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Part 4
2025
“Looks nice, doesn’t it?” Alex asked, coming up behind Buffy. She jumped, scared silly before she realized it was him.
“You have this way of just like . . . appearing, don’t you?” she demanded. He smiled.
“Sorry about that.” She turned back to the Christmas tree that she’d been admiring. It did look nice. One of their best. Sion had even come over to help with finishing touches after the Girls’ Day.
“What are you doing up anyway? I thought I was the only one left,” Buffy commented, feeling her heart rate beginning to pick up. He was only a few inches behind her and to the side. She carefully did not look at him, but concentrated instead on the lit up tree.
“You shouldn’t have to go home alone. Sunnydale can be dangerous,” Alex pointed out.
“Like I didn’t know that. I grew up here. My parents were Slayerettes. I have three stakes and about nine million crosses on me. I’ve taken martial arts since I was five, just like you.”
“If you don’t *want* me to walk you home . . .” Alex trailed off. She turned suddenly to look at him, and then his mouth was on hers again and those thrills were once more running through her body.
“Home,” she managed to gasp. “I should go home. Walk me. Home.” He nodded, not releasing her for another minute, and then they stood apart and looked at each other for a while before turning in the same second to go get their coats. They nearly bumped heads, but somehow made it out the door safely. Alex locked it behind them, putting the key in his pocket. Buffy walked a few steps and then waited, breathing out in an attempt to create a puff. It was too warm. Which, she supposed, could be a good thing. This time of year her mother always told the snow story. Now *that* would be interesting. Like ten feet of snow. In Sunnydale. The land of the sun. Or the Hellmouth, whichever way you looked at it.
There was an awkward silence as they began to walk and then they both started to break it at once. Both stopped and fell silent and then at the same time told the other one to go first. Buffy started to laugh. Alex followed suit.
“Wow. There goes an almost seventeen year old relationship,” Buffy said when she could control her giggling.
“We can’t even get out two sentences.”
“I have two sentences,” Buffy said suddenly, about to be daring.
“That’s one.”
“Are you going to the Ball? I mean, of course you are because your mother is hosting it, but are you going *with* anyone, and of course you aren’t because you don’t have a girlfriend right now—why I can never seem to figure out, but I’m just glad you’re not dating Ariana Hamilton anymore—and what I’m really trying to ask is if you’d go with me. On a date. Kind of. Except we’ll probably both go with our parents anyway, or, more likely be there super early helping ‘cause I’m basically family, and oh, wow, that was a run on! If I knew I was going to go on that long I probably would have brought water. Or not, ‘cause I was a your house. But I’m shutting up now.”
“I have no idea how many sentences that was, but I’m thinking more than two,” Alex said.
“I’m thinking you’re absolutely right!”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes I’d love to go with you to the ball . . . or be there with you or whatever.”
“You would? Okay, now I have to wait till I get home to scream and that’s just not fair,” Buffy said in barely suppressed elation.
“Sorry,” Alex said.
“No need to apologize. Not your fault. Not at all. Well, it really is, but it’s a good fault. Definitely with the good side. How are we gonna tell our parents?” There was a moment of silence.
“They’ll probably be happy.”
“Probably.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe.”
“Um . . . just show up together?”
“If we dance all the time they’ll probably get the picture, right?”
“Well, hey, at least your dad won’t grill me. I mean, he changed my diapers, right?”
“Right. And my mom’s not going to worry about me. Right? There’s nothing she should worry about, is there?”
“Not that I know of.”
“And it’s not like we’re going out or anything . . . it’s just one date, right?”
“Right. Right?” And then they were kissing again, in the middle of the sidewalk and Buffy had to cling to stay on her feet.
“Wrong?” she whispered when they pulled apart.
“Wrong,” he repeated. “Going out?”
“Going out,” she repeated slightly woozily. “But you’re in college.”
“Long distance relationships can happen,” Alex said.
“This is the age of technology, right? I mean, we could talk on the video phone and stuff.”
“Phone bills.”
“I’ll get a job. Mom’ll think I’m responsible. Maybe. She has trouble believing that of me. Which she might possibly have a reason for, but—” Alex kissed her again. “Thank you for cutting me off,” she said when she surfaced. “I’m Babble Girl tonight.”
“It’s cute,” Alex said. Buffy smiled.
“You think so?” she asked. He nodded. She gasped.
“Home! I have to go home. My parents will worry. A lot. They always worry. A lot.”
“Right. Home. Your home. Now. Going.”
“Right.” They kissed once more, quickly and then started walking again. Alex took Buffy’s hand as they walked and she didn’t pull it away. She didn’t want to.
“I’ll e-mail you all the time,” she promised.
“Me too,” he said.
“And we still have over a week.”
“A long time.”
“Not really.”
“No. Long enough.”
“Long enough. And then you’ll be back in the spring and for summer vacation.”
“Summer will be fun.”
“How come we never realized this before? All these years . . .”
“I guess we were too close to see it. You were like my kid sister. But you aren’t. At all.”
“I never would’ve guessed,” Buffy said dryly. His hand caressed hers and they kept walking under the clear starry sky.
2002
“Do you know how *not* amused I am?” Buffy asked, glancing around the totally dark library.
“I think I could hazard a guess,” Xander’s voice came from her left. Buffy turned to where Angel stood, arching her eyebrows at him.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Just checking. You get flashlights. There’s a couple in my bag and some in Giles’ office.” The movement of air told her Angel was nodding, and then he turned and walked unerringly to the table where her bag lay.
“How does he do that?” Xander asked.
“Vampires have advantages,” Angel replied cryptically.
“Night vision,” Buffy elaborated. Angel tossed her a flashlight and she caught it easily, flipping it on. The others in the library—Xander, Cordelia and Willow—blinked. Angel was getting the other flashlights.
“How do *you* do that?” Xander asked.
“Slayer’s have advantages,” Buffy replied archly.
“Hearing,” Angel elaborated in turn, walking back in. “She can hear and feel the movement of air.” Buffy beamed at him.
“Giles has candles,” Willow said, going over to one of the cabinets. Buffy dug the keys out of her pocket and tossed them to Willow who barely caught them though it was a perfect throw. She turned and unlocked the cabinet, pushing aside the weapons for the magical supplies. Buffy frowned when she saw the small white and black candles.
“How long will those last?” she asked.
“I can spell them not to burn down,” Willow replied, setting them out on a nearby table. “Where does Giles keep matches?”
“Out of reach of children,” Buffy replied, smiling, walking to her bag. She pulled out a lighter and tossed it to Willow. This time she dropped it, but retrieved it quickly, lighting the candles. Everyone took two and placed them around the library until the area they were in was fairly well lit. Buffy switched off her flashlight and Angel his. They faced each other, unsure of what to do next.
While Willow put spells on all the candles the rest discussed what to do. They could only assume that the power in the whole city—or at least a significant part—was out. Sunnydale wasn’t big enough to lose sections. Which meant a lot of people would be stuck in the dark. Sunnydale, though a big place for vampires, didn’t have that many power outages. Snow had been unknown the week before.
“We should probably go around and make sure everyone’s okay,” Buffy said reluctantly. “I mean, people could be stuck in bad places, especially with all the snow. Half the doors in town are snowed shut.”
“It’s Christmas Eve!” Willow protested.
“Yeah, and we have to get to the Bronze. I mean, Christmas Ball?” Cordelia pointed out. Buffy rolled her eyes, almost glad for the semi-darkness.
“Cordy, I somehow doubt the Ball’s going to be in full swing. In fact, I have a distinct feeling nothing will be going on. Except, maybe, total panic,” Buffy pointed out. “Besides, you’re the one that wanted to stop here and check your hair before the Bronze.”
“The snow is like totally taking out the curl!” Cordelia protested.
“It’s okay Cordy, we don’t blame you. Really,” Xander said sweetly. She turned to glare at him, then her expression softened and her mouth curved in a slight smile. The reunion had been a good one on both sides.
“Total panic doesn’t sound good,” Angel pointed out, going back to the issue at hand.
“Totally doesn’t! What if there are vampires there?” Buffy mused, then sighed heavily. “I like this dress!” she protested. “I am totally not dressed for snow!”
“I’ll come with you,” Angel volunteered.
“Yeah, I’ll go too,” Xander said. Willow piped up a second later, though Cordelia stayed silent.
“What?” she asked when they all turned to look at her. “I couldn’t help anyway! Besides, do you know how much this dress cost?” Buffy stifled a smile.
“That’s okay, ‘cause none of you should come anyway. Xander, Will, Cordy, you should stay here. You have candles and weapons. Both are good. If any vampires wander by I trust you guys to handle them, but don’t invite anyone in, okay? Angel, much as I hate to say it, we should split up. It’s just too much to ask for a honeymoon. I’ll go the Bronze and you check the mall and other big gathering places. Don’t bother with houses, vampires can’t get in there anyway.”
“But Buffy—” Xander began. Cordelia cut him off with a look. He subsided sullenly. Buffy surveyed them all with a slight smile and then gave a sharp nod.
“Get it? Got it. Good.” She grabbed a few stakes and tucked them into various sheathes on her body, tucked her hair into place, grabbed her coat and a flashlight, and was out the door, blowing kisses to them all.
“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!” she called as the door closed behind her, her voice echoing through the dark halls of Sunnydale High School.
Buffy trudged through the snow, desperately brushing snowflakes off her dress where they had a tendency to melt. On red velvet that could be very bad.
“Why couldn’t we have a nice quiet Christmas Eve?” she asked the starry sky, then grimaced. It was too freaky to think of a starry sky while it was snowing. Yet, there it was. The stars were quite visible and very bright and the snow was coming down in torrents (if “torrents” applied to snow . . . maybe it was just rain). “We were going to a party. It’s our first Christmas Eve as husband and wife.” Buffy stopped, delighted by that suddenly, and by the fact that in the next year all the holidays would be their first as husband and wife. And that they were husband and wife. She’d always wanted to get married, but at the same time she’d expected there would be a loss of freedom that came with it, a loss of love even, because she’d seen her parents fighting so much. But Buffy loved Angel as much as she ever had. Maybe more. It was like discovering each other all over again and knowing they had a lifetime to be together. Not that they had planned to separate before they were married . . . still, every young girl was programmed with the desire to get married and the thought that to do so meant happiness and being together forever. Buffy had seen the old movies. She and Angel were married now. Married. That was an eternal bond. They said so in church.
There was a growl and then a vampire leaped out at Buffy. She tripped it, sending it flying over her head and face first into the deep snow. She watched it sinking with amusement, then staked it. She turned and before she knew what was happening she found herself in a huge hole, flat on her back, staring up at the starry sky. With snow falling on her face. And all over her dress.
Buffy struggled to her feet. There wasn’t snow beneath her anymore—at least, not much. It was all above and around her. About seven feet of it. She’d fallen into a drift. She’d heard about them before, but never, of course, literally experienced one. She decided she wasn’t too fond of drifts. Especially since this one didn’t seem to want to let her out.
Buffy glared up at the snow surrounding her, making a few choice comments about it’s intelligence, and then a few more about her own for talking to snow.
“I am getting out. Watch me getting out. *How* am I getting out?” She kicked the snow and some of it tumbled down in a pile at her feet. Buffy got an idea. Ten minutes later she was back above all the snow. She made a face at the stairs that she’d constructed to let her climb out, then very carefully continued on her way.