Chapter 8
Woken from about seven layers of sleep by the incessant high-pitched beep-beep-beep of the alarm clock, Buffy slammed it off at the same time as sitting up. She’d been having a lovely dream, and went to tell Spike about it, but then realised she couldn’t, as she didn’t want him to feel bad and dwell on things that he couldn’t possibly give them.
She’d dreamt they were on a picnic in the park, just herself and Spike with Billy, it was a beautiful sunny day…….
“Come on babe, time to get up”
There was a groan from under the covers, and Spike mumbled something unintelligible.
Buffy leaned over and lifted the covers
“Come on sleepy head, we can come back to bed later – lets just go see this thing and then we can come home.”
She gave him a kiss on his forehead and threw the covers right back.
“Evil you are!” Spike said with a grin. Buffy smiled and smacked his bare bottom
“Come on you, make yourself useful – go make some tea, I’ll see to Billy”
“You’ll pay for that later!” Spike said, shifting himself at last.
Buffy went into the nursery to find Billy awake, sitting up playing with or rather chewing Mr Ted.
“Ma! Ma-ma!” Billy greeted his mom with a grin.
“Hello baby, what are you doing awake, hmm – come on poppet lets get you changed and dressed”
Downstairs Spike made tea.
“What is this thing today anyway?” Spike took Billy off her and he blew a raspberry on his cheek.
“Da!” Billy giggled and hid his face in his daddy’s neck
“Well, Willow said that as it’s the summer solstice, the sun is aligned to something or other, and it’ll be spectacular, by all accounts”
“Hmm, sunrise. Not really my thing, pet” Spike said ruefully, and Buffy came and stood in front of him and her son, doing up buttons on Billy’s pants
“I know babe, but Giles has been remarkably kind to us, and not to mention how generous he is to Billy, I’d like for us to be there for him, you know?” She reached up on tiptoe and kissed Spike softly.
“Okay babe….young man here is full of beans this morning, I thought he’d be tired” Spike hitched up a playful Billy in his arms.
“He was already awake when I went into his room, weren’t you, little tinker…here you go”
Billy took his bottle of milk off his mom and began to suck lustily.
“He sure likes his grub!” Spike drank his tea and held Billy while Buffy got a few things together for while they were out.
**************
“Ah, Buffy, Spike – and young Billy of course, hello young man! – Glad you made it in good time – come on and have a look inside the chamber, it’s fascinating!”
“Was there any treasure?” Buffy asked as they walked down one of the newly dried out passages.
Billy was squealing because it echoed, and he seemed to like the sound!
“Hey Mr Noisy!” Spike grinned and Billy squealed with laughter some more.
Smiling Giles said,
“Oh yes, I suppose by treasure you mean gold – but other stuff, baskets that had contained fruits and oils and spices to see him through to the after-life - but for security’s sake, it’s been removed for the time being – the media will be here by lunchtime”
Walking into the chamber Giles pointed out some crude cave-paintings on the wall, weird symbols that they hadn’t encountered before, they certainly weren’t hieroglyphics.
“Then there’s this – the piece-de-la-resistance, the altar” Giles lovingly ran his hand along the carved stone, with a highly polished top.
“Wow…do you think they did sacrifices here?” Buffy asked
“Not here, no. This was specifically to send Amun Rah into the after-life – the passage walls tell the story how they prepared the body, how they left seven baskets of dates, lemons, olives, honey, bread, exotic spices, lotus leaves for bedding and papyrus to write on – they left nothing to chance –“
Suddenly more voices could be heard, and in walked Wesley with Giles’ friend Mark, accompanied by Cordelia and Angel
“Oh f – what? What’s HE here for – I’m going back outside” Spike took one of the other open passages and left.
“Oh, Buffy – was that Spike leaving with your son? – Perhaps I’ll get to hold him today!” Cordelia said. Buffy flashed her a quick smile and said,
“Perhaps – well, excuse me Giles – I smell coffee and I want a quick word with Willow” she too took the same passage Spike had taken and left. Giles nodded and began to talk to the others.
Angel was in a world of his own. He hadn’t slept, but each time he closed his eyes, a vision of the weird guy popped into his head. He looked all around, but said nothing.
Buffy found Spike talking to Willow, he’d put Billy in his stroller baby-buggy and he was playing with one of his toys happily enough.
“……..It was amazing – when they opened this jar, it had oil in it, and it smelt like roses – still! After 4000 years, you could still smell their sweet perfume, and the bread – it had fossilised of course, but you could see the seeds in it, it was awesome!” Willow enthused.
“Willow, how can you be so perky at this ungodly hour of the morning?”
“I haven’t been to bed yet, I’m too excited! – But I could do with some coffee, shall we get some – Mark’s set up a hospitality tent for when the media arrive later”
“Spike?”
“Please I’ll stay here and watch Jr”
They two girls went off and Spike saw Cordelia wander out of one of the passages.
He stiffened his shoulders, waiting to see if Angel was following her, like the dutiful little lap dog he was, but she was on her own. She came straight over to them and squatted in front of the baby buggy
“Hello Spike, hello baby…my, aren’t you beautiful eh? Hello” Cordelia smiled and spoke softly, she tickled his cheek and Billy gave her one of his devastingly beautiful smiles.
“Oh my Spike, he is so beautiful – what a gorgeous baby!”
“He sure is”
“Aren’t you eh? Aren’t you gorgeous – just look at those eyes – he has your eyes Spike…you are adorable!” Billy played shy and turned his head away, giggling.
“You’re not shy…come on, let me – oh – oh – aaaaahhhhh”
“Um, are you all right?” Spike frowned and Cordelia looked in obvious pain, holding her head.
Spike looked around and saw Buffy and Willow laughing, coming out of the hospitality tent
“Buffy, um, help – it’s the cheer-leader – something’s wrong”
The two girls dashed over and helped Cordelia stand and found her somewhere to sit.
“I’m all right, it’s okay, don’t worry, it’ll pass…oh”
“Do you want me to get Angel for you?”
“No, no it’s okay – I – I just need a moment. Besides, Angel seems totally lost in a world of his own at the moment, I don’t know what’s wrong”
“Here, drink this, I’ll go get some more” Buffy said and handed Cordelia her coffee.
“Thanks…your baby – Billy is it – he’s gorgeous, such a beautiful baby, you are very lucky Buffy”
“Thankyou, and yes, I know how lucky I am…I’ll just go get more coffee”
“Was it one of those visions Giles was telling me you have?” Willow asked, and Cordelia nodded her head.
A jeep pulled up and two guys got out, and started to unload camera equipment.
Mark and co were fetched and people were milling around
“What’s wrong with the cheer-leader then?” Spike asked Buffy when she came back from the hospitality tent a second time
“Visions. She’s been having about this place but she can’t understand it this time, or so Giles tells me. She wanted to come here to see if she could get a better understanding or something. I’m surprised you let her by Billy”
“Well, I don’t mind her so much, but I don’t want the poof anywhere-“
“I know, I know – oh, I think – yes, Spike, they want us to move…they’re going to put up some arc lights and the generator here for the recording equipment”
“Well, look, this buggy thing is cumbersome, how about if I carry Billy, we can put this in the trunk – we don’t want people falling over it or anything” Spike suggested, and Buffy agreed, and she took the pushchair to the car.
Angel was pacing slowly around the altar, with the words ‘get what’s mine’ churning around and around his head.
“Have you got the amulet?” Mark asked Giles, and Giles put the small case on top of one of the generators.
“Spike, could you give me a hand please…this is heavy…”
Giles called, and Spike put Billy down on the groundsheet and went to help Giles position one of the arc lamps.
Billy pulled himself up to standing and reached for the amulet case, and it fell on the floor, the little circular stone disc fell out, rolled in a small circle and fell on its side. Billy immediately saw it as something to play with, and grabbed it, and was off, crawling, scooting down one of the passages.
“Where’s Billy – Buffy, where’s Billy, I put him down to help Giles where has- Billy – BILLY - oh gods!” Spike began to panic, frantically looking for his son
“Calm down, he can’t have got far…Billy…come on you little tinker where – oh isn’t this the amulet case?” Buffy picked the case up off its side
“Never mind that now – where is our son?!”
“Billy – where are - oh, I hear him, listen – he’s gone down there, I can hear the echo of him giggling” Spike dashed down the passage in hot pursuit of his son.
A loud whistle and a clap of the hands drew everybody’s attention to Mark, who stood on a chair so he could be seen.
“Right, please everybody, can you all find somewhere to stand, the sun rises in two minutes, and we need to set the camera’s up to catch the – hey, what’s happening?” Mark turned his head as he could hear the grating of stone against stone, and he saw a great panel of rock slide across the entrance.
“SPIKE! – BILLY – oh gods – Willow – help me, Spike’s gone after Billy, they are in there – you’ve got to open the doors, Spike and Billy are in there! Buffy dashed to the rock and with all her might she tried to shift it.
Chaos abound, neither Mark, nor Giles or Wesley knew what was happening they couldn’t understand where the sliding rock had come from, and Willow checked the other passage was blocked too.
Meanwhile, inside the chamber Spike caught up with Billy, and was slightly alarmed to hear the rumble of stone against stone, and it going dark all of a sudden
“Come here you little – oh…now what…what have you got there……… the amulet – oh Billy, Uncle Giles isn’t going to be very pleased with you when he finds out what you’ve – UGH!”
Spike didn’t get to finish the sentence, Angel, with his eyes as black as coal had slugged him one from behind, and Spike crumpled into a heap beside his son.
“You know what to do…fulfil our destinies” The strange man said to Angel.
Angel advanced on baby Billy, who frowned and looked at his daddy lying on the floor beside him.
“DA! DADADADA! Uh”…Billy looked up at Angel, who was just reaching for the amulet, when Billy scooted away to the side of the altar, and placed the little stone disc in a special circular recess.
“Well, well! I do believe that brat is doing the job for you!” The strange man said smiling
Billy was kneeling, leaning with his hands on the side of the altar, frowning looking at his daddy…above them, more stone against stone grinding could be heard, and a panel slowly slid open in the roof of the chamber, roughly a foot square.
Meanwhile outside, Mark, Giles, Buffy and Willow were frantically trying to slide the rock away so they could enter the chamber.
The worst pain yet suddenly hit Cordelia and she could see Angel, his eyes black, she got a glimpse of the evil man, and Billy…she also saw Spike on the floor.
Despite her pain, she ran to where Buffy and Willow were, raining puny blows on the rock with her fists, screaming
“No angel, you mustn’t, it’ll kill you, please don’t listen to him!”
“What – WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” Buffy grabbed Cordelia by the collar and shook her…….somebody called out,
“It’s rising…the sun is about to come up in ten, nine, eight…”
Inside the chamber Angel, still black-eyed went to lie down on top of the altar, when he was suddenly hit by an invisible force, and was smashed backwards against the rocks, his arms and legs flailing. He looked and saw it was the baby, pointing at him, and he couldn’t move.
Billy then pointed to his daddy with his other hand, and floated him up and across to the altar, and Spike, still unconscious floated down gently lying face upwards. The strange man went to come forward, he shouted to Angel,
“You stupid fool – you let a baby get the better of you – it’s YOUR destiny, get him, it’s only a baby for gods sake – just a –ah – AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!”
A bright pure white column of sunlight came through the open panel in the roof of the chamber and hit Spike in the chest, and he convulsed, and let out a loud scream – bolts of lightening snaked out, one catching the evil man in the chest, and he burnt to a crisp in a second, like he was made of tissue.
Billy looked with big eyes at what was happening to his daddy, and suddenly the column fizzled out and disappeared.
Spike stopped screaming and his head slumped to one side, Angel slumped down the rocks and was left unconscious and the panel in the ceiling closed, and the rocks blocking the passages receded and slid open, and Buffy, ran sobbing into the chamber
“SPIKE, BILLY – OH GODS BILLY!” She ran in to see the little amulet fall out of the recess, and Billy picked it up, and smiled, holding it up to his mom.
“Uh?”
She plucked him up off the floor and ran straight over to Spike.
Everybody piled into the chamber, Cordelia went over to Angel, and Willow and Giles went to the altar.
Gently taking Billy out of her arms, Giles said
“Is he okay?”
“Spike…please baby, please speak to me!” She sobbed and rested her head on his chest, reaching for his hand. Spike didn’t move. Trying to collect her thoughts, she noticed…a thump – then another, then another –
Raising her head with shock, she realised that Spike’s hand was warm –
“Buffy – are you-“
“Spike – he’s alive!”
“Well, I don’t know about that – or what went on in here, but there’s a distinct smell of burning and-“
“NO! He’s warm and he’s…he’s got a heart beat”
“Uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhggggggggggg”
“SPIKE!”
“Oh gooooooooodddd…what the fuck happened?” Spike slowly propped himself up on one elbow, he felt like he’d been hit by a train.
“Spike? – SPIKE!”
“Wha-oohhh – hey…what’s up babe…what happened here…..hang on I’m … what’s that noise, that thump-thump?”
Comically, Spike’s eyes widened as he realised it was his heart, beating, he sat up with a gasp.
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