Fabric of Time and Space

Giles didn’t even look up when he heard the bell above the door signal that someone had entered his shop. For most of his evening, researching had proved fruitless. In a last ditch attempt, he had retrieved his personal watcher journals to see if perhaps he had overlooked something about his charge and Faith.

“I still can’t believe you allowed the Evil Bloodsucker to stay in your house, all night! With Dawn!” Xander ranted for the dozenth time that morning.

Dawn rolled her eyes. It still bothered her that she’d found Xander so attractive at one time. Spike was a much better crush. Maybe vampire attraction ran in the family blood. Her mom had seemed to like Spike, even when he was trying to kill Buffy. Granted, she’d never liked Angel, but Buffy was the only person who seemed to really like that vampire.

“I’m not having this conversation with you, Xander. It was my choice. Spike won’t do anything to harm me,” Buffy said in a voice that left no room for argument.

“Blondie couldn’t even kill ‘er before the claim,” Faith said.

Xander opened his mouth to object, but Anya placed her hand over his mouth effectively silencing him before the argument got out of hand. She wanted Xander performance worthy…she deserved orgasms.

“Giles?” Buffy asked once she noticed that he hadn’t said one word since they’d entered the shop.

Abruptly, Giles looked up, “Ah, Buffy, Faith, you’re here. I’m afraid I have news.”

“I’m new to this Slayer thing, but isn’t news supposed to be good?” Faith asked as she sat at the table.

“Normally, yes. However, this is quite disturbing, and it’s something I’ve never seen or heard of before,” Giles stated.

“This is going to be big,” Xander said.

“What is?” Willow asked as she and Tara entered the shop.

“Giles has found something, but it’s not good,” Buffy answered.

“End of the world bad, or just bad?” Willow asked.

“It all really depends on how you want to look at it, I guess,” Giles answered.

“G-Man, the cryptic is killin’ me. Tell,” Xander demanded.

“Right. As I had feared, most of my research last night proved to be of no value, however, I continued looking. I re-read my watcher journals, and…” Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them into oblivion, “The words changed.”

No one really knew what to say. Giles was Level Head Guy. He didn’t come up with such crazy stories. It just didn’t happen. He was Giles. Yet, he had said it.

“They did what?” Willow asked. She was hoping the books had been jinxed.

“The words changed before my eyes,” Giles paused, “Look, I know you all must think I’ve gone mad, and I’m not entirely sure you’d be wrong, however, I did see the words change. I’ll even allow you to examine them for yourselves.”

This idea went over with the group and they began to early search the texts.

“Spike’s not in this one,” Xander said, “Why isn’t Spike in this one?”

Buffy looked over Xander’s shoulder and read the page, “Xander, Spike wasn’t here yet. He showed up after Angel moved to L.A.”

“What the Journals say makes sense to you, Buffy?” Giles asked.

Buffy looked around nervously. Obviously she and Faith were the only ones who seemed to be okay with this “new” information. “Um, yes?”

“I’m with B. This all sounds right to me,” Faith said.

“So, are our memories right or are their memories right?” Willow asked.

Giles massaged the bridge of his nose, “I’m not entirely sure. It is possible that both are correct. We might be dealing with parallel universes.”

“Why would the Council want to send me and Faith off to some other universe?” Buffy asked, “And, what happened to the Buffy and Faith that belong here?”

No one answered. Each entertained their own ideas.

“The most logical assumption is that they were sent to where ever you came from,” Giles answered.

Buffy paled.

Faith looked highly amused.

“This is bad. Very bad,” Buffy looked scared, “Giles, we have to fix this. Soon.”

“I agree, Buffy. First we need to find out exactly what ritual was used,” Giles answered calmly.

“Let the fun begin,” Xander quipped as the group settled in for heavy research.

After about three hours of non stop musty books, Buffy began to get antsy. She glanced over at Faith, who had completely given up on research and was examining a neat looking dagger.

“Hey, Faith,” Buffy called.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go patrol. I’m sure even in this weird place there are many nasties to be dusted,” Buffy offered.

“Sounds good to me,” Faith answered.

“Girls, the sun hasn’t set yet. If you really must exert some energy, use the training room in the back. I’m sure there is something back there that will keep you occupied until you can go patrol,” Giles instructed.

A childlike grin crossed the faces of both girls. They dashed into the back room.

“Is anyone else way wigged by Faith being non-evil?” Xander asked.

Willow repressed a snicker. She knew exactly why Xander was so unnerved by Faith.

Anya, ever the blunt one, was not as considerate as Willow. “Don’t worry Xander. I’m sure Faith knows that I’m the only one who can give you orgasms now.”

“Oh dear lord,” Giles sighed.

Xander blushed madly, “Ahn, those are the kind of comments you keep to yourself.”

Anya shrugged her shoulders. She’d never understand being mortal. It was so much easier when she was a vengeance demon. Fry this. Remove that. Simple really. The only feelings she had to worry about were pain and suffering. Not exactly a hard task.

“Looks like we found something,” Dawn said as she entered the Magic Box.

“Hi Dawnie,” Willow greeted, “How was school?”

“Lame. Total waste of time. I could have been here helping Buffy and Faith,” Dawn said.

“You need to go to school, Dawnie,” Willow admonished.

Dawn mumbled something under her breath and sat down at the counter to work on her math homework. She sent a questioning look to Willow when she heard banging coming from the back room.

“Buffy and Faith are training,” Willow answered.

Training they were. The two girls were exchanging blows and quips left and right. Neither girl ever gained the upper hand, but not for lack of trying. For every punch Buffy made, Faith countered and vice versa. Finally, Buffy was able to grab Faith and throw her into the wall. Quickly recovering, Faith came back with a new fire. She landed a punch to Buffy’s gut that sent the blonde to the ground. After regaining her footing, Buffy had Faith by the throat. Both girls were glaring daggers at each other, not out of animosity, just out of the nature of the fight.

Spike had slipped in through the back door of the Magic Box just in time to see the beginning of the fight. He was impressed, and that didn’t happen often. He’d always known Buffy’s fighting was more like a dance, but Faith’s was very similar. They both had unique styles, but they were deadly accurate in their own methods. He silently cursed the Initiative for the chip that was currently taking residence in his cranium. He would love to spar with the Slayer’s. Long gone were his days of wanted to drain their sweet blood, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to dance.

“Nice work, luv,” Spike said as he emerged from the doorway.

Both girls turned and looked at him with appreciative smiles on their faces.

“Few more years of practice and you two will be pretty good,” Spike smirked.

“That’s real brave, or stupid, hm, coming from a vamp that can’t defend himself,” Faith said casually.

“Bloody hell.” Spike really hadn’t thought about that part. He just assumed both girls would take it in stride. “This is the Slayer, mate. Since when does she take a joke?”

“We could stake him after showing him just how good our fighting is, and he’d never be able to do a thing about it,” Buffy told Faith.

“Yeah, but somehow that just doesn’t seem like fun, B,” Faith said, ignoring the vampire.

“I know. Sounded almost nice there for a second,” Buffy said.

“Now, Slayer,” Spike began, “No need to be stake happy. Ol Spike was just having a spot of fun.”

That was it, both girls erupted into laughter. It was too much. They had totally freaked him out. Like they would actually attack Spike.

Spike stared at the girls for a moment while his brain processed what had just taken place. The girls had played a joke on him. They had taken it in stride and, really, taken it a bit further.

“Ha bloody ha, Slayer,” Spike said. There was a smile teasing his lips, but he fought hard to keep it covered. He didn’t have a reputation any more, but he still needed to keep up appearances.

“We should check in with Giles and see what the gang has come up with before we go patrol,” Buffy said as she walked to the door that led back into the shop.

Faith nodded and followed Buffy.

Feeling like a ponce for just standing in the middle of the room, Spike quickly caught up with the girls and followed them into the shop.

Upon entering the room, Buffy found Dawn sitting by herself. She walked over to the teen.

“Hey,” Buffy said softly.

“Hi, Buffy,” Dawn replied cheerfully.

“Why are you by yourself? Don’t you make with the researching happiness, too?” Buffy asked.

Dawns features clouded over momentarily, “No, I get to do homework goodness.”

Buffy made an ‘ick’ face that made Dawn laugh.

“This does not make any sense. I don’t understand how no one remembers what is written in these books. For God’s sake, I wrote them and I don’t remember any of it,” Giles exclaimed.

This broke up the sister’s bonding moment and Buffy walked over to the table once again leaving Dawn to her own devices.

“Faith and I remember what’s in the books. Oh, and I, uh, remember bits of what not in the books,” Buffy mumbled.

Giles perked up, “What’s that?”

Buffy sighed, “Before I ended up here, on that tower, I was having Slayer Dreams or visions or something. I had glimpses of things that had happened or were going to happen. I had one where Spike was chained to your bathtub and we were feeding him blood from a mug. He was telling us about the commandos, but he wasn’t very happy about it.”

Giles removed his glasses. This was very odd.

“There were a couple other memories, too,” Buffy looked at Spike with a warm smile, “Willow’s spell.”

Willow blushed and ducked her head. She was still having nightmares about that day. It was so terrible. She could have been turned into a demon.

“’S that right, Slayer?” Spike drawled as he moved closer to the girl.

“Mmmhm,” Buffy answered.

Catching a glimpse of his ring, Buffy snatched it off his finger.

“Oy!” Spike complained.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Buffy said.

She moved the ring around on her finger. Nothing.

“Giles, the way that I started getting the vision dream things was by touching different things, or people er, vampires,” Buffy said, “This ring is what gave me the vision about the bathtub and the engagement.”

“So, these visions you were having were brought forth through a medium?” Giles inquired.

“Huh?” Buffy asked.

Giles sighed, “You had to be in contact with something for the visions to manifest?”

“Yeah, at first. Then Spike started having visions, too,” Buffy added.

“You gave me your bloody slayer dreams?” Spike asked.

She looked a bit sheepish when she turned to face the vampire. He swore she sat up at night and found different ways to make herself look irresistible. There were so many things about her that were just so bloody amazing. Truth be told, it warmed his undead heart that she would share something slayer related with him and not look disgusted.

“The night Spike decided to get even with me for Dru leaving him, we shared a vision. It interrupted our fight,” Buffy pouted.

“Dru left me there too?” Spike pondered out loud, “Bloody bitch.”

Faith snickered.

“What vision did you and Spike share?” Willow asked.

Buffy turned a deep crimson, “He had me chained to the wall of his crypt. Dru was there. He told me that he loved me.”

This time it was Spike who would have blushed if he could. He remembered that day all too well. One of his greatest muck ups of all time. Buffy had been so mad at him for that, it took getting beaten to a bloody pulp by the Hell Bitch for her to even consider forgiving him. Then, he was sure, it was only because he protected little bit.

“I remember that,” Xander said hopefully.

“We all do Xander,” Giles began, “Buffy had a vision about it. For her, it never truly occurred.”

“Faith, did you get any visions?” Willow asked.

Faith shook her head, “I’m vision free.”

“These visions aren’t mentioned in the journals and I’m sure something of that nature would be written. I know I would write it all down,” Giles said.

“Not to ruin the happy party, but B was havin’ the dreams before the Council showed up, hell, before I showed up. I don’t think they are going to help. Let’s refocus on finding a way for us to get out of here,” Faith suggested.

“And where the other Buffy and Faith are,” Buffy added.

“Yes, it does seem that would be the best course of action,” Giles said.

“Ok, Faith, Spike and I will go patrol and we’ll check back here after,” Buffy said.

“Spike? You’re taking Spike with you?” Xander asked.

“Do you really want me to leave him here with you?” Buffy countered.

Xander shook his head and mumbled something about annoying vampires.

“Dawn?” Buffy called, “Why don’t you come with us.”

The young girl made an excited noise and nearly fell off her chair in her hast to follow the three powerful fighters.

Giles was going to open his mouth to protest, but decided against it. Glory was gone as was Ben, so Dawn was in no additional danger. He had to assume that Buffy knew what she was doing. Even this Buffy seemed to take a keen interest in her “sisters” safety and welfare.

“What’s with the midget?” Faith asked once they were well on their way to the first cemetery.

“I’m guessing that the other Buffy hasn’t taught Dawn anything. She was probably protective girl with that god wanting her key and all that,” Buffy said.

“Really? You want to teach me how to kill vampires?” Dawn asked with wide eyes.

“Yep. I’m a firm believer in being prepared. This doesn’t mean that you get to go out looking for trouble,” Buffy said, “But this is Sunnydale, trouble has no problem finding you. I want to know that you know how to take care of yourself. There won’t always be someone there to defend you.”

Dawn nodded and took the offered stake from Buffy.

“Buffy, luv,” Spike said softly, “You sure this is the best idea?”

Buffy smiled at Spike, a sight that would never cease to amaze him.

“I’m sure it’s the best idea, Spike. She needs to be able to take care of herself. It’s a bit sad that that sister of a Slayer doesn’t even know how to stake a vampire,” Buffy answered.

Spike nodded. He had mentioned such things to Buffy on many past occasions, but was always shot down. That was the reason he’d taken it upon himself to protect the Nibblet.

“Post apocalypse slowness,” Buffy complained loudly, “Please? Give me something to fight.”

As if the Powers heard her, the earth covering a new grave began to shift. Dawn watched in fascination as a hand broke through the soil. Buffy waited patiently for the fledgling to arise. This would be an ideal lesson for Dawn.

“Ok, once he gets up, I’ll get him restrained, then I want you to stake him,” Buffy instructed.

Spike and Faith stood to the side and observed the obvious sister bonding moment play out. As soon as the young vampire had arisen, Buffy had taken no time in kicking it to the ground. As soon as it was down, Dawn moved in and plunged the stake into the creature.

“I missed,” Dawn groused.

“You want to know a secret?” Buffy asked as she dusted the vamp, “I missed my first time too.”

Dawn smiled up at her sister, “Really?”

“Really?” Faith asked incredulous.

Buffy nodded, “Yep. Merrick wasn’t real happy with me after that.”

There was no response to her statement. Buffy didn’t really talk about her first Watcher.

“You’ll get it next time, bit,” Spike encouraged, “If the Whelp can stake a vamp, then there’s no way you can’t.”

Dawn smiled. She was beginning to feel better about her failure. If Buffy missed the heart on the first try, then maybe it was genetic. She was so much happier with this Buffy, it broke her heart to say it, but it was the truth. This Buffy didn’t treat her like a kid; she treated her like one of the Scoobies.

“We should head back to the Magic Box,” Buffy said, “Things look real slow tonight.”

“Totally. I’m not even hungry,” Faith complained.

Spike raised an eyebrow at the girls.

“Ya know, Slayin’: always makes you hungry and horney,” Faith said.

“I’ll have to remember that,” Spike said. He looked at Buffy suggestively, who, to his surprise, returned his heated look.

“Does this mean I have to research?” Dawn asked unknowingly breaking the sexual tension.

“I think you’re safe with your homework,” Buffy answered.