Drusilla danced with Spike at the Bronze like they had in days past. The blood at the corner of his mouth added to him being a seductive treat of the senses. Power, tired but enormous, shivered up her spine. "It tastes like all the red berries. Strawberry, raspberry, cherry, like a cordrail on the tip of my tongue. Follow me, my Spike. I've been waiting for just the right time for time play."

"I'd follow you anywhere, pet." Spike followed her gaze to Willow and frowned. He didn't want to hurt Buffy like that.

His hesitation brought Drusilla's gaze to him. "This will be perfect. I'll be sending her to me innocent and needy."

Spike nodded as he let Dru guide him to Willow. The girl saw Dru and Spike, and she squeaked as her nose began to bleed. Frozen in her fear, she hoped that the crowd in the Bronze would keep them from killing her. She didn't even know why she was at the Bronze. She'd left Buffy's to get the book to uninvite Spike from her house, she remembered nothing after stepping off Buffy's porch, not till now. "How'd I get here?"

"I sent for you, deary." The corner of Drusilla's mouth curled up. "And I will send you to me. For you to watch over me. Take care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. You'll be young and strong forever and ever."

Not able to let this go on another second, Spike tried to pull Dru away from Willow, but she shrugged him off and touched Willow's lips with her own. Willow disappeared.

1860 London

Willow gasped as she opened her eyes with the taste of Drusilla still on her lips, in Victorian smelly London. She stood in the center of a small square, and the first person she saw was Drusilla, looking human with two young women. Drusilla looked over her shoulder and Willow followed her eye line to see Angelus and Darla watching her. "Not good. None of this is good."

She looked down at herself as she absently followed Drusilla and her family. Willow was wearing a heavy black dress and jacket, with a white shirt underneath and carrying a small satchel. Her breath was restricted from a corset and her hair was pulled back so tight it hurt the sides of her face, which meant it was longer, since when she left twenty-first century there would have been no way to pull her short hair back.

Drusilla and her family lived in an apartment it seemed, and when they went inside Willow followed, leaving Darla and Angelus outside. Before Drusilla disappeared into her flat, she caught sight of Willow. "Rose, darling? Did you need something?"

"I got turned around." Willow blushed and didn't understand why the name Rose felt like it belonged to her.

"Everything looks alike in this old building. You're the next one down."

Willow ducked her head and said thank you. In her satchel was a key and it fit the door, but before entering her own flat, she turned to Dru. "Sylvia, darling, you simply must come and have tea with me tomorrow."

"I'll be sure to be there." Drusilla smiled.

With a smile back, Willow nodded. "I look forward to it." She walked into her apartment and found it not much warmer than it had been outside. The place was sparsely furnished, but the furniture looked well worn and comfortable. First order of business was to divest herself of the twenty pounds of clothing starting with the wholly uncomfortable shoes, followed by the rest of the uncomfortable everything she was wearing.

She found her fingers working the buttons and laces with a practiced ease. How did Dru send her here? How did she have a place to stay? Belongings? Longer hair? And why wasn't she immediately looking for a way to get home?

After wrapping a quilt around her shoulders, she stoked a fire in the wood burner, and then relaxed in the rocking chair sitting in front of it. And that's where she woke up the next morning, fire died out and a crick in her neck.

As if it were routine, she wound the clock on the corner shelves, and stoked the fire up again. She put a pot of water on to boil and found milk in a glass jar in front of her door. She made portage and drank the milk, still dazed from sleep. Had it been a dream? Couldn't be. The magic Dru cast on her still thrummed in her veins.

That Dru thought she needed protecting intrigued Willow. What if she could stop Angelus from turning Dru? The butterfly effect that would have, would it be good or bad? How could it be bad? There'd be at least two fewer vampires in the world. That had to be a good thing, right? To save Dru, she'd need to keep her close. Tea was the first step. Willow needed to integrate herself into Drusilla's life, and she wasn't sure how to do that. Honestly, Willow knew little about Drusilla.

In the meantime, perhaps she'd nudge along a few scientific advancements to ease her likely long stay in the past.

When Drusilla showed up for tea, she looked as though her nerves were fried just under the surface.

"Sylvia? Sit. Tell me what's wrong." Willow watched Drusilla sit at the small table. "You know you can tell me absolutely anything."

Drusilla burst into tears. "You're the only one I can talk to, Rose. About the visions. Mother says they're an affront to the Lord. That only he's supposed to see things before they happen."

"Then why would He give you the visions in the first place? I think he sends you to put things right that he can't because of free will. It's his way of helping. And you, my dear, are his hands." Willow busied herself pouring tea just the way Drusilla liked it, two sugars and a good helping of cream.

"Mother says I shouldn't listen to your heresy. They say you're a witch, and you seduce innocent young girls away from their suitors and husbands."

"They also say I killed my husband." Willow poured her own tea. "Your mother doesn't know you're here does she?"

"Oh, heaven help me, no. I could never share with her what we have. It would confirm her deepest fears." Drusilla took the teacup in shaking hands and sipped.

"I won't tell if you won't." Willow warmed her fingers wrapping them around her cup. "So, what did God tell you this time? Why are you so upset?"

"I saw darkness in the form of a man. He was in the square last night, and his stare chilled me. The message had been building ever since that he is evil and that he will steal my world. Steal everything important to me. Oh, Rose, what should I do? No crime has been committed. The peelers will do nothing."

"I will always take care of you, Sylvia. You know that, don't you?" Willow laid her hand on Dru's arm.

"I know. But he's threatening you too. And I want to take care of you as well."

"Don't worry about me. I've gone against Gods from the depths of Hell itself and live to tell. There's nothing this man, if that is what he is at all, can do to me that's of any consequence." Willow had a gut feeling that she wouldn't be able to spare her charge all the pain in store for her, but she would be thrice damned if she let Angelus take Drusilla's mind. Willow pushed a small leather pouch toward Dru. "Add a pinch of this to the tea of all those you hold dear. It's a blessing from the heavens to shield them from evil."

Drusilla crossed herself and slipped the pouch into her purse. "Thank you, Rose."