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Author's Chapter Notes:
We're moving along here. Having some fun with Spike and Angel in this chapter.
The Second

Spike awoke to a darkened sky and listened to his car door creak as he opened it and stepped out into the night.

"No one's 'ere yet?" he said to the cool air.

He scanned his surroundings. 'Middle of nowhere' would have been a perfect description.

Sand in every direction. A spectacular view of the stars. No city lights to muck it up.

These are the stars he remembered as a human, before city lights were commonplace, when he would visit the country. Angelus had always commented on his all too clear memories of 'life', but they were there nonetheless.

He went back into his car to check the clock. Ten P.M. The vampire reached across his seat and pulled the cooler to a more convenient spot. Deciding it was supper time, he plucked out one pint of blood held in the same kind of container the Sunnydale butchers used, pulled the top off, and drank. Cold blood was never good, but at least it dulled the hunger.

As he finished the last few drops, he saw headlights coming towards him. "Pretty far away still," he spoke to himself.

The peroxide blonde replaced the top on his now empty container of blood and set it in the cooler. "Can't have 'old blood smell' in the car," he said while closing the cooler's lid, and shut the car door. He then hopped up to sit on the hood, lit a smoke, and waited.

~~`~~

Angel had thousands of questions running through his head after leaving the Hyperion. All he wanted to do was pass. He wanted to pass every test they threw at him. Then he could be human again.

The possibility of who "The Second" was had been obvious. Buffy. Who else had a connection with him like her that was still alive, or alive again?

Cordy?

He was driving as fast as he possibly could when he saw something in the distance reflecting the beam of his headlights. As he pulled closer and closer to his destination, a growl of disgust and confusion came up from his throat.

"Spike!!"

The second car pulled to halt at a 'T' angle with Spike's parked car. The beams were turned off, then the engine.

Spike stared as Angel's head came into view as the elder Vampire stepped from his vehicle. Angel shut the door and stood beside his car while staring down the younger Vampire.

"I shoulda bloody well figured. Of course!" Spike said slightly sarcastically, but more happily at the sight of his grand-sire then one might have expected. He hadn't really considered "The Second." He wanted his wish and that had been his only thought. If anyone had to be there, Angel would not have been his first choice, but somehow it seemed fitting.

"Spike? Why you? And why are you happy to see me?"

"Why? 'Cuz, you're a hell of a bloke. Even if ya are a poofter."

Angel just stared on, dumbfounded. "Is Buffy with you? I smell her, where is she?"

"No, I didn't tell her. Thought I could surprise her."

"Surprise her? With what?" 'And what the hell is going on?' his mind kept repeating.

Spike thought about it for a bit. "So she can see I won't 'urt 'er or her scoobies, even without the chip."

Angel was confused. "What chip?"

"The bleedin' chip those Initiative wankers stuck in my 'ead. They think I'm evil?! Well what do ya call it when they make it bloody impossible for a Vamp to kill? I can't even take a swing at someone without my head feelin' like I got a...a spike poundin' through my skull." He laughed at the irony.

Angel soon smiled, one thing on his mind. 'I could kill him quick then."

"'Ey, don't be eyeing me like that, mate. I can still 'urt demons, and that includes Vamps."

Angel just kept staring at his grand-childe. Brand new questions were now running through his head.

'Her scent.'

Those added to the thousands he had running through his head on the way here. He was now getting a migraine.

"I don't get it, where is Buffy? Why are you here?"

Spike finally understood Angel's confusion. "You thought she would be 'The Second,' didn't you?" He watched Angel nod his head in confirmation. "Well mate, the box was on me stoop, and the address led me 'ere." He paused a moment.

Angel cut the silence. "So, if you can only kill demons, then what...I mean who have you..."

'Her scent. It's on him.'

Angel started again, remembering Spike's need for Buffy to see he was 'good.' "What does Buffy's opinion matter to you?" he finally asked bluntly.

"I love 'er," Spike answered just as plainly.

"What! Are you kidding?? A chip is one thing, but I can't see even your inability to kill a Slayer driving you to love her. Besides, you haven't got a chance. Buffy could never fall for-"

"A Vampire?" Spike finished.

No more was said for a long while. Then the older Vamp asked, "Does she love you?"

"Couldn't tell you for sure. Pretty sure she does, but for some reason she just don't want to admit it to 'erself, me, her friends. Bugger, I'm a hell of a guy! I'd be proud to be slee--" he shut his mouth and thought to himself, 'Too much information.'

Suddenly Angel's subconscious caught up with his brain. "I can smell her...on you!"

"Yeah, well, patrolling and what not. It's bound to happen." Spike tried to explain, suddenly nervous.

It was the duster, and Spike knew it. He bathed like a human did, which few Vamps felt a need to do. His clothes were clean. It was because of that first night, in the fallen house. His duster had been their bed and their blanket.

"It's not her perfume I smell, Spike. It's her...her..."

Angel's face broke into his demon and he lunged at Spike.

Spike's demon did the same as he took up a defensive stance. "Bloody He-"

A glow of green surrounded and froze Angel and Spike in time, just inches away from each other.

One flicker of the light, and all that was left were two cars, sitting without owners in the middle of the cool, dark dessert.


IN LA

Wesley slowly climbed down the steps to the hotel's lobby. He yawned and stretched while walking back to his office desk. He looked around the room. Lorne was rocking the baby to sleep behind the front desk. Fred and Gunn sat together in the lobby looking through some books.

"Was Angel called off on assignment?" he asked anyone who would answer.

The whole room looked up, and The Host answered with one word, "Akoshta."

Wesley nearly fell over with the buckling of his knees, but caught himself by leaning on his desk. He was visibly white and scared. After gravity was no longer a threat and he was seated at his desk, he picked up the receiver and dialed Giles' cell phone.

Giles had been spending most of the previous day trying to help the Council collect the books Buffy would want.

He was very glad he had been made aware of Buffy's request. He had been waiting for it for nearly five years, and was even more elated that he was able to slip the extra package into the boxes before they were shipped.

Now any questions she needed the answers to would be in the crates, no matter how much the damned Council wanted to hide it.

He had lied, of course. The Diary of the Slayer had not been lost. The Council in all their idiocy just thought it a random Slayer Diary, and counted it as a sad loss. The prophecies and spells had been catalogued long ago, little else seemed important to them.

To The Council, a Slayer is not a person, with an actual life, but a vessel for a fight.

This Slayer was different. She had too many fights, and too many changes no one knew of. The Council in general were all too old, and had lost the interest to read of fallen Slayers.

The Watcher thought to himself as he silently regarded the circumstances that had occurred which prompted him to find the Diary.

That day after the peroxide Vampire had found Buffy at The Bronze. He spent hours reading over all the Watcher and Slayer Diaries, and finally found a reference that always meant trouble. 'See the diary of Master Vampire Spike'. It was the term Master Vampire that had disturbed him at the time. Masters were never good news. Luckily, the blue eyes and cheekbones and accent had been described along with the name in a Watcher and corresponding Slayer Diary. Spike was the name, only the hair changed.

The entries told him little of Spike's fighting habits, just that he respected the PTBs. He would not fight the Slayer because he understood Akoshta.

A ringing phone jolted him from his memory.

"Hello, this is Rupert."

"Hello, Wesley."

"He is?"

"Akoshta, are you sure?" He slid his glasses from his face.

"Yes, I will most likely be getting a call from Buffy before tomorrow's end."

"Yes, and keep me apprised."

"Of course I will. Thank you."

"You, too."

~~`~~

Buffy returned from her uneventful patrol. She knocked on the door and spoke assurances through it, letting Tara know it was her returning.

She asked if Tara had found anything interesting.

"I think I found at least two interesting things."

"Really?" Buffy asked, excited.

"Yeah, well, after you left I thought I'd see what was in the box." Tara motioned over to the file-box that had also been in the hiding place of Spike's diary. "There were a lot of extra files on Spike, Angel, Dracula, Darla and Drusilla. I only looked through Angel's and Spike's though."

Tara took a calming breath, unsure how the Slayer would react. "Buffy, I think there is a prophecy about them, and you." Tara took in the Slayer's reaction, she didn‘t seem to be freaking out so the young witch continued, "I'm not sure, but I think they going to be tested for the 'gift' Anya was telling us about."

Tara tried to speak the next few words with as much comfort as she could, but knew there was no easy way to break the news. "B-Buffy, there's more. This prophecy isn't hard to understand...I m-mean not at all. G-Giles kept up Spike's Diary...h-he knew." She looked for a reaction in Buffy's face.

What she got, for the second time today, was Buffy walking to the phone and quickly dialing a number.

'Well, here we go,' Giles thought to himself as he stood and walked to his ringing cell phone.

"Hello, this is Ru-"

"Tell me now...Angel, Spike, prophecy!" Buffy demanded.

"Buffy, I had expected your call, is Spike missing?"

She was taken aback. "Why would Spike be missing? And why was that your first question?"

Giles tried to get her to answer his strange inquiry, "Buffy, have you seen Spike today...or, this evening rather?"

"Well, not tonight, no. I wasn't really looking for him, though." she lied.

"Buffy," he paused, trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject, "when did you last see him?"

"Last night."

"And before that?" he pushed.

"What do you mean?"

Giles sighed, "Buffy, I know what may very possibly be going on between you and Spike.

It's part of why I left," he confessed.

After there had been no reply to his response, he went on. "Buffy, I only came upon this prophecy after Spike invaded the school. I had no way to broach the subject, and if I did the ramifications could have been disastrous," Giles tried to explain. "Things had to happen, without interference."

Buffy began crying into the phone as she recounted her unknown feelings. That she didn't know what was happening. That Tara knew some things, but she couldn't even bring herself to tell Willow.

Giles tried to soothe her, telling her that it was ok, and not to worry.

"Buffy, I need you to settle down and listen to me. Are you there?"

"Yes," a tearful Slayer answered.

"In one of the cartons you'll be receiving will be a package. There is a book inside you must read. I believe it will tell you what you need to know. Only you can know what secrets it holds. This includes Spike. Buffy, not a single hint of what you find."

"If this is about him, why can't he know?" she paused. "And Tara is helping me, she's going to know regardless."

"Tara? I would have thought Willow would be the one to help, if anyone?" Giles asked.

"Willow isn't practicing anymore. She got all 'witchy' on us. We went wiggy on her." She had to tell him more but not all of it. "When I wanted to know if the resurrection spell Willow used could be making me 'feel' things for Spike, Tara was the only one I could ask. She's been helping me spell-wise and Spike-wise since. Now why can't I tell Spike anything?"

'So that is why she no longer wanted the spell books,' he thought to himself. He had received a small shipment of books two weeks ago that apparently neither Willow nor Tara needed. Now he had the reason why.

"Just like you, he cannot be privy to this information until he has fulfilled his role in the prophecy," Giles softly explained.

She didn‘t like it, but under the circumstances decided this would be one time she wouldn‘t fight. "Ok, Giles."

"Buffy, it really will be alright."

She sighed. "Thanks...I love you, Giles." click.

Giles stood with the phone still in his hand, and smiled as he hung it up.

'I hope I didn't just lie to her,' he silently prayed.


Chapter End Notes:
I'm posting often so you wont be left wanting for long.



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