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Second Youth by Ariel Dawn
 
Wednesday
 
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Disclaimer: Joss, man, there are issues that need to resolved, you just left us hanging...I had to do something!

Author’s note: This was a plot bunny that just wouldn’t go away and as I seem to be suffering from writer’s block on my fic, The Rest of our lives, I plugged this out in a couple of hours last night. Few changes to note concerning this fic: all is happy in Willow and Tara land, they never had the fight about too many spells, and thus no resulting fallout; and Xander and Tara are conspicuously absent, don’t know why, they just didn’t make an appearance.
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Wednesday

Willow scanned the pages for the perfect spell. She had to do something about Buffy’s memories of Heaven. She couldn’t let her friend feel so horrible all the time. Flipping the page, her eyes rested on a spell she had been tempted to do a couple of years ago when she had been trying to get over feeling like crap because Oz left. At the time she had thought it way to advanced for her, and had decided to go with the ‘My Will be Done’ spell instead. That had turned out to be a marvellous success.

But she was a better witch now, Amy the rat aside, most of her spells went right nowadays. Willow looked over the ingredients for the spell and jotted down the ones that she didn’t have at the house.

A quick trip to the magic shop, where Willow had embraced Capitalism and actually paid for the stuff (having just been endowed with parental money) and Willow was ready. Of course she waited until darkness, when Buffy was safely tucked away in her bed.
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Buffy opened her eyes and looked around her room. This wasn’t the room she had been in when she closed her eyes. Buffy shut her eyes, hoping to be transported back to where she had been. Unfortunately when she opened her eyes there she was, still in her bedroom, in Sunnydale, in a house that had been swallowed into the hellmouth some hundred years previously.

“What the hell?” said Buffy.

Buffy gasped when she heard her voice, it wasn’t scratchy and harsh, it sounded, like, like she was twenty years old again. Buffy attempted to sit up, attempted because she had been bed ridden for a month, and she really didn’t think she would be able to. She was surprised when her body started to actually respond, willingly, to her brains commands. Buffy sat up and looked at the room. It looked just as it did, before Willow moved in to it after she came back from the Coven in England after Tara’s death. Buffy shook her head in confusion. This was way too wiggy.

Until she saw her hands. Buffy raised her right, then left hand taking in the sight of her non-wrinkled hands. Buffy flung back the covers of her bed and rushed to the mirror. Looking back at her was twenty year old Buffy, not a wrinkle, not a line, not a grey hair to be seen. Buffy smiled. She still had her own teeth!

Buffy didn’t know what was going on...but she loved it. Buffy started dancing in the middle of her room.
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Buffy bounded down stairs full of energy to see Willow making pancakes.

“Willow!” cried a happy Buffy, rushing to give her friend a hug.

“Good morning Buffy!” said Willow fending off the hug with the spatula. “Are you ok?”

“Are you kidding? I’m fabulous! I feel so young! And look at you with the being alive!”

“Of course I’m alive Buffy. I’m glad you are all happy Buffy though.” Willow smiled to herself, proud that her spell had worked. “Pancakes?”

“Sure! Lovin’ the Willow cakes. Isn’t it just a beautiful day today?”

Willow placed a plate of pancakes in front of Buffy along with the butter and syrup, which Buffy attacked.

“I’m glad to see you got your appetite back,” observed Willow.

“Oh, it totally helps that I have my own teeth again.”

“Huh?”

Buffy heard someone come down the stairs and turned to see who it was with her mouth full of pancake. Dawn walked into the room, rubbing her eyes.

“Morning,” she yawned.

Buffy quickly swallowed. “Dawnie!” Buffy launched herself at her sister and enveloped her in a hug.

“Whoa, what happened to sad depressed Buffy?” asked Dawn.

“I don’t know Dawn,” said Willow all innocent like, “I guess she just woke up like this.”

Buffy pulled back from her hug with Dawn, and gave her a critical look. “You look fourteen.”

“Hey! I’m fifteen I’ll have you know!” Dawn protested. “Willow do I really look fourteen?”

“I would have said that you were edging on the brink of at least sixteen,” said Willow with a smiled, “A mature sixteen.”

Dawn smiled. Buffy watched the exchange with confusion.

“I don’t get it...”

“What don’t you get Buffy?” asked Dawn.

“You’re fifteen.”

“I’m fifteen what’s not to get? Did you hit your head on a tombstone on patrol?”

“Patrol? I haven’t patrolled in years,” said Buffy still confused.

“You patrolled last night Buffy, after you defeated Sweet, the musical demon? He wanted to make me his bride?”

Buffy’s eyes went wide. “Oh. My. God,” she sputtered.

“Buffy, what’s wrong?” asked Willow nervously.

“What...What year is this?” Buffy asked in a whisper.

“2001,” said Dawn, “Buffy what’s going on, you are freaking me out.”

“2001....2001...I remember, I died in 2001, but Willow brought me back, and then ...You say Sweet the musical demon?”

“Yes, Buffy. What year did you think it was?” asked Willow, half joking, half not.

“2103”
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Buffy looked around the Magic Box, it was still as she remembered it before Willow went black eyed and vein-y. Buffy wandered the room as the others discussed the situation. The others being Willow, Giles and Anya. Both of which had received huge hugs from the Slayer. Buffy wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was sure that Giles would find out what. She didn’t want to go back to her own time, mind you. Come on? Who wouldn’t want to relive their youth? And this time she would do it all right.

“So you think you’ve been thrown back in time, Buffy?” asked Giles, cleaning his glasses.

Buffy watched fondly. She missed that, the cleaning of the glasses. She missed Giles in general.

“Yep, looks like I’m all here in my old body. Or should I say newer body, no scratchy voice, no wrinklies, and look, I’ve got my own teeth!”

Buffy had missed her teeth, after all she’d been using some form of denture since she caught a troll hammer in the mouth when she was thirty.

“Yes...uh, remarkable as your lack of dentures is, Buffy, we should discover exactly what caused you to leap a hundred and two years into the past.”

“In the mean time, you can regale us with tales of ourselves from the future,” said Anya.

“I hardly think that would be wise or useful in anyway Anya.”

Anya skulked back to her counter.

“Now what is important here is what were the circumstances before you...came into this time frame. Buffy can you recall what you were doing?” asked Giles.

“I was lying in bed, in a hospital, a hospital bed.”

“Why were you in a hospital?” asked Anya.

“I didn’t say I was in a hospital, I was in a hospital bed. I was at the watcher’s council.”

“Good...good, this is useful. Why were you there?”

“Think about it Giles, I’m a hundred and twenty two, what do you think I was doing? I don’t really think a hundred and twenty two year old is up for jumping on the bed. I‘m a decrepit old granny Giles, except with the granny part.”

“You were sleeping?”

“The big sleep.”

“Pardon?”

“I was dying Giles.”

“Oh dear lord...”

“Oh yeah, and may I say not fun. I remember feeling really weak, and not being able to breathe properly, my eyes were getting really heavy, then when I opened them, I was back in Sunnydale, with my teeth!” Buffy spun a little in the middle of the room, happy to be alive. “There’s just so much that I want to do! Go to the beach and show off my fabu body, have sex, eat lots and lots of junk food, go shopping for cool clothes, go to the bronze, visit my mom’s grave, get drunk, patrol....”

“I’m sure you’ll have time to do all that before I find out how to send you back...”

“Back? Were you not listening when I said I was dying? Why would I want to go back? To a dead body?”

“Of course you are right...but what about our Buffy?”

“Giles, think about this for a moment, we just went through the song and dance in which I sang about how I was in heaven right? Well your Buffy? She’s probably back there, knowing myself like I do...I’m happy, let go. And while you are letting go, I’m going shopping.”

“How are you going to go shopping Buffy? You don’t have any money here?” asked Anya.

“Oh I have account numbers in my head, ones I know are full of dough...god bless vampires who save...”
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Buffy returned from her shopping excursion laden with bags. Setting them down on the floor of the training room at the magic box, Buffy had decided the next thing she was going to do would be to test out her old body to see what it could do.

Buffy changed into some work out clothes that she knew she had stashed in the room and wrapped her hands. Buffy stared intently at the heavy bag for a few moments and the struck out with a power she had not seen for nearly seven decades.

“I think you killed it, pet,” came a voice from the basement entrance. Buffy diverted her eyes from the pile of what once had been her heavy bag to the direction of the voice. It was his voice.

“Spike...” she whispered, her voice full of emotion.

“Ya, it’s me, did the bag do something wrong?” he joked.

Buffy could feel her eyes water. She raised a wrapped hand to her mouth, hiding her trembling lip.

“Slayer?” Spike held a concerned look on his face and approached her slowly.

Finally, she couldn’t hold it anymore, she rushed at him, open arms, and hugged him tightly.

“Oh my god, Spike, I’ve missed you so much. I love you, you didn’t believe me, but I love you I really do!” she sobbed.

Spike stood shocked at the words coming from her mouth. The slayer loved him? When did that happen? Not that he was complaining, he had imagined this moment for ages. His heart rejoiced, but his mind told him that this was not right, something was wrong with his slayer.

“Slayer? Buffy? Why are you acting this way? You saw me yesterday pet,” he said after a considerable pause.

Buffy sniffed her tears back and wiped her eyes, then clasped his shoulders, jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

“Slayer?...Buffy?” gasped Spike between kisses.

“Buffy, I might have found the spell that would cause this...oh dear lord” said Giles as he came into the room.

Buffy hopped down from where she had situated herself and smiled. “I found Spike.”

“What the bloody hell is going on here watcher?” asked Spike.

Buffy clasped Spike’s hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Spike looked down at their interlocking fingers confused. She had been acting all lovey dovey and now in front of the watcher too. It was like they were under that engagement spell of red’s again.

“What did the witch do?” asked Spike, rage starting to become apparent in his voice.

“Dear lord, do you believe that Willow may have done this?” asked Giles.

“I don’t care who did it, Buffy like,” said the slayer with a smile on her face.

“Watcher...” growled Spike.

“It appears that Buffy, our Buffy and this Buffy have switched places, this Buffy, is from the future,” explained Giles.

“A future where the slayer...”

“Loves you, yes,” supplied Buffy. “I know it’s hard to believe, considering that last night, as you remember it, I think I kissed you and ran away like avoid-o girl. That is what happened right? I mean, I haven’t come down with Alzheimer's have I?”

“Yes, that’s what happened, how far in the future are you from, pet?”

“A hundred and two years”

“Bloody Hell,” said Spike, reaching for his cigarettes, one hand still trapped by Buffy.

“So what happened to our Buffy then?” he asked.

“It appears that they merely traded places, one would presume that our Buffy is now in this Buffy’s body,” explained the watcher.

“How do we get our Buffy back?” asked Spike, pulling a cigarette out of the packet with his lips.

“Hold on here. I am your Buffy! Just with more life experience, and I don’t want to go back.”

“What about our Buffy? She’s stuck in your body!”

“No, Spike she’s not,” said Buffy sadly. “She’s dead.”

“What!” he roared. He pulled his hand away from her.

“I was dying! I’m a hundred and twenty two years old Spike, I got pulled out on my death bed. The unhappy Buffy, the one that is still hurting about being pulled out of heaven, well she’s in heaven now. I remember what it felt like, after Willow ripped me out of heaven Spike, ya, it took me a long long time to get over it, but I moved on, she hadn’t yet, and what ever it was that made it so that I’m here in her body and her back in Heaven? I’m sure we both feel the same way. I would have given anything to be able to go back, knowing that there was someone to take my place, to do the slaying, to take care of Dawn, and look here I am. Don’t pull her out of heaven again. Please.”

The two men stood in silence for a while contemplating her words.

“Hey, I just realised something!” declared Buffy. “I’m older than Spike!”

Spike looked for a moment, as he did the mental calculations in his head. “You are at that pet. Not by much though.”
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Buffy and Spike strolled hand in hand into the cemetery. Pausing in front of her mother’s grave, Buffy knelt down.

“Hey mom, it’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to talk to you like this, well I just want to say, I miss you, and I’m sorry I’m not there to be with you right now, I know part of me is there...It’s just, it’s been hard mom, loosing everyone around me and being cooped up in that sick room for months, with no one visiting me except Missy. That’s one thing I’ll have to change right there, someone has got to persuade Eleanor to name her kid something sensible.” Buffy laughed, “But hey, you’re the one that named me Buffy. It’s genetic isn’t it, the capacity to name kids weird names. Don’t worry about me mom, I’ll take care of Dawn and Spike,” Buffy looked up coyly at the vampire. “I’ll make sure he gets plenty of hot chocolate with those little marshmallows.” Buffy stood up. “Good bye mom, I’ll talk to you soon.”

Buffy stepped away from the grave.

“Thanks Spike,” she said, taking his hand again.

“Did you mean what you said, that you were going to ply me with cocoa and marshmallows?” he asked as they walked out of the grave yard.

“You betcha, you wanna start now?”

“What about patrol?”

“Hot chocolate first, patrol later.”
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Buffy and Spike walked into the house on Revello drive to be confronted by Dawn, who was clearly mad.

“It was your turn to make dinner! And Willow brought your shopping home for you. When did we get the money for you to buy all that stuff!”

“We don’t have the money, as I recall we are broke, flat out broke.”

“Where did you get the money Buffy?”

“From a friend...”

“Some one gave you money to go shopping?”

“No, not so much with the giving, it was more of a taking with out asking.”

“You stole money!?”

“No, it’s complicated, which reminds me, Miss petty theft, pot, kettle...hmmmm? Don’t think I don’ know what’s going with you Dawn. I’m from the future, I know everything....Everything.”

“What’s this pet?” Spike asked curious.

“I don’t know what you are talking about...” denied Dawn.

“I’m old Dawn, not gullible. Listen, return the stuff, and I won’t make a big deal about it. I’d start with the Magic Box first, cause you know Anya will flip when she finds out.” Buffy left Dawn speechless in the hallway.

“What was that all about Slayer?” asked Spike, sitting down at the island in the Kitchen.

“Just something between Dawn and me, no sense in bringing everyone in to it. ‘Sides I need to tell you something, or a couple of somethings... K, you died, or dusted...you probably gathered that after weepy Buffy ran into your arms, anyway besides the point, after you were gone, I was tracked down by your lawyers, Wolfram and Hart...Evil yes, but excellent record keepers. So they find me, weepy and distraught, and tell me that you willed everything to me, the whole shebang, all 5.5 million of it. I never had the account changed, I know the account numbers and everything, and I kinda used some of your savings to go shopping today.”

Spike sat back with his hands folded staring at the island.

“Say something?”

“I must have dusted not long from now, if you got 5.5, cause that’s how much is in there now...”

“I can’t tell you when you die Spike...”

“Why not?”

“Cause this time around I don’t intend to let it happen that way.”
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That night she patrolled with Spike, a solemn sombre Spike, contemplating the world, or maybe the fact that Buffy knew things, she was an oracle into the future. Buffy on the other hand, was having a great time, beating up random vamps.

“You know I haven’t done this for at least seventy five years.”

“Do you know what’s going to happen tomorrow?” he blurted out of the blue.

“Yes, pay off your poker debts, I know you can afford to... Just trust me on this one, ok?” Buffy plunged her stake into her vampire opponent.

“Were you happy?”

“Happy when? That you dusted? God no! I love you, and I never got the chance to say it Spike, wait that’s wrong, I was too afraid to say it, too afraid of what my friends would think, too afraid of how it goes against everything I stood for...I was wrong. I knew that I cared about you, I was just stupid to not let myself fall in love with you. Then I did, and it was too late.”

Buffy walked over to where Spike was standing and took his hands.

“Look, you’ve been by my side, fighting, watching my back since Glory, and ya you’ve done some really stupid stuff, the Buffy bot being a prime example, and you’ve been the only one I could talk to about this whole heaven thing. So, you want a glimpse into the future, here it is. If this hadn’t happened, if the other Buffy was here now, I’d still be fighting it. I’d be denying that I ever kissed you, and beating myself up for kissing you, then after some wacky highjicks, involving Witchy Willow and the guy you owe kittens to, we kiss again, then you’ll find out that your chip doesn’t work on me, something about being brought back from the dead, and we’ll fight, and we’ll shag, and I’ll resent you for it, and myself, because it’s wrong. I’ll use you for sex, oh it will be great sex, wonderful passionate sex, but that’s all it will be for me, cause I think there’s something wrong with me. And you will still love me, and hope that the next time I’ll realise that you love me and that I’ll love you back. And I’ll break your spirit, and your heart. Well you know what? That’s not going to happen now. I love you Spike, the way you are, no soul, bad attitude, cigarettes and all. I’ve had the destructive ‘I want to feel’ sex and it starts to kill us both. I don’t want that to happen. I’ve been so lonely without you all these years. I even married a couple of guys who looked like you just to fill the void,”

Spike gave her a look.

“Oh god, not at the same time. But I divorced them almost as soon as I married them, they weren’t you. I think I was fifty six before I finally gave up that you weren’t going to be reincarnated in some stud muffin. I’ve spent most of my life training Slayers, working for the council and obsessing over you.”

Spike reached up and brushed a piece of hair out of her face.

“Please Spike, just let me love you, like you deserved to be loved.”

“I love you too, Buffy.”

Buffy leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Come on,” she said pulling him towards his crypt, “it’s time to do number 2 on my list of things to do.”

“What’s that pet?”

“Make love with the man I’ve loved for a over a century.”
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tbc...
 
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