Track B in Track A 

If Elizabeth were in such awe of these two, then would she be vigilant enough to guard against them? Buffy knew, she knew what they were capable of, had survived it herself. But she still bore the scars from those encounters. Would this girl, this mirror image, be able to do the same? 

Giles tried talking to her but wasn’t sure how successful he was. 

As Willow frantically researched how to get their Buffy back, Giles tried to corner Elizabeth. Well, corner wasn’t the right word. He tried to…talk to her, yes, talk to her. Make her understand at the very least what she was getting herself into, how her near worship of the two vampires pre-soul and chip respectively was only going to hurt her, and most likely, them by extension. Whenever he tried, she was always with either Angel, Spike…or both, listening to their stories, their pasts, what they were doing here, helping the Slayer. 

It was upsetting. It was disconcerting. It was downright scary. 

“Elizabeth,” Giles said when Angel and Spike went to buy more blood directly after sunset two days after she arrived. “I must talk with you.”

“Sure Giles,” the blonde smiled, “What’s wrong?” 

Elizabeth waited while her mentor took his glasses off and cleaned them, a gesture so reminiscent of her Giles, that Elizabeth felt tears well in her eyes. She missed her Giles, missed her Cordelia, wished they were with her, wished these familiar strangers weren’t so suspicious of her, acted so strangely towards her. She didn’t know the rest of the group, didn’t know Willow and Xander, this Tara, Anya…something was familiar about that girl, however. 

But they acted as if she should, as if what happened in one universe was automatically supposed to happen in another. According to Giles’ explanation, it wasn’t, that was why they had different offshoots. For every action, there was an infinite number of reactions. 

Willow had not accepted that, but after several failed attempts to engage Elizabeth in conversation on something Buffy should obviously know, had given up in a huff. She was even now frantically researching how to get their Buffy back and send Elizabeth to her own world. 

“Spike and Angel,” the former watcher started, looking at the door the vampires had just exited through. “As you know,” he said and Elizabeth knew this was going to be a ‘lecture’ rather than whatever else he originally wanted to tell her. 

“As you know, things in one universe aren’t necessarily the same as in another. Obviously, what happened in your universe, with the disappearance of,” again Giles’ eyes darted to the door, as if anticipating Angel and Spike to return any second. “Of Angelus, William, Drusilla and this mysterious mate, things radically differ.” 

Elizabeth resisted rolling her eyes, but interrupted nonetheless. “Giles, I know this. You explained all this the other day when you were trying to figure out what happened. When your Buffy disappeared from here, I was sucked into this universe. No one knows how that happened,” and I don’t care, Elizabeth silently added. It was so nice not to fight on an hourly basis, kind of like a vacation so many others got to experience and she never had. 

“If she really is in my universe, then my Rupert Giles and Cordelia Chase will take care of her. They’d do the same things as you and…” Elizabeth’s eyes looked to the redhead, wondering at her determination. Just because she didn’t know the redheaded woman and Willow got all snooty. Whatever, like it was her fault or something that there was no Willow Rosenberg in her universe. 

“And Willow are doing here,” Elizabeth finished as the redhead met her eyes. Something flashed there, some darkness that Elizabeth understood, but didn’t really know where it came from. If this woman was as powerful as her aura suggested, then there was little doubt she’d be able to pull Buffy from Elizabeth’s world. And if her lover was as powerful as her aura suggested, then that feat was in little doubt. Elizabeth wondered what would happen to her once Buffy returned. 

Would she be sucked back to her world? At least she knew it there. Would she be trapped here? With Spike and Angel and all they offered her? They were the only two who seemed to accept that she wasn’t Buffy, that she was Elizabeth and the differences inherent in that. Cordelia did as well, as did the former watcher, Wesley. But then the Cordelia Elizabeth knew would accept, she was a very go with the flow kind of woman. 

Xander and Willow didn’t and most likely couldn’t accept her, and Elizabeth was okay with that. If they couldn’t accept her for who she was, then did they really accept their Buffy for who she was? 

“I’m telling you,” Anya said for the millionth time when Willow asked for the millionth and first time. “I can’t do it, it doesn’t work that way. The only reason it worked that one time with you was because I was searching for my amulet and that was the last place it was whole and functional.” 

Elizabeth looked over at the arguing women but didn’t comment. Whatever happened between them it involved the other her and she didn’t want to ask what that involved. Too many unanswered questions, too much history there. 

“But you know people who can do it,” Willow insisted, “You know people who have that power!” 

“No!” Anya yelled, standing up and stalking to the stubborn redhead. “It doesn’t work like that. The power of the wish means that when one makes a wish, then one changes things. Cordelia wished that Buffy hadn’t ever come to Sunnydale,” she said, revealing the true cause of her sudden existence for the first time. 

“So in a world where no Buffy Summers ever came to Sunnydale, that was what she got. When Giles,” she jerked her thumb in disgust at the Watcher, “Broke my amulet, everything reverted back to the way it was, and I lost all my power.” 

“So all we have to do is make a wish now?” Willow asked, seeing how simple the answer was.

“NO!” Anya, Cordelia, and Wesley shouted at one. “It doesn’t work like that, Willow,” Any said, frustrated. “In the power of the wish, the granting vengeance demon has certain…liberties. If you were to…you know, for Buffy’s return, then there’s no telling what’ll happen when and if the granting demon grants that wish.” 

“What I mean,” Giles was saying and Elizabeth wondered how much she’d missed as she was listening to Anya and Willow, “Is that this world’s Angel and Spike are different from the ones you know. They…well, they’re just different.” 

Elizabeth looked at the watcher as if he were daft. “Giles,” she said slowly, “I know all this. I know the differences; I know what they did in the last hundred years ago and I know who they are now. I asked,” she told him, “And they told me. Actually, it’s quite fascinating and I’m surprised you haven’t taken the time to ask yourself.” 

The reproach in her voice was clear and Giles was again reminded that this wasn’t his Buffy he was dealing with, but an Elizabeth who hadn’t seen the things here they all had. Shaking his head, he never thought to think this, but he wanted this one gone. She seemed too eager to – God help him – learn, and he was deathly afraid what she’d learn in her curiosity. What Angel and Spike would tell her to further fuel the almost hero-worship Elizabeth held for them. 

“All I’m saying,” he repeated more sternly, “Is that you have never met either Angelus or Spike, you don’t know first hand what they’re capable of on an immediate level. We’ve all,” Giles gestured, “Seen it, we’ve seen the damage, the destruction they can do and it’s far from pretty, far from fairytale like.” 

He fixed her with a stern look, his best disapproving watcher gaze. “I don’t want to see you hurt, Elizabeth.” 

Elizabeth nodded, which she assumed he wanted her to do, but left the condo anyway, unwilling to be in the same room with people who didn’t think she could make her own decisions about things. If this was what Buffy had to go through, then maybe it was best she stayed where she was. At least there, she was exalted, revered, wanted, needed. Granted, it was a terrible life, the fighting, the dieing, the alliances and broken treaties, but no one was there to tell her what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and who to do it with. 

She was in charge, she was the leader, it was who she was and what she did and she did it damned well. Better than anyone.

She didn’t notice the looks Willow shot her way, and wouldn’t have cared if she had. Sitting on the front stoop, Elizabeth waited for the only two beings that seemed to understand her to return. 

“Giles,” Willow said when the door closed and Elizabeth was gone, “What about the Terminus Spell?” 

Giles looked at his young charge for a moment before taking the offered book from her. The Terminus Spell was simple, though none had ever been successful in its execution. Basically it required the person seeking to transverse dimensions to focus solely on something in the dimension he or she wanted to get to. It failed, because the only way to ensure travel to the correct universe was if one was already from there. 

As that rarely happened, it was exceedingly difficult for one to go to another dimension successfully. But in this instance, where Elizabeth was from a different dimension, it was entirely possibly that it could and would work. They wouldn’t have to do the spell to discover where Buffy was, if Elizabeth and she had switched places and dimensions; all they had to do was send Elizabeth back, using her soul as a beacon. 

If their Buffy wasn’t automatically returned to them because of that, then it was simply a matter of sending the spell with Elizabeth and having her Giles perform it. 

Nodding as he read over the spell itself and the ingredients, Giles said, “Willow, I think you’re right. This is our best shot at returning Elizabeth and bringing our Buffy back.”

There was only one hitch. Actually, there were two. And they were pretty big ones. 

One was that the spell required a ‘Light made from a Blue Ox horn’ and Giles had no idea where to find a blue ox or what kind of light could be made from one’s horn. Luckily, this so-called light was reusable, whatever that meant. Giles hoped it meant exactly what it said. The second was that the dimension hopper, for lack of a better word, to be willing.  Giles wasn’t entirely sure Elizabeth was willing to return. 

“We’ll have to talk with Elizabeth, she needs to be a willing participant,” Giles said as he looked up at the assembled group. “I don’t foresee a problem with that,” he lied, “But it’s polite to at least ask. And we’ll need to find a Blue Ox and somehow figure out how to make a reusable light from its horn.” 

“Well,” Xander said what nearly everyone was thinking, “Let’s get to it! How hard can it be to find a blue ox?” 

“Xander,” his girlfriend said in a condescending voice that sounded remarkably like his ex-girlfriend’s. “I’ve been a demon for over a millennium. I’ve never seen a blue ox.” 

“Plus,” Cordelia said in her condescending voice, “I don’t know if Elizabeth will be all for returning to a place where all she does is fight, fight, fight.” 

“It’s her duty,” Wes said before he realized the stupidity of his words. Blushing slightly, he corrected. “She seems very focused on the mission; she knows what needs to be done and is willing to do it. I don’t,” he finished in a voice the Sunnydale crew hadn’t ever heard from him, “Foresee her not going back.” 

Giles wasn’t so sure, Cordelia and Anya snorted in tandem, and Willow looked like she wanted to send this Buffy-imposter back by sheer force of will. 

“I’ll talk to her,” Tara volunteered. When everyone looked at her, she stammered, “S-she doesn’t really know anyone else, and since I didn’t know this Buffy all that well, it seems only right.” 

Plus she wanted to learn more about dimension jumping, even as unintentional as this one seemed to have been. Standing, she hung her head, the better to ignore the stares of the mixed Sunnydale and LA group, and headed out the door. This Elizabeth fascinated her, the way she moved, talked, acted, learned. It was different from the little Tara knew of this world’s Buffy. As if she had her own burdens, but they didn’t weigh on her heart and soul as the things that happened here had on Buffy. 

Confusing herself, Tara shook her head and went to where Elizabeth sat on the circular wall in the center of the front courtyard. The blonde had her back to Giles’ front door and was staring at the entrance to the square; the Wicca figured – and rightly so – that the Slayer was waiting for the vampires to return. She couldn’t blame Elizabeth, their group hadn’t exactly been welcoming to her when they should have been nothing but.

What was it like to be so displaced, to have even the recognizable things different, wrong, strange and alien? 

“It’s not a fun day in the park,” Elizabeth said and Tara wondered for a second if this Slayer was telepathic. But then she realized that her ponderings had been spoken aloud and she blushed again. 

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “I didn’t mean to pry.” 

Elizabeth waved her discomfort off, gesturing to the seat beside her. “It’s understandable, you want to know. I want to know, too, but no one really seems interested in answering my questions. They want their Buffy back; I understand that, really I do. But they think that I should be that Buffy because we have the same name – or nearly so – the same face, the same calling.” 

Sighing and turning to one of the few who tried to understand, Elizabeth smiled gently at the shy girl. “What brings you out here, Tara?”

“Oh, they uh, they,” Tara jerked her head in the direction of inside, “Think they found a spell to bring Buffy back and send you home. It’s kind of a switching spell. I think.” 

Saying nothing, Elizabeth just nodded, looking up at the night sky. “The stars are the same here,” she said quietly. “They’re exactly the same. The constellations…my Giles and I used to spend hours looking at them, studying them. The differences between now and a thousand years ago, several thousand years ago. How the ancient civilizations looked at them, what they thought of them, what they meant to them.”

“You miss it there?” Tara asked as she followed Elizabeth’s gaze. 

“Yes,” the Slayer whispered. “I miss Giles and Cordelia. I miss some of my generals, the ones who’ve been with me for years. I miss,” Elizabeth laughed. “I miss my bed. It’s this huge monstrosity of a thing with a dozen pillows and silk sheets.” 

“Where’d you get such a thing?” 

“It was a gift from a Bracchan Clan I saved. They were infinitely grateful that I managed to save them from being exterminated from this Scourge that thought only full demons should roam the Earth and all half-breeds and humans should be extinct. I don’t think the full lore of their ancestry managed to make it down through the centuries. The only true demons left this world years before; something about man forcing them out. I don’t buy that, how can man force something stronger, more numerous, and older than they?” 

“I don’t know,” Tara shrugged but said, “But then what you say is true. Stories are often d-distorted from generation to generation, so maybe there’s another reason for the lack of full-blood demons and another reason this Scourge wanted humans gone. Other,” Tara laughed, again confusing herself. “Than the normal demons want humans gone line I hear.” 

“This is true,” Elizabeth laughed. “But that’s the story of how I got that really, really nice bed.”

They sat in silence for a little while, looking at the stars together. “Are you going to do the spell?” 

Elizabeth shrugged, something she found herself doing more and more in this world. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” 

“You have to be willing,” Tara told her but hesitated in doing so. She wasn’t sure if it was because Elizabeth didn’t seem to want to return, or because she found this Elizabeth fascinating on more levels than she originally thought. 

“Do I?” Elizabeth asked with surprise, “And if I’m not?”

“Then the spell doesn’t work and you stay here.” 

Another silence played out between them. “What are you doing here, Tara?” 

“What do you mean? Here in the courtyard, here in Sunnydale, here talking to you?” 

“Yes,” Elizabeth answered, “All of the above.” 

“I’m here in Sunnydale because I go to school at UC Sunnydale. I…” she hesitated for a minute in telling the Slayer something she hadn’t told anyone in this town. “I’m kind of in hiding from my family. This is a great place to do that.” Elizabeth only nodded so Tara continued. 

“I’m talking to you because I don’t agree with the way everyone’s treating you in there. I know they think you’re Buffy and want you back, but they know what Mr. Giles and Mr. Angel told them, so I don’t understand how they could still expect you to be the same woman.” A shrug that was a restless movement of her shoulders. “I think you have a lot that we can learn about, and I think that forcing you to return to a world where all you do is fight for the one day you’ll die is as unfair as forcing Buffy to stay where she doesn’t want to be.” 

Elizabeth chuckled. “You’re the first person to think that,” she said, then amended. “No, Angel,” and his voice was soft, caressing in a way she didn’t realized and wouldn’t have understood if she had. “Angel and Spike seem to understand. Why is that, do you think?” 

“I don’t know,” Tara said, “But I think it has something to do with how Angel feels about Buffy.” 

“I got that, yes,” Elizabeth nodded and lapsed into silence again. She had a lot of questions; unfortunately, many of them could only be answered by Angel. Suddenly something dawned on Elizabeth. “What’s your last name, Tara?” 

When she was introduced to everyone in the room, Elizabeth wasn’t given last names; she asked for Willow’s only because of the strong magickal vibes the redhead gave off. She still wasn’t familiar to the Slayer and that surprised Elizabeth. If Willow Rosenberg existed in her world, then she wasn’t a witch, powerful or not. Every being with even a modicum of magickal power was recruited by the Watcher’s Council as allies to the Slayer. 

“Maclay,” Tara said, confused. “Tara Maclay.” 

Surprised, Elizabeth asked, “Of the Maine Maclay’s? Is your mother Bernadine Maclay?” 

“Yes,” Tara answered, surprised. Willow hadn’t ever asked about her family, seemingly content to know the Tara of now rather than the one with a past. “My mother’s name was Bernadine.”

“Was?”

“She died several years ago,” Tara confided. “And I don’t…get along with my dad or brother.” 

Elizabeth just nodded, understanding what Tara wasn’t saying and letting it go. Instead, she said, “In my world, Bernadine and her daughter, Tara, are some of the most powerful mages in the world. They keep the more harmful of the demons away from the East Coast.”

“Really?” Tara’s heart clenched at that news. Both that her mother was still alive, and that she and her were important, powerful, needed. 

“Yes,” Elizabeth nodded and smiled at the eager young woman. She understood what it was like to want to know more of your parents, especially if they were dead. She used to make Giles comb through volumes of text, photo albums, and miscellaneous junk in an effort to learn more of her deceased parents. And yet couldn’t bear to let herself meet this world’s Joyce. 

“Bernadine is responsible for the protection of our capital, New Washington. When the vampire war spread to the human world,” Elizabeth said, elaborating on the story she told earlier. “Much of the east coast was destroyed, up to nearly 100 miles inland; the destruction was unbelievable, millions died, historical sites, technology, it was horrible. But a family from Maine managed to move most of her people far enough inland to save them; she also warned government officials, some of whom knew what went on in the dark corners of civilization.” 

“And this was my mother?” Tara was enthralled. She wanted so much to be like her mother, but her dad…John just didn’t understand, hadn’t bothered to try, to Tara left, running away to the furthest school that had given her a full scholarship and the anonymity she so craved. 

“I believe so,” Elizabeth nodded. “Bernadine and Tara are now responsible for the full magickal protection of our new capital, indeed they were instrumental in choosing the site, in erecting the buildings to be as feng shui as possible, in selecting the guards and training them in rudimentary magick.”

“Wow,” Tara whispered and felt tears forming in her eyes. She was needed there, she was someone. Not John’s daughter, not that freak Bernadine’s child. Not Willow’s girlfriend, not the extra in the Scooby meetings. She was someone there, someone who was needed and, more importantly wanted.

“Things are a lot different there,” Elizabeth said with a smile and another glance at the night sky. “A lot different.”

“Tell me more of my mother?” Tara tentatively asked.
~~~~~~~~~~
“She’s not your Buffy,” Spike said as he exhaled his cigarette smoke. 

“I know that,” Angel said a bit testily. “Don’t you think I know that?”

“Just making sure,” the younger vampire said with a smirk. “Don’t want you getting any ideas that you can have her back when she’s not the same.” 

“She isn’t the same,” Angel repeated as he and Spike cut through town to the butcher’s shop. The excuse of needing more blood was just that, an excuse. They did need more, but it could wait. Angel was old enough where he didn’t need to feed every day, and Spike had blood stashed everywhere, if Angel knew his GrandChilde at all.

What Angel really needed was to get away from Elizabeth and the alluring temptation she represented. The feeling of being with Buffy but not with her, of learning an entirely different woman, but noting the similarities between them as well. Elizabeth hadn’t ever faced Angelus, a Spike pre-chip; she didn’t know what it was like to fight her lover for her life, and he was glad of that. At the same time, she was hardened in other ways. 

This War she spoke of made her stronger, released something deep within her that fought as a True Slayer, something Angel only heard of in myths and legends. The True Slayer was all Primal, was stronger than any Slayer ever, was THE strongest, THE fastest, THE SLAYER. If what Spike told him of Buffy merging with the First Slayer a few months ago was accurate, then they, both Elizabeth and Buffy, were the strongest. 

And that made sense; in one world if Buffy merged with the First Slayer to defeat this Adam, then in another Elizabeth would fight to be the strongest because there was no other way to survive. In the end it was the same; they broke the bonds of slayer to become Slayer. To become the Ultimate Slayer.

Angel wondered how it would affect the both of them, had they stayed in their respective universes. 

“Do you really know that?” Spike asked again, wondering why he cared, why he bothered, why he was concerned for his GrandSire. He chalked it up to residual family closeness, up to wanting to get the poof somehow, of wanting to see this world’s Buffy back where she belonged. Life wasn’t nearly as fun when he couldn’t needle her over something. 

He knew he was lying and Angel did, too.

The real reason was that this Elizabeth was interesting, was strong and fought for what she wanted, and didn’t care what anyone said. She didn’t let her pathetic friends dictate her life, who she should love, how, when, and where. She didn’t take , a Buffy who did care what they thought and said. 

She was strong, mentally and physically, and knew how to get what she wanted. Oh, Buffy was no weakling, but turning your lover into his demon during your first sexual experience, having to fight that demon for months, then having to kill said lover and send him to hell wasn’t something one easily got over, not even after years of trying. 

“I know that, William,” Angel said quietly, reverting back to Spike’s true name and causing the younger vampire to start at it. “Buffy isn’t here, Elizabeth is.”

“So what are you going to do about that?” Spike asked and was surprised at the question. Then again, he thought as the butcher shop came into view; he always did say that a Buffy-whipped Angelus was better than the crazy one. And Angel was already showing signs of being besotted with Elizabeth. It’d only take a few nudges for that to turn into full-fledged shagging and then maybe Spike could get his family back.

The question was, would Angelus feel the same for Elizabeth as it was obvious Angel was starting to? 

“I’m going to…” Angel trailed off, not saying a word in the ten minutes or so it took the vampires to gather their supply, pay, and head back to Giles’. “I’m going to try and help her return to where she belongs,” Angel finished as if they hadn’t had an interruption. 

“And if it’s here she belongs?” 

“Then…” Angel didn’t finish and the pair walked back to the condo in silence, knowing from a distance that Elisabeth awaited their return outside the house. 

Then you’re going to keep her here, Spike concluded silently as Elizabeth and Tara came into view, laughing over something. Angel stilled, watching the hardened warrior loosen some of her tightly wound control. By the Powers, she was breathtaking! Exotic, beautiful, strong and passionate. She was so very much like his Buffy and yet so completely different. 

And both Soul and Demon knew that she was ripe for the taking. That she was his and there was no way around that no matter who she was in this world or that. Angelus didn’t want her, not yet. He wasn’t sure she was as worthy as his Buffy was to be his (their) Mate. She hadn’t passed his tests, hadn’t shown him that she could stand against him and win. 

Angel didn’t care. Elizabeth didn’t know what it was like to do the things Buffy had done; hadn’t had to survive that horror, hadn’t had to harden her heart and soul because of that. He loved Buffy for surviving, but he – loved, cared for, wanted, needed – Elizabeth for the naivety she still retained when it came to he and his demon. 

Whatever scars Elizabeth bore, it wasn’t from sending her lover to hell and Angel was grateful for that. Angelus wasn’t as convinced, but agreed that Elizabeth was as theirs as Buffy was. And if Elizabeth stayed…if they forced the issue, if they made sure she stayed, then it was a simple matter of testing her worthiness, of turning her then seeing how she fared with him, in this world, as his Mate.

Angel shook those thoughts off, terrified and horrified at the direction his thoughts were taking. My God, what was he thinking? He couldn’t do that to her, no, no, no. But the idea held…appeal. No, he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that. He… 

Elizabeth’s head shot up and looked in their direction, a smile on her face. Slowly, Angel’s resistance melted. Just a little bit, but it melted all the same. Returning the smile, not oblivious to Spike’s snort of arrogant laughter, Angel continued into the courtyard, handing off the brown paper bag to Spike who took it without protest and went into the condo. 

Sitting next to her, Angel lifted her hand and brushed a kiss along her knuckles, wondering at the action, wondering if it was the right thing to do, not caring because it was and he knew it, Angelus knew it. 

Elizabeth didn’t flinch from his touch; instead, she blushed, but smiled. The shadows in her eyes cleared for a split second and Tara’s breath caught in a surprised gasp at whatever she saw between the couple. Angel said nothing, but Angelus paused in whatever musings he was currently attempting to share with Angel; it was an ongoing diatribe, and Angel usually blocked him out. 

Potential, the Demon thought as the Soul slowly and reluctantly released Elizabeth’s hand. This one had potential. Love, hope, yes, the Soul thought as the Demon wondered what lay in store for the both of them. Elizabeth was Buffy and he loved her. Buffy or Elizabeth, similarities and differences, he loved her. He couldn’t help it, didn’t want to, and refused to care that he did. 

And his last thought before he followed her into Giles’ condo was that Elizabeth was his, no one else’s, his and his alone. Angel or Angelus, neither Soul nor Demon knew or cared, still confused over everything and still not caring. Elizabeth was his. 

His. 

And he never noticed that he had silently referred to her as Elizabeth, not Buffy.

Part 8        Part 10

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