After The End: The World Still Turns 4
by Hels
CHAPTER FOUR

When Buffy stood up straight again, she and Willow were both smiling. Xander had Anya’s hand clasped in his and looked as though he was six years old and had just been given the biggest Christmas present ever. Spike had sauntered over to stand at Buffy’s right shoulder, and Tara was gently rocking the pram, eyes shining and keen.
“What’s her name Buff?” She said. The slayer was startled out of her reverie and picked up her small daughter,
“Natalie.” She said,
“Natalie Summers. I like it!” Willow smiled and cuddled the baby
“Not Summers. Her name’s Freeman.”
“You’re MARRIED?” Xander said in response to this bombshell
“Was. Not anymore.” Buffy answered flatly, and drew her baby closer to her as if protecting her.
“You’re DIVORCED?” It was Willow’s turn to yell. “God, Buffy you’ve done so much! All the time we’ve just been here, same as always.”
“You mean…?” Buffy couldn’t quite comprehend
“Yeah, the Scoobies here are getting quite good at dusting the vamps.” Spike answered.
“Oh, I didn’t think…I mean I didn’t expect…” Buffy trailed off and an awkward silence settled down on the assembled group like a heavy, suffocating blanket. Tara managed to break the tension,
“Buffy, did he, th-the guy you married, did he hurt you?” Buffy whipped round to face her, arms around Natalie defensively.
“N-not really,” she stammered unconvincingly, “he just got drunk a lot I didn’t think he’d be good for the baby.” A frown flitted across Tara’s face; she knew denial when she saw it. Spike stepped in to repair the awkward situation.
“Not to be out of line here, but is this really the place for the sprog to spend the day?” He said. Buffy looked at him as if she was surprised that he was there, but nodded in agreement. The group returned to the Summers’ family home which the gang had continued to live in just for the sake of keeping past memories alive. Buffy found her homecoming incredibly emotional, she felt the awful feeling of being a stranger in her own home. She saw that her mom’s and Dawn’s presence was stamped on the house permanently, but intermingled with these sad, poignant artefacts were signs of everyday life. Willows coat flung onto a chair, crystals from Tara’s Wiccan practises on the mantelshelf. For some inexplicable reason these things were even sadder to Buffy than the reminders, a sign of life moving on and changing, while she felt she had stayed still. Willow sensed Buffy’s sadness, and quickly whisked her clothes off of Joyce’s favourite lounge chair. Buffy looked at her with cool and disapproving eyes,
“What else has changed?” Willow attempted to shrug off the question, but Tara’s hand on her shoulder reminded her that Buffy deserved the truth.
“Tara and I have the master bedroom. Xander the spare room. Yours and Dawns, they haven’t been touched.”
“You haven’t been in there?”
“Of course. They’re clean and dust free. I just meant they were still, you know, yours.” Buffy nodded. Her eyes came to rest on two photographs framed above the fireplace, hung in old dark wood frames. The photographs were enlargements of prints taken one Christmas back in the gangs’ college days. One of Dawn, Buffy and Joyce, and the other of Buffy with the Will, Xander, Giles and the other slayerettes. Everyone was smiling, they were joyful and beautiful pictures. Buffy was so incredibly touched at this personal memento that she broke down, right there on the hearth rug. She howled with the intense emotion she was feeling. Willow sat down beside her and tried to stop her hysterics, but she couldn’t reach her. Natalie was still asleep in the pram, so Tara motioned the others out into the garden to give Buffy some space.
By the time the sun began to set, and long shadows were cast across the lawn, Buffy had emerged from the house and was standing bathed in one surviving shaft of evening light. Xander approached her, and tentatively reached out for a hug. Buffy smiled the widest smile that he had ever seen, and reached up to wrap her arms around his. Anya walked over, rather unsteadily, to remind Xander that she was due back at the hospital. To her surprise, Buffy turned to her and flung her arms around her,
“Anya, I missed you!”
“You did?” She spluttered. Buffy held her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
“I saw you, with the axe. It was so brave,” Anya smiled as she remembered her Glory-slashing, “you know, it meant a lot to me that you cared so much about Dawn. So, thankyou.” Anya smiled demurely and looked sheepishly at the floor,
“Well, we all, you know – it was Dawn, and you…and I’ve always liked being in the demon ass-kicking gang.” She returned Buffy’s hug, and then turned to her boyfriend to be returned to the hospital and her bed.

Willow and Tara watched this scene with affection, standing arm in arm in the warm, peaceful garden. The end of the day felt like the end of a momentous movie – the kind that ends with an inspirational power-ballad. Willow rested her head on Tara’s shoulder, sighing contentedly. Buffy continued to watch the sun dip below the trees, her face illuminated by the last echoes of golden light. She turned back towards the house where Natalie lay asleep in her pram, her face lighter than it had been for many months. Tara smiled back at her, filled with a warm, sunny feeling of relief that things were starting to look up. Willow didn’t smile. She had suddenly remembered the missing group member - Giles. What would she tell Buffy about him? Would he come back now Buffy had…?
She lingered in the dark garden for a few seconds after Buffy and Tara had gone inside. She looked up at the pale moon just visible above the trees to the east and frowned, hoping for some kind of inspiration. Her happy-feeling had been replaced by a common uneasiness, one which she had never learnt to shake, even with Tara lying beside her in their bed.

Along the corridor, Buffy lay asleep, but her dreams were filled with the pain of her memories and the uncertainty of the future. A child’s voice seemed to whisper in her ears,
”Mummy isn’t here, mummy can’t protect me.”
In the crib, Natalie stretched her tiny baby fingers and sighed.


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