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Hearts Breaking Even by slaymesoftly
 
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Title: Hearts Breaking Even
Author: Slaymesoftly
Seasons: I, II and III
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: I’m sure Joss would have written it this way if it had occurred to him….but he didn’t, so I’m just playing with characters that belong to Joss Wheden, Mutant Enemy and other large corporations.
AN – This fic was written for Always_jbj as a thank you for her hard work moving all my fics from the old BSV to the new one. She also, sweetie that she is, did some of her own betaing while she was getting peeks at chapters before anyone else. Final, and thorough beta was done by the brilliant Amyb who very sweetly does not point out to me that anyone who screws up as often as I do has no business running a community about grammar and punctuations.


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Hearts Breaking Even
Chapter One

Buffy stared at the glowing portal swirling in space into which the demon she’d been fighting had just disappeared.

“Oh, this can NOT be good!” she groaned and looked at her Watcher with pleading eyes.

“If you hurry, you can jump through, kill him, and jump back before it closes,” he offered helpfully.

“Jump through? In my new boots? What if I land in a pond or a pile of elephant poop or something? I’m not jumping into something I can’t see.”

Her lip struck out stubbornly and Giles sighed as he wondered why he had been the one to end up with a Slayer with no training and no regard for the importance of blind obedience.

“Buffy, you have to do it. It is your job and as unpleasant as the thought of possibly landing in elephant…manure… might be, you must—“

“Fine, fine, I know. Chosen One. The one in all the world, yada yada. But you are sooo going to owe me new boots if these get ruined.”

“I will be happy to submit your invoice for footwear to the Council if it becomes necessary. In the meanwhile, the demon is getting away.”

“I’m going, I’m going. But what if I have to chase him and the portal closes behind me? Did you think about that, huh? Did you?”

“In the unlikely event that should happen, I will endeavor to reopen it as quickly as I can. You simply need to remain in its vicinity so that you may respond quickly when it reopens. Now, do get on with it, please. I would like to get home at a decent hour tonight.”

“Oh yeah, Cause you’ve got so many exciting things to do waiting for you at your apartment,” she said sarcastically as she moved closer to the portal. With a final glare at her watcher, the blond teenager bit her lip and jumped through the still swirling opening.

Her landing was nothing like what she expected. She had been braced for some sort of demon dimension full of darkness and slimy secretions that would get on her shoes. Instead, she landed lightly in the middle of an open meadow full of wild flowers and startled sheep. If it weren’t for the bright sunlight and the sheep, she would have thought she was still in Sunnydale.

An illusion which was quickly shattered when the demon rose up to roar at her from his menacing position over an extremely frightened child.

“What? “ she yelled back to distract him from his intended victim. “Did you think I was going to just let you go? You tore my good shirt. You owe me, buster.”

She waited calmly for the demon’s charge, sidestepping agilely at the last second and swinging at his neck with her sword. Unfortunately, the demon was also fairly agile for something so large and it dodged just enough for her blow to slice into its shoulder rather than removing its head as she had intended.

“Damn!” she exclaimed, pivoting just in time to duck under a paw tipped with lethal-looking claws. She ran the sword into the demon’s exposed stomach and yelled triumphantly when it doubled over, screaming in pain. While it was leaning forward, she quickly pulled the sword out and swung it hard at the neck, which was now down at her level.

The force of her blow not only removed the demon’s head from it’s still-toppling body, but spun her around so fast that she lost her balance and fell to the grass-covered ground. She sat there for a second, staring at the demon’s intended victim who was now climbing slowly to his feet. She gradually became aware that she was sitting on something soft and less than fragrant.

“Ewwwwww! Please tell me I am not sitting in sheep poop!” she said to the wide-eyed little boy who was approaching her with awe and not a little trepidation.

His beautiful blue eyes were as big as saucers in his fine-boned face as he stared at the vision in front of him. Although the girl on the ground was obviously much older than his nine years, she was nowhere near as tall as most of the adults in his life. In a world where he was always the youngest or smallest in his group, he found the thought that someone not that much bigger than he could have killed a monster exciting and intriguing.

“Are you a fairy?” he inquired politely, ignoring the fact that she was spinning in circles trying to see the back of her skirt and muttering words he wasn’t sure he understood. He was sure though, that if he went home and repeated the words, his mother would soon be scrubbing his mouth with foul-tasting soap.

“Am I a what?” Buffy stopped trying to see the back of her skirt long enough to acknowledge his presence and the attempt at conversation. “Don’t be silly. Fairies aren’t real. Now, vampires and demons, THEY’RE real. And very hard on the wardrobe,” she added, pulling her skirt around to the front.

“Well, it’s just that you are clearly not human,” he said apologetically. “I mean, you are so beautiful, and you can fight and kill monsters. You must surely be some sort of avenging angel, or warrior elf queen or something like that!”

Buffy studied boy for a minute, taking in his strange clothing, his accent and the worshipful look on his face. She was torn between indignation that he thought she wasn’t human and delight at being referred to as beautiful.

“I think someone’s been reading too many comic books,” she finally said kindly, pushing his unruly curls out of his eyes.

“Comic books?”

“Never mind. I don’t have time to explain. I have to jump back through the portal before it---argh!”

Even as she turned to enter it, the gateway to her home in Sunnydale shrunk in on itself and disappeared with an audible “pop”.

“Great! Now I’m stuck here until Giles figures out how to get me back.”

Giving an exaggerated sigh of disgust, she walked to the edge of the meadow and, after carefully checking for more little sheep turds, sat down with her back against a tree.

“What’s your name?” she asked the boy, gesturing for him to take a seat beside her.

“It’s William,” he said shyly. He gave a small bow and added, “William Carlisle the Third, at your service.”

Buffy was charmed by the show of good manners in a boy his age. Thinking back to when she was in elementary school, or to some of the children she’d babysat for before she was called, she knew that sort of behavior wasn’t typical of young boys. Not the young boys in twentieth-century Southern California anyway.

“Thank you, William,” she replied just as formally. “I am very pleased to meet you. Now, sit down and tell me where, and more importantly, when I am. Since it looks like I might be here awhile, I might as well know where it is.”

“As to where you are, you are at my family’s country house in Kent. England,” he added when she looked at him blankly. “And ,,.and when you are? How can you not know when you are? It is June fourteenth, the year of our lord 1864.”

“Terrific,” she mumbled. “Another country AND another century. I hate portals.”

William stared at her with a worried expression on his face until she shrugged and smiled at him reassuringly.

“Do you require assistance then?” he asked, getting back to his feet. “Shall I fetch the authorities?”

“Oh, God, no! No authorities.” She shook her head and her blond hair swirled around her shoulders, capturing his attention.

“Your hair is so beautiful,” he said wistfully. “I should love to –“ He stopped, aghast at what he’d been about to say. Blushing furiously, he sat back down and studied his boots with great intensity.

Buffy looked around curiously, observing the placid sheep and meadow full of wild flowers. Just behind them she could see what appeared to be a small building.

“It’s really pretty here, William,” she said with a happy sigh. “I wouldn’t mind if I could stay here all day. I could use a nice vacation in the country.”

“I…we would…you are more than welcome to do so,” he replied formally, trying to ignore the bolt of joy that shot through him at the thought of her staying all day. In spite of her protests, he could not stop thinking of her as some sort of mythical creature and he wanted to stay close to her for as long as possible.

“I probably don’t have any choice but to do so,” she said with a wry grin. “Who knows how long it’s going to take Giles to open that thing up again. It could be days.”

“You can’t mean to stay out here by yourself all night!” William’s little Victorian face managed to be shocked and intrigued at the same time.

“I have to stay near the portal so I can hop back through it when it opens again. Anyway,” she said with a small smile, “I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. Warrior elf queen, remember?” she teased gently.

He blushed again and kicked his toes in the dirt. “You aren’t really an elf queen or a fairy, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I’m just a normal fifteen-year-old girl who happens to have…I’m just a little stronger and faster than most people,” she finished with another smile.

“And you have a sword!” he said enthusiastically.

“Yes, I do. Would you like to see it?”

Eyes wide with wonder, he nodded his head dumbly and held his breath as she picked up the sword and gently placed it in his hand. The sudden weight surprised him and he almost dropped it, but the sound of her laughter made him bite his lip and struggle to hold it up. His arm trembled with the effort it took to keep the heavy sword from dipping toward the ground, but he stubbornly forced himself to lift his arm until he was holding it straight over his head.

“Very good!” Buffy’s laugh was gentle and not mocking as she caught the sword on its inevitable drop toward the grass. “I wouldn’t have been able to lift this sword at all when I was your age. You must be used to sword fighting.”

“No, not really,” he admitted. “I’m rather more of a…a scholar than a fighter, I’m afraid. I prefer books and poetry to fisticuffs and sword fights. Although it would be wonderful to know how to use one the way you do,” he said wistfully.

“I can teach you. If I’m here long enough, I can. There’s no reason why you can’t be a poet AND a warrior is there?”

“I suppose not,” he said dubiously as though the idea was so bizarre he’d never considered it. “But all the other boys say—“

“The other boys? What do they know?” Buffy waved her hand airily. ”Have they ever killed a demon?”

“No. No, I’m quite certain they have not,” he agreed firmly. “Clearly you are much more experienced in that field than they.”

“Well, there you go then. You just bring a wooden sword back with you ---you ARE coming back tomorrow, aren’t you?” she asked anxiously, figuring that the gathering dusk meant he would be expected home very soon.

“Oh yes! I shall be back as soon as Mother finishes my morning piano lesson.”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow. I think you’d better be getting home before your mother starts to worry about you.”

“Mother is quite accustomed to my wandering all over the farm by myself every summer. You are quite correct, however, to think she would worry about me if it was after sunset.” He held up a sketch book and small journal to indicate what he did to amuse himself.

He turned to leave, then looked back over his shoulder and raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure you are going to be alright?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just get in that little house there if it rains or something. You go on home.”

Buffy watched as his slight figure disappeared into the rapidly-gathering gloom. She could see him stop occasionally and throw worried looks back and she waved cheerfully every time he did until she knew he couldn’t see her anymore.

Resigning herself to the fact that she might be stuck here for a while, she walked over to the small building and peered inside. It appeared to be used for storing various feed tubs and buckets and of course had nothing resembling a bed or food for humans.

(Oh well, it’s not like I haven’t been cold and hungry before…wait! I haven’t been cold and hungry – okay, hungry maybe; but not I-haven’t- eaten- in two- days kind of hungry.)


With a sigh, she resigned herself to an uncomfortable night, and settled against a tree where she could quickly reach the portal if it opened before morning. She spent the night alternately bored and frightened as the complete darkness settled around her. She could hear the sheep make occasional “baas” and snuffling noises as they moved around the meadow before quieting down to sleep.

She amused herself for a while by staring at the stars overhead and marveling at how well she could see them. Only way out in the desert, far away from the reflected lights of towns and cities, could they be seen so clearly back in California and the complete lack of any glow on the horizon brought home to her exactly how far away she was from her home.

As the night wore on and the portal failed to appear, the Slayer’s head began to droop and she slid down the tree to pillow it on the soft grass. She told herself she was just resting her head while she kept her eyes open, but it wasn’t long before sleep overtook her fifteen-year-old body.

She awoke with a start, blinking her eyes in the bright sunlight, taking just a second to remember where she was. As soon as she realized what had awakened her, she had no trouble remembering the previous afternoon and evening. Her sudden twitch as she awoke had startled the young lamb that had been sniffing her face, but he only backed up a few steps before curiosity overcame his fear and he stretched his head out toward the immobile girl again.

The lamb’s warm breath on her face, smelling of milk and clover, was a revelation to the city-born Slayer; she lay perfectly still while the young sheep allowed his nose to roam over her face and body. When he began to nibble on a blond curl, Buffy sat up suddenly and sent him racing back to the safety of his mother’s side while the teenager laughed.

“Sorry, little guy, but I don’t think you really want to eat my hair.”

Mentioning eating reminding her that she hadn’t been able to since lunch the day before, and she grimaced as her stomach growled in protest. She was afraid to get too far from the portal area, but the pangs in her belly sent her prowling around the edges of the field looking for berries or nuts of some sort.

“I hope William doesn’t forget I’m out here,” she murmured as her search turned up nothing but a few blackberries which were much too far from being ripe to be edible. Making a face at the sour taste, she sadly dropped the handful she’d picked with such hope and wandered into the meadow to watch the lambs frolicking with each other.

When William arrived several hours later, laboriously towing a rather large child’s wagon behind him, he found his “warrior queen” hiding behind her tree and yelling at a snorting ram that shook his head threateningly.

“William!” she shouted in relief and fear. “Be careful! That big sheep has gone crazy. He tried to attack me. For no reason! I was just playing with the babies and he—“ She stopped talking as the ram took advantage of her distraction to sneak around the tree and butt her hard enough to knock her down.

Smothering a smile, the boy rushed to her rescue, delighted that he was able to return the favor for the girl who had saved his life. Picking up a broken branch, he approached the snorting sheep and tapped it on the nose, saying firmly, “Back off, Sebastian. Miss Buffy is not going to hurt your children. You are being very rude. Now back off!” He waved his makeshift shepherd’s crook at the large ram and firmly urged him back to his herd.

With a final glare at Buffy and a shake of his head, the protective flock leader moved back out into the meadow and resumed grazing with his ewes and their lambs.

Keeping a wary eye on the now placid sheep, Buffy moved out away from the tree and gave William a grateful hug.

“Thank you, William, I’m sure you saved my life,” she said with a smile as she walked over to the wagon. She completely missed the rush of color to the boy’s adoring face and the absolute astonishment on it. No one except his mother had ever hugged William. No one, let alone a beautiful girl from another world. He remained frozen in place until her voice finally penetrated the delighted fog he was in and he hastened to answer her questions.

“Is this for me? William? William? Can you hear me? Is this for me?”

He shook himself out of his stupor and, forgetting how strong she was, quickly moved to help her with the picnic basket she was holding.

“Yes, I thought you might be hungry and I didn’t know how long you might be here so I brought you as much food as I could sneak out of the kitchen without alerting Cook to …”He stopped as she tore the top off the basket and began stuffing a slice of bread in her mouth.

Something about his shocked expression reached through the hungry daze Buffy was in and she stopped chewing abruptly, swallowing the mouthful she already had and blushing all over.

“I’m sorry, William,” she said apologetically. “My manners are terrible. It’s just that I haven’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch and it looks so good—“

“It’s quite alright, Miss Buffy,” he said politely. “I should have been quite ravenous myself if I had not eaten for such a long period of time. Please, continue. Help yourself to whatever you want. There is jam for the bread, and some meat from last night’s supper. And some fruit…”

For a second she looked like she was going to hug him again, and he waited with bated breath, both terrified and eager, until she turned away and began unpacking the rest of the food. With a resigned sigh, he relaxed and moved to help her sort out the rather large quantity of supplies he had brought with him.

In addition to the large picnic basket, which he assured her she could keep with her until she no longer needed it, he pulled out several blankets and a pillow, blushing as he suggested she might need to make herself a bed if she was still there by nightfall. He also brought out his sketch book and a pencil, laying them carefully to one side for use later.

Chapter Two

In the bottom of the wagon was a wooden sword – clearly a child’s toy, and just as clearly one not having seen much use. She smiled and pulled it out, placing it beside her on the ground. The large metal battle sword she had brought through the portal with her dwarfed his wooden offering and William tried to take it back to hide away. His embarrassment at having brought it was palpable.

“I’m sorry,” he said, blushing furiously. “I know it is just a toy. It was all I could find, but…”

“It’s fine, William,” Buffy said kindly. “We can work on some moves, how to hold it, when to strike. Things like that. It’ll work. You’ll see.”

William looked at her dubiously, but set the toy sword back on the ground and waited for her to finish eating. In a time period when women did their best to appear fragile and feminine, which included picking at their food – at least in public –he found the way Buffy indulged her more than hearty appetite both amazing and interesting.

“Do you always eat like that?” he asked hesitantly as she polished off her second apple. “Not that I mind,” he hastened to assure her when she appeared embarrassed. “It’s just that I’ve never seen a girl consume quite that much food at one time.”

Buffy colored slightly and said, “Well, I WAS really hungry. And I have a really high metabolism. I burn those calories like crazy – what with slaying, and school and-“ She stopped short at the uncomprehending look on his face.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” she asked him, with a smile.

He shook his head and smiled back at her. “I am not familiar with some of the terms you use. I’m sorry. No doubt it is my own ignorance showing—“

“No, it’s not you. It’s me forgetting when I am and how old you are. You seem so mature for a…a…ten year old?” she hazarded.

“Actually, I’m only nine,” he said proudly. “I won’t be ten for another two months. But I’ve been told I’m very mature for my age – intellectually, if not physically.”

“Well, go me, with the knowing more big words than a brain,” Buffy laughed.

After Buffy had eaten her fill and stashed the remaining food, blankets and the pillow in the shed, she tossed the wooden sword to William and said, “Let’s go learn to swordfight, Willie.”

Leaving her own heavy sword for the time being, she picked up the branch William had used to intimidate the ram and broke it in half, using one piece as her own version of a wooden sword. After showing him how to properly grip the sword’s handle, and watching him make several awkward sweeps with it, she picked up her stick and said, “Okay, now come at me like you want to take my head off.”

His shocked face and immediate release of his sword told her that was not going to work and she sighed heavily.

“You aren’t going to hurt me,” she encouraged. “I won’t let you. Don’t worry about me. Just try to get through my defenses.”

“Very well,” he said dubiously, advancing on her and waving his sword around purposefully. “I shall endeavor to attack you. But you must promise to tell me if I am too rough.”

Biting back a grin, Buffy agreed to tell him if he was becoming too aggressive for her and they began a timid sword fight with her stick and his toy. After several minutes in which it was clear that Buffy was in no danger of being struck by his wooden weapon, William became braver and began to actually try to break through her defense, not sure what he would do if he was successful, but desiring to show her that he was learning something.

When he faked a stab at her stomach and she lowered her stick to block it, he swung his sword at her exposed neck and hit her on the shoulder. With a muffled scream, he dropped his sword and fell to his knees in front of her begging forgiveness with tears in his eyes.

Buffy quickly dropped her stick and knelt beside him, pulling him into a hug and murmuring that it was okay, she wasn’t hurt, that he did just right. She insisted she was proud of him and that he had done just the right thing.

“But I struck you!” His lower lip came out in a pout when she refused to stop smiling at him and praising his technique.

“Yes,” she said proudly, “You did. It was wonderful! What made you think to try a fake like that?”

“That’s what you did to the monster,” he muttered, refusing to look at her happy face. “You struck him in the stomach and then cut off his head. I thought you might think I was doing the same thing and then I –but I didn’t mean to hurt you!” His eyes teared up again.

“I’m not hurt, William. I promise you. See? Not even a mark. It was brilliant. I am so proud of you!”

“Really?” The hopeful expression on his face was irresistible and she nodded eagerly.

“Really. You are a very quick learner. I’ll make a master swordsman out of you in no time.”

Convinced that he had not injured her, and that she really wanted him to keep trying, William went back to his lessons with a willingness that surprised them both. When Buffy felt he had mastered the art of attack, she switched from strictly defensive tactics to a more aggressive approach and watched with admiration as he quickly adapted to the moves necessary to block her tentative strikes.

After an hour of this, Buffy laughingly called a halt and went to get a drink from the bottle of water he had brought for her. While she drank and rested against her tree, William bounced around her waving his sword and smiting imaginary enemies. She watched him with interest as he kept up a non-stop monologue while he leapt around the meadow.

“You have a lot of energy, William,” she called out as he ran through the unimpressed sheep, shouting a battle cry. “You remind me of me when I was your age. My parents thought there was something wrong with me that I had so much energy. Of course, that was before we knew I was a sl— before I had learned to use swords and other weapons.”

They passed the rest of the afternoon alternating between sword fighting and talking about William’s life when he wasn’t spending his summers in the country. She listened with interest as he explained about the British school system and how boys from his station always went off to boarding school at a young age.

“Don’t you miss your parents?” The idea of being away from her family for most of the year was appalling to the slayer and she looked at the boy with sympathy.

He shrugged and tried to look unconcerned. “You get used to it,” he said quietly. “Everyone does it. Only a…a…momma’s boy would stay at home.”

Something in his voice told her he didn’t want to discuss that particular aspect of his life any more and she switched the subject to the farm and the kinds of crops raised there.

When evening approached again, William reluctantly picked up the handle of his wagon and turned it toward home. He frowned at the small stash of food Buffy had set aside to eat later.

“I’ll try to bring you some more bread and meat tomorrow,” he promised. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright here again?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him with a smile. “I’ll be waiting for you. Unless the portal opens,” she hastily added. “Then I’ll have to leave.”

“This…portal…it will take you back to your own world?”

Buffy nodded. She had been careful to tell him as little as possible about where she was from, allowing him to believe she actually came from some other world, if not the land of faery, then something else unrelated to the one he knew. When she wouldn’t answer his specific questions about her life, he went back to referring to her as his “warrior elf queen” and insisting that she came from a magical realm.

“I should miss you,” he mumbled, turning bright red. “If you weren’t here tomorrow, I should miss you terribly.”

“That’s very sweet, William,” she said softly, very aware of the effort it had cost him to say that to her. “I will miss you too, and the meadow,” she waved her hand in the general direction of the sheep, ”even mean old Sebastian, there. But I have to go back. There are more monsters there waiting for me to fight them.”

“You ARE a warrior queen!” he exclaimed. “A warrior queen who fights monsters. I knew it!”

“Close enough,” Buffy smiled. “I get called a lot of things, but I think I like ‘warrior queen’ the best.”

With a final “good night” the boy reluctantly turned his steps toward home, casting looks back over his shoulder until he could not longer see her bright hair in the waning light.

Buffy spent a much more comfortable night, making herself a small bed in the cabin and snacking on what was left of the food William had brought before falling into a peaceful sleep. When an inquisitive lamb awoke her the following morning, she didn’t jump this time, but just smiled and gently stroked it’s soft nose and wooly head.

She finished off the food left from the day before and set the now-empty basket out by her tree for William to take back with him. She frowned when her stomach growled and she realized that it was getting late in the day and William still hadn’t come. Telling herself it was nothing to worry about, she nevertheless spent the rest of the day worrying about the little boy she’d only known for two days.

When darkness fell with no sign of William, she was surprised at the disappointment she felt. She assuaged her hunger with the few remaining apples and some leftover cheese, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. Although she had only known him a day or two, she somehow knew that William was not one to lightly break a promise and only the fact that he was a child and therefore dependent on his parents for permission to leave the home kept her from going off to search for him.

She spent a restless night, waking frequently to check for the portal and to listen for any sign of William. So it was that she was awake to hear the voices approaching her shed, to hear the rough laughter and quiet crying that made her heart clench in fear. She rose on her knees to peer out the window, grateful for the coming dawn, which was just close enough to offer some light.

The sight that met her eyes chilled her, even as she felt anger that threatened to overwhelm her. Coming toward her on the faint trail that William followed to and from the meadow, was a small group of teenage boys that were dragging with them a struggling William. While one of the boys pulled the wagon, two others dragged the bloody and bruised boy, ignoring his repeated pleas to take him somewhere else. Anywhere but to the shed ahead of them.

With a pang, Buffy realized he was trying his best to keep them away from her and her hiding place. She slipped out the back window and crouched behind the shed while she pondered the best way to deal with what was clearly an ugly situation.

The boys pulled the wagon up in front of the shed and one of them peered inside. His shout of discovery when he found the blankets and pillow, along with the basket and water bottle brought them all running. They turned to the defiant boy glaring at them and demanded he tell them who was staying in the shed.

He clamped his lips together stubbornly and shook his head and then, pulling suddenly free from the inattentive boy left holding him, he took off running in the direction of his home. He had not gotten very far when the much taller and faster boys caught him and pinned him to the ground cursing and punching him in retaliation.

When Buffy saw them yank down William’s trousers and realized what their intentions were, she no longer wondered how best to handle the situation. She stepped quietly from behind the shed and walked toward the boys, growling softly under her breath.

“We’ll teach you to keep secrets from us,” the one holding William said, unbuttoning his own pants. “Last chance to tell us who staying there and where he is…”

William shut his eyes and bit his lip, refusing to reply and bracing himself for what he knew was to come. He groaned aloud when he heard Buffy’s voice say cheerfully, “SHE’S right here, guys. Something I can do for you?”

The boys whirled and gaped at the pretty blond girl in the, by Victorian standards, indecently short skirt and boots. Forgetting immediately about the now sobbing boy on the ground, they began to surround the Slayer licking their lips in anticipation.

“No wonder William didn’t want us to follow him out here,” one said, walking slowly around Buffy and looking her up and down. “Although what a little wanker like that would do with a fine figure of a woman like you I can’t fathom.”

Just as the leader of the little gang reached toward Buffy’s head to grab a piece of her hair, a small figure threw itself in front of her and held up little fists screaming, “Don’t touch her! Don’t you touch her!”

Laughing, the older boy backhanded William across the face, knocking him to the ground and deliberately stepping on him as he moved closer to Buffy. Instead of shrinking away from him as he expected, the girl’s eyes narrowed and she hissed, “You really shouldn’t have done that.”

He laughed again, looking around at his friends for appreciation as he asked with a smirk, “And why would that be, missy? The little gentleman” – he snarled the word – “needs a lesson in minding his betters. And when we finish with you, we’ll be just the men to give it to him.”

He nodded to his friends and they all rushed Buffy at the same time, using tactics that they had obviously practiced on other unsuspecting girls. Unfortunately for them, this time they were rushing a girl who spent her night in violent confrontations with beings much larger, stronger and faster than they.

Ducking under the reaching arms and twisting slightly, Buffy sidestepped the intended group grope and grabbed the leader by his throat. While she wasn’t quite tall enough to lift him off the ground, she was more than able to squeeze his throat shut, effectively cutting off both his oxygen and his ability to speak. It took his friends several precious seconds to realize that he was not pretending to be choking, but was actually being throttled by the petite girl in front of him. With a shout, one of them grabbed Buffy’s arm, intending to pull her away. He frowned in surprise when he found himself not only unable to budge her arm, but the recipient of a scornful sneer as she dropped the almost unconscious boy to the ground.

She turned her eyes on his gang members, the joy of battle lighting up her face as she faced the angry boys. Victorian England didn’t produce many women who would willingly face one angry man, let alone four at a time, and they were nonplussed for a moment before the security found in numbers gave back their courage and they charged.

Compared to the supernaturally fast and strong beings she fought every night, Buffy found fighting the human boys to be like moving in slow motion. She spun and kicked and punched and tossed the boys around until she was tired of playing with them, at which time she landed one good blow on each chin rendering them unconscious for several hours.

The leader of the little gang was lying on the ground, still clutching his throat and breathing hard as he watched the small girl wipe out his little gang of rough farm boys. When she turned her glittering green eyes on him, he cringed involuntarily, shrinking back and whimpering. Buffy stalked over to him and yanked him to his feet, shaking him like a rag doll for emphasis as she growled, “I will be watching you boys from now on. If I see one attempt by any one of you to hurt anyone, boy or girl, I will rip off your balls and feed them to you. Is that perfectly clear?”

She cocked her head and waited for his answer. Instead of answering her immediately, he croaked, “What ARE you?”

With a wink at a still sniffling William, she said with as much authority as she could summon, “I am a warrior elf queen and this farm is part of my realm. I will NOT have its tranquility disturbed by ruffians. Do you understand me?”

While the boy nodded his head, promising to be a model citizen for the rest of his life, Buffy congratulated herself on channeling her inner Giles. She picked up the unconscious boys, piling them roughly in the wagon and handing the handle to the only one able to move.

“Drag your scuzzy friends out of here and take them home. Then take William’s wagon back to his house for him.”

Nodding and bowing as best he could while he backed away, the boy struggled to haul his immobile friends down the dirt track and back to the road to town. Casting the occasional glance over his shoulder at the tiny blond with her hands on her hips, he dragged the heavy wagon behind him putting as much distance as he could between the angry self-confessed elf queen and himself.

Once he was out of sight, Buffy dropped her angry queen pose and fell to her knees beside William, pushing the curls off his face and wiping the tears from his eyes. At her touch he began sobbing again, babbling apologies for not being able to prevent them from following him.

“Shhhh, It’s okay,” she soothed, pulling him into her lap and rocking him like the child he was. “You were very brave to try to fight them. They were much bigger than you and there were five of them. There was nothing you could do.”

He looked up at her with suddenly old eyes and said with solemn promise, ”When I am grown up I will never be picked on like that. Ever. If someone tries to hurt me, I will…I will kill them if I have to!”

“I’m sure you won’t have to,” she said, hiding her smile at his conviction. “You’ll be a good man and bad things won’t happen to you.

“But just in case they do,” she added, standing up and pulling him to his feet. “Let me show you a few things that might be helpful.”




Chapter Three

They spent the rest of the morning with Buffy teaching William some martial arts moves that would be useful for someone who didn’t have super strength or speed. Along with the judo and karate moves, she threw in some dirty tricks that Giles had shown her when he’d had a little more scotch than usual.
When William protested that using such tactics would be “cheating” she took his chin and looked at him seriously.

“When someone is trying to kill you, nothing is cheating. You do what you need to do to save yourself. Do you hear me, William? You do what you need to do to stay alive.”

He nodded solemnly, promising to remember what she said, then went for a leg sweep that left her sprawled on the ground and laughing with delight.

When they stopped to rest and eat the rest of bread from the day before, she smiled at how seriously he had taken the training.

“Now don’t go starting fights just because you think you can win them,” she cautioned. “With great ability comes great responsibility…and oh my god, I’m turning into Giles!”

“Who is this Giles?” he asked with what sounded suspiciously like jealousy.

“He’s my…nevermind. He’s somebody I work with. He helps me train.”

“So you can beat the monsters.”

“Yes, so I can beat the monsters. Now, shouldn’t you be getting home and into a bathtub and some clean clothes?” She eyed his ripped clothing and bloody face and hands.

“Yes, I suppose so,” he sighed. “Mother is going to be so disappointed in me.”

“Well, just tell her it wasn’t your fault!”

“Right. Because that always goes so well,” he muttered, giving her a glimpse of the little boy behind the good manners and intellectual pursuits.

She smiled and ruffled his hair. “Well, tell her an elf queen needed your assistance and your clothes got torn in the course of coming to her rescue.”

“I think I shall write a poem about you tonight,” he announced as he stood up and straightened his clothes as much as possible. “I could bring it with me tomorrow…that is, if you think you would like to see it?” he finished much less confidently.

“I know I would want to see it, William. I would be honored. No one has ever written a poem about me before.”

“Then I shall be the first.” He smiled and marched off in the direction of his home.

Although Buffy was quite sure the local riff-raff wouldn’t be back anytime soon, she slept much less soundly and with her sword under her hand until the sun woke her up. She stretched, then jumped to her feet when she heard the sound of running footsteps. Peering out the door, she saw William running toward her, a cloth bag dangling from his hand.

Gasping for breath, he said quickly, “I brought you some breakfast… and luncheon and supper… but I can’t stay. I have to go into town with mother today and I won’t be back until this evening. I hope it’s enough food, the poem is in the bag, I’ll return tomorrow, good-bye.” He waved his hand, giving her an apologetic look and ran back the way he had come.

Buffy stood smiling at him until he was out of sight, then dug into the bag to see what he had brought for her. She ate the warm, freshly baked bread with some of the butter and jam he’d managed to sneak out for her and sat back with a bottle of water to read the poem he’d written.

She glows when she smiles
She is the most beautiful girl for miles
She slays the monsters and saves the child
Isn’t afraid no matter how wild
The enemy may have been
She is my warrior elf queen.

Buffy’s desire to roll on the ground laughing at what she was sure was the worst poem she had ever seen warred with the warmth she felt that William had written it just for her.

“It’s not like I could write a poem,” she muttered. “Even a bad one. And he’s only nine years old. I didn’t even know what a poem was when I was nine.”

Just as she started to set the poem down, she caught movement from the corner of her eye and whirled to see the portal opening. Frantically, she looked around for something on which to leave a message for William, finally tearing off the bottom of the beautiful paper on which he had written her poem. She snatched up the pencil that had fallen out of his sketch book earlier and quickly wrote, “I had to go. I’ll miss you. Don’t forget to cheat if you need to. Your elf queen, Buffy.” She hastily shoved the paper back in the bag and grabbing her sword, ran for the now full sized portal and jumped through. Her last view of Nineteenth Century England was Sebastian staring at her suspiciously as she winked out of sight.



“Ah, there you are!” Giles’ voice rang out with false heartiness as Buffy stepped out of the portal and glared at him.

“No problem? You’ll be right back? I’ll just open it up again if it closes. Stop me when I get to something that sounds remotely like something that might have actually happened.”

“Yes, well, it was a bit more…complicated than I anticipated. But we’ve covered for you very well!” He beamed at her with pride. “Your mother thinks you’ve been staying at Willow’s to do some intensive studying, and the school has accepted my word for it that you had a family emergency that called you away.”

“Oh, well, that makes it all okay then. It doesn’t matter that I sat in sheep poop, slept in a hut with no food for a whole day, got knocked on my butt by a big sheep, had to beat up a bunch of old-fashioned thugs and the only company I had was a nine-year old boy!”

Without further conversation, Buffy stomped off in the direction of her home on Revello Drive, throwing over her shoulder, “And, oh yeah, the demon is dead!”

Her watcher rolled his eyes and followed behind her until it was time for him to turn toward his own home. He went home muttering to himself about disrespectful American children and Slayers who didn’t want to do their jobs properly.
 
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