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“Giles, you in here?” Buffy called, entering the library before school.
“Hey, G-man,” Xander called, coming in behind her, then started to cough violently.
“You shouldn’t raise your voice, Xander. Remember what the doctor said?” Willow admonished, following her friends in. Xander was the only one of the three-Willow, Giles and he-who had almost died from poison gas and still showed the effects.
“Sorry! I was just trying to help!” he said once he recovered. Buffy spotted Giles and laid her bag down on the table, walking over to him.
“Hey, Giles, I had the wierdest thing happen to me last night. I fell asleep sitting up on my bed, had this really wierd dream, then woke up with the heavy wool cloak and this strange ring on. I think it was one of my Slayer dreams,” Buffy said. “You know, my previous incarnations or whatever?” Giles nodded.
“I’ll have to see the cloak, but if you describe the dream I might be able to find it. This ring looks familiar. I believe it’s Irish . . . a Claddagh ring. It symbolizes love. It was used as a handfasting ring in the area near Galway for quite some time. It still is, sometimes. I think you’re supposed to wear the heart facing in. It must have something to do with the quantum vortex,” Giles said, switching subjects. Buffy peered at the ring. She had found it on her bedside table that morning and figured she must have had it when she woke up the night before, though she didn’t remember much. It had just seemed . . . right somehow that she wear it with the heart facing out. She didn’t know why.
“I almost forgot about that thing,” Buffy said, pulling her mind back to the present.
“Maybe you went back in time and you don’t remember,” Willow suggested. Buffy turned to Giles.
“It could be possible, if something you did in that time altered something in this time,” Giles hypothesized, frowning. “I’ll be back in a moment . . . I found something that might be interesting in one of the Watcher journals.” Buffy shrugged and turned back to her friends.
“So, what are you doing tonight Buff?” Xander asked brightly, then started to cough again.
“Nothing, unless Giles needs me, which is doubtful. It’s not like I have a date or anything,” Buffy said sighing.
“What do you say to the Bronze?” Xander asked, then belatedly turned to Willow. “And you too, of course Will.”
“Of course!” Buffy exclaimed. “We couldn’t go without Willow!” Willow smiled wanly.
“Thanks Buffy,” she said, glancing at Xander, who was busily watching Buffy. The Slayer gave her friend a sympathetic smile. She loved Xander, but only as a friend, and hadn’t quite gotten that through his head yet. She somehow doubted he ever would. Well, maybe when she got married. If she ever did. A boyfriend would be nice.
“I found it!” Giles cried, coming back from his office.
“We’re all ears,” Buffy said, turning to her Watcher.
“In seventeen fifty three your many times great-grandmother was the Slayer. From descriptions of your dreams I believe you are her reincarnated,” Giles said.
“Is that just a coincidence? The family thing, I mean?” Buffy asked.
“N-no,” Giles replied. “Souls are almost . . . almost twice as likely to reincarnate into their own family again. Anyway, that year there was an unexplained Slaying in Ireland, though the Slayer was in Europe at the time. The Watcher later went to investigate and got reports of an unusual young woman in town about the time this vampire, Darla, was Slain. They never did find out who she was and though they tried to trace her-some of the people said she was from America-they couldn’t. She had dissapeared without a trace.”
“So what does this have to do with my new cloak and ring?” Buffy asked. Giles blinked in suprise, as if it was apparent.
“Well, it could . . . it could have been you, sucked back by the time vortex. If killing the vampire then changed anything now you might not remember it, but that would account for your wearing the cloak and ring, which you must have been wearing in that time. If you were there, that is,” Giles said. Buffy sighed.
“This is too confusing for me. Even if I was there, why would I be wearing an engagement ring? Lets just leave it at I have a new cloak and a cool ring, ‘kay?” She turned away and Giles glared at her back for a moment, as always annoyed by her levity in all matters. He then turned and went into his office, closing the door behind him.
“So we’re on for the Bronze tonight, right?” Xander asked. Buffy thought for a second and made a face.
“Actually, I just remembered, I sort of have to study. I have a math test, and I am totally going to flunk if I don’t study. Will?” Buffy asked, a pleading note in her voice.
“Sure,” Willow said. Buffy smiled, but Xander stared in annoyance.
“You’re blowing me off to study?” he asked. Buffy laughed.
“We went to the Bronze last night Xand,” she said. “Besides, it’s better than blowing you off for someone else.”
“Tru-” he began, but was interupted by the library door opening. A young man about their age or a little older (probably a senior) stepped in, looked around. He had dark hair and eyes and was VERY good looking. He also looked extremely familiar to Buffy, but she couldn’t place him.
“Hi,” Buffy said, stepping forward. “What can we do for you?” He looked at her and their eyes met with almost a shock. There was something so familiar about those eyes . . . Buffy smiled.
“Actually, I’m looking for . . . um . . . Mr. Giles?” the guy said, a question in his voice.
“He’s around here somewhere. Giles!” Buffy called behind her. “Anyway, what do you need with Giles?”
“I’m new here, and the office was out of school maps and class descriptions. They said I should come here,” he said.
“School map?” Buffy asked. “Those things are SO confusing. Believe me, I started here last year and everyone but the freshmen knew their way around better than me! It was extremely depressing, I can tell you that, to be going into wrong classes and asking where the nearest bathroom was like a frosh! School maps don’t help at all! Let me give you a tour, it’s much easier to find everything that way. And I can describe the classes and teachers too. The things they hand out at the beginning of the year are so full of crap! Never trust those things,” Buffy warned. The new guy was grinning at her. My goodness he WAS adorable!
“I’ll take your word on it,” he said. “I’m Angelo Nicostrato, but most people call me Angel.”
“Wait, let me guess,” Buffy said. “You’re (a) dead, or (b) REALLY religious.” Angel grinned and shook his head.
“How about (c) neither, my father’s Italian and my mother’s many times great-grandfather was named Angelus.”
“Okay, I could believe that one,” Buffy conceded, her eyes sparkling.
“Angelus was the original immigrant in my family. He came from Ireland right before the Revolution, fought in the war and then founded a university on the east coast. My mom is really into history and this guy is like her idol. He was a great romantic-he came to America looking for some girl he had met when she was young, and he looked for her his whole life, and never found her. He eventually got married to someone else and had children-luckily for me-but he never stopped looking. My mom’s a real sucker for the romantic stuff. So I got named Angel,” he said, shrugging.
“Does it run in the family?” Buffy asked. “The romantic stuff, I mean?”
“You’ll have to tell me,” Angel said, giving her a heart-stopping smile.
“They just met!” Xander hissed to Willow, who gave him a reprimanding look. Angel and Buffy broke their gaze to glance at her friends.
“That’s Xander,” Buffy introduced them, rolling her eyes. “And Willow. They’re my friends.” Angel gave them both a smile and a wave. Willow grinned at him and Xander raised his hand in acknowledgement, not looking too excited about his new acquaintance. Buffy turned back to Angel.
“I’m Buffy, Buffy Summers, so I really have no excuse to lecture on strange names-though yours is one of the nicer strange names I’ve heard,” Buffy said. Angel shook his head slightly, his gaze focused intently on her.
“Buffy’s a nice name. Anyway, I have a class schedule, but I don’t know what the classes are about mostly, and I have no idea where they are,” Angel said, laughing a little at himself.
“Well I’ll have to remedy that!” Buffy exclaimed. “There’s just enough time before school starts to give you a quick tour and get you to your first class.”
“I would greatly appreciate it,” Angel said, offering his arm. As she took it he noticed the new ring on her finger. “You have a Claddagh ring! They’re from where Angelus came from in Ireland. My mom’s really into everything about him you see, including Ireland. They’re exchanged like wedding rings in that part of Ireland. Where did you get it?”
“A friend gave it to me,” Buffy lied. If he was as good as she had a feeling he was he would have to know about her rather . . . unusual life someday, but now was not the time.
“You’re wearing it with the heart out. That means you’re available, at least in Galway it does. Is it the same in America?” Angel asked.
“Most definitely. I haven’t had any reason to turn it around,” Buffy said, her eyes daring him to give her a reason.
“Not yet,” Angel replied softly, his own eyes promising to take her up on the dare very soon. Behind them, Xander moaned, but neither moved. After a long moment, Angel remembered himself and offered his arm again. “Shall we go?” he asked. Buffy took it with a smile, considerably more optimistic about her future nights and not spending them all at the graveyard or studying. As well as her someday far-off marriage prospects. And he was so gorgeous too! Angel waved good bye to Willow and Xander, who waved back, then waited for Buffy’s answer.
“Forward,” Buffy said, laughing. “Are you doing anything tonight?” she asked as they walked out of the library together. “ ‘Cause I would be happy to show you the ‘happening places’ around town. All one of the-” Though the door cut off the rest of her sentence those left in the library got the idea. Willow sighed and Xander started hitting his head on the table.
Some things never changed.
Or read the Alternate Ending