The original story was much shorter. It started the same way, but had Buffy seducing Angelus and discovering her love for him much more quickly. Buffy was to return to her own dimension while she was pregnant, caring for the child until he was old enough to fulfil his part of the prophesy.
Buffy had to be changed into some kind of Fey, possibly the same way a vampire is turned, and outlive her friends and family. Angelus would never love her but would keep her as his wife.
Then I changed it so Giles and Jenny had a history, adding a new storyline. The fact that Tara was Jenny’s replacement worked really well as I needed to get Tara out of the way, and rather than killing her I preferred to just have her stay with Willow. I actually had just Willow and Xander together in the other dimension, but added Anya when Tara came along.
I know I didn’t follow up on the Joyce/Hank part, with them trying to find Buffy, but that didn’t really appeal to me much and I think other people would have been bored if I’d attempted it.
Did anyone notice how she calls him "Angelus", not "Angel"? That was intentional. I would expect that should Buffy and Angelus fallen in love immediately, she would have been calling him "Angel" as a pet name. But Buffy keeps a bit of a distance from him, even running away at one point, which doesn't encourage much love and therefore neither of them suggest "Angel" as something she can call him.
The reason you don’t see many clothing descriptions is because I think it takes away from the plot. I didn’t want to ramble on about sequined tops and intricate skirts when I imagined Buffy wearing yoga pants and babydoll t-shirts most of the time. She wasn’t trying to impress Angelus, remember? She probably would have worn what she packed, and only touched the dresses from the closet if he asked her to.
And I had several alternate endings in mind, though I’d pretty much decided that once Buffy left her dimension she’d be pushed down a flight of stairs by Thomas and die. If you’ve seen “Merlin” you’ll figure out that she was always more of a Nymue than a Morgan. There really weren’t enough BtVS characters for me to assign them each a role from the movie, which is why Giles had to play both his original role as well as Arthur’s when he died in the end. Buffy left the dimension in the end as Merlin did, though Merlin was able to return after the death of the woman who created the spell and Buffy couldn’t because Angelus didn’t die. I really just chose out my favourite parts of the movie, and changed them into a different story.
One ending had Buffy staying with Angelus and neither of them aging. Buffy staying the same because of something magic in the castle and Angelus because his kind don’t grow old, they just finish their time and move on.
Another had Buffy going back to her life while pregnant, then staying with Angelus after Thomas was born and living a fulfilling life as a mother.
Lastly, she could go back, not aged, after Thomas had grown up, finding that she’d only been away for an hour or so. I recently read a story with a completely different plot, however the ending seemed too similar to use in mine. I wanted the title, with “infinity,” to be more of a part of the plot. Kind of like she could live with Angelus for hundreds of years, or “infinity” really, and still come back to her life in Sunnydale without much changing.
I had to make time move similarly though, because otherwise the way everyone pops in and out would take a lot more thought regarding time frames. I mentioned Jenny looking much younger than Giles even though they would be of a similar age should she have been living in the real world. What I meant was that there was a lot of magic in Angelus’s dimension, more specifically his castle. Buffy probably didn’t look too old when she died in the end, but whatever kept her looking young wasn’t strong enough to keep her alive. If she’d lived for hundreds of years it would have been unrealistic and I don’t think Buffy herself would have enjoyed such a long life.
Thank you for reading!
Kat.