ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

DECEMBER 28, 2007
GREENWICH
8:30AM

“Okay, I’ll tell him,” Buffy said, clicking off her cell phone. It was the last of a flurry of calls that had started an hour ago and hadn’t stopped since. This particular one had come for William; it had been from Wally. Seeing the growing look of distress on his face the more he listened, she had taken over. She walked over to the couch and took a seat next to him.

“The doctors think Edna had a heart attack. They don’t know how serious it is yet,” Buffy said gently.

“It came to her too, didn’t it?”

“It sounds like it, but we can’t be sure. It could be a coincidence. I mean, Edna is getting up there in years and…”

"Don't," William said sharply. "You don't need to protect me from the truth. Wally told me enough of what Edna was saying to him for me to figure it out. He just thinks it's from her medical condition, and that she's confused, but we know different don’t we? It’s The First."

“I know,” Buffy said softly, taking his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“You can’t protect me, Elizabeth. I know you want to, but you can’t.”

Buffy nodded and turned away. She knew all too well about her inability to protect anyone that she loved. Back when she was young and idealistic, she had truly thought that not only could she save the world from monsters, but especially those she loved. How very naïve and stupid she had been. Unfallen tears stung her eyes, but she resisted the urge to wipe them for fear that William or the others would notice. Giving in to her fears and her bone-weariness right now would solve nothing. Especially, now, when she feared they would all be depending on her to take charge in some way. Even if there were thousands of other slayers, this core group knew her first as the one and only slayer and had been to battle with her more times than she could count.

Bile rose and burned her throat at the very idea of having to put on the mantle of ‘General Buffy’ once again.

“How’s Dawn?” Giles asked.

“Shook up, scared, and also really, really pissed off.”

Giles smiled at that. “Good for her; she has every right to be.”

“We all do. We all bloody well do,” Buffy added for emphasis, looking at William hoping he would respond as if -- as he would’ve a long, long time ago. He didn’t take the bait. There was no wry grin, no sarcastic comment, no arched eyebrow, nor even a slightly shocked look. He didn’t do or say anything.

“And Clem?” Willow asked.

“Battening down the hatches; rather, he’s going to stay with some demon friends of his in San Diego. Safety in numbers, and all that.”

“Probably wise on his part,” Giles said.

“I think he’s afraid to tell them, though. They probably wouldn’t let him stay if they knew.”

“It’s an untenable position to be in, whether you’re a man or a demon, isn’t it?

Nobody answered.

Giles looked down at the tablet of paper he’d been taking notes on since the calls started.

“The First has appeared to Dawn, Xander, Edna, and Clem; in other words, those who have been close to William since he’s come back.”

“Do we know it’s only that? I mean, we don’t know that’s the only criteria, do we?” Buffy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“With the exception of Xander; Dawn, Edna, and Clem were also close to William before he…before we closed The Hellmouth,” Buffy said. She looked over at William before continuing. “The First could also be going after everyone connected with that event, in which case we’re sure to hear from more people. Or, if it is just those William is currently close to, then there’s others, too.”

“The Wittmans; Richard and his wife, Ingrid,” William spoke up.

Buffy nodded. “Right, you were close to them, but they wouldn’t have any idea what was happening to them if The First showed itself to them in some form or another. There’s also what’s her name from Ipso Facto. You were close to her.”

“Miranda,” William volunteered, giving her a look, which was half-defensive, half-apologetic, “but we weren’t close.”

“Close enough,” she muttered under her breath.

“You’ve made excellent points, Buffy” Giles said. “I think we should…”

“What’s wrong?” Buffy asked, seeing Willow suddenly jump out of her chair.

“God, I need to call Kennedy and warn her.”

“Yes, you definitely should,” Giles said. “I think we should call anyone we can think of who might be affected. Of course, for those persons like the Wittmans, it might just be in their best interest to keep the conversation neutral. You don’t want to unduly alarm anyone who may not even be affected in the first place.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

William made his calls, as did the others. The Wittmans were pleased to hear from him and told him they were fine. Ingrid’s cancer was in remission, and they had just come back from visiting relatives out East for the holidays. Richard said that they suspected Charley had become a father and told him they were keeping a kitten for him. Since he couldn’t tell them about The First, he only said that he’d read that there had been some strange occurrences going on in their area, and to be on the lookout. Richard countered that he hadn’t read anything in the local paper, but didn’t press the issue of how or why, William – all the way in England – would be privy to that information, but promised they’d be careful.

Miranda was also glad to hear from him. That is after she was done reading him the riot act for having made everybody worry. Despite being engrossed in her own phone call; a quick glance across the room confirmed that Elizabeth was more than aware of who he was now bantering with. He turned away from her barely disguised, barbed look, and got on with the real reason for his call. . Unlike the cloak and dagger call to the Wittmans, William was glad he could tell Miranda about the real situation and properly warn her.

With that accomplished, he rose from the couch with a heavy sigh, and headed towards the door. “I’ll be right back,” he said over his shoulder.

“Hold on a sec,” Buffy said to the person on the other end of her phone, hurrying to intercept him. “Where are you going?”

He bent his head so he could speak into her ear. “I need to use the loo. That’s alright, isn’t it? Or do I need permission for that now?”

He could see Elizabeth bristle at his words, and it gave him a small, selfish measure of satisfaction. Any other time, he knew he would never talk to her in such a manner; or if he slipped up, he would immediately feel ashamed. Right now, however, he was so sick of everything he couldn’t bring himself to apologize.

“No, of course not. I just think we should stay together until Willow does the protection spell with the others,” Buffy said, checking her watch, “which is only about thirty minutes from now.”

William blew out a frustrated breath, “Well, I’m not bloody well waiting that long, and I don’t fancy a group trip!" William hissed.

Buffy looked into his eyes and stepped back, her hands up in front of her in defeat

Seeing the hurt look on her face, he softened his tone. “I won’t be long; I’ll use the one down here.”

~~~~~~~~~

William closed the bathroom door and leaned against it, allowing himself to drop the brave front he felt he needed to keep up for the sake of the others. Brave was a far stretch from the way he felt. It took all his reserves just to keep himself from appearing likely to fall apart again.

He slid down the door to a crouched position and hugged himself, as troubled thoughts swirled through his head. Everyone he cared about was in danger -- because of him. No matter what theories Elizabeth and the others came up with, it was obvious to him that he was the catalyst for what was happening. Worse still, was that he had no clue how to stop it.

~~~~~~~~~


The sound of a fax machine starting up jarred Buffy from her thoughts. Giles had gone into the kitchen and Willow was busy talking on the phone to Xander. She walked over to the machine and took off the fax. It was from Wesley. She wasn’t going to read it, but the words, Shanshu Prophecy in the heading caught her eye.

It read:

Giles,

I wanted to confirm the passage that you and Willow translated from the original Shanshu Prophecy manuscript, which I sent you via Buffy. It is also my conclusion that word in question in regards to William satisfying the two-year clause, is wholeness. To wit: "If within two years, the vampire who has shanshued has not achieved wholeness, he will forfeit his future.”

As best as I can tell, I believe this means that William must reconcile his past with the present. I suspect this reconciliation, or wholeness, which the Shanshu Prophecy speaks of, is tied up with William recovering his memories of when he was Spike, and perhaps coming to accept that part of him as well. Precisely how he is to arrive at this coup de grâce, I have no idea. As you and I both know; prophecies are maddeningly vague at best.

Please let me know if I can be of further help and please give William and everyone my best.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

The color drained from her face, and Buffy’s hand shook as she read and reread the fax.

Giles walked back into the study, carrying a tray with a new pot of tea on it. Her look stopped him in his tracks.

“Buffy, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“That’s what I’d like to know! What the hell is this?” She demanded, as she rattled the paper in front of him.

Pushing up his glasses, Giles quickly scanned the paper. “Ah, this...I can explain.”

“Really, Giles? You can explain? How about you, Willow? You want to explain this to me, too?”

“What?” Willow said, turning towards the raised voices -- one particularly directed at her.

Buffy motioned towards the paper Giles held.

“Um...Xander, I got to go. No, everything’s alright...I mean alright as in The-First-didn’t-just-show-up-alright. Other than that I’m not sure what’s going on. I understand. Yes, I’ll call you and you do the same. Give my love to Angela and the kids.”

Buffy’s face was set in stone, but Willow could feel angry eyes boring into her as she walked over to Giles’ desk. She wiped damp palms on her jeans before she took the fax from his hand.

“Buffy...” Willow said, turning to her after reading it.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Buffy said, her voice low and strained. “Ever since he’s been back, you knew he only had...you knew about this two-year clause that’s been hanging over his head and you didn’t tell me. I asked you about it and you didn’t tell me.”

Willow swallowed hard. “Buffy, I didn’t know...”

“What do you mean, you didn’t know? Of course you knew! You were the one who read about the Shanshu before I’d ever heard of the damned thing; when I was having dreams about Spike being alive.”

“No, Buffy. I mean, yes. I did. But it’s not what you’re thinking. Until we had the actual manuscript...”

“The one nobody bothered to tell me that I was carrying over here from Wesley?” Buffy asked, glaring at Giles.

“Please, let Willow finish what she’s trying to tell you. I’m sure that you’ll see there was no intent to keep anything vital from you?”

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. “Nothing vital? That this two-year prophecy is saying that William could forfeit his future...cease to be? That’s not vital? That’s not my business? What the hell is with you people?” Buffy’s voice went up an octave, as her sense of the world seemed to be spinning like some crazy Tilt-a-Whirl.

Willow had tears in her eyes as she looked helplessly at Giles.

“Buffy...”

“No, Giles. That’s okay. I’ll tell her. When I first hacked into Wolfram & Hart’s database and read the about the Shanshu Prophecy, I did read about the two-year clause.”

“Why would you keep that from me? Why, Willow?”

"It was because of what I thought it said. In the ancient language it's written in, the word for wholeness is practically indistinguishable from what I thought the word was. It wasn't until we got the actual manuscript, that I realized I’d mistaken that word for another; one that is totally different, that I couldn't…”

“Why? I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you tell me whatever you thought it meant? What was it that was so secretive that you couldn’t tell me? Why did you think you had the right to keep any of it from me? What was it?”

“Love. I thought the prophecy said that he had to find love, not wholeness.”

Buffy’s shrill, explosive laughter made Willow wince. “Love? You couldn’t tell me that William had to find love? What the...?”

“Don’t you see, Buffy? Love was the one thing I couldn’t tell you about. The coven agreed. What if you hadn’t fallen in love with William after he came back, or had fallen out of love with him? If you knew what the prophecy said, it wouldn’t have been honest, because then maybe you’d be trying to love him when you really didn’t, or keeping him from finding love somewhere else. But then you were in love with him and it was obvious that he had found love, so I didn’t see any need to...”

“I can’t hear this,” Buffy said, walking towards the bar where she picked up a bottle of scotch, and without bothering with a glass, took a drink from it. Banging down the bottle, she turned back to Willow and Giles.

“Maybe if you both hadn’t conspired to keep secrets, then maybe I would’ve had the opportunity to consider that the part about love sounded a bit too easy, or lame, or whatever? Why would a prophecy be concerned about the one who received the Shanshu finding love or not? Maybe if you both hadn’t kept this from me, then I could’ve figured out how to help him in all this time, but you never gave me that chance. All this time, you both knew something about William that you kept from me. How could you? After everything I’ve been through…how could you?”

For that, neither Willow nor Giles had an answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After finishing up what he had come to do, William stood at the sink and splashed cold water on his face. As he raised his head, his breath caught in his throat at the sight of the image behind him in the mirror and he whirled around.

"Hello, William," came the soft, lilting voice he knew from the cradle.

In his heart he knew it must be a trick, but he still couldn't help but stare in awe and amazement. The vision before him was not that of the frail and sick mother he'd last seen the fall evening he reluctantly left to attend the Addam's party -- the night that changed his life forever. No, this mother -- beaming of health and vigor and beauty -- was the one he remembered from his boyhood.

He continued to stare at her, unable to speak.

“What’s the matter, dear? Cat got your tongue?”

“Is it really you?” William whispered.

“Why of course it's me, my sweet son. Who else would I be?” she replied; her words and the sound of her lyrical voice making him want to weep.

“Mum..."

He was rewarded with her gentle smile.

"Look at you, you’re...glowing.”

“Why yes, and I have you to thank for that, don’t I?”

“I don't understand."

"Well, last you saw me, I believe I looked like this.”

William gasped and shrunk back against the sink as he watched her appearance change from healthy to deathly ill.

"But then you took me, didn't you? Took my human life and gave me the eternal kiss of life." As she spoke her features changed to those of a vampire; it was all the more horrible because this evil, leering thing was looking out at him from the face of the first person he loved in this world.

“That wasn’t quite what you wanted though, was it? Wanted me to still be your doddering old mum, and when all I wanted was to take my leave from you, to pry you from my apron strings once and for all. So you staked me didn't you? Killed me good and proper so you could go off with your new trollop!"

"No! Oh, God…please, no,” William whimpered, closing his eyes tight.

“Do you think God will help you after all you’ve done? After what you did to me?”

“Or to me?”

William’s eyes flew open at the sudden sound of familiar male voice.

“Hello, little brother,” Henry said, his lips curling upward in a cruel smile.

“How’s my nice parcel of land in California doing these days? You know; the one you stole after you murdered me? Did you make a killing in gold? No…wait. That’s not the sort of killing you and your ilk went in for, was it?”

“Henry,” William gasped. Nausea rose in him as he stared in horror at the grossly mutilated face of his once-handsome brother. He shuddered as he looked at the bloody arteries and tendons hanging out of his neck; exposed from the savage mauling he’d obviously received. It was almost worse than the railroad spike that stuck out of the middle of his forehead.

“I always knew mum should’ve bashed your pathetic brains in when you were still a squalling infant, and before you could turn into the bumbling, socially backward ponce who embarrassed me by his very existence. You don't know how I loathed ever having to lay claim to be related to such a waste of space; let alone one who spouted poetry worse than offal!"

William's head felt light and his heart pounded from the verbal onslaught, each word like a punch to his gut.

“I'm sorry," he whispered. "I’m so very sorry. I never meant to...”

Henry’s face changed into something that even William's most terrifying dreams of hell could never have conjured. Its mouth, filled with row upon row of razor sharp and blood stained teeth that a shark would envy, erupted in ruthless laughter, which echoed off of the tiles. All the while, its black, cold eyes bore into his own.

“Oh, you will be sorry when I’m finished with you once and for all, William.”

~~~~~~~~~

Stunned beyond coherent thought by this latest blow, Buffy stood by the bar; her hand gripped tightly around the bottle of scotch, she stared into the void.

“Buffy?”

She didn’t respond. Giles walked over to her and said her name again.

Finally she looked up.

“Where’s William?”

That’s when they heard him scream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles raced down the hall assuming both Willow and Buffy were behind him.

“William! What is it? What’s wrong?" Giles called, as he tried the handle, but it wouldn’t budge.

"Open the door!"

As though it were very, very far away, William could hear the pounding, but was powerless to look away from the monstrous specter in front of him. He could hear himself scream, as it turned into a black, snake-like cloud that shot towards him before disappearing in a bright flash of yellow light.

“Buffy! Willow!” Giles called as he struggled uselessly with the door.

“I got it,” Willow said.

Giles looked around and frowned. With all this having happened so quickly, he hadn’t even realized until now that, indeed, Buffy hadn’t followed. This didn’t bode well.

Willow took a deep, cleansing breath and focused her will as she started to draw in the kinetic energy necessary to wield the magical forces she needed to break down the door’s barrier.

As she did, Giles was still trying to push his way in. Suddenly the door flew open of it’s own accord, causing him to nearly fall into the bathroom as William stumbled out into the hallway.

“What happened?” Giles asked.

Panting heavily and trembling, William could only shake his head.

“You saw something, didn’t you? Or someone?” Willow asked.

He looked at her briefly, then nodded. “My...mother. She was here, she and my brother, Henry. They told me...they said...” William swallowed hard, unable to go on.

Giles put his hand on William’s shoulder “You must listen to me. It was not them. It was The First, masquerading as your loved ones. “

“I know,” William said, his voice faltering. “It showed its true face to me after..." He was going to say after it was done with him, except that it wasn’t; it had promised that it was most definitely not done with him.

Both Giles and Willow started talking at once; consoling him, and imparting what they knew of The First, but he wasn't listening. His attention had been drawn to Buffy as she stood in the doorway of the study, wearing as lost a look on her face as he felt -- and that scared him nearly as much as seeing The First had.

“Elizabeth?” William said, immediately going to her side. She didn’t answer.

The talk trailed off as the others now also noticed her standing there.

“It was The First, Buffy. It was here. It came to William,” Giles said.

Her pupils dilating were the only sign that she’d heard the watcher.

William repeated her name, tentatively taking hold of her arms. Finally her eyes focused on him, as though she’d just woken up.

“Are you alright?” Buffy asked softly.

Relief flooded through him. “I am, although I guess you were right about my waiting.”

“Waiting…what?”

“To go to the loo. The First decided to pay me a call while I was in there; think I’d have preferred the group trip after all,” he said wryly.

“Group trip…what?”

William shook his head. “Never mind. Point is...”

“Are you alright?” Buffy repeated tonelessly.

He studied her closely, not understanding what it was that he wasn’t seeing, but it filled him with cold dread.

“Look at me, luv,” William said until her eyes focused on him again. Smiling softly, he took her hand and put it on his face. “I’m alright, see?”

“Good. It’s good you’re alright,” Buffy said, turned and walked the few paces back into the study. The rest of them followed.

Giles went over to the bar and took the bottle which Buffy had been previously holding onto, and poured a generous measure into two tumblers. Instead of handing the glasses to them, he purposely walked across the room and set them on the coffee table. William understood and led Buffy over to the couch. He handed her one of the tumblers while he quickly drained the contents of the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~

9:00AM

“Giles, it’s time,” Willow said.

“Can you do it from here?”

“No, sorry. I need to be alone only with those who are forming the circle, even if it is a ‘virtual’ circle.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being alone upstairs right now.”

“I know, but I won’t be. I’m not. I can already feel the other’s strength pulling me. I’ll be fine,” Willow said, her voice strong and sure, and with that, she turned and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The mood in the study was somber as they waited for Willow. Giles soon retreated to his desk with the pretense of doing something, though in reality, he was on full alert. On the couch, William sat nervously fidgeting with his glass, as he cast sidelong glances at Buffy; her out-of-character stillness and lack of emotions only serving to make him more restless by the moment.

“Shouldn’t be long now until Willow finishes,” he said.

“Good,” Buffy said, once again answering his attempt at conversation with a monosyllabic answer.

Unable to stand it any longer, he rose and walked over to the desk.

“I think something’s wrong,” William said, speaking very softly so that only Giles could hear. Although, given the way she was acting, he doubted she’d pay any attention to what was being said anyway.

“What do you mean? You think something’s gone wrong with Willow’s spell? ” Giles asked, starting to rise.

William quickly shook his head, and Giles sat down once again.

“It’s Elizabeth. She’s not acting like herself. She’s barely said a word since…”

Just then Willow came flouncing into the room, a look of relief on her face, and an aura of power surrounding her.

“It’s done!”

“It worked?” Giles asked.

“Yep, we’re protected here now. This house is …well, as safe as houses. At least the protection spell should hold for the next twenty-four hours. When Althenea and the others get here tomorrow they’ll be able to reinforce it, plus cast a wider net encompassing not just those here, but anyone else who might be connected to William or the last battle somehow.”

“You mean you and your friends can actually stop The First from doing anything more?” William asked, a glimmer of hope stirring in his breast.

“Well, um…no. Not stop as much as impede its efforts until we figure out how to fight it for real.”

“Oh…”

“Still,” Giles said, rising. “That’s a very good thing. We don’t want The First to be able to pop in here when we’re trying to discuss it, or worse, terrorizing us or those we know anymore than it already has.”

William nodded, then looked over at Elizabeth. She was saying something, but so quietly he couldn’t hear. He walked over to her to listen, but she’d stopped talking by then.

“Elizabeth? Were you trying to say something, luv?” William asked, waiting for what seemed like a long time before she finally answered.

“No.”

William puffed out a breath of air in frustration as he studied her too-quiet demeanor.

Giles cleared his throat.

“From what Willow has just said, I think it’s safe to say that we can all move about now without fear of being intercepted by The First. I for one am grateful for that. I’m also quite famished.”

“Me, too. I think I worked up an appetite with all that spell-casting,” Willow said, with a nervous laugh.

Although food had been the furthest thing from his mind during all this, William’s stomach gurgled at the mention of it. He looked over at Elizabeth and at the empty glass that she still in her hand, as though she’d forgotten about it being there.

“Yeah, I think we could all do with something. What do you think, Elizabeth?” William asked, kneeling down in front of her and gently taking the glass from her. “Want me to fix you something to eat?”

He tilted his head, as his blue eyes looked hopefully into hers.

“Okay,” she said simply.

He smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before rising.

Giles had already left the study, and Willow was now leaving as well.

William hesitated at the door. He didn’t want to leave her alone. Giles had already left the study, and Willow was now walking out as well. He followed her out into the hallway and called to her.

“What’s up?”

“Do you think you might stay with Elizabeth while I’m getting her something to eat?”

Willow hesitated. The last thing she wanted right now was to put herself in the position of having another verbal smack down with Buffy, but that was something she couldn’t tell William.

“I could,” she said, trying to sound reasonable, “but if it’s because you’re worried about The First, you really don’t have to be. We’re safe; at least for now. The First can’t …”

“I know. I just…please, Willow?”

She looked at him and relented. “Sure, no problem. I promise I’ll stay here and keep her company until you get back.”

William let out a sigh of relief.

“I can get you something, too, if you’d like?”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll just wait until you get back.”

“You sure? It’s no bother.”

Willow felt like her head might explode. Instead, she pasted on her best grin. “I’m sure! Go on now, okay?”

“Thanks.” He looked back into the study one more time, then went towards the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow took a deep breath and walked back into the study. There was no reaction from Buffy, although she could have sworn she’d heard her mumbling something as she walked in.

“Boy, sure got messy in here, didn’t it?” She said lightly, as she nervously went about cleaning up the assorted glasses and plates that had accumulated over the last couple of hours. That only took her a few minutes and soon the room returned to an uncomfortable silence. Unable to stand it, she walked over to where Buffy was sitting and sat in a chair across from her.

“Buffy, I really am sorry about not telling you what I thought the Shanshu Prophecy said. I was only going by what the coven counseled me to do. Looking back, I should’ve told you anyway.” Willow continued to express her regrets any way she could think of, knowing even as she listened to herself that they sounded pretty thin. When her phone rang and it was Kennedy, she was more than glad to have a good excuse to stop; she was being ignored anyway. Even the apologetic look she offered went unnoticed as she stood up and moved away from the couch to take the call.

“Hey, Sweetie. What? Oh, honey, that’s awful...your dad’s back in the hospital? Open heart surgery? No, I don’t think it has anything to do with The First either, but thanks for reassuring me...no, that’s alright, you need to stay there...can’t be helped...wait...you need what? Yeah, honey, I have it. It’s on my computer.”

She took a quick glance at Buffy -- still not moving, not talking, and most definitely not interested in what was going on with her life -- and made a decision.

“Hold on, Kennedy,” Willow said, covering the phone.

“Buffy, I’ve got to go get something from upstairs. I’ll be right back, and William will be back in a minute, too, okay?” There was no answer forthcoming. Not that she’d expected one. As far as Willow was concerned, her conscience was clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Had she stayed for another minute she would've heard the words that Buffy had only mumbled before, but now spoke clearly:

“It just keeps coming...”


END CHAPTER 208