Finally the day came when Willow and Tara, as well as Xander and his girlfriend Anya, went into the dimension they’d found. A spell was cast so the four of them were trapped; it was their payment for being able to stay with their friend. They could never leave.
Buffy was much happier leading up to the time when she kissed Angelus goodbye and joined her friends. He, of course, was free to move between the two places but did not tell Buffy that once she left her friends, she could not return.
Chapter 18
Angelus opened a spell book in the library, flipping to a page he’d marked. Chanting the spell and burning several bunches of herbs, he was transported to the Sunnydale High library.
“Angelus!” Giles said as he appeared. “Are you looking for Buffy? She’s not here.”
“I know where she is,” he replied. “Where’s Jenny?”
At that moment, Jenny entered the library. “Angelus? But you said I was free to live here… Buffy’s not here, is she Rupert?”
“No.”
“Jenny! You’re coming with me. Your replacement didn’t work out well and I need someone who knows how things are done.”
“No!” she exclaimed, moving to cling to Giles’s arm. “No. I’m staying here.”
“You’re not taking her with you,” Giles told him.
With a wave of his hand, Angelus caused Giles to fly away and hit his head, hard. He took Jenny and chanted once again, taking her with him, not noticing that Giles was dead.
~~
A few days after Buffy had joined her friends, they’d settled into the cottage provided for them and were watching movies.
The two couples were all cuddled up, leaving Buffy to her own chair. Just as she was feeling especially lonely, a knock sounded at the door. Angelus entered.
“Buffy,” he said, walking over to her. “Continue with the movie,” he told the other four, taking Buffy by the hand and leading her to the bedrooms. “Which is yours?”
“First on the left,” she said, and they entered. The room had pale blue walls and soft white carpet, with a large bed in the centre and an armchair closer to the closet. “Thank you for letting me stay with my friends,” she said quietly as he undressed her.
“Thank you for letting me visit you,” he replied, lifting her up and placing her in the centre of the bed. He made slow, sweet love to her, savouring their time together.
“I love you,” they whispered to each other before he left, needing to return before dawn.
~~
In the next week that passed he’d been to see her twice more, increasingly desperate for affection from her. Perhaps he feared that she was slipping away from him.
Buffy was concerned about someone she’d left behind, though. Giles. Was he okay? Angelus had told her that Jenny was with him, but she wanted to see for herself. Were they as happy together as she imagined? She just thought she should see him one more time.
“Good morning Buffy,” Willow said as her friend entered the kitchen. She handed her a cup of coffee.
“Thanks,” Buffy replied, sitting next to Anya at the table. “I’m going to see Giles today, just for a few hours. I’ll be back after lunch.”
“But you can’t-”
“Anya!” Xander said, interrupting his girlfriend. “If she wants to go, that’s fine. We’ll see her later.”
“But Xander,” Anya sulked, crossing her arms. “She won’t-”
“I won’t what?” Buffy asked, wondering what they didn’t want her to know. “Nothing!” he said, glancing at Willow to make something up quickly.
“Anya’s just scared that you won’t know what the weather’s like out there. You know, it’s another dimension and all. You might wear a t-shirt and catch a cold,” Willow said.
“Thanks, Anya,” Buffy said, a little worried about her friends. “I’ll see you guys later.”
She’d finished her coffee, so she put her mug down by the sink and left, heading for the location of the portal that Angelus travelled though.
~~
An hour later Buffy appeared in the high school library and went over to the office, not knocking before entering. A man who certainly wasn’t Giles sat behind the desk. “Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Wesley Wyndam-Pryce,” he told her. “Mr Pryce to students. And what is your name?”
“I’m Buffy. Where’s Mr Giles?”
“Did you not hear? Mr Giles was killed almost two weeks ago. The crime scene was cleared just yesterday.”
“He’s dead?” Buffy asked, eyes wide.
“Of uncertain causes, but yes. There haven’t been any suspects named yet.”
“Oh,” she said. “Mr Giles had a lot of books, are those still here?”
“Of course.”
Buffy tried to calm down for a moment. Giles was dead! How could this have happened? She certainly hadn’t been on good terms with him since he’d handed her over to Angelus, but he’d still been her Watcher. She scanned the shelves, pulling out a book and flipping through it for the spell she wanted.
“Buffy Summers?” Wesley asked, seeing that she held a spell book. “The Slayer? You’re supposed to be in another dimension.”
“I’m going back, don’t worry,” she assured him, going on to ask him about different ingredients for the spell. They were quickly gathered and she performed the spell, disappearing.
Wesley promptly went to find his journal to record the recent events.
Chapter 19
A/N: Okay. This is it. The last chapter. :) I was ready to type out the ending from my notes, in which Thomas is seduced by evil and Buffy dies, but I didn’t think that would be much appreciated. Behold, the ending: as close to happy as it will get.
“Buffy!” Angelus greeted her when she appeared on the floor in their room. He helped her up, swinging her into his arms before placing her gently on their bed. She scooted back so she was sitting up against the headboard, and he lay next to her.
“Giles is dead,” she told him, “and I didn’t see Jenny. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he lied, twisting his fingers in the bottom of her waist-length hair.
Buffy looked down and entwined their fingers. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
“Tea, Master,” Jenny announced, placing a tray on the table by the sofa.
“Jenny?” she asked, pulling away from him. “You lied to me. She’s here, working for you again!”
“She’s safe here.”
“Did you kill Giles to get her back?”
He didn’t speak, just rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.
“Set her free,” Buffy demanded, angry when he didn’t respond. “Set her free!”
“No!” he growled, suddenly on top of her. “I don’t take orders from you. Why did you leave your friends, anyway?”
“I wanted to check on Giles and Jenny.”
“Check on them? But now you can’t get back,” he told her.
“What? You walk between dimensions,” she said. “Show me how.”
“That requires a natural magical ability; something that connects you to a place. That dimension is close by. So close I can almost hear them cry because they know you’re gone forever.”
Buffy paused. “How do they know?”
“I told them. I assume they didn’t pass on the note, though. Wonder why. I guess you’re important enough to cry over but not to tell the truth to.”
She reeled from the fact that they knew she couldn’t return. Why had they let her leave? She wasn’t jealous of their relationships, really; sure, she and Angelus didn’t always get along, but they satisfied each other and there was a degree of trust between them. Did they think she was too weird now? Then why would they agree to stay with her, supposedly for the rest of their lives?
The only person she could rely on right now was Angelus, which was scary because he used to occupy the exact opposite position in her mind.
~~
She spent the night in his bed, allowing him to make love to her. She could barely move, though, unable to be enthusiastic about the act. It felt too much like letting go.
“How’s Thomas?” she asked as they were falling asleep, knowing his first birthday would be coming up soon.
“He’s fine.”
“Can I see him?”
Angelus turned to face her, pulling her into his arms and nuzzling her neck. “Tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thank you,” she replied quietly, bringing a hand up to stroke his hair but also to pull him away if he tried something. “And my friends?”
“I told you, you can’t get back.”
“Then at least tell them that I’m okay.”
“The portal is lost, Buffy,” he told her. “You were holding the door open from inside. You’ve come outside now, and the spell just closed and locked the door right behind you.”
“Oh.”
~~
Jenny brought Thomas to Buffy’s room the next afternoon and she spent an hour just trying to get him used to her presence. He was more comfortable around the nurses who collected him, though.
Angelus grew to love Tom almost as much as his wife did. The little boy was far from the genius he was expected to be at first, but grew into his responsibilities and at age sixteen he became the new leader of the Old Ways, soon inheriting Mab’s powers and bringing people back to their beliefs.
~~
Buffy’s friends lived out their years and died in that dimension. They were, of course, unable to ever see her again. The portal was never located.
Jenny died several years after her recapture. It was most likely caused by a broken heart. She was reunited with her Rupert in heaven.
~~
Angelus and Buffy were together for many years until they both began to get old. Tom lived in a different wing of the castle with his family, his services not required after he led the winning side in a war that caused the world to re-discover the Old Ways. Angelus and Buffy never had any more children.
Years ago their relationship was based on a mutual need for a child. Now it was love and commitment and everything that an unofficial marriage should be. Her ring, which she hadn’t worn until they’d settled down and stopped fighting, now rested snugly on her left ring finger.
Buffy left the world first at sixty-seven years of age, while Angelus was close to two hundred fifty when he died days later. Both were happy to have found love.
End.
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