Chapter Seven:
Buffy and Willow were sitting facing each other on Buffy’s bed. Buffy was toying with Mr. Gordo’s ears as she listened to Willow talk about Oz and Veruka, and the aftermath of his killing her. Tears ran freely for both young women as Willow talked about how it felt when Oz left and how broken she had been, especially without Buffy there to help her through it. Both girls loved Xander, but there were some conversations better saved for a girlfriend’s shoulder.
“But, in a way, that’s how I got to know Tara better,” Willow said, wiping at her cheeks. “With both you and Oz gone I spent more time at the Wicca group but the only one actually practicing and not in it for the bake sale was Tara. She’s a great witch; she’s been teaching me so much.”
“Well, that’s great, Wills,” Buffy smiled, happy to see that Willow had handled the split with Oz as well as she had. Breakups were always hard, but Buffy had suspected that her friend may have taken it harder than most. “She seems very sweet.”
“She is,” Willow said, smiling. “So, what’s the deal with you and Spike being all friendly now?”
“You mean aside from having to spend nearly three weeks in his constant company?” Buffy smiled ruefully. “I don’t know. We had a lot of time to sit around so we talked. Got to know each other a bit better, beyond the slayer-vampire stuff, I mean. Usually we just talked about how we were going to escape, the other demons, what the commandos were doing, and trying to work through as much of the information as we had. But sometimes we’d talk about non-slayer stuff. Everyday stuff. You know he likes poetry?”
“Really?” Willow responded incredulously. “I never pegged him as a poetry reading guy. More like a punk-rock, lets-kill-everyone guy.”
“Yeah, me too.” Buffy grinned fondly, remembering some of the not-so-bad times during their captivity. “But he’s really well read. Like beyond college, I-love-reading-type. He kept me calm…”
“Spike? Kept you calm?” Willow’s tone held more than a note of disbelief. After all, in her own experiences with the vampire, keeping someone calm didn’t seem like one of his greatest abilities.
“Well, yeah,” Buffy said softly, absentmindedly playing with Mr. Gordo on her lap. “I mean, he certainly has some experience with it after taking care of Drusilla for so many years. He told me stories about what the world used to be like, talked about places he’s been, people he’s met. You know Billy Idol stole his look right?”
“I-I had no idea,” Willow said, scrutinizing her friend who seemed to have changed her feelings quite drastically regarding her enemy. Maybe there was something to the whole Stockholm syndrome theory? But that was supposed to be about the captors, not fellow prisoners. “He did take care of Drusilla. She was a loony, so maybe he’s just applying those skills on you.”
When Buffy looked up at her, one eyebrow raised in question, Willow hastened to add, “N-not that you’re crazy… You’re very sane; I just mean that he applied calming skills with you. N-not insano-woman skills.”
Buffy was about to reply when there was an urgent knock on her bedroom door. When she got up to open the door she was faced with both Spike and Xander, a combination she had certainly not expected to see.
“Buffy, bleach-boy here says he heard some people outside,” Xander started, gaze darting around the room nervously. “Could be the commandos.”
“Thanks, Xan,” Buffy replied, glancing over at Willow who was already attempting to peek out of the window undetected.
“Heard ‘em trying to sneak around outside,” Spike added in a low voice when Buffy looked over at him. “Don’ know if they’ve seen us yet, but we should probably stay low.”
“Yeah,” Buffy said barely loud enough for her friends to hear. “Anything you can do to disguise us until we figure out what they’re doing here?” Buffy asked Willow who had given up trying to see through the curtains.
“Um, well,” Willow started, trying to think as quickly as possible. Tara would probably think of something that she couldn’t. “Let’s get down into the basement as quickly as we can. I’ll ask Tara to come along, she probably knows a cloaking spell of some sort.”
The small group snuck downstairs as quickly as they could, Willow motioning to Tara from the hallway that she should follow them downstairs. Xander stayed upstairs with Anya, Giles and Joyce making sure to stay in the living room so it would appear they had only stopped by for a friendly visit.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once downstairs in the basement, Willow quickly explained the situation to Tara. Tara glanced over at Buffy and Spike knowing that a simple cloaking spell would keep their essences hidden for a while, but it wasn’t a permanent solution. It would help if they could actually see or hear what the soldiers outside were doing. She had no idea what stories about vampires were true, but if Spike had heard the group of soldiers approach, he should be able to overhear what they said from outside of the house.
“There’s a s-spell,” Tara said softly, her usual stutter subdued by the seriousness of the situation. “I-if you let me access s-some of y-your p-power, Willow, I s-should be able t-to get a c-cloaking s-spell up quickly.”
“Yeah, of course,” Willow agreed, making space to sit on the cold cement floor. “I’ll just focus my energy on you, so start whenever you’re ready.”
While Tara and Willow were busy chanting, Spike motioned Buffy closer. She approached him slowly and followed with her eyes to where he was pointing at a small window.
“Are they out there?” she asked, voice barely a whisper.
“Close,” Spike replied, eyes fixed on the window. “I can hear ‘em talkin’. Soon as the spell’s done, I’ll be able to focus better.”
Buffy nodded in reply, moving progressively closer to the window, Spike right at her side. Willow and Tara stopped chanting when the duo had reached the bottom of the window.
“It’s safe to talk,” Willow said softly, still wary of raising her voice too loudly for fear that the spell wasn’t strong enough. “We should be able to hold it for a few hours, but we’ll have to stay down here with you. We can’t just appear out of nowhere in case they have body-heat sensor thingies like in those space movies.”
“That’s ok,” Buffy whispered, focusing her eyes on Spike who seemed to be listening intently. Buffy raised a finger to her lips while glancing at Willow, who nodded and gestured zipping her lips. Spike stood perfectly still, eyes flashing amber, as he listened closely to what the soldiers outside were discussing.
“They don’ know we’re here,” Spike said softly after a while. “But they know you lot are workin’ together so they want to keep the house under surveillance.”
Willow gasped, reaching out to grasp Tara’s hand in surprise. The Scoobies had thought they were being pretty covert in their meetings while they were searching for Buffy, but maybe they hadn’t been as careful as they thought. But how were they to know that the army had already figured out that Buffy was working with them?
“They’re sayin’ somethin’ about monitoring all known persons associated with you, Slayer, but they have to clear it with Walsh first. They want to come back tomorrow night to install cameras,” Spike growled dangerously, feeling frustration boil over in him.
“So we have to get out of here by tomorrow night then?” Buffy asked softly. She had just gotten back home from that horrible place, where could they go now that the commandos knew about all of her friends? She shouldn’t have led them here in the first place.
“They’re headin’ back to somethin’ they call ‘The Initiative’” Spike added. “Probably the name of the organization, as far as I figure. Wankers.”
Buffy placed a soothing hand on Spike’s arm when he started to growl again. He stopped as soon as her flesh touched his, his eyes snapping down to meet hers. Spike’s eyes were cold and hard, flashing erratically between blue and amber. The whole situation had obviously gotten to him.
“Are they gone?” Willow asked after a few minutes of strained silence. Spike nodded abruptly and she let out a sigh of relief. “Emergency Scooby-sesh upstairs then?”
“Looks like,” Buffy sighed deeply, sharing a look with Willow. Buffy, her Mom, and Spike could certainly not stay at the house any longer and Buffy doubted that any of her friends or her watcher could stay where they were either if they wanted to stay involved with the fight. They needed to find a new place to stay, some place this ‘Initiative’ had no idea about. They would have to figure out something soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara emerged from the basement to find Joyce busy washing dishes in the kitchen.
“Hey Mom,” Buffy said as she walked up to the older woman. “It looks like we may have to get out of here for a little while.”
“Oh no, sweetie, why?” Joyce asked, reaching to embrace her daughter as she approached her.
“The soldiers have found out you’re all working together and want to start monitoring everyone. It looks like we may have to hide out for a while until we know how we’re going to bring them down,” Buffy sighed and leaned in her mother’s arms for a precious moment of peace. She extracted herself quicker than she would have like, motioning the others into the living room where the remaining Scoobies still were.
“What’s up, Buff?” Xander asked as soon as he saw her enter the room. “Did the commandos leave?”
“Yeah, they did,” Buffy said, looking over at her watcher meaningfully. “But Spike managed to hear some of what they’re planning to do.”
After Buffy indicated that he should relay what he’d heard, Spike awkwardly took the floor. “Seems they call themselves ‘The Initiative’ an’ they know the Slayer lives here with her Mum. They know about you lot as well. Got dossiers on you I reckon.”
“How?” Xander asked looking increasingly worried. “It’s not like we’ve done anything bad. We patrolled while you were away, Buff, but nothing beyond that.”
“’S probly enough, Whelp,” Spike sighed. “The cardboard cut-outs said that they’re plannin’ on getting approval to monitor everyone of you an’ install cameras and the like tomorrow night. Had to get Walsh’s approval first, though.”
“So Professor Walsh is the commanding officer at The Initiative?” Willow asked skeptically, she still hadn’t had enough time to adjust to the idea that one of her favorite teachers could be involved in the whole ordeal.
“Yep,” Buffy said, popping the ‘p’. “And her TA works for her too. The guy from to bookstore? Ryan?” Buffy tried prompting Willow, desperately searching her mind for the right name. She had seen him around the halls after he’d stopped taking her to the lab for testing.
“Riley?” Willow was shocked. “Riley is a part of this, too?”
Tara placed a soothing hand on Willow’s arm when the redhead started to look around frantically. There was obviously a little too much stress involved in the discovery. She knew that Willow had a soft spot for the TA, she’d seen them talking a few times after class. It had to be a pretty devastating blow to her.
“Riley! That’s it,” Buffy said happily. “Yeah, he’s one of the, what do you call them? Like boy scout leaders?”
“Troop commanders,” Xander supplied for her.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Buffy replied. “I think he was assigned to me or something in the beginning. He used to bring me into all the experiment labs…” she trailed off as a barrage of images assaulted her memory. A shiver ran up her spine and she had to physically shake herself to snap out of it. When she opened her eyes again it was to meet a mixture of concerned and angry faces, and Spike’s eyes were filled with too much empathy for her liking.
“Well, in any case,” Buffy continued before anyone else had a chance to ask her anything about that. “I think we need to move somewhere safer. Any ideas?”
“We should go to Canada,” Anya piped up cheerfully, as if running away was the best possible option.
“I could contact the council, they have access to a number of properties in Sunnydale,” Giles said after glaring at Anya. “We won’t be running away from this one that easily, Anya.”
“Great, how long will that take?” Buffy asked, pacing the floor.
“Well, uh,” Giles started, polishing his glasses. “I would have to wait until tonight to contact them, then maybe a few days to set everything up.”
“We don’t have a few days,” Buffy said irritably. “We have to leave tonight, tomorrow at the latest.”
“I’m sorry, Buffy,” Giles looked at his slayer. “If you want the council to help in any way it would take a while. May I remind you that you are somewhat of a freelance slayer these days? They may need some convincing before they’d even agree to help us.”
“Freelance?” Spike asked, quirking a brow.
“I quit the council,” Buffy stated simply in a flat tone. “I’ll tell you all about it later if you’re interested, Spike.”
“Well, the dorms are out,” Willow supplied trying for an elimination approach. “The caves out by the woods?”
“I’m not living in a cave!” Anya said indignantly. “Xander, tell her we’re not living in a cave!”
“Relax, Ahn,” Xander soothed his girlfriend. “We’re just trying to come up with as many options as possible.”
“Fine,” Anya huffed, clearly not placated enough. “But no caves.”
“How ‘bout a crypt?” Spike suggested.
“We can’t house eight people in a crypt,” Buffy supplied. “No heat, no electricity, no running water. We’d have to leave too often for supplies.”
“A hotel?” Joyce suggested. Buffy and Giles both shook their heads. Too easy to find a group there.
“A cabin somewhere in the woods?” Willow piped up. “Sunnydale must have a bunch of abandoned houses.”
“I know of one,” Xander said quietly. He looked over at Buffy. “You may not like it though.”
“What is it? We’re kinda running low on the select-a-house menu right now,” Buffy muttered, too deep in thought to figure out for herself why Xander was being all cryptic.
“The mansion,” Xander said, eyes fixed on Buffy. “On Crawford Street. Angel’s old place. No one would know about it and it’s big enough to house all of us with heat and electricity to boot. Plus running water. Always a bonus for sneaky hideouts.”
Buffy visibly paled. She hadn’t been back to the mansion since the day Angel left Sunnydale for good. Staying in that place seemed more like a sick joke to her than anything else at this point. The place was filled with grief and death. She had killed Angel there, or sent him to hell rather. Giles had been tortured there. Buffy glanced over at Spike whose face had closed down completely as he watched her intently. She suddenly realized that he must have some pretty bad memories from that place, too.
“It seems to be the only viable option, Buffy,” Giles added softly when his slayer had yet to answer. “Xander makes a good case. No one would have any reason to look for us there.”
“And it would be easy to disguise our presence because the house is set far back from the street,” Willow added, considering the idea. It was certainly the best up for consideration. The place was huge, enough room to house the eight of them in separate sleeping quarters if they wanted.
“And if there is electricity, I assume there’s a stove,” Joyce added. “I could be your resident cook.”
Buffy had yet to break eye contact with Spike while listening to the decision slowly being made for her. She could see the pain flash through the vampire’s eyes at the same rate she assumed hers did. She wasn’t happy about going there, but the mansion seemed the best fit for all.
“Okay,” Buffy sighed. “We’ll go to the mansion. But we have to work out what everyone will say they’re going. Willow, Tara, you guys can’t leave until after finals. It would look too out of place. But at least Christmas break is coming up soon, so you should be fine.”
“Yeah,” Willow agreed looking at Tara who simply nodded. “We’ll just spread the word that we’re going away as soon as our exams are finished and join you in a couple of weeks. That way I can still try to hack their computer system while I’m out and about in the world.”
“Great,” Buffy agreed, shifting her focus to Xander and Anya. “What about you guys?”
“Well, we could just say we’re going on vacation,” Xander supplied, checking with Anya who nodded in approval. “I’ve got some vacation time put away that I have no use for. Should be able to organize that in a day or so.”
“Good. Willow could you work on cloaking spells for them so they can leave un-detected?” Buffy asked as she mentally ticked the boxes in her mind. Willow and Tara shared a look and quickly nodded.
“So that leaves you and Mom,” Buffy said, looking at her watcher.
“Well, I-I’m not sure,” Giles tried to think of a plausible idea.
“We could book tickets to go to England,” Joyce interjected. “I have a European buying trip scheduled for a week from now. I could just move it up to tomorrow.”
“We could make it appear that we are leaving together for England,” Giles added. “Perhaps make them think that Buffy has already left the country, throw them off her scent if you may.”
“Could work,” Buffy replied, finally feeling as if some progress was being made. “We should work out the finer details of the plan, too. Food, smelly old books for research, magic supplies, that kind of things.”
The gang busied themselves drawing up lists of supplies and timings for preparing the mansion for habitation. It would take a lot of work, most of the quickly approaching night and the following day. Joyce would arrange for a food delivery using a pseudonym, Giles would pack up all necessary books and magic supplies they could potentially need, while Buffy and Spike were to bring over as much of the weapons supply they deemed necessary. Xander and Anya would arrange some help from some of the local demons Anya was already in touch with and they would set about ‘disappearing’ out of Sunnydale. Willow and Tara planned to construct individual cloaking spells for the people who wouldn’t be moving to mansion immediately.
When everything was arranged and everyone knew what they were doing, they split up for the night. They would be spending enough time together in the next few weeks to last them all a lifetime.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy had asked Spike to help her retrieve some of the weapons she stored around the house and the two were currently in the basement loading duffle bags full of swords, stakes, and battle axes. She had another stash in her room, but that may have to wait for a second trip.
“So you okay with staying at the Poofter’s old place?” Spike’s voice broke the comfortable silence the pair had been working in. “Not too many bad memories?”
Buffy sat back on her haunches from where she’d been sharpening a short sword on the ground. “I guess. There’s no other option really.”
“Oh, how very convincing, Slayer,” Spike muttered, shooting a glance her way from where he was arranging a bag. “Say it with a bit more feelin’.”
Buffy glared at him. He knew very well the very mention of Angel got her hackles up. Staying in his old mansion was not her ideal way of wasting precious slaying time.
“Like you want to go back there either, blood breath,” she shot back at him, surprised to see a shadow of hurt pass across his handsome features.
“Yeah, well, your lot’s bloody decision,” Spike growled, tossing the last batch of stakes violently into the bag. The Slayer was right after all. He never wanted to even look at that place again after spending weeks there with Angelus and Dru fucking each other senseless at every available moment. He was surprised they had ever come up for air long enough to plan Acathla’s awakening. Figuratively speaking of course.
“Hey,” Buffy’s soft voice shook him out of his miserable memories. “Neither of us likes the place, but there’s nowhere else to go.”
“Could get the hell out of here,” Spike grumbled while he hefted the bag over his shoulder.
“No,” Buffy said, mimicking his actions. “Well, I couldn’t. Sacred duty and all.”
“Yeah, sacred duty,” Spike huffed, not wanting to be associated with anything considered to be for the betterment of mankind. He was still evil after all. Couldn’t let the Slayer get too comfortable around him.
“Sarcasm, real helpful there, Spike,” Buffy said as she made her way toward the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get this first batch to the mansion and some of mine and Mom’s things. We’ll come back for more afterwards.”
Spike made a noise of agreement and followed the Slayer up the stairs for the second time in the same day, as per her instruction. Before they had reached the top, she abruptly turned around.
“What about your stuff?” she said, looking genuinely concerned. “Do you have any clothes at all with you anywhere?”
“Some of my stuff may still be at Harm’s,” Spike answered absentmindedly. Though the few things he had kept at her hideout weren’t worth going back for. He was better off finding his beloved DeSoto instead. There would be an extra duffel in the boot.
“Harmony? I can’t believe you,” Buffy huffed before turning to continue back up the stairs. “I thought you’d have better taste than that.”
“What can I tell ya, sweetheart, she was easy,” Spike smirked when he saw the Slayer’s back stiffen. When he caught a glimpse of her eyes again they were practically shooting daggers at him. Very interesting.
“Come on Slayer,” he said, leading the way to the door. “Night’s running away quickly. Better get the first load to the mansion. I’ve got to find my car before the night is over. Might be useful.”
Buffy glared at his back as she followed him out the door. He had picked Harmony because she was easy? And she had thought Drusilla was bad. Harmony must have made pulling teeth seem like an enjoyable alternative to time spent in her company. Well what could she expect from an evil, soulless bloodsucker anyway?
TBC...
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for the delay in posting. RL has been kicking my ass recently and it's kept me away from my precious internet time. But hopefully the update will make up for the delay in length at least :) Thanks again to Mari for being so wonderful and betaing for me as always *kisses*
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