Fic: "Anne..." Part XXXIX...
reg...@aol.com
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse,
www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Anneverse.html
You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle
on the
Cicely Addams material... www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Cicelypg.html
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon,
Mutant
Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer
series...
Summary-In an alternate corner of the Buffyverse, and an alternate end
of
season 1... Anne gets her chance...
***
Part XXXIX...
Outside Angel's building...
A furious Mrs...Gwendolyn or Gwen to Anne or you when Hell freezes
over...Post...Fumed at the reports of the rather sheepish members of
her team...
"How could you have lost track of them?!!..." she raged at her
'expert' magics staff of two...The others, including Wesley, rather
relieved to be however slightly out of her wrath's focus...
"They're hybrid demon essences, you are supposed to be trained in
monitoring and tracking such essences..."
They're all rather unusual...one attempted to note...And moving
quite...She cut him off with an angry wave...
"All right...She has her William, so they're obviously going to
attempt to find a safe haven while she tries to make contact with his
soul..."
Wes stared...His...?
"And sooner or later she will try to reach her former Watcher, our
Mr. Giles, and seek a more permanent home with his help..."
"You really think Giles would...?" Wesley began... "Surely he'd
contact us..."
"We know she's demanded it of him...And I suspect he and his little
band will be susceptible to her pleadings...They've already concealed
information and interfered with our mission..." she gave a tight
smile...
Well...
"It's now our turn to use them in the way they've tried to use
us..."
***
"Jen...Anne..." Anne's voice at her most pleasant, indeed rather
carefree and happy, rang in Ms. Calendar's ear as she held her cell
phone... "Everything's goin' great...Pull over right now and
stand-by..."
Jenny looked at the road...Just ten minutes at most from her place and
the waiting Reynolds, four if she hit the pedal...
"Jen...I hear your motor running...Don't spoil my good mood and
make me come after you...Do you have it on you?..."
She sighed and swerved to the edge of the road... "Yes, I have
it..." she cut the motor... "Anne, what's..."
"Things went great, Jen...Well, not so good from your point of
view...Or the Council's, in terms of my termination...Anyway I got
William with me here and I'm nearly ready for you so get set and keep
this line open..."
I promise I'll have the Council compensate you for any minutes you
lose...
***
The main chapel of Master's old lair, now vacated once more by Colin
and co...With admirable speed...
"Just a mo..." Anne cheerily calls from behind a large,
stained-glass panel removed from a side window of the late Heinrich
Nast's beloved old church ... "One last thing...Ah..."
Spike well-trussed with strong ropes in a chair, chain on top and feet
bound by chains at the ankles...Dru, now conscious again, chained to
what bore a striking resemblance to a sacrificial pillar...And they
were definitely finding things in Sunnydale about as bad as she'd
predicted he had to admit...
And worst of all...He glances frowningly over to where the old-style
three-piece man's suit Anne had lovingly carried to safety hung...She
would have managed to carry the damned thing safely here...
Well, no...There was one thing worse than having that thing awaiting
me...He looks over to see Angel quietly watching from a pew seat...
"Spike?...Wants to go we does...Go now...Oh...Please...Take Dru home
now..."
"Soon as we can, dear heart..." he notes gently... "Just give us
a minute to..."
A CD starts... "Our song..."...Anne peeks out from her improvised
screen, dress now visible in its antebellum glory and wig straightened,
beaming angelically at the object of her affection, coming over to him
as Dru stares at her...Spike struggles at his ropes...Looking up at
her...Our what?...
I realize word of my hot Brit bod and studly vampiral rep drives the
newer risen ladies to attempt desperate measures to catch my eye...But
this is a trifle much...And what the hell is with that dress and
wig?...he eyed the long, antique gown and still securely attached
brunette wig...
"Well, it kinda reminds me of one of ours (Ours?...he stares)..."
she notes happily...Snapping fingers with the music as she hops out to
the center of the room and spinning round...Rather a feat in that
dress...to face him and the now utterly terrified Drusilla...Really
wants to go...Now...we does...Dru mumbling feebly to the remains of
Miss Edith, thoughtfully brought from the warehouse by Angel and now
lying in various pieces on the table near her...
"L... is for the way you (Spike glares hideously...Well, ok, she
sighs)...[will, used to] look at me...
O....(spins round, pointing a finger at her guy) is for the only...one
I see...
V...is very, very (tongue running across her lips, wagging her head at
the frowning Spike)....extraordinary...
E...is even more...than anyone that you adore can..." (shimmies down
toward floor on this one as Dru looks at the now blinking Spike...If
anyone had told me I'd soon be reeling in someone even crazier...he
thinks)...
(Wants To Go!...Dru shrieks... "Shut up, you true love murderin',
psychotic embarrassment to our fellow sisters of the night..."...Anne
glares, but adroitly rises and resumes on cue...)
"Love...is all that I can (finger snaps)...give to you...
Love..is more than just a...game for two (seductive leer...Spike
open-mouthed now as she comes back over, leaning towards him...Have we
met in Hell?...he wonders, blinking silently...)
Two....in love can make it (she gently brushes her lips to his cheek
and pulls back)
Take my heart (hand on heart)...and please don't break it..."
(William...she breathes...)
(She knows you...Dru gives a slight glare at Spike who shrugs... "You
were the one who kept ranting about 'my' Slayer's Old One,
love...")
"Second chorus...My lyrics..." Anne beamed...
"Cause you know...Love is more than justa...Thing we do...
Love...Is more than just a (eyes Dru)...Causal screw...
Dee dada da da da...Cut out my heart but please don't stake it...
Love was made for me and you...."
("Big finale..." she calls...)
"Love....was made for me and you...!" (Sliding across the floor to
wind up, beaming, at his chained feet, looking up at his astonished
face...)
"Ok...It's not exactly our old favorite..." she sighs... "But
Willow couldn't find ours on cd and it does have a little of that
'Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes...' flavor..."
"Miss?...Slayer?...Would you mind explaining what the hell..."
"You remember, Will?..." Anne waged a finger... "...'Drink to
me only wi...th thine eyes and I will pledge with mine...Or leave but a
kiss i...n the cup and...'..."
Helllpppp!!!!...Dru screams... "Is there a living Slayer anywheres
abouts...?!!"
"It woulda been good if I'd got the music..." Anne frowns...
***
Anne had progressed from song to dance and was as prepared as she'd
been for her musical debut...
First, with apologies...Time for the regretably necessary hostage to
move offstage, as she'd dragged Dru off, screaming for her Spike...Or
dear, dear daddy Angelus to save her...
"Ok..." she beamed on return... "She's under lock and key and
yadda...yadda...yadda... gruesome death if you don't cooperate..."
Right...William sighed...She cut the ropes, unlocked the chains, and
he, rising carefully, took up a tentative defensive stance...Glancing
over at Angel who gave a noncommital look back...
"William..." she waved... "Angel's not about to cut a deal with
you to kill me...Yet...And don't worry...Dru's continued existence
is a certain bet...So long as you play along with me..."
Don't tell me you find the idea of playin' long with lil' ole me
all that unappealing...she grinned...Just a mo...She backed away over
to the side of the room and fiddled with her player...Music started
again, filling the cavern...A waltz now, he realized...
She came over to him...Beaming...An, taking the lower part of her dress
under one arm, extended her arms to him...
What the hell is that?...I've heard it before...he eyed her...She
wearing a slightly sheepish expression...
"It's the 'Southern Belle Waltz' from 'Gone With The
Wind'...My former friends couldn't find anything else in a hurry
that sounded nineteenth centuryish..." she sighed... "Is a pretty
little waltz though, don't you think?..." Taking him gently by the
hands to the center of the room...
[a nice clip is available to listen to here
http://www.iclassics.com/productDetail?contentId=11043 click on the
"charleston heel and toe polka/southern belle waltz]
"So, love...What the hell are you up to here?..." he frowned at
her, but let her swing him round...
Funny, a moment's waltz and it all came back to him...The
parties...With the elegant, unattainable ladies standing with their
cool eyes on him, the awkward outsider...But in the center of the whole
swirl...The most beauteous of them all...Smiling on him...He shook his
head...Seeing Anne staring at him...Searching his face
for...Something...
"You see, William..." she beamed as he swung her round again...
"Like riding a bicycle...You never forget..."
He looked down at her...Somehow, for just a moment...He'd been
back...There...
"All right..." he moved to stop...But she kept moving, insistent...
"Just a little more...Please..."
"Look Miss..." "Anne..." "Right, Anne...You want something
from me...Just what is it, girl?...More than a quick shag, I take
it...An alliance against your Council?..."
She shrugged... "I want more than a little help destroying the
Council...And more than a little rendezvous while Dru's all tied
up..."
"Well, what do you want then?..."
She beamed...She'd been waiting for this opening...
"Well...I'll tell you William Soames Walthrop..." she grinned as
they swirled round again... "If you'll wipe that sardonic Spikean
smirk off your face..."
He blinked...
"I want you to say 'I love you...And I forgive you...' and mean
it..."
"Fine..." he stopped suddenly, pulling her up short... "I love
you...I forgive you..."
That do it for you?...he eyed her coldly...She stared at him...But did
not let go...
"I said... 'and mean it'...Remember?...And we haven't finished
this dance..." she put her arms up and he reluctantly let her pull
him back into the waltz...
"Anyway...You didn't let me finish, William...I want you to say...
'I love you...And forgive you...'..." she pulled
close...Whispering...
"Cicely..."
He stopped again...Blinking at her... "Cicely...?" he repeated the
name...Yeah, she nodded...
"That name doesn't ring a bell...Sorry..." he coldly told
her...As they continued...
"I thought your name was..." he began... "But it was Cicely,
once..." she nodded...
Any way...she smiled up at him... "What's in a name?...I
suppose..."
"But...Humor me, Will...You say it doesn't ring a bell...So it
won't matter...If you're not lying..."
"It doesn't...But the 'mean it' part..." he halted as the
music finally eased down to a gentle stop... "That's likely to be
difficult...Given that I'm taken...You're holding my mate...And I
plan to turn you to dust at the first clear shot I get..."
"You're welcome to try..." she grinned... "But this won't end
til I get what I want...Sorry...My human counterparts were always the
spoiled, demanding types...And I'm that squared..."
Thanks for the waltz, Mr. Walthrop...she gave a slight curtsy...He
bowing involuntarily...Century old instinct betraying him...She pulled
the cell phone from under her dress which she'd referred to several
times after securing him and Dru with Angel's help earlier...
"Still with me, Jen?...That's just courtesy, I've been listening
for your motor or doors opening..." she spoke, keeping an eye on
him... "Just be a good gal-pal and hang in there a bit longer..."
she returned the phone...
"Wait..." he pulled at her...She neither pulled away or completely
yielded...
"Tell me the truth?...How did you know my name?...Was it really your
Council who tracked me down?...I haven't used it since I
transformed..."
Not many vamps do...she noted...He glared... "I'd like to start
getting some direct answers, please, pet..."
"You don't think Cicely would remember her own last name...Her
husband's name...?" she eyed him... "Will, you have a good case
to be angry with me but c'mon..."
I finally did come...she smiled...
***
Sitting in her car, Jenny pulled her cell phone away and stared at
it...Listening to the waltz strains still echoing in the old
church...Anne's voice faint, William's?...Still fainter...
Am I supposed to just sit here all night?...she wondered...Eyeing the
sheets on which the curse was printed out...
What am I thinking, of course she expects to sit here all night if
necessary...Should I expect her to show consideration?...
She strained to hear more...What the hell is going on wherever they
are?...
Of course, the thought occurred to her...Even if Anne would know if I
broke contact...And might hear if I started the car...I might be able
to quietly slip out, call Mr. Reynolds from a pay phone or something...
Then again, if our impatient vamp lady decides to check on me
again...Or wants me to start chanting...
Hmmn...She eyed the written curse...If I were to...Surely Buffy would
understand...
Or even if Anne is telling the truth and this is partly Buffy's
plan...Surely she wouldn't kill me for jumpin' the gun so to
speak...
But, if I throw her off her stride now...Before she's got things
'ready'...William might kill her...
Well...Maybe I'd best sit tight...
God, this was not the sort of thing I signed on for when I was forced
to take this assignment in Sunnydale...she sighed...
***
The church lair...
"Well, I admit it wasn't the best way to..." Anne fumbled with
her dress...Trying to straighten the wig yet again as Angel sat,
staring at her... "But he did seem...Don't you think?..." she
looked at Angel... "I'm close, I know...I can feel him, trying to
break through...You feel...?" He simply looked at her...
"I don't know, Anne..."
"Well, Rome wasn't driven off the world stage in a day...And Spike
won't go easy unless he thinks it's in his survival interest..."
she shook her head... "But William's here, I know it..."
Anyway...she waved a hand... "I've all the time he needs..."
"You might want to let Ms. Calendar..." Angel began...She cut him
off with a quick wave...Nervously eyeing the door of the room, once the
priests' cloister, where William had been reluctantly preparing for
the next act, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides...There
was a faint sound as the knob began to turn...Her whole self focused on
that turning knob...
Angel watching, motionless...The battered church still as a grave but
for the scratching sound of the old door opening...
William standing in the now open doorway, avoiding her intense gaze,
stepped into the hall of the church slowly...Decked out in a suit much
like the one he'd worn for the best part of their decades together,
Angel realized...Hair now a brown quite like his old...One hand thrust
in a pocket, the other nervously picking at the suit...
He actually did it...Angel blinked, eyeing the hair...I thought he'd
go along with the suit to humor her for Dru's sake...But never...The
hair...
"William..." she breathed... "Just one thing more..."
"No..." he frowned at her, glaring briefly at Angel... "I don't
need them and I'm not wearing them..."
"Of course you need them, don't give me that..." she smiled at
him... "You've been squinting ever since the moment I saw you
here..."
He shook his head...The suit and hair were bad enough, he
noted...Cooperation, even for poor Dru, could only be extended so
far...
Please...she asked gently...
"For Drusilla's sake..." she added...Lightly but a hard note
underneath...Which he and Angel heard clearly...
Fine, lets give soul boy here a chuckle...he sighed...And went back,
leaving the door open...
"If you laugh, you die..." Anne hissed, eyeing Angel...
William stepped out again...Spectacles firmly set...A black look on his
face as she slowly came to him...A black look that in spite of himself,
faded at the sight of the tears slowly leaking from her eyes, running
down her cheeks...One hand started up, instinctively to lightly touch
her cheek..He stared at the tears....
Though he kept his right hand at his side, close to his pocket...Where
Angel could see a slight rumpling...As if a large, but thin
something...Say a thinly cut piece of wood, grabbed up from various
bits of the old church scattered about the place...Were rattling
about...
"Satisfied?..." he began, trying to sound furious...Mmphf...he
groaned as she grabbed and embraced him with a cry...
"William!...William!..." she harshly choked out, kissing him
fervently, passionately...
"My William..." she whispered, holding him crushed to her...
One of his hands moved round her slowly, holding her now...But the
other...
Angel saw him reaching down and tensed...But she'd already felt the
move...And her eyes lit on Angel's a second...Don't...They
warned...As she stopped kissing and moved her lips to William's ear
"Go ahead, darling...I don't care..." she breathed in his ear...
"I only wanted you to know, Will...I love you...Go ahead, if you
like..."
Just know that Cicely loved you, Will...
He pulled back, she yielding...But he did not let go...His hand reached
his pocket...
"Dru's chained in the basement of Angel's building..." she
sighed... "The key's here in my dress...When I'm dust, take
it..." she smiled at him...He just stared...
"Go on, if you want to..." she nodded... "Just remember I loved
you, Will...Don't ever doubt it...We loved you..."
"It can't..." he began...As she pulled him to her again
gently...He looked down at the small would-be stake in his hand...And
the other thing...
The miniature, Angel saw now, astonished...
"I'm not...Who you think..." "You are..." she kissed him...
"But Spike's the one doing it, I know...Don't worry...I
know...It's all right..."
It's all right...Will, just know I love you and came for you at
last...she murmured... "That all I...We wanted to say..."
He dropped the stake, but not the portrait, as Angel watched in
wonder... "Cicely?..." the word croaked out...She pulled back,
staring at him...And saw the portrait in his trembling hand...
"Cicely?..." he repeated... "No...No..." She took the miniature
from his hand gently... "Yes, darling...Oh, dearest...You kept
it..."She smiled tenderly... "All these years...I knew you hadn't
given up on me...Thank you, William...Thank you, my darling..."
"It can't...Be..." "I sent you away to save you,
Will...You've guessed that, I know you have...This proves it..."
she held the miniature in one hand...Placed it in her dress... "You
knew I would come one day..." she took his stunned face in both hands
gently, staring up deep into his eyes...
"I'm here, William...I'm here with her...And I'll stay
here...For you..." she gasped... "Cicely, Cicely..." he embraced
her, sobbing, kissing her...
"Angel..." she tossed the cell phone to him... "Tell
her...Now..." She kissed William... "I'm here to stay with you,
William...Always..."
"Ms. Calendar..." Angel whispered harshly... "Angel?..."
Jenny's startled voice came to him... "Go ahead...Now..." he told
her...
"There'll be just a little pain and sorrow when Spike leaves,
darling..." Anne whispered... "But Cicely will be here with
you...You won't be alone..." The chant began...William staring a
moment at Angel but making no move to struggle free...Turning back to
hold Anne tightly as both shook as if in pain...
"Cicely...?..." William groaned as the chant stopped...
"Angel?...What's happened..." Jenny's voice came through
faintly into the church...
"I had a terrible, terrible dream..." "Yes, yes...I know...I
know...But I'm here...It'll be all right..." she hugged him as he
buried his head in her arms... "So much to remember...So much to be
forgotten...Together..." she whispered... "Forgive me...Forgive me,
William..."
"Angel?..." she looked at him intently, holding William gently...
"You'll let Giles know...?" she eyed him... "You'll tell him
it's all right now?...That Anne is..." she paused... "Happy and
at peace...?"
"Yes...Buffy..." he nodded, eyeing her exhausted, worn face...All
Anne's malicious light gone from it now... "I'll let him
know...And I'll see to Dru..."
"Thank you...For everything..." she nodded, giving him a wan
smile...Then leading William to the cloister room, she paused....
"Tell Giles and the others...I'll meet them if they like...One last
time...Or if they prefer, they can just let us go...We'll take care
of what's to be done, ourselves...Tomorrow..."
Tell them...I love them all...And I am happy...
"Within the limits imposed by our gypsy friends..." she
grinned...Then gently closed the door...
Angel bowed his head...
And, after a very brief word to reassure Jenny, left them alone quietly
as he could a moment later
***
jackie
end of Anne, a fascinating character.
Unless of course Buffy or Cicely and William are gonna get a little too
happy in the cloister. ;)
reg...@aol.com
Newsgroups: alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer.creative
From: "jackie" <jacquelinegore...@hotmail.com> - Find messages by this
author
Date: 31 Jan 2005 07:23:39 -0800
Local: Mon, Jan 31 2005 7:23 am
Subject: Re: Fic: "Anne..." Part XXXIX...
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>I think and hope that's not the end, RE, though I'm sorry to see the
end of Anne, a fascinating character.
Thanks...Nope, not quite over...
She's a fun and challenging lady to write and I hope someday to do her
justice...Hardly dead, though...And always waiting her chance within
Buffy...
>Unless of course Buffy or Cicely and William are gonna get a little
too
happy in the cloister. ;)
Please...Annie's gone to too much trouble to see the little human soul
blow it now...And we are dealing with guilt-ridden Victorians here...