TITLE: Identifiable
AUTHOR: Susan / apckrfan
EMAIL: apckrfan@yahoo.com
DISTRIBUTION: My site, my Yahoo Group and my LiveJournal. Anyone else, please just tell me where it's at.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters. They are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is made.
RATING: Mature
SPOILERS: Season 4, before Buffy & Riley have begun dating (so, say through The Initiative just to cover my bases)
SUMMARY: See challenge information below.
COUPLES: Buffy Summers & Riley Finn (aka Caroline & Daniel)
DATE STARTED: August 2004
STATUS: Complete (in 10 parts)
WORD COUNT: 16,986
FEEDBACK: Please, I can't write better without it.
NOTES: This is response to a challenge off the sunnydalewriters mailing list. The challenge is as follows. I chose the pre-Civil War era since more recent was an option. Dream sequences are contained in between // \\ symbols.

THE PAST LOVES CHALLENGE by Gidgetgirl

In the ancient past, two canon characters were lovers. Though in this life they aren't exactly what you'd call 'made for each other,' they both start having dreams of their past life together, and one day, one of them wakes up from one such dream with a child sleeping in his/her arms, dressed in ancient garb. This child is the love child created between the two canon characters in a past life, and the child has been brought to the present to get the lovers together once more.

Some suggestions for past life:
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Something Tribal
Something more recent, i.e. Victorian

Requirements:
The child must recognize her parents by their souls, not by their physical bodies, which may or may not resemble the bodies they were in in her lifetime.

The child must have a name that corresponds to the time period of the past life, and a more modernized nickname.

A romance between two canon characters, who may or may not be likely matches for each other.

Flashbacks.

Bonus:

Someone else in the canon having lived a past life that intersected with our lovers.
A mystical explanation of what it really means to be 'soul mates' across lives.

The challenge says it all but this is set during Season 4, around the episode The Initiative. Still not familiar with one another beyond Psychology class, Buffy and Riley are both experiencing dreams of a couple from the past. This couple, as it turns out, is them in a past life. When a child is somehow brought from the past to the future they have to figure out what to do and quick. Despite not recognizing his parents physically, Kincaide recognizes them by their souls and cannot figure out why they are not together in their current lives.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

// Caroline sat on the bench, surrounded by a group of men vying for her attention. Each waiting for the chance to freshen her drink for her or get her dessert. It was a beautiful spring day. A warm breeze floated through the air carrying a mix of smells from the afternoon's barbeque with it. Some of the smells were very pleasant and some were not. Life on a plantation did not stop for the darkies who had both corn and winter wheat to tend to at this time of year.

Charles Montgomery and Aaron Harrison were engaged in some sort of political talk that Caroline had no desire to listen to. She tried, really, she did. Her father insisted that Caroline at least be familiar with how things worked outside of the home where the men were in charge. But politics were so very dull.

Her attention drifted to other things as she took in her surroundings. She could not believe that Cathleen Krinsky was wearing the same dress as she wore to the last barbeque. She could not imagine being seen in the same dress two parties in a row. While Caroline's dress for the afternoon barbeque was nothing special the red and gold taffeta gown she had for the evening's dance was going to make Daniel wish he had already asked her father for her hand in marriage. The gown was daringly low cut and the sleeves were so low on her upper arms that a generous amount of skin would be showing while still remaining within propriety.\\

Buffy woke, stretching out in her bed. For the briefest of moments she smelled the scent of lemons and food being cooked on open-pit fires ever so faintly. She recalled her latest dream and opened the notebook by her bed to write down the details. Not even Willow knew about the latest dreams Buffy had been having.

She wondered if she was dreaming about characters from an old movie she had watched with her mom. None of it seemed familiar, but she did not remember every movie she had seen. The woman in her dream was beautiful. She was always dressed perfectly with her long dark hair coiffed just-so all of the time. Her skin was creamy white without a blemish on it, as if the woman had never been out in the sun. She seemed happy and confident, things Buffy could not relate to. She had confidence in herself when it came to slaying but that was about it. And happiness? What was that? Angel had left her, Parker had used her, Willow would be just fine at UC Sunnydale without her. Xander still liked having her around, but that was nothing new where Xander was concerned. She sighed as she finished recording her description of the dream in her notebook.

It was the fourth dream she had involving the same people. Each dream seemed to draw her in deeper, as if there was something she was supposed to see or know. Whatever it was she was missing the point at least so far she was.

"Oh hi, Buffy, I wasn't expecting you to be awake yet," Willow said as she entered their room. She had obviously just taken her shower.

"Hey, Wil." Now that Oz had left, Buffy was not sure how to treat Willow. Her friend was obviously hurting, Buffy knew how she felt but there was a chance Oz would come back. Buffy did not think she had that same possibility open to her regarding Angel. She was quite sure the pain both of them felt was reflected clearly in one another's eyes.

"Whatcha writing?"

"Oh nothing, just a dream journal."

"Slayery-like dreams?"

"No, I just like to keep track of them so if it turns out to be a slayer-like dream I can remember what all I've dreamt so far."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"I thought so. I started doing it in high school when I was having dreams about The Master." She shrugged as she capped her pen and slid her notebook into her nightstand drawer. She was not worried about Willow snooping. She was not going to inconvenience Willow right now with dreams that probably meant nothing as far as doom and gloom approaching went. The dreams were strangely nice, she always felt well rested and calm when she woke up from them.

"I'll see you in Psych class then," Willow said collecting her book bag.

"Okay," Buffy called out as Willow closed the door. "Time for a shower and breakfast," Buffy said as she stood from bed.