THE BEST REVENGE (Is True Love, Of Course)


Summary and Prologue: Elizabeth Summers (Buffy, but she’s not called that yet in this story) has spent the past two years in a Sunnydale minimum prison facility; for crimes she did not commit. For some bizarre reason (a screwed sense of loyalty no doubt) Elizabeth took the fall for her gangster boyfriend, Liam ‘Angel’ O’Connor. (I’ll explain why she did it as the story goes on).

When the Sunnydale police chief and his boy scout assistant (guess who!) come to Elizabeth with an offer of an early out…well, who is she to look a gift horse in the mouth? Especially when what she is asked to do not only helps a young girl’s flight for life, but will also exact revenge on Angel and those who set her up for her fall.

This will be Spuffy, I promise, but not for a few chapters. Please bear with me. Oh, Dawn’s along for the ride, but she is not Buffy’s sister; more like her charge.

Warnings: This story will deal in angst; references to child abuse; adult language; some graphic violence and Spuffy sexual situations, of course.

I must emphasize that Angel is Buffy’s ‘ex’ boyfriend and there will be no graphic sexual situations between them. Buffy is out for revenge on Angel and his mentor Ethan Rayne and to help out Dawn. Her feelings for Angel include bitterness and resentment; her love for him is dead and gone.


A/N: This fiction is loosely based on ‘Gloria’ directed by the late John Cassevettes, starring his wonderful wife, Gena Rowlands.
I have added my own Spuffy twist to it and no Spike is not a bad guy in this one. In fact, I almost used Riley as Buffy’s gangster ex-boyfriend, but decided Angel was a better fit. At one time, Buffy would have done anything for Angel, in the show, and I felt he would be a more realistic character in this part.

Spike’s character will not actually meet Buffy for a few chapters (this is where the plot really goes off canon from the movie itself) but I promise he will be fun.

Please give this a read; my other stories were on my hard drive that was in the computer that toasted and my husband is still trying to fix that.

This is my way of starting fresh for a while and I hope you’ll give this a go.

Thanks, spufette.


Chapter 1: ‘Going Under’


Elizabeth returned the once borrowed book to it’s rightful place on the shelf of the prison library. This was her job, for the last two years; no, more like her position at the Sunnydale Minimum Facility that she was imprisoned in.

How she hated it here; although it could have turned out worse in the long run. At least she had been ‘placed’ in a fairly decent facility, just two hours or so from her beloved hometown of Los Angeles California.

Here at least, Elizabeth, or Liz as Angel had called her, had some freedoms and a ‘position’ as a somewhat librarian. Yeah, it could have been worse; she could have been stuck in the laundry room, like her ‘roomie’ Faith. Poor Faith was stuck washing; drying and folding the other female inmates’ clothing, etc.

The truth was, Elizabeth had it pretty fucking easy since she’d been imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit. All in all, she had adapted and survived for the last two years and now she just had five more to go and…..

Liz’s green eyes fell on ‘T’ shelf of the library and immediately she scanned the books for ‘that’ one; the one that always put her in mind of Liam ‘Angel’ O’Connor. He was the reason she was here, well him and Ethan Rayne, his mentor.

‘There the damn thing is,’ she thought to herself, somewhat mesmerized by the rather slim edition of ‘The Torrent’ by V. B. Izbana.

The book itself wasn’t overly popular, even in this small prison library, but Liz had read it more then once. She realized it was somewhat masochistic on her part, but she couldn’t help herself.

The Torrent always put her in mind of herself and Angel, which always reminded her of that wailing song by EvaneScence:


{Song lyrics are by EvaneScence and are in italics}



“Now I will tell you what I’ve done for you…

50 thousand tears I’ve cried for you
And you still won’t hear me!

Don’t want your hand this time; I’ll save myself.

Maybe I’ll wake up for once…
Not tormented daily deflated by you.

Just when I thought I’d reached the bottom
I’m dying again.

I’m going under
Drowning in you
I’ve got to break through
I’m going under.

Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies
So I don’t know what’s real and what’s not

Always confusing the thoughts in my head…
So I can’t trust myself anymore…

I’m going under.

So go on and scream
Scream at me; I’m so far away
I won’t be broken again…
I’ve got to breathe. I can’t keep going under.


With a deep heavy sigh, Liz ran her finger lightly over the somewhat dusty little book and shook her golden head.

In her heart, Liz knew that she had just been kidding herself for the last two years; no, make that the last six years really. It was six years ago that Angel had taken her in and changed her life so radically. For the last six years, Elizabeth Summers had been floundering, barely keeping herself from going under.

“I’ll never shed another tear over you Angel. I‘m not going under ever again,” she promised herself before she turned out the library lights and locked the door behind her.

It was 7:00 PM and the library had already been open too long. Elizabeth had missed supper in the commissary at five o’clock because she had overstayed in the library. No big deal really, although the prison food here wasn’t too bad, even for champagne tastes like hers.

When she got back to her cell, or ‘room’ as the inmates called it, Liz found Faith already in her twin-sized bed and scanning a fashion magazine of all things.

“Anything good in there?” Liz asked her room mate casually as she strode into the adjacent small bathroom they shared.

“Nah,” Faith grumbled, never taking her eyes off the pages of the magazine.

“Same old skinny models in the same old latest crap they call fashion. I won’t be out of this shit hole for ten more years so I don’t know why I bother,” Faith grumbled and tossed the magazine next to her bed.

“How’s the library? Anything shakin’ in there,” the brunette called to Liz in the bathroom.

Liz heard Faith chuckled in her husky female voice and smiled to herself. As if anything was ‘shakin’ in the library for God’s sake.

“No Faith,” she replied wearily, “I’m sure the laundry is much more exciting then the library on any day.”

“Yeah, at least we have hot, wet towel snapping contests in the laundry,” Faith laughed loudly in response. “I’ve made more play dates that way,” the woman continued to laugh raucously.

Elizabeth grinned at herself in the mirror, knowing that what Faith was saying was the truth, really. Faith was bisexual and had even made a move on Liz when she first became room mates with the brunette.

Liz had made it clear from the start, that there was not going to be any ‘playing’ that way between her and Faith. She was a one man woman, well, okay, a woman that liked men only and that was that.

After the ground rules as room mates had been clearly established, Liz and Faith had become fast friends. Faith always protected Liz and she in turn stuck up for the troubled younger woman.

Liz even covered for Faith when the other woman snuck around to be with the male guard, Parker. She never, however, took Faith up on the offer to share Parker with Liz; just covered for the two ‘lovebirds’ and nothing more.


Nearly seven thousand miles away, across the Atlantic Ocean, William Brenton of England awoke with a start in his lonely bed. He shook his blond head and scanned his simple bedroom with his blue eyes.

“At least I could have finished the bloody dream,” he mumbled to himself as he checked the alarm clock on the end table next to his bed.

William, or Spike as he was nicknamed by the locals, reached over and grabbed a half-empty package of smokes next to the little clock.

He lit one and took a deep drag; it was close to 2:30 AM, nearly three hours until dawn. At least more then two hours until he had to get up and start the work day on his farm.

It had been ‘that’ dream again; that wonderful, mysterious dream that he’d had at least once a week for the past few months. William did not dream much, anymore, but when he did, he had ‘that’ marvelous dream of his.

There wasn’t much to the dream, really, but then again, there was a hell of a lot to it really. ‘She’ was in the dream; the mystery woman with the golden hair and gorgeous emerald green eyes.

Although he had no clue who his mysterious dream woman was; had never met her in real life as far as he knew. William felt as if he knew her forever anyway. Her with her warm smile and…..

“I sound like the poncy poet again,” he snorted and stubbed out his smoke in the full ashtray on the end table.

There was a lot of work to do on his farm; the one he had inherited from his late parents, and Spike needed his sleep. Even with the help of his hired hands, Sean and Margaret Walsh along with his best mate, Xander Harris; Spike’s hard work never seemed to be finished.

After punching his mussed pillow back into shape, he lay his head down on it. He knew he’d probably toss and turn for at least an hour before he slept again.

Finally, he managed to fall back asleep, hoping against hope that . He hoped that he’d have that dream again. The one with ‘her‘ in it.

Even if he wasn’t much for signs, premonitions or omens; Spike felt as if the continuous visits by his dream woman had to mean something.
Didn’t they?


Elizabeth stirred the fairly decent looking oatmeal with her spoon and tried not to quite hear what Faith was going on about.

“So Parker and me, last night,” Faith chuckled lowly, wolfing down her oatmeal and toast. “We really did the wild thing in style this time. He took me to the laundry room and…..”

“Okay Faith, I get it, Parker’ s a good lay,” Liz muttered before taking a bite of her own oatmeal. “I’m still not going to join your little love fest and…..”

“Summers,” a loud booming female voice broke the conversation between the two woman.

Elizabeth cringed when she recognized the familiar harsh voice of Sam, the head female security guard.

“Godzilla’s callin’ you Liz,” Faith hissed and elbowed her companion in the ribs. “Wonder who pissed in the bitch’s Wheaties this morning,” the brunette continued, “she sounds pissed beyond…..”

“Summers, get your ass into Warden Snyder’s office, pronto!” Sam bellowed loudly so the whole commissary could hear.

“Yes maam,” Elizabeth replied meekly, giving no resistance to the imposing guard’s order.

“Christ, what’s that weasel Snyder got up his ass about you today,” Faith grumbled just before Liz stood to do as she was told.

“Who knows,” Liz sighed, “God knows I’m probably the best behaved inmate in this joint,” she finished bitterly.

“Hey, maybe you’re getting’ out early ‘cos of good behavior,” Faith intoned brightly with a large grin.

“Always the optimist, aren’t you Faithy?” Elizabeth mumbled as she shuffled slowly off to ‘face’ Warden Snyder. A heavy sinking feeling in her tummy made her cringe again and worry over what weasel Snyder had in mind for her.

On the way to the dreaded warden’s office, Liz pondered the crazy dream she had had last night. She didn’t dream often, Liz didn’t, but lately she had been having a confusing, if not disturbing dream.

In her weekly dreams, a mysterious blond, nearly white-haired, young man would come to her. The stranger’s eyes were blue, nearly violet-blue, Liz decided; and they were warm, kind eyes. Nothing like the brooding dark, nearly chocolate brown eyes of her ex-lover Angel. Angel’s eyes were closed and cold; the dream stranger’s were open and honest to Liz.

It was always the same in the dream; the blond man would smile at her, take her hand and walk with her. Just walk with her really, but sometimes he would recite poetry to her; all that romantic junk, like in the books in the prison library.

Elizabeth liked the stranger in her dream, even if she knew she had never met him in real life. What in the hell did it all mean, really?


When Elizabeth entered Snyder’s office, the little weasel of a warden was actually chuckling at something a male ‘guest’ was saying.

Liz stood at the door; she knew the routine of Snyder’s office and she would not say a word until spoken to. She was smart that way, Liz was, even though most of the other inmates would scream foul words at the warden and…..

Snyder’s nasally voice broke her train of ruminations.

“This is Elizabeth Summers gentlemen,” Snyder unceremoniously introduced Liz to the two men who actually stood up for her.

“Miss Summers,” Snyder grunted, “this is the chief of police in Sunnydale, Rupert Giles and his assistant, Sergeant Finn was it?”

The one that looked like a farm boy from Iowa, Finn, smiled wanly at Liz, then blushed when she gave him a quick once over.

Hell, it had been a long time since Liz had seen a guy this wholesome and good looking, not to mention close to her own age. Why shouldn’t she give him a quick once over and scan the goodies?

No harm in that after all.

Snyder gave Liz that ‘be a good girl Summers’ glare of his and turned the floor over to the older man with the tall drink of water that was Finn.

“Miss Summers,” Chief Giles began in a clipped, proper British accent, “I am pleased to meet you,” he finished by actually reaching out his hand to take her‘s in it.

“What’s this about?” Liz asked suspiciously, even though she squeezed Giles’ hand just slightly in return. Obviously, this was all a little overwhelming to her, especially since she was not used to so much fucking politeness from anyone. Besides, old Rupert wasn’t so bad on the eyes either, but she kept that particular thought to herself.

It dawned on Liz that Chief Giles sounded a bit like the mysterious stranger of her dreams. Except he was probably close to thirty years older then dream guy and…..

“Well,” Rupert Giles cleared his throat and spoke in a soft, almost fatherly tone. He graced Liz with a warm smile that somehow relaxed her immediately.

“It’s about you mostly dear and a way to help a troubled young girl,” the British gentleman continued evenly. “However, it’s also very much about Ethan Rayne and his lap dog, your ex-paramour Liam O’Connor and oh yes,” he added with a wry smile. “A chance for you, Miss Summers, to get some well-deserved revenge on both of them.”


Tbc…..


A/N: Well, this is the start. Spike made an appearance in a way, briefly as promised.

Oh, and I wanted to add this: I'm making Buffy a librarian in this story to honor a Spuffy fan from another site I used to go to. Her moniker was Scarlett and I miss her so.....

In the next chapter, our Rupert and Riley will make Elizabeth and offer she might not be able to refuse. What will it be???

Please read and review. Thank you, spufette.

THE BEST REVENGE



Summary: Rupert Giles and Riley Finn give Elizabeth a tempting offer, although she has to be nudged a bit to take them up on it.

Dawn is introduced, kind of, in this chapter and Elizabeth feels an immediate connection to the young girl.




Chapter 2: ‘Getting Over’


“I don’t understand,” Elizabeth shook her head in confusion. She felt like she was in a daze, kind of, even though cute Mr. Finn led her to a vacant chair and guided her to sit down on it.

“What…what kind of revenge? How?” Liz asked, still a bit hazy from all of this.

“You see Miss Summers,” Giles interjected before he shooed Finn off to the corner of Snyder’s office. “We, well, we and our fellow Los Angeles comrades in arms, so to speak,” he continued in a most serious tone.

“None of us ever believed that it was you, Elizabeth; can I call you Elizabeth?” Rupert asked, offering Liz a warm, gentle smile.

“Sure,” Liz stammered in reply, her green eyes zeroed in on Chief Giles’ handsome face.

“Elizabeth, everyone involved knew from the start that it was not you but Liam, or Angel,” Rupert snorted O’Connor’s paradox of a nickname.

Liam O’Connor was anything but an angel and everyone in this room knew it; including the beautiful young woman sitting before him. Rupert also had pretty much figured out why Elizabeth Summers had taken the fall for O’Connor, even if he did not agree with her about it.

“It ‘was’ Angel, was it not that embezzled the funds from 1st National Bank, Miss Summers?” Rupert’s disapproving scowl alerted Elizabeth to the fact that the jig was up so to speak.

“Well, uhm,” she began with a cautious glance at creepy old Snyder.

“Answer Mr. Giles truthfully Elizabeth,” Snyder admonished the young woman. “It’ll serve you no good to…..”

“Please, Warden Snyder,” Giles interrupted the weasel little warden with a polite cough. “Let Sgt. Finn and I handle this?”

Rupert nodded at his younger assistant who took the opportunity to introduce himself, properly to Elizabeth.


“My given name is Riley, Miss Summers,” Finn stammered almost shyly as he took Liz’s tiny hand in his large one.

Liz took a kind of comfort in this Riley Finn’s huge, strong hand so she rewarded the big man with a coy smile.

“Call me Elizabeth,” she blurted out, quite unexpectedly. Then she did something even more unexpected for her; she blushed profusely and looked away from Sgt. Riley Finn.

“Elizabeth then,” Riley murmured and smiled smugly at creepy Warden Snyder. “If Chief Giles will allow me,” he continued, “I’ll try and explain what we would like you to do.”

“Go on then Finn,” Giles gave Riley his go ahead, even though he seemed to sigh wearily as he did.

“Elizabeth,” Riley began in a somewhat condescending tone. “We know that you took the blame for O’Connor’s transgressions; his and Ethan Rayne’s sins.”

Riley Finn mumbled the last few words, his dark countenance was quite dubious as it scanned Elizabeth Summers .

“We’re not blaming you, of course Elizabeth,” Riley quickly assured the nervous young woman. “You were young; naïve and…..”

“Stupid?” Liz inquired with a raised fair brow. It was time for honesty now and Liz was ready to admit to anything at this point.

“Well, I was going to say foolishly loyal to the man that gave you a new start in life, Elizabeth,” Riley faltered a bit at the end of his speech. Liz had to hide the smirk that graced her mouth.

“Well, Angel certainly did that,” she giggled despite herself. “I mean he did rope me in and show me the better life. In fact,” she continued with just a smidge of resentment, “he bought me my first pair of designer shoes. Jimmy Cho’s they were and a ton of Vera Wang gowns to go with.”

“Elizabeth,” Giles interjected gently, “I’m going to cut to the chase here and just say it. We need your help, now.”

“My help?” Liz asked skeptically. “What can I do,” she muttered under her breath. That is, what little breath she could manage at this point.

‘Oh shit, I think I’m having an anxiety attack,’ Liz realized as she tried to gain control of her jumpy nerves and racing heart.

“Please calm down Elizabeth,” Rupert purred soothingly. “We don’t want to upset you; just help you and in the interim, help ourselves.”

“There it is,” Liz spat in a tone thick with venom. “This is ‘the catch‘ in the plan, right? I scratch your back; you scratch mine.?” She was suddenly very angry with this good looking pair and wished for nothing more then to return to her ‘room’ and talk it out with Faith.

“Elizabeth,” Riley began carefully.

“Just go back to calling me Miss Summers, okay?” Liz spat at the tall lumbering man who suddenly didn’t seem all that good looking at all.

“Miss Summers please listen to us,” Rupert pleaded gently. “I know this is overwhelming to you but…..”

“You don’t know shit!” Elizabeth hissed as she tried to rise from her chair.

“I’m warning you Summers,” Snyder hissed, beckoning Sam back into the room.

“Maybe you should take Miss Summers to solitary, Samantha and…..” Snyder was cut off by Giles.

“No!” The Brit proclaimed with vehemence. “We need Miss Summers; Dawn Mcguire needs her,” he exclaimed; his emotions nearly out of control.

“Dawn Mcguire? Who the hell is Dawn Mcguire,” Buffy screeched.

“A little girl who needs your help Elizabeth,” Rupert replied, much more calmly then seconds before. “Please, just listen to us and try to see the bigger picture here. If you do; I promise you’ll have a chance at many things. A chance to redeem yourself; get revenge on those who harmed you and yes, even help a young girl, a child whose life has just begun and who needs you. Miss Summers?”

“Oh go ahead,” Elizabeth grumbled impatiently. She flopped back down on the chair and stared at the Brit with her angry green eyes.

“This is Dawn Mcguire,” Rupert whispered almost reverently as he held out a 5 x 7 snapshot to Elizabeth.

She took it, somewhat reluctantly and peered at the young girl in the picture.

Liz scanned the snapshot casually as she took in the photo of the young girl, Dawn. Now, Liz saw nothing too very special about the kid in the picture. This Dawn had long, dark brown hair, Liz noted and appeared to be at that awkward stage in life, for girls that is.

A slight gap between her two front teeth gave an even more gawky appearance to the girl. Even though this Dawn grinned widely in the snapshot, Liz could detect a sadness in the girl’s bright blue eyes. It reminded her of herself when she was this age and Liz felt a sudden vice-like, albeit phantom grip at her throat.

“What’s this rug rat have to do with anything?” Elizabeth asked non-pulsed, or at least she tried to seem that way. Her heart was still racing and the palms of her hands felt hot and damp.

“Her parents, Dawn’s parents,” Rupert began quietly, “they were found in their Sunnydale home; executed, massacred really. Them and Dawn’s older brother, Danny. He was ten, just last month the records show,” the older man’s sentence trailed off, his blue eyes seemed suddenly ancient and sad to Liz.

“Her family is dead? Why?” Elizabeth gasped in horror.


Giles looked away from the distressed young woman; deciding instantly not to show her the photos of Dawn’s massacred family. If he had even considered it before, he knew now that he could not do it. It probably would not even be necessary for that matter.

“A drug situation,” Riley mumbled, very low and soft and Liz got the feeling sympathy was a strange emotion for him. Riley’s voice was usually deep and loud, but now it was almost soft, almost mild.

“What drug situation,” Elizabeth asked, again suddenly suspicious.

“Dawn’s parents, Ian and Eve were mixed up with Quentin Travers’ organization,” Giles offered meekly. He could not bring himself to look Elizabeth in her green eyes.

“Travers!” Liz hissed in disgust.

Quentin Travers was the head honcho; the ‘big man’ and the guy that ran the main organization in Los Angeles. If there were drugs; guns or prostitution in the mix? Quentin Travers was the main man. He was Ethan Rayne’s big boss; therefore Angel’s employer also.

“It would have to be drugs, if that two-bit cock sucking dick head Travers is mixed up in this,” Liz spat angrily.

“Elizabeth!” Snyder screeched in horror as he nearly leapt up from his chair again.

“I won’t have you using your gutter talk in this office! You’ll do a week in solitary for that and if you…..”

Giles interjected with a polite cough:

“It’s alright Warden Snyder,” the older man assured the little weasel, Snyder, “Finn and I have certainly heard such language before and Miss Summers does have a right to be so vindictive, doesn’t she?“

He eyed the little blond; sizing her up even as he did so. Rupert knew about Elizabeth’s upbringing; her own personal hell of a childhood.

“It’s always ‘drugs’ in some way,” Liz muttered to herself more then anyone. A vision of her dead mother’s face appeared in her mind.

Joyce Summers, as Elizabeth remembered her best, had been a down to earth, lovely young woman with a warm smile and gleam in her blue eyes. Of course that was when Liz was about five or six, then something tragic had happened in the Summers’ world and everything went to hell in a hand basket after that.

For some reason, one that Elizabeth had no clue about, her mother had taken a liking to illicit drugs. Of course Liz had no idea when Joyce became enamored with the crack pipe, but she certainly did do just that.

Hank Summers, Liz’s so called father (or sperm donor as she liked to think of him) had eagerly supplied his wife with everything or anything she desired. Who could know why he did it, but he had. In a manner of a few years, Joyce Summers had gone from an earthy, seemingly contented housewife to a desperate, haunted woman. Hank was a downright loser; barely able to earn a paycheck and the Summers’ house became a living hell on earth.

Once, Joyce was a happy homemaker, contented to bake wonderful week night casseroles. After her spiral into the drug world, she had turned into a human horror; someone who rarely remembered to manage fast food for Liz’s meals.

Finally, in what Liz suspected was her mother’s last act of desperation; Joyce overdosed on Quaaludes and died by her own hand. After that, Hank Summers disappeared completely and Liz never saw or heard from him again.


Elizabeth shook her golden head and cleared the unhappy images from her troubled mind.

It was then that she realized just what this Rupert Giles and Finn were trying to say.

“Are you saying that Angel, my Angel actually had a part in murdering this little girl’s family!” Liz nearly in disbelief.

“I mean Angel is an major league prick at times and I wouldn’t trust him with a puppy, but murder? A family and children? No way,” she hissed vehemently before any of the men could reply.

“The girl, Dawn? Where is she? Did they kill her….” Liz managed to choke out.

“No, we don’t believe so,” Rupert quickly assured her. “We can’t find Dawn, at this time,” he rambled, his sentence finally trailing off to nothingness.

“Only the parents and the boy‘s body were at the scene,” Riley added sullenly.

“Only?” Liz whispered in horror as she scanned Dawn’s picture once again.

“Isn’t it enough that the poor kid’s family was massacred and she’s missing,” she added with a snort.

“As for Angel? I don’t believe it for a minute! He would not murder this little girl; her brother or her parents!”

Liz flopped back in her chair and folded her arms across her ample chest. If looks could kill, Giles and Finn would be dead by now. Along with that weasel Warden Snyder.

“We don’t believe that O’Connor was actually at the scene Elizabeth,” Rupert offered rather meekly.

“It’s just…..” the older man looked to his younger companion to step up and take over again.

“We’re pretty sure that O’Connor wasn’t at the murder scene, Eli…Miss Summers,” Riley continued sheepishly.

“We ‘are’ certain that Ethan Rayne was there,” he added with a frown. “That little Dawn may have witnessed the whole ugly thing and…..”

“Oh Rayne would have to be,” Liz interjected angrily. “This is just the horrible, sadistic kind of thing he would be involved with!”

“It’s just that we do believe that Dawn Summers is still alive and well….” Finn glanced at Rupert who gave him a nod to go on.

“We believe that Angel O’Connor is keeping Dawn Summers at his mansion, in LA,” Riley blurted out, the words nearly running together. “Keeping the girl hidden, or hiding her perhaps,” he added mumbled. “Maybe even to keep the child safe,” he continued weakly.

“To keep her safe? Or keep her hidden so she can’t testify against that fucking monster, Ethan Rayne?” Liz growled.

“Oh, don’t try and sugarcoat this,” she continued in a snarl. “Angel is weak where Rayne is concerned. My own boyfriend and he lets ‘me’ take the fall so Rayne and him are safe!”

“We’re doomed in prison, baby. Do you know how many enemies me and old Ethan have in there Lizzy? That’s what Angel kept blabbering on about,” the venom in her tone was nasty to say the least.

“Ethan and me won’t last a day, lass, he went on and on. You owe me Liz. I took you in; bought you your first pair of designer shoes and…” Liz continued on and on, mimicking Angel’s slight brogue as she ticked off the reasons her own lover had thrown her to the wolves.

“Miss Summers, please,” Giles murmured softly before coming to stand in front of her chair. “We need your help in getting over on Angel O’Connor and his master, Rayne. If we could persuade you to…..”

“To what?” Elizabeth asked in exasperation. “I can’t very well do damn much now can I? Locked up in here and…..”

“That’s one of the perks if you help us, Miss Summers,” Riley offered smugly. “You’ll be out of this place by tomorrow…if you agree to aid us that is.”


“So, exactly what do you want me to do?” Liz directed her question to Mr. Giles instead of the good looking boy scout, Riley.

“I will cut to the chase Miss Summers,” Rupert replied in a quiet tone.

“Call me Elizabeth,” Liz countered with a saucy little grin.

“Elizabeth, we want you to contact Angel and ask him to help you acclimate to the outside world again,” Rupert continued in a cautious manner.

“That’s going to be a bit awkward, don’t you think?” Liz chuckled in response. “I mean, it’s common knowledge that my ex-significant other has moved on without me. I finally figured out why he quit coming to see me,” she continued in an unusually casual manner.

“You know, Cordelia Chase, Travers’ beloved little niece? Last I heard, my ex was shacking up with her and…..” Liz began to giggle for some reason, which threw all three of the men in the room for a moment or two. Only Samantha, the guard seemed to find the situation as equally amusing as Liz seemed to.

“Yes, well that may be true,” Rupert interjected quickly, “however, Mr. O’Connor still possesses a certain amount of chivalry and sense of obligation. He will no doubt be more then happy to accommodate you, Elizabeth, if you were to be released early from Sunnydale. I mean if you were to call him; explain you’ve been given a reprieve of sorts and…..”

The older man smiled benevolently at Elizabeth who looked at the Brit as if he’d lost his mind.

“Call him! Why, I mean how could I? Do you think that Angel has even given me a second thought since Cordy slipped in and…..” she blustered in disbelief.

“I am only saying that Mr. O’Connor has a skewed sense of loyalty, Elizabeth,” Rupert replied evenly. “If you were to contact him, say immediately and ask him for some ‘help’ as it were. Perhaps a place to stay for a while until you get your bearings. I think we will all find that Angel will be most helpful, if ‘you’ persuade him to be,” he finished with another wry smile.

“If you think I’m going to sleep with Angel,” Liz sputtered, stunned by the nerve of these guys. “Think again Chief. Why I’d rather fuck your boy scout over there the ever let Angel touch me again,” she glared at Riley who blushed profusely back at her.

Rupert just coughed politely again and gave Snyder another warning glare.

“As I said,” Rupert began with an expression that belied his growing impatience with this young woman.

“If you could just find it in your heart, a way to get into Angel’s mansion, platonically of course,” Giles mumbled, his own face red with embarrassment.

“Surely there’s something you have, at Angel’s, that you want? Jewelry, some personal items that have some sentiment that you can…..” Giles was cut off by Liz.

“My mother’s good china,” she muttered under her breath. “Her china, and a ring of my aunt’s,” she added wistfully. “I left them with Angel,” she finished with an all-to-casual shrug.

Rupert wasn’t fooled by the young woman’s cavalier attitude about her personal affects. He knew in his heart that Elizabeth Summers still harbored the illusions and dreams of the young girl she must have once been. Before her life had gotten so bloody messed up and confused.

“Those and a need for shelter for a while should do the trick,” Giles offered evenly. “Can’t you please think about this Elizabeth?”

“And just how is it that I get over on Angel and Ethan?” Elizabeth asked, even though she was getting pretty good idea of what these men had planned.

“I mean,” she continued impatiently, “why don’t you guys just go in there and drag the kid out? If she’s even in there that is,” she finished with an unladylike snort.

“It would be too dangerous, for the child,” Rupert readily answered with a shake of his head. “Besides, we think there’s a leak, in our ranks somewhere. Someone working with O’Connor and Rayne behind our backs,” he added with a disgusted scowl.

“If you can just get into that mansion; find out if little Dawn Mcquire is truly there?” Rupert asked, yet stated at the same time.

Elizabeth sighed wearily and shrugged her shoulders in defeat.

“I don’t suppose you happen to have Angel’s home phone number, or his cell number, do you?” She asked hopefully.

Riley picked up Snyder’s cordless phone and wordlessly held it out to Elizabeth.

“O’Connor never changed any of his personal numbers, Elizabeth,” Riley purred as Liz took the receiver from his hand and punched in the digit numbers herself.


“I’ll miss you Blondie,” Faith was babbling bravely as she helped Liz pack her few valuable things.

Elizabeth thought she detected a note of sadness in the brunette’s voice, but she chose to ignore it.

Instead the blond woman just continued to scan the small room for anything she might have forgotten.

“So, you’ve got a place to stay, right?” Faith asked, trying to be flippant but failing miserably.

“Angel’s sending his right-hand man, Charles Gunn, to pick me up,” Liz replied casually.

“Angel!” Faith groaned as if she was going to physically ill. “I thought you were over that prick,” she grunted in disapproval.

“I ‘am’ over Angel,” Liz grumbled in response, “but I’ll be damned if I’m going let the bastard get away with everything that means anything to me.”

“So, you are over Angel, right?” Faith asked skeptically, her back turned to Liz.

“I have so gotten over Angel O’Connor,” Liz assured her soon to be ex-roomie.

‘Now if I can only succeed in ‘getting over’ Angel and Ethan Rayne,’ she thought to herself.

“Okay Lizzy,” Faith sighed unhappily and finally turned to give her room mate a hug of goodbye.


When Elizabeth walked out of the gates of Sunnydale Minimum Prison Facility, Charles Gunn was waiting patiently for her. He stood by a beautiful red corvette, new of course.

‘Wow,’ Liz chuckled, her graceful, even stride belied the fear that was building inside of her mind and body. ‘Angel’s pulled out all the stops this time,’ she mused as she tried to cover her resentment in front of his lackey, Gunn.

“Hello Elizabeth,” Gunn greeted her warmly and even clasped her arm tenderly.

“Hey Gunn,” Liz returned the greeting carefully. She and Gunn had been somewhat friends when her and Angel were together. Liz knew it would do no good to betray her true feelings to this man; his loyalty was with Angel and no one else.

“We should get back to LA and the mansion in about ninety minutes,” Gunn assured her politely. He was being very polite with her, Charles Gunn was and this caused Liz to be a bit anxious.

“Will Angel be there?” Liz asked quietly, not really sure if she wanted him to be or not.

“Yeah,” Gunn replied a little too quickly, then…..

“Cordelia, Angel sent her to Frisco on a clothes shopping spree,” Gunn added as he watched Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh,” she muttered in reply. ‘Great,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’d rather face Cordelia Chase’s jealous wrath then face Angel alone in the mansion.’


tbc


A/N: Well, things are going along rather quickly here, but I want to get to the Spuffy part ASAP!

In the next chapter, Buffy will find out the truth about Dawn’s whereabouts and also discover that Giles’ suspicions about one of their own is valid.

The next chapter should be longer, however I am going away for holiday and won’t be back until Monday. Until then…..

Thank you for reading and please review, spufette.

THE BEST REVENGE



Summary: Well I don’t want to give too much of this chapter away in the summary, so please read and enjoy.

Some of Spike’s personal history will be revealed in this chapter.

(The title might be a smidge of a hint!)


Chapter 3: ‘Getting Out’


Elizabeth felt physically ill as she headed up the long front porch steps of Angel’s beloved mansion. In fact, she felt much the same way the last time she walked down the immense steps away from her ‘fairy-tale’ life two years before.

A part of her was not surprised when she spied Liam ‘Angel’ O’Connor waiting for her in his grand foyer.

“Hello Lizzy,” Angel mumbled in that shy, slight Irish brogue of his that usually melted Liz’s heart. This time, however, Angel’s sweet lilt didn’t even thaw Liz’s icy heart in the least.

“You look great,” Angel added after he gave his ex a once over with his dark, brooding eyes.

“Thanks,” Liz muttered, happily non-pulsed by the nearness of her ex-lover. She patiently allowed him to place a chaste, almost reverent kiss on her flushed cheek.

“I would have come myself, to, you know pick you up, but…..” Angel began hesitantly.

“I understand completely,” Liz interjected casually (okay, a bit snidely). “If I know Cordelia Chase,” she continued blithely, “she’d have had your balls in a vice if you had driven back to LA.”

Elizabeth’s brazen statement broke the tension and even Gunn began to laugh along with her and Angel.

“Yeah, she would alright,” Angel admitted with chuckle that reveal his inner relief. His darling girl, his Lizzy, forgave him for sure.


“It’s enough that you’re giving me a roof over my head until I can move on myself,” Liz purred matter-of-factly. She was trying desperately not to let the resentment and bitterness slip into her casual tone.

“All’s I want is a few days to get myself together and gather up my mother’s china and aunt’s ring. In fact, I’ll call Cordy myself, in Frisco and let her know that I’d rather inject myself with Anthrax then rekindle any kind of romantic relationship with you Angel,” Liz stated evenly.

Gunn snickered and hid a wide smirk behind his hand while Angel turned bright red with some emotion. Liz wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment, guilt or anger. Frankly, she didn’t give a rat’s ass one way or the other.

“Show me to the guest room?” She asked brightly as she breezed past Angel into his huge living room.

“I, I’m sorry Lizzy, truly,” Angel murmured sincerely, showing her to the pleasant guest room she would be staying in. Hopefully not for too long that is.

“I know Angel,” Liz sighed wearily tossing her valise onto the cozy queen sized bed.

With a determined shake of her head, Liz turned and faced her ex with a staunch stance.

“Like I said,” she began evenly enough, “just let me get my bearings and I’ll be out of your hair. Yours and Cordelia’s that is,” she added.

“Cordelia,” Angel began cautiously, “she knows you’re here, Lizzy and…..”

“Don’t,” Liz ordered, successfully cutting him off with a raise of her hand. “I don’t care if you and Cordy are together now, Angel,” she continued quietly. “You’re not my problem anymore and after a few days? I won’t be yours either. Got it?”

“Got it, Lizzy,” Angel mumbled in that annoying dejected manner of his that she had not missed at all.

“Oh, and Angel,” Liz began casually tossing her sweater on the bed, “I’d prefer it if you quit calling me Liz or Lizzy. My name is Elizabeth and I think it’s best if you addressed me as that from now on.”

‘I, I got you this,” Angel mumbled, his dark head hung low.

‘Much like a whipped puppy,’ Elizabeth noticed happily.

Angel held out a sophisticated new cell phone and she eagerly grabbed it from him.

“It’s the least I can…..” Angel began, but quickly ended the sentence when he saw the look in her green eyes.

“I, uhm,” he stammered, unsure what else to say.

Angel truly felt guilty for everything Liz, or Elizabeth, had gone through for him. It was all that damned Ethan Rayne’s fault anyway. Now, because of his mentor, Rayne, everyone in his employ was in an impossible situation.

Elizabeth pursed her lips and eyed the little cell phone happily. This was just what the doctor ordered. She could keep in private contact with Mr. Giles and…..

Before she could thank Angel for the cell phone, Elizabeth caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye.

A slip of a girl, probably no more then seven, sped past the opened door of the guest room where she and Angel stood. Her long dark hair flew behind her as she skipped past the door and presumably down the long hallway.

Momentarily distracted, Elizabeth stood dumb-struck before finally making the connection.



Dawn Mcquire was indeed here in Angel’s mansion; apparently against her will, just as Riley and Giles had claimed.

Elizabeth was in shock; she couldn’t believe that Angel had actually taken this girl into the mansion.

‘What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time Angel,’ she wondered, stunned beyond belief.

“Who’s that?” She asked suddenly, pointing to the doorway. Her sudden impulse to play dumb paid off when Angel stood and responded in a bold face lie.


“Oh, that’s Dawn, one of the new staff’s nieces,” he responded a little too easily.

“Oh,” Liz murmured, still somewhat dazed.

“Since when did you turn the mansion into a day care center, Angel?” Elizabeth asked sarcastically.

“The kid’s supposed to stay downstairs, in the servants quarters,” Angel grumbled, his dark eyes narrowed. “The new cook, she’s…..”

“Oh never mind Oh by the way,” she shook her golden head and pointed back at the open door. “I’ll have my lunch and supper up here, in private. I like steak and salad, remember,” she added coyly.

“I remember lass,” Angel sighed. “You could have supper with me,” he continued wistfully. He was trying that old ‘puppy dog’ look to sway her to have dinner with him.

“No, I don’t think so,” Liz answered with a firm shake of her head.

Elizabeth had some serious snooping around to do and she had hoped that Angel might go out for supper.

“I guess I’ll go to the club then,” Angel muttered with a heavy pout.

Once that pout would have made Elizabeth’s heart melt, but not now. Not ever again.

“Have fun,” she giggled merrily and shooed him out of the guest room.

Angel left, reluctantly, and Elizabeth decided to bide her time until he went out. Then, she would get to work and discover just where Dawn was being kept in the huge mansion.

‘Once he’s gone; I’ll snoop around and find out just what wing Dawn is ensconced in,’ she reasoned silently.

“The servants’ quarters my ass,” she snorted in disgust. She had a sneaking suspicion that this Dawn Mcquire was a nosy little thing. The kid probably knew more about what was going on around here then Angel himself.

Elizabeth certainly hoped the poor kid had an inquiring mind and was prone to snooping about. It would help her if Dawn had overheard some information and it would certainly aid her own plan on getting the child out of here; safely that is.


{In Bath England}


Spike leaned into the long bar of the Tartan Pub and took a long swig of his ale. His best mate, Xander Harris, sat next to him, yammering on about something or other.

For some reason, Spike was in a maudlin mood tonight and…..

‘Oh, bloody wonderful,’ Spike thought to himself in slight disgust. ‘I’m back thinking words up like maudlin and broody and….’

“Why don’t you get out more friend?” Xander asked with a snort as he elbowed his companion, gently of course.

“I get out,” Spike muttered in his own defense. “If you’re talkin’ bout a bird, I haven’t seen one lately that I fancy much…..”

“Are you still moping over that ex of yours?” Xander asked in disbelief. “I thought you considered it a blessing in disguise when Cecily dumped you for Lord Peter Raskale and….”

Spike cut his friend off with a wave of his large hand:

“Best thing that ever happened to me was when Cecily took off with that prat,” Spike explained. “She never really loved me and I have to admit, I probably never ‘really’ loved her either. It was a bloody blessing that I got away from that,” his voice trailed off. He did not want to discuss that stuck up bitch any longer; he‘d gotten over her and that was that.

“Besides,” the blond continued evenly, “I’ve got farming in my blood and that bint’s blood is just a bit too blue for that.”

Spike finished with a sardonic chuckle and finished off his pint of ale.

It wasn’t as if Spike hadn’t ‘seen’ a couple of girls since his split with his ex-fiancé, Cecily Adams after all. He’d been out with a couple of girls but none had really caught his fancy.

“Hope it isn’t because of this mystery dream girl of yours,” Xander mumbled into his own mug of ale.

The blond man was in no mood to discuss his golden haired ‘dream girl’ with his dark companion either. Spike supposed he was truly love’s bitch, just as his dad had been over his mother.

Tonight was about drinking and stumbling home to his farm, nothing more then that. Xander drank less then Spike, always, and would drive them home.

Spike just shrugged in response to Xander and waved at his cousin Wesley Pryce; the owner of the pub.

Wesley was Spike’s only living relative in the world and the two were different as night and day. Wes had married a lovely American girl, Winnefred, and they had opened the pub together a few years ago.

If it hadn’t been for old Wes, the wonderful Walshs and even Xander and his girl, Willow? Spike might never have made a go of his parents farm at all.

He owed them all and would never forget the support any of them had given Spike after his dad has passed on.

Michael William Brenton, Spike’s father, had been barely twenty-years-old when he decided to go on a holiday with his friends. Since Michael and his mates were all from farming families, London seemed like the best place to explore the outside world.

The five young men had traveled to London with the hopes of being exposed to some kind of night life that eluded them in the rural countryside of Bath they had been brought up in.

Farming blood ran through Michael’s blood, although he was well immersed in the arts and had an innate love of good books; the classics mostly.

William and Martha Brenton, Spike’s grandparents, had encouraged their only child, Michael to see the world. At least the world as far as London, England.

So, Michael set out with his four closest chums and headed off to London to see the sights.

Once in London, the five friends soon got caught up in the exciting newness, to them anyway, of the overwhelming city. Of course, Michael could appreciate the wonderful libraries and museums; with their sense of history and art, and he made sure his friends ‘took in’ these special sights as well.

It was on about the fifth night of their holiday when Michael convinced his entourage of friends to attend a production of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ on the West End of London.

Although reluctant to attend such a highbrow event, the four friends went along and indulged their good friend Michael Brenton.

This would prove to be a life-altering event for all of them, especially Michael himself. For it was there that Michael Brenton first laid his indigo blue eyes on Drusilla Pryce, his future wife and mother of his only son, William.

Drusilla Pryce was the only daughter of a wealthy, well-known banker in London. She had an older brother, Paul, who had followed his father’s business, however Drusilla had chosen another path in life. She was theatre actress to the core. Tall, darkly beautiful with deep brown eyes, Drusilla was the epitome of mystery and almost unearthly allure. At least Michael Brenton found her so and he was enamored of the beauty the minute she stepped foot on the West End stage to portray the doomed Desdemona.

Michael made it a point to be properly introduced to Drusilla Pryce and somehow he had managed the impossible.

After that fateful night, Michael became a virtual stage-door-johnny and made sure he was available to escort lovely Drusilla home every evening. Within days Michael and Drusilla became lovers and no one was surprised when she quit the theatre and followed him back to Bath.

It was in Bath, a mere month after meeting each other, that Michael and Drusilla became man and wife.

William and Martha Brenton accepted their new daughter-in-law with open arms. Michael was happier then ever before and Drusilla ‘seemed’ to acclimate nicely to the quiet country life of her husband’s family.

However…..

After Drusilla gave birth to Michael and her only child, a son they named William, she seemed to change, albeit gradually at first.

It became quite clear, a couple of years after William’s birth, that his mother was becoming a big ‘off’ as the locals called it.

Poor Drusilla was inclined to episodes of disorientation and then near dementia. Mrs. Brenton would wander off into the hills surrounding the farm and disappear for hours on end and the whole village of Kenton (made up) would be on alert to search for her.

Due to the kindness of their neighbors and the respect they had for poor Michael’s love of Drusilla, no one judged the poor woman too harshly. Instead, they kept on being kindly, caring neighbors and friends to the Brentons and encouraged Michael to care for his beloved wife even more. All of them insisted that young William be a dutiful son to both of his parents. He had been that.

No matter how disillusioned Drusilla had become; usually passing her time at the farm chatting amicably with her favorite dolly, Miss Edith; one thing was for certain. She was a loving, devoted mother to William; adored her husband and his parents and always maintained some semblance of sanity as best she could.

The locals always felt that Drusilla was not cut out for the farm life, but would never speak of this, of course. At least not in front of the Brenton family.

Spike’s mother always encouraged his love of books and poetry and the arts. She never spoke unkindly to him, in fact, she never disciplined him either; left that up to his father.

In the end, Spike’s mum had been a loving woman, even if she was a bit off ; whatever her reasons were.

Drusilla Pryce Brenton passed away one quiet evening when William/Spike was just thirteen years of age. The poor woman had caught the pneumonia one night after wandering off in a rather harsh rain storm.

Even though Spike’s father, Michael, lived on for two more years after, he was never the same without his beloved Drusilla.

Michael Brenton followed his wife into the shadows when Will was fifteen. It was only natural after all; Michael Brenton could not survive without the true love of his life.

Sean and Margaret Walsh, the farm hired help, took over William’s upbringing with a vengeance. If it had not been for the kind, childless couple, Spike would probably never have survived and would have definitely lost the farm.

It was when Spike was about twenty or so that he met up with the American Xander Harris. The whelp (as Spike kindly nicknamed his friend) was in England to start over in his own tormented life.

Spike invited the young man to join him at the farm to work and soon the red haired Willow Rosenberg joined Xander.

Once Willow and Xander married, Spike had given the couple a small portion of the farm as a wedding gift and things worked out quite well for them all.

In fact, it was both Xander and Willow who had convinced Spike that Cecily Adams wasn’t near good enough for him. More then that, the woman would never adapt to farm life and Spike loved his farm more then anything in the world…..except maybe for the golden girl of his dreams.

Yup, William Michael Brenton was truly love’s bitch, but at least he was man enough to admit it. When he felt like it of course.


{Back in LA!}




Elizabeth crept down the great hallway of Angel’s mansion; she had a mission in mind.

After thinking long and hard about where exactly Dawn would be sequestered; an idea had dawned on Elizabeth.

A few years before, Angel’s beloved sister Darla O’Connor had visited the mansion. She brought along her daughter, Janice and Angel had a whole wing renovated for the child. It was at the very end of this hallway and was a little girl’s dream room filled with feminine toys and dolls to entertain.

If Dawn was anywhere in the house or on this floor? She was in that room and Elizabeth was sure of it.

Before she went investigating however, Elizabeth slipped out of the mansion into the backyard gardens. She had no doubt that her room was probably being monitored somehow and she needed to check in with Mr. Giles.

Angel had gone to the club, presumably for supper and Liz thought it was best to snoop around right now. If she knew Angel, she knew she had plenty of time to check things out as he would probably drink heavily before, during and after supper.

As she hurried through the expansive gardens in Angel’s backyard, Elizabeth was reminded of a time when she loved it here.

Back then, the wonderful array of roses, carnations and night blooming jasmine had made Elizabeth feel happy and content. Almost whole again really.

Now, Elizabeth was reminded that the beautiful gardens were just a façade of the horrors and evils that were being plotted inside Angel’s fine mansion. A place where she was soon going to escape from and hopefully take a small, innocent child with her when she did.

Elizabeth hurried back into the mansion and up the stairway to the upper floors. Once she had crept down the long hallway, she came to stand in front of the largest room in the north wing.

She opened the door as quietly as possible and scanned the pink and cream painted room, her green eyes coming to rest on the canopied full-sized bed on the side. There in the middle of the pink and cream frilly comforter covered bed set Dawn Mcquire, playing with a huge doll of some sort.

Dawn looked up from her play and spied Elizabeth at the door, the young girl’s blue eyes were wide with confusion and suspicion.

When Elizabeth looked into Dawn’s beautiful blue eyes, she was overwhelmed with such feelings of protectiveness that it caused her to freeze in place. In other words, Dawn had captured Elizabeth’s heart in an instant and she realized that she would have to gain the girl‘s complete trust.

After shaking off her momentary shock, Elizabeth entered the room, carefully closing the door behind her.

“Who are you?” Dawn asked suspiciously as she watched the pretty blond woman near the bed where she sat.

“My name is Elizabeth Summers,” Liz replied gently and joined the child on the edge of the bed.

“You’re Dawn Mcquire, right?” Elizabeth asked the apparently frightened seven-year-old girl.

“Yes,” Dawn stammered in reply as she continued to brush her doll’s blond hair.

“Why are you here Dawn?” Liz carefully asked the silent child.

“It’s a secret,” Dawn murmured in a hushed voice. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth mumbled, then thought for a moment or two before continuing.

“Well, Dawn,” Liz began cautiously began again, “I’ll tell you a secret of mine first. Then maybe you can tell me some of yours. Would you like that?”

Dawn looked up at Elizabeth and seemed to ponder the mysterious woman for a moment before nodding slowly nodding her head yes. She went back to nervously brushing her doll’s hair while Liz contemplated her next words.

“You see Dawn,” Liz sighed heavily, “I was sent here to help you, by a nice man who wants to see you okay. I need to know your secrets, no matter much it hurts to tell them to me. Okay?”

“Okay,” Dawn answered with a sad sigh, but sidled over closer to Liz anyway. Her doll, Sally, was set aside carefully, not forgotten for long.

“Look at me Dawn,” Elizabeth ordered the child gently.

Dawn did as she was told, however her blue eyes betrayed the suspicion and anxiety she harbored.

Elizabeth gently brushed her right hand through Dawn’s long lovely dark hair.

“My real name is Elizabeth,” the blond woman began quietly, “but my mother called me something else. Now only very special people, people I truly care about, get to call me this secret name of mine. Would you like to know my secret nickname and call me by it Dawn?”

Dawn became quite animated and shook her head, yes, vigorously before becoming still again. The child met Liz’s green eyes with her blue ones and waited patiently for the secret name to be said.

“It’s Buffy,” Elizabeth giggled like a child herself. “My real nickname is Buffy and I would like you to call me that, in secret of course. Do you like it,” she casually asked the girl.

“Oh, I do like it,” Dawn giggled happily, a first genuine smile on her sweet little mouth. “It’s so much nicer then Elizabeth,” she added sincerely.

“Good,” Buffy sighed contentedly and pulled the girl to her body.

“Dawn, I really need to know some of those secrets of yours,” Buffy whispered softly and tenderly stroked the warm dark head again.

“I need to know them, so I can help you; help both of us really,” she added sincerely.

“How can you help us Buffy,?” Dawn asked, her dark head buried into the safe haven of Buffy’s shoulder.

Buffy took a deep breath and snuggled the girl even closer to her before she answered.

“I’m going to be getting both of us out of here as soon as possible,” Buffy murmured in reply.


Tbc…..


A/N: A couple of quick notes and a hint or two for the future plot.

From now on, I will be referring to Elizabeth as Buffy. Everyone but Dawn will be calling her Elizabeth for a while.

A hint to the next chapter: It will have the word ‘escape’ in it’s title.

Another hint to the future plot; see if you can guess where it might be going!!! Wesley’s wife, Winnefred had the maiden name of Burkle, but her mother’s maiden name was Giles!

I hope you guys liked this chapter and didn’t mind some of the far-fetched plots in it.

Thank you for reading and please review if you would like. Constructive criticism is always appreciated…spufette.

THE BEST REVENGE


Summary: The title pretty much says it all. Dawn opens up and lets Buffy in on all of her known secrets. Buffy makes a decision and a stand.


Chapter 4: ‘Escape; Plan(s) A & B’


“I need to know everything you can tell me honey,” Buffy cooed to the little girl still snuggled in her arms. “I know it’s going to be hard for you but…..”

“They killed my parents and my big brother,” Dawn whimpered into Buffy’s chest.

Buffy could feel the small girl’s body tremble with emotion and felt her blouse become wet with Dawn’s tears.

“Who did?” Buffy asked, almost reluctant to hear the answer.

“That nasty man, Mr. Rayne,” Dawn sniffed in response. “He’d been at our house before so I kind of knew him,” she added sadly. “Him and Mr. Doyle too,” the child finished with a choked sob.

‘Doyle,’ Buffy thought to herself, wondering who this man might be. She wracked her brain, trying to remember if she had every heard this name before, especially in connection to Angel.

“Mr. Doyle, well, that’s his first name and it’s all I know,” Dawn continued in a shaky little voice. “He was at our house too. Before him and Mr. Rayne hurt daddy and mommy, and Danny,” the little girl choked out a sob.

“Do you have any idea who Mr. Doyle is, Dawnie?” Buffy asked gently, trying to be patient with the distraught child in her arms.

“Daddy called him ‘Officer Doyle, Buffy,” Dawn replied in a muffled voice. “Danny told me that Doyle was a policeman,” she added with a shake of her dark head. “I don’t know why he’d come to our house but…..”

‘Oh God,’ Buffy stifled the gasp that escaped her lips. ‘Rupert Giles was right…..there is a cop involved and if there’s one? There’s a bunch of rotten apples in the barrel, I’m betting.’

“My daddy and mama, they yelled at Danny and me sometimes. For no reason,” Dawn admitted in her little girl whimper.

Buffy realized that the young girl had climbed completely onto her lap, her dark head buried into her silk covered chest. The blond woman couldn’t help but nuzzle her face into the warm, soft darkness of Dawn’s head.

Frankly, Dawn’s story had hit a bit too close to home for Buffy. Then again, that was just why Rupert Giles had chosen her to ‘help’ out in this difficult situation.

“So did mine; my mama I mean,” Buffy admitted in a timid, choked whisper. “When she got sick…..she yelled a lot, before she died. At me, my dad, everyone around us,” she sighed sadly.

“Did you still love her?” Dawn asked carefully, her blue-eyed gaze unnerved Buffy temporarily.

Buffy could not break her eye contact from the child’s innocent blue eyes.

“Yes,” Buffy murmured, almost embarrassed by her admission. “I still loved my mother. Very much.”

“I still loved my momma too,” Dawn sighed heavily and rested her head on Buffy’s shoulder. “Even if she made me and Danny cry sometimes,” she whispered almost conspiratorially.

“Why do mamas and daddies act that way, Buffy? Why do they yell at us for no reason and make us feel bad?” Dawn asked quietly.

“Because they’re human Dawn,” Buffy replied honestly. “They’re human and they just screw up sometimes. They get greedy, for a lot of different things.”

Joyce Summers had gotten greedy for drugs, that much was for sure. As she got more and more involved in the drug scene, Joyce became greedier and greedier for bigger and better drugs to take.

Apparently, Dawn’s parents had gotten greedy too; for drugs maybe, but probably more so for money and power.

In the end, both Buffy and Dawn had lost their set of parents. Even if it was under completely different circumstances.

Joyce had taken her own life and Hank had run off to God knows where. Dawn’s parents had paid their dues with their own lives and that of their precious son’s.

It must have been a miracle or something that Dawn was still alive and safe now. Well, kind of safe that is. Buffy was beginning to understand why Angel was holding the child here, in the mansion that is.

“Dawn,” Buffy began cautiously, “I have to know some more things that happened. Can you tell me more or…..”

“I’ll tell you everything I know Buffy,” Dawn interjected in a hushed voice. The child’s blue eyes were focused on Buffy’s and seemed full of trust for her.

“Okay, then,” Buffy continued in her gentlest tone. “I need to know anything you can tell me about this Doyle. You said he’d been at your house before…..”

“Before they killed mommy, daddy and Danny,” Dawn finished for Buffy. A little tear slid down her pale cheek and Buffy felt like a real shit for even discussing this with her.

“It’s okay, honest Buffy,” Dawn continued bravely, “I know you’re only trying to help so I’ll tell you everything.”

Buffy nodded her head for Dawn to begin:

“Like I said, Mr. Rayne and Officer Doyle had been at our house before,” Dawn began again, her little face scrunched as she tried to remember everything properly. She did not want to let her new friend, Buffy, down in any way and she was smart enough to know this was important to them both.

“The night that,” Dawn stammered, then continued quietly, “the that my family died; Mr. Rayne and Doyle were there too. Some others were there,” she mumbled, deep in thought, “but I’ve never seen them before.”

“Was Mr. O’Connor there?” Buffy asked hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to the know true answer to that one.

“No,” Dawn shook her dark head firmly. “He came later, after Doyle called him on his cell phone. I know that because I was hiding in the attic and…..”


“You saw everything from the attic?” Buffy asked in shock.

The poor kid had witnessed her entire family being slaughtered from up in the attic! Jesus Christ this was getting worse by the minute!

“Uh huh. Danny made me go up there when Mr. Rayne showed up that night. He said, Danny I mean, said that he had a bad feeling in his tummy about everything. He must have been right because Mr. Rayne started screaming and swearing at both Momma and Daddy right away. That nasty Mr. Rayne even asked where ‘I’ was, but Danny lied and told him I was at a friend’s house.”

“Danny sounds like a pretty smart kid,” Buffy mumbled under her breath.

“He was,” Dawn whispered sadly.

“Okay, so it was this Doyle that called Mr. O’Connor? I mean after…..” Buffy began quietly.

“Yes, Officer Doyle called Mr. O’Connor. It was after Mr. Rayne heard me crying, up in the attic and discovered me there. He wanted to hurt me,” Dawn cried in a shaky voice, “Mr. Rayne I mean. He wanted to hurt me too, but the policeman said ‘no’ and called Mr. O’Connor.”

‘Well, at least Angel didn’t try to hurt Dawn,’ Buffy mused. ‘At least not at first,’ she reasoned. ‘I still don’t trust him.’


“Mr. O’Connor showed up and made Mr. Rayne let him bring me here,” Dawn explained. “I guess that makes Mr. Doyle and Mr. O’Connor kind of nice, right?”

“Yeah, they’re both real freaking Saints,” Buffy grumbled. She glanced down at her new ‘charge’ and immediately felt bad about her sarcasm. The poor little girl was just terrified and Buffy realized she was not helping matters with her smart ass remarks.

“Listen Dawn,” Buffy began carefully, “you need to do something for me. You’ve been very good and brave, telling me everything you could, but you have to pretend to Mr. O’Connor some more now.”

Dawn nodded slowly, even though she seemed almost disorientated by this time.

“I’m going to go back to my room and you stay here,” Buffy began but was cut off when Dawn began to cry quietly.

“Can’t we stay in the same room Buffy?” The child asked, weeping softly and her little body shaking in Buffy’s arms.

“No, honey, we can’t,” Buffy replied in her gentlest voice. “We have to pretend that I don’t know anything about you or what happened that night at your house. If we seem too close, Mr. O’Connor might find out and well…..”

Dawn sniffled a couple of more times and nodded her head again; she understood perfectly.

“I have to call my friend, you know the man that is going to help us both. I’ll tell him everything, tonight, and by tomorrow I think we can come up with a plan to get you and me both out of here. Okay Dawn?” Buffy asked the child while she tenderly stroked her slim arm.

“Okay Buffy,” Dawn stuttered in response.

Dawn had stopped the waterworks and was no longer trembling in Buffy’s lap. This was a good sign that the little girl would cooperate completely.


Buffy made a quick stop before she headed back out into the gardens to call Rupert Giles.

There was a rather out of place looking grandfather clock in the second level hallway. While it looked out of place there, Buffy knew the antique served Angel a very useful purpose. At least it used too; hopefully what Buffy was looking for was still hidden in the back of the clock.

When Buffy pulled out exactly what she was looking for; a small, but still impressive revolver, she sighed and shook her blond head.

“Oh, Angel, you’re still as predictable as ever,” she muttered, less then surprised really.

The next morning, Buffy had breakfast in her room and tiptoed down the hallway to Dawn’s room. She explained everything, as best she could to the bright child about the ‘plan’ that she and Giles had come up with the night before.

“What if Mr. O’Connor doesn’t go along with Plan A,” Dawn guilelessly questioned Buffy.

“Then we go with Plan B, kiddette,” Buffy replied confidently.

“What’s Plan B?” Dawn asked innocently, her discerning blue-eyed gaze never broke from Buffy’s.

“We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it,” Buffy replied evenly.


Buffy found Angel just where she thought she would; in his study, drinking his morning coffee. This studious side of Angel had always thrown Buffy for a loop.

Angel was really just a thug at heart, but he was also a voracious reader; a reader of every kind of genre. Classics such as Shakespeare and modern works of great American writers adorned the book cases of Angel’s study. It never ceased to amaze Buffy and in some way, it was one of things that drew her to him in the first place.

“Elizabeth?” Angel looked up from his book and gave her his most disarming smile.

“Angel,” Buffy replied in a hushed voice. This might prove harder then she had previously thought, but she just had to stay the course and get Dawn out of this.

Buffy had made a promise to the child and to Rupert Giles; and Buffy’s promise was her word. It was one of the few things she had left in life and she‘d be damned if she would go back on it.

“I was wondering,” Buffy began carefully as she sat in a chair next to Angel’s.

“I mean, I thought maybe I could borrow the ‘Vette’ and do some much needed clothes shopping,” she finished with a almost disinterested shrug. Her green-eyed gaze was focused on a huge, antique vase in the corner of the study.

“Sure darlin’ girl,” Angel replied amicably. “I could go with you, if you like and…..”

“I thought I’d take Dawn with me,” Buffy interjected casually. “It can’t be much fun to hang around here and wait for your auntie to…..”

“How the hell do you know Dawn!” Angel bellowed like a bull as she slammed his book down on a nearby end table.

“Bumped into her in the hallway,” Buffy answered quickly, her green eyes now focused on a particular book in the book shelf.

‘Hmph, the Great Escape,’ Buffy mused silently as she studied said book.

Dawn took that exact moment to appear in the study, her dolly, Sally in tow. Buffy had told the little girl, earlier, to don her most favored dress and grab her best loved toy; just in case they had to make a mad dash of escape.

It seemed that they, Buffy and Dawn, would have to do just that.

Dawn wore a pretty, frilly little lace pink dress with black patent leather Mary Jane shoes. Sally was appropriately attired in a somewhat matching pink smock, Buffy noted.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Angel growled at the anxious child, his brown eyes filled with rage.

“I asked her,” Buffy answered for the mute girl.

“Well,” Buffy sighed, her gaze directed at poor Dawn, “I guess we’ll have to go with Plan B.”

“What the fuck is Plan B?” Angel asked in total confusion. He closed the gap between himself and Elizabeth, his demeanor was anything but pleasant.

“Heck if I know,” Dawn giggled confidently. The little girl had come to place all of her young trust in Buffy Summers and she knew the older woman would not let her down; if she could help it.

“This,” Buffy drawled slowly before she raised the filched revolver up and pointed it at Angel. “Is the start of Plan B,” she finished coolly.

Angel looked as if he’d seen a ghost and he stopped dead in his tracks, his brown eyes wide in shock.

“Elizabeth! You can’t be serious! What is this about then?” Angel hissed incredulously.

“This is about Dawn and me getting out of here, Angel baby,” Buffy replied evenly. “It was your call and you chose Plan B.”

“You, you know……” Angel sputtered in disbelief, his eyes were wild as they darted from Elizabeth to the little girl before him.

“Everything,” Buffy finished for him, non-pulsed. “I mean everything Angel,” she continued easily.

“I know who Dawn really is and where she came from. How Rayne murdered her parents and…..” Buffy was cut off by Angel.

“Her parents,” he growled, “were worthless pieces of shit that traded their family and self-respect for white powder. They weren’t worth the shit that I step in,” he finished angrily.

“Elizabeth,” Angel took another step towards Buffy, but she cocked the safety on the gun back and stared coldly at her ex-lover.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use filthy language in front of Dawn, Angel,” Buffy muttered in disgust.

Buffy glanced at Dawn, who seemed to be holding her own, but she knew better really. The poor kid couldn’t just stand there and listen to this crap about her family and be okay with it. In fact, Buffy could see that Dawnie was trembling, visibly in hurt or anger; she wasn’t sure.

“It’s okay Ms. Summers,” Dawn whispered softly as she took Buffy’s free left hand in her right one. “I know what my parents were,” she continued sadly. “I just don’t see why anyone hurt Danny, my brother.”

Angel, to his credit, hung his head and apparently stared at his feet.

“Do you honestly think you’ll get away with this Lizzy?” He questioned his ex-lover quietly. “Even if you get out of here, do you think you’ll get far? In ‘my’ car I mean,” he asked meaningfully.

“We’ll get ‘far enough’ Angel,” Buffy replied confidently. “Especially since you’re going to tell Gunn out there,” she nodded the now closed study door, “that you’re going to lie down and take a nice long nap.”

“A nap?” Angel inquired with a smirk. “Now why would ‘I’ take a nap at 9:30 in the morning?” He tilted his dark head to one side and looked at his ex as if she’d lost her mind.

“Because your precious Cordelia is coming home tonight,” Buffy explained brightly. You always take naps…when you have a big night planned that is. Remember baby? I do,” she chuckled evilly.

“Here Dawn,” Buffy held out a coil of rope to the girl and nodded at Angel. “Tie him up sweetie, real good, kay?”

“Okay,” Dawn replied automatically, nervously taking the rope from Buffy and eyeing the gun.

“It’ll be fine,” Buffy assured her. “Angel isn’t stupid, much,” she added maliciously, the gun still pointed at him.

“How far do you think you’re going to get Lizzy? I mean, in my car, with my…..” Angel grimaced when Dawn tightened the ropes on his wrists.

“Oh, far enough,” Buffy replied airily before she checked to make sure that Angel was securely hog-tied with the rope.

“Good job Dawnie,” Buffy giggled wickedly.

“Thank you Ms. Summers,” Dawn replied seriously. She had remembered, Dawn had, not to call Ms. Summers by her nickname of Buffy. That was ‘their’ private name for her.

“Let’s get to it then. I’ll push the intercom button and you tell Gunn that I’m taking Miss Dawn here out for a day of shopping,” Buffy ordered Angel.

“You ungrateful little cunt!” Angel bellowed in somewhat controlled rage. “I bought you your first pair of designer shoes!”

“I know,” Buffy sighed in mock sorrow. “I’ll forever be grateful,” she added coyly.

“But, let’s be frank, Angel,” she continued matter-of-factly. “I’ve repaid you a hundred times over. I went to prison for you Angel. I kind of think that more then makes up for the Jimmy Cho’s, right?”

“Besides, I think I told you not to go with the swearing in front of the kid,” Buffy snorted disdainfully.

“When I get through with you…..” Angel growled lowly, his dark eyes were black with rage. He seemed to try and thrust his trussed body at Buffy, but only managed to tumble, ungracefully, onto his study’s floor.

“You’ll never find us,” Buffy murmured confidently. “By the time you or your butt monkeys know what’s going on? Dawn and I will be so far away from your radar that, well….”




A/N: I’ve been writing this chapter for a week! I just decided to end it here and explain more details in the next one.

Thanks for reading and please review, spufette.

THE BEST REVENGE


Summary: Buffy and Dawn make their escape….somewhat. Spike gets some shocking news from his cousin Wesley.




Chapter 5: ‘Far Away…..And Older’



Buffy gunned the Corvette’s engine and screeched the tires as she roared out of the mansion’s long driveway.

Dawn giggled merrily from the passenger seat beside her; causing Buffy to wave amicably at the armed guard at the mansion’s front gate.

With Angel securely trussed up in his study; his employees were none the wiser, temporarily at least. Buffy and Dawn were now free and clear to make their great escape to their first destination.

After about twenty minutes of driving, Buffy flipped off the CD player and pulled over to the side of the road. She turned to her seven-year-old companion and asked calmly:

“What do you know about England and how do you feel about seeing a bit of it, kid?”


Dawn’s beautiful blue eyes flew open even wider and she began to squirm about in her seat.

“England! That’s the big island with a king and queen, right?” Dawn exclaimed in excitement.

“Well, technically,” Buffy began patiently, “it’s got a queen and a prince. Well, a few princes that is,” she laughed somewhat giddy herself all of a sudden.

“I say let’s go!” Dawn squealed in delight as Buffy started the engine once again.

They had driven a few miles when Dawn cleared her throat and asked shyly: “Uhm, Buffy. Aren’t you afraid that Mr. O’Connor will catch up to us. In his car I mean and…..”

“We’re going to ditch the car Dawnie,” Buffy replied confidently. “There‘s a church parking lot, up about two miles from here,” she nodded towards the freeway ahead of them. Do you remember that nice man I told you about? Mr. Giles?”

“Yes,” Dawn nodded slowly, her eyes focused on the highway ahead of them.

“Well, Mr. Giles has a car for us, a little Volkswagon bug,” Buffy continued evenly. “Did you see Herbie Fully Loaded?”

“Uh huh,” Dawn replied shyly. “Mama took Danny and me to see it,” she finished with a sigh.

“Well, that’s the car, like Herbie in the movie, that Mr. Giles left for us. It’s in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Church of the Good Sisters. In a city called Glendale, just up here,” Buffy explained.

“Are we going to go back to Sunnydale?” Dawn blurted out nervously.

Buffy could tell that the little girl was terrified of her own hometown now. After what had happed to her parents, no wonder Dawn saw Sunnydale as an unholy place.

“No honey, we’re not going back to Sunnydale,” Buffy explained patiently. “Not for a long, long time,” she mumbled under her breath.

They drove along in silence for the next few minutes. That is until Buffy pulled Angel’s prized Corvette into the modest sized Catholic Church’s tiny parking lot.

Buffy spotted the non-intimidating little Volkswagon Beetle parked against the brick wall in the back of the lot.

She drove the red Vette inside and parked next to the little ‘poor-cousin’ vehicle and turned off the ignition.

“Mr. Giles said he left the keys taped under the car,” Buffy mumbled more to herself then to Dawn next to her.

“Buffy,” Dawn murmured softly as she gently placed her small hand on Buffy’s arm.

Buffy licked her bottom lip and turned to face the frightened little girl. She put on her calmest face and smiled brightly at Dawn, wishing briefly that the little girl could be just a few years older. Perhaps more able to understand…..

“If they catch us, they’ll hurt us bad, won’t they Buffy?” Dawn asked quietly; her blue eyes full of trepidation.

Buffy took a deep breath and replied honestly….. “yes, Dawnie. If Mr. O’Connor and his men catch us, they’ll…..”

“But they won’t catch us, will they Buffy?” Dawnie asked in a whisper, a slight smile on her sweet little mouth.

“No, they won’t catch us Dawn,” Buffy replied with much more confidence then she may truly have felt inside.

“We’re going to go far, far away from here Dawnie,” Buffy murmured hopefully.


Spike worked diligently, his muscular arms mixed then kneaded the dough for his famous tavern rolls. The rolls, all twelve-dozen of them, would be the special side for his famous stew; the one he mixed up for his cousin Wesley’s pub.

This was Spike’s ‘time-out’ as it were, from his obligations to the family farm. One Saturday night a month, Spike would head to Bath and Wes’ pub to make up gallons of his stew, along with the famous rolls. His own mum, Drusilla, had taught him the recipes when he was just a lad and he never forgot them.

Spike enjoyed his special Saturday sojourn into Bath, to make his beloved tavern supper. Wesley and Fred always appreciated it so much and Spike liked the accolades he received for his special offering of his special supper.

The pub was always packed on that particular Saturday night and it was the one time that Spike chose not to get too ‘pissed drunk’ and stumble home to the farm.

The blond man had noticed, as he worked diligently on his supper, that Wes’ wife, Fred seemed distracted from the pub’s busy activity.

“What’s wrong with your wife Wes?” Spike asked casually. Wesley was his only living relative and Spike loved him as such. However, the slightly younger man could be a bit uptight at time may have affected his bride, Fred.

“Oh, nothing really,” Wesley scowled briefly as he tended to a batch of clean mugs and glasses.

“It’s Winnefred,” Wes sighed heavily and tossed his bar towel down on the stove next to the big stew pot.

“My wife got a ring from her older cousin, Rupert Giles. You know the one, in the States?”

“Right,” Spike shrugged non-chalantly. “Is the old boy going to come visit his only cousin, finally,” Spike chuckled lowly as he stirred the stew.

“Uhm, well, no, not really,” Wes stammered nervously. “He…..”

“What is it mate?” Spike asked his cousin, suddenly serious and curious at the same time.

“Rupert asked Winnie (Wesley never called Winnefred by her nickname of Fred) if she could put up a ‘friend’ of his. A young American woman, with a small female sibling. I have no objections, of course,” Wesley assured Spike quickly.

“It’s just,” the dark haired Brit began hesitantly, “I think the young woman might be in some kind of trouble. After all, Rupert is married to Jennifer; we think the world of her of course. Now he pops up and asks Winnie to take on this woman and her sister? You know, Rupert Giles is quite high up; in the legal system of California and all. I’m a bit worried that the girl might bring trouble here and all. Winnie and I were thinking of starting our own family and…..”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine Wes,” Spike grunted in reply as he returned to his stew. “How much trouble can a young American woman be; and a small kid?”

“Rupert has made it clear that the young lady is quite a looker,” Wes muttered under his breath. “I’m worried that she might cause an unwanted stir in the pub. You know how the blokes around here enjoy a new bird and, well if we offer her a place here, of course,” he finished with a snort.

“A looker eh?” Spike chuckled with a new interest. “What’s the girl look like then?”

“A blond, or so Winnie claims. With emerald green eyes and a petite little thing; probably not 5’1” and…..” Wes’ sentence trailed off when he saw the stunned disbelief in his cousin’s blue eyes.

“A petite blond? With emerald green eyes you say?” Spike asked incredulously. He stood before his cousin, his blue eyes wide in shock; the wooden spoon he’d been stirring his stew with clattered to the floor of the pub’s kitchen.


Buffy drove the lime green Bug along; at the posted speed limit of course. There was no need to bring anymore attention to her and Dawn then necessary.

The ‘10’ Freeway was oddly light on traffic today, but Buffy was determined to stick to the strictest speed laws as she could. Her fear of Angel was well-earned and she had no intention of bringing any unwanted attention to the ugly colored little Volkswagon.

“Where to now?” Dawn asked quietly, her blue eyes focused on the dreary city sights off to the right of the freeway.

“A place called Duarte,” Buffy replied simply, all of her concentration on the road ahead of them.

“Duarte,” Dawn rolled the odd sounding title around in her mouth. “Duarte,” the child stammered nervously.

“See those mountains, well, more like hills over there,” Buffy pointed her right finger out towards the horizon.

“Uh huh,” Dawn replied shyly.

“Well, Duarte is over there,” Buffy explained evenly. “It’s a little city, not near as big as LA. More like Sunnydale,” she added furtively.

“Oh,” Dawn mumbled, once again her anxiousness was quite visible.

“It’ll be okay Dawnie,” Buffy promised earnestly. “Mr. Giles says he has a private little plane there, at a private airstrip just outside of Duarte. We’re going to go on a nice plane ride to a couple of places. First we’re going to a nice place called Lincoln. It’s in Nebraska and then we’re off to New York and a city there. Buffalo, I think,” Buffy offered meekly.

“Okay,” Dawn sighed in her quiet little voice that Buffy had come to love.

In just a short time, Buffy Summers had come to adore this little girl; there was something about the child. Something familiar and well…..

“Will we go to England from New York?” Dawn asked suddenly.

“Yes, we will,” Buffy replied quickly. “Mr. Giles says he has a nice relative there; a Winnefred lady. She’s married to a real nice man named Wesley Brenton. They own a place called a pub and they told Mr. Giles that we can stay there, with them for as long as we want. Or need to,” Buffy finished in a whisper.

“Okay Buffy,” Dawn responded mechanically. Dawn’s little face was turned away from Buffy so the woman could not read the child’s open blue eyes.

“I’m sorry Dawn,” Buffy stated with a heavy sigh. She truly was too, Buffy was…..sorry for a lot of things.

“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong Buffy,” Dawn squeaked in her little girl’s voice.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes Dawn,” Buffy explained as she drove closer and closer to their destination. “I made my choices in life and well, I have to pay the piper so to speak for them. But you,” Buffy’s voice trailed off when she caught sight of the ‘Welcome to Duarte/City of Hope’ sign.


A/N: A couple of notes here.

I love to throw California ‘spots’ in my fics; places I know or have family in, etc. Glendale is my nephew’s hometown.

Duarte is a little more complicated then Glendale! Duarte sits at the bottom of some very historical hills/mountains that surround the LA basin.

My ex-husband grew up in Duarte and told me all kinds of bizarre tales about the city and hills that surround it. I swear, if I didn’t know better, I would think that Joss based Sunnydale on Duarte.

In other words: Duarte is the ‘Hellmouth’ of So. California. My ex swears that…..well, let’s just say that everything that happened on BTVS, he claimed happened in or around Duarte! Of course, my ex is pretty, well…..bizarre himself! LOL!

It is the called the City of Hope because, the City of Hope Hospital (literally) is there.


I hope this chapter was worth your time reading. I promise, in the next chapter our Spike and Buffy ‘will’ meet!

Thank you and please review, spufette.

A/N: Well I have to admit that I’m still not sure about submitting this chapter and all. It’s been a while since I’ve felt like writing and more then that…..posting anything. However, I’m going to go ahead and post this one and hope for the best.


Summary: Giles sends our two gals off to England where they meet Wesley and Winnefred. When Dawn reveals her obsession with ‘ponies’ she sets a meeting in motion between Buffy and Spike….well eventually that is.

Chapter 6: ‘As It Were’


“Are you going to England with us Mr. Giles?” Dawn asked the seemingly somber tall man beside her.

Rupert Giles gave Buffy a furtive glance then leaned down to speak to the child; more on her level as it were.

“I cannot,” he stated honestly as he took the little girl’s tiny hand in his. “I have much to do ‘here’ I’m afraid, Dawn,” Giles mumbled apologetically.

“Oh,” Dawn sighed heavily and scowled slightly.

Dawn had taken an instant liking to the tall, older good looking man who was helping Buffy and her.

Oh yes, he talked a bit funny, of course, but he seemed kind and honest; something the young girl was not too used to in older men. Her own father had been pretty scary; in a secretive unholy sort of way. Mr. Giles seemed open and honest; something Dawn wasn’t used to in role models. Except for Buffy, now of course.


“There is a young woman in England ,” Giles began with hesitation, “a cousin of mine named Winnefred,” he added, careful to pronounce her name properly.

“She’s married to a nice young bloke by the name of Wesley and…..”

“What’s a bloke?” Dawn asked suspiciously, her blue eyes filled with confusion.

“It’s a man Dawnie,” Buffy interjected matter-of-factly. “They call men ‘blokes’ in England sometimes,” she finished off-handedly.

“Oh,” Dawn repeated with a slightly less serious scowl this time.

“When you get to England,” Giles began wistfully, his blue eyes filled with longing, “Winnefred will be there to greet you. Her husband and her, as it were,” he added thoughtfully.

“We can’t thank you enough Mr. Giles,” Buffy blurted out, breaking Rupert’s train of thought.

“It’s I that should be thanking you Miss Summers,” Giles whispered sincerely. He blushed bright red when she stood on her tippy- toes and kissed him lightly on his cheek.

“You’re quite a ‘bloke’ yourself Rupert,” Buffy giggled almost shyly into the embarrassed Brit’s right ear.

“I, uhm, well thank you Miss Summers,” he stammered politely.

Buffy Summers was a piece of work alright and didn’t Rupert Giles just know it. She was a girl that a man’s head could easily be turned by, that’s for sure. Angel had been entranced with her and…..well, at least once as it were and….

“It’s Buffy, remember?” Buffy murmured breathily.

“Buffy,” Rupert repeated dreamily.

“Is that the plane?” Dawn asked logically as she pointed to the medium sized charter craft on the otherwise empty runway.

“Yes, of course,” Giles replied quickly. “It will take you to a small, out of the way airstrip just outside of Bath, England. Wesley and Winnie will be there, waiting for you,” his voice trailed off.


They boarded the little plane; Buffy and Dawn, silently. Just before take off, Dawn waved energetically at Mr. Giles and even blew him a little kiss goodbye.

If they had been down, on the ground, face to face with the rather formidable FBI man, Dawn and Buffy would have seen a little tear roll down Rupert’s handsome face.

Rupert Giles was a logical man, most of the time, and he loved his wife, Jennifer with every inch of his soul. However, their marriage had not been blessed with children of their own and something about Buffy and Dawn made Rupert a bit sad and wistful.

Giles had taken and instant liking to both Buffy and young Dawn. Buffy was a bit hard shelled, true, but she had the potential to become an incredibly gifted young woman; as far as her future went and all.

As for Dawn? Rupert saw something in the young girl that touched his own hardened heart; something sweet and innocent, even with the horrors the poor child already witnessed in her short life.

Yet…..Dawn appeared to possess a certain toughness that reminded Giles of Buffy in some way. Odd, really, since the two females were not truly related by blood.

Rupert Giles could only hope and pray that Buffy and Dawn could make a new, safe and happy start in England. Perhaps they would find it to their liking and settle there. After all, what would be wrong with that?

“If Jenny and I had children…..” Rupert muttered under his breath as he watched the private jet take off from the tiny airstrip.

“They’d be daughters; just like Buffy and Dawn,” he continued wistfully before he waved goodbye to the plane’s occupants.


Buffy and Dawn landed, safely, in the little out of the way airstrip outside of Bath, England.

Winnefred and Wesley met them; Wesley a bit more pensive then his American born wife.

As they drove the distance between the private airstrip and the city of Bath, Dawn snuggled close to Buffy. The child’s big blue eyes watched the strangers in the front seat of the car; her heart was racing as if she had just woke up from a bad dream.

“Why does Mr. Wesley sit on the wrong side of the car?” Dawn asked Buffy abruptly as she clenched her idol’s hand tightly.

“Shush now,” Buffy cooed and clutched the little girl closer to her.

“It’s the way they drive here,” Buffy added reassuringly, even though she wasn’t the least bit reassured at all.

“Oh,” Dawn mumbled under her breath. She was just the tiniest bit frightened by all this, but she did not want her ‘idol’ Buffy to know that.

Winnefred Pryce rode along in silence, her dark eyes squinted just a bit and her mouth in a slight frown.

‘How can we get the child to relax?’ Fred asked herself, somewhat distressed by all of this.

When her cousin, Rupert Giles, had asked Fred and her husband Wesley to help out; well, the expatriated American woman could not help but say yes. Now, however…..

“Buffy!” Dawn suddenly squealed in delight. “Look at that!”

Wesley veered the car to the right, onto the side of the road, and slammed to an abrupt halt.

“What is it Miss Dawn?” The dark haired Englishman asked anxiously.

“Ponies!” Dawn squealed excitedly just before she threw the car door open and leapt out of the Pryce’s car.

“Dawn!” Buffy screeched loudly just before ‘she’ jumped out after her charge.

True enough, Buffy spotted the source of Dawn’s quick ‘escape’ from the parked car.

Close to a hundred ponies; of all colors, sizes and ages, were merrily scampering towards the wooden fence that separated the country road and their pasture.

The lovely little darlings frolicked happily over the rolling green hills towards Buffy and Dawn.

Buffy swore the ponies and colts were actually grinning mischievously as they neared the fence. She noticed that the little wonders of nature were well aware that the wooden barrier would not allow them access to the road or their freedom. However, the young equines did not seem to care.

After they roared over to the fence, just long enough for Dawn to fruitlessly try and ‘pet’ one or two of them; the ponies turned and sped off back over the closest knoll.

“Did you see that!” Dawn squealed in sheer delight, jumping up and down and clamping her tiny hands together.

“I saw it honey,” Buffy whispered reverently, her green eyes followed the disappearing ponies up over the little hill.

“Dawn, please,” Buffy began in a soft whine, “don’t ever run off from me like that again, please.”

Buffy clasped Dawn’s small body to hers and stroked her long dark hair.

“It frightened me,” Buffy murmured softly into Dawn’s ear as she nuzzled the child‘s dark head. “Please, you should not run off like that…..unannounced that is and all.”

Wesley glanced at his wife and smiled slightly at Buffy’s motherly concern. Apparently, the ruse concocted by Rupert Giles was working in more ways then one.

Both Wes and Fred knew of course that Buffy was in no way blood related to the darling child, Dawn. However, it appeared that the young woman was definitely stepping up to the plate and already growing close to the small girl.

“I won’t do it again, honest Buffy,” Dawn whispered in a shaky voice.

“I want you to be happy here Dawnie,” Buffy muttered as she snuggled the child closer to her.

“I have a cousin, nearby actually,” Wesley began cautiously. He halted in mid-sentence when both Dawn and Buffy eyed him with curious eyes.

“My cousin,” Wes continued quietly, “he’s got a nice little farm, close by hear and well, there’s just lots of horses and ponies. I think Dawn would like it there, if she visited sometime, I mean.”

Wesley’s sentence trailed off into a whisper as he looked pleadingly at his wife.

The covert glance between the husband and wife was not lost on Buffy. Dawn however……

“Oh could we? Could we Buffy!?” Dawn squealed in delight.

Buffy glanced down at her charge and shrugged, non-committed of course. “I suppose so,” she stammered quietly.

“But not now, Dawnie, we need to settle in and all. Besides, Wesley‘s cousin and his family may not appreciate a surprise visit at this time and…..” Buffy’s sentence trailed off when she saw the crestfallen look in Dawn’s blue eyes.

“Oh, there’s no family, of Spike’s, oh, I mean William that is. . On the farm; as it were,” Wesley offered quickly.

“William is my cousin’s given name; he goes by the ridiculous nick name of Spike for some reason that’s beyond me but there it is.”


“Uhm, well I see, but,” Buffy stammered in reply, her green eyes pensive.

“It’s true, Spike, well, William actually is not married and never has been,” Fred added with a quick smile. “He was close once but his ex was real bitch and…..”

Wesley actually gasped at his refined wife’s harsh words, but Buffy and Dawn giggled behind their hands.

“I’m sorry,” Fred offered sincerely, “but William is a down-to-earth guy and he needs an earthy woman in his life. Certainly not that uppity woman he almost married. Thank God that didn‘t happen. Now Wes, you know I‘m right and that William needs a woman, perhaps like Buffy here, eh?”

Fred grinned at Buffy then winked at her husband most conspiratorially.

“Oh,” Buffy whispered uncomfortably.

Buffy had the most odd feeling in the pit of her stomach and she had no idea why.

“The farm is just down the road,” Wesley began cautiously. “The honest fact Buffy is that we promised William that we would stop by on our way back to Bath. If that is convenient for you my dear?”

Wesley looked at his wife with that pleading look again and Fred nodded back then glanced at Buffy.

“I know William was looking forward to meeting you and Dawn there,” Fred admitted evenly. “I’m thinking it would be almost an insult not to stop in…..for your first true English tea time that is?”

“Well, if it would be an insult……I mean not to stop by and all,” Buffy mumbled half-heartedly.

“It’s settled then,” Wesley crowed, a little too happily for Buffy.
“We’re off to my cousin’s for some tea,” the Brit finished with a something close to a giggle.

“Yeah, right then,” Buffy whispered, still a bit unsure of all of this.

“We’re off to Wesley’s cousin’s farm!” Dawn chimed in quite unnecessarily. “We’re off to see the ponies,” the child squealed in delight.

Unknown to Dawn, Fred, Wesley and most of all to Buffy Summers; this simple tea party would turn into something quite life altering for all of them…..indeed!

Summary: Well…uhm, our couple finally meets and the question is; will
Buffy want to make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there???

Okay, bad joke. In this chapter (finally) Buffy and Spike meet and maybe even bond a little!



Chapter 7: ‘Lost Little Lamb’


It was an unnaturally warm day in this part of England; warm and sunny for this time of year that is.

Spike wiped the sweat from his brow as he toiled at his chore; trying to carefully disengage a little lamb caught in the barbed fence that surrounded his farm’s pasture.

He had removed his shirt at least two hours earlier when he had brought some stray horse’s home to the barn. With Xander’s, his best friend and best worker’s help that is.

Because it was so unusually warm for this time of the year, both he and Xander had to strip down from their shirts to finish their daily work. It was after Xander had left to join his wife, Willow, for a late lunch that Spike noticed something amiss.

Spike had realized right off that Sheba, his most prized sheep’s latest babe had gone missing from the herd. The poor ovine bleats of despair had alerted Spike to the missing lamb and he immediately went off in search of the little beast.

How the lamb had stumbled to the north forty, so far from his mum and the safe, familiar pasture Sheba dwelled in was anybody’s guess. Somehow the little fellow had entangled himself in the nasty barb wire and Spike heard his cries for help from at least an acre away.

It wasn’t that the lamb was in any real danger per say, but Spike could tell the little bloke was terrified and his little fury body shook in fear. Spike was doing his best to untangle and free the lamb as gently as he could, but quick as possible.

“Sometimes I’m thinkin’ that you and your lot are more trouble then you’re worth,” Spike grumbled good-naturedly as he freed the lamb from the last barb of wire.

“There then,” the blond man murmured tenderly, his smile belying the frustration he had momentarily felt over the lamb.

“Best be gettin’ you back to your mum,” Spike chuckled warmly. He felt a certain amount of self-satisfaction at his victory as he held the still frightened lamb close to his body and began the long walk back to the barnyard.

“Let this be a lesson to you little one,” he muttered as he trudged on, the lamb squirming in his strong arms. “You’d best keep to hearth and home and not wander off from your mum again, eh then?”

The little bloke looked up at Spike as if the master had lost his human mind completely.

Spike gazed at the little lamb thoughtfully and wondered once again why he, of all the farmers locally, took such an overly active interest in his animals.

Was it the fact that the somewhat helpless farm animals were so dependent on him? Just like his poor helpless mum had been so dependent on his dad?

Maybe it was the fact that Spike had detached himself from the human population so much in the past year or so. Ever since Cecily had dumped him for a much taller, wealthier and a higher bloke on the social status then he;

Oh, of course Spike had sought out female companionship since his uppity bitch of an ex had dumped him. A comely lady here and there to pass time with; but nothing special really.

No, no one could say that William ‘Spike’ Brenton was a ladies man and he did not want to be one. However…..

Spike wanted a special woman at his side. No, make that ‘the’ special woman at his side that is. He had come to believe that the woman of his dreams, literally, just might be that special one he was waiting for.

When Wesley had first mentioned the American woman who was headed this way, Buffy was her name. Well, Spike’s interest was peaked right off and then when his cousin had described the Yank girl and all?

Spike nearly dropped over at the sound of this Buffy’s looks. She sounded exactly like the girl in his dreams and although he was not superstitious, Spike was a romantic at heart. Perhaps this visiting American lady was just what he needed and what he was looking for.

The sound of a familiar car horn broke Spike from his thoughts and he glanced anxiously to the road that led to his modest home.

“And, so the drama begins,” Spike muttered in a self-derisive chuckle.

He placed the little lamb back in the safe harbor of the barnyard, next to his mum, Sheba and hurried into his house.

It was one thing to be stripped down to a comfortable nakedness of bare torso and chest; but to be soiled with his daily toil?

Spike Brenton was a workin’ man, true enough; but not a soiled one in the company of ladies. That much was for sure.

Then, all thoughts of his own appearance disappeared completely when Spike saw the vision that stepped out of his cousin’s automobile.

The blond beauty of his dreams from America slipped out of the back seat of the car and turned to look at Spike. He could see the emerald green of her eyes and….

Like a cold splash of water, a little dark haired sprog of about five or six, Spike guessed, leapt out behind his golden goddess and sprinted towards him.

“Are you Mr. Spike,” the little bint squealed in delight before she blocked his ultimate escape.

“I am,” Spike mumbled in reply to the child; but his blue eyes were focused on the slight slip of a blond woman who had now joined them.

“It’s him,” Dawn shrieked excitedly and pointed up at the platinum blond man. “It’s the ‘man’ that Mr. and Mrs. Wesley told us about!”

“Oh, it’s a ‘man’ alright,” Buffy giggled with a slight smirk…..”that much is for sure,” she added with a genuine smile at this British stranger.

However…..

Oh, Buffy was smug alright; at least acting like it and all, but underneath?

Her heart was racing like a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby; in fact, probably faster then that.

This ‘man’ as Dawn pointed out was no ordinary man and didn’t Buffy realize that from the moment she laid her green eyes on him.

This was the man from her dreams; lock, stock and smoking gun and oh boy, was he smoking!

From the dampness on his dark brows to the trails of labor induced sweat streaks on his muscular chest….this man was definitely smoking.

Buffy realized, immediately, that not only did this Spike spell working ‘man’ but that he may also indeed spell ‘trouble’ with a capital T!

“I’m sorry,” Spike stammered like a bloody schoolboy at his first dance. “I’m a bit of a mess, from workin’ and this little bloke took off from his mum and…..”

“Oh! He’s so cute!” Dawn squealed joyously as she reached out and stroked the little lamb lovingly.

‘Oh, yes he certainly is cute,’ Buffy echoed silently; but she was not thinking about the obviously lost little lamb.

‘Is he blushing?’ Buffy wondered in her own mind.

“Uhm, I’ll just be gettin’ in and cleanin’ up a bit,” Spike stammered nervously. “Come on in then,” he added almost shyly as he waved his ‘guests’ into his humble home.

‘Yup, he’s blushing,’ Buffy nodded to herself as she followed Dawn, Wesley and Fred into Mr. Spike’s cozy looking house.

While ‘Spike’ cleaned up a bit; Buffy boldly dawdled about his front room. She seriously studied the ten or so photos that took up Mr. Brenton’s used brick fireplace mantel.

“Who’s this?” Buffy asked to no one in particular.

“Me mum,” Spike answered from his hallway, well before his cousin Wes or Fred could.

“She’s lovely,” Buffy sighed dreamily, her focus on the beautiful dark-haired woman’s picture.

“She ‘was’ that,” Spike sighed as he joined this Yank chit by the mantel his father had built.

“Was?” Buffy asked carefully, her eyes still focused on Spike’s mother.

“She passed away, years ago,” Spike muttered quickly.

“Can we take Dawn down to see the new foals then, William?” Wesley blurted out from his place on the sofa.

“Course you can,” Spike replied quickly; eager to change the subject of his poor, doomed mum.

“Ooohhh, thanks Mr. Spike!” Dawn cried happily and leapt up from the cozy chair next to the sofa.

“That’s Mr. Brenton, Dawnie,” Buffy admonished her charge.

“Sorry Buffy,” Dawn mumbled shyly.

“It’s fine little Bit,” Spike interjected kindly. (The nickname for Dawn would stick from then on in). “You go on with old Wes and Fred then and see those new ponies, eh?”

“Yeah!” Dawn cried excitedly and tripped on out into Spike’s front yard; followed by Wesley and Fred.

It was understood, silently, that Buffy would remain behind with Spike. How convenient was that?

Spike fussed with the makeshift tray he had arranged in the kitchen; his fine but large hands were a bit clumsy with the tea cups and biscuits.

“Let me,” Buffy said softly as she carefully took the intricate tea tray from her host.

Buffy set the tray that held the tea pot and cups along with the sweet looking biscuits on the living room coffee table.

Spike stood, stoically, next to his mantel; his blue eyes thoughtfully studied this little blond minx who now set up his company’s high tea.

“Sorry I was such a mess when you arrived,” Spike mumbled apologetically, his eyes focused on the tea setting.

“You clean up real nice,” Buffy giggled in reply. Then she coughed nervously and looked away from Spike, her green eyes falling on another picture on his mantel. It appeared to be Spike’s mother, with an older man; perhaps his father?

“Who’s that?” Buffy asked casually as she peered at the photo.

“Me mum and dad,” Spike replied quietly; again he joined Buffy at his prized mantel.

“They’re both quite beautiful,” Buffy whispered reverently.

“They were, but they were somewhat, well, lost I guess you’d say,” Spike sighed. His tone was a mix of sadness and something else that Buffy could not quite put her finger on.

Buffy placed her left hand, gently on the picture and picked it up carefully.
She studied the photo seriously, trying to note the similarities between her host and his parents.

“My mum,” Spike began quietly. “She wasn’t quite right…in her mind I mean,” he added cautiously.

Buffy could tell that this ‘man’ was not quite comfortable with speaking about his parents, especially his mother, but…..

“She never quite took to the farm life, even though she loved me dad past reason,” Spike added almost shyly.

“Go on,” Buffy encouraged Spike gently; her one was that of compassion. She studied him with a keen but kind eye.

“Mum was like that lost little lamb earlier today,” Spike offered, his voice almost a whisper.

His indigo blue eyes looked so sad to Buffy and it made her tummy flip-flop momentarily.

“She…..” he stammered and glanced away from the little blond. His manly pride had gotten the better of him and he hated for the little golden goddess to see him so weak and all. Talk of his parents, especially his mum, had always made him a bit poncey. He hated it, of course, but…..

“Did she love you?” Buffy asked in a whisper, gently she placed her tiny right hand on his strong arm.

“William, I mean Spike,” she repeated, “did she…..”

“You can call me William,” Spike mumbled quietly, almost shyly.

His blue eyes were now focused on Buffy, nearly pleading they were; for understanding and compassion.

“She did,” he replied quietly and he squeezed her little right hand with his left one. “And I loved her and me dad too,” he added in a hushed tone.

“Then it’s alright,” Buffy stated matter-of-factly, but in a kindly tone. "It's alright if your mother was a little off. "If she loved you and your father, without reason and unconditionally, then nothing else matters."

Spike stared at this little blond angel in disbelief. He had never met anyone in his life who could come in and just state such things in such a matter-of-fact way. It made him feel feelings that he’d never had before.

He felt understood and yes, really safe for the first time in his life. Spike felt as if he was truly bonding with Buffy and it was bloody exhilarating!

“My mother was weak too,” Buffy began cautiously, her green eyes misted over at the memories.

“She was weak in other ways, not like your mother. My father was a monster,” she added sadly. “He fed on my mom’s weakness; at least your dad didn't do that to your mom, right?"

“But you know.” Buffy continued. “My mother loved me, even though she was weak and made mistakes. I loved her too, William.”

Spike placed his left hand on Buffy’s soft little cheek and smiled down at her.

“Thanks, pet,” he mumbled sincerely, his mouth turned up in a kind smile.

“No problem,” Buffy replied with a warm smile of her own.

‘Bloody hell if I’m not going to marry this girl someday!’ Spike thought giddily.



A/N: It’s been so long since I posted any chapters of any of my stories. I hope you all read this one and review.
Thanks, spufette.

THE BEST REVENGE


Summary: I’m going to forego the summary for this one (a reviewer felt that it ruined the surprise in the chapters).

Let’s just say that the title kind of says it all for our main characters.


Chapter 8: ‘Wish Upon A Star’


“Buffy,” Dawn’s tiny voice called out in the darkness of the unfamiliar room.


“Yeah?” Buffy replied softly into the darkness of the strange room.

It had become obvious; earlier on that is, that someone (probably Wesley and/or Fred) had recently painted the guest bedroom. The pale pink walls just cried out ‘little girl’ on board and the comforters on the twin and full sized bed matched to perfection.

“Can I come over there and sleep with you, in the full bed?” Dawn asked in her hushed voice. “Just for tonight and all….”

“Of course you can squirt,” Buffy giggled in reply.

A second later, Dawn had slipped out of her twin bed and hopped onto Buffy’s full-sized one.

Buffy’s heart skipped a beat when the little snuggled up to her. She wrapped her arms about Dawn and cuddled her tightly to her body, resting her chin on her silky, dark head.

“Thanks Buffy,” Dawn whispered into Buffy’s silken pajamas. “I mean for bringing me here and everything,” she added shyly.

“I know it was hard for you to leave America and bring me here and, well, I just wanted to say thank you. I know I’m going to love it here Buffy. I hope you do too,” Dawn whimpered softly.

“I know I will too, Dawnie,” Buffy murmured reassuringly.

“Look!” Dawn squealed suddenly.

“What? What?” Buffy bolted up from the bed in terror.

“That!” Dawn replied gleefully as she pointed out the open window at the black night time sky.

“The stars, Buffy,” Dawn giggled. “I’ve never seen them so close before! They look like big shiny diamonds!”

“Hey, make a wish Dawn,” Buffy whispered, her gaze still on the brightest star in the sky.

“What? Why?” Dawn inquired with a look of bewilderment.

“Cos’ you’re supposed to silly,” Buffy giggled like a young child herself.

“Like in Pinocchio, you know, like in Disney movies,” Buffy offered weakly.

The look on Dawn’s face was one of complete loss. Apparently, the child had no idea what Buffy was talking about.

“I don’t know Disney that well,” Dawn murmured in a sad little voice.

“Mama was supposed to take Danny and me to Disneyland once, but…..” her tiny voice trailed off into silence.

“Well,” Buffy hesitated momentarily before she muttered, “we’ll just have to get you to Disneyland or Disneyworld when we get back to the states for a visit, right?”

“Right!” Dawn squealed in delight just before she cuddled up to Buffy and closed her bright but very weary blue eyes.

“I’m sleepy Buffy,” Dawn whispered as she yawned.

“Sweet dreams,” Buffy murmured tenderly.

Just moments later, Buffy could hear Dawn’s soft childish snores that assured her the child was finally sound asleep.

‘I cannot believe that Dawn hasn’t been to Disneyland at least,’ Buffy pondered the unthinkable, somewhat disgusted.

‘God, we lived less then three hours away!’

‘Even dad and mom got around to taking me once. We at least watched Disney videos together and…..’ she sighed slightly.

‘Sounds like a great idea…..the sleep that is,’ Buffy reasoned silently. She closed her tired eyes and slipped off into a pleasant sleep.


Spike sat on his front porch steps; a half full bottle of ale in his left hand.

As he stared up into the black night, his eyes focused on a particular star; he wondered what the little blond American was doing. Right now, at this very moment.

A memory of his beloved mother, Drusilla, flitted through Spikes mind. It was his mum who began the tradition with him; the nightly sentinels on their front porch that is.

Drusilla would sit for hours, especially at night, with her young son and point out the different stars to him. She would tell young Will the names of the twinkling stars and the stories about them; usually from Greek and Roman mythology.

“Look my sweet Will,” mum would whisper warmly, clutching the boy to her. “See that star? That’s the North Star my luv. Whenever you’re far away from me and home, just follow that star home.”

Spike would sit, wide-eyed and attentive while his child-like mum would point at the stars and ramble on and on.

“You can wish on the lovely stars my Will. Wish on them and all of your dreams will come true,” his mother had promised time and again.

Earlier that day when Spike and mumbled to Buffy about his mother’s illness, something the little blond had said to him touched him deeply.

Buffy had pointed out that no matter Drusilla’s illness had affected her in the end, if she had been a good, loving mother to Spike then that was enough. It didn’t matter how his mother had died, or how ill her mind had become; she had been a wonderful mum and that was all that mattered in the end.



He loved his front porch, Spike did. Whenever he could, at night especially, he would sit out on it and reflect on the day; the night or his life in general.

Usually, Spike relished the comfortable solitude that enveloped him as he sat and gazed into the darkness of sky or the farmland that surrounded him.

Tonight, however, the loneliness he felt, there all alone on his porch, seemed to overwhelm him. Spike an overpowering sense of sadness that he was alone on the porch with no companion of any kind.

Well, except for Tom, his beloved tabby who had been on the farm for years. Even the golden striped tiger of a cat could not console his master that night.

Spike realized, at that very moment, just how much he needed a constant woman in his life again. The problem was; he also realized that only one woman would do and therein lay the problem.

When Buffy had comforted Spike with her compassionate, empathetic words everything had come together for him in that very moment. Buffy was the one for Spike and that was that.

“What if Buffy doesn’t take to me like I’ve already taken to her,” he wondered aloud to the massive cat that now sat quietly next to him.

“Oh bloody hell!” Spike snorted in mock disgust for himself. “I’m finally reduced to askin’ a bleedin’ cat for love advice!”

With a shrug of his strong shoulders, Spike stood up, gulped down the last of his ale and strode into his front door. Tom the cat followed right after him, naturally.


Buffy munched the delicious scones that Fred had so kindly made for her and Dawn.

While she munched, the blond woman pondered the next move she should make.

“I need a good job,” Buffy mumbled through chews.

Fred grinned and sat down beside Buffy; her smile looked like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

“Well, I think I’ve the answer for you Buffy,” Fred stated simply, her hand on a scone for herself.

“Wes and I thought maybe you’d like to work for us at the Tartan?” Fred offered casually before she took a bite of her biscuit.

“Hmmm,” Buffy mumbled thoughtfully. “I think I’d like that,” she added, “but what about Dawnie?”

Dawn looked somewhat bewildered, “Who’s gonna’ look out for me,” she asked worriedly.

Fred soon put the worries of both her guests to rest.

“Xander Harris, Spike’s handyman…..his wife is pregs and I know she’d just love to care for Dawn here. While you’re at the pub at night and all that is. Xander and Willow are Yanks, like us,” Fred finished with a smile.

“She’s a lovely girl,” Fred added with a nod. Then she noticed the ‘unsure’ looks on both Buffy and Dawn’s face.


“Hey, I’ve an idea,” Fred piped up after an uncomfortable silence.

“I’ll have Xander and Willow, and Spike here for supper tonight. Just so you can all get acquainted and…..”

“Mr. Spike is going to be here?” Dawn asked, suddenly animated.

“Sure, why not,” Fred chuckled merrily; she shot a cautious glance at Buffy.

“Sure, why not?” Buffy echoed softly, slightly wary of the sly glance her hostess shot her.


Quentin Travers shoveled his rather tasty breakfast omelets into his mouth.

Normally, Quentin would have thoroughly enjoyed his daily morning ritual of eggs, toast, bacon and good strong coffee.

However today was not normal at all. Today, the two biggest pains in his ass were sitting across from his breakfast table.

It mystified Travers that two usually savvy employees like Angel and Ethan could have fucked up things the way they had.

“So, tell me how two normally bright fucks could have screwed the pooch the way you two did?” Quentin grunted between chews and gulps of his English muffin.

“Well,” Angel began with a furtive glance at his master, Quentin Travers.

“I’ll take this one mate,” Ethan interjected with all the puffed up demeanor that he could muster.

“You’ll take nothing, you fucking moron,” Travers spat in disgust, his eyes cold and angry.

Quentin slammed his fork and knife on the table and glared at the both Angel and Ethan.

“Let’s get something straight, my boys,” Travers growled trying to contain his infamous temper, just a bit that is.

“It was you two that fucked this one up, especially you Rayne!”
Quentin grunted, the tone of his voice was dangerously even Angel noted.

“I don’t mind the massacre of those two worthless pieces of shits, the adult McGuires that is,” he added with a contemptuous snort.

“But,” he continued, “to bring that boy of theirs and the little girl into this was just fucking stupid! I can abide killing off vermin like the folks, but the children…..” he let his sentence trail off and picked up the platinum plated utensils once again.

“I meant no harm Mr. Travers,” Ethan muttered under his breath, resentful of every apologetic word that his mouth emitted…..

“No harm?” Travers spat angrily.

“You’re a moron Rayne; pity I never noticed this flaw in you before. You could have planned the ‘discipline’ of the McGuires a bit better, don’t you think?” Travers glared at his number one guy in disgust.

“Why not wait until the rugrats were at school, at least,” the man continued as he munched another English muffin.

“To drag those kids into this,” Quentin mumbled, his mind now deep in his dark thoughts once again.

“I tried to protect the kid,” Angel offered weakly.

“No, you tried to get our sweet Elizabeth back in your bed O’Connor; I’m not a complete idiot you know!” Travers growled once again, his dark glare directed straight at the younger man.

“No, honestly,” Angel stammered unconvincingly. “I really felt that I owed Liz something and offered her a place to stay until things worked out for…..”

Angel ended in mid-sentence of his weak explanation as he could tell that his boss, Quentin Travers, was not amused or convinced by him.

“Well, you ‘did’ owe Elizabeth something,” Travers snorted then took another bite of his toast. “You know how I feel about Elizabeth Summers, whether you’re with my beloved niece, Cordelia now or not. What either of those two beauties ever saw in you, Angel, is a mystery to me!”

Angel hung his head down and mumbled something under his breath. Travers chose to ignore the younger man’s mutterings and glared back at Ethan Rayne.

Quentin sighed heavily and pointed his fork at Rayne again, “you’re really the cause of this fucking catastrophe friend,” he spat contemptuously.

“That bloody little McGuire brat can ruin us Quentin,” Ethan stated the obvious.

“However, I expect ‘you’ two to fix this mess and quickly. I want that kid found and dragged back here, Elizabeth in tow or not,” Travers finished with a snort.

“Liz won’t give the girl up without a fight,” Angel murmured knowingly. “When Liz digs her feet in, forget it and she’s obviously attached to the girl now,” he added truthfully.

“Like I said,” Quentin continued evenly, “get that little girl back here to LA. If Elizabeth has to be dragged back too, so be it. But…” he began his icy stare encompassed both men now.

“I don’t want the child hurt in any way. We’ll figure out what to do with this Dawn when she’s found and returned. If we have to ship the girl off to a convent to protect ourselves, so be it,” the boss finished with a firm nod of his head.

“Oh, and another thing,” Quentin added just before Angel and Ethan could make their escape. “If even one honey blond hair of sweet Elizabeth’s gorgeous head is harmed; I’ll have the shit beat out of both of you…and more,” he finished with a cold stare at Rayne especially.

“Oh, and O’Connor, give my love to Cordelia,” Quentin added as he waved both of the men out of his dining room.


“Don’t you like Mr. Spike, Buffy?” Dawn asked; her blue eyes wide in disbelief. “I think ‘he’ likes you,” the child began to giggle.

Buffy glanced at her charge and sighed. Apparently, Dawn had become quite taken with Mr. William ‘Spike’ Brenton and would not be happy until Buffy herself had succumbed to his British charms.

“It’s not that I don’t like Spike,” Buffy began cautiously. “It’s just that I don’t think I’m necessarily ‘his’ type, really,” she mumbled.

They were in their room. Well, the room that Wesley and Fred had so kindly provided for them.

“Well, I think Mr. Spike thinks you’re his type,” Dawn snipped just before she ran the brush through her long dark locks.

“You see, Dawnie,” Buffy began, a wistful tone in her voice. “Spike, or William really, he’s a kind of ‘salt of the earth’ guy.”

“A down to earth kind of guy that I’m not really used to,” Buffy continued.

Dawn looked totally confused by this point.

“Okay,” Buffy began again, “I usually go for a guy like Angel. You know what I mean; the flashy type that wants his gratification at a moments notice?”

Dawn still looked totally confused.

“Okay, one more time,” Buffy sighed. “Spike/William is a real man’s man. A man of the soil; not a man of the world. With a guy like Spike; you get what you see. Someone that works hard to make a living and…..”

“Maybe you should change the kind of guys you go for, Buff,” Dawn interjected somberly.



“You are way too wise for your age, missy,” Buffy muttered under her breath and shrugged in defeat. She slipped on her boot cut jeans and questioned the child silently while she pulled the powder blue baby tee over her head and shook out her long blond hair.

“I’m going to wear some make-up Dawnie, what do you think?” Buffy asked the adoring child to access her smoky eye make-up.

“It’s pretty,” Dawn squealed happily, plopping down on the bed, her blue eyes focused on her idol, Buffy.

“I like Mr. Spike,” Dawn stated simply.

“No kidding,” Buffy laughed kindly in reply.

“He’s got the prettiest ponies and a big yellow cat named Tom,” Dawn continued, oblivious to Buffy’s frown.

“I met Tom in the barn,” Dawn added non-chalantly.

“Great,” Buffy muttered as she added the finishing touches to her subtle, yet sexy make-up.

Dawn hopped up from the bed and headed towards the door.

“Oh, by the way,” the young girl called over her shoulder. “If you are so darned sure that you’re not Mr. Spike’s type..... How come you’re dolling up so much for him?”

Before Buffy could answer, Dawn scurried out the bedroom door and out of reach. Buffy could hear the young girl’s mirthful laughter all the way down the stairs.

‘That kid’s just too damn smart for her own good,’ Buffy thought to herself with a derisive snort.

She checked her look in the full length mirror and decided that she did indeed look ‘all dolled up’ and ready to greet the guests.

“Buffy!” Dawn screeched from downstairs. “They’re here! They’re here!”

(A little song from Disney to wrap up the chapter!)


‘When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
All the dreams your heart desires
Will come to you’


To be continued…..


A/N: This and my other WIP are so way behind and I do apologize.

Things will pick up, story line wise, in the next chapters and I will try to wrap up the plot lines as soon as I deem possible.

Oh, the partial song is from Disney’s movie Pinocchio.

Thank you for reading and please review. We’ve lost so many of our wonderful authors/authoresses for various reasons.

Love,
Spufette.