write the word CONTEST followed by the name Spike will have and what profession he’s chosen – if he is not old enough for a profession write his age and whether or not he’s a student, or a drifter or anything like that – and then please specify what stage of the relationship they’re at (i.e.: sexual or not sexual or about to become sexual, you get the drift lol)
and what he is meaning human, vampire, weird demon, girl: same goes for Buffy
The three ideas that I find the most fun and adventurous will each have a chapter dedicated to the person who brainstormed the idea.