|
|
A bright light lit up the sky as the remaining four time travelers arrived in the past and landed heavily in a snow bank, sending snow flying.
Buffy groaned and got up, looking around. "What the heck? Where are we?"
"Welcome to the past." Ms. Calendar told the four. Willow struggled up and looked around also.
"Oh my God! Snow!" She yelled joyfully, throwing up a bunch of the foreign fluff.
"Uh Angel?" Came Xander's muffled voice. "Can you get off me? It's *so* cold, and you are *so* heavy!" Angel apologized and stood up out of the snow bank, dusting off his long coat and top hat.
"Okay,what are we dressed in?!" Buffy demanded, noticing the girls' identical dresses in different shades of red, Angel's coat and Xander, who was still face down in the snow. "How far back are we exactly? This looks like my Halloween costume from last year!"
"Guys, welcome to Ireland. Christmas 1752." Ms. Calendar introduced them.
"WHAT?!" All four yelled, Xander standing up. And slipping on a sheet of ice and falling into the snow again.
"Not only are we in the past, but *Angel's* past???" Buffy bellowed.
"I brought you all here to show you all what Christmas was like when you were all young. But in your cases, not born." Xander got up again and heard happy laughter as something rammed into his back and knocked him down again.
"Ali! I told you to watch out!" called a male's voice from behind them. Buffy and Willow looked up, along with Angel, and all three gasped. There stood a younger vintage of Angel with his hair pulled into a small pony tail, a tattered peasants coat over his shoulders.
"I'm so sorry sir." He told Xander, helping the girl up, then helping Xander gain his balance. "My sister gets excited around these times. Are ye okay?"
"Uh, yeah." Xander said, checking to see if all his teeth were in check,then catching the other boys face. "Hey! Dead-Boy! It's your not-so-dead-self!"
"Come Christian. We have to get to church." Ali told the boy, grabbing his hand and pulling him away.
"Nice meeting ye. M'ladies." Christian bowed his head to the girls and walked after his impatient sister.
"Christian? Your name was Christian?" Xander questioned Angel, who just shot him a glare, then burst into laughter. "What kind of dorky name is 'Christian'?" Buffy glared at the giggling idiot, then tripped him, making him land once again on his back.
"Come on. I'm going to speed this up a bit." Ms. Calendar told them. She snapped her fingers and there was a flash, then it was night. But they weren't surrounded by the buildings of a city, but merely by small farms several acres large. They stood in front of a fair sized cottage with a barn and a garden in back and smoke coming from the cobblestone chimney. "I want to show you what Christmas dinner was like back then. Or, rather now." Ms.Calendar gestured towards the wall.
"Won't they see us? I mean,if Christian and Ali could, and Ali could hit Xander, won't they be able to tell that there are strangers in their house? And we can't go through walls-"
"Willow, these are shadows of the past. They don't remember a thing of us being here. They won't even sense us, since we're no longer whole. Try shaking each other's hand." The gypsy explained. The four tried it, and their hands passed through each other's. "See? Now let's go." They nodded and followed her in.
Inside was the soft glow of numerous candles and roaring fire. Smells wafted in from the small kitchen set off to the side. To their right were three couches and a fire place. On one of the couches were the familiar pair of Christian and Ali, Ali bugging her older brother with her new teddy bear.
"Oh, Christian, Ali. How could you ever afford this?" asked an older man's voice. The siblings looked up.
"We saved up for it, Father. Ali got a few pounds from helping out Ms. Reaily in the town, and I worked overtime at the tavern for money." A chubby hand held up an expensive looking pipe.
"Gretchen! Come look at what the children got me, and open your present!"
"What's the point? Angel's dad got a pipe. Big deal." Xander asked.
"The point is, they were happier with only a few gifts. They spent more time with family. They had a true Christmas. The point of this is to help you three rekindle the Christmas spirit."
"Then why is Willow here?" Angel asked.
"When she came, Ali told me that the ghosts would need help, since you guys are so stubborn and non-believing."
"I am not stubborn!" Buffy proclaimed angerly. "Am I?"
"All right ye three." Called Christian's/Angel's mother from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready. Christian, Montgumery, come help me. Ali, you set the table please."
"Yes mother." Ali replied, walking to a small cabinet,opening it and setting the long table to the ghosts' left. A few minutes later, the men reappeared from the kitchen carrying assorted bowls and bottles.
"She's supposed to be here. She always keeps her promises." There was a knock at the door, Christian set down his dishes and walked through Willow and Ms. Calendar, to the door. He opened it wide to reveal a tall young woman with long brown hair and glimmering coffee brown eyes.
"Theresa! Ye made it!" Christian proclaimed.
"Merry Christmas m'love." Theresa replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek and handing him a bag. Christian kissed her back and setting the bag beside the door, leading Theresa inside and closing the door.
"Mother! Theresa's here!"
"Okay, this is boring. Can we fast-forward it?" Xander asked impatiently.
"I think we've seen enough of this kind of Christmas to get the message into your brains. We've got two more stops to make..."
"Where are we going?" Angel asked.
"Present Past." Ms. Calendar said crypticly. She snapped her finger and
there was an extremely bright flash of light.