Chapter 21: Plans
The phone hand rung at eight, and it had been Giles on the line, calling to say that Dana had been captured just a few miles from the Council’s headquarters. Despite her strength, her body hadn’t been trained for the chase. However, Giles was certain that if she were to escape again, they might not be able to catch her.
“So, everything’s alright?”
“For now, yes. I’m going to be observing her. Quentin Travers seems to believe that she can be rehabilitated.”
“Are you kidding me?” Buffy asked. “She was in prison before she was called. And look at what she did just trying to escape.”
“Yes, I agree with you, but I’d feel better if I was in on this particular case,” Giles explained. “I don’t trust that they’ll be able to contain her.”
“Giles,” Buffy said quietly, “she’s strong. I could feel that strength in my dream. If she does escape again, promise me you’ll stay out of her way. She’s getting stronger every day, and if she…”
“I’ll take every precaution, Buffy. There’s nothing for you to worry about. This is all under control.”
“Call me if…if it gets out of control, ok, Giles?”
“Of course. How…how is everything in Sunnydale?”
“Good. Dawn’s grades are fine, and Anya’s still planning the wedding. I…I’m gonna have to go out and get a job soon, but we’re still ok for right now.”
“And Spike?” Buffy chewed her bottom lip for a moment. There really was no use in telling him about the chip extraction or the soul right now. He’d only jump to conclusions and come back on the next plane, and right now, he was needed in London.
“Like I said…everything’s fine.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“Good. How’s Willow?”
“She’s doing remarkably well. She may be coming home sooner than expected.”
“Well, she’s always welcome back here. I just hope she and Tara can work things out.” She cleared her throat when she heard Spike stirring upstairs. “I have to go. Thanks for calling, Giles. Keep me up to date.” She hung up and started toward the stairs, but before she even made it to the hallway, the phone rang again, startling her. Furrowing her brows, she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Miss Summers?”
“Which one?”
“I’m looking for Buffy Summers.”
“That’s me. Who is this?”
“Miss Summers, this is Quentin Travers.”
“Oh,” Buffy muttered.
“I understand your feelings toward the Council, so I wouldn’t be calling you unless this was urgent.”
“I just talked to Giles. He said you caught that Dana girl.”
“Yes, we captured her again, but Miss Summers, she’s growing stronger.”
“He also told me that. What’s this have to do with me?”
“We’ve been informed that you’re running out of money, what with the problems your recent death and then resurrection caused.”
“You’re…offering me a job?”
“Yes.” Buffy sighed. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was about time to really start looking for a job, she’d have probably hung up on him.
“Look, I don’t know what it is you want from me, but…”
“Miss Summers, you know as well as anyone at the Council that becoming a Slayer changes who you are.”
“Well, sure.”
“It changes your priorities.”
“Whoa. No, no. Only if you want them to change. Believe me, when I was called, I didn’t really want anything to do with the whole slaying thing. There are times, even now, when I’d really just like to give it up.”
“Well, we at the Council…”
“And I’m guessing this isn’t going to include Giles?”
“We believe that we’re making remarkable progress with Ms. Mullens.”
“Yes, and that was demonstrated when she broke out. I don’t know what you’re trying to sell me, but…”
“We will pay you and take care of your expenses if you’ll fly to London and work with her.”
“Work with a convicted murderer?” Buffy asked. “No thanks. If you ask me, she’s better off behind bars…like Faith. Actually, Faith looks like a sane, ‘wouldn’t-hurt-a-flea’ type compared to this girl.”
“Ms. Summers, surely you can understand. You are associated with a vampire, are you not?”
“That’s different. He didn’t have a choice. She’s human. She had a choice when it came to killing people. She chose murder.”
“Ms. Summers, if we can rehabilitate her…”
“Some people are beyond saving, Mr. Travers. I would help if I didn’t have people I cared about who could get hurt. You don’t know what it feels like to have the power of a Slayer. I do. I know what’s running through her head right now. But I don’t know what it’s like to be criminally insane. It’s not a combination I’d like to see up close and personal.”
“I wish you would re-consider.”
“Sorry, but I can’t help you.” Buffy hung up the phone. She felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. She knew she should try to help the situation, but trying to help the Council rehabilitate this woman and try to get her out there as a Slayer? There was no way that could ever be a good idea. From the way Giles talked, she was far less lucid than Faith, who was pretty brutal for quite a while. No, the only good that could come out of this situation would be if the Council kept the new slayer under lock and key for the rest of her life.
“Hey,” came a familiar voice right next to her ear. Buffy jumped and turned around quickly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, pet.”
“It’s alright,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “Giles called. Dana’s been captured, but she’s getting stronger. Quentin Travers called and offered me a job to help them rehabilitate her. Try to make her into a good Slayer.” Spike raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah? And what’d you say?”
“I told him no, of course. She’s in prison for murder. There’s no way she can be helped.” Spike nodded slowly.
“You think she can’t be…”
“Spike, the woman was in prison for murder. She could barely communicate before I died and made her a slayer. She’s having the dreams, and her strength is growing, but she doesn’t know how to use it. And she’s already made a mess over there. If I went over there…no…I couldn’t do it. She can’t be helped.”
“You think so?” Buffy heard the tone of his voice, and she shrugged her shoulders.
“The man you were before Dru turned you…you never would have hurt anyone, would you?” Spike chuckled, shaking his head.
“I dunno, pet. I don’t think I could have, but I certainly thought about it from time to time. Bunch of pillocks didn’t know poetry…” He muttered a few more choice words under his breath.
“When Dru turned you…you lost that part of you that chooses from right and wrong…and you lived without it for a long time. Until you met me, apparently.”
“Until I got the chip, luv. I stopped caring about the kill after that, though. Focused more on you. Wanting to do right for you.” He shrugged slightly.
“And you made a choice to get your soul back. Dana…she made a choice, with her soul intact, to kill people, and she went to prison for it. Can you imagine what a woman like that could do with the strength and speed of a Slayer?” She shuddered a little. “I can’t help her, Spike. If it was anyone else who didn’t have her track record…maybe.”
“Even Faith?” Buffy glared at him for a minute. “Sorry, sore subject.”
“It’s ok. You know what? Giles said not to worry about it, so I’m not gonna. So I’m all yours today. What do you wanna do?” Spike wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she rolled her eyes.
“Headaches?”
“Not really.”
“Not really means yes. So, until you’re feeling one hundred percent, you’re resting.”
“Oh, come on, pet!” Spike urged, pulling her into his arms. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes I do!” she said with a defiant nod. “You heal fast. You can deal, right?” Spike muttered something under his breath, and Buffy stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “You can pick out the movie. Make it as gross as you want.” Spike sighed.
“Suppose that’ll do for now, Slayer,” he challenged. She tried to wiggle out of his arms, but he held her firmly against him, trailing his lips down her neck expertly, until he could feel her trembling in his arms. Then, he forced himself away from her, knowing he’d got her going. Now, she was gonna be just as miserable as he was. “I’ll go pick out that movie now.” He left her standing in the middle of the living room, knees weak, heart pounding, a pool of heat starting to form between her legs.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that!” she called, hurrying to catch up with him.
***
Giles paced back and forth in Dana’s room. This was his first chance to see the girl, and she was strapped down to her bed with extra restraints this time. Only she wasn’t struggling. She’d been given something to relax her, and she lay there following him around the room with her gaze.
“Can you tell me your name?” Giles asked slowly. Dana hesitated and then nodded. “Go on.”
“Dana. D…Dana Mullens.” He double checked her chart.
“Very good. How old are you, Dana?”
“E…eighteen? No…nineteen.”
“Yes. Very good. And do you know why you’re here?” Dana looked around as best she could with the strap secured around her forehead. “Do you know why you were in prison?” Dana started to shake under the restraints.
“Because I’m bad,” she breathed. Giles pulled a chair closer to Dana’s bed and sat down.
“Tell me if you recognize these names: Travis Elderton, Jessica Monroe, Eric Lyons.” She began to shake.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“How do you know them, Dana?”
“I killed them.” She closed her eyes, beginning to struggle against the restraints.
“That’s why you were in prison, Dana.” Giles cleared his throat. “How about Jason Ellis, Michael Knight, and David Finster?” Dana didn’t flinch. “Do you know those names, Dana?”
“No,” she murmured as she continued to tremble.
“They were guards that you…”
“They were bad. They were going to hurt me.” She shivered, and Giles stood up. “Demons. Demons…” She was losing focus.
“Dana. Dana, look at me.” Dana wouldn’t look at him. She was no longer lucid, and after a few minutes of waiting to see if he could get her to speak again, Giles left the room and stood with Mr. Travers.
“That’s as lucid as we’ve seen her so far,” he said with amazement. “She’s never even batted an eyelash when we ask her about the people she’s killed.”
“Did you see the fear in her?” Giles asked. “Something has that girl truly frightened, and I don’t think it has anything to do with her dreams. I think it has to do with the murders.”
“She was convicted, Giles,” Quentin said with a nod. “She did commit the crime, but when they found her, all she could say was that she killed them. She didn’t give them an alibi.”
“You think she killed them to protect herself?”
“Unless we can get the medication just right so we can keep her permanently lucid, we might never know. I needed you to see her for yourself. Tell me you’ll stay. You’ll help her.” Giles looked back at the helpless young woman who was now trembling as God knows what ran through her head.
“If you can find a way to make her permanently lucid, I may be able to help you. Right now, I have a Slayer of my own to get back to.”
“I thought she wasn’t your Slayer anymore. Thought she didn’t need a Watcher.” Giles gritted his teeth.
“Keep in touch, Mr. Travers.” He turned and walked out, leaving the council to update Buffy on Dana’s condition.
***
“So she’s becoming more stable?” Buffy asked, as she tried to bite back a giggle. She was lying naked on the living room floor, and Spike was tickling her sides and nibbling on her ear. “Oh. God...I mean…good! Good…uh. Yeah. Thanks for calling, Giles. Oh! Um…no. No, I just…uh, I dropped something.” Spike’s wandering fingers moved lower, caressing her thighs. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the images as she talked to Giles. “OK. Yeah. Willow? She’s ok…uh…good. Good. Umm…ahhh…huh? No. Nothing’s wrong. No, I’m just, uh…sorry, there’s a…” She went silent. “What? No!” His fingers got a little more curious and he slipped one inside of her, and she gasped for breath. “Spike!” Shit. “Uh…Spike! Don’t touch that. The glue’s still drying.” Spike furrowed his brows and she shrugged at him. “Listen, Giles, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, ok?” She hung up and reached over to slap him hard on the chest. “What the Hell?!”
“The glue’s still drying?”
“What? I had to think fast. I thought it was pretty good, myself.” He rolled to his side, pinning one of her legs under his own. He raked his gaze over her body, letting one hand follow. He caressed his way down her breast and her side and he stopped at her thigh, gently kneading the flesh there. She moaned softly, leaning into him, pressing her lips against his. “Mmm….so much for being careful.”
“S’worth it, pet. It’s much better than watching movies all day.” She pressed against him a little bit more, the closeness and the brief contact enough to harden him a little bit once again. ‘Speaking of…shall we have another go…or is the glue still drying.” Buffy burst out laughing, and rolled away from him, covering her face, as he moved over her, burying his face against his shoulder, chuckling softly as her arms wove around him. He finally pulled back to look into her eyes, brushing the hair from her face. “S’alright. You’re adorable when you’re embarrassed.”
“C’mere,” she whispered, pulling him down against her and straining upward to capture his lips with hers. With a sigh, she pulled back, looking curiously into his eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking…Christmas is coming up.” Spike thought for a moment.
“Yeah. I guess it is. Anything you want?”
“Not really. Unless world peace counts,” she muttered.
“Oh, but then it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting, would it? No big bads to take out your aggression on. Of course, all that energy could be put into something else.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, trailing his fingertips up and down her thigh.
“I was actually thinking we’d have the house to ourselves.”
“How do you figure?”
“Dawn’s going to visit Dad, and Tara’s going to London to visit Willow.” Spike furrowed his eyebrows.
“When’d this happen?”
“A few days before you got back. Tara’s taking our presents to Willow. They might have problems, but she doesn’t want Willow to feel totally isolated at Christmas.” She cleared her throat. “As for Dawn visiting Dad…he’s finally back in the country. She apologized for not being around. She seemed to buy his excuses for not being there when Mom died. Thankfully, he never heard about me dying, because that’s one awkward conversation I don’t want to have. ‘Hey Dad, I died, but don’t worry, I’m alive again.’”
“Good point,” Spike said with a nod. “So she wants to go, huh?”
“I think it’s more that she feels obligated. Plus, she doesn’t want to be the one to say she didn’t try to have a relationship with him when it doesn’t work out. My Dad’s got too much going on.” She sighed.
“What is it?”
“When I was about five or six, Mom was pregnant with Dawn. I got up in the middle of the night to get something to drink, and I heard them arguing. Dad said he never wanted kids, and she told him he could leave. Of course, he didn’t. He said he loved me too much to go. It’s just that he never expected to have another one.”
“Dawn doesn’t know about that, does she?”
“God, no,” Buffy murmured. “I mean, Dad loved her. You could tell. It’s just that after the divorce, he got a life, and he was too busy for us anymore. He doesn’t exactly have the best dad gene, you know?”
“Not everybody’s cut out to be a dad. My pop wasn’t, that’s for sure.” Spike’s voice was low and the tone he used showed his obvious uncertainty about even talking about the subject, so Buffy just kissed him again.
“Well, he invited me, but I said I had other plans.”
“Why don’t you go? Spend some time with him.” Buffy raised an eyebrow.
“Because I’d rather spend time alone with you.”
“But don’t you think you’d feel better if you had a chance to talk to your Dad?” Buffy sighed, her hand caressing the side of his face.
“You know what?” Her hand began to trail downward.
“What?”
“I don’t wanna talk about family right now,” she whispered, her hand disappearing between them. He stiffened when her hand encircled his cock. “Do you?” Well, she had him. When he said nothing, she pulled him back down for another kiss, and all conversation was forgotten.
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