Ficlet: The one thing she doesn't want anyone else to know

It’s a small thing, really. A ridiculous thing. Not the only thing she’d rather keep to herself, and definitely not the most horrible, but the most embarrassing.

Lindsey never quite believed her when she told him she could not remember her first name, and her darling boy never asked; nor did the Immortal. It didn’t really matter to any of them. She was Darla now.

It did not matter to her, either, until she encountered the Slayer in Sunnydale. Then it became a strange coincidence, which rapidly turned out to be annoying, then irritating, then humiliating, as she watched Angel becoming infatuated with the girl.

The truth is this: when Darla was born, her mother, who did not have much imagination, gave her the most popular name of the period. Which was, naturally, Elizabeth. This also happened to be her mother’s name, as the Queen, who reigned long and well, had ascended the throne before Darla’s mother was born.

London whores didn’t call themselves Elizabeth, though. Especially since there were so many of them. Darla’s mother was Liz. Darla as a child was first Bessie and then, when the first man she got into a tumble with wanted to be witty, Buffy. The name stuck for a long time, though she tried to get rid of it when she had crossed the ocean. She was extremely grateful when the Master gave her a new one, and became Darla ever since.

She has no intention of telling this to anyone living, dead or undead.