~Chapter Five~
AN: Short chapter, but hey. Big thanks to Tami, Nadine, and Jessica for their help. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed!
Dawn gaped at Spike when he told her the news the next morning. She had woken up without her sister's screeching at her and when she finally got into the kitchen the blonde vampire was whistling as he fried eggs and bacon for her. She was happy that apparently with the make-up of him and Buffy came the return of Domestic Spike, but she wanted to know where her sister was and what the forehead-y one had wanted.
"You just let her go with the big poofy forehead guy??!" She put her hands on her hips and frowned at him reproachfully. He nearly smirked at the flash of Buffy he saw just then. He also knew that like Buffy, if he looked too amused at her he was probably going to wind up being struck with a fist.
"She needed t' go stop whatever bad that Cordelia saw in her vision attackin' Sunnydale an' the others," he explained patiently again and shoved a plate of food in her direction. He leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms, looking down at her sternly. "Now eat. Your sister will stake me if she comes back t' find I haven' been takin' care of her sister all proper like."
She sighed and looked down at the food, then back at Spike. "I still think you shouldn't have let them go off alone together."
"Just eat," he frowned at her slightly. He didn't need the little slip of a thing voicing his fears. Her insistence that it was a mistake wasn't helping him at all.
Angel would drive all night and they would stop to bunk down in a hotel during the day. While Angel went about sun-proofing the room before dawn came on the second day, Buffy headed into the bathroom to get a shower. A tense silence always filled the car and stretched into the hotel room. The former lovers had little to say to each other and Buffy was a bit unhappy about returning to Sunnydale before she was ready. They only spoke to ask questions and give short answers, as well as quick 'good night' and 'good morning'.
Buffy came out of the bathroom in her flannel shirt and shorts set, still drying her hair as she glanced towards Angel. He was stretched out on the bed with his arms under his head, watching television. He looked up at her though as she stepped into view.
"I'm going to order something from room service; want anything?" she asked him as she tossed the towel aside.
"I don't eat," he said as if she forgot he was a vampire.
She glanced at him and lifted a shoulder as she thumbed through the phone book. "Spike eats almost as much as we do."
"He always was an odd excuse for a vampire," he sighed.
Buffy growled at him. "I would watch how you talked about my... well, I guess he's my boyfriend now. Doesn't matter what I call him, though, I am the only one who gets to tease him... because well... I don't do it maliciously... most of the time. Hmmph."
She moved to the other side of the room and put her back to him as she placed her order over the phone. Angel watched her, seething over her defense of his shame of a Grand-Childe. He had hoped getting her away from Spike would get rid of whatever spell Spike was putting over his girl. His girl. He wasn't going to lose her to Spike. He was glad to see his impetuous Grand-Childe hadn't put a claim on her yet.
Well, he couldn't do anything just yet. He needed to let her cool down again and not to mention, he didn't want the delivery guy to interrupt so he would wait until after she ate.
Dawn walked into the kitchen and totally ignored Spike as she headed to the fridge. He watched her ignore him with a frown on his face. Yeah, he knew she was quite moody, but he was used to being on her good side. He sighed and tried to hand her a plate of pancakes, but she ignored that too and went to get herself a bowl of cereal.
"C'mon, Nibblet, don' be like that," he finally said.
She didn't respond, only sat down at the table away from him to eat.
"I don' like her being with Peaches anymore than you do, but she had t' go an' do her duty as the Slayer. She'll be back before you know it. 'Till then, I'll take care of you an' trust she can handle herself. An' don' think of misbehavin' because she's gone." He pointed a finger at her. "I can be just as strict as Buffy if I have t'."
That at least earned him an eye roll. He figured that was something and walked over, setting a wad of bills on the table near her.
"There you go, Bit. Get somethin' real good for lunch an' have some fun with your friends after school." He smiled kindly at her then headed back to the basement to go watch his daily shows. He tried to shake the inky feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach. Maybe... residual effects from the initiated claim? It wasn't returned, but had started to bind them. If that was the case, he knew it would fade eventually and he would have to tough it out until then.
Buffy smiled at the delivery guy when he came to clear away the remains of her breakfast. She dug out a tip and handed it to him as he left then went over towards her bed, glancing towards the brooding vampire. Well, that really wasn't anything new. He hadn't said anything to her since she had got onto him for his usual trash talking about Spike. She knew there was no love lost between the two vampires and let it go. He knew that Spike was with her after the none-too-subtle hints at her house, so he should have known better than to say anything bad about her new boyfriend.
She just shook her head and started turning down her covers, preparing to go to sleep. Slipping under the blankets, she glanced over at the brooding vampire.
"Good night... er morning," the corner of her mouth lifted slightly then she curled up, tucking her fist under her cheek.
He apparently had other ideas than sleep as he clicked off the television. He slid off his bed to kneel next to her, reaching out to touch her hair tenderly.
"I'm sorry about earlier... I don't want to make you feel like you have to defend him." He sighed. "But, I do know him better than you think you do. I've known him since the day he was turned over a hundred years ago. You have only known him a couple of confusing years."
"I think it's you who's confused," she lifted herself on her elbow. "You knew the old Spike, before he changed. Yes, initially because the chip forced him to, but now... because he wants to."
"Buffy, I didn't think you were still that naive about things. Especially after what happened with us," he looked at her with a small frown as if she were a child.
She shook her head. "Yeah, well I know for a fact that boinking doesn't turn him into a raving psycho. And, his chip doesn't work on me, so it's him that chooses not to maim me."
"I can't just sit by and watch you make such a big mistake," he sighed and shook his head.
"Then don't watch and I don't think it's a mistake. I don't want you butting into my personal life. My private life is none of you business. So, can we please just drop this, Angel?"
"No, we won't drop this," he caught her hand. "You will always be my girl and I won't lose you to him."
"I am not yours!" She sat up and started to pull away from him. "You gave up any claim you may have had on me when you left Sunnydale for Los Angeles. Even before then, it was long over for us."
"I never gave up my claim on you," he grabbed both her arms and pulled her back towards him. "I still love you. I never stopped and I never will. I know you love me, too. I don't know what Spike did to you, but I won't just sit back idly. I plan to do something about this."
Buffy tried to pull back away from him, but they were pretty evenly matched in the strength department. Plus, it was hard to get traction on the sheets. She kept struggling in vain, starting to get very worried about where the situation was headed.
"Angel, let go of me. You're starting to hurt me," she winced as his fingers dug into her arms. "And, I did love you... but now I... I'm with Spike."
"Not anymore," he growled, rising off his knees to crawl onto the bed with her. "I found you, and I saved you from him. And, now that I have you, I don't intend on letting you go again."
She continued to struggle as he pinned her under his bulky body. "I only came with you to help my friends! I'm certainly not sticking with you once we get to Sunnydale if you continue to act like this!"
He gave a harsh laugh. "We're not going to Sunnydale. There was no vision from Cordelia; I just figured that was a really good idea for getting Giles to finally give up your location. I'm sure when he agreed to help you flee he thought it would get you away from Spike, not help you shack up with the bastard."
"Angel?" she gasped with eyes wide as she stilled beneath him. "How could you?"
"Like I said, I'm saving you from a very bad situation," he shook his head. "I will deal with Spike once I have you somewhere safe."
She growled dangerously. "And what about my sister? Are you planning on just leaving her there out in the mountains of Georgia in the middle of nowhere?"
"I'll collect her when I go back to deal with my Grand-Childe," he soothed. "I'll send her to a boarding school. The discipline will do her good; make her better behaved so that you'll no longer have to worry about them taking her away."
She looked at him as if he were nuts. How was that any different from Social Services taking her away? She started to buck wildly to get him off her, kicking her legs and trying to get them under him to lever him off. He was so much larger than her, though, and it made it hard. How could he be acting like this with his soul still in place? Maybe she was naive if she thought he couldn't be capable of anything bad with it.
Shrill screams pierced the air as he began ripping their clothes away and she realized after a few seconds they were coming from her. Hot tears spilled down her face and she begged him to stop, but it was useless and she bit her lip to bleeding. He kissed her and she gagged at the plundering tongue, so unlike her Spike's. Shame filled her as she thought of him. Would he want her back with Angel's paw prints all over her? Would she even get away from Angel to see Spike again? When she felt herself invaded, she disconnected totally and all lucid thoughts stopped as her mind tried to shield her from the horrifying experience.
Spike dropped the remote as he felt the alarm and fear coming faintly from the remains of the initiated claim just before it faded away. It was enough, though. He knew something wasn't right. His mate was in trouble and he couldn't just sit around there with his thumb up his ass. In the next moment he was barreling up the stairs to catch Dawn before she ran out the door.
He couldn't alarm her as well with what he had sensed and he couldn't take her along as well. She would slow him down and possibly be put in danger as well.
"Nibblet!" He caught her arm and let out a breath when she looked at him questioningly, "You're right. Shouldn' have let her go with that wanker alone. I'm goin' t' head off after them an' that means you need t' stay with your friend until we get back. No arguments!" He shook a finger at her face when she opened her mouth to argue. "Just be glad I'm goin' after them, yeah?"
She frowned for a moment then sighed, "Yeah." After a moment's hesitation, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I love you," she blushed, "You know I meant that in a brotherly way, right?"
"Right," he laughed and slipped her a bit more money before heading back to the basement to get to packing. Then he would have to go into the garage and do something to sun-proof the car, obviously. He wasn't waiting for bloody nightfall to go save his mate.
Buffy woke up and after a moment identified the noise that had brought her back to consciousness. Angel snored loudly beside her; she was facing his back with him hogging most of the covers. Asshole. She rolled her eyes and glanced around, stomach queasy as she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and get her ass out of there before he woke up. She hoped he was heavy sleeper during the day, but still she was as quiet as she could as she slipped out of bed.
Her eyes strayed to the bathroom, wishing to take a shower to get the disgusting feel of him off her body but it was better not to tempt fate since she wanted to get out of there before he could stop her. All she had to do was make it to the door where it was day outside and he couldn't follow her. She crossed her fingers as she pulled some clothes out of her bag to change into then went over to his things to dig his wallet out. She felt no remorse as she took all the money inside, figuring he was getting off easy when she would have liked to have staked him for violating her trust and her body. He probably would have woken up, though, and they would have struggled again with maybe the same results. Better to just make a run for it.
So she stuffed the wad of money in her pocket and grabbed up her bag before fleeing out the door. Taking his car was out of the question; he would have been able to track it. So she hurried down the street to the payphone where she could call a cab to take her at least halfway across the state so that she would be far from Angel's radar before he even woke up or could go out.
With the cab on the way, she next called her house.
"What do you want?" a gruff voice demanded impatiently.
"Spike?"
"Buffy," he breathed, nearly dropping the phone. "I was just on my way out t' go after you. I felt... something was wrong. Are you okay, pet?"
"Y-yes," she nodded and clutched the phone tightly, "Angel lied. He lied about the vision just to get me away from you." Her throat constricted with tears, "He... he forced himself on me, Spike."
"I'll tear the wanker's dick off an' feed it t' him!" he roared angrily, feeling anguish that he couldn't be there to protect his mate. He wanted to comfort her as well and it made him even more restless. "Tell me where you are, luv, so I can come get you."
"I'm in Texas, but I just called a cab to get me at least some distance away before nightfall. I'll probably be near the border and I'll call you when I get there to tell you where exactly, okay?" She looked up as the cab pulled up and she lifted a hand to the driver, motioning for him to take her bags while she was finishing her call. "Spike, the cab's here. I'll be fine... I just want to get away from here then get a shower once I reach a hotel. I know how you drive so I know you'll hurry."
He chuckled, relaxing slightly as he was sure she was fine. He still wanted to be by her side as soon as possible. "Of course. You just be careful an' call me the minute you get yourself settled in a hotel. I'll be worryin' like a right ponce until you do, you know."
"I know," she smiled, "I love you."
She hung up and turned back to the driver. "I have one more quick call to make."
He nodded and she dialed one more number, her face becoming dark again as she huddled close to the phone. As soon as the answering machine beeped she began her acid filled message.
"How dare you," she hissed. "I hope you all are pleased with your handiwork. Your selfishness has beyond sickened me, assuming you can dictate to me where I should live so that I can be around to be your slave. Meddling in my personal life and bringing Angel into this. Just so you know, he lied to you about Cordelia's vision and you played right into his hands. I better not see any of you again for a very long time or hear about any of you trying to find me before I'm ready. I blame you for what happened this morning. Your selfishness is to blame for Angel lying to me, attempting to kidnap me, and raping me!"
She slammed down the receiver and stormed over to the cab, finally sliding into the back seat. She told the driver to just start driving for the border until nightfall then curled up on the seat with her cheek leaning against the leather of the seatback. The driver glanced back at her to tell her to buckle up then decided to let her be as he drove off.
tbc...
AN: This might be done soon, what with getting away from Angel and her telling off her friends again... unless you want Angel to go all Angelus (not from the rape, cause that wouldn't cause perfect happiness, but him doing it on purpose for some revenge or something like that)... or maybe the town in Georgia where they've been living is really a newly forming hellmouth or who knows... I have other fics as well as other fic ideas that I could work on if I get finished with this. But wanted the "fans" to have a say in if they would be happy if this was a somewhat short fic or if they wanted it longer. Cause short, I would only have another chapter or two after this.