help_japan fic - A Hundred Visions and Revisions (FtTP AU)
Title: A Hundred Visions and Revisions
Author: Unbridled Brunette
Genre: Historical, Romance, Drama, Angst
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Buffy/William
Warnings: Expected the unexpected.
Summary: It's like "Forward to Time Past" ... but without the "forward."
Disclaimer: Does it look like I'm making money here? Standard disclaimers apply.
Distribution: Please don't without talking to me about it first. I don't plan on placing this on the archives, but feel free to link to it from anywhere you like.
Author's note: Many thanks to mooseshug, who bid on me in the help_japan auction. She wanted me to write a "what if" piece in the FtTP 'verse. Specifically, she wanted to know what would have happened had Buffy not returned to the future. In order to find that out, some things had to change along the way. I suppose what I'm trying to say is...this ain't your mama's "Forward to Time Past." ;D
A Hundred Visions and Revisions
by Unbridled Brunette
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
-T.S. Eliot
Prologue
“You know, I am getting really tired of your selfishness.”
“Tell it to someone who cares, hell bitch,” Buffy snapped back, picking herself up off the floor and trying to ignore the throbbing ache where her back had collided with the wall. “I, for one, am getting really tired of you showing up at my house, spouting threats. You got a beef with me, do something about it already!”
Glory folded her arms over her breasts, looking both amused and irritated by this display of audacity. She cocked her head to one side, as if considering the matter. Then she said, “You know, I think you’re right. I’ve tried to be the nice girl. I’ve tried to meet you on middle ground. All I want is what’s mine and all I’m asking is that you give it to me. But if you wanna play rough, I can do that, too.”
She raised her arm and Buffy cringed. She had no idea what was coming, but she knew it meant a world of hurt for her.
What was Willow doing? She had found a spell in one of the Magic Box's more archaic texts, an incantation she assured Buffy would rid them of Glory forever. Willow had sworn up hill and down dale that she could execute the spell just fine with a little help from Tara, so Buffy had orchestrated an attack on Glory’s minions to draw her into battle.
Well, that part of the plan had worked, anyway.
Now here she was, as vulnerable as she had ever been, with Glory preparing to attack, and Willow was nowhere to be seen. The idea was to keep Glory talking while Will and Tara did the chanty thing in another part of the house. When the spell was ready, they would burst in at precisely the right moment to mojo that bitch into the third dimension. But Buffy had been talking circles around Glory and taking the brunt of her frustrations for some time now, and she was starting to tire. If the two witches didn’t show up soon, she had a feeling they would be spending the following day scrubbing Slayer bits out of the living room carpet.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, Buffy heard the sound of a door opening behind her. Willow was chanting something in Latin, low and quick, and Tara screamed out, “Buffy! MOVE!”
Buffy dove to the side just as a blinding sphere of light burst from the palm of Willow’s extended right hand. It rocketed straight for Glory, but the ex-god was quick and dodged the spell with ease.
Just as swiftly, Willow shot another spell, and this time Glory wasn’t so lucky. She tried to avoid the magic by darting to one side, but she moved a second too late. The hex hit her full force, and she shrieked her rage even as her body dissolved into a burst of light. Willow immediately collapsed in an exhausted heap at Tara’s feet.
Buffy turned toward them, a wide smile on her face. She could hardly believe it. After so many months, she was gone. Glory was gone. She opened her mouth to thank her friends-both of whom were looking extremely drained-when suddenly something struck her with all the force of a freight train. She hardly had time to realize what had happened before the room around her disappeared, replaced by a light so bright there wasn’t room for anything else.
It was Willow’s first spell. When Glory ducked, it had hit the hall mirror, ricocheting onto Buffy. And before anyone had time to react-least of all Buffy herself-she was gone.
One
It was as though time had slowed to a crawl. Not stopped, for Buffy could feel things happening around her: vague, unseen movements and sounds she could not quite comprehend. It happened so slowly and in the meantime, she hung suspended in the air, surrounded by light so blinding it hurt even when she closed her eyes. As if in a dream, she heard her own voice as it spoke to Willow the day before, asking questions about the spell they would use to displace Glory.
“Where will the spell take her?”
“Well, it’s hard to say exactly. With dimensions, you’re always on shaky ground. Some of them move.”
“But it won’t be here, in this dimension.”
“Not in this time or place, anyway.”
“Hey, as long as I don’t have to deal with her…it’s peachy.”
Buffy felt a sharp jerk from behind her, as though something large and cruel was trying to pull her out of the light. Whatever it was, it seemed to be succeeding at the task. She flew backwards and struck something hard, rolling head-over-feet for several paces before finally coming to rest. The light was gone now, but the bright intensity of it had left her retinas throbbing, black spots peppering her vision like falling snow. She clamped her eyes shut and clutched the hard-packed earth beneath her, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Noise assaulted her from all sides, but she could not discern one sound from another. Her head ached and everything-sounds, smells, feelings-seemed to blend in a chaotic jumble. There was the sharp odor of livestock and the sweet smell of straw. There was the scent of smoke-a dense, choking sort of stench that definitely was not produced by wood-and an acrid stink of unwashed bodies. Not Sunnydale then. She knew that even before she opened her eyes.
Slowly, she raised her head from the dirt. Her vision was fuzzy, but the black spots had gone and everything was gradually coming into focus. Wherever this was, she could see it was still daylight. Mid afternoon, judging by the sun. Before her, stretched a dusty track on which many wagons were traveling- wagons, she was relieved to note, that were driven by human beings, not monsters or demons.
Still, wagons?
Buffy frowned as she watched the steady procession of horse-drawn carts that slowly creaked by. The men sitting on the board seats of these carts were definitely not of 2001 and most likely not from California. They were dirty-faced, bewhiskered creatures garbed in clumsy boots and coarse clothing. They seemed to her like something out of a Dickensian novel, not like real people at all. When they shouted greetings to one another, their speech was peppered with the rough slang of low-class Englishmen.
“’ey, Joe! How’s the missus these days?”
“’ello, Guvnor. She’s as to be expected and no better. Bloody doctor’s a thief, he is, for what I’m bein’ charged for her draught…”
“Move it along, will you gents! I’ve gotta get this load in ‘fore sundown…”
Buffy’s heart tried to lodge itself in her throat and she quickly swallowed it back down. Wherever she was and whenever she was, this was definitely not Sunnydale. Not even close. Still, as much as that idea frightened her, she knew there was nothing to be gained from panicking. If she wanted to get out of this situation, she would need to stay calm. Clenching her jaw resolutely, she pushed herself up off the ground. The first thing she needed to do was to figure out exactly where she was. Then she could start formulating a plan on how to contact Willow and Tara. If she could give them a location, it would be a lot easier for them to find a way to bring her back home.
Suddenly, a voice broke into her thoughts with a stern, “Hello! You there!”
Buffy blinked, still too disoriented to find the source of the shouting. Before she could gather her wits enough to know what was happening, the voice spoke again.
“I say, you there!”
It was a male voice, English-accented but more cultivated than those of the carters' were. For a second, Buffy almost thought it was Giles, but this voice was an octave too low and the tone sounded remarkably hard. A rough hand gripped her arm, and Buffy suddenly found herself being pulled to the street. Presumably by the owner of said voice, though it was not until he spoke again that she knew for sure.
“What do you think you are doing here?”
He was a young man, twenty-five at most, although he carried himself with as much dignity as someone twice that. His short black hair lay slickly oiled beneath his hat, and his mustache was clipped into a tiny line over his top lip. He was dressed in a blue uniform with bright brass buttons down the front. His hat was also blue, and it had something that looked like a badge on it. Another badge was pinned to the front of his coat.
“Are you-are you a police officer?” she asked confusedly. He looked like one, though his uniform was strange. What Buffy couldn’t figure out was why he stared at her as though she had done something wrong.
“I am a constable, yes,” he told her sternly. “And you, my lady, are in a great deal of trouble.”
She gaped at him.
"What for?”
“For the indecency of your dress, of course.”
Buffy looked down at herself in bewilderment. She wasn’t wearing a dress; she was wearing her army-green cargo pants and a black tank shirt. It was true that her clothes were a little grimy from the battle with Glory, but they were whole and they covered everything that needed to be covered. She looked back at the officer with consternation.
“I don’t understand…”
“Well, come along. I shall explain it on our walk back.”
Still gripping her arm, the constable began to lead her down the roadside. Buffy considered fighting him, but somehow that didn't seem wise. Wherever she was and whenever she was, she didn’t want to end up being hunted by the police.
As they walked, the constable explained to her the rules of proper dress in public, but Buffy hardly heard a word he said. She was looking around them in astonishment. It was as if she had suddenly opened up the pages of Oliver Twist and stepped inside. Men and women in period costumes milled all around them. Some of them looked rough and dirty, but others were so beautifully arrayed they seemed like expensive dolls. Women paraded about in bustled skirts, lavish hats, and mitts made out of lace. Men wore top hats and frockcoats, and children were adorable in short pants or pinafores. If it all hadn't been so disconcerting, Buffy might have been charmed.
It was a big if.
Still, as the constable pulled her along her eyes darted from side to side, trying to take in everything at once. The streets, like the people, looked like something from a period novel. The dirt track became a wide road paved with cobblestones as they left the more industrial part of town behind. The buildings were closer together and much better kept, and the carts became lost amid a throng of carriages and buggies. At one street corner, a man idled near the curb, reading a newspaper. The London News-Observer, according to the front page. If her quick, searching glance could be trusted, the date on the paper was listed as November 5, 1879.
London. 1879.
Buffy stopped short. So it was true then. There was no denying it. She was in 19th century London. How in the hell had that happened? Willow was supposed to be sending Glory to another dimension, for God's sake, not the set of The Importance of Being Earnest. If the first spell sent Buffy to Victorian England, where had the hell god ended up?
“Oh, this isn’t good,” she moaned.
The constable ignored her words, but he shook her elbow to get her moving again. “I was halfway through my dinner pail when the complaints came in about you.”
She supposed she should sympathize with him because he had not finished his meal, but his superior tone irked her and she had to bite her lip to keep from snapping at him. Not that he noticed. He was too busy expounding on the indecency of a woman appearing on public streets in such tight, revealing garments.
“And amongst the rough masons and carters of the brickyard!” he exclaimed. “I have never in my born days seen such a display, not even from the boldest of fancy women.”
“Fancy women?” she echoed, completely baffled. “Wait, are you calling me a whore?”
The constable stopped dead in his tracks, looking absolutely horrified.
“Sakes alive, miss! Don’t you be saying such on the public streets! There are children…”
She lowered her voice and he walked on, satisfied.
"I’m not a prostitute,” she insisted.
“Perhaps you aren’t,” he consented skeptically. “Whatever you may be, you’ve no business conducting yourself in this manner. There are laws against such things.”
At first, Buffy had been too preoccupied to consider what the constable was doing, but suddenly it hit her like a blow to the head.
She was being arrested.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
The jail cell into which Buffy was placed was, at most, six by eight feet. There was a rough wooden bunk bolted to one wall, a small straight-backed wooden chair, and a bucket she suspected was to serve as a toilet. Nothing else. The walls and floor were made of thick stone, and there wasn’t wasn't even a window. The only source of light in the room came from a series of narrow slats in the otherwise solid wood door.
Buffy perched uncomfortably on the thin straw tick of the bunk. The room was so dim her eyes hurt, straining to make out shapes in the gloom. Through the cell door, she could hear the constables talking in the corridor, their words muffled slightly by the wood.
“You didn’t even ask her for her name then?” This voice-a new voice-strongly reminded her of Giles. Carefully cultivated and low, it managed to convey kindness, authority, and intelligence with only a few well-chosen words.
“I did try,” the constable who had arrested Buffy whined. “She was not being altogether cooperative. I tell you, she would not give me her name.”
“Perhaps she was frightened. You said she was dressed oddly and others told you she appeared to be having some kind of fit. Perchance some calamity befell her and she was too distressed to speak.”
“She is a common thing,” rejoined the first man. “American, at that. It is my belief that no harm came to her. There was only one reason she would be by the brickyards in such attire, and I believe I don’t have to tell you what that reason is.”
“Nevertheless,” said the kind man. “I wish to speak with her myself.”
The rusty hinges squealed a loud protest as the constable opened the door. The younger officer tried to push in behind him, but this new man shut him out rather pointedly. He turned to Buffy with a smile. He appeared much older than the first constable: lines creased the edges of his eyes and silver dulled the dark hair at his temples. But while he was in no way a handsome or young man, there was something appealing about him, something almost fatherly. Or, as Buffy thought to herself, something Giles-ish. She would have felt relieved to see him regardless. She had been rotting in this dank cell for hours, and any human being besides the constable who arrested her was a welcome sight.
“Are you another cop?” she asked him. Despite her best efforts, her tone quivered with apprehension. He looked nice enough, but she wasn’t at all sure she could trust these people. Wherever she was, it wasn’t a place that would look kindly on someone like herself, and she knew she would have to tread carefully in order to survive.
The man tilted his head to one side, not quite understanding her question.
“I am a constable of London,” he said. “However, I am a bit confused as to who you might be.”
“Bu-” She paused. What on earth was she supposed to tell him? Obviously, she’d been trapped in some kind of Victorian nightmare, and until Willow and Tara rescued her, her only chance for survival would be to fit in. She suspected that telling him her name was Buffy would not help matters in that regard; if anything, it would probably reinforce the belief that she was a prostitute. Still, she had to say something and quick. The constable was staring at her with an expression of concern, as if he suspected there was something seriously wrong with her. Buffy thought fast.
“My-my name is Beth,” she said finally, picking a name similar enough to her own she thought she might remember to answer to it.
His eyebrows rose almost infinitesimally, silently alerting Buffy that she had committed yet another social error. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what.
“What is your Christian name?” he asked.
Oh God, she thought. Christian name? I thought only nuns had those.
“I…ah…”
“Certainly ‘Beth’ cannot be the name you were christened by…?” he prompted gently. Suddenly, she realized what it was he wanted her to say.
“No…it's not,” she said quickly. “I'm sorry. My real name is-it's Elizabeth-Elizabeth Summers. Beth is just a nickname.” Her mind raced with other details to tell him.
“You are an American?”
“Yes. I-I arrived yesterday. I came here to be a hairdresser, but I think the ad I answered was a scam, because when went to see about the job it was just an empty lot. So, I started trying to find a place to stay because it was getting dark. I was crossing the street when suddenly someone attacked me from behind, and that’s the last thing I remember until the other officer found me this morning.” Buffy drew a deep breath as she finished, crossing her fingers that he would believe her story, lame as it was.
Although he didn’t understand everything she had said, the officer seemed to have caught the gist of it. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, clearly struggling in an effort to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“They dress like this in America now?”
Crap. She had forgotten about the clothes. What could she tell him about the clothes that would sound remotely plausible?
“My-uh-luggage was stolen on the boat. I mean the ship. I had nothing to wear, so one of the sailors loaned me this. I didn’t know it would be considered indecent, honestly. I was planning to wear it just until I could get an advance on my salary and buy new things. Like I said, the job wasn’t there…”
She looked up at him, trying to make herself appear as helpless as possible in the hopes it would garner his sympathy. Amazingly, the plan seemed to be working.
“What of your family?” he asked her.
“I don’t have any family to speak of,” she said quickly. “My mother passed away recently and my father has been dead a long time.”
“I see.” The constable's expression was impossible to read, but his tone was kind. Buffy drew a deep breath.
“If I did something wrong, I’m really sorry," she said. "And I’ll do community service if you want. I'll pay a fine, if you let me out so I can earn some money. Only, please don't keep me locked up in here...”
He cleared his throat.
“Well, I must confess your story is an odd one, Miss Summers,” he said finally. “Yet I can’t imagine you were out there for any other reason. You seem intelligent and well bred, well fed if not decently garbed. I cannot imagine you could be a-a street person.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Buffy tried to assure him, “I’m not!”
“This I believe,” he told her. “Yet I am still at a loss. If I release you, where will you go? I cannot in all good conscience turn a young lady out onto the city streets with no friends or relatives to care for her.”
Buffy opened her mouth to say, “I can take care of myself.” But suddenly it occurred to her that if she played her cards right, she might not have to.
“All I need are some directions to a hotel or something,” she said slowly. “I just need a place to stay, and then I can find a job somewhere…”
“No decent person would hire you dressed as you are now,” the constable answered. “And a lady staying in a hotel without a companion of some sort is only asking for further trouble. No, I am thinking of a place where they could take care of you, a place that would spare a lone young woman the horror of the union house or the back alleys. There is a long queue to get in, but I know the vicar who directs it. Perhaps, if he is willing...”
“Uh…I’m sorry…what?”
He blinked, as though suddenly realizing he had been talking over her.
“Forgive me for thinking aloud,” he apologized, “and allow me to relay my plan to you. There happens to be a friend of mine, a vicar. He had a rather revolutionary idea for helping London's needy, most particularly the young women without husbands or families. It is an institution of sorts, run by his church. It is a place where you will be fed, clothed, and well cared for as you are taught some skills that will be of use to you out in the world. They will train you and give you a character, which will allow you to find a place of employment, a good place where you will not be mistreated. Women trained by his organization are most sought after in the better houses of London. The list to enter is very long, but as he is a friend of mine, I think they might receive you immediately. That is to say…if you are willing?”
Buffy smiled weakly. That was not exactly what she'd had in mind.
Next
Author: Unbridled Brunette
Genre: Historical, Romance, Drama, Angst
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Buffy/William
Warnings: Expected the unexpected.
Summary: It's like "Forward to Time Past" ... but without the "forward."
Disclaimer: Does it look like I'm making money here? Standard disclaimers apply.
Distribution: Please don't without talking to me about it first. I don't plan on placing this on the archives, but feel free to link to it from anywhere you like.
Author's note: Many thanks to mooseshug, who bid on me in the help_japan auction. She wanted me to write a "what if" piece in the FtTP 'verse. Specifically, she wanted to know what would have happened had Buffy not returned to the future. In order to find that out, some things had to change along the way. I suppose what I'm trying to say is...this ain't your mama's "Forward to Time Past." ;D
A Hundred Visions and Revisions
by Unbridled Brunette
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
-T.S. Eliot
Prologue
“You know, I am getting really tired of your selfishness.”
“Tell it to someone who cares, hell bitch,” Buffy snapped back, picking herself up off the floor and trying to ignore the throbbing ache where her back had collided with the wall. “I, for one, am getting really tired of you showing up at my house, spouting threats. You got a beef with me, do something about it already!”
Glory folded her arms over her breasts, looking both amused and irritated by this display of audacity. She cocked her head to one side, as if considering the matter. Then she said, “You know, I think you’re right. I’ve tried to be the nice girl. I’ve tried to meet you on middle ground. All I want is what’s mine and all I’m asking is that you give it to me. But if you wanna play rough, I can do that, too.”
She raised her arm and Buffy cringed. She had no idea what was coming, but she knew it meant a world of hurt for her.
What was Willow doing? She had found a spell in one of the Magic Box's more archaic texts, an incantation she assured Buffy would rid them of Glory forever. Willow had sworn up hill and down dale that she could execute the spell just fine with a little help from Tara, so Buffy had orchestrated an attack on Glory’s minions to draw her into battle.
Well, that part of the plan had worked, anyway.
Now here she was, as vulnerable as she had ever been, with Glory preparing to attack, and Willow was nowhere to be seen. The idea was to keep Glory talking while Will and Tara did the chanty thing in another part of the house. When the spell was ready, they would burst in at precisely the right moment to mojo that bitch into the third dimension. But Buffy had been talking circles around Glory and taking the brunt of her frustrations for some time now, and she was starting to tire. If the two witches didn’t show up soon, she had a feeling they would be spending the following day scrubbing Slayer bits out of the living room carpet.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, Buffy heard the sound of a door opening behind her. Willow was chanting something in Latin, low and quick, and Tara screamed out, “Buffy! MOVE!”
Buffy dove to the side just as a blinding sphere of light burst from the palm of Willow’s extended right hand. It rocketed straight for Glory, but the ex-god was quick and dodged the spell with ease.
Just as swiftly, Willow shot another spell, and this time Glory wasn’t so lucky. She tried to avoid the magic by darting to one side, but she moved a second too late. The hex hit her full force, and she shrieked her rage even as her body dissolved into a burst of light. Willow immediately collapsed in an exhausted heap at Tara’s feet.
Buffy turned toward them, a wide smile on her face. She could hardly believe it. After so many months, she was gone. Glory was gone. She opened her mouth to thank her friends-both of whom were looking extremely drained-when suddenly something struck her with all the force of a freight train. She hardly had time to realize what had happened before the room around her disappeared, replaced by a light so bright there wasn’t room for anything else.
It was Willow’s first spell. When Glory ducked, it had hit the hall mirror, ricocheting onto Buffy. And before anyone had time to react-least of all Buffy herself-she was gone.
One
It was as though time had slowed to a crawl. Not stopped, for Buffy could feel things happening around her: vague, unseen movements and sounds she could not quite comprehend. It happened so slowly and in the meantime, she hung suspended in the air, surrounded by light so blinding it hurt even when she closed her eyes. As if in a dream, she heard her own voice as it spoke to Willow the day before, asking questions about the spell they would use to displace Glory.
“Where will the spell take her?”
“Well, it’s hard to say exactly. With dimensions, you’re always on shaky ground. Some of them move.”
“But it won’t be here, in this dimension.”
“Not in this time or place, anyway.”
“Hey, as long as I don’t have to deal with her…it’s peachy.”
Buffy felt a sharp jerk from behind her, as though something large and cruel was trying to pull her out of the light. Whatever it was, it seemed to be succeeding at the task. She flew backwards and struck something hard, rolling head-over-feet for several paces before finally coming to rest. The light was gone now, but the bright intensity of it had left her retinas throbbing, black spots peppering her vision like falling snow. She clamped her eyes shut and clutched the hard-packed earth beneath her, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Noise assaulted her from all sides, but she could not discern one sound from another. Her head ached and everything-sounds, smells, feelings-seemed to blend in a chaotic jumble. There was the sharp odor of livestock and the sweet smell of straw. There was the scent of smoke-a dense, choking sort of stench that definitely was not produced by wood-and an acrid stink of unwashed bodies. Not Sunnydale then. She knew that even before she opened her eyes.
Slowly, she raised her head from the dirt. Her vision was fuzzy, but the black spots had gone and everything was gradually coming into focus. Wherever this was, she could see it was still daylight. Mid afternoon, judging by the sun. Before her, stretched a dusty track on which many wagons were traveling- wagons, she was relieved to note, that were driven by human beings, not monsters or demons.
Still, wagons?
Buffy frowned as she watched the steady procession of horse-drawn carts that slowly creaked by. The men sitting on the board seats of these carts were definitely not of 2001 and most likely not from California. They were dirty-faced, bewhiskered creatures garbed in clumsy boots and coarse clothing. They seemed to her like something out of a Dickensian novel, not like real people at all. When they shouted greetings to one another, their speech was peppered with the rough slang of low-class Englishmen.
“’ey, Joe! How’s the missus these days?”
“’ello, Guvnor. She’s as to be expected and no better. Bloody doctor’s a thief, he is, for what I’m bein’ charged for her draught…”
“Move it along, will you gents! I’ve gotta get this load in ‘fore sundown…”
Buffy’s heart tried to lodge itself in her throat and she quickly swallowed it back down. Wherever she was and whenever she was, this was definitely not Sunnydale. Not even close. Still, as much as that idea frightened her, she knew there was nothing to be gained from panicking. If she wanted to get out of this situation, she would need to stay calm. Clenching her jaw resolutely, she pushed herself up off the ground. The first thing she needed to do was to figure out exactly where she was. Then she could start formulating a plan on how to contact Willow and Tara. If she could give them a location, it would be a lot easier for them to find a way to bring her back home.
Suddenly, a voice broke into her thoughts with a stern, “Hello! You there!”
Buffy blinked, still too disoriented to find the source of the shouting. Before she could gather her wits enough to know what was happening, the voice spoke again.
“I say, you there!”
It was a male voice, English-accented but more cultivated than those of the carters' were. For a second, Buffy almost thought it was Giles, but this voice was an octave too low and the tone sounded remarkably hard. A rough hand gripped her arm, and Buffy suddenly found herself being pulled to the street. Presumably by the owner of said voice, though it was not until he spoke again that she knew for sure.
“What do you think you are doing here?”
He was a young man, twenty-five at most, although he carried himself with as much dignity as someone twice that. His short black hair lay slickly oiled beneath his hat, and his mustache was clipped into a tiny line over his top lip. He was dressed in a blue uniform with bright brass buttons down the front. His hat was also blue, and it had something that looked like a badge on it. Another badge was pinned to the front of his coat.
“Are you-are you a police officer?” she asked confusedly. He looked like one, though his uniform was strange. What Buffy couldn’t figure out was why he stared at her as though she had done something wrong.
“I am a constable, yes,” he told her sternly. “And you, my lady, are in a great deal of trouble.”
She gaped at him.
"What for?”
“For the indecency of your dress, of course.”
Buffy looked down at herself in bewilderment. She wasn’t wearing a dress; she was wearing her army-green cargo pants and a black tank shirt. It was true that her clothes were a little grimy from the battle with Glory, but they were whole and they covered everything that needed to be covered. She looked back at the officer with consternation.
“I don’t understand…”
“Well, come along. I shall explain it on our walk back.”
Still gripping her arm, the constable began to lead her down the roadside. Buffy considered fighting him, but somehow that didn't seem wise. Wherever she was and whenever she was, she didn’t want to end up being hunted by the police.
As they walked, the constable explained to her the rules of proper dress in public, but Buffy hardly heard a word he said. She was looking around them in astonishment. It was as if she had suddenly opened up the pages of Oliver Twist and stepped inside. Men and women in period costumes milled all around them. Some of them looked rough and dirty, but others were so beautifully arrayed they seemed like expensive dolls. Women paraded about in bustled skirts, lavish hats, and mitts made out of lace. Men wore top hats and frockcoats, and children were adorable in short pants or pinafores. If it all hadn't been so disconcerting, Buffy might have been charmed.
It was a big if.
Still, as the constable pulled her along her eyes darted from side to side, trying to take in everything at once. The streets, like the people, looked like something from a period novel. The dirt track became a wide road paved with cobblestones as they left the more industrial part of town behind. The buildings were closer together and much better kept, and the carts became lost amid a throng of carriages and buggies. At one street corner, a man idled near the curb, reading a newspaper. The London News-Observer, according to the front page. If her quick, searching glance could be trusted, the date on the paper was listed as November 5, 1879.
London. 1879.
Buffy stopped short. So it was true then. There was no denying it. She was in 19th century London. How in the hell had that happened? Willow was supposed to be sending Glory to another dimension, for God's sake, not the set of The Importance of Being Earnest. If the first spell sent Buffy to Victorian England, where had the hell god ended up?
“Oh, this isn’t good,” she moaned.
The constable ignored her words, but he shook her elbow to get her moving again. “I was halfway through my dinner pail when the complaints came in about you.”
She supposed she should sympathize with him because he had not finished his meal, but his superior tone irked her and she had to bite her lip to keep from snapping at him. Not that he noticed. He was too busy expounding on the indecency of a woman appearing on public streets in such tight, revealing garments.
“And amongst the rough masons and carters of the brickyard!” he exclaimed. “I have never in my born days seen such a display, not even from the boldest of fancy women.”
“Fancy women?” she echoed, completely baffled. “Wait, are you calling me a whore?”
The constable stopped dead in his tracks, looking absolutely horrified.
“Sakes alive, miss! Don’t you be saying such on the public streets! There are children…”
She lowered her voice and he walked on, satisfied.
"I’m not a prostitute,” she insisted.
“Perhaps you aren’t,” he consented skeptically. “Whatever you may be, you’ve no business conducting yourself in this manner. There are laws against such things.”
At first, Buffy had been too preoccupied to consider what the constable was doing, but suddenly it hit her like a blow to the head.
She was being arrested.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
The jail cell into which Buffy was placed was, at most, six by eight feet. There was a rough wooden bunk bolted to one wall, a small straight-backed wooden chair, and a bucket she suspected was to serve as a toilet. Nothing else. The walls and floor were made of thick stone, and there wasn’t wasn't even a window. The only source of light in the room came from a series of narrow slats in the otherwise solid wood door.
Buffy perched uncomfortably on the thin straw tick of the bunk. The room was so dim her eyes hurt, straining to make out shapes in the gloom. Through the cell door, she could hear the constables talking in the corridor, their words muffled slightly by the wood.
“You didn’t even ask her for her name then?” This voice-a new voice-strongly reminded her of Giles. Carefully cultivated and low, it managed to convey kindness, authority, and intelligence with only a few well-chosen words.
“I did try,” the constable who had arrested Buffy whined. “She was not being altogether cooperative. I tell you, she would not give me her name.”
“Perhaps she was frightened. You said she was dressed oddly and others told you she appeared to be having some kind of fit. Perchance some calamity befell her and she was too distressed to speak.”
“She is a common thing,” rejoined the first man. “American, at that. It is my belief that no harm came to her. There was only one reason she would be by the brickyards in such attire, and I believe I don’t have to tell you what that reason is.”
“Nevertheless,” said the kind man. “I wish to speak with her myself.”
The rusty hinges squealed a loud protest as the constable opened the door. The younger officer tried to push in behind him, but this new man shut him out rather pointedly. He turned to Buffy with a smile. He appeared much older than the first constable: lines creased the edges of his eyes and silver dulled the dark hair at his temples. But while he was in no way a handsome or young man, there was something appealing about him, something almost fatherly. Or, as Buffy thought to herself, something Giles-ish. She would have felt relieved to see him regardless. She had been rotting in this dank cell for hours, and any human being besides the constable who arrested her was a welcome sight.
“Are you another cop?” she asked him. Despite her best efforts, her tone quivered with apprehension. He looked nice enough, but she wasn’t at all sure she could trust these people. Wherever she was, it wasn’t a place that would look kindly on someone like herself, and she knew she would have to tread carefully in order to survive.
The man tilted his head to one side, not quite understanding her question.
“I am a constable of London,” he said. “However, I am a bit confused as to who you might be.”
“Bu-” She paused. What on earth was she supposed to tell him? Obviously, she’d been trapped in some kind of Victorian nightmare, and until Willow and Tara rescued her, her only chance for survival would be to fit in. She suspected that telling him her name was Buffy would not help matters in that regard; if anything, it would probably reinforce the belief that she was a prostitute. Still, she had to say something and quick. The constable was staring at her with an expression of concern, as if he suspected there was something seriously wrong with her. Buffy thought fast.
“My-my name is Beth,” she said finally, picking a name similar enough to her own she thought she might remember to answer to it.
His eyebrows rose almost infinitesimally, silently alerting Buffy that she had committed yet another social error. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what.
“What is your Christian name?” he asked.
Oh God, she thought. Christian name? I thought only nuns had those.
“I…ah…”
“Certainly ‘Beth’ cannot be the name you were christened by…?” he prompted gently. Suddenly, she realized what it was he wanted her to say.
“No…it's not,” she said quickly. “I'm sorry. My real name is-it's Elizabeth-Elizabeth Summers. Beth is just a nickname.” Her mind raced with other details to tell him.
“You are an American?”
“Yes. I-I arrived yesterday. I came here to be a hairdresser, but I think the ad I answered was a scam, because when went to see about the job it was just an empty lot. So, I started trying to find a place to stay because it was getting dark. I was crossing the street when suddenly someone attacked me from behind, and that’s the last thing I remember until the other officer found me this morning.” Buffy drew a deep breath as she finished, crossing her fingers that he would believe her story, lame as it was.
Although he didn’t understand everything she had said, the officer seemed to have caught the gist of it. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, clearly struggling in an effort to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“They dress like this in America now?”
Crap. She had forgotten about the clothes. What could she tell him about the clothes that would sound remotely plausible?
“My-uh-luggage was stolen on the boat. I mean the ship. I had nothing to wear, so one of the sailors loaned me this. I didn’t know it would be considered indecent, honestly. I was planning to wear it just until I could get an advance on my salary and buy new things. Like I said, the job wasn’t there…”
She looked up at him, trying to make herself appear as helpless as possible in the hopes it would garner his sympathy. Amazingly, the plan seemed to be working.
“What of your family?” he asked her.
“I don’t have any family to speak of,” she said quickly. “My mother passed away recently and my father has been dead a long time.”
“I see.” The constable's expression was impossible to read, but his tone was kind. Buffy drew a deep breath.
“If I did something wrong, I’m really sorry," she said. "And I’ll do community service if you want. I'll pay a fine, if you let me out so I can earn some money. Only, please don't keep me locked up in here...”
He cleared his throat.
“Well, I must confess your story is an odd one, Miss Summers,” he said finally. “Yet I can’t imagine you were out there for any other reason. You seem intelligent and well bred, well fed if not decently garbed. I cannot imagine you could be a-a street person.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Buffy tried to assure him, “I’m not!”
“This I believe,” he told her. “Yet I am still at a loss. If I release you, where will you go? I cannot in all good conscience turn a young lady out onto the city streets with no friends or relatives to care for her.”
Buffy opened her mouth to say, “I can take care of myself.” But suddenly it occurred to her that if she played her cards right, she might not have to.
“All I need are some directions to a hotel or something,” she said slowly. “I just need a place to stay, and then I can find a job somewhere…”
“No decent person would hire you dressed as you are now,” the constable answered. “And a lady staying in a hotel without a companion of some sort is only asking for further trouble. No, I am thinking of a place where they could take care of you, a place that would spare a lone young woman the horror of the union house or the back alleys. There is a long queue to get in, but I know the vicar who directs it. Perhaps, if he is willing...”
“Uh…I’m sorry…what?”
He blinked, as though suddenly realizing he had been talking over her.
“Forgive me for thinking aloud,” he apologized, “and allow me to relay my plan to you. There happens to be a friend of mine, a vicar. He had a rather revolutionary idea for helping London's needy, most particularly the young women without husbands or families. It is an institution of sorts, run by his church. It is a place where you will be fed, clothed, and well cared for as you are taught some skills that will be of use to you out in the world. They will train you and give you a character, which will allow you to find a place of employment, a good place where you will not be mistreated. Women trained by his organization are most sought after in the better houses of London. The list to enter is very long, but as he is a friend of mine, I think they might receive you immediately. That is to say…if you are willing?”
Buffy smiled weakly. That was not exactly what she'd had in mind.
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