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With This Ring by Lilachigh


Chp 7 There was his Wife


Apologies to eagle eyed readers. I have had to go back to Chp 4 and amend the mechanics of the portal and the amount of time that passes when they are in each world. Sorry!



Sunnydale Cemetery lay dark and peaceful. A thin sliver of moon sailed high amongst wide clouds that blew on a strong wind. The gusts scurried up the grassy paths, whirled round the tombstones and set odd pieces of paper flying into the air.

Behind a tall tombstone that backed up to the wall of a crypt, ten months growth of weeds and mud and rubbish jammed into the space began to quiver and glow and finally, with a sparkle of orange and purple, a portal opened and a figure stepped hesitantly through.

It was a slight young man with short reddish hair wearing a green T-shirt with a picture of a monkey printed on it. He stood, gazing around curiously, then hoisted himself up onto a flat gravestone and sat waiting, whistling softly.

An hour later he fell silent as two other figures appeared. A girl in denim was walking down one of the paths, a wooden stake in one hand. Walking backwards in front of her, a slim, blond man wearing a long black leather coat.

“OK, Slayer, so let-me-Count-the ways-I-can show-off-Dracula has gone flying off into the night again. Still without paying me back the eleven quid he owes me! Why doesn’t that surprise me. Couldn’t you have asked him for the cash before he went? “

“Get out of my way, Spike. I’m working.”

“And I’m not? Annoying you is my work - and bloody hard it is, too. You’ve no idea how much energy it takes to - ”

“Spike - what will it take to make you shut your mouth for five minutes?”

The vampire halted, causing the girl to stop as well. A dark scarred eyebrow lifted and a smile flashed. “Well, I can think of one way to stop me talking, luv. Want to try?”

“Oh gross, Spike. Just crawl back inside your crypt and watch something inane on that TV of yours. And, by the way, where are you getting the electricity to run it?”

Spike sighed. “Cables, sweetheart. They run underground everywhere. I haven’t lived all these years and not be able to get plugged into the plumbing and electrics where I live. Buffy? Buffy, are you listening to me, Slayer?”

Buffy was staring over his shoulder, her mouth open in astonishment. “Oz? Oz! Is that you.”

The figure on the tombstone jumped down and wandered up to them. “Hi, Buffy. Spike.”

“Oz! You’re back again!” Buffy threw her arms round him and hugged him, then she glanced anxiously up at the moon. “Are you OK? This isn’t one of your wolfy nights, is it?”

He stared at her puzzled. “Wolfy? Not sure what you mean, Buffy. Listen, I’ve been sent by Willow.”

“Will knows you’re back? She never said. When did you get here?”

“An hour ago. Buffy, I’m from the other Sunnydale. I’m the one you call OzTwo.”

“I think he’s flipped his lid, Slayer,” Spike said, leaning against the crypt wall and lighting a cigarette. “It’s all that running around covered in fur in all weathers. It’s bound to make you go crazy after a few months.”

OzTwo stared at them, understanding dawning on his face. “You don’t remember, do you? Neither of you remember.”

“Remember what?”

“Look, if you and dog boy are going to have long boring chats, can you at least go home and have them,” Spike said. “I’ve got things to do.”

OzTwo turned and looked at him with enough affection to make Spike step back a pace. “No, Spike, sorry, man, this sort of concerns you as well.” He walked away, behind a huge tombstone and, puzzled, the Slayer and Spike followed, keeping a good distance from each other.

“Bloody hell!”

“What on earth is that?” Buffy stared down at the purple and orange flames dancing in a circle on the ground. “No, never mind. I know a portal when I see one. Oz, what the heck’s going on?”

OzTwo stared at them. “OK. Short version. Through that ring of fire there’s another Sunnydale. Life’s roughly the same as here,so I’m told. Few differences. Will and me are living together. I’m not a werewolf, which apparently I am here. Giles works in England and only visits occasionally. Your mum lives with her sister - and you - ”

He stopped and stared Buffy. She stared back, in appalled fascination. “What about me?”

“Well, you’re still the Slayer but - you’re married to Spike!”

“Whaaat!” Spike roared, flashing into game face.

“Eeewwww, Oz, don’t be so revolting. That’s ridiculous. As if I would ever marry Spike.” She turned towards the portal, so Oz couldn’t see the flush on her cheeks.

As he’d spoken those words, a flash of hidden, buried memory had burnt its way across her mind. A pair of dirty jeans, thrown in the back of her closet. She never washed them.

Once, shortly after they’d all been struck dumb by the Gentlemen, she’d gone through the pockets in readiness for the laundry and found a silly joke piece of paper, probably put there by Xander.

Because she couldn’t speak, she hadn’t been able to yell at him about it and in the months that had since passed, all the trouble with Faith and Jonathan, her relationship with Riley, she’d pushed it out of her mind.

The piece of paper had pretended to be her marriage certificate to Spike.

Now another memory hit her with all the force of a lightning strike. It was her bedroom, but the furnishings and curtains were different. There was a bed with royal blue sheets, a brass bedstead and her hands were tied with silk scarves above her head to the corner posts.

Her bottom was lifting off the bed as she arched into the air, but her legs were free - free to wrap themselves tightly round someone‘s waist while his cock drove her on and on into an enormous, mind bending climax . But what she was feeling wasn’t just desire, lust, she knew she loved this man, deeply, passionately.

And as the veil of her memory tore a little more, she could see the face above hers, the blazing blue eyes, the mouth about to descend once more to her breast.

And the face was Spike’s.

She sank to the ground only too aware that she was wet between the thighs. “Oh-my-god!” she whimpered. “Oh-my-god!”

Spike stared down at her, his eyes fading from gold to blue. He reached out with the toe of his boot and kicked at the portal’s flames. One of them wrapped itself round his foot like a snake and as memories returned, he froze -

It was nearly dawn, he could tell from the light outside the curtained windows, the dark blue sheets were rumpled, tangled round his naked body, the whole room smelt of sex and arousal and passion.

He was holding a small, slender naked woman tightly in his arms. Her blonde hair was splayed across his chest, one of her hands was still clasped possessively round his balls in her sleep. He could feel the bite marks she’d inflicted, feel that utter relaxation of every muscle that only came when you were completely and utterly shagged out of your mind. He was looking down, kissing her forehead - this was the woman he loved more than life itself, a love he’d never ever felt for anyone ever before - and that woman was Buffy.....

“Slayer?” he said hoarsely now.

“Spike? We couldn’t....we didn’t....Oz?”

OzTwo pulled a face. “The portal is unlocking your memories, Buffy. It was a spell Willow did. When the Oz in this world left her. Remember. You and Spike can live in either world. You came back to this one because you were needed more here, and as soon as you got back, I think your Willow here did a spell so you wouldn’t remember anything. But if you get too close to the portal, the spell vanishes and your memories return.”

Buffy held out a hand and, without a word, Spike hauled her to her feet. She refused to look at him. Now wasn’t the time to think about this. She wouldn‘t have been able to get two thoughts straight in her head anyhow. She and Spike were husband and wife. Was this what Dracula had meant?

“You think you know what you are, what’s to come. You haven’t even begun.”

“What do you want, Oz?” she said quietly.

“Will sent me. She’s trying to find Xander. He’s disappeared. We’re seriously wigged, Buffy. We need you back in our Sunnydale - fast.”

“I can’t just - go to another reality!” she protested. “What about Mum and Dawn and patrolling - ”

“Hey, you won’t want me,” Spike muttered, not wanting her to see how shaken he was, how his returning memories were turning upside down all his ideas about his life and his feelings for Slayers.

Buffy whirled round and, for the first time since Oz had told her she was married to him, looked Spike straight in the eyes. And there he was - her husband, the man she loved more than words could say.

She smiled, her hazel eyes dancing. “You mean you’d let me go without you, William. Now that I don’t believe.”

And as he looked at her, there was his wife and he couldn’t imagine how he could have spent the last ten months wishing this woman was out of his life.

OzTwo backed towards the portal. “I can’t stay any longer. My Will said I must just give you the message and come straight back. It’s up to you now, Buffy.” And with a nod, he stepped into the ring of fire and vanished with a sizzling crack.

“Quite chatty for Oz. How much do you remember?” Spike asked quietly.

“Everything, now I’m close to the portal. The spells, the life, the marriage. I can’t believe it, I don’t want to believe it, but I can remember it.”

Spike nodded and thrust his fingers through his slicked back platinum hair, turning it into a riot of little curls. “Life was pretty good, as far as I can recall.”

Buffy felt herself going red again. “It’s all part of an ongoing spell, Spike. But even so, XanTwo is just as important to me there as our Xander is here. I have to go and help. Let’s just concentrate on finding him. We don’t have to do - well, we don’t have to act as if we’re married when we get there!”

‘So you want us to go as what - partners? Colleagues?”

Buffy pulled a face. ‘More like army personnel. Like Riley’s friends. You watch my back and I’ll watch - ’

She stopped abruptly at his expression.

‘Oh you can watch whatever part of me you like, Slayer!’ he whispered and held out his hand.

Buffy hesitated, glaring at him, then she laced her fingers with his and together they stepped into the circle of flames.

to be continued





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