[Reviews - 8]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 1838 times

- Text Size +




Author's Chapter Notes:
Another Buffy birthday! And you know what that means...drama of course! Hopefully things start flowing a little better with this and future chapters. And the song at the beginning is the Italian variation of Happy Birthday, sung to me many many times by my late grandfather. And "Betta" is pronounced BAY-TAH, which is short for Elisabetta (Elizabeth in Italian). Enjoy!
January 2006

Rome

“Buon compleanno a te, buon compleanno a te, buon compleanno cara Buffy….Buon compleanno a te!!”

The loft, which had pitch dark moments before, was now brightly illuminated by the mass amounts of candles her husband and friends thought it would be hysterical to top the casada cake with.

“Oh come on!! You guys used the whole box!”, Buffy exclaimed through her laughter. Leave it to her husband and friends to make sure she felt her age.

“ Relax Betta, your even more beautiful now than the day I met you, so make a wish my darling…”, Sergio spoke softly in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist and nudging her towards the strawberry and sweat cream casada cake Xander and Willow had picked up from her favorite bakery in Rome.

Buffy smiled and covered his arms with hers. Closing her eyes, she made a wish. I wish…I wish I could see him one more time…

She leaned into the sparkling candles, her hands holding her long chocolate-colored locks back and blew them out. Everyone cheered and hugged her as Sergio made his way over to the wall for the light switch. As the lights flickered on, Buffy made her way around the island in the kitchen for the large cake knife and plates, cutting everyone a piece. She stopped for a moment and looked at her friends, her husband, co-workers and friends of friends who had been invited to her 25th birthday celebration. Happiness…yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for. I’m happy…finally…I think .

After Sunnydale collapsed into a giant hole in the ground, they had made their way to the east coast (by-passing the Cleveland hell mouth, of course) where they stayed for a few months as a way to kind of…recuperate. Giles felt it necessary to return to Europe, but this time the gang had followed, collectively migrating to various loft apartments throughout the streets of Rome with Giles settling in a cozy Tuscan villa that overlooked some of the most beautiful vineyards. Willow, Kennedy and Giles embarked on an international variation of the Magic Box that first year in Europe and were blessed with booming tourist business within months of opening. Xander had kind of fallen into a new line of work at a vineyard close to Giles’s villa. He had branched away from the construction work on account of “being all Cyclops-y” and now worked under the title of vineyard foreperson. None of the gang was exactly sure what he did…except provide the wine at most functions or meetings, and for that they were all eternally grateful that he was frosty nectar man once again. As for her little sister, she was growing up and off in Paris at University studying fashion. Dawn was going through that “I’m too cool to hang out with you old people” phase, and stayed away most of the time, living the Parisian dream, calling her sister once or twice a week to let her know she was still alive and well.

And then there was Buffy. During the months they stayed in New York she had enrolled at a fast-track business school and received an associates degree in business management. That’s where she had met Sergio. He was visiting family in Brooklyn and was staying at the same hotel where she was attending a “The Customer and You” seminar…Anya would have been proud! Sergio was just a few inches taller than her, but absolutely gorgeous. Tanned olive skin accentuated by deep set green eyes and thick black hair she could run her fingers through for hours upon end. He was slim built, not the style of guy she was used to but to her he represented a change, and some much needed normalcy. Once settled in Italy with the rest of the gang, Sergio had asked Giles for his permission to marry Buffy, whom he affectionately referred to as “Betta”. After a whirlwind engagement they were married in a small ceremony in the fall of 2005. With help from Sergio’s family Buffy was able to put her passion for fashion and newly acquired business degree to good use, starting a small woman and children’s clothing boutique in a heavily tourist populated area of Rome. This proved both financially rewarding and physically demanding, being a different type of job than she was ever used to. Slaying was easier than this…humans are so mean, and rude, and they keep messing up the folded clothes!

Slaying was something she hadn’t done in almost three years and in an odd way she missed it. It was her destiny, but now she shared it with thousands of girls all over the world. Hundreds had been recruited to the new Watchers Council in Scotland, and it was a force to be reckoned with. Those girls took over the responsibility for her, but a part of her wanted some of it back. She missed the action, the intensity and the passion it made her feel. There were a lot of things she yearned for from her old life…Spike especially. His face was starting to get blurry in her mind, but oh how she remembered how blue his eyes were and how she could just lay there and lose herself in them. The coolness of his skin she could still feel on her fingertips and that smell of tobacco, leather and bourbon grazed past her from time to time. It made her sad, and angry. Angry that he wasn’t able to experience this new life with her. She loved Sergio, but the love she felt for Spike was something much, much more powerful and eternal. So many times she had tried to forget but then something would remind her of him. A flick of a lighter, the swoosh of a leather coat walking down the bricked streets of Rome….a flash of bleach blonde hair, it would leave her heart in little pieces all over again. She remembered the birthday they were all stuck in the house on Revello and wished she could rewind things back to that night, just to spend a few moments with him. Sergio knew nothing of her past lovers. He could never compare. But she loved him for his normalcy, and that was enough for her. Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.

Buffy was brought back to the present as Willow popped a confetti popper in her face, covering her with shiny pieces of cellophane and long paper ribbons. The red headed which had a silly smile plastered on her face.

“Happy Birthday! Birthdays mean smiling, so cheer up gloomy gus”, she yelled at her, and pulled her into a tight hug. Buffy smiled and embraced her friend, shaking her hair all over as to equally coat the witch in tacky shiny cellophane.

“What’d you wish for?”, Willow asked, trying to brush some of the confetti out of her hair. “I bet I know!”
Buffy laughed.

“Your not supposed to tell what you wished for remember? It wont come true.”

“Well, I bet I still know…”

Buffy knew where she was going with this.

“Will-”

The witch leaned in to whisper in the Slayers ear.

“A baby Buffy..!”.

She rolled her eyes. Since the moment her and Sergio said their I Do’s, everyone had been pressuring them to start a family. And she wanted one too, just not right now, not while she was still fighting the feelings in her heart. It wouldn’t be right, and she couldn’t hurt Sergio like that. She swallowed the tiny lump in her throat, feeling the bile rise in attempt to drown out the guilt of the lie she had been telling her husband. For the past few months, they had been “trying” for a baby. Well, Sergio thought they had been while Buffy secretly continued her birth control pills, her heart hurting for him each month her period came and watched as his disappointment grew. She didn’t have the heart to tell him she wasn’t ready, so they would keep “trying”, until she was ready for the real thing.

“Oh Willow, you know me too well”, she said quickly, hoping the subject would change and prayed for an interruption.

“Betta….darling why don’t you sit down and relax, enjoy your friends, this is your night…”, and with that her husband ushered her over to the couch where she plopped down between Xander and Giles.

“Splendid gathering Buffy…you surely are growing up”, her Watcher said, a glass of wine in his hand, his gaze fixed elsewhere in the room.

Buffy scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Giles. For one, she rarely saw him drink, and two, he was clearly focused on something else. She followed his gaze to a slender, middle aged female with long, curly dark hair that cascaded down her back. She wore black pinstripe dress pants and a crisp linen top with a large red necklace around her neck. Her name was Maria, and she was the day shift manager at the boutique. If she hadn’t known any better, she could of sworn to see Giles actually drooling. She let out a small giggle and patted Giles on the knee, turning her attention to Xander who was focused on whatever futbol game was airing on the television at that particular moment.

“Well, you guys are boat loads of fun…”.

The men nodded in unison, still far from paying attention, as Buffy got up and walked to the balcony for some fresh air. Her hands grasped the railing and she breathed in. She felt alive, but only so much. It had been many years since she felt completely and utterly one with life, and the only person who ever made her feel that was starting to become a figment of her imagination and it was killing her. Looking down over the café lined cobblestone street, a flash of bleach blonde hair caught her attention and her green eyes got big. The man was too far away to see facial features, but the heigth, the build, the way he walked…everything was the same. Not possible Buffy…get a grip on yourself, no more wine for you…. She shook off the goosebumps that covered her arms and stepped back inside, Sergio walking toward her with a gift box covered in pink and black paper, a large white bow adorning the top.

“Oh honey, you got me wayy to much already…”, she began to say, and he stopped her.

“It’s not from me, the doorman said it was left at the front desk with your name on it and he brought it up.”

She took the package from Sergio, and sat herself on the edge of the couch, careful to not ruin the bow as she opened the box. Once the ribbon was untied, she lifted off the box lid and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

“Oh my god…”.

The small journal was covered in a soft, reddish brown leather and embossed with gold lettering that read HeartSongs with the initials WAP underneath. It was beautiful, and it confused her. She flipped the cover over to the inside, noticing a small inscription handwrote in old English lettering.

I knew…-S.

And with that, the journal fell from her hands, her body going limp on the couch.

“Buffy!”, was the collective yell from the party guests as they rushed to the fainted slayer.

As the attended to her, somewhere below on the streets of Rome, he looked up to the light coming from the loft apartments balcony. Sticking his hand into the pocket of the leather jacket, he removed a cigarette from the pack and stuck it between his lips, lighting it with a flick of an all too familiar metal Zippo.

He breathed in, the tobacco filling his lungs. I really should try to quit…eh, we’ll see . He took another drag and smiled.

“Happy Birthday, pet”.

Spike turned, walking down the ancient streets. It had been at least fifty years since he’d been here. There was nothing to come back for. Until now…


Chapter End Notes:
Dun dun dun! See, it's not a Buffy birthday without some drama. Hope you enjoyed. Your comments and reviews are what fuel me to keep writing, so keep it up people!



You must login (register) to review.