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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to Sanityfair and Puddinhead for their beta skills.
Previously:
Riley departed, sealing Spike inside. A few seconds later, the shackles opened, leaving Spike slightly freer. He took the cigarettes out of his pocket before his blood could soak through the cellophane wrapper on the pack. Spike stared at them a moment.

It was time to train his limitless ingenuity on the puzzle of making a fire.


~*~*~*~
Thanks to much trial and error, Spike had finally hit on a system that would allow him to light his cigarettes. He'd detached a snap from the arm of his coat and tied a strip from the bottom of his jeans to it. When he threw the retrofitted button against the electrical field protecting the glass wall in the cell, it caused a spark and the cloth ignited.

This discovery had taught him several other things.

First off, there was always someone watching him on a hidden camera, no matter what time of day he happened to try his trick. Usually the terse, female voice belonged to Professor Walsh. Sometimes he'd get Riley Finn, who would always preface his request to extinguish the deadly fire with a "Please." When he tried to smoke on Forrest's shift, he'd get no warning, just an unpleasant visit. If he only thought to wear a watch he might have even been able to figure out whose shift was when, but he was existing in a world without that context.

Second, no sprinklers. Third, they really could stop pumping oxygen into his room. They'd finally gotten sick of his shenanigans and shut it off. After awhile he couldn't get his ciggy to spark and the scent began to sour. Whoever shut it off did it as either a warning or to simply be rid of him for a few hours, because after Spike had slept the stale air was circulating again. Fourth, it took four hundred and three recitations of "One Bloody Mississippi," before Forrest could get to his cage. Fifth, when this was over he was going to kill Forrest.

Spike couldn't be sure how long this drama played out; he thought it might have been two days but it could have been more or less. In this dubious stretch, Buffy had not been returned to her cell. Morbid thoughts consumed him like the tenuous flames that devoured his supply of cigarettes. His paranoia was spurred by a conversation he caught between Mitchell and another soldier named Jones when they were doing their rounds. Spike had been lying flat on the floor, fondling his last cigarette, when he heard the soldiers clomping by and caught a whiff of Mitchell's Old Spice.

"Oh, the chips work. Trust me, Graham and Forrest would've been dead six times over since they started fucking the new blonde they've got down in holding," Jones said.

"No way! You think they'd let me get a piece?" Mitchell asked.

"They're pretty possessive of her. None of us have even been allowed near the cage, but I saw her, man. She's hot. I don't know if it's the chip or what but she's docile, too, not like when they caught her."

"Just think, we're witnessing a new dawn in prostitution," Mitchell said, causing the other soldier to chuckle.

"I don't know, I think I'll stick to the old-school ways of banging your mom," Jones said.

Then they traded cracks about each other's mothers and Spike realized he'd been gripping his last smoke so tightly that it had crumbled beneath his fingers.

~*~*~*~

Willow and Xander had gone into full-blown panic mode with Giles still intransit from England. Joyce had filed a missing person report with the police and Willow had insisted on calling Angel, who'd agreed to drive up from L.A. Xander really, really didn't want to include Angel in the search, but it seemed like the only option. Xander wasn't sure if he was relieved or upset that Spike hadn't contacted Angel over the weekend. Spike not calling sort of discounted the theory their vampire pal had turned all evil, but it left them with absolutely no leads on where Buffy could be.

In situations like this, Xander normally turned to Buffy. Not being able to made everything that much worse.

Xander and Willow were hoping a locator spell would just fix things, showing them where their best friend was so they could get her back. When Xander went to pick up Willow to help her with the spell, she had a kid named Andrew in tow. To Xander's surprise, Andrew was dating Buffy's friend Eddie. Xander had no idea Eddie was gay, or that his taste in guys was so geeky. After buying a bunch of supplies at the Magic Box, Willow and Andrew set up everything on Dav's living room floor.

Dav had insisted they use her place as a base of command even though Xander didn't like the idea. Xander genuinely hated the idea a few minutes into the proceedings. He, Dav, Oz, Andrew and Willow were all sitting around the map. Wills said she'd gotten everything right, but somehow everything was wrong. The map that was supposed to show Buffy's location just caught fire, ingniting the hem of Dav's skirt. Luckily, Dav was wearing knee-length, leather boots, so she wasn't hurt, but it was touch and go until Xander smothered the flames using the throw draped on her couch.

"Oh my God, Dav, I'm so sorry!" Willow said, swatting out the charred map. Oz ran to the kithen and came back with a glass full of water which he dumped on the smoldering paper.

"It's fine, I got that blanket at Target, plus I don't think my landlord will care. He said a Chaos Demon lived here before I moved in and as long as I didn't drip slime onto the hardwood, we were good. I thought he was kind of wizened or something but Spike told me that's a real thing."

Andrew took the blanket off of Dav's lap and used it to wipe up the mess.

"Did anybody see where the dot of light started?" Oz asked as he sat down beside Willow. Willow knelt back on her heels. Her big, green eyes looked like they were verging on deluge and Oz put a hand on her shoulder.

"It was a ginormous fireball," Andrew said, turning to Dav who was halfway sitting on Xander's lap. "Do you maybe have a hamper I can stuff this in?"

"I'm thinking the garbage can will work," Dav said, standing up and taking the bundle from Andrew's arms. Her red, ankle length skirt was cobwebbed with burn holes all the way up to her knee.

"I like your skirt like that. It's kind of Cindy Lauper meets post-apocalypse. You look like Mad Max is about to pick you up for Homecoming," Andrew said.

"Um, thanks," Dav said as she looked down. The sight made her gasp. "I better go change," Dav said, gliding out of the room.

"Willow, can you try the spell again?" Xander asked. Willow was about to answer when the new kid interrupted.

"Her emotions are all over the place, she shouldn't do any magic until she's calmed down," Andrew said.

Willow looked at Andrew, giving him full bore resolve-face.

"I can do this, listen to me, I'm not going to screw up again. We just need another map," Willow said.

"Maybe we should take a break for a minute, I mean your hands are still smoking," Oz said.

"Plus I need to find a fire extinguisher first," Dav shouted from the other room.

Willow stood up.

"You guys, I can do this!" Willow shouted.

Xander got to his feet.

"Willow, I know you can, but I'm thinking we should wait until tomorrow for Giles."

"But what if Buffy doesn't have until tomorrow? We've already lost so much time, and now Monday is almost over and Giles won't be here for another whole day. We'll get another map and this time I'll do the spell at my dorm room," Willow said.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Andrew said.

"Then you don't have to come. You can help Eddie put together missing posters or update your Doctor Who fan site," Willow said.

"It's a Thundercats fan site and that's not relevant anyway, I'm realizing. I want to help YOU. I'm good at the magicks," Andrew said.

"Well constant saying of the nay is not helpful," Willow said.

"Look, let's argue about this on the way, guys. Meet me downstairs by my car," Xander said.

Willow arched her eyebrow at Xander and her voice got softer.

"Sure," she said.

"That sounds good. I saw a vending machine with Good & Plenty's in the lobby," Andrew said as he began walking toward the door.

"Candy names like that come from a simpler era. You really know what you're getting with the Good & Plenty," Oz said, following Andrew.

"I know, right, I mean what the hell's a Skittle?"

Willow went to Xander and gave him a hug.

"Are you alright?" she whispered.

"Of course not. I need to talk to Dav, if you could give me a few," Xander said.

"Anything."

Willow smiled at him; combined with her teary eyes the expression made Xander want to weep. She left with the boys and then Dav poked her head out of the bedroom door. He could tell she'd been listening. Dav had sensed there was something he'd been holding back since they found out about Buffy.

"I should probably put on pants, in case it works and we go patrolling, huh?"

"No," Xander said. He walked through the living room, the hall and then entered her bedroom.

"We need to talk," Xander said. Dav was wearing a t-shirt and nothing else save a pair of tiny, black underpants. He wished that he'd let her finish getting dressed, but he'd already started the talk thing. Dav gave him a nervous smle.

"Not about pants?"

"I think we need to spend some time apart," Xander said. Her smile seemed painted on.

"O.K. What brought that on?"

"I don't think if I can be the kind of person you deserve without letting down my friends. Buffy needed me and I wasn't there for her. I can't shake this feeling that if I'd been with her she would be safe right now. We all knew the risk of leaving her alone with Spike."

Dav folded her arms over her chest and her voice got higher.

"Well, we still don't know if Spike did anything to her. He might have gone down fighting—"

"Don't say that! That's like saying she's gone."

Dav rubbed her hand lightly over her forehead.

"That's not what I meant. I'm saying something might have happened you could have never predicted."

"Except that I could. It's a given Buffy's going to be in a fight to the death every day. I shouldn't have let her go alone."

"You didn't. Just because you're not the one missing right now doesn't mean you're to blame."

Xander put his hands on her shoulders.

"You don't understand. I didn't even think about Buffy until you mentioned calling her last night. I just wanted to be with you—to have something safe and good and not mixed up with the multiple apocalypse."

"What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is I might have let Buffy die. Baby, I hate this, but I don't want you to get hurt," Xander said.

"Then why are you hurting me?"

Xander cupped her face and she put her hands over his.

"It's not emotional pain I'm worried about."

"But I live here, it's not like I can pretend we're not chillin' on the mouth of hell."

"Yeah, but you can move away. You're not enmeshed in this like I am. I can't fail my friends again."

"Xander, I want to help. Buffy's my friend, too."

"I know, but if something happened to you I'd...I'm always going to care about you more and that makes me worthless in a fight."

"This doesn't make any sense."

Xander let go of her. He couldn't stand the way her eyes were quaking with tears or the tremble in her lip. He turned and walked to the bedroom door, feeling an ache in his chest.

"Fine, it doesn't make sense, but it's how I feel."

"I guess there's nothing more for me to say, then."

"I guess not," Xander said.

She threw her arms around his back and buried her face in his neck. Knowing that it would be the last time he'd let himself be touched by her, the last time he'd see her apartment, which felt more like his home than the place where he lived, made Xander feel hollow. She kissed the back of his neck and it nearly broke him.

"I love you," Xander said.

"I love you, too," Dav said.

Xander shook loose from her embrace and left her standing there with her bare legs. He couldn't turn around to see the utter devastation on her face. He was certain he didn't need to because the way she looked would stay with him forever, anyway.

~*~*~*~

After Xander left, Davinia watched, "Now Voyager," and "All About My Mother," in order to thrash all the tears free, but when she was finished, there still seemed to be some left. It was selfish of her when one of her friends was missing, but she didn't know what else to do. Xander had made it clear he didn't want her help. She'd called Joyce and offered to bring over dinner. That was pretty much all she was good for, meal preparation. Dav felt like the chef on the Titanic. Joyce had thanked her but politely declined, so Dav had curled up on the couch with her arms around a pillow.

When the knock on her door came, hope flooded through her.

"Baby, you know you don't have to knock, just come on in," Dav said, scrambling to her feet. The smile on her face dropped when instead of seeing Xander, she saw a dark haired stranger standing in her foyer. He was big and his features were agressively masculine: a heavy brow, a square jaw and a broad chin with thin lips. His brown eyes were gentle, which was encouraging, but only mildly so.

"You should really lock your door, it's not safe. And you definitely shouldn't let someone in without knowing who they are," he said, putting his hands in the pockets of his long, leather jacket.

"Thanks for the tip. So did you mean that to be vaguely menacing or are you here for a reason other than murdering me?"

His eyebrows shot up.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Dav. I'm Angel. Willow called and said Buffy was in trouble. I wanted to meet with the rest of the group."

"I don't think she told you to meet them here. In fact, I don't think she told you my name."

"Well, no one was at Giles' place or the dorm."

"That doesn't explain why you know me."

"Look, I'm not trying to be scary or anything. I worry about Buffy and I have someone watching out for her here. I like to know the company she keeps, make sure they're good people."

"You have her followed?"

"Well, yeah," he said with a shrug.

"And do background checks on her friends?"

"When you say it like that it does sound creepy. But I run a detective agency. It seemed like a natural thing to do because I already have all that software installed on the computers," Angel said.

"You're right. That's not weird at all. So does that mean you know where Buffy is?"

"Well, no, my guy said he was following her and Spike one second, the next he was sitting in the bus station without any pants."

"Bummer. Anyway, the gang's not here. Also Xander and I broke up, so they probably won't be meeting up at my place any time soon. I hope you help them find Buffy," Dav said, with terse cheerines as she shooed him from her entryway. Angel backed up and then walked into the hallway.

"I mean it, Dav, I'm not evil."

"Good," she said, shutting him out. Dav locked the door, and then leaned against it, cursing herself for being stupid enough to invite a vampire into her house.


~*~*~*~
Buffy woke up not knowing where she was. The first thing that hit her before she could open her eyes was the smell, that weirdly sweet soap smell over the equally unnatural scent of new electronics.It took her a second to register the padded shackles on her wrists, the cot, and the white walls. She was being held prisoner by her psychology teacher and, apparently, an accompanying band of merry mercenaries. How many times in the past six months had she been zapped and kidnapped?

"Wow, this is really starting to be a habit with me," she mumbled. She was almost as bad as Giles was with the getting knocked out every other week.

"What's getting to be a habit?"

Buffy scrambled on the cot, facing the source of the question. It was the doctor who'd thwarted her earlier escape attempt. He was sitting in the corner of the room on a small stool with his legs crossed. His drab, brown hair looked like he'd spent the night running his hands through it until the strands were greasy. Buffy could see that beneath the flaps of his open, white lab coat he wore a cheap, black suit.

"How long have you been making with the creepy? No wait, don't answer that. I'm sure you've got an extensive history of creepiness and I have a nonexistent desire to be near you long enough so you can recount it all."

The doctor turned his weary, watery brown eyes to hers and gave her an oddly comforting smile.

"My name is Dr. Oliver, Buffy. I think in all the commotion we never got to the introduction stage. I brought you some food," he said, lifting a box of army rations, each sealed in silver bags, "Maggie has forgotten you need to eat, she's so used to dealing with vampires."

At the mention of the undead, Buffy's mind returned to her vampire.

"Where's Spike?" Buffy asked.

"In the room beside yours. Probably has his ear pressed to the door right now.You were the first thing he asked about, too."

Buffy looked down and felt her skin flush. She hated hearing a stranger disassembling her feelings; the doctor's insight made her feel even more out of control.

"Now I've made you blush. I'm sorry. I just find your relationship fascinating. He's not like the other creatures we've captured, as you probably know. He's special and so are you."

"Thanks. Being treated like a criminally insane person makes me feel extremely special."

"This must be terribly familiar for you seeing as you spent that time in White Oaks when you were fifteen. Did they restrain you then, Buffy, or were you allowed to walk around? Your violent tendencies were just coming to the fore then, so I bet they did. Christopher was heading up their adolescent ward and he was always a bit Draconian."

Buffy wanted to make a crack about dragons or something, she honestly did, but she felt too sick to her stomach.

"So what next, are you going to tell me how old I was when I got my first cavity? I get it, you're a real doctor. I wonder how long that will last when people find out about the torture and kidnapping," Buffy said.

"We're not talking about me, Buffy. We're talking about you. When I was examining you, I noticed that scar on your neck. Did Spike give that to you?"

"He would never bite me."

"So that was the result of an attack?"

Buffy looked away from him, concentrating on her hands.

"Was it another vampire you trusted, one like Spike? Is that why you're refusing to talk about this further?" Dr. Oliver asked. He studied her for a moment."I think it is. You've got a very expressive face."

"You're not my doctor."

"Seeing as the only way to get a second opinion is to consult Maggie, I'd posit talking with me is the better route."

"How about we skip to option C and I stare at you until you leave?"

Dr. Oliver propped up the corners of his mouth in a smile, which withered quickly.

"We'll talk later," he said, stood up, then walked to the edge of the glass partition, "by the way, Buffy, I'm very sorry about the hair."

The barrier parted momentarily to allow Oliver to pass, before returning to its original position. A second later Buffy's shackles popped open. She touched her hair and realized it had been shorn. She tugged on the inch-length hair to keep herself from crying, then stood on wobbly legs and took a few faltered steps toward the rations. She dropped down before the box and tore open one of the silver packets. Dried apricots? Nope, turkey jerkey. Whatever, she was devouring it, even if the stuff was laced with poison. Which it could very well be. Next she scarfed down some peanut butter and crackers followed by a Snickers bar that didn't look like Army issue. When she'd gorged herself, Buffy crawled to the door separating her room from Spike's and placed an open palm on the cool surface.

"Spike​? Are you there?" she asked.

"Right here, love. Can feel you burning me through the wall, my hot, little Slayer."

Buffy laughed, covering her mouth.

"You're seriously trying to talk dirty to me right now?" she asked, fondly. It was nice to have one thing normal and steady in bizarro land. She could count on Spike's libido the way she could gravity or the freshness of a twinkie. It was just always.

"You thought that was dirty, you poor, sheltered child? You should hear what I've been thinking about while I've been in isolation here."

"How long was I gone?" Buffy asked.

The teasing quality left his voice.

"Not sure, only that it was too long. I know there were five guard changes, but I've no idea what the intervals in between them were. I think it may have been a day. They don't let me watch my soaps, so there's no way to tell for sure."

"Did they hurt you?"

"Not unless you count boring me to death. And you, Slayer. What did they do to you?"

"Well, they gave me an Anne Heche cut, which could be worse, I guess. I have scars and I'm not sure where they came from. The last thing I remember was almost escaping."

"There are worse things than looking like Anne Heche. She was really good on 'Another World,' playin' those twins," Spike said.

"I have no idea what that means," Buffy said, smiling.


~*~*~*~

Forrest had her over his lap and was spreading apart her perfect ass. He was kind of obsessed with her ass, it was so pale and full. So clean. He could bury his tongue inside and taste only her satin skin, bury his cock and it stayed so tight, no matter how many times he or Graham took her.

And wasn't it weird as hell how hot it made Forrest to see his best friend getting head from her, their blonde sex goddess. Graham's erection was sliding in and out of her red lips, and she was moaning like it was the best thing she'd ever had in her mouth. Maybe he just loved it because she did and he loved pleasing her.

"God, I'm coming, Semper Fi!" Graham moaned, his body jerking. Graham's eyes rolled back as Harmony released his softening penis. She flipped over, looking Forrest in the eye.

"There's my chocolate warrior," she said.

Graham must have noticed him wincing at her comment.

"Hey, Harm, that's not really cool," Graham said.

"Yeah, that's kind of insensitive," Forrest said.

Harmony pouted and he had the urge to bite her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry, but you know how it is. I'm a vampire. I'm sort of evil," Harmony said.

"No you're not," Forrest said.

"He's right, you're sweet," Graham said.

"You guys are the best. I would have so dated you both when I was alive. Now who wants to go first?" Harmony asked.

"Me," Forrest said. He took the knife out of his boot and then brought the blade to his bare chest, slicing a gash above his nipple. Harmony wiggled on his lap and licked the wound, plunging Forrest into an ecstacy he'd never known with a human being.

"Mmm, yummy," Harmony said with a giggle.


Chapter End Notes:
"Another World," was a soap on NBC. After its cancellation it was replaced with "Passions."



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