The Time Machine...Part XXVII... Main Theme

March 13th, 1880...London...8:45pm...

Willow staggered a bit as she hurried along the street on foot, desperately trying to follow Buffy and her Ole Bess...Finding the way reasonably well marked by the path of destruction Buffy and horse had left in their wake...

That last spell had left her rather woozy...God, Tara is gonna be so pissed at me...she thought...

But hell, I couldn’t say no to poor Buffy...And after all, 1880...Special circumstances...

Insane romance...

And most of her spells had been minor ones except for poor Moira’s persuasion spell...

At least I didn’t enjoy it...Maybe, when it’s done at request rather than for my own amusement the thrill goes out of it a little...

Say, maybe that’s why Tara doesn’t get the buzz I do...She usually does them...Heck, almost always does em for others...

But, she’s still gonna be pissed...Well...Like Spike with Buf, I can’t help thinking it’s better to have her angry at me...Then not have her concerned with me at all...

Besides, Buffy shares some of the blame in this one...A whole lot of the blame...she thought, rubbing her aching fanny discretely as she could...

An enclosed cab pulled up to her...She eyed it cautiously...

Sorry, Jack...Not in the profession...And busy in any case...she noted to herself...

Holy God...Why did I have to think of the name “Jack”?...she nervously thought...Moving away quickly...

Just when did that maniac show up around here, anyway?...

Probably this week...Maybe right now...She picked up the pace, stumbling again...

“Miss?!!...” Morey called to her from the cab...

***
Back at her cousins, the Herricks, the shaken Miss Addams was attempting to pay attention to her fervent admirers now jockeying for position near her side...
One handed her a sheet of paper...

Must have come from that silly fool’s things...he noted, smiling at her...

“There’s no need to be cruel to the poor boy...” she returned, surprising him...

She kept returning to the scene in her mind...Walthrop running out...The girl rushing in...Trying...What?

To stop her?...Stop him?...

What you have done?...That was what she’d said, wasn’t it?...That strange blonde girl...

The same one she’d seen in her mirror early that afternoon...

What have I done?...A slight chill gripped her...

Well...She’d apologize later through dear cousin Henry...Make the poor fellow understand that she was just...Unable to accept his protestations of love under circumstances as they were...

It could all be dealt with tomorrow...A little smile and a kind word and he’d be fine...And Henry could explain the reality of the situation to him...

She looked at the sheet...Not another poem...Just a draft of a letter to his sister...

Describing one Miss Cicely Addams...

In innocent and tender words no one had ever used or would ever use again to describe her...

***
Drusilla left the body of a heavy-set older woman who’d halted to comfort the clearly terrified young woman in an alleyway...

Very kind lady, she thought...Well...One grandmother is quite enough...

She’d remember the lady fondly, according to her lights...Thanks to her comforting words she was much calmer now when she’d halted, expecting immediate destruction at the hands of her pursuer...

But he’d fallen behind...Apparently off after someone else...

That little human “brother”?...Or whatever he was?...

Hmmn...That would be too bad...She’d hoped to meet the little one first, and learn just why his brother, father, cousin...? was so tormenting to the poor little Dru...
Perhaps some general dislike of his fellow vampires...But he’d let Darla and Angelis live...Hadn’t bothered them at all...

Very unfair to the poor Dru...

Still...The little one was stalking around, moving in her general direction...she sensed...

Perhaps she could catch the little human soon and put an end to this...

Or at least get some idea of why the other was here...And seeking her so single-mindedly...

***

Misery...All life is nothing but misery....A desolate William Soames Walthrop kicked at the pavement...

Cicely...Rejecting him...Without even looking at his work, just listening to that goddamned fool “gentleman” who’d grabbed his poems...Reading them out to that assembly of morons in mock serious tones...

He could’ve understood her not liking the work...He knew it was still rough and unfinished...

But not to even listen to what lay beneath...

Beneath...God...

“Beneath me...” That’s what she said...

“Beneath” her, eh...?

So...She was just like all the rest...A money-grubbing, position-seeking little scheming...

But he’d seen so much more in her...It couldn’t be true...He couldn’t be so wrong...

Is there no truth in Beauty?...

He hurled his sheath of poems into the gutter...

What a waste...Well, damn her...And damn her damn friends...And damn relatives...

God, was even old Henry just stringing him along?...Pretending to be a friend, setting him up to be a clown for his cousin’s and friends’ amusement?...

Silly ole Walthrop, in his borrowed suit...A pet monkey for the nobs to play with and sneer at...

But...He balled a hand into a fist and beat the nearest wall...Cicely...She’d smiled at him...And he’d seen...Something in her...

Pity perhaps, he thought ruefully, looking at his bloodied hand...Before she’d been, oh so embarrassed by his words of love...

Damn that stupid lout “gentleman”...

Gutless fop probably couldn’t spell his name to save his life...

But...What did it matter?...God, what had he seen in her that had led him to trust her?...To believe that she would, of all people...Understand...

Maybe that blonde one...The face he’d seen reflected in the elevator...Maybe that’s what he’d sensed...

Her better angel, perhaps...Damn...

Damn...If she’d thought his work so worthless, such an embarrassment...

Maybe it was...Maybe he was...

His work...Mum’s sacrifice...All for nothing...He’d never escape what he was...They’d always be throwing him back...

Just another working class upstart with pretensions...

He put his head to the wall of a building...Sobbing a bit...

A hand reached out and touched his back...He jerked around...

“What...?!...” he mumbled, looking at the intruder...

Jaw dropping slightly...

***

“Are you sure you can handle this?...” Giles looked at Dawn...

Who had arrived a few minutes after Dawn-bot’s untimely shut-down...

The sensory spell about her should convince anyone that she was whoever they initially took her for...Including Warren’s robo-Buffy...But it was not foolproof, Giles noted...And would fade in the crypt rather quickly...If she slipped up, Warren or Buffy II would catch on fast...

“Giles, can’t we just go in and you hex Mears or something?...” Anya put in, anxiously...

“As I’ve told you, Anya...I can’t penetrate the charms young Mr. Mears has set up...Else none of us would risk going...” Giles sighed...

I think we’d find it impossible to initiate a new spell in his presence right now...

“Hey...I can pass for Dawny-bot any day of the week...” Dawn insisted...

It’ll be easy...I go in, tell Warren you’ve vamoosed...He’ll freak and run for the hills...

“Well...Dawn...I think I’d better go too...” Anya told her...

Buffy would be pretty annoyed if I let you go alone...Xander too...

“Yes...” Giles nodded... “Warren probably would be only less willing to leave his protected area if he thought you were still free and about, Anya...”

Oh...Well...Gee, thanks for “supporting” me, Giles...Anya thought...

“I will be following you...If the robot fails to detect Dawn as human...As I believe she will...I can then make a distraction and you two should be able to free the others...”

“Given the fact that the robot seems unable to harm any of Buffy’s family or friends, I think the only real danger is what our mad scientist has on his person for weapons...So it’s essential that someone he would trust at least to some extent gets close enough to disable him...” Giles concluded...

Oh...Dawn looked at him...

“I gotta shoot him or something?...” she frowned a bit...

Not that I would shed any tears over that creep, just...I kinda agree with Sis...

Guns and knives...Bad...

“No, no...” Giles reassured her...Just use this...

He held out a calculator-sized block with a couple of buttons...

“Some kinda of magic thingy?...” Dawn asked hopefully...

Neat...

She was beginning to like this “undercover operation”...Finally a chance to get in on the action...
No magic thingy could be started in the crypt right now, I think...Giles noted...

This...Careful, my dear, as she grabbed it...Is a stunner...With a quite respectable charge...

“Just offer it to Warren...As something Anya had about her...And press that red button as you give it to him...”

And he will get it...Rather well...Giles noted, smiling...

Janice was coming out of her panicky collapse thanks to the sedative Anya had given her, courtesy of Giles...

“Dawny?...” Dawn went to her...Hey, Jan...

We dead or what?...Janice asked feebly...

“Now as to our little lady here...” Giles looked at the Dawn-bot...

I think we’d best have her send a message to her owner...He must be getting anxious by now...

“Anya, would you help me with her?...” Giles asked...Lifting the robot gently and carrying her towards the back office...

And keep Dawn away...he hissed to his partner...

I don’t think she’d enjoy seeing her new “sister”’s head opened...

***

“This is Felix...” Morey introduced a rather dog-faced demon to Willow in the cab...

A noted tracker in my employ...

He’ll get us to your Miss Buffy...

Willow nodded politely at Felix who smiled...

He liked redheads...

But of course, as a loyal British demon...A Victorian British demon...Duty came first...

“That way...” he pointed...

Willow looked at him...

“Say...How can he track Buffy?...Doesn’t he need...?”

Morey waved Mr. Pointy at her...

“One of my men found her in the tunnel...A bit confusing for most of my trackers what with all the vamp scents...But Miss Buffy’s scent is strong on it and Felix is the best...”

Geesh...How did Angelis and co get away from these guys in our timeline?...Willow thought...

Course Morey here doesn’t view them as large potatoes anyway...Dru’s the only one who interests him...

Kinda of takes a little of the air out of the “Mighty Angelis”’ rep...

Musta been good PR that gave him the big name and all...
***

A shaken Angelis was philosophical as he cautiously re-emerged into the street from the shadowy corner where he’d hid himself from Morey’s pursuing agents...

Win some, lose some...

As for Darla...Well...At least her dear mate was still alive, to keep her memory immortal...

And to record the saga of “Angelis’ Encounter with the Slayer in London”...

Rather nice title, he thought...Perhaps he should submit it as fiction to the Strand magazine...

Just need to find someone to write it up at his dictation...Hmmn...Say...That William had seemed the scholarly type...If he were still around...And still willing to continue their alliance...

A sure-fire crowd pleaser for both vamps and humans...Given the surprise happy ending for both vamp and Slayer...

Gotta change that name though...God, “Buffy?”...Ridiculous...They’d think he’d been fighting a rabbit or something...

“Angelis!!...” Darla hollered at him from up the street...

Oh...the joy...he groaned...

Quietly...

***
The Time Machine...Part XXVIII...
2002 Sunnydale...

I hope this works...Anya thought as Dawn led her into Spike’s crypt...Trying to look sufficiently intimidating, yet Dawnish...

Though frankly...she thought...I can’t see why we don’t just let the little maniac have his machine and go off into the unknown...Something in another timeline is sure to get him...They always do...

Still...Giles is right...He might hurt Buffy and the others when they try coming back...And most important of all, he might hurt my Alexander...

Hmmn...Wish I could have my pendant back...Just for ten minutes...I’d show that pudgy nerd what messing with magics is all about...

A plea to my old boss, maybe?...

Well...Guess Xander’d be so disappointed in me if I did...Although he has transgressed himself on occasion...

Better save it for when our children are in danger though...Sort of a last ditch, final fling thing...A tension-releaser if nothing else...And my Xandy would never object to it to save our offspring...

Screw the wedding plans...If we get out of this, we elope tomorrow...

***
London, 1880, 9:15pm

Spike raced towards where he sensed his counterpart...

The area looking disturbingly familiar...

Oh, God, don’t let this all be for nothing...

He clutched his manuscript tucked underneath the Randy suit...Precious cargo, that...

The key to linking Walthrop’s human soul in this timeline to Buffy’s...

Will was here, somewhere, nearby...Concentrate...Where did I go after Cicely dissed me?...Where?...

Uh-oh...Another presence off in the distance...

Dear old vamp Mum...

Time was running out on William Soames Walthrop...

“Will!!!..” he called desperately...

Where the hell are you?!!...

He tried concentrating on Dru...Still a bit too far off...

Well, he’d tried everything else...Perhaps it was time to make his peace...

“Listen you sodden bastard...Or bastards...You condemned me for nothing...And all I damned have ever asked you for is right here...A chance to keep one of my counterparts’ souls in this damned infinite universe around and kicking...And connect him with Buffy Summers, at least in Eternity...”

Damned unselfish, I’d say...For a former killer demon-maniac...

Someone, for my mother’s sake...For poor Buffy’s sake...Listen to me for once...I’ll go to Hell...I’ll take any damned condemnation and punishment you choose to throw at me...

Just let me find him, please God...

He suddenly heard a kick on pavement...A kicking sound he recognized...

Damn good service...Thanks...he grinned...

And turning the corner, froze...

A cab had halted in the road...And next to it...William Soames Walthrop...

And a young lady he hadn’t seen in some time...
***

“William?...er...Mr. Walthrop?...”

Walthrop blinked at...A nervous Cicely...

“Miss Addams...” he nodded, regaining a hair of composure...

“I...I wanted to...I...”

“I’ve thrown it away...Don’t worry yourself...” he looked at her...

“I’m so ashamed William...Please...Accept...”

He waved his hand at her...

“It’s fine...I understand...I’m not completely illiterate, you know...”

I’m beneath you...I received your communique quite clearly...

“Mr...Wal...William...Please...Come back with me...”

I’m so ashamed...

“Why...This is so very kind of you...Very noble...I thank you...”

But I am otherwise engaged for the evening...

“Did you write this?...” she handed him the draft letter...

Guilty as charged, miss...he nodded...

Shall I tear this one as well?...

“No...Please...” she took his hand....

You mustn’t stay here...It’s not safe for you...

“Please, William, come back with me...”

You’re in danger here...

He looked at her pleading face...

She looks just like she did...The girl I saw in the elevator’s reflection did...he thought...

“Why do you think I’m in danger, Miss Addams?”...

“I don’t know...I just know you are...Please, William...Please do this...”

For your sister’s sake if not mine...

“What would it matter if I was?...Who’d care....?

She would, Cicely replied...Touching the letter gently...

And I would...

She took his hand gently...And he stared at his hand in hers...
“Here’s the arrangement I propose William...” she began...

Spike, watching them in wonder, suddenly smiled...

Here’s the deal...he thought...

My God...How could I have been so blind?...

She followed me...That night...But Dru was too quick for her...Nothing to throw Dru off her path like this time...

And she wasn’t the Slayer...Then...

But that didn’t stop her...She just waited until she could find another way to save me...A century later...

I was right about her...More than I ever could have guessed...

***

William having clearly accepted the “arrangement”, helped Miss Addams into her carriage and they drove off...

We did it, Spike grinned to himself...At last...

Cicely and I...With the help of one rather evil nerd...

And some reincarnation from the Powers That Be...

He sensed Dru getting nearer...

Too late, dear heart...Not in this timeline...

He heard the sound of a rampaging horse coming up on him...

And jumping back, recognized its occupant...

One could hardly call her its rider the way she was straddling the poor horse...
***

“William?...” Buffy looked at him...

Buffy?!...Spike looked at her in astonishment...

Fancy meeting you here...he recovered with aplomb...
“Enjoying the sights, are we?...”

“Spike?...” Buffy stared at him...Obviously confused...

He looked at her carefully...

“Where’s William...?”

Past us and...God willing, safe...he smiled...

“But what the hell are you...?”

With a shriek, Drusilla came howling in...Smashing him down...

Having decided the offense was the best strategy in this situation...Her mysterious nemesis being apparently on quite good terms with the Slayer...
***

The Time Machine...Part XXIX

“William!!!...” Willow from Morey’s carriage heard a familiar scream...

She leapt out, followed by Morey and Felix, pausing for a second in astonishment as she recognized Miss Addams and Walthrop riding past in their own carriage...Clearly lost to the world...

My God...We did it...We saved him...

Or, rather...Helped her save him...

“Buffy!!...” she heard Spike cry...To the accompaniment of loud smashes...

But sounds like we’re about to lose our own version...And Buffy as well...

***
2002 Sunnydale...The crypt...

“Dawny...” Buffy-bot II greeted her sister happily...

“Anya...It’s so nice to see you again...” she hesitated...

You didn’t come here to hurt Warren?...she asked anxiously...

Warren watched them narrowly...Dawn holding Anya firmly...

“Here she is...Warren...”

Thank God the other bot didn’t call him “Master”...Dawn thought...

I’d of barfed for sure trying to say that...Danger or no danger...

Anya looked over at Xander...Hey, sweetie...she smiled, a little wanly...

“Dawn?...” Tara called to her...

Dawn-bot...Dawn replied...

“I think Dawn is still on her way to the shop...” she noted...

Xander frowned angrily at Mears...You little...

Buffy was bad enough...But Dawn too?...

Though...As a craftsman...He had to admit...Quite a piece of workmanship...

“Surprise...” Warren giggled at him...

Buffy-bot II stared in what was an excellent imitation of astonishment...

“Dawny?...”

She looked at Tara as if for reassurance...

“Warren?...” she turned to Mears...Dawn trying not to look nervous...

Anya at least could afford to look nervous...Playing “prisoner of the Dawn-bot” and all...

“You never told me you’d made a Dawny-bot...” Buffy-bot looked a hair accusingly at her owner...

“Is my sister?...The real one...Ok?...” she asked anxiously...

Phew...Dawn thought...Hurdle one overcome...

***

“Spike!!...”

Buffy had leapt off ole Bess to assist Spike, Dru turning her attention to her...

Damn...No stake...Nothing wooden around..Buffy thought, hopping up to kick at the vampiress...

Just don’t look her in the eyes, she told herself...

Dru caught the kick in her chest but grabbed at her and threw the Slayer down...

Spike wobbly rose and jumped her...Knocking them both to the ground...

Buffy stunned on the pavement, groaning...Spike picked himself up, turning and calling to her...

“Buffy!!...”

Drusilla staggered to her feet, and charged at him...Smashing him against the wall of the alley building...

Willow tore ahead of her companions...Bearing down on the fighters, but...

Drusilla grabbed at Buffy as she tried to get up and tossed her back, unconscious now....Spike was out on the ground...

She lifted the Slayer in her arms...Almost a maternal embrace...

For a new daughter...

Willow screamed...But Dru ignored the little human running towards her...

There was only one thing to do...

The only sure-fire spell for stopping a vampire...

Though under these conditions the curse could not be expected to last forever...

She focused desperately...In her weakened state, this one was gonna hurt she knew...

Dru stared at her, dropped Buffy, and fell...

***
A howling cry came from Drusilla...Crumpled on the ground...

Buffy gasped for breath, beside her...And standing, rushed to Spike, now coming round...

She helped him gently to his feet and they looked at Drusilla...

Who beat her fists on the pavement, wailing...

“Oh...God!...Merciful Jesus!...No...No!!...”

And looked up at them in torment...

Fixing her eyes on Spike...Not quite sure, but aware...As Willow came up...

Buffy looked at her...Will?...

Willow nodded, sighing...Yeah...The good old curse...

She staggered a bit and plopped down on the ground...Blinking...

Takes a lot out of a girl...

Spike looked at Willow...Red too...?

My God...I have friends...he shook his head briefly as he turned to poor Dru...

Though really Red...I wish you might have found another way...he thought...Though I understand...

Crisis situation and all...

Morey and Felix came running up...And halted...

Buffy turned to the half-demon and his friend, holding them back, explaining...

Another vampire with a soul?...Morey looked at her incredulously...But one look at Dru and he realized it was true...Somehow, they’d found a way...

Amazing folk, these Yanks...

A curse...Buffy explained...Highly specialized spell...

My poor Dru...Poor sweet lamb...Spike stared at the hysterically sobbing Drusilla...

Have a hairsbreath of mercy, you Goddamn bastards...He stared at the few stars visible in the murky sky...She is innocent...

He touched her gently...

“Miss...Drusilla...”

I don’t even know your last name, my poor, poor girl...

We never were properly introduced...

“Oh, God...Sir...I know you...I...” Dru looked at Spike and paused, confused...

No, Miss Drusilla...You don’t know me...We’ve never met...Spike told her hurriedly...

“Kill me, sir...” Dru begged... “Now, please...”

She looked to the others...Pleading...

Oh, please...Let me go home...

He looked at Buffy and Willow...Please...

“Don’t let her suffer...”

Willow stared, tears running down her face...

A whole century of agony...All this suffering...And he never blamed her...

“Forgive me!!” Dru pleaded... “I know...I...can see it...”

I killed....She buried her head in her hands...

“You’ve nothing to blame yourself for Dru...” Spike told her gently...

You didn’t kill anyone, dear heart...He looked firmly at Morey who watched him quietly...

Felix having gone over to inquire after the pretty redhead...Was she quite well?...

By the way, excellent spell-casting, Miss...he told her...

Fine, thanks very much...Willow smiled at him...Cute little fellow...Reminds me of...

Oh, Jonathan...she sighed...Bowing her head...New tears streaming down her face...

Miss?...Felix asked anxious...

“Our friend...”

Felix gallantly offered a hanky...Yes, we heard...he noted...

So sorry Ma’am...

Spike continuing to try to comfort Dru...Buffy watching...
“The other...Is part of me, sir...” Dru stared off, into the London night...

Nothing I can do can ever cleanse me of this shame...

Morey watched in wonder...The fiendish Drusilla...

“No, Dru...” Buffy told her gently, coming over...

You have no shame to bear...

“I failed...I failed my God...My soul was not strong enough to fight the Evil One...” Dru told her...

Spike took her hand, kneeling beside her...Stroking her hair gently...

“You are not the cause, Dru...” he told her...

Morey came over...Pausing before her...Doffing his hat...

“Your soul is here, Miss...Still alive...You hate what the demon did...There are many, I can tell you, who surrender to the demon, lose themselves in it, Miss...” Morey told her...

“Your soul was strong...Kept clear of the evil...And has no share in the demon’s crimes...”

Spike looked gratefully at the old agent...Good lad, that half-demon...

Nothing can change the fact that my body was used for evil...Dru noted sadly, desperately twisting her hands...And that I did not stop it...

I am cursed...And damned...

What have I done...Willow thought...I can’t leave her like this...But...

Not a stick in sight...

“Dru...I...” Buffy began...Looking at Spike...

“I love William here...And he is a vampire, his demon barely held back...”

But his soul deserves love...And is blameless...

“I don’t know why God chooses to be so cruel to you and other innocent people like you...But you...And Will...Are not to blame...”

Dru stared at Spike...Almost but not quite...Aware...
He was recovering from severe shock at Buffy’s quiet announcement...

“Should I...Should I know you, sir?...Are you one I harmed?...” Dru looked at him sadly...

No, Dru...Honestly...You’ve never met me...Spike smiled at her...

“But I am glad to meet you at last...Dear heart...”

He looked up at his...friends...And stood up, raising Dru gently...

Buffy stared at them...As Willow came over to him...And wordlessly cradled the young woman gently in her arms as she sobbed...

Felix watching sympathetically...A very sweet red-haired lady, that...he noted to his superior...

Don’t think she’s your type, dear fellow, Morey whispered back...

Buffy moved over to Spike and he turned to her...Staring back...

“As I was saying before poor Dru interrupted...” he began...

What the hell are you two doing here?...

“Oh...” Buffy sniffed...So...

You didn’t think I’d come after you?

He frowned at her...And then...The same boyish smile appeared on his face that Willow had seen the night back in Sunnydale when she told him Buffy had apologized...

“I love you too, Buffy...” he told her quietly...

***
They stood a little apart from the others...

“You came...For me...” he noted...

She nodded...

Courtesy one Warren Mears...she smiled...

Hmmn...Yes...But that’s not what I meant...he noted...Pausing...

“Were you very sad when I died...Cicely?...” Spike looked at her...

Yes...William...Buffy replied without thinking...to Willow’s astonishment as she looked at them, gently rocking the sobbing Drusilla...

When I heard you’d died that night my heart broke...

She looked at Spike in wonder...

“I thought so...” he said quietly...

***
2002 Sunnydale...

Dawn held Anya carefully by an arm as she “awaited instructions”...

Warren looked the former demon over...Didn’t seem like much of a menace...

“Did you check her for anything she might be carrying on her?...” he looked at Dawn...

Who saw her opportunity...

“Only this...” she noted, holding up Giles’ stunner in her other hand...

Hmmn...

“Some kind of charm?...Anya?...” he asked Anya...

It won’t work here anyway...I’ve protected this chamber from any kinds of spells...

Hmmn...Anya frowned at him...Typical...

Nerd reads a couple of magics books and he knows it all...

Tara clearly thinking the same as she stared at him from the other side of the room...

“Do you want it, Warren?...” Dawn asked, calmly as possible...

Just put it down on the table there, he told her, pointing...

“I’ll look it over later...”

She glanced at Anya...Who stared back...Then placed the stunner on the table, button pressed...

First things, first...Warren noted...

“Your sister is a bit disobedient...” he frowned at Buffy-bot II...Who wore a slightly guilty look...
I want you to deactivate her...Without damaging anything...

Just disconnect the R5A cable to the main computer, please...

“Ummn...Warren?...” Buffy-bot II stared at him...

I can’t let Dawn-bot deactivate me...I must protect my sister...My friends...

“Well...then...” Warren grinned...

We have some entertainment in store for our guests...

I guess it’s time for a robo-fight...

Robo-fight?...Dawn gulped...I have to fight her?...

***
1880 London...

Felix turned to Morey, patting his pocket...And gave a questioning look...

Morey nodded...And Felix pulled out Jonathan’s 12-in-1...

Found by his remains, Miss...he told Willow quietly...

“Thank you...” Willow smiled at him sadly...

Drusilla had calmed a bit...Thanking Willow for her kindness...A kindness her flawed soul did not deserve...she noted...

Kindness?...Willow stared sadly at her...

“It was wrong of me to question God’s purpose...” Dru told her, composedly...He will show me the way in His time...But for now...She looked at the red-haired woman...Realizing for the first time that she was almost as young as she would have been...Had Dru been human...

“What can I do?...” Dru asked her, looking at Willow...And the others...

Willow looked back at her...

“Why have you called me back?...”Dru asked...

Ummn...

Dru tensed, sensing...As Spike did likewise...
“They’re coming, Miss...” Dru told Willow...

“Ma’am...” she called to Buffy... “The Evil Ones are almost here...”

“Angelis and Darla...” Spike noted to Morey who nodded...

Coming in from up that way, he pointed...

“Leave them to me...” Dru told them...

They looked at her...Willow turned to Buffy...

We can’t...

“Please...” Dru begged...Looking at each one of them...

“Let me have some chance to make amends...”

Morey nodded carefully...But noted...

“Mr. William is quite right, Miss...Drusilla...”

You have nothing to blame yourself for...

“Then let me prove it...” she told him...

“Buffy...?” Willow looked at her...

“Let her do this, Willow...” Spike told her...Looking at Dru and nodding...

“Will...” Buffy looked at him...

It’s her right to deal with Angelis...he noted...

“Leave me...” Dru said... “They’re coming for me...I can deceive them until you’re all safely away...”

The others looked at each other...

Please...Dru begged...No more innocent blood on my hands...

Willow turned to Morey...

“If she...Survives...”

We’ll take care of her...He nodded...Either by letting her help us in the work...

Or helping her find her blessed peace at last...

“You’ll be heading home, I take it, Miss Buffy?...” he looked at the Slayer...

Yes...Home...she nodded...Looking at Spike...

“Pity...But I suppose America has its own share of the underworld to contend with...” Morey smiled...

Willow went to Dru...And gave her Jonathan’s tool...

A little extra surprise, she noted, explaining its use...

Dru smiled wanly...Always was fascinated by my uncles’ machinery, she noted...

“Forgive me, Dru...” Willow hugged her...

You have saved me, Miss...she told Willow gently...Freed me at last...

“Good bye, Sir...Miss...” she smiled at Buffy and Spike...

Much happiness between you...I will pray for it...If God will still hear me...

Spike took her hands...

“When I had no hope, your sweet soul called to me, Miss Drusilla...” Spike told her... “And kept a little of me alive...”

“You will be an angel in God’s Heaven, my Dru...” he told her, kissing her...
***

He looked at Buffy who took his arm wordlessly...Her hand around his...Gently squeezing...

“First order of business when we get back...” she told him...

I promise...We’ll free her...Our timeline’s Dru...

No more waiting for Angel to get around to it...

***
Dru?...Angelis looked at the trembling Drusilla...Darla coming up beside him...

“Yes...Angelis...” she stared at him...
“Where are the Slayer and her friends?...” Darla asked her...

Gone...Dru looked at her...

Darla stared at her...

Dru?...

“The little humans ran off with William when I came...” Dru noted...

We won’t catch them tonight...And we should find new lodgings before it gets too late...Shall we go...? she asked...Taking Angelis’ arm...

He leered and turned happily to Darla...

Another time for completing his heroic tale of the Slayer’s defeat...

Thank God...he thought...

Darla frowned...What had happened to her insane little granddaughter?...

Not like Dru to make sense when deadly peril is not closing in...

And she’d caught the tremble in her as she took Angelis’ arm...

***
The Time Machine...Part XXX...Conclusion...

London 1880...10:55pm...

The group broke up at Morey’s cab...Her Majesty’s agent tendering the grateful thanks of the British government...

The safe house operation’s secret maintained...And the fiendish Drusilla restored, however briefly, to the side of light...

Perhaps even the minor problem of the remaining Angelis pride being dealt with...

Dispatching several newly arrived agents, Morey promised to maintain surveillance on Dru and the others...Keeping his and his men’s distance until she called for them...If she chose to...

And to see that she was properly cared for afterwards...Even if only her remains...

Felix took a reluctant farewell of Willow...Who pecked him gently on his jowly cheek...

The time travelers strolled causally back towards Miss Fitzgibbons’ digs...Where the carefully hidden machine remained under her devout protection...They hoped...

Buffy frowned at Spike as they walked...

Although she'd learned more about him...And herself...Than she’d ever wanted to...She still...

“Why did you come back here, Spike?...”

What did you hope to achieve?...she asked him...

He grinned at her a little sheepishly...Well...

Willow looked at the sheath of papers in her hands...Which she’d picked up from where Spike had dropped them in the fight with Dru...

And passed them to Buffy...
***
A copy of the manuscript he’d given Buffy in 2002...The history of her adventures...

And their romance...

To be given to young Will, after his rescue from a grim fate...

Surely, for one so romantic, supplemented by a lifetime of association with his Immortal counterpart...Guaranteed to win his heart...Spike explained...

He’d come to love Buffy...Somehow Spike knew it instinctively...

And knowing of her...And loving her...

“We’d have met...Our souls...In the afterlife...” Spike looked at her...

Alternate timeline or not...

Human with a soul, you said...Well...

Just aiming to please...

Yes...Buffy agreed, looking at him...

We’d have met...Just as I finally found you a century from now...

No doubt about it, given Cicely’s...My...determination...she looked at him...Rather proudly...

“Well...” Willow smiled at them... “I always thought it was strange the way you kept finding excuses not to kill each other...”
***

Some one to eat...? Darla suggested to Dru...Questioningly...As they walked along...

Dru shook her head...No...Miss...No...Grandmother...Not hungry...

“Well...” Angelis leered expansively... “I could eat horse, driver, and the occupants of a four-seater carriage...”

We should find a new place to stay...Dru noted quietly...

“We aren’t safe...They’ll be searching for us with more men...Dogs...The Americans’ devices...”

Hmmn...Darla stared, eyes narrowing...

Very sensible foresight...

Not the Drusilla I know...

***
2002 Sunnydale...

Uh-boy...Dawn thought...

Moron Mears wants a robo-cat fight?...Buffy-bot II and me?...

Well, why should I be surprised?...Perverse little geek...

The nerd in question was grinning happily at his two “little girls”...

He’d always loved a good robot demolition derby...

Great...And the bot can’t tell I’m human...Yet anyway...Dawn noted to herself...

So she’ll have no compunctions about ripping me to pieces...

Anya glanced nervously at her...Clearly ready to give it up...

No sign of Giles as yet...

Tara was still hoping to win Buffy-bot II over, courtesy Willow’s buried safety directives...And was not anxious to see Mears indulge his sleaziest fantasies...

“Buffy...?” she called...

The bot smiled at her, while keeping a watch on her potential opponent...

“You can’t want to fight Dawny?...Even robo-Dawny?...”

She frowned at Warren...Disgusting little twerp...Much as she hated the thought of using magics for harm...She only wished she knew Amy’s old rat spell...

Perfectly appropriate in his case...

“You can’t make them fight, Warren...It’s inhuman...”

The deposed Fearless Leader was properly annoyed...Hey, he was running things here...

“Lady...I can do anything I want with my girls...”

Except, of course, in Buffy-bot II’s case, get her to harm anyone besides Andrew...he did not say...

Dawn-bot...he turned to Dawn...

“Over there...” he pointed...To the far left corner of the room...

Dawn went over...Darting a quick glance at Anya...

No...she mouthed...To Anya’s nervous, questioning stare...

Not yet...

“Buffy...” Warren looked at the bot...Who seemed a bit reluctant...

Over there...he pointed to the opposite corner...

Ummn...she hesitated...

“Don’t listen to him, Buffy-bot...” Xander called...

“Sorry, Xander...” she looked at him sadly, heading over...

Ummn...Warren?...Dawn called...

Anya looked at her...

“Are you sure this is such a good idea?...” Dawn asked...
Warren stared at her...What?!...Another rebellious bot?...

Are they all reading Freidan or something?...

Hmmn...

“If Buffy-bot is stronger than me...I won’t be able to help you...Later...” Dawn noted carefully...

And you said she’s been disobedient...

***
London, 1880...11:20pm

Darla, Angelis, and Drusilla were moving down a near empty avenue...Gaslights flickering as they passed...Only a handful of carriages passing them...

Darla was more puzzled and suspicious by the moment...Not a whine from dear Dru...Quiet and composed...

And no interest in any of the handful of prospects for feeding they’d passed...In fact, she’d pointed out sensible reasons for avoiding them in each case...

Very sensible reasons...

Something very strange was afoot...Either Dru had been terrified into sanity by her encounter with the mysterious William and his Slayer...Clearly allies, they had all agreed, bizarre as the concept seemed...Or...

Or...What?...It was Dru, Darla was sure...And she was a vampire, no doubt about it...

Although she was clearly very nervous around her “family”...Recoiling slightly from Angelis’ touch as they walked...

Angelis, true to form, had noticed nothing strange in his “dear daughter”..In fact he seemed to appreciate her new-found caution...

He’d had a rough time of it, after all...And was ready to settle for a safe haven and a very quiet and cautious kill or two...

Well...Perhaps the direct approach...

“Dru...?” Darla looked at her...

“Were you very frightened back there?...”

Yes...Grandmother...Dru nervously nodded at her, not looking at her...

I was very frightened...The Slayer and her witch almost killed me...

“Witch?...” Darla smiled at her...

Witch?...Angelis snorted...

“There are no such things as witches, girl...” he smiled at Dru...Who avoided looking at him...
With the firmly confident assurance of a man of a rational nineteenth century...Who defined his supernatural world in rather narrow terms...

Darla stared at him...

He’ll be telling us there are no vampires next...That we’re figments of our own imagination...

Must keep him from reading those scientific journals...He doesn’t really understand them and what little he does is affecting his mind...

“Tell me more about this witch, dearest...” Darla came beside Dru...

Whether she exists or not...She frowned at Angelis...

Witches...he chuckled to himself moving ahead of them...

The things my Dru comes up with...
***

Miss Fitzgibbons gratefully greeted the returning time travelers and her Blessed Lady...

She had feared they might have come to harm...Or worse, rejected her as unworthy of further contact...

She eyed Spike with a faint surprise...Had their friend changed his appearance?...

No, William here was another friend...Willow noted, sadly...Their friend Jonathan...Was staying behind...

A Guardian angel...You might say...She looked at Buffy...Who nodded...

“Ummn...Moira?...Is our box...Of sacred implements...?”

Miss Fitzgibbons led her to the time machine...Intact and ready...

She nervously noted that she’d kept close for the day...In case anyone might have come by the place...

Willow hugged her...Which startled the poor lady into near shock...

And realizing her discomfort...Gave her a more formal and appropriate blessing...

Plus a few pounds Morey had kindly given her...And the address of the Quayside Hotel...

She suggested Moira contact her kindly friends Morey and Felix with an eye to...Safer...And better compensated employment...

Was she seeing anyone?...Willow asked...To Buffy’s surprise as well as Miss Fitzgibbons’...

No...Blessed Lady, she was giving up that...Line...As she’d promised in her prayers...The ones she’d been making...All day...

“Oh...Well...I meant...Seeing...”

A gentleman caller...Spike put in helpfully, grinning at “the Blessed Virgin”...

Not...Recently...Moira hesitated...But if the Lady required that she take Holy Orders...

“No, no...Actually...I was thinking...” Willow paused...

“You might care to meet my friend...Felix...He’s a little...Different...In his looks...”

But a very kind fellow...In a rather noble profession...

Buffy looked at her...

Mary, the Matchmaker...

Willow shrugged...

Felix might be a demon...But he was a kind soul...Whose job was steady and eminently beneficial to Humanity...Bearing the recommendation of Her Majesty’s top underworld agent...And...

He liked redheads...

“Anything that keeps her off the streets while Jack is around...” Willow hissed while Moira happily fetched tea...

Speaking of old Jack...? Buffy turned to Spike...

Who shook his head...Never met the fellow...

And Angelis and pride were always neat and tidy with their food...Eviscerating prostitutes wasn’t their style...

Unless of course...Dru had had a hobby...

***

Sunnydale 2002...

Warren gave Dawn...er “bot”...A long glance...

Well...he noted...Looking at the waiting Buffy II in her corner...

Perhaps she had a point...He hadn’t upgraded her strength to Buffy-bot’s enhanced level...

“How’s about a handicap?...” he grinned...

Buffy?...he called...

Please shut down one arm, and depress main power by 40 percent...Until I give the order to restore full power...

Oh...And reduce hearing level 45 percent...

“I want your robo-sister to have a fair chance...” he smiled at Dawn...

Ok, Warren...Buffy-bot II smiled happily...Power systems modification completed...

Well...A leetle better...Dawn thought...

Hmmn...Why would reducing her hearing help me fight her?...

“Buffy?...” Warren called...

One last thing...

“Would you make a quick sweep outside?...Just a half-mile radius from here...See if that human sis of yours is hanging around?...”

You won’t need full power to handle her...

“You think Dawny is coming, Warren?...” Buffy II asked...

Very likely...he replied...After she doesn’t find Anya at her store...

Well...Ok...

“I’ll be right back guys...” she waved to the roped-up gang...And left...

Warren smiled at Dawn...Waving his blinking remote...

“Good thing I just checked for the tracking signaler I put on your jacket before you left, Miss Summers...” he grinned, whispering... “My Buffy would have killed you before she realized you were human...”

You really should have changed jackets with my botty before you tried to play her...

Rats...Dawn glared at Warren...

Who looked over at the stunner on the table...

“So what’s that?...” he grinned... “Can’t be a charm...What is it?...A smoke bomb, stun-gun?...”

“He knows, Anya...” Dawn called over...

“Disengage DS1 and grab him, Dawn!!...” Anya hollered at her...

Warren blinked...Dawn was on him in a second...

Anya grinned at Xander...His jaw dropped...

Dawn-bot?...Playing...Dawn?...Playing Dawn-bot?...

Excellent craftsmanship, he had to say...

“Warren?...” Buffy-bot II re-entered the room...Leading Giles...And Dawn...

Look who’s here...It’s Giles, my Watcher...she told him happily...

And Dawny, she beamed...

Oh...She looked at Dawn-bot now holding Warren firmly in her grip...

“Don’t try anything, Buffy...” Anya told her...

Warren is in danger if you do...

Dawn-bot looked at the others from where she held Warren...
Clearly as startled by the turn of events as they...

She looked at Dawn...Who grinned back...Hey, sis...

“But...I can’t be Dawn-bot...” she frowned...

My primary memory core says I’m...Oh...she paused...

“Primary...memory...core...” she sheepishly bit her lower lip...Right...

Sorry, kid...Dawn went over, patting her...Warren twisting helplessly in her grip...

“We didn’t want to risk Dawny going in...And Giles felt it was best if Dawn-bot really believed she was the real thing after he got her running again and loaded Willow’s old Buffy-bot command programs from the shop computer.”...Anya noted to Xander, Andrew, and Tara...

Then we found Warren’s tracker on Dawn's jacket and that clinched it...We knew he’d believe she was the human when the tracking signal showed up on her...

***
Angelis had reached an old narrow building...Seemed to be abandoned, he called back to the others...Should be safe enough...

Lodgings secured...A brief hunt could now begin...he happily noted...

Dru watched him...Shuddering slightly...

Darla eyed Angelis...

“Tell your “father” about your witch, Dru...” Darla smiled at Dru...

Amuse him...

“Nothing to tell...Sir...The Slayer said she was a witch...That she could harm me...So...I ran...”

Sir?...Darla smiled coldly...

“Is that the way to address our dear Angelis...?”

Actually, rather nice to be treated with a little respect...he thought...

He is your father, Dru...Darla’s voice was velvet...And menacing...

“He Is Not My Father!!!...” Dru screamed at her...Tearing from her grip...

She charged at Angelis knocking him down...

“Stop her, you fool...” Darla cried...

She’s...Been turned back...Somehow...Her soul is back...

What?...Angelis stared at his “daughter” from where he’d fallen...

My little Dru...Human-souled, again?...

After all the trouble I went to?...

But Dru had no intention of fleeing them...

And swung back in, Jonathan’s 12-in-1 in hand...

Catching Darla in the chest...She followed Willow’s instructions to the letter...And gave her “grandmother” a massive discharge...

Darla went down...Angelis struggled to his feet just in time to receive his in turn...

Very bad day for the Brooding One...
***

Willow having suggested after their tea to Miss Fitzgibbons that it would be best if she not witness their return to Heaven, Moira wished them safe journey and headed for bed...

Buffy dragged the machine into Miss Fitzgibbons’ “parlor” and set the destination...

Willow got on...

Buffy turned to Spike...Who waved a hand...

“And now you and Willow can go home...” Spike told her...

Buffy stared at him...Halting...

But...

“There’s nothing more I can give you, Buffy...” Spike looked at her...

Except to leave you in peace...And hope, that maybe, one day...If I can keep out of trouble...

No...Buffy looked at him, frowning...

Damn you, she hissed...Not wishing to upset the devout Miss F...

I want more than that from you, William...she told him...

“You swore you’d live for me...with me, Will”...Buffy looked at him...

Now...When I need you...Not in some afterlife...

Not when your redemption is complete and the world is safe and at peace...

That’s what you promised me...

Now...Well, now in the 2002 sense, I mean...she explained...

You offered me that...And you’re not backing out now...

“Cicely...I...spent a century trying to find a way to save you...You owe me, Walthrop...”

And the soul you wanted?...he looked at her...

“Is right here...” she touched his chest gently

It’s better my way, Buffy...he shook his head...

“If I go back...If...When...My chip fails?...When I...?”

Spike is the demon...Buffy noted firmly...Not William...She looked at Willow who nodded...

If Spike ever comes back we’ll deal...she told him...Please, Will...With tears running down her face that she did not trying to check...

“I’m not as self-sacrificing as your chronicle makes me out to be, Will...” she looked at him... “I won’t give you up to my counterpart here...”

“It’s not life for me back there...Without you...” she told him quietly...And smiled...Taking his shaking hand...

You have to let me help you...Your human counterpart gave alternate Cicely another chance...

Let me have mine...

After all...

“Lots of couples have to deal with a disability or two...”she looked at him...

Willow came over to him as well...And grinned...

“Come on, Walthrop...It’s time to come home...”

***
March 14th, 1880...London...3am

In the room of the building she’d dragged the unconscious Angelis and Darla into...Drusilla.. On her knees...Quietly praying...

“What the hell are you up to, Miss Drusilla?...” Angelis leered at her...As he staggered to his feet...Still a bit dazed...

Drusilla looked at him...Calm...And resolute...

“I am praying for your souls, sir...” she told him...

Same old crazy Dru...he grinned...Soul or no soul...

Well...We’ll take of the witch’s curse...As soon as we catch up to the witch...

“Darla?...” he called...Turning from Dru...

Darla?...He caught sight of her unconscious body...

Drusilla struck him from behind with Jonathan’s stun gun...And held it on him until he collapsed...
***
A short time later, he groggily came to his senses...Rage helping him to his feet as he regained consciousness...

Dru knelt in the center of the room...He leaped over to her and grabbed her, she unresisting...As Darla gave a hideous cry...

‘Angelis!!!”

Angelis turned and looked in horror...At the rising sun...Shining into the open window of the room...

Darla cowered in the corner, the rays just starting to singe her flesh...

She screamed...And began to burn...

Drusilla, praying softly on her knees, paused occasionally to watch them both... Quietly...Serenely...As the sun’s rays gently began to lick her and she began to catch fire...
Angelis looked desperately for a way out...He forced the locked door open at last...And dropped back from the light...Rays from door and window creeping swiftly across the room to meet at the point where he tried to hide from them...

“May God have mercy on your soul, sir...” Drusilla called to him gently...

***

Andrew looked quietly at the three returned travelers as they stood on the platform...

Warren...Securely held by Dawn-bot with Buffy-bot II submitting calmly to Giles’ reprogramming...

Damn safety directives...Warren fumed...She wouldn’t let me reprogram her, but she’ll let her “friends” do whatever they want to her...My own bot...

It’s not fair...he whined...

“She’s doing it to protect you, you jackass...” Xander glared at the nerd...

She doesn’t want you hurt...Though God knows you sure deserve to be...

He needs someone to watch him...Constantly...Giles noted to Anya and Tara...As he continued Buffy II’s reprogramming...

Unless of course we do the sensible thing and kill him right now...However...the Watcher sighed...

“Buffy would not approve...”

Well..Anya noted...Looking at Buffy-bot II...

He wanted a robot girlfriend...

And now...He’s getting a robo-nanny...

“Am I gonna have to stay with him, too?...” Dawn-bot looked at her original...

Yuck...Major yuck...

Hell, no...Dawn told her...

You can live in our basement...We can hang out...It’ll be great...

***
It was not necessary for Willow to look sadly at Andrew for him to sense the passing of his Jedi brother...

She looked at Xander...

Who came over to the last of the Jedi...(Earth division)...And patted his shoulder...

Spike looked at him for a mo...And grinned...

Whispering to Buffy...Who nodded...

Willow had stepped down...And turned back to see...

Spike tapping on the remote...And he and Buffy vanishing...

And returning almost instantaneously...

With a rather shaken Jonathan...

Willow’s jaw dropped...

Buffy grinned...Spike grinned...Jonathan staggered off the platform...

Welcome, alternate Jonathan...Andrew greeted him..

“What the hell, Will...” Buffy looked at Willow...

What good is having a time machine if you can’t go back and help a friend or two?...

***
and the next trip...?

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