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Author's Chapter Notes:
the wonderful banner was made for me by edgehead73, many many thanks...especially for your patience in helping me learn how to post it:)

as always, many thanks to those who took the time to review
dusty, cordykitten, Jenn and jennifer, and finally prettygirlbpd

they make my day and my muse work harder.
With everyone’s memories returned it was time for planning. Buffy, Riley, Faith, Robin and Spike were trying to work out a solution to how they were going to bring down Giles. Willow sat quietly, holding Kennedy’s hand and listening to the brainstorming going on around her.

Robin favoured a nicely laid trap, Riley wanted more intel and Spike and Faith were of the opinion that they could just go in all guns blazing and hope for the best. After all it had worked before. Dawn and Morgana sat and listened for a short while as the conversation moved back and forth like a ball at tennis. After the revelations of the day before Robin looked emotionally drained, but the weight he carried on his shoulders seemed to have been lifted.

Morgana watched as Dawn slipped away, heading for the medical room, and Martin. By the time Morgana got there she was sitting by Andrew’s bed holding his hands. The poor boy looked like a half starved Victorian orphan in a bed far too large for his gaunt frame. Dawn was trying to get him to eat something. She spent hours sitting by his bed trying to persuade him to eat, but it seemed helpless at times. It was as if his body was healing but his mind was sinking deeper and deeper into itself. The shocks of the revelations had hit them all badly but Andrew had never really accepted all his mind told him; his other hero, his watcher-in-command, his jedi, was a dark lord: the source of all their misery and most of their problems. Most of all he just couldn’t face what had happened to his body and mind. In all the years he had been with the Scoobies, he had been the one betraying them, telling Giles everything then allowing him, Giles, to be abusive… Andrew’s mind hid deeper and deeper within itself.

Clem and Baya were sitting with Sam in the small seating area: William and Chara were on the mat. William was staring up at a mobile someone had set up for him and Chara was playing with some sort of toy.

‘This is it, isn’t it?’ Baya asked Sam quietly. The two mothers had found that they had a lot in common over the past couple of weeks.

Sam nodded. ‘I think so. Buffy will do her best to protect us all, don’t worry: she’s faced down Hell-gods and the First. She’s not going to fail us now.’

‘I’m not worried for me but Chara and William, they are so little and haven’t had the chance to smell life yet.’ Baya looked at Clem. ‘Do you think they’ll be safe?’

Clem tried to nod, but he was scared. His whole little group were hiding in the cellars of a hotel inhabited by members of a government organisation dedicated to killing his kind, and by women born to kill demons and vampires. He had to believe.

Buffy and Faith leaned back in their chairs at the same moment. Buffy ran her hands through her hair and looked back up at the men surrounding her.

‘Right: first, we know Giles is wielding magic so we either tackle him on his home ground or ours. He hasn’t tracked us here, but if we lower the shields to go somewhere else he will. So what I suggest is, we do lower the shields: but we don’t leave. Willow, can you and Morgana set up a real safe room in the basement, near the sewer entrance, for us to use as an escape tunnel should we need to?’

‘Yes, that shouldn’t be hard. The cellars don’t follow the same floor plan as the main building so we could completely hide a couple of rooms.’

‘Right. This is the plan. The Hyperion is the trap, I am the bait, rather Faith and I are, and you are the cavalry. We tempt him in, make him think we’re scouting the place out to use as a HQ. He won’t come alone; he’ll bring reinforcements. As soon as he’s here, Morgana and Willow will put the barriers back up and keep him here. We go after him. We’ll need to strip his powers.’

‘Cordy gave us a spell that would bind his powers for about ten minutes, he’s too powerful for it to last longer.’ Willow said apologetically.

‘That will have to be enough. Spike, I want you to lead the assault party. Rona, Cathy, Mary: you take Baya, Sam and the kids to the basement…you will lead out the escape party. Riley, I want your men down there as well. We are going to need firepower and numbers in the cellar and I don’t want pure humans getting in the way of the slayers.

‘Robin, you will be up here with the slayers. At least we now know why you could hold your own against Spike when you went blow for blow with him.’

Robin smiled wanly at that comment and looked over at Faith. ‘No wonder you haven’t broken me yet,’ he commented.

‘Yeah right: but it’s not from want of trying.’ Faith said.

Xander ‘ewwed,’ as he approached the group. ‘And I thought Anya was good at giving details,’ he added, pulling the vengeance demon closer for a hug.

They took the spare seat next to Spike, Anya sitting on Xander’s lap and kissing him as she sat down.

‘There is one spell we should do before the big battle.’ Willow spoke quietly.

‘What’s that?’ Buffy asked.

‘Xander: we should repair his eye. It would give him his depth-of-vision back and allow him to be able to fight better.’

Xander looked at Willow. ‘Can you do that? Put it back properly?’

‘Yes, shouldn’t be too hard. Morgana brought all the ingredients we need for healing spells and we have the spell itself on the scroll that Cordy gave us. If she didn’t mean us to do it she wouldn’t have given us the spell, would she?’ For all her maturity Willow still sounded unsure about what was right and what was wrong with her magic. She looked at Kennedy for confirmation.

‘It’s alright sweetie, Cordy wanted you to heal him, remember?’

Willow nodded and looked at her best friend from Kindergarten. ‘You ready?’ she asked him.

‘Yep,’ he said.

‘Right, Kennedy can you get the scroll Cordy gave us, and we’ll see what we need?’

It was the work of a couple of minutes to get the scroll and read off the ingredients needed. Sage for protection, Heal-All for growth, and the blood of a dead man, and the blood of a total innocent.

‘How much of each, Willow?’ Buffy asked quietly. She couldn’t believe that any spell from the powers would have them hurt any child and she wasn’t going to give up Spike for anyone.

‘Four teaspoons from a dead man and three drops from an innocent.’ Willow looked up at Morgana. ‘Where are we going to get the blood of a dead man, or an innocent?’

‘Dead man here,’ Spike put up his hand. ‘And I’m sure I can spare a few teaspoons for the whelp,’ he added.

Xander groaned and looked at Spike. ‘I always thought I’d end up feeding you my blood, never thought you would be giving me some.’ But the look on his face said the rest, how grateful he was to the blond vampire.

‘What about the innocent blood?’ Willow asked. ‘I don’t think any of us count.’

‘William does,’ Riley pointed out.

‘I’m not an innocent!’ Spike blustered.

‘Not you, my William, my son, after all it’s only three drops, and I’m sure we can find a needle to prick him with.’

‘That would hurt the little one. I could do it if you want, he would just feel pleasure if I nicked his foot, feel like a tickle - if you trust me, that is.’

Riley then did one of the bravest things he ever had. He went and got his son from Sam, who followed him into the room. She watched as her demon hunting, highly trained husband placed his precious son into Hostile 17’s arms.

‘Go to your God father,’ he said gently.

Spike looked up at the man and Rilely could see the tears in Spike’s eyes. Spike could hardly see for the blurred vision. He wiped his free arm across his face and looked down at the infant.

‘I’m never going to let anything happen to you, little one. I will always have your back,’ he whispered and leant down and blew a raspberry on the little one’s stomach. Young William giggled and laughed, waving his arms in the air and brushing against the brow ridges with his chubby little arm.

‘Now that’s a sight I never thought I’d see: The Slayer of Slayers, William the Bloody, one quarter of the scourge of Europe, playing with a baby with no intention of biting him,’ Sam commented.

‘Actually Sam, Spike needs to get a couple of drops of William’s blood,’ Riley said.

‘And you’re OK with that?’ She didn’t sound mad, or scared, in fact the only emotion Willow could detect was surprise.

‘Well yeah, he won’t hurt him.’

‘No he won’t. Riley, Riley Finn, you are a good man,’ Sam said and kissed him on the lips.

‘Time for magic.’ Morgana said and pointed at the circle. ‘In you go, Xander.’

Xander got up from the chair, gently kissed Anya on the lips and made his way over to the circle that had been drawn on the floor in sage. There was one small gap that he used as a gate and sat in the centre of the circle as Willow joined him.

Morgana went to cut Spike’s arm, but the vampire shook his head. ‘Let me pet,’ he said and slipped into game face. Morgana held up a cup and Spike slashed his wrist and let the blood flow into the vessel.

Sam watched in fascination. She must admit he looked handsome even as a demon. His golden eyes gleamed and looked at the baby in the vampire’s arms; he unwrapped a tiny foot and gently pricked it with one fang. William kept giggling and laughing as three drops of his blood were added to the vessel.

Morgana handed the cup to Willow and sealed the circle with more of the sage. Willow then started chanting.

‘Let that which was gone, return,
Let the body be whole and complete,
Let the eye renew,
Let it see clearly.’

She passed her hand over the mix and it started to smoke. She then went over to Xander and poured it into the orbit that once contained his eye. The liquid boiled and bubbled in the orbit, and the smell was foul. The smoking continued and Xander started screaming and shaking, an arm lashed out and caught Willow across the face. Willow scooted backwards until she was as far away from Xander as she could get. His fists were lashing out and would have hit her if she’d stayed where she was.

Spike handed his Godson back to his mother and went over. ‘Let me in Willow,’ he ordered.

‘I hate magic,’ he added. Morgana extended the circle behind the vampire and as soon as he was sealed in his own area, Willow opened up the circle in front of him, allowing him into help.

The vampire wrapped his arms around the man and held him still, using his preternatural strength to prevent him from harming himself or anyone else. The smoking seemed to be dying down.

‘It’s OK mate, I’ve got you,’ he whispered in Xander’s ear. When at last it was over, Xander came round to find himself securely held in Spike’s arms. Safe.

Xander looked over at Willow, she was getting a lovely black eye. ‘Sorry,’ he said.

‘It’s OK.’

Xander put a hand up to his face. He opened his eyes and there, staring back at the crowd gathered around, were two eyes. Xander was healed.





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