Days in the Sun
August 2nd, 2023 – Aging (2)
Lisa had been in the basement, training by herself for a little hour, when the sound of steps announced that someone was coming down. She wasn’t too surprised to see that it was her mother, who, as usual, didn’t come down completely, but rather stopped on the steps and sat. Many times, Buffy had come to see her children and husband train together, but she had never taken part in it herself, although Lisa knew she used to spar with Spike until the Hellmouth had been permanently closed.
During her vacations, Lisa had taken the habit to spend a lot of time down here, with William, or Spike, or both of them. Spike’s little demonstration, a little over a year ago, upon finding out that William had hunted vampires for almost two years, had been painfully clear. At the time, both self-proclaimed Slayers didn’t stand a chance against a Master Vampire, and both had been very lucky not to have crossed path with a demon as old and experienced as their father so far. For that whole summer, Spike had intensified their training considerably, which had had Lisa wondering why he had never trained them so hard before. The only explanation she had found was that before he had been giving them bases, in case they would decide to be part of the fight – and when the possibility had become a reality, he had started pushing them to their limits. By the end of the summer, they were already better fighters than they had been only two months before, and there was no mistaking the pride in Spike’s eyes when either of them managed to pin him down. They both kept on with their training by taking fighting classes in their respective colleges, but it just wasn’t the same as coming back home and training with someone who had a century of fights and brawls behind him.
Deciding to take a break, she grabbed the towel and water bottle she had brought and went to sit with Buffy, who hadn’t moved or said a word since she had come down.
“Hey mom,” she shot with a grin. “Wanna spar?”
Buffy laughed and shook her head. “If I was still your age, I might have, but I’m getting a bit too old for that.”
Lisa half choked on her water at that. If Buffy was too old at a couple of years over forty, what was to be said about Spike, who was a good hundred years older?
“Talking about getting old…” Buffy started, and all the laughter had gone from her voice.
Lisa watched, curious, as her mother took a file from the step behind her and gave it to her. And then her curiosity turned into shock as she read the inscription on the dark blue file. Fisher & Son, Funeral Services. She turned wide questioning eyes to her mother, unable to form the words. Buffy seemed to understand however, and she quickly shook her head, resting a hand on Lisa’s arm.
“Oh, sweetie, don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine. It’s just planning ahead. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Lisa held out the file back toward her mother, wanting her to take it. When Buffy didn’t move, she placed it down, and unconsciously wiped her hands on her sweatpants.
“Why do you give that to me?” she asked, still shocked. “And why do you have it at all, I mean, you’re young, it’s not like you’re going to…”
She stopped, unable to say the next word.
“Maybe I have long years in front of me,” Buffy said softly. “And then again, maybe not. Who knows? So I just prepared everything, and whenever it happens, you won’t have to wonder about what I would have wanted or not. Your grandmother had done the same thing, and I know I was very grateful for it.”
A bit numb, Lisa nodded. She didn’t remember much of her grandmother, mostly her face, and that was more from looking at pictures that real memories. She couldn’t stand to think she might forget her mother that much one day.
“Why do you show this to me?” she repeated her earlier question. “Why not give it to…”
“He doesn’t want to hear about it,” Buffy interrupted her softly. “If I just breach the subject, he closes himself off and refuses to talk to me. And I can’t really blame him.”
There was a sad smile on her mother’s lips, and Lisa wished she knew what to say. But she didn’t. She couldn’t blame Spike either, even if his refusal to deal with this meant that she would have to. There was just something very wrong about thinking that he would eventually be left alone, and she understood more than she ever wanted to that he didn’t even want to talk or think about the day Buffy would disappear from their lives. And Lisa could only wonder, not for the first time, why he had never made Buffy a vampire too. Not that she would ever dare ask either of them about that.
“Why me?” she asked once more, although she was picking up the file again. “Why not Will or Joy?”
“Because I think you’re the strongest,” her mother replied simply.
And so, they went over the documents contained in the file, the choices Buffy had made, and insignificant details that would become important some day. When they were done, Lisa could tell that her mother still had something to say, but she was hesitating.
“When it happens,” she said at last, slowly, as if searching for each word, “please keep an eye on your father. He sometimes does stupid things when he’s upset, and I wouldn’t want him to…”
Lisa nodded quickly that she understood, and Buffy looked relieved that she didn’t have to explain any further. With a kiss to Lisa’s forehead, she stood and returned upstairs, leaving Lisa sitting on the hard wood steps and trying not to feel sad over things that hadn’t happened yet, and that hopefully wouldn’t happen for a long time.
The characters and names used in these stories do not belong to me. All copyrights remain with Fox and Mutant Enemy. No profit is made from this fanfiction.