Rating: PG
Pairing: B/A but very vague
mentions of Spawn
Summary: Buffy muses about
her favorite time of the
year. Written for bathemes
Summer topic and for the
vacation ficathon thing that
I almost forgot.
“Buffy, you
really should turn over.
You’re already turning red,”
Dawn says.
I groan and
start to flip onto my back
but it takes too much
effort. “I’ll be okay,” I
mumble.
“Okay, if you
look all lobster-y don’t
blame me,” Dawn says.
I open one eye
and glance at her. Of course
she’s rubbing even more SPF
200 on her porcelain white
skin. I knew she would be.
This is the seventh summer
Dawn and I have spent on
vacation. It started after
we cratered Sunnydale. We
went to Rome for the summer.
The next year was Barcelona,
then South Africa,
Australia, and Jamaica. Last
year we went to visit Giles
in England, not exactly
vacation central I know but
he was sick. He’s okay now
but we didn’t know for a
while if he would be.
It scared me. It
made me realize that he’s
not going to be around
forever which led me to
Willow not being around
forever and Xander and Dawn
and so on. It just made me
more aware of my family and
the people in my life.
This year we’re
in St. Tropez. I think it’s
my favorite so far. We’ve
got a little cottage. It’s
tiny, like two bedrooms. The
Watcher’s Council pays its
slayers now. Giles made sure
I got retroactive pay and a
higher salary due to
seniority. Truthfully, I
don’t do much slaying now. I
consult, that’s what Giles
calls it. What it really
means is that sometimes I
lend an ear to whatever
watcher is having a problem.
I visit slayers, I give pep
talks. I’m the council’s
spokesperson for their new
motto, longevity in
slayers.
I turned 30
years old in January. That
was a big one. I never
thought I’d make it to 30. I
mean I remember it was quite
the fan fare in the old
Watcher’s Council when I
made it to 18. So 30 was
unheard of.
“Are you sure
you don’t want some sunblock?”
Dawn asks.
“Dawnie, the
point of sunbathing is
getting a tan. I know it’s
unhealthy, so is slaying,” I
mumble. I really am too
relaxed to be bothered to
speak up.
I doze off
sometime in the middle of
Dawn’s tangent about her
boyfriend. I try to ignore
Dawn’s relationship with him
as much as possible. I know
she has sex. She’s twenty
four years old. I’d probably
be worried if she wasn’t
having sex, no that’s wrong,
I’d be relieved. In any
case, I don’t want to hear
about.
*
Twilight hangs
heavy in the air. It always
seems thicker, softer by the
beach. The sand is still
warm under my bare feet. The
ocean breeze ruffles my hair
and it’s just a little bit
cool. I shiver slightly and
it’s not entirely from the
cold. I feel him. He’s
coming to me. He always
comes to me after sunset.
His arms wrap
around me and I sigh in
contentment. I lean back
against him and he places a
kiss on the top of my head.
“Stay with me,”
I whisper.
“Always,” he
says.
It’s the answer
he gives me every night.
It’s the only answer he’s
ever been able to give me in
my dreams.
The weight of
his gaze wakes me up. My
eyes open and I see him
sitting on the sand,
watching me sleep.
“I wondered when
you were going to wake up.
I’ve been watching you for a
half hour,” he says.
A smile spreads
across my face.
“I was dreaming
about you,” I say.
“You always say
that,” he says.
“I always dream
about you,” I tell him.
“You’re sunburnt,”
he says.
I grumble. “Yeah
the brat said I would be but
she doesn’t exactly get the
point of sunbathing.”
“She’s right.
It’s bad for you,” he says.
“Says Mr.
Burst-into-Flame, I look
better tanned,” I say. I sit
up and his arms go around
me. I fit myself against his
chest, wincing slightly at
the contact of my burned
skin against the rough of
his tee shirt.
“Lean up,” he
says.
I lean forward
and then after a moment he
wraps his arms back around
me and I lean against him
with a smile. He’s taken his
shirt off and his cool skin
soothes my sunburn.
“My own personal
cooler, much better then
gallons of sticky aloe vera
gel,” I say with a smile.
He grins against
my cheek and kisses my neck.
“You’ve got to
stop burning yourself like
this, Love. I’m serious,” he
says.
“Relax. I’m
thirty years old. I don’t
slay anymore. My life
expectancy is roughly the
same as any other woman,” I
say.
“And my life
expectancy is an eternity,”
he says.
The pain in his
voice is tangible. It lies
unspoken between us that no
matter how well I take care
of myself, I will die and he
will live, forever.
“I just want to
keep you as long as I can,”
he says.
“Alright, I’ll
start using Dawn’s
sunscreen,” I consent.
“Thank you. Are
you hungry?” He asks.
“Not so much,” I
say.
“Dawn invited us
to dinner if you want to
go,” he says.
I wrinkle my
nose. “Is it a double date?”
I ask.
He chuckles.
“Buffy, they’ve been a
couple for three years. I
would have thought you had
gotten used to it by now,”
he says.
“I am, sort of.
He’s just not what I had in
mind for my little sister,”
I say.
“Well, I’m not
his biggest fan but I think
he loves her and he makes
her happy. I’ve never seen
Dawn laugh so much when he’s
around,” he says.
“I know but can
we skip dinner? I really
just want to spend some time
with you,” I say. “Besides,
sunburn, I don’t really want
to move from this spot right
here.” His skin is so cool
against mine.
“We can stay
here forever if that’s what
you like,” he says.
“Quote me
something pretty,” I say.
He starts
quoting from Shakespeare’s
A Mid Summer Night’s
Dream. I know that’s
what it is because it’s one
of his favorite plays.
Last year after
we spent our vacation with
Giles being sick, Angel was
one of the people I
contacted. I was a
hysterical mess at the
thought of Angel dying. In
so many ways it’s so much
harder for him to die then
it is for me or Giles or
Dawn. But then again I could
kill him right now without
ever breaking a sweat. All
it takes is a well placed
splinter.
Angel flew to
England and spent a few days
with me. We talked, we
fought, we did some high
quality slaying. Willow
bound his soul, a simple
thing really. I mean last
count, she made 128 slayers,
one soul is pie, or cake,
maybe cookies. I don’t know
anyway, his soul got bound
which I thought would take
care of all the problems in
our relationship. It went so
much deeper then that
though. Yeah the
supernatural elements were
there but we had the normal
person problems too. He
snores. He doesn’t breathe,
tell me how he can snore? He
leaves his socks on the
floor. He says I get crumbs
in the bed. Can I help it if
I get hungry at night?
Anyway, he told
me about the Shoeshine, the
human thing. He told me he
signed it away. He thought
he was going to die in that
apocalypse. He didn’t but I
almost killed him when I
found out he made the
decision to crater LA
without me. Sometimes I
still dream about him
turning human, mostly I’m
just happy he’s mine.
