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Disclaimer: I own nothing, everything belongs to Joss Whedon, except Harker, Mariah, and Sarah
Author's Notes: I re-watched the Prom and it brought back some Denial, so this is set after Prom. HID (happiness in denial.) Jyll thanks for the help, and title, Luv u.
Part 1
"Where is he?!" Buffy yelled, bracing herself against the table. The library was shaking beyond earthquake proportions, and everyone (willow, buffy,giles) was holding on for dear life.
A demon the Mayor had summoned was starting to rise from it's once dormant state at least 10 feet from where they were standing. The demon's power alone would bring great evil and darkness onto the Earth, and with the Mayor's power nothing would survive. The only way to stop the demon from rising would be to perform the blood rites of Earth's most strongest creatures, in other words the blood of the slayer, and vampire. And the trio was frantically awaiting the arrival of Angel, they didn't have much time and if he didn't get there soon it would be hell on Earth.
"He's coming!!!" Willow yelled back, she was trying to keep the utensils for the spell intact as the shaking intensified. She was trying to keep a level head, but Willow was scared to death, not much time left, and Angel had not arrived. Even with Giles holding onto her wasn't enough to ease her.
On cue, Angel came tumbling through the library doors. The quake was only centered in the school, so it was difficult to get in. Angel got up and braced himself against the wall, his eyes fell toward Buffy, and she was still trying to stay on her feet, they made eye contact for a second silently saying they needed to get to Willow and Giles. While holding on to a shelf, Angel shakily walked towards that direction, and Buffy toddled to the table since she was closest to them. Willow and Giles had begun the spell as soon as Angel had arrived, all it needed was there blood combined. When Buffy and Angel came face to face, no words were spoken, they just concentrated on the task, and not each other. As Willow got to the end of the spell, Buffy and Angel took each others hand and held it towards the ceiling. With an onyx encrusted dagger, Giles plunged it into the combined hands of Buffy and Angel thus combining the blood of Earth's strongest creatures, and a blinding light enveloped them.
The light retreated, Buffy and Angel found themselves in a Victorian-style setting, the room they were in was obviously a library, but not the library they were expecting. Buffy looked around in awe, the setting was overwhelming her, Buffy had never seen anything with such beauty. But Angel did not see her vision of this room, he looked upon this in shock and worry, all he wanted to do was find out where they hell they were, and how to get out. He began to walk and observe the room, when he came to a possible conclusion about what happened he turned towards Buffy, and his breath was taken away.
Buffy was so entrapped by the room, that she didn't even notice Angel's shocked faced, when she did look at him, her eyes widened at his attire. Angel was wearing a pure white cuffed shirt, with black pants, and a black waist length jacket. Looking at his attire, compelled Buffy to look down at her own clothes, and she gasped in shock. Buffy was wearing a short sleeved, low-cut blue silk corset like bodice, with full skirt. Lifting her skirt to her ankle, she saw blue satin slippers, with embroidered lace and blue rosettes adorned her feet.
Eyes widened, "Where the hell are we?" Buffy demanded
Angel sighed, "You should be asking when are we."
"Will you drop the cryptic and answer my question." She said impatiently.
"Were in the past Buffy."
"How did that happen?!" Buffy asked in disbelief. "What did this?!"
"I don't know, something went wrong."
Buffy exhaled heavily while closing her eyes in the process. Wishing this was all a dream, she was going to wake up any minute now. She didn't. Buffy snapped her eyes open when they both heard footsteps coming toward the room.
"Mistress??" A voice called out "M'lord Craven??"
Buffy and Angel looked toward one another, neither knowing whether to answer or take off. But being the persistent one, Buffy answered. "Yes, were in here." Angel said nothing, since he was just as curious as Buffy was.
A beat later, the door opened and a girl walked into the room, she looked to be at least 15 or 16 years old. " There you are, dinner is prepared." she said brightly
"Thank you" Buffy said swiftly.
The girl nodded and exited the room. Buffy picked up her skirt and attempted to walk to the door, when Angel didn't follow she turned around. "You coming?"
"Buffy are sure you know what your doing? This isn't are time."
"No, but were not going to get anything figured out if we stand her gawking at each other." Buffy turned back to the door and left.
Angel smiled slightly, and followed her. They followed the girl down a long hallway and into a dinning room, which was even more exquisite as the library. In the corner stood a man with a white cuff shirt and brown pants, he bowed to Buffy and pulled the chair out for her. Buffy was trying to play it cool, she honestly had no idea what she was doing, and one screw up could mean trouble. If this was the past, then there customs are completely different then hers, and she had to be careful. During those times, anything inappropriate could cause her to be hanged. Buffy slowly sat down into her chair, and pulled a napkin in her lap, tension was evident in her face.
Angel sat in the chair across from her calmly, like it was natural to him, which it was. But he could tell how tense Buffy was just by the look in her eyes, she didn't know what to do or how to act, this was all new to her.
"Mistress Elizabeth??" The man in the corner said.
Buffy turned to him at the mention of her true name, "Yes."
"Are you feeling all right Ma`am? You look quite tense this evening." He asked worriedly
Smiling slightly, "Yes, I'm fine, just tired."
Angel noticed Buffy's hand trembling, "Why don't you go rest." Angel got up from his seat and went to Buffy to escort her back to the library. "Come." He looked in her eyes, silently telling her it would be alright.
They reached the library, since that was the only room Angel and Buffy knew it's location in the massive mansion. He locked the door behind them so they would have some privacy. Buffy immediately walked to a chair and sat in it huffily, she began twitching, and pulling at the corset-like bodice she was wearing, it'd been bothering her whenever she sat. Even in her petite size, the bodice was still binding.
"How could women wear this." She stated, still trying to get comfortable in it.
Angel walked to her and motioned for her to stand up. He walked behind her, and placed his hands in the center of her back, he began pulling at the strings to loosen the bodice. His hand gently brushed her arm, when he moved from behind her, they both shivered from the contact, it had been a while since they touched each other, physically and emotionally. Since that fateful night in the sewers, neither of them knew where they stood, were they friends or not. And Buffy didn't care anyway, after her sob fest, she felt unsure about him, and his feelings toward her.
She shook off his hand and stepped away from him.
"Thanks" she said, meekly. She knew Angel could read every thought on her face, but this wasn't the right time to start with him about there relationship, the mission was to get home. Until Buffy noticed something, when she felt his hand it was warm. She grabbed his hand, and pressed it to her face, there was no coldness to it. She noticed his cheeks had a pinkish tint to it, and he was breathing. "Oh my God....Your human." She whispered, releasing his hand.
Angel tensed up, his eyes widened in realization, now that he wasn't distracted he could now tell that his heart was beating. He placed his hand over his chest, and he could feel the steady beating of his heart. It was the most wonderful feel to him, this is what he had hoped and wished for, until it dawned on him that it wouldn't last for long. His hand dropped and his shoulders slumped.
Buffy saw the pain in his eyes, and she knew immediately what was wrong. "I'm sorry." She said, no matter what tension was between them, in her heart Angel didn't deserve to have his only dream shattered, but fate was cruel, and this dream would end.
Determined to be strong, Angel held his head up. "Don't be sorry, let's just concentrate on how to get out of this time period.
Nodding. "OK." She agreed, letting the subject go. For now. " But we don't even know how we got here, there could be many reasons."
"I think it had something to do with the spell, either something went wrong
or we did the wrong spell." I hope to God it stopped the demon from rising,
he thought.