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TITLE: Displaced part 4/?
AUTHOR: Appomattoxco
FEEDBACK/EMAIL: Melissa@lee-grant.com
DISTRIBUTION: just let me know.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not making any money off this or anything else actually so don’t sue.
TIMELINE/SPOILERS: Wildly AU post “Chosen”
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Anya/Giles possibly only UST
RATING: FRT
SUMMARY: This chapter is the exposition -palooza sorry.Previous parts here
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to JaneDavitt for making it readable.
I should’ve been prepared for what I saw in the mirror. Both Anya and Willow had said I looked younger but the words had just washed over me in the flood of information. I looked like the man I was when I first arrived in Sunnydale. I took off my shirt: twenty years of battle scars had disappeared. Willow’s healing spell had done a bloody good job. I hit the mirror hard with my fist.
“I heard the glass break; you’re bleeding.” Anya said startling me from behind.
I didn't know if I'd forgotten to lock the door or if she'd teleported. “God, don’t do that to me, Anya. You just aged me twenty y…” I giggled at what I was about to say but it wasn’t a happy sound.
“Lucky for you, we always keep lots of bandages on hand.” I waited for her to ask why I’d do such a stupid thing. She simply cleaned and bandaged my hand.
“Just let me, I’ve done this before.” I knew she meant more than just taking care of my cuts. I could see by looking in her eyes that Anya knew what it was like to see a stranger in the mirror.
“Did you love him?” I asked as she showed me to my bedroom.
“We were all close to Rupert but only as close as he’d let us be.”
"Oh," I said flatly I had a thousand questions about everything here - why did I have to ask that one?
“You must be exhausted. I had a full night's sleep and suddenly I’m very tired.” Anya started to leave and then turned around. “Would you mind if I just laid down with you?”
“Not at all; there’s plenty of room on the bed.”
“I don’t take up much room. Willow and Wes will be making calls and they have each other anyway. Spike has probably disappeared to not-brood about Buffy.” Anya was fighting tears; apparently the grief and stress of the morning was finally hitting home
“Anya, I already said you could. Just get into the bed.”
“Giles, I’m sorry about pulling the knife on you.”
“When did that happen - last week?” I joked and Anya laid down on her side as close to to the edge of the bed as she could. She seemed surprised when I put my arm around her but she snuggled closer without complaint. We might feel awkward once we woke up but I didn’t see any point in napping together if we clung to opposite sides of the bed.
***
When I woke up from a surprisingly dreamless sleep the bedside clock and the light in the room told me it was four in the afternoon. Instead of being in my arms Anya was calling for me to wake up on the other side of the door. I was absurdly grateful when she came in. Anya’s presence grounded me and lessened the time it took to remember where I was.
“Giles, you look much better now. Are you ready to get something to eat?”
“Yes, that would be a good idea. May I ask you something first?
“Sure, I’m shocked you haven’t already asked us a million questions by now.”
“I think you said something before about becoming a demon again to help. How did that happen? In my dimension Anya was human.”
“I was left at the altar by Xander and took up vengeance again but I wasn’t any good at it. D’Hoffryn fired me as a favor. He didn’t simply kill me; he let me chose how I would live out my life. I could become a powerless and short-lived human again. This time I’d be stripped of all my memories of ever being anything else or I could keep my ties to my human life and stay a demon. The fine print to that deal was that I had to take an active role in fighting evil. He figured either way I'd live a very short and friendless life.”
“You aren’t friendless are you?” The way she had turned to me last night had me worried about her.
“No. Willow and Wes are a new couple though and sometimes seeing them together makes my teeth ache.”
“They do look rather sweet together. Do I need to prepare myself for one of them to call the other snookums?” What about Spike? Is he a good friend and why is he here anyway?”
“Spike’s a sweetheart," Anya said. "The poor guy kind of pops out of this reality when he gets upset. He’s haunting here because this is where he used to live when he was a human. But I’m not sure it’s really called haunting. Spike wanted to be sure that everyone else got out ok so he wore the amulet longer than we knew was safe and he dusted but the gem kept his soul from death. Now he’s in between and we’re trying to get him his body back. Oh, and Buffy confessed her love at the very last minute and Spike said he didn’t believe it or something like that.”
I remembered the words that Buffy had cried over the few times she allowed herself to admit to grieving for Spike. “I suspect the exact words were ‘No you don’t, but thanks for saying it.’”
“I guess some things are constants.” Anya sighed. “You’re caught up on everyone but Buffy now; I suppose I should tell you about her.”
“You don’t sound very happy about that prospect. Do you have some idea of who or what this warning is all about?”
“As far as I know the only people Buffy Summers annoys lately are the ones that used to be her friends. Let’s go down and eat. I think I’m going to need back up for this one.”
AUTHOR: Appomattoxco
FEEDBACK/EMAIL: Melissa@lee-grant.com
DISTRIBUTION: just let me know.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not making any money off this or anything else actually so don’t sue.
TIMELINE/SPOILERS: Wildly AU post “Chosen”
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Anya/Giles possibly only UST
RATING: FRT
SUMMARY: This chapter is the exposition -palooza sorry.Previous parts here
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to JaneDavitt for making it readable.
I should’ve been prepared for what I saw in the mirror. Both Anya and Willow had said I looked younger but the words had just washed over me in the flood of information. I looked like the man I was when I first arrived in Sunnydale. I took off my shirt: twenty years of battle scars had disappeared. Willow’s healing spell had done a bloody good job. I hit the mirror hard with my fist.
“I heard the glass break; you’re bleeding.” Anya said startling me from behind.
I didn't know if I'd forgotten to lock the door or if she'd teleported. “God, don’t do that to me, Anya. You just aged me twenty y…” I giggled at what I was about to say but it wasn’t a happy sound.
“Lucky for you, we always keep lots of bandages on hand.” I waited for her to ask why I’d do such a stupid thing. She simply cleaned and bandaged my hand.
“Just let me, I’ve done this before.” I knew she meant more than just taking care of my cuts. I could see by looking in her eyes that Anya knew what it was like to see a stranger in the mirror.
“Did you love him?” I asked as she showed me to my bedroom.
“We were all close to Rupert but only as close as he’d let us be.”
"Oh," I said flatly I had a thousand questions about everything here - why did I have to ask that one?
“You must be exhausted. I had a full night's sleep and suddenly I’m very tired.” Anya started to leave and then turned around. “Would you mind if I just laid down with you?”
“Not at all; there’s plenty of room on the bed.”
“I don’t take up much room. Willow and Wes will be making calls and they have each other anyway. Spike has probably disappeared to not-brood about Buffy.” Anya was fighting tears; apparently the grief and stress of the morning was finally hitting home
“Anya, I already said you could. Just get into the bed.”
“Giles, I’m sorry about pulling the knife on you.”
“When did that happen - last week?” I joked and Anya laid down on her side as close to to the edge of the bed as she could. She seemed surprised when I put my arm around her but she snuggled closer without complaint. We might feel awkward once we woke up but I didn’t see any point in napping together if we clung to opposite sides of the bed.
***
When I woke up from a surprisingly dreamless sleep the bedside clock and the light in the room told me it was four in the afternoon. Instead of being in my arms Anya was calling for me to wake up on the other side of the door. I was absurdly grateful when she came in. Anya’s presence grounded me and lessened the time it took to remember where I was.
“Giles, you look much better now. Are you ready to get something to eat?”
“Yes, that would be a good idea. May I ask you something first?
“Sure, I’m shocked you haven’t already asked us a million questions by now.”
“I think you said something before about becoming a demon again to help. How did that happen? In my dimension Anya was human.”
“I was left at the altar by Xander and took up vengeance again but I wasn’t any good at it. D’Hoffryn fired me as a favor. He didn’t simply kill me; he let me chose how I would live out my life. I could become a powerless and short-lived human again. This time I’d be stripped of all my memories of ever being anything else or I could keep my ties to my human life and stay a demon. The fine print to that deal was that I had to take an active role in fighting evil. He figured either way I'd live a very short and friendless life.”
“You aren’t friendless are you?” The way she had turned to me last night had me worried about her.
“No. Willow and Wes are a new couple though and sometimes seeing them together makes my teeth ache.”
“They do look rather sweet together. Do I need to prepare myself for one of them to call the other snookums?” What about Spike? Is he a good friend and why is he here anyway?”
“Spike’s a sweetheart," Anya said. "The poor guy kind of pops out of this reality when he gets upset. He’s haunting here because this is where he used to live when he was a human. But I’m not sure it’s really called haunting. Spike wanted to be sure that everyone else got out ok so he wore the amulet longer than we knew was safe and he dusted but the gem kept his soul from death. Now he’s in between and we’re trying to get him his body back. Oh, and Buffy confessed her love at the very last minute and Spike said he didn’t believe it or something like that.”
I remembered the words that Buffy had cried over the few times she allowed herself to admit to grieving for Spike. “I suspect the exact words were ‘No you don’t, but thanks for saying it.’”
“I guess some things are constants.” Anya sighed. “You’re caught up on everyone but Buffy now; I suppose I should tell you about her.”
“You don’t sound very happy about that prospect. Do you have some idea of who or what this warning is all about?”
“As far as I know the only people Buffy Summers annoys lately are the ones that used to be her friends. Let’s go down and eat. I think I’m going to need back up for this one.”
