1880 - Chapter 3

Turning to face her room, she let her eyes roam over her surroundings. Everything was dark, the wood and the walls, the furniture and the curtains. It all seemed so dank and miserable.

Or maybe that was just her feelings reflecting themselves in her environment.

She sighed as she sat on the chair by the door, the one William had occupied before she’d foolishly scared him by stripping. She hadn’t even thought about it, she’d just taken her top off, completely forgetting where she was and who she was with.

Looking down at her muddied trainers and combats, she frowned. She needed to get her clothes cleaned up, and herself along with them. She couldn’t spend what little money she had on new clothes, she’d need that for lodgings and food, and anything else that cropped up. Clothes weren’t important. It wasn’t like she was planning on staying.

She just wanted to be home.

Standing up, she walked slowly over to the bathtub she had spotted on first entering the room and began to go about filling it up. She looked at the bar of soap that was neatly placed in a little tray beside the bath and then at the towels.

Everything about this place and time was so prim and proper. Part of her wanted to mess the entire room up until it reflected her inner chaos. She wanted to make it as close to her world as possible, wanted to make it her world.

As the water gradually filled the bath, she stripped off her clothes and then stared at herself in the mirror. She was a state. Looking at her reflection, it was no wonder that William had reacted that way when he’d first met her. She couldn’t blame him for believing that the dirty-faced girl looking back at her was going to attempt to rob him.

Sighing at her appearance, she thought about everything that had happened to her and how crazy everything seemed. William thought she was the insane one, but she was thinking it was everyone else, and she was the only sane person in this place.

She couldn’t believe he could live in a world so ordered and boring. Where was the fun? The music and the movies? The television? The cars, hanging out with your friends, window-shopping and dressing how you wanted to?

This place would make her crazy if she had to live here.

She couldn’t blame Spike for wanting to trade it in for a more interesting life as a vampire. Right now, she was starting to think that it sounded like a good idea. At least vampires led long exciting lives, ones full of adventure and ones less strict.

Stepping into the bathtub, she let her body adjust to the temperature and then sank under the water, letting it completely cover her.

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling through the water. Keeping herself under the water, she thought about how quiet it was, how peaceful. She ignored her breath as it tried to push out of her and continued to hold it in, waiting until the very last second possible before surfacing.

Coming up for air, she ran her hands over her hair and smoothed it back.

Looking at the bathroom, the only good thing she could find to say about it was at least it wasn’t brown. It was white and black. She raised her brows as she wondered if all houses in Victorian England were decorated as blandly as the one she was currently occupying.

She wondered what William’s house looked like. She remembered him mentioning his mother, and she couldn’t help giggling as she wondered what kind of woman raised a poet like him. He was so sensitive, so delicate.

Such a mummy’s boy.

She giggled again and was amazed at how much more relaxed it made her. She wanted to laugh, wanted to poke fun at her situation in order to make it seem a lot less worse than it really was, but missed home far too much for it to have any lasting effect.

She’d see Dawn again, she’d see her friends and Giles, and she’d see the Bronze. She’d see her patrol haunts.

She’d see Spike.

Seeing William was throwing everything into perspective as far as her feelings were concerned.

He made her miss Spike so much. He made it painfully clear that she had feelings other than annoyance, anger and hate for the blond vampire.

He made her see that she loved him.

Telling herself that she’d see him soon enough, she began to scrub the dirt off her skin and then washed her hair as best she could with the soap. She allowed herself a few minutes longer to soak and then got out of the bath. Wrapping a towel around herself, she grabbed hold of her clothes and threw them into the still warm water.

She rubbed them against each other, trying to get the mud off them and make them a little more presentable. She didn’t care that she’d be dressed as a boy for the rest of the time she was stuck here, but she did care that she looked like a beggar.

Wringing the excess water out of her clothes, she held them up and smiled at how clean she’d managed to get them. At first glance, they looked as though she’d put them through the washing machine—it was only on closer inspection that she could see the faint marks where the dirt had been.

Carrying them with her, she walked into the main room and hung them in front of the fire so they would dry by tomorrow. She wrapped a towel around her hair and then crouched down in front of the fire to place a few more logs onto it to keep it going all night.

Curling up in the chair she’d occupied earlier, she stared at the fire and tried to think about how she was going to get herself out of the situation she’d found herself in.

She’d found William, and she knew that he’d help her if she proved herself worthy of his trust. She would have to answer a few of the questions she’d seen in his eyes, but she couldn’t risk telling him too much. She didn’t want to think about the consequences of telling someone in this time exactly what the future was like, or what they were like in the future. She could drive him not to become a vampire and that would change the course of history.

No, one thing was certain, she couldn’t interfere with this timeline. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible so her presence didn’t have a negative impact.

For all she knew, she may have been destined to come back to this timeline, but she wouldn’t risk the future for the sake of that idea. She would do as instinct told her—surely that was what should happen.

If William asked her things that she felt she couldn’t answer, she’d change the subject, or pretend she hadn’t heard him. She knew he was intelligent, she had Spike as proof of that, and if she explained that she couldn’t risk upsetting the fabric of time, she was sure he would understand.

Staring at the fire as it crackled and popped, she tried to come up with a plan, one that would get her home as soon as possible. She’d already been away from Dawn for over four months. She couldn’t leave her alone again.

Picking the amulet up, she stared at it as she ran her fingers over the face, tracing the raised pattern that decorated it. She let her mind empty, hoping it would help her find the answer to how she was going to find a way home.

She needed information. In a situation like this Giles would be heading straight for the books. She wondered if they’d realised that she was gone yet. Would they be looking for her now? Would they be worried about her?

Spike would be nigh on frantic, probably driven on by Dawn’s distress and Anya’s misplaced comments.

She smiled as it gave her small comfort to know that there would be people in the world looking for her, people who loved her. She could almost picture Spike hovering around the others, asking them what was taking so long and telling them to get a move on, all done in that angry tone of voice that always seemed so commanding.

It was no wonder other vampires looked to him as a leader, just like her friends looked to her. He was strong, clever and knew how to command the troops.

She sighed.

She couldn’t research. The one time she actually wanted to, she didn’t have the books and didn’t know where to get any either. Where in London would have books on amulets and time portals?

Her eyes widened and she smiled.

The Council.

Their headquarters had always been in London, and if anyone had books on this kind of thing, it was stuffy old Watchers. She couldn’t imagine what they would have been like in this time. They were bad enough in hers. In this one, they’d be a million times duller.

Now all she had to do was find out where the office was, get in and get out with the books.

Letting her gaze move back to the fire, she searched her memory for what Giles had told her about the Council when she’d first became a Slayer and had moved to Sunnydale. He’d been reminiscing one night during her training, had told her about the glorious building that was the headquarters and that one day she would have to see it for herself. Apparently it was marvellous, set beautifully with breathtaking views.

Views of the Thames.

Views of the Houses of Parliament.

Buffy almost felt like punching the air as she found another piece of her puzzle. All she had to do was go down to the Thames and find the Houses of Parliament, or at least a building opposite them. If the headquarters were as beautiful as Giles said they were, then the building had to be old. But then, it might be new too. The building looked old in her time, but in this time it might have only just been built.

She wrinkled her nose up as she confused herself and then sighed.

She wished the gang were here. She was certain that they’d have this cracked in no time and they’d be on their way home.

She didn’t even know what to look for on the building. It wasn’t like the Council would openly announce themselves on a plaque outside the door saying ‘Council of Watchers’. They’d call themselves something else, something more inconspicuous. If she was lucky, it would be something obvious to her, that or she’d run into someone heading in that direction. Watchers couldn’t be hard to spot.

She frowned as she remembered what William had been wearing earlier. He’d reminded her of a Watcher, his prim clothing all crisp and neat, and terribly brown.

He’d even had the glasses to boot.

Pouting to herself, she realised that all she could do was scour the area opposite the Houses of Parliament and pray for a miracle. She was going to need back up though, no doubt about that. She wouldn’t have time to get in and research there. She would have to bring some of the books back with her, and that meant she would need an extra pair of hands.

She wasn’t sure how William was going to react when she announced that not only was she intending to break into a building, she was going to steal from it too. He’d have a heart attack.

She almost giggled at that, the idea that he could have a heart attack right now.

How was she going to tell him? He was going to say no on principle. He was going to give her the same look he’d given her earlier tonight when she’d said she was going to sell her cross.

Spike would do it in a non-existent heartbeat.

William was a completely different matter. She could almost see him saying ‘no’.

She would just have to explain the situation as delicately as possible, not mentioning that she was going to take the books away with her until she was already doing it. She would just tell him that she wanted to see the building, not that she was going to break in.

And then what? He would lose all faith in her and wouldn’t trust her anymore. No, she would tell him that she had to get into the building. That he might be able to stomach, but she wouldn’t tell him about the stealing because he’d probably think she was exactly like he’d first thought she was—a thief.

On their way to the building, she’d answer any questions he had about her and where she was from. She’d keep him occupied and keep his thoughts away from what they were going to do.

Standing up, she moved across the room to the bed and took off her towel. Slipping into the oversized white shirt she’d found, she unwrapped her hair and then slipped under the bed covers. She pulled them right up to her chin, snuggling into them and wriggling as she attempted to get comfortable on the hard lumpy mattress.

She longed for her bed.

She longed for her home.

Closing her eyes, she willed herself to sleep in the hope that when she woke up this would have all been a bad dream and she’d be back with her friends.

She’d be back with Dawn.

She’d be back with Spike.

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