I dreamed I was really good friends with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not Scooby Gang level friends, but we spent a lot of time together socially. I'd been staying with some friends in the little guest cabin beside my godparents' house, and we all headed over to the mall where Buffy and I worked. She worked in the shoe department, and I worked in a book store.
I was going to meet her for lunch, but when I got to the food court, she was sitting at a table covered in crystal and silver and lilies, over a snowy white cloth. There was champagne in glasses, and Riley was sitting across from her. Buffy's back was to me, and Riley was facing me, but he had eyes for no one but her. Slowly, he rose from his seat, knelt down in front of her, pulling a small box from his pocket. He began to open it, and something glittered in the sunlight, streaming from the glass overhead.
But as he had risen, Buffy had realized what was going on, and turned, pretending to look for something in her purse, which was slung over her chair, as an excuse to take a minute before looking at him. She looked up at me, and her eyes gazed into mine. It was like time slowed down, and I could hear her thoughts. "This is it. I should be giddily happy. But I'm not. Should I say no? I feel like I want to say yes, but I'm just not..."
Then the scene was interrupted as another girl we worked with came running up. She had long, reddish dark hair, golden skin, and enormous green eyes. She was in a panic because her mother and father had come to have lunch with her and her older sister, who also worked at the mall, but the manager was throwing them out because her mother wore a hijab.
Her older sister was incensed, and was shouting at the manager. Her father was indignant, but trying to calm her and remind her to act with dignity. Her mother was weeping, but standing her ground. The older girl finished her tirade, announced that she was quitting, and marched to the exit. We all scurried after her, and I had this horrible sense of foreboding. Sure enough, just as she stormed out of the shop doors, she tripped and stumbled out into the street. There was a squeal of tires and a horn, but the semi truck couldn't stop. I watched, horrified, as everything slowed down again, and I couldn't look away from the sight of the truck smashing into her, her head impacting its grill and shattering, and blood and brains flew everywhere. Her family collapsed in shock.
Buffy and Riley and I spent a lot of time after that looking after our friend and her parents. Buffy wanted to look into whether or not the accident had been caused supernaturally, and went off to consult Giles. When we got warning that massive tornadoes were headed our way, Riley ran off after her, and I had to get the family to safety. They were taken into a cellar, but there wasn't room for me. I went to my book shop and found a corner of shelving that was secluded from all the glass windows. I crouched down there, beneath a heavy table. It was the best I could do.
The tornadoes tore through the mall, but only caught the far end of the book shop. I watched a deep, sooty cloud of dust and dirt and torn paper and ripped fabric churn across my field of vision, beyond the shelves. A broad swath of devastation had been cut through the mall. Far on the other side, still standing, was the university wing, stately and untouched. The facade was layered arches of red brick, and I could see someone waving from a window.
I picked my way over and climbed up flights of deserted stairs. Sunlight slanted hot through the windows at each landing. On the third floor I found Hodges and Wendell from Bones and Sarah Sidle from CSI. Hodges and Sarah were expecting a baby, and Wendell was making all sorts of cheerful, knowledgeable suggestions that were making Hodges super suspicious about how he knew so much. Wendell explained that he had a lot of younger brothers and sisters.
Hodges was insisting that Sarah get to a hospital or something while the weather was good, because there might be more storms on the way, but Sarah didn't want to. She called to me and asked me to help her up to her office on the fourth floor. Hodges wanted to come with us, but his father showed up with a present for him and the new family, and Sarah and I slipped away.
Sure enough, the sky was getting gray and the light was fading. There was a heavy dampness to the breeze. But Sarah insisted she wanted to have her baby here, where she felt the most safe, so we locked ourselves in an unfinished corridor that had good air flow and access to her office and lab. I boiled water and pulled out blankets and made a pallet for her as the rain began.
The wind was high and lightning flashed, but there was nothing really dangerous in the storm. As the thunder rumbled, Sarah gave birth to a baby boy. When she and the baby were both safe, I ran to the tower to ring the bell. The signal was two tolls for a healthy boy, and I looked out the window as the sun came back out and our friends all cheered across the courtyard.
When we came down to greet them and introduce the new baby, Hodges and Sarah announced that his name was Louis Martin Hodges, and he was named for the Louis Martin Lighthouse. This had been Hodges favorite place to go with his father as a boy, and his father had a wonderful story about how he'd been a sailor and the lighthouse had saved his life.
His father had left a while before, but Hodges now opened the present, and inside the box was a tiny lighthouse, painted bright blue and white. It was an exact replica of the Louis Martin, and there was a note that said, even though they were estranged, that he was proud of and happy for his son and daughter-in-law, and new grandchild, and hoped they'd always remember this family history. It was absolutely perfect.
Then I woke up.
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