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Ch 1 - Glass Half Empty
Disclaimer: These characters in no way belong to me. They are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions, and Twentieth Century Fox. The story, however, is totally my own creation. This is the second book in my Kindred Series.
Author's Note: I neglected to mark the first set of postings as "Book One" of my Kindred Series. As I have now marked that section which is labeled simply "Kindred Series" as being "Complete" I wanted to mention this to avoid any confusion. The series is nowhere near finished. The previous set of postings was all part of Book One and we are now into Book Two. Sorry for any confusion that this may have caused for anyone. And now on with the story:
Kindred Series
Kindred: (noun) A group of related persons, such as a family, clan, or tribe.
(adj.) Having a similar or related origin or nature.
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
BOOK TWO
THE PAST REVISITED
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Chapter One
Glass Half Empty
Chaos is the rule of the day apparently. Angel mused while waiting for some semblance of order to be regained. The day had started out in turmoil when Buffy had woken up to discover Spike missing. When she’d handed Angel the note she’d found and he had read the very unexpected message, he’d thought then that the day couldn’t possibly get any stranger. From what he had been able to infer from the language and tone of the note, Spike apparently thought he was still William, still human, still in London, and still in the year 1885. That in itself would have been more than enough to deal with considering everything that had happened in the past couple of months, but no…it couldn’t be as simple as sitting down with him and explaining things, could it? Of course not! Life with Spike, or Will either for that matter, had never been easy. Will had taken off for parts unknown early that morning after leaving the note that had knocked both Angel and Buffy for a loop, and no one had been able to find him since. Angel had insisted that Buffy and Dawn follow their regular schedule and get to work and school. Buffy had previously told the school that Dawn had mono and no one had questioned it, so she was easily able to get her assignments. But after missing nearly 5 weeks of class, it was hard work to catch up. When she wasn’t at school, Dawn could be found at the mansion working on homework and watching over the unconscious Will. He’d been unconscious for three days, during which time they all took turns watching over him. Buffy had begrudgingly gone to work, although she spent most of her time there in a daze. She went through lessons and critiqued students’ form and abilities, but without the same energy she’d shown before all this mess. She’d protested vehemently at first why she should even have to bother showing up when her thoughts were still at the mansion, but had finally given in when the others sided with Angel on that point. Buffy had to argue her case even if she knew the other party was correct. She just liked to argue. Angel was as convinced of that fact as he was of his own current status as a vampire. Perhaps that was why she and Spike had ended up together. He never could resist arguing either. Angel quickly shook that thought away and focused again on the scene in front of him.
Buffy was still arguing with Xander and Giles, while Anya stood quietly off to one side waiting to see what they would decide to do. What would they do next? They needed to find Spike…and Dawn…now that both of them were missing…again. And they needed to find them soon. The sun would be setting in the next hour or so and Spike still had a lot of enemies in Sunnydale. Normally Buffy wouldn’t worry about Spike being able to defend himself, but if he thought he was still William… Well, he wouldn’t recognize who his enemies were at all, let alone know how to defend himself against them. Stupid, stupid vampire, or whatever he is these days. Buffy rubbed her temples trying vainly to soothe the headache she’d been sporting since that night Dawn and Spike had reappeared through the portal three days ago. Things just keep going from bad to worse. She’d thought that once Spike woke up, they could talk and sort some things out…maybe figure out where to go from there. His physical injuries were non-existent, relieving one major worry. She’d never even considered that something could have happened to him mentally. When Buffy had woken up that morning and he wasn’t there, her heart had leapt into her throat. She’d managed to choke down the bile rising in her stomach though, telling herself he was just in the bathroom or something. But when she’d found that note and heard what Angel had to say about it, she had wanted nothing more than to sit down and cry for the next week. Instead, she’d let Angel talk her into taking Dawn to school and going to work herself. He’d said that he would get Xander and Giles to help him search for Spike and insisted that between the 3 of them, they’d manage to locate him in no time. She’d finally agreed, even though she was extremely worried. Angel had tried to reassure her, but she’d seen the concern that he’d tried to hide, and that had magnified her own fears.
So, she’d gone to work and tried hard to keep her thoughts off Spike and what he might be doing, but she hadn’t been very successful. All she could think of was how confused and scared he must be. If Angel was right and Spike had some weird case of amnesia…if he thought he was still human and in London in the 1880s…then what would he do? Where would he go? How would he react to Sunnydale in the year 2002? They didn’t have cars or electricity or a million other things back then. What if he got hurt? Anything could happen to him. She’d managed to suppress her hysteria for the greater part of the day, doing a passable job of acting more or less normal…that is until the phone call from the school informing her that Dawn had skipped her last two classes. Buffy had immediately recalled Dawn telling her she’d call to let her know whether she needed to stay late and go over any make-up work with her teachers. And now that she thought about it, Dawn hadn’t called, and Buffy hadn’t noticed. Of course, she was more than a bit distracted with fussing at Angel over the phone when he’d called to report that they hadn’t had any luck locating Spike yet. Buffy hadn’t told Dawn that Spike was missing, because she hadn’t wanted her to worry or be distracted at school. But then one of her co-workers heard her on the phone with the school and mentioned that Dawn had come by earlier to visit Buffy on her lunch break. Hadn’t Buffy seen her come to her office? Buffy had groaned in frustration at that. There was no doubt in her mind that Dawn had stopped by when she was on the phone with Angel and heard everything. There was just no other reason why Dawn would have taken off otherwise. If Dawn had learned that Spike was missing, nothing would have kept her at school. She would try and find him. And she certainly wouldn’t have bothered to ask her sister’s permission when her sister hadn’t bothered to tell her this personally earlier. Chalk up another reason for Dawn to be mad at me. Not like she’s opened up and talked to me since they got back anyway. Not sure why she won’t talk to me, but she isn’t likely to forgive me for this anytime soon. Buffy grimaced at that thought. Hopefully that was the worst she’d have to deal with in this aftermath. Because if Dawn hadn’t gone off to find Spike…if something else had happened to her…then Buffy didn’t know what to do next or where to start trying to solve this mess. For now she’d just have to assume that Dawn was wandering around Sunnydale searching for Spike who was also presumably wandering around Sunnydale, most likely in a daze. But where are they? Where does a 15-year old Key turned teenage girl go to look for an amnesiac vampire with a soul who just happens to not be allergic to sunlight anymore? Buffy frowned and tried to focus on what Xander was saying.
“Buffy, I’m telling you. We’ve already been everywhere. Angel drove all over town today. Giles and I covered every place we could think of that he couldn’t get to. We’ve been in stores, restaurants, hospitals, you name it – we were there. I don’t think he left town. He’s probably figured out this isn’t London by now, but he doesn’t have any money, so how could he go anywhere? You don’t suppose he could have hitchhiked, do you? Angel, would he do that?”
Angel groaned at the boy’s idiocy. “Xander, we’ve been over this already. London in the 1880s was a totally different place than this is. We didn’t have cars, but we did have carriages and we did have crime back then, too. Will isn’t stupid. He wasn’t back then and he isn’t now. Even if he is a bit disoriented, he wouldn’t deliberately put himself in a situation where someone else could hurt him. Most likely he has spent the day wandering around Sunnydale looking for his home and trying to figure out what’s going on. Will’s got a very quick mind when it comes to analyzing a situation, which you should have realized by now since you’ve seen him in action before. He may be impulsive and reckless, but he’s also very smart. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn he’s figured out a lot of this already himself. As a matter of fact –“
Buffy interrupted him, too worried to even notice or be surprised by Angel complimenting Spike. “What do you mean he’s figured it out? What has he figured out? And what will he do with that information? Where will he go? Is there anyway that Dawn could have gone there, too?”
“I mean that he’s probably figured out that he’s in the future. He won’t know what he is, where he is or how he got here though, so he’ll be confused and cautious. He’ll be checking things out to assess what his situation might be. He’ll be trying to find a way to get back home, but he’ll know he can’t do that without figuring out how he got here to begin with. So, that’s where his energies will be concentrated. As for where he’ll go, I just don’t know. He wasn’t at any of the places I thought he might be, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there at some point today. We may have just missed him. As for Dawn, I don’t know that either. The two of them have always been close from what you all tell me, and they did just spend five weeks together in another dimension as each other’s sole friend and companion. Not that any of us know what they went through, but if anyone knows him, it’s Dawn. But that doesn’t mean that she’ll know how he thought 117 years ago or where to find him now. Which brings us back to the point in question. What do we do now? I would suggest that we split up in teams and start sweeping the town again, and that we take the cell phones so we can keep in touch. I’d also suggest that someone remain at the mansion in case one or both of them decides to come here.”
“Do you think he would come back here? I mean given what he apparently thought this morning.” Buffy asked. She hadn’t been able to believe it when Angel had explained to her what that bit in his note meant. Her clothes were not at all immodest by today’s standards. Really, that was just plain offensive for him to imply that I was some kind of…well, anyway. And Angel didn’t have to get such a kick out of the whole situation. Even Giles had looked amused when he’d read the note. It had gone right over Xander’s head, of course. But it was still irritating, all the same.
“Don’t worry, Buffy.” Angel grinned down at her. “I’m sure he’s seen enough skin in Sunnydale by now to realize that the dress code today is a bit different than it used to be. He’s probably figured out that this place isn’t what he thought it was, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he did end up coming back here. However,” he drawled, “it probably is for the best that you wear something a little less revealing tonight. When we do find him, we don’t want to shock him all over again. Might put him back in the sick bed.” Giles laughed out loud when Angel said that. Buffy turned red and glared at both of them. She was stopped from making a rather scathing comment (she wasn’t sure what, but it would have most definitely been scathing AND witty) to get even with Angel for that when the front door of the Crawford Street mansion opened. Her jaw dropped, and everyone turned to see Spike walk in carrying Dawn in his arms.
TBC
Author's Note: I neglected to mark the first set of postings as "Book One" of my Kindred Series. As I have now marked that section which is labeled simply "Kindred Series" as being "Complete" I wanted to mention this to avoid any confusion. The series is nowhere near finished. The previous set of postings was all part of Book One and we are now into Book Two. Sorry for any confusion that this may have caused for anyone. And now on with the story:
Kindred: (noun) A group of related persons, such as a family, clan, or tribe.
(adj.) Having a similar or related origin or nature.
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
BOOK TWO
THE PAST REVISITED
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Chapter One
Glass Half Empty
Chaos is the rule of the day apparently. Angel mused while waiting for some semblance of order to be regained. The day had started out in turmoil when Buffy had woken up to discover Spike missing. When she’d handed Angel the note she’d found and he had read the very unexpected message, he’d thought then that the day couldn’t possibly get any stranger. From what he had been able to infer from the language and tone of the note, Spike apparently thought he was still William, still human, still in London, and still in the year 1885. That in itself would have been more than enough to deal with considering everything that had happened in the past couple of months, but no…it couldn’t be as simple as sitting down with him and explaining things, could it? Of course not! Life with Spike, or Will either for that matter, had never been easy. Will had taken off for parts unknown early that morning after leaving the note that had knocked both Angel and Buffy for a loop, and no one had been able to find him since. Angel had insisted that Buffy and Dawn follow their regular schedule and get to work and school. Buffy had previously told the school that Dawn had mono and no one had questioned it, so she was easily able to get her assignments. But after missing nearly 5 weeks of class, it was hard work to catch up. When she wasn’t at school, Dawn could be found at the mansion working on homework and watching over the unconscious Will. He’d been unconscious for three days, during which time they all took turns watching over him. Buffy had begrudgingly gone to work, although she spent most of her time there in a daze. She went through lessons and critiqued students’ form and abilities, but without the same energy she’d shown before all this mess. She’d protested vehemently at first why she should even have to bother showing up when her thoughts were still at the mansion, but had finally given in when the others sided with Angel on that point. Buffy had to argue her case even if she knew the other party was correct. She just liked to argue. Angel was as convinced of that fact as he was of his own current status as a vampire. Perhaps that was why she and Spike had ended up together. He never could resist arguing either. Angel quickly shook that thought away and focused again on the scene in front of him.
Buffy was still arguing with Xander and Giles, while Anya stood quietly off to one side waiting to see what they would decide to do. What would they do next? They needed to find Spike…and Dawn…now that both of them were missing…again. And they needed to find them soon. The sun would be setting in the next hour or so and Spike still had a lot of enemies in Sunnydale. Normally Buffy wouldn’t worry about Spike being able to defend himself, but if he thought he was still William… Well, he wouldn’t recognize who his enemies were at all, let alone know how to defend himself against them. Stupid, stupid vampire, or whatever he is these days. Buffy rubbed her temples trying vainly to soothe the headache she’d been sporting since that night Dawn and Spike had reappeared through the portal three days ago. Things just keep going from bad to worse. She’d thought that once Spike woke up, they could talk and sort some things out…maybe figure out where to go from there. His physical injuries were non-existent, relieving one major worry. She’d never even considered that something could have happened to him mentally. When Buffy had woken up that morning and he wasn’t there, her heart had leapt into her throat. She’d managed to choke down the bile rising in her stomach though, telling herself he was just in the bathroom or something. But when she’d found that note and heard what Angel had to say about it, she had wanted nothing more than to sit down and cry for the next week. Instead, she’d let Angel talk her into taking Dawn to school and going to work herself. He’d said that he would get Xander and Giles to help him search for Spike and insisted that between the 3 of them, they’d manage to locate him in no time. She’d finally agreed, even though she was extremely worried. Angel had tried to reassure her, but she’d seen the concern that he’d tried to hide, and that had magnified her own fears.
So, she’d gone to work and tried hard to keep her thoughts off Spike and what he might be doing, but she hadn’t been very successful. All she could think of was how confused and scared he must be. If Angel was right and Spike had some weird case of amnesia…if he thought he was still human and in London in the 1880s…then what would he do? Where would he go? How would he react to Sunnydale in the year 2002? They didn’t have cars or electricity or a million other things back then. What if he got hurt? Anything could happen to him. She’d managed to suppress her hysteria for the greater part of the day, doing a passable job of acting more or less normal…that is until the phone call from the school informing her that Dawn had skipped her last two classes. Buffy had immediately recalled Dawn telling her she’d call to let her know whether she needed to stay late and go over any make-up work with her teachers. And now that she thought about it, Dawn hadn’t called, and Buffy hadn’t noticed. Of course, she was more than a bit distracted with fussing at Angel over the phone when he’d called to report that they hadn’t had any luck locating Spike yet. Buffy hadn’t told Dawn that Spike was missing, because she hadn’t wanted her to worry or be distracted at school. But then one of her co-workers heard her on the phone with the school and mentioned that Dawn had come by earlier to visit Buffy on her lunch break. Hadn’t Buffy seen her come to her office? Buffy had groaned in frustration at that. There was no doubt in her mind that Dawn had stopped by when she was on the phone with Angel and heard everything. There was just no other reason why Dawn would have taken off otherwise. If Dawn had learned that Spike was missing, nothing would have kept her at school. She would try and find him. And she certainly wouldn’t have bothered to ask her sister’s permission when her sister hadn’t bothered to tell her this personally earlier. Chalk up another reason for Dawn to be mad at me. Not like she’s opened up and talked to me since they got back anyway. Not sure why she won’t talk to me, but she isn’t likely to forgive me for this anytime soon. Buffy grimaced at that thought. Hopefully that was the worst she’d have to deal with in this aftermath. Because if Dawn hadn’t gone off to find Spike…if something else had happened to her…then Buffy didn’t know what to do next or where to start trying to solve this mess. For now she’d just have to assume that Dawn was wandering around Sunnydale searching for Spike who was also presumably wandering around Sunnydale, most likely in a daze. But where are they? Where does a 15-year old Key turned teenage girl go to look for an amnesiac vampire with a soul who just happens to not be allergic to sunlight anymore? Buffy frowned and tried to focus on what Xander was saying.
“Buffy, I’m telling you. We’ve already been everywhere. Angel drove all over town today. Giles and I covered every place we could think of that he couldn’t get to. We’ve been in stores, restaurants, hospitals, you name it – we were there. I don’t think he left town. He’s probably figured out this isn’t London by now, but he doesn’t have any money, so how could he go anywhere? You don’t suppose he could have hitchhiked, do you? Angel, would he do that?”
Angel groaned at the boy’s idiocy. “Xander, we’ve been over this already. London in the 1880s was a totally different place than this is. We didn’t have cars, but we did have carriages and we did have crime back then, too. Will isn’t stupid. He wasn’t back then and he isn’t now. Even if he is a bit disoriented, he wouldn’t deliberately put himself in a situation where someone else could hurt him. Most likely he has spent the day wandering around Sunnydale looking for his home and trying to figure out what’s going on. Will’s got a very quick mind when it comes to analyzing a situation, which you should have realized by now since you’ve seen him in action before. He may be impulsive and reckless, but he’s also very smart. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn he’s figured out a lot of this already himself. As a matter of fact –“
Buffy interrupted him, too worried to even notice or be surprised by Angel complimenting Spike. “What do you mean he’s figured it out? What has he figured out? And what will he do with that information? Where will he go? Is there anyway that Dawn could have gone there, too?”
“I mean that he’s probably figured out that he’s in the future. He won’t know what he is, where he is or how he got here though, so he’ll be confused and cautious. He’ll be checking things out to assess what his situation might be. He’ll be trying to find a way to get back home, but he’ll know he can’t do that without figuring out how he got here to begin with. So, that’s where his energies will be concentrated. As for where he’ll go, I just don’t know. He wasn’t at any of the places I thought he might be, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there at some point today. We may have just missed him. As for Dawn, I don’t know that either. The two of them have always been close from what you all tell me, and they did just spend five weeks together in another dimension as each other’s sole friend and companion. Not that any of us know what they went through, but if anyone knows him, it’s Dawn. But that doesn’t mean that she’ll know how he thought 117 years ago or where to find him now. Which brings us back to the point in question. What do we do now? I would suggest that we split up in teams and start sweeping the town again, and that we take the cell phones so we can keep in touch. I’d also suggest that someone remain at the mansion in case one or both of them decides to come here.”
“Do you think he would come back here? I mean given what he apparently thought this morning.” Buffy asked. She hadn’t been able to believe it when Angel had explained to her what that bit in his note meant. Her clothes were not at all immodest by today’s standards. Really, that was just plain offensive for him to imply that I was some kind of…well, anyway. And Angel didn’t have to get such a kick out of the whole situation. Even Giles had looked amused when he’d read the note. It had gone right over Xander’s head, of course. But it was still irritating, all the same.
“Don’t worry, Buffy.” Angel grinned down at her. “I’m sure he’s seen enough skin in Sunnydale by now to realize that the dress code today is a bit different than it used to be. He’s probably figured out that this place isn’t what he thought it was, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he did end up coming back here. However,” he drawled, “it probably is for the best that you wear something a little less revealing tonight. When we do find him, we don’t want to shock him all over again. Might put him back in the sick bed.” Giles laughed out loud when Angel said that. Buffy turned red and glared at both of them. She was stopped from making a rather scathing comment (she wasn’t sure what, but it would have most definitely been scathing AND witty) to get even with Angel for that when the front door of the Crawford Street mansion opened. Her jaw dropped, and everyone turned to see Spike walk in carrying Dawn in his arms.
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