Obeying Nature

Buffy sat on her bed with her pyjamas in her lap, listening to Giles move around the bathroom. She wanted nothing more than to join him, but fought the desire. She waited until she heard him go back into the other room. Willow had fallen asleep instantly in the other bed beside hers and Buffy decided to wait a few more minutes to make sure Giles would be in bed as well. She didn’t want to risk running into him in the hallway and loosing her resolve not to go to him.

Silently she went to the bathroom and changed her clothes before starting her nightly ritual. She jumped a little when the bathroom door opened, and had to swallow her disappointment when she saw Anya standing in the door.

“Hi,” Buffy whispered. “I thought you were asleep. I’m almost done here.”

“Don’t rush. I wanted to talk to you.” Anya said as she came in and closed the door behind her. Buffy realized she should have seen this coming. She braced herself for questions. But Anya’s question wasn’t what she’d expected.

“Buffy how long have I been around?”

With a slightly puzzled look Buffy answered. “I don’t know Anya. You’ve been around at least two years now, right?”

Anya just shook her head. “I don’t mean as a human.”

Buffy thought for a second. “Oh. I don’t know, about a thousand years?”

“Pretty close. And what kind of a demon was I?” she asked.

Buffy felt a sinking pit in her stomach as she answered the all too obvious question, “A vengeance demon who specialized in scorned women.”

Anya nodded. “So if I had some advice, you would trust me right? Because I’ve seen a lot of relationships in my time.”

Buffy wasn’t sure how she should answer that one. On the one hand, Anya had a pretty skewed view of relationships that was often quite funny. On the other, well, she had seen more people in and out of love than anyone else Buffy knew. She nodded her head yes anyway, which earned her a shining smile. “Thank you.”

A few moments passed until Anya started talking.

“Being a vengeance demon doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed how a good relationship is supposed to work. I mean, I didn’t understand about all of the sex until I became human again, but I did see what love is, I knew how to recognize the warning signs. Just because I loved my job doesn’t mean I didn’t notice what makes the good relationships last.”

At Buffy’s confused look she continued.

“One of the worst mistakes humans make is they have a tendency to ignore the fact that their lives are short. They put off doing things because they think they have plenty of time. Suddenly they wake one day and realize it’s too late. The best relationships are ones where the people in love acted on that love.”

Now Buffy was looking at hear with a big proverbial question mark on her face, so Anya decided to be a little more blunt.

“Buffy,” Anya said with a soft voice, “you have died twice, and that should have taught you a valuable lesson don’t you think? Yet here you are in the bathroom, getting ready to sleep alone. And I think I saw one very asleep Watcher in the living room. I doubt he’d be asleep if you were with him.”

Finally, understanding dawned on Buffy’s face. She crossed her arms across her chest as her eyes drifted to the floor.

“Yeah well, we figured it was for the best. We need to be rested for tomorrow. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d have stayed with him.” She said, with a small smile.

“Come on Buffy! You guys can rest all day tomorrow. The fight is not until tomorrow night. Why are you wasting this opportunity?”

“I don’t know” Buffy mumbled. Anya gave her an understanding smile and stepped a little closer.

“Listen to me. Don’t do this. Anything can happen tomorrow. You know that, I know that. Don’t let your fears get in the way. He loves you Buffy. You love him, otherwise you wouldn’t be acting this way. Don’t waste it. It doesn’t occur as often as heartbreak does. I know. Go be with him. Now.”

Buffy raised her eyes and gave Anya a grateful look, before her face scrunched up with worry.
“But what about Will and Xand? If they find out about us it’ll just cause problems. We don’t need any distractions tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about them. They both sleep like the dead and I will make sure to wake you before they wake tomorrow. Besides, we have all decided to sleep as long as possible. Xander will not get up unless he has to. Willow forgot her alarm clock and said tonight at dinner that she can’t wake up without it. Neither one will move until we wake them.”

At Buffy’s unsure look, Anya gave her a slight nudge towards the door. “Go on.”

Anya was surprised when Buffy suddenly enveloped her in a quick hug. “Thank you.”

With a last grateful look, Buffy took a deep breath and slipped out of the bathroom, leaving Anya with a pleased smile.

“Humans!”
TBC