ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
folder
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
10,610
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
10,610
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
FIELD MUSEUM
CHAPTER 16 - FIELD MUSEUM
Buffy didn't sleep well that night, even though she had a more than comfortable king sized bed. Somehow, that made it all the more difficult. Too big, too lonely.
She got up and looked out at the city from her 20th floor suite. Beautiful city, beautiful lakefront.
She wondered who had broken into Prof. Lipton's apartment and had it anything to do with the amulet. Her senses were telling her that it did, although a part, a big part of her wanted to just think that it was a random theft, at a random apartment. But by the looks of it, whoever was responsible had thoroughly turned the apartment upside down looking for something.
The next morning, Buffy woke Dawn at 7:30am to get ready.
"Come on, Dawn, we've got to check out, go to the museum, and be on the flight back to L.A. at 5:00pm."
"Okay, okay," Dawn said, getting up.
They checked out by 8:30am and stored their suitcases with the hotel until later.
They walked through Water Tower Place stopping at the only eatery that was open for breakfast - McDonalds.
"I just love this, Buffy," said Dawn, "I come to Chicago, and where do I wind up eating? California Pizza Kitchen and McDonalds!"
"Well, we did go to Gino's East for pizza last night before we went back to the hotel, remember?"
"Yeah, guess the trip wasn't a total waste," Dawn said brightly, then looked at Buffy's face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, we'll find out something today, promise!"
"Hope so," Buffy replied, looking downcast.
They grabbed a cab and were at the museum by 10:00am. "Wow, Sue!" Dawn said as they walked in, seeing the most complete T-Rex ever assembled. They paid their entrance fee and asked for the office of Donald Johanson. They were directed to an office in the basement.
They knocked at the door and a man in his late 50's wearing khaki pants and a mustard colored, rather wrinkly cardigan opened the door.
"Are you Donald Johanson?" Buffy asked.
"Are you THE Donald Johanson?" Dawn chimed in.
"Yes to you," he said to Buffy, "and no, to you. I'm a Donald Johanson, not the Donald Johanson who discovered Lucy, if that's what you're referring to," he said to Dawn.
She nodded, "Oh, sorry, just thought with the name and working at the museum and all that..."
"Wrong museum, wrong, department," he said, "now, what can I do for you..."
"Oh, sorry," Buffy said, "I'm Elizabeth Worthington and this is my sister Donna."
Buffy then explained about her correspondence with Prof. Lipton and the \klacklace.'
"Yes, I was very sorry to hear about Harold's death. Very surprising, very sad. Let me take a look at what's come in lately," he said, looking at a list of deliveries.
"Hmmm, not here. Let's go take a walk to his office, shall we?"
Buffy and Dawn followed him through some doors that were off limits to the public that took them to the other side of the museum basement.
"Oh dear," he said.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Looks like Harold's office was one of those slated for remodeling," he said, as he pointed at the heavy plastic covering what was once a doorway. He drew back the plastic and shook his head.
"It's all been moved. Wait here, while I ask where it's all gone to," he said, hurrying off.
Buffy shook her head, "From bad to worse and the fun just keeps getting funner!"
Donald Johanson came back a few minutes later, "Found out where they put his office stuff," he said, smiling, "this way."
Another loop around the tunnels and they came to a double door with a keypad lock. Donald entered his code and they walked into an enormous warehouse that looked like it held a football field worth of cartons of all sizes. Shelves and cartons as far as the eye could see.
Buffy and Dawn just stood there with their mouths open.
Donald laughed, "Believe it or not girls, there's a system. He took out what looked like a calculator and entered a few things into it, "department + last name + month?" he looked at them.
"Do you know when it might have arrived here?"
"July, Prof. Lipton's assistant said she sent a box here for him a month ago," Buffy said.
"Okay. Department + last name + month = ...hmmm."
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing's coming up. Let me change the month to August. He re-entered the information. "Sorry, still nothing."
"What about his office stuff that was moved, maybe it just got moved before it got time to be cataloged?" Dawn asked, hopefully.
"Well, everything that comes in is supposed to be catalogued, whether it's taken to an office, or if it's sent to storage," he said, gesturing around them.
He entered just the professor's name and they walked over to sectsection his 'calculator' told him it was at. They came to Section 504 and Donald Johanson, Buffy, and Dawn looked through the contents of his office for any signs of a small carton with the 'remains' of the Sunnydale dig in them. Two hours later they had gone through everything. Donald had actually left them for about half an hour while he had to attend to something.
Buffy stood still and tried to 'feel' where it was at, but to no avail, "Wish I'd called Willow, maybe she could have done a locator spell," Buffy said.
"I think that only would work if was alive, Buffy," Dawn said, then for the second time that day, felt bad for saying something that made Buffy look sad. "Sorry Buffy, you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do, Dawn. It's not like I expected it to be 'alive' or something. I don't know what I expected, it's only that it shouldn't have survived at all, nothing should have, nothing did, but..."
"If it did, then there's hope?"
Buffy turned to look at Dawn. Was that what she was looking for? Hope? Stupid, waste-of-time, painful, stupid, hope?
"No, there's no hope, Dawn, no hope," she turned around so Dawn didn't see her eyes tear up. She was so angry with herself. What was she doing, coming all the way to Chicago on a wild goose chase?
"Well," Donald said, "guess that's it for Harold's things, I'm really sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for."
Buffy shrugged, resigned to the hopelessness of it.
"Look, if you find it, or anything related to Sunnydale, could you give Elizabeth or me a call?" Dawn asked, taking over, "here's our emails."
"Sure, I'll make sure to do that if it shows up. And you never know, it certainly might just do that, this is far from a perfect system, just the best one we've been able to implement," Donald said, showing them out.
It was noon as they stood outside the museum. Neither had much interest in actually seeing the actual museum after spending 2 hours digging through someone's office stuff. And there hadn't been a thing there about Sunnydale at all. Looked like he hadn't been at that office in ages.
"What time do we have to check in for the flight?" Dawn asked.
"4:00pm-ish, if we leave about 3:00pm-ish, we'll get there in plenty of time," Buffy said.
"I'd say that gives us plenty of time to shop, what say you?" Dawn asked, hopefully.
I'dI'd say, fuck yes to that!" Buffy said, in the overly cheery voice of the hopeless.
And so, they went back to the Magnificent Mile, (after making a short stop for lunch at the Italian Village downtown, and a quick zoom up to the top of the Sears Tower) and ran up their father's credit card bills at Sax Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic, and Prada on the Mile.
Buffy looked at the lights of L.A. as the plane started descending. They’d only talked a bit on the way back, with one or the other of them napping part of the time.
“You know, you never told me why you decided to change your name,” Dawn said, looking at Buffy, who had only told her a few months ago.
Turning away from the lights of L.A, Buffy looked at Dawn, “I don’t suppose that you’d believe me if I told you it was a favorite author of mine,” she replied.
Dawn looked at Buffy and saw the abiding sadness in her sister’s eyes, the sorrow and loss that Buffy had tried to mask for over four years. Whether it was that she was actually a part of Buffy, made from her when the monks had made her human, or because she was her sister, at that moment she knew.
Dawn just nodded at her, and at that moment, Buffy knew that she understood. Tears sprang from her tired eyes, unbidden. Dawn took her hand and they stayed that way until the plane came to a stop.
END CHAPTER 16
Buffy didn't sleep well that night, even though she had a more than comfortable king sized bed. Somehow, that made it all the more difficult. Too big, too lonely.
She got up and looked out at the city from her 20th floor suite. Beautiful city, beautiful lakefront.
She wondered who had broken into Prof. Lipton's apartment and had it anything to do with the amulet. Her senses were telling her that it did, although a part, a big part of her wanted to just think that it was a random theft, at a random apartment. But by the looks of it, whoever was responsible had thoroughly turned the apartment upside down looking for something.
The next morning, Buffy woke Dawn at 7:30am to get ready.
"Come on, Dawn, we've got to check out, go to the museum, and be on the flight back to L.A. at 5:00pm."
"Okay, okay," Dawn said, getting up.
They checked out by 8:30am and stored their suitcases with the hotel until later.
They walked through Water Tower Place stopping at the only eatery that was open for breakfast - McDonalds.
"I just love this, Buffy," said Dawn, "I come to Chicago, and where do I wind up eating? California Pizza Kitchen and McDonalds!"
"Well, we did go to Gino's East for pizza last night before we went back to the hotel, remember?"
"Yeah, guess the trip wasn't a total waste," Dawn said brightly, then looked at Buffy's face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, we'll find out something today, promise!"
"Hope so," Buffy replied, looking downcast.
They grabbed a cab and were at the museum by 10:00am. "Wow, Sue!" Dawn said as they walked in, seeing the most complete T-Rex ever assembled. They paid their entrance fee and asked for the office of Donald Johanson. They were directed to an office in the basement.
They knocked at the door and a man in his late 50's wearing khaki pants and a mustard colored, rather wrinkly cardigan opened the door.
"Are you Donald Johanson?" Buffy asked.
"Are you THE Donald Johanson?" Dawn chimed in.
"Yes to you," he said to Buffy, "and no, to you. I'm a Donald Johanson, not the Donald Johanson who discovered Lucy, if that's what you're referring to," he said to Dawn.
She nodded, "Oh, sorry, just thought with the name and working at the museum and all that..."
"Wrong museum, wrong, department," he said, "now, what can I do for you..."
"Oh, sorry," Buffy said, "I'm Elizabeth Worthington and this is my sister Donna."
Buffy then explained about her correspondence with Prof. Lipton and the \klacklace.'
"Yes, I was very sorry to hear about Harold's death. Very surprising, very sad. Let me take a look at what's come in lately," he said, looking at a list of deliveries.
"Hmmm, not here. Let's go take a walk to his office, shall we?"
Buffy and Dawn followed him through some doors that were off limits to the public that took them to the other side of the museum basement.
"Oh dear," he said.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Looks like Harold's office was one of those slated for remodeling," he said, as he pointed at the heavy plastic covering what was once a doorway. He drew back the plastic and shook his head.
"It's all been moved. Wait here, while I ask where it's all gone to," he said, hurrying off.
Buffy shook her head, "From bad to worse and the fun just keeps getting funner!"
Donald Johanson came back a few minutes later, "Found out where they put his office stuff," he said, smiling, "this way."
Another loop around the tunnels and they came to a double door with a keypad lock. Donald entered his code and they walked into an enormous warehouse that looked like it held a football field worth of cartons of all sizes. Shelves and cartons as far as the eye could see.
Buffy and Dawn just stood there with their mouths open.
Donald laughed, "Believe it or not girls, there's a system. He took out what looked like a calculator and entered a few things into it, "department + last name + month?" he looked at them.
"Do you know when it might have arrived here?"
"July, Prof. Lipton's assistant said she sent a box here for him a month ago," Buffy said.
"Okay. Department + last name + month = ...hmmm."
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing's coming up. Let me change the month to August. He re-entered the information. "Sorry, still nothing."
"What about his office stuff that was moved, maybe it just got moved before it got time to be cataloged?" Dawn asked, hopefully.
"Well, everything that comes in is supposed to be catalogued, whether it's taken to an office, or if it's sent to storage," he said, gesturing around them.
He entered just the professor's name and they walked over to sectsection his 'calculator' told him it was at. They came to Section 504 and Donald Johanson, Buffy, and Dawn looked through the contents of his office for any signs of a small carton with the 'remains' of the Sunnydale dig in them. Two hours later they had gone through everything. Donald had actually left them for about half an hour while he had to attend to something.
Buffy stood still and tried to 'feel' where it was at, but to no avail, "Wish I'd called Willow, maybe she could have done a locator spell," Buffy said.
"I think that only would work if was alive, Buffy," Dawn said, then for the second time that day, felt bad for saying something that made Buffy look sad. "Sorry Buffy, you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do, Dawn. It's not like I expected it to be 'alive' or something. I don't know what I expected, it's only that it shouldn't have survived at all, nothing should have, nothing did, but..."
"If it did, then there's hope?"
Buffy turned to look at Dawn. Was that what she was looking for? Hope? Stupid, waste-of-time, painful, stupid, hope?
"No, there's no hope, Dawn, no hope," she turned around so Dawn didn't see her eyes tear up. She was so angry with herself. What was she doing, coming all the way to Chicago on a wild goose chase?
"Well," Donald said, "guess that's it for Harold's things, I'm really sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for."
Buffy shrugged, resigned to the hopelessness of it.
"Look, if you find it, or anything related to Sunnydale, could you give Elizabeth or me a call?" Dawn asked, taking over, "here's our emails."
"Sure, I'll make sure to do that if it shows up. And you never know, it certainly might just do that, this is far from a perfect system, just the best one we've been able to implement," Donald said, showing them out.
It was noon as they stood outside the museum. Neither had much interest in actually seeing the actual museum after spending 2 hours digging through someone's office stuff. And there hadn't been a thing there about Sunnydale at all. Looked like he hadn't been at that office in ages.
"What time do we have to check in for the flight?" Dawn asked.
"4:00pm-ish, if we leave about 3:00pm-ish, we'll get there in plenty of time," Buffy said.
"I'd say that gives us plenty of time to shop, what say you?" Dawn asked, hopefully.
I'dI'd say, fuck yes to that!" Buffy said, in the overly cheery voice of the hopeless.
And so, they went back to the Magnificent Mile, (after making a short stop for lunch at the Italian Village downtown, and a quick zoom up to the top of the Sears Tower) and ran up their father's credit card bills at Sax Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic, and Prada on the Mile.
Buffy looked at the lights of L.A. as the plane started descending. They’d only talked a bit on the way back, with one or the other of them napping part of the time.
“You know, you never told me why you decided to change your name,” Dawn said, looking at Buffy, who had only told her a few months ago.
Turning away from the lights of L.A, Buffy looked at Dawn, “I don’t suppose that you’d believe me if I told you it was a favorite author of mine,” she replied.
Dawn looked at Buffy and saw the abiding sadness in her sister’s eyes, the sorrow and loss that Buffy had tried to mask for over four years. Whether it was that she was actually a part of Buffy, made from her when the monks had made her human, or because she was her sister, at that moment she knew.
Dawn just nodded at her, and at that moment, Buffy knew that she understood. Tears sprang from her tired eyes, unbidden. Dawn took her hand and they stayed that way until the plane came to a stop.
END CHAPTER 16