|
|
********************
"Hey guys, what’s the date?" Buffy asked, glancing up from the withdrawal
slip she was filling out. They’d spent the day at the beach, hanging out and being
utterly silly, and now Buffy was getting money out of the bank after spending all
her cash.
"August 5th," Willow answered immediately. Jewel blinked, reminded once
again that it was her birthday. She’d forgotten after meeting Buffy and Willow.
"It’s my birthday," she said, her voice surprised. They both turned to
her looking shocked.
"And you said nothing?" Buffy demanded. "You’re a creature of evil!
Well, not really, ‘cause on the Hellmouth you don’t want to say those things lightly,
but–"
"But why didn’t you tell us?" Willow asked. Jewel shrugged.
"I kinda…forgot. It’s okay, really," she assured them.
"Well, we gotta do something!" Buffy exclaimed.
"Party!" Willow cried. Jewel laughed, because partying seemed so very far
from a Willow-thing.
"Well, I need to go home and change before I do anything," Jewel said.
"I’ll go with you," Willow volunteered.
"I was supposed to meet Angel at the library, so why don’t you two come find
me there?" Buffy suggested. Willow and Jewel exchanged glances.
"Sounds good to me," Willow said cheerfully. Jewel nodded. Buffy grinned.
" ‘Kay! I’ll see ya guys there," she said, blowing them each a kiss. Laughing,
Jewel and Willow headed out of the bank, not suspecting what the rest of the night
would bring.
********************
"You guys totally disappeared!" Xander exclaimed. Buffy rolled her eyes.
They’d figured he could hang out with Oz, and it wasn’t until nearly sunset that
Willow had realized Oz was out of town with his band for the day.
"I’m sorry Xander, but Jewel needed us," she sighed. "Y’ know, girl
time?"
"And who is your Xander-shaped friend? Who is just like one of the girls?"
he demanded. She laughed.
"I thought you hated that!" He grew still.
"Well, yeah, but it’s better than being Ditched guy!" he exclaimed a moment
later. She laughed and patted his hand.
"So what did you do, wait around here for us?"
"No," he muttered sullenly. "Not the whole day." Buffy grinned
but her reply was interrupted by the entrance of Angel and Spike. She hopped off the
table and went to greet Angel. There was a momentary hesitation, then she got on
her toes and kissed him softly. Xander made a face, but greeted him easily.
"Hey Dead Boy," at which Angel growled, "Hey…um, other Dead Boy."
Spike’s growl wasmuch more menacing. Xander winced. "I meant Spike. Dead
Boy as in the sense of Spike."
"What’s up?" Buffy asked, disengaging from Angel, but staying right beside
him.
"No sign of Drusilla," Angel reported. "We only saw one vampire on
the way over here."
"One?"
"Staked it," Spike reported in a bored voice. He had wandered over to a
bookshelf and was examining the contents. Xander eyed him with apprehension and every
now and then Spike sent him a menacing look just to see him cringe. Not that he would
touch a hair on the boy’s head, but it was still fun to make him think he would.
"You know her best Spike, what do you think Drusilla will do next?" Buffy
asked, switching to Slayer mode.
"She’s kind of on the unpredictable side you know," he replied dryly.
"You spent a hundred plus years with her," Xander pointed out. Spike gave
him a look and Xander shut up.
"It depends if she wants Spike back or not," Angel said quietly.
"Does she want you back?" Buffy asked the other vampire. "When you
guys made up, was it like a together forever thing or just she’d go with you till
something better came along." Spike shrugged.
"She seemed pretty enthusiastic," he replied. Buffy opened her mouth to
reply and was once again interrupted as the library door swung open. A rather rumpled,
extremely shocked librarian stood there, staring.
"Wh-what? What’s is going on here?" he demanded, looking from Spike to
Buffy standing within the circle of Angel’s arms and then back to Spike.
"Spike’s on our side now," Buffy said quickly. "We gave him back his
soul."
"You p-performed the ritual?" Giles demanded, aghast.
"Well not me, personally…" Buffy said.
"Willow did it? And it worked in English?" he asked.
"Um, not exactly. Jewel did most of the casting, in Rumainian."
"Rumainian," Giles repeated. Buffy nodded enthusiastically. "Who exactly
is Jewel?"
"Singer," Xander put in. "But not the Jewel, though I’m still
not getting the distinction. She’s just a Jewel, that happens to also be a
singer."
"Xander," Buffy said in a warning voice, just as Giles began, "Mr.
Harris–"
"I get the picture! See me shutting up!" he exclaimed, holding up his hands.
They all gave him a look.
"Wait, so this…Jewel person knew Rumainian?" Giles asked, returning to
the subject.
"Pretty much yeah," Buffy said, glancing at Spike to gauge his reaction
to her name. He looked pale. Paler than usual anyway.
"And she cast the curse?"
"Another yes."
"She just…cast it?" he repeated faintly.
"Yep. Well, she translated it first to make sure she knew what she was saying.
Well, knew really really well. And she found out that Ms. Calendar took out the clause!
She just cut it out!"
"Jenny?" Giles asked. Buffy nodded.
"She took it out. You could only tell in Rumainian…something about conjugation
or something…"
"So you called Angel back?"
"Oh no, he was already here," Buffy corrected. Giles blinked. She sighed.
"He was the one that warned me about Spike," she explained. "Did I
forget to mention that before?" Giles gave her the exact look she had known
he would have given her when they talked over the phone a few days before. She shrugged
in reply. "I guess it didn’t come up."
"Tell me exactly what has happened since I left," Giles instructed, taking
off his glasses and going to take a seat.
"Well–" Buffy began, and stopped as the door opened a third time. Willow
and Jewel entered, chatting then stopped when they saw everyone in the library. Jewel’s
eyes went immediately to Spike, who was staring back with intense dark eyes.
"Giles!" Willow exclaimed with a smile.
"Good to see you too," the one-Watcher replied dryly. "Is this Jewel
then?" Jewel’s attention snapped back to the present as she tried to control
the emotions that surged through her at the sight of him.
"This is Jewel," Buffy confirmed. "Jewel Kaufman, meet Rupert Giles.
He was my Watcher…he still acts in the capacity too, it’s just not official. He’s
also the librarian." Jewel stepped forward and tried to summon a smile. She
failed miserably, but he didn’t seem to mind as he shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you," she said.
"A pleasure. I gather you speak Rumainian?" he asked.
"It’s a talent," she murmured. "Actually a totally unexplainable talent…"
"I would love to hear more about it–"
"But this is not the time," Buffy interrupted. "We have to figure out
what to do about Drusilla. I don’t want to wait around until she decides to go all
Psycho Girl again."
"R-right," Giles murmured. "How about you tell me everything that’s
happened. Everything." Jewel glanced up and saw his eyes. She felt her knees
go weak and went as quickly as she could to a chair so she wouldn’t collapse in the
middle of the floor. Buffy’s words seemed distant. All she could think was that he
was so near, and so far away.
********************
"Can we talk?" Jewel asked, somehow managing to grab Spike’s arm. He stopped
and turned back to her.
"About what?" he asked. Her heart convulsed at the cold pain in his eyes.
"Please?" she asked quietly. He nodded and followed her into Giles’ office.
She eyed the things on his desk, reluctant to turn around and meet his eyes. Of course,
she’d been the one to ask him in here. Maybe she shouldn’t have.
"I’m sorry," she said finally. Silence. She made herself turn around. "I’m
so, so sorry."
"Does that change anything?" he asked, looking up. "Does a little
apology suddenly make it all right?" Jewel shook her head blindly.
"No, of course not, I didn’t mean—"
"Right. You didn’t mean. God, Jewel, do you think this is bloody easy for me?"
Jewel went mute and tears sprang to her eyes. It hurt so much to hear the pain in
his voice and not be able to run to him and hold him. Because she had caused it.
"You think I was never afraid? You think I didn’t wonder if one day you’d leave
me? And you did. I never did. You did." Jewel’s face and knees crumbled and
she thumped down to the ground. What had she done?
What she had to.
"I didn’t want to hurt you, but I’m so scared and I can’t help it, I can’t change
it! Only you can change it," she sobbed, unsure of how the words came out of
her mouth, not even knowing exactly what she was saying. He went still, took a step
toward her, his arms reaching out, and then stopped and curled his fingers into fists.
"I can’t," he said and a dry sob wracked her. "I hurt too! When you
walked away…I feared that as much as you ever did, and it happened and I can’t go
back! I don’t know how."
"Then this is it?" she whispered, struggling to control herself, lifting
her eyes to meet his dark ones.
"Maybe," he murmured. "Why is it ending like this?" She shook
her head.
"I don’t know. I better go then. I’m leaving tomorrow, so you won’t have to
worry about bumping in to me," she said, gripping the desk to pull herself up.
He almost reached to help her, then stopped.
"I’m leaving too," he replied. She bit her lip and refused to meet his
eyes. She lifted a hand to wipe away the tears that refused to come and took a deep
breath, starting out of the room. She could feel him watching her, feel him walking
out behind her.
"Ready for that birthday sundae now?" Buffy asked gently when she saw Jewel.
Behind her Spike stopped and made a little sound.
"Sundae?" he asked. Jewel nodded without meeting his gaze.
"It’s my birthday," she said with a bittersweet smile, then looked back
to the slayer who watched with compassion. "I’m ready." Buffy nodded and
grabbed her coat.
"I’ll be back later Giles," she said. Her Watcher nodded, knowing there
was more going on here than he could fathom. Jewel grabbed her coat and Willow took
her arm gently as they prepared to leave the library.
"Jewel!" Spike called, just as she began to step out the door. She stopped
and turned back, her heart leaping as it always did when he said her name. He looked
sad and beautiful. "Happy birthday," he murmured in his achingly gorgeous
voice. She shivered and almost smiled, because she loved him so very much, and then
she turned and walked out of the door, away from him, again. And it hurt even more
this time.