FIC: Forever

[HD.Genscher@xxxxxx]

TITLE: Forever
AUTHOR: HD_Genscher
RATING: PG or less
PAIRING: B/W
SPOILERS: 4th season
DISCLAIMER: All characters and places belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant
Enemy, et al.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan are owned by themselves.
ARCHIVE: Do whatever you feel right.
FEEDBACK: Please.
DEDICATED TO: Janine (your "And It All Became So Clear" series was the
first B/W I read, and I got addicted to it immediately...)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The idea is not mine. It's a Buffy/Willow
implementation of Rocky's Star Trek: Voyager story "Stranger Than
Fiction" and it contains some short quotations from that story
(because I would not have been able to express things better).
This fic also answers Dave's challenge from January 29th, 2000 on
buffyloveswillow (message #907).

-------

Buffy Anne Summers, the Vampire Slayer, lay patiently on her bed in
their dorm room. She had a book in her hand. Beside her sitting on the
floor inside a pentagram was Willow Rosenberg. They, like the others
present, were giving their complete undivided attention to the
all-powerful individual who controlled their lives, namely the
director.

"So, Sarah, you will just lie here and read your book, okay?" he said
while pointing to the bed. Sarah nodded.

He turned to Alyson. "Meanwhile, you will pour some sand on the
missing parts of the pentagram completing it, while reciting your
spell. For the final few lines, you'll stop with the sand and close
your eyes. We'll do a close-up shot of that later, but for now..."

"Okay," Alyson replied.

"Fine," the director continued his instructions. "Then the spoon will
start to move." There was a half-full glass of water inside the
magical circle on the floor, and a silver spoon next to it. "It will
be pulled up, move over the glass and - on my mark - you loose focus,
open your eyes and the spoon will drop into the glass, okay?"

"Yep."

He started to walk towards the camera. "So I want everyone on his or
her position, please!" he said raising his voice. While everybody
resumed their positions, he sat down on his chair.

"Lights?" he asked. "Okay!" someone answered.
"Camera?" he continued. "Running!"
That was the response he wanted to hear, so he said:
"...and Action!"
And that was were it all started.

Sarah read in her book. She seemed so immersed as if she had been
doing it for hours. Alyson poured some of the white sand on the
pentagram and started to do her spell.
"Alishnah petruq shabbah..."

When she came to her last lines, she closed her eyes and instinctively
opened her hands towards the center of the circle, as if directing
Willow's energy to the spoon inside.
On the director's sign, the special effects people started to pull on
the almost invisible nylon string that would be removed from the film
later. The spoon slowly rose from the floor, then moved over the
glass.

"Okay, now loose focus!" the director ordered.

Alyson frowned and open her eyes. The spoon fell.

In the same instant, she started to have a strange sensation in her
stomach. Sarah felt it too. They felt dizzy; the world was dissolving
around them, and then...

The room. Sarah was no longer on a sound stage, on a set, but instead
was floating about half a meter in the air. Time seemed to stretch
somehow, so she was able to take a look at her surroundings. Overhead
was a cloudy afternoon sky. Floating next to her was her colleague,
looking at her with the same amount of surprise and scare that had to
be on her face. The moment she realized that below her was a pond,
gravity claimed its inevitable right. "Uh-oh!" she managed to get out.
Then she and Alyson fell into the pond.

With the rest of her dignity, she slowly managed to climb out of it,
dripping wet and covered with water plants. Giving Alyson a side look
and seeing her in the same condition, Sarah could not resist giggling.
Alyson gave her a smile.

She had absolutely no idea what had just happened, nor where they
were, but it seemed that this was part of the botanic garden on UC
Sunnydale's campus. So they were in Sunnydale.
In *real* Sunnydale. 'But that's impossible!' she thought.

But there was no way to deny that they were somewhere outdoors and
fell directly into a pond instead of being on a sound stage.

"Everything's alright with you?" she heard Alyson ask. "Yes, except
that I'm wet like a drowned rat. And you?"

"I'm fine." Alyson pointed to a building in the distance that
definitely looked like Stevenson Hall. "Do you think what I think
about where we are?" she asked.

Sarah picked a sticky water plant out of Alyson's hair.
"It can't be Sunnydale. How would that be possible? I mean, it's a
fictional place, remember?"

"It sure looks like the campus of UC Sunnydale. And don't ask me how,
I have no idea!" Alyson replied.

"Maybe someone in this Buffyverse did the same spell and something has
gone wrong..." Sarah suggested. "Anyway, we are not going to find out
if we stay here all afternoon, so I would propose to go to our dorm
room. We can also change clothes there to get out of this wet stuff."
"Assuming Buffy and Willow in this 'Buffyverse', as you called it, are
the same size that we are".
"Let's hope so." Sarah said and started to walk towards the building.

While they were walking over a meadow to get on a bike path leading to
the dorm halls, Alyson still couldn't believe what happened. It was
the biggest dream of every Buffy fan to once be in Sunnydale. Only
that she was not a fan, but part of the dream factory that made the
Buffy TV show possible.

That was when she heard Marc Blucas' voice say: "Hi, Buffy!" Only that
it wasn't Blucas. It was Riley. He almost had bumped into them,
suddenly jogging around a couple of thick bushes. He had been running
fast, his face covered with sweat. "Hi... Willow..." he added, his
voice fading off. He had discovered that they were significantly too
wet for a beautiful spring day in Sunnydale. Sarah was the first to
recover from the shock. "Eh, hi... Riley! How are you?" she said,
feeling somewhat uncomfortable. In the show Buffy and Riley were in
love. But there was something else in his eyes now. He gave another
glance at Alyson and it seemed that the expression in his face was...
jealousy.
"Fine. I gotta go," he answered shortly and off he ran, mumbling
something that almost sounded like "wet T-Shirt contest". Alyson and
Sarah exchanged a look.
They both had a strange feeling now, a distinct feeling that some
things would be different here. "It seems that Riley and I are not...
lovers," Sarah spoke out loud what they both were thinking.
That made Alyson frown. "I wonder what me and... Tara... are to each
other... I mean..." she babbled.
"Hey, you are actress Ally, not babbling Willow, remember?" Sarah
remarked. "And don't be afraid. We will find our way back, okay?"
Alyson had to smile. That almost sounded like Buffy saying something
encouraging to Willow to cheer her up when they were in trouble.
"But... we have to remember that we can get into trouble." Sarah
continued. "Maybe we will not know some things that happened
differently here... And there's a big issue I don't even want to think
about..." She broke off.
Ally knew what she was talking about. "You are not the Slayer. And if
this is really Sunnydale..." she started.
"...there will be a lot of vampires and demons to slay!" Sarah
finished her sentence.

***

Finally they made it to the dorm and after having asked a "fellow
student" about their room and receiving more than just one questioning
look about their mental health they stood in front of what was
supposed to be their home in this universe.

Sarah hesitated for a moment. They had no idea what would await them
on the other side of that door.
Then Alyson took heart and opened the door. Quickly they entered
"their" room and she closed the door behind them. Rumors were surely
spreading fast in the dorm. Having to ask for their room was one
thing, but standing right in front of it, afraid to enter, was
something that would add more to the concerns about their sanity.
They stood in awe. This was exactly like the room on the set. The
books on the shelves, their beds, Willow's laptop computer on the
desk... All was in perfect order, as they would have expected it to be
on their set. But this wasn't the set. This was... real.
After all they had seen so far, this was not unexpected, but yet...
strange.
"Look at this!" Alyson pointed to the pentagram on the floor. A spoon
inside a glass half-filled with water was standing in its center. They
exchanged a look. Maybe that was the clue they had been looking for.
Neither of them believed in magic. Oh, there were strange things in
the universe, but magic... Naw.
But there had to be an explanation for what happened to them, and
maybe this was part of it.
This was 'Buffyverse', after all.

While Sarah seemed to be still lost in the room, looking around in
every corner as if to make sure it was both real and really an exact
copy of theirs, Alyson decided to change her wet clothes finally and
went over to "her" closet.
She would have to pick some of Willow's clothes - not without having
some scruples about that, however. She didn't belong here and these
clothes didn't belong to her. Especially not... those clothes! Beyond
what she would call normal Willow stuff, like some tops and skirts,
she had discovered some exquisite underwear in that closet. Very sexy
underwear, in fact. She wondered what hot lover Willow was wearing
those for...
She picked a red top and some black jeans and went over to their
toilet room. "I'll be back in a minute," she added.
Sarah just nodded. Alyson disappeared through the door. She reappeared
a moment later, throwing a towel to her colleague. "Maybe you wanna
towel yourself..." she said and closed the door behind her. "Thanks,"
Sarah mumbled.

At that very moment the *other* door flung open and Willow entered the
room. Sarah turned around in panic. And she had no chance whatsoever
to escape what was to come now.
Willow rushed over to her, almost jumping at her, giving her a big hug
and then... kissing her. Right away. On the mouth, without any
warning. Sarah was both surprised and shocked, but reacted
instinctively, giving in to the kiss. At least she was having some
experience in kissing girls from her MTV-awarded movie kiss with Selma
Blair in "Cruel Intentions". And there had been another... That
thought had no chance to finish manifesting itself because Sarah's
mind was fully occupied with processing the emotions produced by what
seemed to be every nerve fiber in her body.

This one was almost as good... no, at least as good as... somehow even
better than... most definitely better than her last girls kiss. This
thought was circling around in her head while time seemed to stretch
around her and the kiss seemed to last forever.

Sarah couldn't believe what she was doing. Not only that she was
kissing Willow (she was quite sure that this was the *real* Willow),
no, she also was comparing the kisses!
And so was Willow. She had felt some tension in her lover. But she was
so relieved that everything was all right with Buffy that she happily
overlooked that.

"Thank Goddess, nothing happened to you, Buff!" Willow exclaimed when
she finally broke the kiss to give in to her body's need for some
air.
"You know, I was sitting here..." the redhead pointed to the magical
circle on the floor, "...and did my spell."
The blonde actress looked confused.
"The translocation spell I told you about?" Willow offered. "The one
where I translocate a spoon into a water-filled glass..."
Sarah nodded. That was strange. How could she do the same spell, in
different universes, and achieve such an effect? That was only
possible if very powerful forces were at work, and if she admitted to
herself that things like witchcraft really existed.
"I suddenly had to think of us last night, and..." Willow was
blushing. "One moment you were reading on the bed, and then... You
were just gone."
"I found myself floating three foot above the pond in the botanic
garden on campus..." Sarah explained.
"That would explain why your clothes are wet as if you were having a
shower without having the time to take them off, like last week..."
The gaze Willow gave her while saying this made Sarah feel
uncomfortable. There was both slight amusement and lust in that gaze.
But that was not really unexpected. Her wet top surely outlined the
curvature of her body well. And since Buffy and Willow were lovers in
this Buffyverse... Somehow she felt she would have to explain that she
wasn't Buffy.
"...and I was falling very ungracefully a second later." she finished.

"Oh, you poor..." Willow tried to hug and kiss her again, her motherly
instincts taking over. This time, however, Sarah refused. She grabbed
Willow by her shoulders and gently but firmly pushed her away. She was
not Buffy, after all.

Willow immediately realized that something was wrong here. Her Buffy
would not do that.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice dangerously low.
"Look..." Sarah tried to take it slow.
"Just answer my question: Who. Are. You." Willow asked again, this
time with an even more hostile tone.

"I'm sorry, Will. I didn't want to pretend I am Buffy," she quickly
answered. "I am not Buffy. At least not the Buffy you know and love."
she added.
Willow folded her arms before her chest, assuming a defensive position
in view of the confession she had just heard.
"And instead, you are..." Willow said, the hostility in her voice
fading a bit.
"Sarah Michelle Gellar."
"And why do you look just like Buffy, talk like Buffy and even kiss
like Buffy?"
"I'm an actress. The television show that I'm starring at is called
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. So in my world, I am Buffy." Sarah
explained.

Willow couldn't believe what she just heard. The expression on her
face clearly showed that and Sarah couldn't blame her. If she wouldn't
know that this was nothing but the truth, she would not believe it,
either. Hell, if someone would have told her a day before that there
was a town called Sunnydale with a Vampire Slayer called Buffy
somewhere - even if it was in another universe - she would most likely
have laughed out loud at such nonsense.

Joss would freak out if he ever learned of this. Not mentioning the
fact that she and Willow - Buffy and Willow, she corrected herself -
were in love with each other here.
She remembered the night after the shooting of "Choices". They had
done the scene over and over. When had that been? Right, in the third
season - somewhere near the end, she thought. Willow had been accepted
by almost every college in the States. Instead, she wanted to stay
with her - with Buffy. "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Alyson had said, with that cute look on her face. It had almost been a
longing gaze. At least now it seemed that way. "I kind of love you."
Buffy had to answer. And she had done so, again and again, with all
the emotion she - being absolutely Buffy at that moment - felt for her
wiccan friend.
But the director of that particular episode, James Contner, had never
been content with that. Finally they had settled with one shot that
was acceptable but not really good, as Jim had told them.

At that night they had been sitting in Aly's trailer with the teleplay
to talk about a difficult shot they would do tomorrow. Instead, they
had talked about a possibility, a thought that had occurred both of
them while they were doing that same scene over and over.

Could Buffy and Willow be together? There had been vague hints in past
episodes here and there. Could they be lovers? And could they - Sarah
and Alyson - as the actresses portraying the characters, play
lesbians?
"There's only one way to find out..." Alyson had remarked, provoking a
disbelieving look on Sarah's face. "Lights! Camera! Action!" Alyson
had said with her trademarked Joss imitation voice that she was so
good at. And they had done it. Kissed, that was. After that, Sarah had
excused herself wishing her colleague a good night and sweet dreams.
She could still hear Aly imitating Joss: "Where do you think you are
going? We are far from being done with that shot! And more lip tension
this time, please! Sarah? Sarah!"
She still had to smile at these memories.

When she saw the final episode much later - she usually didn't have
the time to watch every episode, but this had been a rare exception -
she was surprised. The whole scene was in it. Joss had taken the
version where her statement was followed by a little snort Aly had
given in response. She didn't just ignore her best friend's
acknowledgment and went into talking about being a "bad-ass wicca", as
the script told her to do. Instead, she showed how touched and
embarrassed she was at Buffy's emotional revelation.

"Hey, Earth to Buffy!" Willow's voice brought her back to reality. "I
mean... Sarah!" Willow corrected herself.

"Sorry!" The actress still smiled, focusing on the redhead in front of
her again. Saying something like that was so Willow.
"Instead of translocating the spoon, you translocated me when you were
distracted by the thought of us... me." she continued her report.

"There's a problem, however," Willow heard a very familiar voice. "I
got translocated - or whatever you call it - too!" Alyson stepped into
the room, having toweled herself and changed into dry clothes next
door. Willow stared at her. "Oh my God!" Willow was startled at once
because seeing her mirror self strongly reminded her of the last time
some doppelganger appeared in Sunnydale. "Evil vamp Willow is back!"
she shouted. "This time I'll stick you, once and for all!" she added
reaching for Buffy's weapons trunk.
But Aly was getting the creeps, too. It was strange enough to be in
this parallel universe or whatever and maybe it would be possible for
them to live here and pretend they were Buffy and Willow, but now
seeing herself... Willow, she corrected herself, standing right in
front of her with that wooden stake in her hand...

"It's okay! She's from my world as well." Sarah said quickly while
putting a hand on Willow's outstretched arm. Willow lowered the stake.
"She's fine, really." Sarah continued, not fully convinced that this
had gotten through to the witch.

"Yes, I'm... no... threat." Alyson added, the trembling in her voice
reflecting how scared she was at her counterpart's sudden outburst of
energy.

"Sorry, but I had an encounter with a doppelganger of mine recently,
and that can't really be called pleasant," Willow explained while
putting the stake away. Sarah and Alyson nodded. "Don't tell me you
had that on your TV show as well." Willow said. They nodded again. She
shook her head. "Hey, I can't believe it. And Giles won't believe it,
either. But he's the only one who can find out what happened and how
to undo it."

***

Knock! Knock!
Rupert Giles opened the door grumbling slightly to himself, since that
annoying doorknocker had prevented him from having the cup of tea he
thought he deserved for hours.
Then he stared. He closed his eyes and opened them again, as if he
couldn't believe what he saw.
"Hi Giles," Willow said.
"Hello." echoed the other Willow, standing right next to the first.
"Two Willows? Is she..." he managed to get out after a while.
"No, she's not Evil Vampire Willow, if that was your question. And I
am the *real* Willow. Yesterday morning you asked me to return that -
if I may quote you here - unique and ancient edition of 'Sappho's
Spells' to you. Here it is." she continued while handing the heavy
Greek book over to the watcher. "No one else could possibly know about
that.," she added.
"That's right," he admitted.
"She's not even Willow. Her name is Alyson, and she's an actress in a
television show called 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'." Willow continued.
"Alyson?" asked Giles, only slightly confused.
"Yes, I'm Alyson Hannigan, and this is Sarah Michelle Gellar." the
red-haired actress responded, pointing to Sarah who was right behind
them.
"So this is not Buffy?" he asked Willow, just to be sure. Willow shook
her head.
"Well, whoever you are and whatever the reason of you being here is,"
he said with a glance at Willow, "...it's a pleasure to meet you." No
matter how bad the situation, Giles always remained a gentleman.
'He really looks like Anthony Head', Sarah thought. Alyson smiled at
the Englishman.
"Come in. And then tell me *exactly* what happened," he said, stepping
back from the door, opening it for them.

Willow, Sarah and Alyson had told him their story jointly.
Giles had asked a few specific questions about the spell, and then he
had fallen silent for a while.
This gave Alyson and Sarah the opportunity to admire the former
librarian's home. The characteristic element that made it typically
Giles was, of course, the books. There were books on shelves, books on
desks, books on the floor. Since Sunnydale High was burnt down after
the failed Ascension, and with it the library, the Scoobies'
headquarter had been here.
"It has to be the moon," Giles said suddenly.
"Oh, right! I summoned Thespia for the spell and... she's often
associated with the moon in ancient texts!" Willow agreed.
"With the full moon, to be precise," Giles continued, "and if you
would be so kind as to hand over that astronomical calendar over
there..." He pointed to one of the many bookshelves. Sarah did as she
was told.
"Just like I thought, tonight we'll have full moon. That enhanced your
power, so it had this...", he tried to find the right term,
"...inter-dimensional effect."
"We will need to look through the books. There has to be a reference
somewhere on how to revert a translocation spell." Willow added,
changing into research mode.

Some time later - night had fallen in the meantime - Giles took off
his glasses, cleaned them with his handkerchief carefully, put them
back on and continued to read in one of the books he and Willow had
been looking through in the past hour.
"How and when did Buffy and you... get together?" Alyson asked
suddenly. She had been pacing around for the last hour, obviously
nervous.
"Alyson!" Sarah just couldn't believe what her friend had just asked.
"One day, I found a beautifully written letter at the library. It
invited me to a paper chase across the whole high school. And finally
I found Buffy, waiting for me." Willow told them while searching
through some old and obviously very fragile books. "Buffy... I never
thought she looked at me the same way I looked at her... as the one I
loved and not just as my best friend." She smiled at the memories. "We
dated, we kissed..." Another thought crossed her mind and she
hesitated.
"And the strangest thing is, Buffy never admitted that she was the one
responsible for that paper chase..."
That story will have to be told someday in the future, however,
<insert evil grin here> because at that very moment Giles found what
they had been looking for.
"Reverte!" Giles said, thus interrupting the redhead.
"You found it!" Willow rushed over to the watcher, looking over his
shoulder on a book that seemed to be even older than the ones she had
been holding. "That simple?" she asked. "Just some herbs and one Latin
word, and Buffy will come back?"
"Not to mention that we're going back home!" Alyson added, joining her
mirror self at her position behind the former librarian's chair,
wanting to have a look at that ancient book as well that held the
recipe to bring them back. She could not even identify one of the
strange letters or symbols, however.
"They will have to be at the very place where they were thrown into
this reality, but beyond that... I don't see any difficulties." Giles
pointed out. "You will just have to retrieve those herbs."
"Okay, I'll be right back." Willow said, opening the door.

"Wait, Willow, I'm going with you." Sarah said, hurrying to catch up
with the witch. Willow wondered what Sarah would come up with. The
reason why she wanted to help her was because she wanted to talk.
Okay, they would talk. But Sarah had to make the first move. She would
wait. She knelt down and started to cut some of the magic-enhancing
herbs Giles was raising in his small garden for special occasions like
this.
"You see, on our show, Buffy and Willow are not romantically
involved." Sarah finally continued. "Oh, every now and then they have
some ambiguous scene which could be interpreted several ways," she
said, putting the herbs into a bag they had brought, "...and there's a
rather vocal segment of fans who would kill to see them together. But
the production company keeps insisting that nothing is going to
happen."
"Maybe you should talk to your producer." Willow suggested. "And
always remember: In a universe of possibilities, everything can
happen..."
"You are right."
Sarah and her colleague had both seen what was possible in this
Buffyverse, and they agreed in that it was right, that it was a valid
possibility. So maybe they would have to have a little talk with Joss
when they were back.
"That will have to suffice." Willow told the actress, pointing to the
bag that was now full of herbs.
"And I think it's about time to get you and Aly back to your world and
Buffy back to me."
They went back into the watcher's house.
Sarah and Aly said farewell to Giles and the three women left for UC
Sunnydale's botanic garden.

***

A short while and a dusted vampire later, they arrived at their
destination.
"Okay. Here we are." she said, pointing to the pond. "This is where
'the Eagle has landed', isn't it?" They nodded. "Then this is were you
have to go."
"But first... Give me your hands," she commanded. Willow took one hand
of both Sarah and Alyson into hers. "Don't be afraid! This will work,
okay?" she assured, seeing the uncertainty on their faces.
Suddenly, a strange yet wonderful and wicked thought crossed her mind.
"Amatrices aeternae," she whispered.
"Did you say something?" Alyson asked.
"No! I... was just... thinking loudly. That's... when your... mouth
is... moving although you... don't want it to..." Willow babbled, her
face blushing.
She let go of the hands while stepping back. The two waded into the
pond until the water was up to their hips.
"Bye, and thank you for a remarkable experience." Sarah said smiling.
Alyson just waved her goodbye.
"Good luck..." Willow said. "Okay, here we go!"
"Thespia, reverte!" she recited while throwing a handful of herbs into
the pond.
A flash of bright light suddenly surrounded the two actresses, as if
the very fabric of the universe had opened for a second to let in the
rays of light of another place, another time.
Then they were gone.
And then Buffy was falling into the pond exactly were they had been a
mere moment ago.
And then Willow started to smile.
Buffy's clothes were all wet. The look on her face was one of pure
confusion. And she looked sexy as hell. Willow couldn't stand it any
longer. "My love!" she exclaimed, throwing herself into her lover's
arms.
"Hey," Buffy managed to get out a long kiss later, "I thought I was
gone for a few hours only!"
"To me it seemed to be forever," was the redhead's answer.
Buffy hugged her lover once again and hand in hand, they walked to
Stevenson Hall.


EPILOGUE

"And this year's Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Television Show goes
to... Buffy the Vampire Slayer!"
The picture on the TV screen switched to Sarah Michelle Gellar,
showing her smiling brightly. While she was getting up out of her
chair, it switched again to show Alyson Hannigan, getting up too.
"The award will be received by the show's starring actresses Sarah
Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan acting for producer Joss Whedon
who cannot be with us tonight." added the commentator.
After having made it from their seats to the aisle in the middle, they
went hand in hand to the stage and up to the microphone. Sarah
received the heavy statuette out of the laudator's hands, held it up
while saying "Thank you!". She then handed it over to her colleague
who placed it on the lectern. "Thank you!" Alyson said as well.
They both turned to the close-up camera and without a word of consent
necessary, Sarah took Alyson's hand into hers. "Just to give you an
impression of what is possible for two lovers whose love is stronger
than every production company or social acceptance..." she said.
"Buffy/Willow 'shippers, this is for you!" added Alyson, knowing what
was to come. Sarah turned to Alyson and then, gently holding her neck
with one hand while brushing some red strands out of her face with the
other, kissed her on the mouth. Alyson deepened the kiss by putting
her tongue inside Sarah's mouth. It was a sweet, tender, wet,
everlasting kiss.
That was when the director recovered from his paralysis and decided
that he had done enough to get fired. Soon the phones would start to
ring and ring and ring...
While the TV screen switched to the next ad break, the two actresses
were still kissing, unaware of having turned the world upside down,
forever.


THE END