ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 210 – THE TIME FOR SECRETS IS OVER

12:30PM

GREENWICH

After a flurry of calls every fifteen minutes or so, the only person who hadn't called back for quite some time now was William. Giles didn't know if that was a good or a bad omen. He was just about to call William, when he heard the front door open. He put his phone back into his pocket and headed towards the foyer. Willow was coming down the stairs by the time he arrived.

"Is she back yet?" William asked, hopefully, as he looked at each of them in turn.

Willow shook her head sadly.

"I was rather hoping when I hadn't heard from you, that Buffy was with you," Giles said.

Deflated, William sagged against the wall. "I didn't call again, because I couldn't bear to hear that she hadn't yet returned. I thought that perhaps by the time I got back…"

Giles nodded in understanding; his own false hope had just been dashed as well.

"Where can she be? Has anyone called?"

"I’ve got about ten slayers out in the field looking for Buffy and they’ve all been calling. Unfortunately, none of them have had any leads."

"Where have they looked?"

"If you follow me into the study, I can show you."

William nodded and pushed himself off the wall and followed Giles into the study. There on his desk, resembling a war chart for all intents and purposes, was a large map of London.

"As you can see," the watcher said, as he made a sweeping motion with his hand over the map, "the slayers have pretty much been all over London. Still, it's much like searching for a needle in a haystack, given the vast area. Not to mention, without knowing if she’s stationary or ambulatory…"

"What do these mean?" William interrupted, pointing to the dozens of marker-highlighted designations on the map.

"The circles are the places where the girls have been sent to look for Buffy. After they have called and informed me that they’ve been unsuccessful, I place an X in the middle. I’ve taken the liberty of including the places you told me you looked for her, as well. Those are in green, to distinguish them from the others’."

Giles picked up the green highlighter and uncapped it. "Where else did you look for her since the last time you called in?"

William let out a weary sigh.

"Pretty much just retraced our steps from yesterday, and visited the places we'd gone to before that."

"Care to be more specific?"

"No."

"Well, I hardly think that's helpful," Giles said irritably. "Tell me, what is the point in having the girls wind up at the same places that you've already been to…"

"They won't," William said, cutting him off.

"Buffy already told me that you and she had been back to your family's former house in Hampstead and Highgate Cemetery yesterday."

William's surprised look gave way to one of anger.

"Buffy only told me about it because I asked her if anything happened yesterday that might have precipitated your nightmare with The First."

William still didn't answer. The last thing he wanted was to have his distant relations pulled into this. Although, from what Beatrice told him it seemed at least she was already affected from having had contact with him

"Very well," Giles replied curtly, recapping the highlighter. He then removed two heavy volumes from one side of the map; it curled up onto itself with a snap, causing Willow to startle.

"What are you doing, Giles?" Willow asked, alarmed.

"Since this is getting us nowhere, and William doesn't want to share his information, not even in the service of finding Buffy; then I see no reason to continue on this particular path. Perhaps you can just locate her with a spell once you get your powers back," Giles said, walking over to the bar and pouring himself a generous tumbler of Glenlivet; which he downed immediately before pouring himself another. He turned away from them, as he tried to get his emotions under control. He knew he was being a berk under any standards, but his overriding concern for Buffy was ruling his mouth, as well as his heart at present.

Willow looked from one man to the other. They were both obviously at the breaking point and she felt it was up to her to diffuse them.

"It’s not that William doesn’t want to share, Giles. It’s just that some of the places he and Buffy went to were private. Isn’t that right?" Willow asked, giving William a gentle nudge on the arm, while noting that his hands were gripped so tightly on the arms of the chair that his knuckles were white.

The ticking of the wall clock sounded loud in the pregnant pause that followed.

"Yes, it’s private," William finally said.

Willow let out a breath of relief as she saw his grip relax.

Giles was about to argue that privacy wasn’t a luxury he could afford right now, then decided against it. He picked up the glass to take another drink, then thought better of that as well. Instead, he poured one for William and took it over to him, bottle in hand. The younger man looked up at the outstretched hand for a moment, before accepting the glass with a short nod.

William drained the glass, but shook his head at the non-verbal offer of another.

"Did Wally call back?"

"Who?" Willow asked.

"Edna’s grandson."

"Oh. No, he didn’t call. Dawn and Xander called...," Willow said, quickly adding, "they’re okay."

Giles shot her a quick, sharp look that she didn't catch, but which William did.

"Do you mean Dawn called again? Besides the previous two or three times she called you this morning trying to find out about her sister?" William asked coolly, addressing Willow, but looking at Giles.

Willow hadn't expected that. "No, just those. But how did you...?"

"Dawn called him," Giles stated.

"Yes, she called me. Had quite an interesting conversation; spoke at length, in fact."

"I imagine she's still upset with me."

"Shouldn't she be? Elizabeth is Dawn’s sister. She has a right to know what's going on."

Giles sighed. "I didn't mean to withhold information from Dawn, but I also didn't see any reason to upset her by going into a lengthy conversation, when there's nothing she can do from California. That’s why I didn’t tell her more than she needed to know."

William’s laugh was short and brittle.

"That’s rich, Giles. Or maybe it’s just secrets all around; at least when it’s you two who are keeping them."

Giles temper flared. "Yes, and you’ve been so terribly forthcoming throughout all this, have you? I seem to recall that you didn’t even tell Buffy you were here; she had to figure it out. I guess you don’t mind my keeping secrets as long as they’re yours!"

"That was different! You know why I did that!"

"Guys! Stop! This isn’t getting us anywhere and Buffy – who you are both worried about and who you both love – is still out there!"

The men glared at each other, then looked away. Giles was the first to speak.

"You’re right, of course, Willow. We need to stop this bickering and find her."

William rose from the chair and began to pace.

"You said something that I haven't been able to get out of my mind. When we were looking at the map you said that looking for Elizabeth was like looking for a needle in a haystack. You’re wrong. Dawn, however, was right on the mark. She said that Elizabeth would never just leave without a good reason for doing so, especially under these circumstances. I may not remember who she was in Sunnydale, but I know her now, and you two surely know this about her."

"He has a point, Giles."

"What’s missing is my knowing that reason. When I do, I'll know where to find her. I believe the reason she left is directly tied to what you told her that upset her; what you, Willow, had to apologize for again, and what you both have been trying to keep from me."

"Again, we are not trying to keep anything from you. Furthermore, I still don’t think that’s relevant right now," Giles said.

"I don’t much care at this point what you think; because I know I’m right."

William stopped and looked at both of them.

"The time for secrets is over."

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

Giles glanced over at Willow, who gave him a small nod.

"Very well," Giles said, deciding to skip any preamble, as well as the inclination to suggest that William take a seat. In the mood he was in, it was unlikely he’d heed his advice anyway

"As you already know; almost seven years ago, Spike succeeded in closing the Hellmouth by giving up his life. In doing so, he helped Buffy avert the apocalypse and saved mankind. That completed his desiny and, thus, fulfilled the Shanshu Prophecy. Then, almost two years ago-- five years from the exact date of the closing of the Hellmouth, --you came back human. That you are now human was

the reward; his reward for having done so."

Giles reached behind him and retrieved the tube that had been sent by Wesley. He pulled out the scroll and unwrapped another protective layer of heavy paper that was wrapped around it before placing it on the desk across from him.

"Is that it?" William asked.

Giles nodded.

It never got any easier. This. Hearing how his life - the totality of this new life - was directly attributed and intimately linked to the very thing he loathed and was horrified by; had run from ever since he'd found out about his past, only to realize that there truly was nowhere to hide from this truth.

Steeling himself, William slowly approached it - this ancient and yellowed scroll onto which his life had been prophesied.

As he reached for it, he felt an odd sensation. He withdrew his hand and looked at Giles. The watcher nodded once more, not knowing the reasons he'd hesitated. He took a deep breath and took hold of it. As he did, he felt a sudden tingle, which quickly spread from his hand, up his arm, and then throughout his whole body. It felt as though every atom of his entire being was suddenly thrumming with some sort of kinetic energy. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant. He let a few moments go by before carefully unrolling it on the desk.

Like all the other scrolls he’d translated at The Council, this, too, was in some ancient language. It looked similar enough to some he’d recently worked on, so that he could figure out a word here and there, but not all of it without translating texts to guide him. He mentally shook himself of his reverie.

"I don’t understand. What does the prophecy have to do with what you two told Elizabeth? She knows all about this; she the one that told me about it."

"I know she told you about the prophecy, but what she didn’t..."

"Didn’t what? What didn’t she tell me?" William asked, his heart sinking.

"You misunderstand, Buffy didn’t not tell you anything; she didn’t know herself."

"Wait!"

All eyes turned towards Willow.

"I’ll tell him, Giles."

He nodded.

Willow cleared her throat. "A couple of years ago, Buffy called me because she started to have slayer dreams again; dreams about your being alive. I think it was after she’d found a picture of the amulet in the newspaper from an archaeology dig that some professor was doing in Sunnydale. She’d tracked down the professor who had found it, and went to Chicago to get it from him, but once she got there, she found out that he had died. She then went to The Field Museum where he’d had an office, but nobody there knew where it was, either."

"But it was there; I was there, wasn’t I?" William said, as much to himself as them.

"Yes. Like I said, Buffy called me. Well, I figured that since Angel had given Buffy the amulet that she gave to you to wear, and since he’d gotten it from Wolfram & Hart..."

"Who are they again?" William asked, trying to remember what it was Elizabeth had told him about Angel and Wolfram & Hart, when she’d tried to go and confront him last year, after everything happened to them. Why had Angel brought it to her in the first place, and what had made her think it was to be given to him, considering the murky past that she knew they shared? For these questions, he had no answers.

"They’re this evil law firm that Angel was working for. I know it doesn’t sound like it, but I’m getting to the point, okay? Anyway, I hacked Wolfram & Hart’s computers to find out about the amulet, and found out it was cross-referenced with the Shanshu Prophecy."

Willow stopped.

"And?"

"Yeah...well, you see there was more to the prophecy than just your coming back human. There was also a two-year clause that had to be satisfied."

William stared at her. "What do you mean was a two-year clause?"

Willow shifted from foot to foot. "What I meant to say is that there is a two-year clause."

William looked at the scroll once more, then across the desk at Giles, and finally back up at Willow, studying her. Expressions, both guilty and sorrowful, played across her face almost simultaneously.

He let them both hang there in the wake of his silence, as he deliberated this new information, and tried to connect the dots.

"You both know what the two-year clause says."

They nodded.

"If I’m understanding this, Willow; you were the very one to tell Elizabeth about the prophecy in the first place. Am I right?"

"Yes," Willow answered softly.

"But not about the clause."

Willow and Giles exchanged a look; their faces both grim.

"Why? Why do you both know about it, but not Elizabeth? Not me?"

Silence.

"Tell me!"

Giles stood up; a silent warning, or a show of solidarity with Willow. He didn’t care.

"William," Willow said, her voice taking on an almost pleading quality. "It’s not that I didn’t want to tell her about the clause; it’s that I couldn’t,"

"What do you mean, couldn’t? Why the hell not?" William asked, his voice sounding loud in the quiet of the room.

Willow burst into tears. Giles went to her, but she backed away from him and the comfort he offered.

William was about to apologize, but hardened his heart. He didn’t care a whit about what the stupid thing said, but something about it was the reason that Elizabeth bolted, and now she was out there all alone.

"What does it say, Willow?"

"It doesn’t matter, I had it wrong."

He blew out a frustrated breath. "What did you have wrong?"

"When I translated the text I found in the Wolfram & Hart archives, I got it wrong. I got the word wrong about what had to come to pass in order for the your shanshu to stick.

The word rolled around inside William’s head; stick. Before he could ask about it, she continued.

"The reason I couldn’t tell Buffy was because her knowing it could change the outcome. I thought the two-year clause said you had to find love."

He laughed suddenly, as the tension drained from him, and the fear around his heart loosened its vice-grip.

"Love? You thought the prophecy said I had to find love?" William laughed again, shaking his head. "What the…why, then? Why couldn’t you tell her that?"

"Don’t you see, William? It’s precisely because of the nature of love that I couldn’t tell her. I asked the coven, and they all agreed, that by telling either of you – though mostly, Buffy, because you didn’t know anything at first - that it could affect the outcome. What if Buffy hadn’t really loved you when you’d come back? Or only felt for you as a friend? If she knew about the clause, she might have tried to love you anyway for the sake of the outcome, but it wouldn’t be real, and that could’ve prevented you from finding true love. Or…what if you’d realized that you no longer loved her after everything that happened to you."

"Rubbish!"

"We thought it best…"

He turned to Giles. "Have a long history of thinking you know what’s best for her, don’t you? Isn’t that why Elizabeth didn’t have anything to do with you for years?" William asked, immediately regretting it, seeing the stricken look on the watcher’s face.

Slowly Giles nodded. "Touché, although I’d say we’ve all been guilty of that as of late, wouldn’t you?"

William’s head was beginning to hurt. He turned back to Willow. "So, you thought that the two-year prophecy could be affected if either of us knew the actual contents of the clause, but you now say you translated it wrong."

If it were possible for a human to look even more miserable than someone who’d lost her best friend, mother, and puppy all on the same day, Willow did.

Giles spoke before she could answer.

"When you told me that your nightmares were taking on a more sinister quality, I thought perhaps it was time to take a closer look at what the prophecy had to say, if anything. I called Wesley, hoping that he might have transcribed it himself, when he had worked with Angel at Wolfram & Hart. Even better, he had actually procured the original scroll containing the Shanshu Prophecy from them, and had stashed it away. He was going to bring it over here to me himself, but before he could, there was an incident in which he and his slayers were attacked by demons whilst up in the mountains on a mission. Some of them were killed, and quite a few more than that, hurt. Wesley himself was hurt."

"Is he alright?" William asked.

"Yes, I believe he’s doing better now, thank you."

"Good…but how did you get it then?"

Giles smiled a bit. "By mere coincidence and perhaps a bit of providence, Buffy found his number on your phone bill at around the same time she figured out that you were here. She called to ask about you, of course, and when she told him her plans to come to England, he asked her if she’d deliver something to me. He didn’t tell her what it was; only that it was an ancient scroll."

William stared down at the scroll, then back at Giles and Willow.

"So, you got the original, then you two set to work transcribing it, at which time, you, Willow, find out you were wrong about the two-year clause. You decide to tell Elizabeth all about it, after which she runs out."

"That’s not what happened, and we’re still not sure that is why she left. Willow and I were planning on sitting down soon with the both of you to share our findings, but then last night with The First attacking you and Buffy in your nightmare, followed by the rest of what’s happened, we never got the chance.

As for how Buffy came to find out; when you’d left the room earlier to use the loo, she, unfortunately, picked up a fax that had just come from Wesley. It confirmed what we’d already assumed was the correct translation now. Having said this, and without waiting to be asked, he reached into his top drawer and pulled out the paper in question, and handed it to William.

"Just remember, although we’re sure of the translation, we’re not sure of anything much else."

William took the paper and read it over the entirety of it once, then again, and again a third time, focusing on the main caveat, ‘If within two years, the vampire who has shanshued has not achieved wholeness, he will forfeit his future.’

Now what Willow had said before about the shanshu not sticking made sense; he knew what it meant, at least what it could mean for him. Having read this, Elizabeth would know, too.

He set the paper down and turned to face both of them.

"I know where she is."

END CHAPTER 210