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Chapter 4 – Open Opinions


“So, what’s your story?” Anne asked as they walked toward the Magic Box later that night.

“My story?” Buffy asked, glancing over at the cheerful young woman, wondering if she had ever been that carefree.

“Yeah… you must have a story. I get that you had a thing with Angel, but there has to be something else to you besides that relationship.”

Thinking for a minute, Buffy finally took a deep breath. “I died last year,” she said, making conversation.

“You… you what?” Anne asked, stopping and turning to face her in disbelief.

“Remember that little ritual that Glory had to do? Well, I didn’t exactly pass the test.”

“What happened?”

“It was me or Dawn,” Buffy said, slowly walking along the sidewalk. “I had to protect my sister.”

“How are you here?”

“Willow,” she stated, her expression darkening slightly. “She brought me back.”

“How long were you… gone?”

“One hundred and forty seven days,” she murmured, hearing Spike’s soft words as he spoke them to her on the night she returned. The gentle way he had hesitantly touched her shoulder, almost afraid to touch her as if she wouldn’t be real. The way he held her hands, offering his silent support and sympathy.

And then the way it all went to hell. Starting with how she turned their warm friendship into a relationship of cold indifference on her part.

Nervously tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she cleared her throat, looking up to see the Magic Box in the distance. “They thought I was in hell.”

“And you weren’t,” Anne said with a sigh, nearly shaking her head in disbelief.

“I wasn’t,” she murmured.

“Were you…”

“I was happy,” Buffy whispered, looking down at the ground.

“And now you’re not?”

“Is it that obvious?” Buffy asked, turning toward the other woman.

“Let’s just say- you don’t seem particularly overjoyed with your life.”

“Why should I be?” she asked irritably, obviously angry at the situation and not at Anne.

“Maybe because you have things to live for,” Anne said softly, not wanting to get into a fight with a woman who was her equal.

“Like what?” Buffy muttered, obviously not expecting an answer.

“Like… friends who will do anything for you, who are willing to die to make sure you’re not spending eternity in Hell. I know you weren’t,” she added quickly when Buffy looked at her. “I know they should have done something more…something better, but…they didn’t. And you’re here- you’re meant to be here, Buffy. You’re needed. I’ve been here for a few hours and I can see that.”

“I guess,” she said softly.

“And you have a sister who loves you. That’s something I don’t have. You willingly died for her and hey,” she added brightly. “Now she owes you for life.”

Smiling slightly, Buffy stopped when she felt Anne’s hand on her arm before they reached the shop.

“And you have Spike,” she said, looking into Buffy’s eyes.

“What?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.

“I’m not blind,” Anne said. “I saw the way you two looked at each other. I know he loves you and I know… there’s something there.”

“There’s nothing,” Buffy said, not putting any weight behind her words. “There… there might have been at one time, but…”

“You screwed it up,” Anne filled in, opening the door to the Magic Box and leaving Buffy standing outside.

“What?” Buffy asked, quickly following the other girl into the shop. “What do you mean? What I had with Sp… hi, guys,” she said, cutting herself off just in time as Xander and Anya came into view.

“The robot’s back?” Xander asked.

“No,” Buffy replied, shaking her head as she looked around the area for Willow.

“The monks made another person out of you to open a portal with her blood?” Looking at all of the strange looks he was getting, Xander took a step back. “What? Ooh, I know- they’re both Buffy!” he said with a bright smile, proud to know the answer.

“Well… yeah… kind of,” Buffy said, glancing at her alternate self. “Willow didn’t fill you in?”

“Nah, she did. I just wanted to mess with you for a while.”

Rolling her eyes, Buffy wandered through the shop, toward the table that was covered with books. “Is Willow not here yet?”

“She’s in the back. Tara’s stopping by, and I think she’s primping,” Anya said. “No reason on why there’s a duplicate of you running around.”

“I’m glad Willow told me. I probably would have thought Spike had another sexbot made,” Xander said.

“What?” Anne asked, looking over at Buffy in time to see her flinch.

“That story really doesn’t need an explanation,” Buffy said, looking over at the other woman.

“That would be like him,” he continued. “His first toy gets taken away and then destroyed, and he just has another one built.”

Anne frowned, obviously disturbed with this little bit of information and the cavalier way that Xander was talking about Spike. “Interesting,” she muttered, getting an uncomfortable knot in the pit of her stomach.

“Yeah, you haven’t heard all the joyous stories of our famed defanged menace,” he continued.

“Pray tell,” Anne replied dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Nah, why not just let her figure it out on her own?”

“Do you guys not like Spike?” she asked, seeing Buffy’s eyes dart around the room.

“He’s very pleasant to look at,” Anya said, causing a slight smile to cross Anne’s face before she turned to look at the only man in the room.

“Xander?”

“I guess he’s okay when Buffy’s not around,” he said with a shrug. “But then he turns into Obsesso guy.”

“And why is that a bad thing?” Anne asked, crossing her arms over her chest, not caring who she offended in this dimension.

“It’s just… gross,” he said, making a face.

“And why is it gross?” she replied. “You’re with Anya.”

“What? That’s not the same thing,” Xander said, obviously not liking this version of Buffy.

“It’s not?” she said in amusement, glancing over to see that Buffy had practically shrunk into the wall. “You’re dating an attractive person who just happens to have killed people over one thousand years and was forced to reform. Gee, I guess you’re right- not the same at all. Anya was obviously a lot worse.”

Anya raised an eyebrow, obviously flattered by the comment. Listening to Xander sputter for a few moments, Anne finally rolled her eyes. “So Spike fights by your side and you still don’t give him the recognition he deserves?”

“What’s with the jump on Spike bandwagon?” Xander said, glancing between Buffy and Anne, obviously preferring one to the other.

“Because he’s my mate,” Anne said, trying to hold herself back from adding ‘dumbass’ to the end of that statement.

“What?” Xander asked in shock. “You’re actually with Captain Peroxide?”

Hearing the near explosion that came from Xander, Anne held out a hand, surprisingly silencing him. “Yeah,” she countered, crossing her arms over her chest in a challenging pose. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Well… yeah,” he said, looking at her as if she was crazy.

“I don’t need this crap. I’ve already been through it, and it wasn’t that much fun the first time around. So let me fill you in- eventually you will get over yourself and whatever jealousy you might still have and you realize that I’m your friend and you want me to be happy.”

“But…with him?”

“Xander…get over it,” Anne said, seeing Buffy looking worried. “It’s my life, my decision, and my happiness that we’re talking about, so just get over it. I don’t need this,” she said, facing off with the Scoobies, seeing Willow come out of the back room with a confused expression on her face. “I’ve been through this already, and let me fill you in on the outcome. You stop being such a hypocrite,” she said, gesturing to Xander before turning to Willow. “You get over it really fast because you’re my best friend and you only want me to be happy. And you,” she continued, turning to Buffy. “You actually realize what you have and will do anything to get it back.”

Turning toward the door, leaving a dumbstruck Xander behind her, Anne stopped to look at Buffy questioningly. “You just let him talk about him like that, all the time?” she asked, a slightly hurt expression on her face at the thought of how that must make Spike feel. Seeing Buffy avert her eyes, she shook her head in disbelief. “You let him say those things when he’s here, don’t you? I’ll see you.”

“Where are you going?” Buffy asked, watching as Anne walked toward the door, never looking back as she waved.

“Out.”

“Well, that was… weird and unpleasant,” Xander said, almost talking to himself. “What if Spike did construct another bot?”

“What?” Buffy asked, turning around.

“What if he had another one made that’s supposedly from a dimension where he’s the perfect vampire, just to get you to look at him twice?”

Cringing at the very idea, Buffy slowly crossed the room, glancing at the door as she contemplated what she’d just been told.

“And of course she must come to our wedding,” Anya said in a chipper voice. “Let her know that gifts are mandatory.”

“What did she mean that you realize what you have?” Willow asked, looking at Buffy. “You’ve never been ungrateful about anything you have.”

Avoiding her friend’s gaze, Buffy turned and sat down at the round table.

“And what did she mean, I’m a hypocrite?” Xander asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes, opening another book, trying to distract herself by flipping through it.




Thanks so much to: ., MidnightGirl, olivia-luv, MsSpikester, Cordykitten, Franchesca, blondiebear, riam, Dark Dreamluver, sue, Crystal Pegasus, Caitie, BuffyandSpikeForever, SinisterChic, willowmouse, Bridget, TammyDevil666, Esther, saltygoodness, txjmfan, Bree, phantomwriter, Tasha, Mariana, symbolica, & gypsy_jin for reviewing!





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