Car Trouble 12

Belize, Release Me………


Pairing Buffy and Spike
Rating NC17
Disclaimer – We own nothing and nobody mentioned in this fic, it’s just for fun

Chapter 1



Spike pulled into the nearest parking bay in the underground lot of Wolfram and Hart, he and his wife got out of the car…

“Tell me pet, just what are we doing here anyway? – This is getting to be a regular occurrence now, and quite frankly, I’m getting sick of it…why can he and his little bunch of friends cope?”

Buffy shrugged and said,

“I don’t know…it’s not as if we haven’t enough to do in Sunnydale…but Giles just asked me, said he wanted us here, so…” she shrugged

“I suppose he’s going to rant about that bloody tape” Spike said, pointing his key fob at the car. The central locking system engaged with a quiet clunk and they made their way to the lift.

“Take no notice, you don’t know anything about it, you can’t tell him what you don’t know, now can you?” Buffy reasoned, Spike just shrugged.

“I know Pet, I know, it’s just that he’s NEVER going to believe in a million years that I had nothing to do with him being in that state. Come on, hurry up!” Spike pressed for the lift and grouched at it impatiently.

They stepped in and pressed for the top floor. It stopped on the second and two people got in. Well one person, a tallish guy with black hair, and a tall thickset green demon with red horns, who pressed for the fourth floor.

“So, did you see the boss’ tape then, Lorne?” The guy with the black hair asked the demon (Buffy and Spike exchanged a look, but said nothing)

“I did Sweet-cheeks, I ordered my copy from Harmony two days ago – I’m just going to see her now, I hope it’s ready…well this is me, bye then!” the demon got out of the lift, and they carried on up. The guy with the black hair got out at the sixth floor.

Angel’s office, Wolfram and Hart, 10.30am

Angel was angry. Furious in fact, Raging. The fact that he’d ranted on for the last ten minutes proved that. Not that either Buffy or Spike were actually listening to him droning on. In fact at first, they’d both found it quite hard to keep a straight face – they had to press lips together, and look everywhere other than Angel, the offending tape on the desk in front of them, or even each other!


“…My standing in this community, my, my kudos, my credibility, my prestige – gone – out the window! Do you realise what you’ve done? – I’m a laughing stock! My friends, colleagues, clients – EVERYBODY seems to know about it!” Angel said angrily thumping the desk.

Spike looked impassively at his wife, and then turned to Angel and said,

“Have you finished?”

“Spike, I am NOT in the mood for your smart mouth and-“

“Carry on…just let me know when you finished wittering on – then I’ll have my say” Spike sat back in his chair looking bored, he yawned, Buffy scrutinised her nails, biting at a snag of loose skin on one of her fingers.

Angel got up and came towards Spike in a menacing fashion, Spike didn’t move, but Buffy jumped up and put herself between her husband and the angry vamp

“Hey – don’t even THINK it Angel, now just you calm down”

“Calm down – huh, calm down she says, have you even LISTENED to a word I said?”

Buffy folded her arms across her chest and said witheringly

“Truthfully – not a lot, no”

Angel turned away in disgust from her, saying

“You used to be such a sweet, honest girl, and now…we’ll he’s dragged you down to-“

“IF YOU’VE QUITE FINISHED!” Buffy said angrily, and Angel went over to the window and looked out, with a petulant look on his face.

“Despite what you might think Angel, Spike had nothing to do with you being involved in, in well, THAT!” Buffy pointed to the offending video cassette

“And I’m expected to believe that, am I?” Angel asked, glancing at her for a split second

“Why not, it’s the truth!”

“You wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit you in the ass”

“Listen Peaches, I don’t honestly give a rats arse what you think of me, but I’ll say this, I don’t, never shall and never have, kept a load of female gear in your size to dress you up IF and when the opportunity ever presented itself, understand?”

Putting it like that made Angel look at him and blink – the idea DID sound preposterous.

“Yeah, and don’t you think that I‘d know about it, hmm – I mean a leather mini, and boob tube in THAT size, a curly blonde wig, not to mention the fishnets and stiletto heeled shoes – Spike IS my husband, he does live with me you know –where would he hide it?!” Buffy added

Angel closed his eyes with embarrassment, dying a thousand deaths over what he was filmed wearing…he turned and in a rather defeated manner he said,

“But…” Spike cut him short and said,

“But NOTHING – you just want to believe the worst in me, well that’s nothing new, but hey, NEWSFLASH – how about ME going mad – hmm? Thought about it from MY point of view – no, I don’t suppose for one split second you’ve even given me or my side of things a thought, have you – you selfish bastard – with you, it’s numero uno priority, you bloody first, middle and last!” Spike leaned forward in his chair, and stabbed the air towards Angel angrily, and said

“For your information, I was at my wits end, out of my mind with worry over my wife, something had rendered her unconscious, and nobody knew what was causing it – so, I call you for help, and all you can think about is drinking and getting your jollies while I’m doing everything I can to get to the bottom of the mystery – while you prat about looking like a $10 hooker and let Razor and his cronies get to the bottom of you!”

“I couldn’t help it! It wasn’t my fault – I was drunk – or drugged or whatever caused it now!”

“Oh I see, YOU couldn’t help it, but I could – wasn’t YOUR fault, but it was MINE – okay fine - well that figures, nothing is EVER YOUR bleedin’ fault is it Peaches, always has to be some other poor sucker who gets the blame – well I ain’t being your patsy this time, look around for someone else to blame. I know what it is, you’re just sore because somebody’s making a packet out of selling copies, and they haven’t cut you in!”

Spike said with as much conviction as he could muster…inwardly he was turning cartwheels of joy, never, EVER had anything gone so spectacularly well for him against his grandsire, and probably never would again, so he was determined to enjoy it and wring every last ounce of discomfort out of Angel he could………


“Copies – what do – oh god…oh please god NO!” Angel covered his face with his hands and lowered his head with shame.


“Ahem…I have the briefing documents we need here, shall we go into the conference room and start?”

Suddenly all eyes were on Wesley – he’d been standing by the door and nobody had seen him or heard him enter the office until he spoke up

“Right” Buffy and Spike stood and followed Wesley out into the corridor and down to the conference room he mentioned. Already seated in there were Giles, Gunn, and Cordelia.

Angel closed the door behind him. He’d just taken his seat, when Harmony knocked on the door and entered without waiting for a reply.

“Angel, he’s here” Harmony could barely look at her boss these days without wanting to giggle…Angel narrowed his eyes slightly at her, if he thought for one moment that it was her making copies………

“Right, show him in, will you please, and um, get some coffee sorted for us”

Harmony left.

Spike was bored already. He wanted to kickback his chair, put his feet up on the desk, teetering on the back two legs of his seat and light a cigarette…but of course he couldn’t…could he? He was just having second thoughts about doing just that, when the door opened, and somebody, came into the room

Buffy glanced up, rolled her eyes and sighed.


“Oh what now – bloody terrific! Fuck this, where’s my cigs…” Spike did what he wanted to do, he put his feet up, rocked on the back two legs of the chair and lit a cigarette – and to his surprise, nobody chastised him for it…that only meant one thing – BAD NEWS……

Chapter 2


“Sit down Riley…I believe you know everybody here, is that correct?” Giles asked, and Riley glanced around the assembled people and nodded his head.

“Good, we’ll get on then, if you’d like to tell us your problem”

“Well, five days ago, an eight-man unit of mine, part of a team of 24 went missing in the wilds of Belize…we haven’t heard of them since, we’ve had two search and rescue parties looking round the clock, but all they found was their equipment and radio

The last radio message we received from them told us they’d come across a pile of stones, they had on them ancient symbols…they were tired, decided to set up camp nearby, a couple of the guys sat on the stones and said they could feel something strange, like a vibration, we don’t exactly know what happened after that………”

“Couldn’t leave well alone, could they, fuckin’ idiots” Spike said angrily

“Spike!” Giles chastised, and Spike rounded on the watcher

The blonde vamp folded his arms; he couldn’t understand why this needed a slayer…

“What? Come on, watcher – what – suddenly I’m not allowed an opinion now? (Spike stood and angrily pointed towards Riley, but he was looking at Giles as he said his piece) His bunch of wankers stride in the gods know where, somewhere they’re not bleeding well wanted, do something they shouldn’t – and for all their hi-tech weaponry, sophisticated satellite-navigational equipment, not to mention the thousands of dollars worth of survival training they’ve had, he has to come here, tail between his legs, and expects my Mrs, that’s MY wife, to go and rescue them – and I’m not allowed to have an opinion, hmm? - Have I got that right?”

Everybody was silent, they looked at the table or their hands, anywhere but each other, because, well because…Spike had a really good valid point.

“I’m, I’m sorry, I didn’t know who else to turn to – if she doesn’t want ………well, I understand” Riley trailed off.

“Hold your horses – it’s not a case of does or doesn’t want to, before any decisions are made, we better try and ascertain what this thing was that those wankers touched – if it IS slayer business at all, it could be an old burial mound, and the locals have got miffed at their dead being disturbed - some are tribes like that – then again, it could even be something ET for all we know” Spike said

“ET?” Giles looked up with one eyebrow cocked

“Well, why not – nothing would surprise me in this day and age” Spike said sitting down, and taking Buffy’s hand.

Buffy smiled and squeezed, her small hand enveloped tightly around his.

“Where is Belize anyway?” Buffy asked. Before anybody could speak, Spike said,

“Central America pet, used to be known as British Honduras – it’s mostly jungle, rain forest – totally under-developed. It’s to the east of Guatemala; well, they’ve claimed it anyway. It was nearly wiped off the map Hallowe’en, 1961 by a hurricane”

There were a few surprised faces at Spike’s (correct) knowledge.

“Believe me Spike…we’ve tried EVERYTHING we have to contact them – their radio is still transmitting, it’s just they’re not answering”

“So why haven’t ‘International Rescue’ been called out then, if you now the location they went missing?”

“The others…the 16 that were left – they were in two groups of eight, they were less than three kilometres away either side of the missing group, they were at the lost patrol’s co-ordinations in less than two hours, but they found nothing, but the stones, and um…well – they…they heard a terrific noise, a, a roaring – they said it was like nothing they’d ever heard before…”

“Roaring? – What like water – a waterfall, an animal, what?”

Riley shrugged his shoulders and said

“Animal I guess”

“You guess, huh – and that’s supposed to be good enough is it?”

“Well, you’ll be able to hear for yourself on the tape I’ve got”

“Spike please, will you sit down, we need to try and work things out rationally” Giles pleaded

“Look – all I’m trying to do here, is to get as much information as I can – this is not the sort of thing we can look up in the Watcher diaries or the Ars Daemonicus is it – well not yet it isn’t…I could be ANYTHING, and right at this moment, I’m still not convinced it’s slayer business at all” Spike said

“I’LL be the judge of that!” Giles said, with an edge to his voice

Spike looked thoughtful for a few moments and then asked,

“What about the locals, you know, the inhabitants of the island, have you spoken to any of them?”

Riley looked slightly pained, and shook his head and said,

“We tried…when we could find somebody that was – but they just shout un-intelligibly and brandish weapons at us”

“Why am I not surprised – they’ve probably got to sacrifice a virgin, or offer up their first-born to ‘placate the hell-beast’, thanks to your lot” Spike muttered

“You don’t know that, Spike” Giles said testily

“No, I don’t, and neither do you, so come on the Rupes, how are you going to ascertain if this is slayer business, or what – I don’t want my beautiful Buffy in any more danger than is necessary” Spike felt Buffy’s hand squeeze his briefly, and he smiled at her.

“I have to say – I agree with Spike, after all, he’s only looking out for his wife’s safety!” Gunn whispered to Wesley.

“Shall we start by looking at these symbols on the stones, see if we can look something up?” Giles asked

“Um…I er, I don’t have any pictures…just descriptions from the transcripts of the radio messages we received” Riley said quietly

Giles and Wesley looked at each other, they could begin to feel a little as Spike did – they were beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all…

“You’ll have to sign these documents, this is classified material you’re going to hear” Riley place official secrets act papers out for them to sign

Rolling their eyes, everybody signed the forms, and Riley took out a small tape recorder and set it up on one of the desks and pressed ‘play’………

“……………761Victor-Charlie unit to 224 alpha tango base leader, come in please”

“Come in Victor-Charlie, this is base leader, over”

“Yeah you guys…we’ve come across something weird, over”

“Repeat, Victor-Charlie, did you say weird, come back?”

“Affirmative base…big pile of old black stones…smooth, oval – got like stuff carved on them, over”

“Victor-Charlie stay in your position while I get instructions from the commanding officer, over”

There was a two-minute pause in the transmission, so Riley explained, then it continued thus:

“This is 224 alpha tango base leader to 761 Victor-Charlie, come in Victor-Charlie, over”

“761 to base over, we’re here – these symbols are weird – there’s one like a capital ‘A’, but the bar across the middle sticks out a bit either side…then there’s a circle, with rays shooting out, but only the top half of the circle…three wavy lines underneath each other…there’s a triangle with an eye shape in the middle of it…over”

“761 you were told not to touch the stones, HQ said to ignore them, most likely a burial mound. We are setting up camp for the night, please set sat-nav co-ordinates to 2degrees 27 minutes south by south west, and 30 degrees 3 minutes north by north east – message ends 18 hundred hours – goodnight Victor-Charlie – remember, no fucking about now, this is alpha tango base leader closing communication, over and out”

“Roger there alpha tango – co-ordinates set – sweet dreams y’all, over and out”

Riley reached over and stopped the tape

“Is that it?” Wesley asked, he looked at what he’d written down, he’d actually drawn what had been described.

“There was this roughly 53 minutes later” Riley switched on the tape again

(Very urgent, panicky voice)

“761 Victor-Charlie to 224 alpha-tango base leader over, come in base – oh god for fuck’s sake come in please………(in the background incoherent shouting and screams could be heard, pistol shots, then a roaring, like a lion very close to the microphone)

“224 alpha-

“Never mind that – help us, oh god you’ve got to help us, the stones began to vibrate – Hudson and Forrest were sitting on them, two fell off the top of the pile – oh god, oh fuck, no – Hudson, HUDSON, come away from – no, oh no please god…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrggggggghhhh guh, no, NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………”
A huge echoing roar was all that could be heard after that, then silence

Again Riley switched off the tape and said,

“That’s all we’ve got, just jungle noises after that, and ever since”

Wesley and Giles began to talk…

“Quite frankly, I’m not convinced this IS slayer business” Wesley said

“Well…let’s see if we can dig up anything on these symbols you’ve drawn, then decide” Giles said, tapping Wesley’s notebook with his pen, and Wesley agreed. Giles cleared his throat and said

“Riley, we’ve, that is Wesley and myself have decided to see if we can dig up anything on these symbols – and then we’ll decide if this is slayer business, meanwhile, Buffy and the rest of you, see what you can dig up on Central American legends, mythical beasts, what have you”

“Excuse me………Riley is it?” Cordelia spoke up

“Yes?”

“Have you got anything from the jungle – anything that’s from the locale to where this happened, I might be able to get something from it”

“Sorry, get something?” Riley asked puzzled

“The vibrations, I can tune in, I have visions” Cordelia said. Spike and Buffy gave each other a ‘look’ and tried not to grin

“You’ll probably find that’s too much Californian chardonnay pet!” Spike quipped, and Angel gave Spike a murderous look, and started angrily,

“I’ll have you know that Cordy-“

“Angel – it’s okay, they don’t know what’s happened” Cordelia put a soothing hand on Angel’s arm, and then she turned towards Buffy and Spike.

“A member of our team, he was an empath, he had visions, sadly he’s passed away, but not before he passed his gift onto me”

“Oh. Well sorry pet, I didn’t know – last time we met you were trying to help Peaches here cheat at rally racing, if my memory serves me correct”

Cordelia smiled and said serenely,

“That’s okay! Now, Riley, anything from the jungle?”

Riley began to pat his pockets…

“Well, there’s a turn up for the books! – who’d a thunk it – little Miss Cheerleader being of some use after all!” Spike whispered to Buffy, who smiled and raised her brows.

Chapter 3

“That one there, that’s Knight’s Templar, Freemasons and all that” Giles said, tapping the triangle with the eye shape in the middle

“Probably just the way I drew it, but that’s what the tape said, triangle with an eye shape in the middle………to be truthful Giles, I really don’t think that this is slay-“

“Giles, Wes, come quick!” Gunn came racing into Wesley’s small office, and left just as quickly. The two watchers raced down the corridor and into the conference room they’d vacated not half an hour previously.

They got there to see Cordelia sitting, looking very disorientated, sipping a glass of water, insisting that she was ‘fine now, and don’t fuss’………

“What, what is it, what happened?”

“I gave Cordelia this, she wanted something that actually came from the jungle – see that, what’s holding the strap onto the case, (he pointed out the Bowie knife-case) that’s some jungle vine I wound around it so I wouldn’t loose it when it broke – anyway, she’s had some sort of vision” Riley explained

Giles turned to look at Cordelia, Wesley was squatting down in front of her, her face in his hands, checking her eyes

“Are you alright Cordy?”

“Yeah, sure…wow, that was powerful”

“What did you see?”

“Nothing definite…it’s big, whatever it is, it’s huge”

“Like an elephant?” Giles ventured

Cordelia took another sip of water and shook her head

“No, much bigger, like um…like a truck, yeah, like a huge big tru – dinosaur! That’s it! Like one of those um…big ones, with the long neck and the fat body…if somebody can get me a book of dinosaurs or something………then again, I saw smoke…could be a dragon!!”

***********************

Spike was lying on the bed, hands clasped behind his head, supposedly researching. Buffy was reading, when the knock came

Buffy opened the door and Gunn said,

“Hi, sorry to interrupt you, but um, well, there’s been a development”

*****************

“That’s it, a dragon, or a dinosaur?” Spike asked, not managing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice

“That’s what the lady said” Angel said smiling as he leaned against the desk looking fondly at Cordelia

“Well *I* think I was right first time round…too much of the old throat gargle, dinosaur indeed!” Spike mimed a drinking action to Buffy, who smirked.

Angel stood up straight and said indignantly,

“I’ll have you know my Cordy hasn’t been wrong ever before!”

“And I’M saying, there’s always a first time!” Spike said

“I’d have thought that you of all people would be able to put aside any prejudices you have and-“

Giles and Wesley strode into the conference room and announced

“Buffy – you’ll leave for Guatemala tonight, from there you’ll be taken under military escort to Belmopan, that’s the capital of Belize, you’ll do three days survival training and then you’ll go out into the jungle and do what you do best – kill the monster”

“Whoa, hey slow down there a minute…I don’t think there’s been enough research done yet!” Spike said, with a huge frown on his face.

“Time is of the essence here, by the time Buffy gets there, those men will already have been missing for nearly nine days”

“And she’s walking into WHAT – She’s not equipped, hell Giles I’ve said this earlier, if the Initiative can’t find them, with all their training and equipment, how the hell do expect Buffy – “

“The decision has been made – Buffy please be ready by 6pm, you can sleep on the plane”

“I’m coming with you babe”

“Spike, this is a covert government operation, you-“

Spike could feel his anger welling up, but he tried to keep calm, he said quietly,

“I am not prepared to let my wife go on her own, *I* am GOING with her whether you like it or not”

“Actually Spike, that will be fine, I was thinking we should all go” Wesley said

“ALL, but what…okay, okay – seems like you got your wish” Giles turned and left

“Thanks Wes, now if you don’t mind, I need to um…be with my husband”

“Sure, right, see you later” Wesley left and Buffy shut the door. For some reason, Spike thought that Buffy was annoyed with him, but nothing could have been further from the truth…


*************

Buffy slid her arms around Spike’s neck; his automatically went round her waist.

“Never had to kill a dinosaur before”

“And you shouldn’t have to now pet, honestly – I don’t know what the hell Giles is thinking”

“At least he’s coming with us”

“You think that’ll be a help?”

“No, but at least he’ll be as hot and uncomfortable as the rest of us will be”

“Oh stop, I can just picture him now, knotted hankie on his head, trousers rolled up to half mast with a fly whisk in his hand, doing a ‘aah, Dr Livingston, I presume’ bit!” Spike said, then he lowered his head and dropped a soft kiss on her hair.

Buffy raised her head, sought his mouth and they began to kiss with mounting passion.

Suddenly the door opened and Gunn walked in, saw them and apologised

“Oh um, sorry – sorry! Forgot my um…” he reached for his cell phone off one of the desks and held it up, and left.

“How long have we got before we go?”

Spike shot back his cuff, looked at his watch and said,

“It’s just midday now, so six hours”

Buffy let her arms slip and she caught his hand

“Come on, let’s go find Angel’s room!”

As they walked down the corridor towards Angel’s room, they could hear raised voices, one male, and one female, they slowed their pace and listened………

“……………I AM, and that’s an end to it!”

“NO, you’re NOT, I forbid it!”

“Look Angel, I don’t know when you suddenly decided that you’re the boss of me, but-“

“But I AM your boss!”

“You know what I mean! Work’s different!”

“This isn’t work!”

“It is!”

“It isn’t!”

“I had a vision – “

“Okay then, you had a vision, but indirectly, and as your boss, I’m telling you, you’re not going out to Belize! You’ll HATE it – it’ll ruin your hair! And your nails – there’s insects and snakes, spiders big as dinner plates, all manner of nasty creepy-crawlies, look Cordy, I don’t want that for you!”

“Angel………I thought, well HOPED you’d noticed that I’d changed. These visions, they’ve given me a sense of responsibility now. I’m not so superficial anymore – and I might be able to help”

“Fine, go if you want then, but don’t come running to me if you wind up getting hurt – or worse, dead!” Angel yanked the door open and saw Buffy, then Spike, ignored them both and strode off down the corridor.

Buffy went to the door and said,

“Um, knock, knock – can I – we come in?”

“Oh hi Buffy, sure come on in”

They went in and closed the door behind them.

“Did you hear that? – Angel’s mad because I’m coming with you”

She folded something and put it in a little vanity case

“He’s only thinking of your safety, pet” Spike said, and both girls gave the vampire a wry smile at him defending Angel.

“Like you was only thinking of Buffy’s safety! I could be of use!”

“Cordelia…pet, don’t get me wrong when I say this, but have you ever seen one of those movies, where there’s a young woman, totally out of her depth? You know the one, the one who when she tries to run away from the baddie she trips and twists her ankle, the one who screams at the first sight of a snake or creepy-crawly, the one who falls into a raging torrent of water and can’t swim…we won’t have the time or the man-power to carry anybody – do you get my drift?”

“Sure I do, but I didn’t say I was going to trek through the jungle, all I said was I might be able to help with the visions – once I’m there, I might get a clearer picture of this beast – I can be back at base and relay stuff to you” She reached for a pot of moisturiser that was on the side, tucked it in her case and closed it.

“There – that’s me packed. I’m going down to the lounge, I’ll see you later”

“That WAS Cordy, wasn’t it?” Spike asked, incredulously

“I was wondering that!”

“Lock the door pet…we don’t want any more interruptions…” Spike stood and began to shed his clothes…

Chapter 4


“So, they really ARE married then – I know when he was going on earlier he said something about ‘my Mrs, that’s my wife’ – but I thought he was talking figuratively………married but how I mean, it’s impossible, he’s a vampire!”

Angel shrugged, refilled his coffee cup from the Cona machine

“Do you know Xander – idiot boy that used to knock around with them all in Sunnydale?”

“Vaguely, why?”

“It was supposed to have been his wedding, he was going to marry some ex vengeance demon – they all went to Las Vegas for the do, but somehow, don’t ask me how, Buffy and Spike ended up getting married – had once-in-a-lifetime’s honeymoon to Hawaii. Anya, the ex demon due to marry Xander, she tried to sue them, said it was her honeymoon, she used us as her lawyers – but she didn’t have a leg to stand on legally so…I was um, I was sorry to hear about you and Sam”

“WHAT?”

“You and Sam, splitting up – I’d have thought what with you both being in the military, it would have made for more understanding”

“How in the hell did you know about Sam and I?”

“She told us – well she told Buffy – we had some problems out in the Nevada desert some months ago – with your lot again, I’m surprised you didn’t know”

“My lot? – the Initiative?”

Angel sipped his coffee, nodded and said,

“Uh huh”

“When exactly was this – what was the trouble?”

“Um…let me see…” Angel opened his leather-bound diary and flicked back the pages.

“Ah, here we are…um, mid summer ‘bout nearly four months ago”

“The lying little…” Riley started, then he shut up, but asked Angel

“So what was this trouble then?”

Angel began to feel very uncomfortable, like he was telling tales out of school, so he was very grateful when Cordelia knocked and entered the office.

“Angel, Wesley said will you please contact the airport and clear security for the plane, he hasn’t got authority to do it, only you”

“Oh, right, sorry, I’ll get right on it” He picked up his phone and pressed a series of numbers

“Riley, Giles said would you come and advise as to what equipment might be needed?”

“What now – oh um, right, sure (he drained his coffee cup and put it on the table) – later then Angel” Riley raised his hand to Angel, who acknowledged him with a nod and a thumbs up as he was busy on the phone.


*******************


Buffy yawned and stretched

“What’s the time?”

Spike raised his arm and said,

“Nearly half four…so, ready to –“ He made to lie over her again, but Buffy stayed his shoulder

“Nope, come on, I want to shower – we haven’t got long until we go”

“We’ve got bags of time yet! They said 6’oclock”

“LEAVE at six, that means the plane takes off, we’ve got to get to the plane yet!”

Spike leaned down and kissed her nose

“Don’t think I’m done with you yet, Missy………”

Buffy smiled and pulled him into a tight hug. It always made him feel extra good when it was she who initiated any little loving gesture, when she kissed him or hugged him first.

“Counting on it. Spike.”

He looked down at her

“Pet?”

“This thing, this, this dragon or dinosaur or whatever it is”

“What about it kitten?”

Spike stroked an errant strand of hair out of her eyes

“We will be able to kill it, won’t we?”

“Well kitten, I’m hoping we don’t have to”

“No?” Buffy sat up and hugged her legs, resting her chin on her knees

“No – I’m hoping that Cordy does her all seeing eye thing and then that pasty-faced, Iowa white-bread, over-grown hall monitor and his little chums can blow it to kingdom come – which is what they should do without you having to go there in the first place”

They both looked at the door handle, that was being rapidly rattled, and then there was a loud banging on the door

“Come on – I need to pack, this is MY room after all!”

After Buffy had quickly slid into the bathroom, Spike got up off the bed, and answered the door, naked.

Angel rolled his eyes but made sure he kept them averted.

“Who said you were coming?” Spike asked, lighting a cigarette

“If Cordelia’s going, then so am I, I’d have thought YOU of all people could –“

“All right, all right, don’t get your knickers in a bunch!”

“Get dressed – Buffy in the shower is she?” Angel asked. Spike rolled his eyes, you could plainly hear the shower running, and as Buffy wasn’t in the bedroom, it was a total no-brainer of a question.

The shower eventually stopped, and after a minute or two, Buffy called

“Spike, bring me my clothes please?”

“Sure pet, stand behind the door” Spike opened the door just wide enough to hand her her clothes.

Angel resisted the temptation to say, ‘Don’t worry Spike, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before’ – he wanted a quiet time before the flight because, despite his immortality, Angel hated flying.

Just as Buffy emerged from the bathroom, there was a knock at the door, and Angel opened it.

“Hi, we’re all ready and will wait in reception, we have a take-off slot at 6.04pm”

“Thanks Wes, we’ll be right down”


*************************


Spike seemed agitated and edgy, he kept on craning his neck towards the cockpit – then suddenly what he’d been waiting for flashed up -
The red light turned to green, and everybody could undo their lap-belts, Spike was one of the first.

He grinned and touched Buffy’s arm, she’d been looking down on the clouds below, thinking how much like cotton wool they looked…

“Babe, come with me”

“Huh? – Okay, where are we going?” she undid her belt and stood, leaning against the back of her seat

“You’ll see!”

She frowned slightly, but followed him all the same

Spike strode purposefully towards the back of the plane.

“Spike where are we-“

“Quick, get in there!”

Buffy again frowned, but walked into the tiny toilet, Spike followed, and with slight difficulty, just about managed to close the door and slide the bolt to ‘engaged’

“Spike what are…oh!”

“Ever heard of the ‘Mile-High’ Club?” Buffy could feel cool fingers tugging at her panties, and she went big-eyed and said hoarsely,

“Spike! We can’t, not in here, there’s no room – everybody will know – they’ll hear us,!”

But Spike had already removed her thong, unzipped himself and then he lifted her up and sat her on the tiny hand-basin

“They won’t if you keep it down pet!”

Lining himself up, Spike slid into her hot depths, and Buffy closed her eyes, and bit her bottom lip and she banged her head against the mirror.

“OW- Oooh!”

“Shush kitten!”

“Hmmmnph!”

Spike pulled her hips forward until she slid down onto him fully, he felt her nails digging into his shoulders and she had a sharp intake of breath, her neck arched and he couldn’t resist nibbling over his claim scar – this always got her hot, and Spike could feel her internal muscles tighten around him. There wasn’t any room to thrust, but thanks to gravity that wasn’t a problem!

Suddenly, hitting a spot of turbulence, the plane dropped slightly, and then rose again back to the right altitude, making it feel like they were on a roller coaster – it did this several times, and Spike had to brace his shoulder against the door frame to stop from sliding to the side. All the extra movement the plane was doing quickly bought them both to orgasm, and Buffy buried her head in Spike’s neck and bit him, making him push hard inside her making her come a second time.

He felt her relax, and she put her hand down to the basin to steady herself, but she accidentally caught the press-down bar that served as a tap and a cold gush of water filled the sink, making Buffy shriek with surprise as it soaked her bottom.

There was a sharp rap on the door, and Angel could be heard saying

“What’s going on in there, as if I didn’t know – come on, out of there – oh!”

The plane dipped again, and they heard a loud thump outside the door, the rattle of glasses and the clatter of something metallic hitting the floor.

“My ass is all wet!”

Spike leaned over and snagged out a wodge of tissues from the holder on the wall.

“Here you go pet!”

Buffy wiped herself best she could, threw them into the toilet and flushed. She knew there wasn’t room to slip her undies back on, she said to Spike,

“Ready!”

Spike opened the door to see Angel’s backside sticking up in the air, he was trying to get up – it was obvious he’d fallen over and bumped into a drinks trolley. He was picking up stuff off the floor, the toilet door bumped against his foot.

“Well shift yourself then!” Spike said grinning – Buffy followed Spike out holding his hand. Angel just glared at them

“You animal – do you ever leave her alone?” Angel said, but so quietly only he heard.

Riley glanced at the pair as they passed him on their way back to their seats, and that’s when Buffy felt slightly embarrassed. Luckily Giles was absorbed in a book, Gunn was chatting to Cordelia and Wesley was asleep.

“Shall we recline the seats right back Kitten, we can get at least three hours shut-eye”

“What- oh yeah. Okay, I am tired” She yawned and took the blanket Spike had taken out of the overhead locker and unfurled it. She turned on her right side, facing Spike, who covered not only himself but Buffy too with his blanket. She snuggled up and they both went to sleep.

Chapter 5

“Baby…come on Kitten, wakey-wakey!” Spike leant over and whispered in her ear, then kissed her cheek. Buffy woke, smiled and put her arms around his neck, drawing him down for a kiss.

“’Fraid we’ve got to right the seats and put on our safety belts babe, we’re coming into land”

Buffy frowned, suddenly remembering where she was. She snatched a quick kiss and stretched, yawning.

Spike stood and folded the two blankets, whilst Buffy put the seats upright, and then fixed her lap belt. She looked out of the window; it was pitch black except for a line of lights illuminating the runway.

“OW! Oh – oh god, I HATE THIS – Ow!” Buffy shook her head slightly, pressing one ear and trying to swallow to stop her ears popping.

They landed smoothly and soon came to a stop. Everybody unclipped their belts and stood, gathering belongings together, mostly yawning. There was a loud ‘thump’ and the door behind the cockpit opened, and steps were fitted

“Captain Finn?” a guy in uniform said, entering the plane

“That’s me”

“I’ve been told to give you this sir, and to tell you that there are no formalities, you can get straight into the waiting cars on the runway”

“Thankyou – okay people did you hear that – cars are waiting for us, just get in one – our stuff will be taken on for us”

“Hope there’s something to eat when we get there, I’m starving!” Buffy said yawning and shivering slightly as the cool night air permeated the plane.

Spike, Buffy, Gunn and Wesley got into the nearest blacked out car and it quietly sped off. Ten minutes later they pulled up and the driver got out and held open the door for them.

They walked into a low, single-storey building, where two women in military uniform were waiting for them

“If you’d like to follow me, we have refreshments waiting for you, then you can sleep”

“Oh great – I could eat a horse! – Hmm…I smell toasty cheese…I hope its pizza!” Buffy salivated as she approached the servery hot plate, there was all sorts of goodies on offer, pizza being one of them, she took a slice and bit into it while waiting to be served with lasagne, fries and salad.

After everybody had arrived and had eaten their fill, they were shown to room with two single beds in each.

“Which one do you want pet?”

“Same one as you, I’m not sleeping alone!”

Spike chuckled and they got undressed and got into bed, both wondering what this little escapade would bring………………


******************


“………………And the golden rule is?” the sergeant asked holding his pointing stick at both ends as he walked back and forth in front of the blackboard - everyone assembled in the classroom dutifully replied with the mantra that had been drilled into them since 8.30am that morning…

“Don’t bother it, and it won’t bother you”

“Good – right that takes care of the creepy-crawlies and the snakes – as it’s 11o’clock, we shall now break for coffee and resume at 11.15 – we shall show you how to set up camp with tarps and material you find on the jungle floor”

“Can’t wait!” Spike muttered, standing and stretching

“What’s a tarp?” Buffy asked, making her way to the back of the room where coffee and cookies had been laid out.

“Tarpaulin – it’s a waterproof sheet” Gunn said helpfully

Buffy sighed and said,

“I just want to get in there, get that beastie, and get out again…and there is NO WAY on earth I’d eat one of those grub thingies – ew – I’d rather starve!”

“Hmm, I know what you mean, mind you, I did once eat half a tub of chocolate covered ants until I found out what they were…” Gunn said, stirring his coffee

“EW! You didn’t!”

Gunn nodded and said,

“My brother, Audley bought them for me as a joke one time for my birthday…”

“Buffy, can I have a word please?” Riley came up to her, and Buffy glanced at Spike, put her cup down on the table and followed him till they were out of everybody’s earshot.

Spike watched casually, leaning against the table

“We want you to learn how to use this portable laser-gun we’ve developed, it could be just the thing for killing this monster”

“But what about the bush-craft?”

“Don’t worry, as long as everybody else learns, they can make you a tent, this is really important”

“Okay – When do you want me to come, after dinner?”

“No, now, after coffee”

“I’ll just go tell Spike” Riley nodded and left. Buffy came over to her husband

“Baby, they want me to learn how to use this weapon thingy they’ve got, so you take extra care to see how to make me safe in my sleeping bag, okay – how to keep the creepy-crawlies out”

“Will do pet – and um…well be careful babe” Buffy nodded, kissed him lightly and left.

Giles came over to Spike and asked what was happening, and Spike told him

“Oh, they’ve decided to let her use it then…this thing is supposed to be ultra-top secret”

“What thing?”

“Um, well, I’m not sure I should say”

Spike gave Giles a single raised eyebrow look, and Giles rolled his eyes and said,

“All I know, it’s something to do with lasers – or rather a laser – hit the monster in the right spot, and boom”

“But they don’t know what it is yet! So how in the hell can they know where to bloody hit the thing?”

Giles went to reply, opened his mouth, thought about what Spike had just said and frowned, closing his mouth, but then he said

“Ah…good point!”

Spike folded his arms disgustedly and said,

“Left hand doesn’t know what the bleedin’ right hands doing with this lot – I honestly wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them – any of them”


**************


After walking down a series of corridors, with Riley having to stop and punch in codes to get through the doors, they eventually arrived outside a door marked ‘Code A1 – Top Secret’ All staff to have A1 class clearance’ this time, Riley entered a long code, and the door clicked open.

They walked to a desk with a soldier sitting behind it.
“Captain Riley Finn, this is Miss Summers, she has special classification clearance, Major General Hank Franklin’s orders – here you are”

Riley handed the soldier the envelope that he had been given on the plane by the soldier.

After checking it, the soldier allowed them through.
“We’ll have to put special overalls on – we’re going into a dust sensitive area”

After donning the smallest pair of overalls they could find, Riley had to help rolling up the trouser leg bottoms and the arms

“This is Dr Alistair Munroe, he developed the stun-laser you’re going to use”

The Dr cast an eye over Buffy, and to be truthful, didn’t seem all that impressed with the tiny blonde.

“I was expecting somebody bigger”

“Don’t worry about my size or strength, doctor – I’m very deceptive”

“Really – well it’s your accuracy at hitting a target that’s my main concern at the moment”

“Dr Monroe, I can assure you that Buffy is, how shall we put it, more than capable of-“

“Yes, yes, well, come along, let’s see, shall we?”

Various size targets were put on the walls, getting smaller and smaller, representing the target getting further away the smaller it got.

Six targets were up, and the Dr said to Buffy, handing her a small pistol, you need to get a bullseye in at least four of them before I’m satisfied you’ll be able to use the weapon”

Buffy took the pistol, and closing one eye, she accurately put a bullet dead centre of each target

The Dr looked surprised at first, then he smiled

“Very good! – Now stamina, I think-“

“Dr Monroe, we chose Miss Summers for this assignment because we know of her capabilities, her strength and stamina are second to none”

Riley stated. The doctor looked at Riley for a few seconds, and then bowing his head slightly, he acquiesced to the captain’s obvious superior knowledge.

The Doctor watched as the small feisty blonde picked up the shoulder launched weapon like it was a pen, and not something that weighed in at 23lbs.

“Can I have a few practice-shots with it?”

“You may – but NOT in here I hasten to add, it would start a fire – come on through to the weapons testing range”

They all walked down more corridors with more doors with codes to be punched in. Ever the gentleman, Riley offered to carry the weapon for her, but Buffy declined.

**************


Buffy had been shown how to set up the weapon, and fire it. She set it on the ground, resting the shoulder-pad part on her collarbone.

“Right, I’m ready to fire” Buffy said, closing one eye, looking down the site.

“Hey, hold on, not so fast, we’ve got to do this for training purposes…won’t be a few seconds

“Laser-Stun testing, 12th October – present Dr Alistair Munroe, Captain Riley Parker and Miss Buffy Summers………”

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes, waiting for riley to shut up. It suddenly went quiet and Buffy perked up, renewing her focus on aligning the sight on the laser.

“Okay, can I – “

“Don’t be so impatient, I’m looking for the serial number!”

Buffy could feel her temper getting shorter – that was one trait she’d begun to think like Spike, officialdom, too much bloody waffle and red tape!

“Ah, got it!” Riley said, and was just about to read it out when Buffy chipped in,

“Well hurry up – god knows I won’t have time for all this palaver when I’m in the thick of it out there!”

Riley gave her a look – thought how much her temperament had changed, Angel was right, being around Spike all the time had changed her.

“Now, you have two main targets, the head, and the chest area, both of these areas give the optimum for death to occur instantaneously”

The Dr said, waiting for her to reply.

“Did you hear me, Miss Summers?”

“Can I fire now?” Buffy was supposed to hit the first target, have it examined, then fire at the next, have it examined, etc, until all six targets had been hit.

Buffy had had enough and wanted to get back to her husband.

She lined up, and fired, the targets all shook and sizzled as the white-hot beam did it’s job, she having placed three shots to the centre of the ‘beasts’ brain, right between his eyes, and three shots to the chest, exactly where the heart would be. She stood, dusted herself down and said,

“There, does that prove to you I can do it? – Look, can I go now?”

The Dr had snatched off his eye-protectors in shock as he saw this tiny girl had hit six targets with such pinpoint accuracy – he’d never seen anything like it!

“Well I! I’m speechless!”

Buffy just shrugged and said, well can I?

Riley pressed the button on the wall to fetch the targets to him along some track loop. The Doctor was dumb-founded and too shocked to speak as he snatched the nearest target off as it reached him

“Ahem, I said, can I – “

“Sorry, sorry yes, Buffy, you can go – just pull on the doors, they’ve already scanned you - you can go through without any problems”

Chapter 6


Just as Buffy got back to the lecture room, she saw everyone stand – they were breaking for lunch.

“Hi!”

“Hi Kitten, how’d it go?”

“Oh, you know, six bulleyes, needed four – you know the story, the Prof or whatever he is thinks I’m a delicate little flower who couldn’t possibly walk, breathe and chew gum all at the same time, let alone carry and use his gun thingy…anyway, come on, quick sandwich for me………blood pack for you, and then the rest of the day is our own”

Is it now? – I thought I’d got to learn how to make you a tent or whatever?”

“We’ll muddle through, to be quite frank, I want to get in there, take out whatever it is, and get out – I don’t want to hang about for any longer than is necessary”

“Right with you there babe! – Oh, and I’ll be with you”

“Yeah, I know!”

“No, I mean RIGHT there with you – the sunlight doesn’t penetrate much passed the upper canopy, there will be plenty of undergrowth cover – so I can be with you every step of the way, I haven’t got to stay at base-camp”

Buffy smiled and cupped her husband’s cheek

“Oh baby is that so? – There’s nobody – nobody else I’d rather have with me!”

*******************


“Are you SURE about this Buffy – I mean you can have another 24 hours of training, and-“ Riley said, looked slightly concernedly at her

“Look, mate, she just said, didn’t she? Now if you don’t mind, we’d just rather get on, get in there, get the job in hand done and get the fuck out…”

“We, what’s this we?”

“I’m going in the jungle with her – AND – hear me out, there is nothing you can say that’ll make any difference” Spike said

Riley dropped his pen on top on his book and tented his fingers, taping them against his chin, deep in thought.

“Okay then…now my boys will take you as far as the first camp – after that, you’re on your own, but you’ll be in touch with us via satellite field radio. I’d also like you to wear this………here you go, I’ll just pin it on your top – it’s a locator – it’ll help us to help you if you get lost – “

Riley walked towards Buffy, to attach the locator to her top, Spike was having none of it, he didn’t want the overgrown hall-monitor leering at his Mrs…

“I’LL do that, thankyou VERY much!” Spike took the locator off Riley and pinned it to her top.

“Right, to the stores, get the equipment and then you can be off”

**********************


Buffy glanced at Spike, who was already frowning…

“Riley…we don’t need all this stuff, and besides, it’ll just slow us down – what is it anyway?”

“Stuff you’ll need” Spike shook his head and said,

“You mean stuff you THINK we’ll need…I’ll take the tarpaulin, the radio and two canteens for water, and four emergency rations for Buffy”

Buffy said she’d carry the weapon, a torch and they’d both have a machete knife to cut through the thick undergrowth.

“But you’ll – “ Riley began, but the look he got from both Buffy and Spike quietened him.

He shrugged and held out his palms upwards in a helpless gesture saying

“Well, on your own heads be it – you know best I suppose”

“Tell your team or whoever we’ll leave after lunch”

“Right, that’ll work out nicely, you should reach base-camp by nightfall” Riley said.

***********************


Having arrived at base-camp, the soldiers set about making things ready. They built a fire, got bedding set up and prepared a meal.

“Smells good…what is it?” Buffy asked

“Chicken curry with rice…just add water, boil it for twenty minutes…” a soldier said.

Giles helped set up a sleeping hammock, he was already sweating profusely.

“Are you alright Giles?”

“F-fine, fine thankyou…a tad warm maybe!”

“You don’t have to be here you know, I was wondering why you all did the jungle craft classes when you could be safe and sound back at HQ” Buffy said

“Well…thought I could least be here, know, well get some sort of idea what you might be going through”

Buffy smiled.

“Um, Miss Summers, can I show you this please?”

“Sure, what is it?” Buffy followed one of the soldiers to a small piece of equipment standing on the ground.

“We do this………and this, lift this up like so, and in heavily covered areas like this, we open out the mini-dish rather than use just the aerial, we get better reception like this…and then I punch in our co-ordinates, like this………(there was a beep and a tiny green light came on) and there, that means we’re now logged in and being monitored by the US Army Satellite Navigation System – they’ll know exactly were we are – and were you are, via that locator”

Buffy looked down at her top where the locator was pinned; it gave off a little pulsing beep.

“You can turn the beep down altogether if it gets on your nerves, but I find you get used to it, like a heartbeat”

She smiled and said,

“Great!”

A voice shouted,

“Chow’s ready!”

*****************



“That was great…so………we’ll rest up and take off at first light, okay Spike?”

“Sure baby”

Buffy sat with her back to Spike’s chest; they were all sat around the campfire talking.

“So, how come you got involved with something like this?” One of the soldiers asked Buffy

“I’m afraid that’s top secret, we’re not allowed to reveal the specialist skills of either Miss Summers or Spike!” Giles interrupted. This made Buffy grin

“Sorry, we’re top secret, aren’t we babe?” She turned her head and Spike gave her a light kiss, grinning

“We sure are!”

The radio crackled into life and everyone heard Riley’s voice.

“This is Hotel Quebec 405 calling base-camp 1, come in base-camp 1, over”

“Base-camp 1 to Hotel Quebec 405, this is Sgt. Martino receiving you loud and clear, sir, over”

“Good, Martino, we have received your co-ordinations and will be tracking and monitoring the progress of the Laser-Blazer’s, will give you a wake-up call at 6.30am, come back, over”

“Thankyou Hotel Quebec, message received and understood, goodnight from all of us here at base-camp 1, sweet dreams – over and out” The radio went back to giving off the same tiny little pulsing beep as the locator.

**************************


“Hmm – huh – oh Spike…SPIKE!”

Spike came to with Buffy clutching his arm tightly

“Wha-what, what is it baby?”

“I don’t…I don’t know, something pulled my hair and EW – IT’S ALL SLIMY- oh god what is it, get it out!!!!”

It was pitch black, Spike had to turn game-face to see what was troubling his wife.

“Hold still…there, got it!”

“Ow, ouch…Ew! What was it – NO! Don’t tell me I –“

“Some sort of half eaten fruit by the look of it…sweet anyway …monkey or something must have dropped it”

“I thought that this tarp thingie supposed to stop things falling on you…why can’t they use tents like everybody else!”

“Miss Summers…hello, Miss Summers, do you have problem?”

A torch beam was shone in their general direction, a soldier walked towards them.

“S’okay…just a monkey using me as target practice, sorry to disturb you”

“You didn’t, I’m on first watch…here, the corner of the tarp is caught on this vine here………there, that should cover you both now…goodnight”

“Night, thanks”

Buffy lay down again. The jungle seemed to come alive, crickets or cicadas, birds, animals – everything began to make a noise.

“Never bloody sleep now…ew, my hairs all sticky…it’s going to get SO matted!”

“Hmm…babe…you’re beginning to sound like Cordy…”

“You take that back!”

Spike chuckled

“Okay, I’ll take it back if you stop mo-“ He was cut short by Buffy sitting up quickly

“Ow, Ow, OW!”

She heard the dull clunk, then the soft rasp of Spike’s Zippo lighter, he held it up. Buffy went to reach for the offending thing, but much to her surprise, it took off………

“Oh, sorry…It’s only a twig – oh god – it’s a twig on legs!”

“It’s a stick insect…can we go back to sleep now please?”

Spike let the lighter go out

“THAT, was not a stick insect…stick insects were little bitty things that we used to have in glasses cages at school…that was a stick ANIMAL”

“Buffy…lie down love………try and rest”

Suddenly a voice out of nowhere made them jump.

“You forgot your mosquito net, that should solve your problems”

A white gauzy film of net was draped around them and Buffy felt she could relax at last.


**********

“Babe…Sweetie…Princess-Kitten…wakey-wakey!”

“Hmm, what – but I only just closed my eyes…can’t be morning!”

Buffy sat up, yawned and blinked; she suddenly became wide-awake at the sight of Spike in a pair of khaki camouflage army trousers, and a khaki tee-shirt.

“Hoo woo, look at you!”

Spike grinned and handed her a steaming tin mug

“Here you go, drink up – Lieutenant Price lent them to me, he said best not to have too much flesh on show, the creepy-crawlies take it as an invite to dinner – you being the main course”

Buffy wrinkled her nose

“What about Sgt Thingy’s don’t bother it, and it won’t bother you mantra?”

“Ah, that…seems nobody told the creepy-crawlies!”

“Ew…what does my hair look like?”

“Um…like you’ve had an argument with an over-ripe peach…and lost! – Don’t worry, you’ll soon sweat it all out”

“Gonna need a shower!”

“That’s all ready for you ma’am!” A soldier said walking towards them.

“They’ve set up a ground-sheet on four poles, I can pour several buckets of water over you, I knew you’d want to be clean before we set off” Spike said, grinning

Buffy smiled, leaned forward and gave her hubby a kiss

“ I love you…”

“Love you too kitten, now come on!”

Buffy gasped as Spike poured the cold water over her, but she managed to get the goo out of her hair and feel reasonably fresh.

Chapter 7

Slightly later than planned, they set off into the thick under-growth at 7.50am, everything they needed on their backs.

They hacked and slashed their way through densely grown vines and trees for four hours, saw a slight clearing ahead, and Spike had to stop.

“Too much sunlight for me Kitten…”

“We’ll go round…can we rest up for five, I’m thirsty”

Sitting on a stump, Buffy reached for her canteen, opened it and took three large swallows, and fastened it back up.

Wiping her forehead on the towelling wrist-bands she sported, she asked

“How far do you reckon we’ve come?”

Spike looked at his compass/mileometer

“According to this…a little over three miles”

“WHAT – you’re joking! Feels like we’ve walked twenty at least, I’m knackered, and SO HOT!”

“It’s this 100% humidity love…you okay?”

Buffy nodded blew out her cheeks

“We should reach the co-ordinations where the soldiers went missing by night-fall…”

“I hope we get the chance of a breather before we have to fight whatever it is we’ve got to fight………I’m getting a blister, look”

Buffy held out her hand, Spike could see an angry pink swelling across her palm and the inside of her thumb.

“It’s the machete handle rubbing you…here, wrap this around your palm, it’ll help mop up some of the sweat…”

Spike handed her a handkerchief.

“See, I told you there was nobody else I’d rather have with me than you…shall we get on?”

“If you’re sure you’re ready, pet”

They trudged on, slashing their way though, stopping to rest every hour for a few minutes for water and a breather.

It was getting darker, and Spike reckoned that they were less than half a mile from the co-ordinates, Buffy bought her machete swishing through a thick vine and was just about to walk forward, when all of a sudden she was confronted by a HUGE loop of snake body dangling down…this body part was rapidly followed by it’s head, tongue lashing out smelling the air barely inches from her face

“DON’T MOVE A MUSCLE!” Spike hissed, and Buffy froze.

The one loop of snake body was soon joined by another, and another…this was one huge snake all right, it’s body as thick as a good-sized tree trunk!

“It’s an anaconda………”

Without moving, Buffy whispered,

“They aren’t poisonous, right?”

“Right…they just eat you whole after crushing you – this bugger looks like he could eat an elephant, sideways………right, when I say, you slowly sink to your knees, and crawl away fast as you can”

“But what about –

“Now – go on, do it!”

Buffy dropped and crawled, Spike, never taking his eyes off the snake’s head rapidly limboed under it and they didn’t stop crawling for a good twenty yards

Buffy hauled herself against a tree, heaving for breath, Spike joined her

“Phew…that was close…god that thing was HUGE!”

Spike looked round, saw that where they were, was quite suitable to set up camp for the night.

A howler monkey came bounding past them, and Spike quickly set about building a fire to keep any nosy animals away. Buffy set the radio up and contacted base-camp.

“Base-camp 1, Base-camp 1, this is Laser-Blazers, come in please, over” Buffy waited for the reply, but there was none.

She reset the co-ordinates, made sure the small satellite dish was completely open, and tried again

“Base-camp 1, Base-camp 1, this is Laser-Blazers, come in please, over”

She let the communication switch go and the radio crackled into life

“Laser-Blazers this is base-camp 1, we read you loud and clear, over”

“We’re holing up for the night, no major incidents, well, except for the fact that I disturbed the biggest anaconda in the world…we make it about 500 yards from ground zero co-ordinates, over”

“Laser-Blazers, that’s a positive, you are right on target, get some rest, good luck – oh, you’re um, boss wants to speak with you, over”

Buffy frowned and mouthed ‘boss?’ to Spike, but they both smiled when they heard Giles being told how to use the radio…

“Okay, got that, um Buffy – I mean Laser-Blazer…you be careful - we’re all here thinking of you…b-both of you, okay?…Buffy, are you there?”

“Yes, you’re supposed to say over when you’ve finished speaking, over!”

“Oh, right sorry. Over”

“We’ll be fine Giles ……tell ‘em at HQ to get some pineapple for my pizza for when I get back, okay, over”

“Will do…well goodnight…over”

“Night Giles, over”

“Laser-Blazers this is base-camp 1 signing off, Sgt Tucker is on first watch, goodnight both, over and out”

“Thankyou base-camp 1, goodnight, over and out”

When Buffy stood, she was impressed to see that Spike had set up a hammock, covered in mosquito net and tarpaulin, and was now crouching over the fire stirring a pot that smelt delicious.

“Hmm…something smells good!”

“Beef curry this time…there was lamb casserole or chicken curry – not much variety, sorry”

“Hey, s’ great… can’t exactly expect Domino Pizza to deliver out here, can we!”

“This’ll be ready in a few minutes”

After they had eaten, they sat by the fire for a while, Spike made sure to build it up well so it would last until morning.

Buffy tumbled into the hammock, Spike right behind her, and they both fell asleep instantly – the ravages of the day taking it’s toll.

They’d been asleep roughly two hours when Buffy was startled awake by a terrific noise.

Spike raised his head

“What is it babe?”

“Nothing…thunder that’s all” She slowly lay back down, trying to get comfortable again…

They both went back to sleep. About an hour and a half later, it was Spike’s turn to wake with a jolt, and when Buffy woke and saw Spike game-faced, she waited and watched him, then there was this huge loud noise, this time it wasn’t thunder – it sounded like a pride of lions all roaring and a heard of elephants all trumpeting at the same time…

“What the hell was…?” Buffy began

Spike let his demon melt away and he said,

“I don’t know pet…but it wasn’t thunder that time”



*****************


“What’s the ti – oh! – Oh my god – look, Spike, LOOK!”

“Fuckin’ Hell – did you feel THAT!”

“Feel it - Did you SEE it’s foot? Must have been six foot long at least…oh god, just how big is this thing?”

“I thought there was an earthquake the ground was shaking so much…come on kitten, best get to it – with any luck, it’ll have spent the night feeding and hopefully it’s going home to rest now!”

“I better radio in, tell base-camp what we’ve seen”

“Okay pet, I’ll pack our stuff away”



*****************


“Ready?”

“Yeah, um, can you help my hoist the backpack up a bit………thanks” Spike grabbed the shoulder straps and pulled up so it was a little higher on her back.

“So what did they say at base when you told them what we’d seen?”

“Told us to take care, and for me to take a good aim”

“Amen to that…ready then kitten?”

Buffy picked up her machete from where she’d stuck it upright at the ready in the ground, weighted it in her hand and nodded

“As I’ll ever be – lets go waste this beastie”

About 400 yards in, Buffy became aware of a horrible stench

“Ew gods, I’m gonna be sick – what IS that god-awful SMELL?”

Spike looked around and then he frowned at what he saw, a maggot-ridden lump of flesh, it looked like the remains of a wild pig, he could see the tusks

“Just don’t look down pet…”

“That’s better………oh look!”

Buffy swished her machete and as the vines came tumbling down in front of her she could see a small clearing up ahead – although there was still plenty of canopy cover luckily.

“Shh…can you hear that?” Spike whispered

“What is it do you think?”

“I think………(he turned game-face, as his senses were heightened as a vampire)………yes, (he shook his demon away) it’s it breathing”

“What we need to do, is to try and see it without it seeing us, set up the laser and fire” Buffy whispered, and Spike nodded in agreement.

Leaving everything but their machete’s and the laser behind, they made their way towards the sound of the noise as quietly as they could.

Seemed nothing else in the jungle wanted to be quiet, howler monkeys howled, birds called and everything else seemed to want in on the act as regards noise.

Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, Buffy and Spike forged their way nearer and nearer to the source of the noise that was getting louder

Spike cut another vine blocking their way, and when it fell, clearing the path for them, he half turned and stayed Buffy with an outstretched arm. She looked up and saw what appeared to be a gigantic lizard like creature, dark greenish with scaly skin and huge back legs, if she hadn’t known they were extinct, she would have said it was a dinosaur – a brontosaurus, but without the long neck and a bigger head.

Spike wafted his hand towards the right, and both he and Buffy as quietly as they could started to move to the right to get the perfect shot to the head.

After taking a dozen steps to the right, Buffy stopped and Spike looked at her, then the creature, nodding his approval.

Buffy silently knelt and drew the weapon, setting up the stand and switching it on – she knew the laser would make a little beeping noise so she tried to time it to when there was a loud bird call. The laser was ready, and the creature didn’t stir

Spike backed away and came and crouched by her side

Buffy took a deep breath, lined her eye up with the site, got her finger ready on the firing button

She pressed and Spike watched a white beam shoot out in a perfect straight line, straight into the centre of the lizard’s skull, for a full ten seconds.

It’s eyes opened terrifyingly wide, it’s huge legs paddled the air and it let out an agonised roar, it’s tail thrashing around, just missing them, and then it was still and silent

Buffy shifted the site and trained it on the heart part of the chest, and fired again for five seconds, but the creature was dead.

She put the gun down and they hugged

“You did it babe!”

“Yeah…shall we take a closer look?”

Carefully they crept towards the creature – there was a funny burnt smell about, so Buffy didn’t want to hang around.

Spike took some photographs, and hacked off a small piece of tail for analysis, putting it in a jar an slipping it in his backpack.

“What the hell was it do you think?” Buffy asked, kicking the dead creature with her boot.

“No idea pet…I’ve got a bit of it for them to – oh look…”

“What?”

“Army dog-tag…must have come from one of the soldiers”

“Here’s another one…and there’s something else…a watch”

“Lets take them back with us, something to give the families or whatever – can you see anything else?” Buffy shifted dirt with the toe of her boot, looked around and shook her head. Spike had a quick glance around and then he said,

“Well pet, mission accomplished, shall we be making tracks?”

“Yes, I’ll radio ahead and tell them that the mission was successful, and we’ll press on for base-camp”

Spike tidied up their ‘camp’ while Buffy radioed base-camp, he could hear the joyous whoops and hollering of everyone back at base over the radio and grinned.

Buffy packed up the radio, slid it into it’s holder at her waist and declared herself ready, they moved off, trying as much as they could to taking the same path as they’d used coming, for two reasons, one, it was already cleared, and two, they knew they were going in the right direction without having to keep stopping and checking with the compass.

It began to get dark, and they could hear rumbles of thunder above them, then they were caught in a tropical monsoon, and had to veer off track to take shelter, as the heaviness of the rain bought all sorts of things crashing down from the jungle canopy – tree limbs, coconuts – size of basketballs they were, in their spongy green outer shell, and could knock you out if they fell on your head.

The downpour lasted twenty minutes, then everything just dripped, including Buffy and Spike!

“Shall we press on pet?”

“Yeah…come on” She picked up her backpack, and hoisted it on her back, Spike helped her to adjust it and reached for his own, not seeing the small red and yellow snake winding it’s way around one of the straps.

“Sooner we get –OW - what the FUCK was – Buffy – don’t move!” Spike flung his arm out and she saw the small snake drop from his hand.

“SPIKE! Oh god, that’s a deadly poisonous one, isn’t it – let me think, what did Sgt thingy say…red and yellow, kill a fellow, red and black, venom lack…

She looked terrified until Spike bought his machete down and severed the snake in half where it writhed and curled up on itself

“Bastard thing got me – I didn’t see it!” Spike examined his hand

“Let me look” Spike showed her. Between the base of his thumb and index finger Buffy could see two small puncture holes.

“Will you be alright?”

“Should be, lets press on”

“But, your hand?”

“I’ve no circulation pet, the poison won’t go anywhere – lets get going”

Buffy looked worried until Spike reassured her giving her hand a little squeeze.

“Okay, if you’re sure, but tell me if you feel funny and we’ll” – BANG (sound of a gunshot) and Buffy disappeared down a fern covered hole

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!”

Spike looked at a bush and saw a still smoking gun, obviously an old booby-trap, and cried out frantically,

“BBBBBBBUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” He heard a swishing noise, and turned to see a large tree-trunk tied in the middle swishing in an arc towards him. Before he could react, it caught him straight between the shoulder blades and knocked him down the hole too……………

Chapter 8



Buffy landed with a loud groan and a splash, then she felt herself slipping into cold sticky, slimy mud.

Spike landed with a thud on hard ground.

“Urrgh! Bu-Buffy!”

He heard a gargling noise and Buffy desperately trying to breathe – she was choking and had begun to thrash and Spike managed to grab her hand and haul her towards him. The suction of the slimy wet mud had on her was almost too much, and as soon as he stopped pulling her, she soon began to slip back

“Baby – don’t thrash – let me…pull – UUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!” He panted hard, and pulled again, he was almost at his limit with sheer exhaustion, and then at last there was a sickening squelch, as finally the mud relinquished its hold on her and released her - she was free, and panting next to him

“What happened? - Babe…Buffy, love – Buffy – speak to me”

Spike frantically tried to feel for the torch, then his lighter, he flicked it open and lit it, holding it up in the air…

“Buffy?”

She was obviously out cold – cold being the operative word – this hole had never seen the sun – and suddenly a familiar odour reached his nostrils. Blood. Buffy’s blood.

“Oh Christ no, did it get you? Come on babe, let me look, where are you…oh FUCK!”

Spike, feeling up her leg, felt the entry wound – gingerly cupping his hand around the back of her thigh, he felt the exit wound too – the bullet had gone clean through her leg!

Seeing a small pool of water, Spike went over to it, turning game-face, he could see in the dark with his preternatural sight that it looked clean. He picked up his wife and gently laid her next to it, and began to wash the wound.

Buffy came to with a groan

“H-hurts – oh god Spike!”

“Shush, s’okay baby, I got you – ow!”

“What – “ Buffy reached for her torch and switched it on, then seeing it was covered in mud, she wiped it and trained the beam on her leg.

“Can you move it, pet?”

“OW - GODS that hurts!”

“Should think it does pet, went clean through your leg!”

“Well who’d leave a booby-trap like that?”

“Don’t know sweetheart…locals most probably – to catch that beastie – there………can you sit up, it might help stop the bleeding – besides, it’s crawling in here!”

Buffy managed to leaver herself up on her elbow and lean against the earth wall, bending her bad leg best she could.

“Oh god Spike…look at your hand!”

Spike’s hand where the snake had bitten him had swollen up, indeed, he could barely bend his fingers, and the flesh on is hand was going black………

“Spike – you really have to get the poison out!”

“All in good time babe, I want to see to you first!”

“I’ll be okay – my healing will kick in…let me suck the poison out of-“ Spike pulled his hand out of her grasp sharply and Buffy looked up slightly shocked

“NO! Babe, I know you’re only trying to help, but you can’t – you have split your lip, you can’t risk getting any of this venom in your bloodstream – it’d kill you”

Buffy patted her chest, and said

“Oh hell, the locator’s come off my top………the radio – oh Spike look – the radio it’s…”

“Kaput, yeah” Spike held up the radio cover with a few wires trailing from it – that’s all he could find.

“Has the weapon gone too?”

“I had to let go of it to try and scrabble out of the quagmire – oh boy, they’re gonna love me for loosing it!”

“Never mind that pet, you get some rest…you’ll heal quicker”

Spike lay down beside her, exhausted – he was starving hungry but couldn’t feed.

Buffy was cradled in his arms and closed her eyes, then she suddenly opened them in alarm and said,

“They won’t know where we are!”

“Don’t worry pet – we can get going soon, just rest a while hmm?”

She relaxed against him, and fell asleep, every part of her ached, and her leg hurt like no injury she’d had before – but she was comforted that Spike was next to her.


A few hours later Buffy woke – she was being dripped on, she realised that there must have been a rainstorm and the water was dripping off the large ferns that were still partially covering the whole above them.

She tried to straighten her leg, but it felt like she was being stabbed with red-hot knives, the pain was excruciating.

When her eyes got used to the dark, she located the torch and switched on.
Spike had his bad hand lying on his stomach, the flesh was turning black and his whole hand was swollen to about four times it’s usual size.

“Spike…Spike, babe, come on wake up….”

Eventually she got him to stir – she could tell in an instant something was wrong, he was very weak.

“Baby, when did you last feed hmm?”

“Huh? – um…blood-wise…day before yesterday”

“Spike! No wonder you’re weak, come on, here, I insist!”

She held her wrist up to his mouth, but Spike immediately turned away

“Can’t!”

“Yes you can – I’m already feeling a lot stronger – I didn’t loose that much blood”

“No Buffy, I CAN’T!”

“Spike, do I have to punch your demon out, coz –“

“Babe…listen to me – if I feed, it’ll re-animate my heart, it’ll send my circulation round, and then the snake venom will reach my heart – and kill me like it would kill you – paralysing all the muscles – I wouldn’t be able to feed – I’d just turn to dust in a few days”

“WHAT! Why didn’t you tell me this before! We’ve gotta get out of here!”

“That would be the plan, yeah – but I can’t do it kitten…I’m too weak and I’d only slow you down – you go…save yourself”

“What do you mean? Do you honestly think I’m leaving here without you?”

Spike’s voice got weaker

“You have to babe…look, remember one thing, I’ll always love you”

“Spike – shush! We’re going to get out of this”

Spike nodded slowly, and closed his eyes, he was totally exhausted

Buffy shifted herself to cradle his head against her chest and she kept kissing and stroking his hair as tears dripped down her face, she whispered,

“I won’t leave you, Spike – I won’t, I love you”

***************

Cordelia laughed at the soldier’s little joke and placed her lunch, a bowl of soup in front of her.

Angel sat moodily drinking coffee, he didn’t like the way this soldier was ogling Cordelia…

Gunn was reading a newspaper, eating a sandwich.

“Could you pass me the – oh - OH – OH GOD Ahh!” Cordelia half stood, one hand went to her forehead, she had reached her arm out for the basket containing the bread rolls, but she suddenly had to grab the table to steady herself as a ‘vision’ came over her – it was blurry and it happened so fast, but she saw a close up of a snake, then there was a loud noise – falling…falling…a scream –

“CORDY!” Cordy swayed and her eyes rolled

Gunn dropped his paper and raced around the dining table to his colleague and friend.

Gently holding her shoulders Gunn managed to sit her down before she fell

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Riley asked concerned.

“Hold on, she’ll tell us when she’s ready…Cordy, you okay - would somebody get me some water please…come on love…” Gunn fanned her with a napkin

“Is it Buffy has something happened?” Riley looked worried

“I suggest you give her some air, let her breathe, she’ll soon tell us…here you go Cordy, take a sip of this………there” he put the glass of water on the table after holding it while she took a few mouthfuls.

Cordelia leant forward, elbow on her thigh, rubbing her forehead.

“Snake – a small one – poisonous then there was a loud noise”

“Noise? What kind of noise – could it be the beast do you think?” Riley asked, hovering over her

“Will you quit with the questions – man !” Gunn glared at Riley, then turned back to her

“Here you go, Cordy, have some more water…now when you’re ready”

“Falling…falling and falling the noise, screaming – I - I don’t…Buffy’s in trouble, serious trouble – they both are”

“Okay, but this noise – could it be another beast do you think?”

Gunn whirled around and glared at Riley again and said,

“What did I just tell you – she’ll tell us when she’s ready – can’t you see how much these visions take out of her, it’s not like watching a video you know!”

“I’m sorry, look, I’ll get onto base-camp right away” Riley went to lave the room, but was met by a soldier entering the dining room

“Sir!” the soldier snapped a smart salute, and then leant in and whispered conspiratorially to Riley

“Right, thankyou, I’ll be there directly”

“Everybody…can I have you attention please – (everybody looked expectantly at Riley, who continued) base-camp have just informed us that they have lost all contact with Buffy and Spike, no contact has been made for the last hour by either the radio or the satellite navigation system”

“So what happens now?” Angel asked

“Good question – we try and re-establish contact”

“And if you can’t?”

“Then I’ll have to get further orders from my superiors” Riley said

“Wrong answer soldier boy, we go look for them, that’s what!” Angel said incredulously

“I’ll have to see what – Angel, let go, roughing me up isn’t going to help!” Angel had grabbed Riley by the lapels of his combat jacket and hissed

“No, but it’ll make me feel a whole lot better – now you get and contact whoever it is you’ve got to contact – the rest of us – I suggest we get packed and ready to head on out” Angel said

“Where will you go?” Riley asked

“Base-camp 1 – where do you think?”

Chapter 9


Angel left, with Riley right on his heels – he banged open the fire doors, and checked to see it was dark enough for him to go outside.

“I don’t see what you think you can do by going out to the base-camp”

“At least I’ll be doing something” Angel said pointedly

Outside, three soldiers were taking their break, talking, standing next to a jeep.

Angel whistled, and the soldiers looked up at him.

“I want one of you to take me to the base-camp” none of the soldiers moved, but they looked towards the Captain for guidance.

“You could even hinder the proceedings!” Riley insisted. Angel faced Riley and said,

“What ‘proceedings? Look, captain, I suggest you get onto who ever it is you have to get on to, and get a search party organised. Meanwhile, I’M going to base-camp 1, comprendez?”

Riley and Angel glared at each other for a few seconds

Looking beyond Angel’s shoulder, Riley sighed, blew out his cheeks and nodded to the soldier whom he knew was the driver.

The soldier jumped into the jeep, and Angel opened the door and left without another word.

Riley turned to see a soldier coming towards him down the corridor, he stopped, snapped a smart salute and said,

“I have the colonel-in-chief on the phone for you in your office, sir”

“Thankyou – I shall come directly”

**************


“Where is he, has Angel gone? – I should have gone with him, I might be able to see more if I’m in the jungle – or at least nearer to them, I could be of some use!” Cordelia said to Gunn and Wesley, who were looking at each other.


********

“……………………Yes sir, at eleven hundred hours this morning, they confirmed to me that the beast was dead………no sir, no problems at all, not that I’m aware of – the weapon worked fine……………just after lunch – base-camp radioed to say that they’d lost contact……………well sir, I want permission to set up a search party…………………but sir, they are civilians and - ……………………………………………………yes sir, I understand…………can I at least give them another four hours before we pull out sir? ……………………Um, four soldiers at the base-camp sir, and two colleagues of the two that have gone missing, the other three are here…………………yes sir, of course they were all given security clearance sir, they are classified themselves – the girl is the slayer……………………yes one was a woman, I thought that you were aware of………………yes sir, right away sir, good (click) bye, SIR - and three bloody bags full” Riley hung the phone up and pressed the buzzer on his desk.


A soldier came in and smartly saluted

“Sir?”

“Get those people together and we go to base-camp now, - and soldier”

“Sir?”

“If the colonel rings again, everybody has gone home as far as you know, okay?”

“Sir?” the soldier looked puzzled

“Look, the C-I-C has stated we are not to go searching for the lost civilians, and well………I’ve got to give them a few more hours, even if it IS going against his orders – they did us a great favour killing that beast, I think it’s the least we can do is to extend the search time by a few more hours”

“Sir, yes sir!”


***********************






“Spike…baby – you awake – Spike”

“Hmm?”

“Come on baby, can you stand – we really, REALLY need to get out of here”

With strength he didn’t know he possessed, Spike managed to get on all fours, then push up to standing position, swaying. Buffy leant him against the earth wall

“Right, can you try and lever me up with your good hand… and I’ll try to climb……………”


After a dozen exhaustive attempts, the roots that Buffy was pulling at to haul herself up the 20 foot drop just kept coming away in her hands, she couldn’t get a foothold on the earth wall, it just scraped off when she tried to get purchase on it with her foot.

Spike collapsed in a heap, he was totally wiped out and exhausted, he hadn’t got the strength to stand up anymore, let alone try and give Buffy a step and boost push up the wall so she could climb out. Buffy slid down the wall sobbing

“Spike! Baby I’m sorry…don’t leave me…I love you”

She felt his good hand give hers a slight squeeze

“Love you, kitten. Try and save yourself baby…I’m sorry I’m bloody useless to you”

“You’re NOT bloody useless – and I’m not going anywhere without you, do you hear me – we got into this together, we’ll get out of this together” **Or not** Buffy thought, but didn’t voice. She cradled Spikes head to her chest, kissing his soft damp hair.


******************


“Well, I’M telling you to try AGAIN!”

“But it’s no good! I’ve been trying for the last five hours, and all I’m getting is this – static – they don’t reply!” the soldier said with exasperation to Angel, turning up the volume control on the radio – all that could be heard was static.

Angel walked away disgusted and noticed headlights coming towards them at the base-camp.

“Well thank goodness, here comes the cavalry – NOW something can get done, finally!” Angel said with as much sarcasm as he could muster. When he saw the ‘cavalry’ consisted of Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Riley, he frowned

“Where’s the rescue team?” Riley ignored Angel and went straight up to the radio operator, who was sitting in front of the radio transmitter with headphones on to try and catch the minutest of signals

“Anything?” the soldier looked ruefully up at his captain and just shook his head

Catching hold of Riley’s arm, Angel said firmly,

“I said, where’s the rescue team?”

Riley stopped, turned and said out loud,

“Okay people, listen up………” Everybody stopped what they were doing, and listened

Riley looked at his hands for a few seconds and said,

“I’ve been onto the colonel-in-chief…and I’m afraid you’re not going to like this, but he said……………he said, we can’t waste any more man-hours looking for them, when they are obviously dead, so I’m afraid we’ve got to pull out – I’m willing to give it a couple more hours, which could get me a court marshal if I’m found out, but-“

“Afraid we’re not going to like this? You bet your bottom dollar we don’t bloody well like this! There are two people out there – well one person and a – a nevermind – and as much as I don’t like Spike – he went with his – with Buffy, and you OWE THEM- do you hear me, YOU OWE THEM!” Angel strode forward towards Riley angrily until two soldiers drew their pistols and aimed at Angel

“Okay now sir, that’s far enough – we know you’re upset for your friends, but the Colonel knows what he is talking about”

Angel glared at the soldier, while Riley physically lowered the soldier’s guns trained on Angel, saying quietly to them,

“Believe me, it wouldn’t do any good. Angel – I know how you feel – I feel just as bad, REALLY I do, but it’s out of my hands now – and if the C-in-C found out I was here, well that would be my career up the-“

“You THINK, for one minute, that I, or any of us here give a TOSS about you stupid career, hmm, that we care at all, huh? – I CARE about Buffy, I CARE now that’s she done the dirty work for you, you are abandoning her and Spike – without so much as a backwards glance, a so long, or even a farewell, you’ve served your purpose – we don’t give as fuck what’s happened to-“

“ARRRGGGG!” All eyes turned to Cordelia, who was holding her forehead

“Cordy?” Wesley and Gunn both had an arm around her

“Time is running out…so…so weak I …………can’t try anymore………leg – ow, oh …………gods that hurts – wound, leg - ”

“Who hurts, Cordy – can you tell us?”

“It’s…um…I can’t – “ Suddenly in her vision, Cordelia saw a bush, a smoking gun, Buffy’s agonised face as she fell, clutching her thigh.

“It’s Buffy, she was shot in the leg”

“Who in the hell would do something like that? – Are there any locals out there?” Angel asked angrily

“No! Look, they don’t go in that part of the forest – ‘There be dragons’ is what they say – well, what it translates to” Riley stated

“So look, say if she was shot practically straight after they killed the beast, that was…(Giles checked his watch) – nearly nine hours ago now…her healing would have barely had a chance to kick in with a bullet wound”

“Who says it was a bullet wound? – It might have been Spike” Angel said

Giles and Wesley frowned

“What do you mean, it might have been Spike?”

“It might have been Spike, with that bloody laser gun!”

“Don’t be so stupid – you have to switch the thing on first, then you have to press a button and hold down a trigger too, you couldn’t do that by accident!”

“I bet Spike could…just a thought anyway” Angel said

“Man…I thought just for once he was on Spike’s side!” Gunn said quietly to Wesley

“Oh my god!”

“Cordy?” She was staring into nothing – still seemingly having visions

“Spike – his – Ew, his hand, it’s grotesque - it’s about this big and it’s a funny colour – it must have been him bitten by the snake!”

“Snake?”

“Yes! Snake, earlier on, my vision in the dining room – snake!”

“Well a snake bite shouldn’t bother him” Giles said

“Sir, there are many, MANY deadly poisonous snakes in the rainforest, if Spike’s been bitten, then I’m afraid he could be well dead by now!” One of the soldiers said

“No, you don’t understand, Spike’s already –“ Giles went to say ‘dead’ – until Wesley jumped in and said,

“Spike is already been given anti-venom – before he left, w-wasn’t he?”

Suddenly realising it would be for the best that these soldiers didn’t know they’d been working with a vampire – or a hostile 17 as they called them – Giles pretended to have ‘forgotten’ that information

“Course! Silly me! Now – what are we going to do – sit and wait it out?”

“Wait what out? – Sir, I know it’s hard, but it looks like our C in C is right, they are probably both dead – if Buffy was shot, then she most likely has died from blood loss”

Angel rounded on the soldier and said,

“Look, there are things you don’t know and couldn’t be expected to understand – but right at this minute, I know…I KNOW they are both alive”

“How, how can you possibly be sure?”

“I’d know…” Angel said, looking towards the dense undergrowth of the forest.

Riley’s radio beeped, he unclipped it and answered, walking off out of everybody’s earshot.

“Is he – I see, no, don’t worry, we’ll be there directly, over and out”

Riley walked back and said

“The colonel in chief is on his way to our head quarters, we have to go.” Angel went to say something, but Riley held his hand up and continued,

“I know nothing I’m going to say is going to convince you otherwise, so I shall leave you the basic equipment, one of the radios, and leave you to it, when he’s gone, I shall send the jeeps for you – most probably tomorrow evening. That’s the best I can do”

“That’s it, go then, scurry away with your tail between your legs – bloody coward!” Angel sneered.

“Look Angel, I’ve had about as much as I’m going to take from you, I’ve already put my career on the line just by being here, tell me, are YOU going to give me a job if this army career of mine goes down the pan, huh – no, thought not?”

Angel turned his head away, it was all he could do to look at the guy a second longer than he had to, let alone employ him!

Five minutes later, all the soldiers had left, leaving Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Giles and angel wondering what the in hell to do next………

Chapter 10


Buffy reached and caught the strap of her rucksack and pulled it towards her. She unzipped one of the side pockets, rootling around inside………it was in here somewhere………ah-ha! Her fingers closed around a small square of foil-covered chocolate. She took it out, peeled and began to eat – the sugar would give her some much-needed energy.

She closed her eyes and rested her head back, trying to get some semblance of order to her jumbled thoughts – she glanced at Spike, he didn’t look any different, hell, she could hardly see him, but she knew he wasn’t in good shape, she stroked his face gently.

Screwing the wrapper up she threw it down, and opened the main body of the bag, drew out the groundsheet and draped it over them, she then felt for the mini-medi-kit. She found the hypodermic needle and syringe in it’s sterile pack – she swallowed and ripped it open with her teeth, she took three deep breaths, she HATED needles, funny that, the slayer, not frightened by the ‘Godzilla’ like creature she slayed earlier, but show her a creepy-crawly or a needle and she was jellified!

She practically threw the needle like a dart into her wounded leg and depressed the plunger, sending the painkiller deep into her thigh muscle. She pulled it out and threw that across the space, where she heard it plop into the water.

Bending to kiss Spike’s forehead, she stroked his face gently again

“Soon be out of here baby” Spike didn’t reply She tried to squint to see his hand, she could see it was very swollen and tears came to her eyes – she didn’t know how long he’d got left – she was feeling guilty, Spike should have fed, but he put it off so he could do something for her, then they decided to press on – if he’d have fed, he’d have been stronger now………still, no use beating herself up over what might have beens, what’s done is done, can’t go back and change things now – if only he could feed without the poison in his hand moving Buffy thought, resting her head a while, while the painkiller kicked in…………………………


************************


“Bastards, BASTARD!” Angel shouted, shaking his fist at the retreating Jeep with all the soldiers and Riley in it, as they headed for HQ.

“Calm down Angel, you loosing it isn’t going to help” Wesley said quietly

“Besides which, he said once the colonel has gone, he’ll-“ Gunn began

“I KNOW what he said, more than likely be too bloody late by then”

Giles looked ashen, he dropped down by a tree, head in his hands.

“It’s all my fault, I said she should do the job”

“Look, please, will everybody stop beating themselves up over who said what and did what and such, Buffy did the job, she knew what she was getting herself into – so did Spike – we should concentrate on how to get them out, that’s the most important thing” Everybody looked at Cordelia and nodded.

“Right then, can we first establish how long they’ve been missing”

“Nearly twelve hours since they slayed the beast and lost contact – it’ll be twelve hours in twenty minutes time” Giles said

“Okay, and how long do you think, would it be before Buffy’s healing thingy kicks in, hmm?” Cordelia asked

Giles shrugged and said,

“Well um, er – I always assumed that it began straight away. A cut that would last a week with us would be gone in an hour or so with Buffy”

“So what about a gunshot wound do you think?” Cordelia persisted

“Well, depends I suppose – what sort of shot, if the bullet was lodged in the wound in some way – it might have even shattered her bone – it could easily get infected, all that would hamper the healing process – something like that could take a couple of days easily. Then there’s the blood loss of course – if she was knocked out and Spike could get to her………”

“He’s injured too, don’t forget – you said something about his hand, Cordy?”

Cordelia pulled a face

“Hmm, looked awful the few seconds I visioned it…so that would slow down any rescue attempts on his part too”

“The stupid bastard idiot!” Angel spat out

Everybody looked at him

“What?” Angel asked frowning

“Who’s a stupid bastard idiot?”

“Bloody Spike of course, that’s who – I mean, I ask you – a stupid snake bite, what’s the big deal, not as like it could kill him! Angel said with disgust

“Now hold on Angel, we don’t know the circumstances, he might have been saving Buffy from getting bitten” Gunn said

“Yes, AND? – Poison isn’t going to kill him, is it – he’s already dead!” Angel reasoned

“There is a way it could, well, ‘kill him,’ if he fed after the bite – it would reanimate his heart, sending the poison round in his circulation – once it hit the heart muscles – that would be it! It would kill him like it would kill a human, except he wouldn’t be able to feed so he’d starve to death rather than a heart attack – but he’d still cease to exist” Wesley said

“And he obviously knows that, so if he HASN’T fed, he could be very weak – I bet that’s it – coupled with Buffy’s injury – that’s why they’re taking so long” Giles said panic-stricken.

“Giles, calm down, So, this is what we’ve got to go on, worst-case scenario:

Buffy with a serious gunshot wound, and Spike very weak from lack of feeding, which he can’t do because of the snake venom…” Cordelia sighed, things wasn’t looking good at all………

“Do you understand these at all – they’re the Global satellite pictures
they’re not a map as such, but the deeper the green colour, the deeper the depth of the rainforest”

Gunn unrolled three large sheets of paper, that were completely green in colour, varying from pale lime, to the deepest almost black

Wesley fixed the arc lamp over them so they could see better

“See, this is where those soldiers went missing…now there are some fairly mid-green area’s around there, that would mean you could see the sky if you looked up to the canopy of the forest…but see here and then again, over here, there are some almost black areas, that means the forest is virtually impenetrable by sunlight it goes so deep, a ravine…I’m worried that they may have stumbled on, and down one of those areas – in which case, it would be impossible to get them out” Wesley said

“So the colonel was right” Giles said softly

“Hey, none of that old man – come on, where’s your fighting spirit?” Gunn put his arm around Giles’ shoulders.

**********************

Buffy opened her eyes, and looked at her leg, the bullet-wound looked like a black hole, it was swollen still, but when she scratched the flesh with her finger, she couldn’t feel it! Good- that’s the exact thing she wanted. Reaching for the med-kit again, she began to rip open the four packs of bandages, she used three on her leg, and the other one she began to wind very tightly around Spike’s left wrist.

“Hmm…ba-babe…what are you doing?”

“Tourniquet – old fashioned remedy to stop bleeding – they don’t like to use it in this day and age, can cause damage to surrounding tissues – but I figure if you can feed just enough to get a little energy, without sending the poison around your – please Spike, please let me try!” Spike had taken his hand out of hers so she couldn’t wind the bandage.

“So that’s it is it, we just sit here and wait to die?” Buffy asked quietly

“Save yourself, kitten”

“I’ve TOLD you!” Buffy said angrily wiping her tears

Spike too got angry, and summoning up strength he didn’t know he had, he crawled slowly and reached for the machete, he wielded it above his head, and Buffy thought that he was going to kill her – to put a quick end to their misery. She didn’t flinch, she didn’t move a muscle she just closed her eyes and whispered ‘I love you’ – Spike bought the machete down and with clean accuracy, totally cleaved off his left hand

Buffy’s eyes, when she opened them nearly popped and she covered her mouth

Spike dropped the machete in stared at the bloody stump, swaying, before he fell in a crumpled heap.

Buffy quickly grabbed his arm and covered the stump with a dressing – it wasn’t bleeding, he had no circulation, but if she could get him to eat and stop him leaking out too much blood, they had a chance!

Chapter 11


“Babe, are you okay?” Spike asked

“ME? – Am *I* okay? I’m not the one whose just cut off my hand!” Buffy said incredulously

“S’only way Pet…now, can you pass me my rucksack, I’ve got a pack of blood in there”

“Here…any idea where my machete went?”

“Um…Yeah, it’s over there, look, the other side of that puddle – be careful though pet, it looks very boggy over there”

Spike turned game face, pierced the blood-bag with his fangs, then threw it against the wall, wretching

“Ew, EW! It’s congealed, yuck! Spike spat out what he could,

Without a second thought, Buffy exposed her neck

“Come on baby, take a drop or too, you need the strength – I’ve more than made up what I lost by now, it’s been over twelve hours”

“Are you sure?!”

“Course! Besides which, if we don’t make it back to base-camp within 3 hours, I reckon you might have to carry me – so do as you’re told, feed!”

“I love it when you’re all dominant!”

“Pervert!”

“Babe…”

“Spike, I love you, trust you – you’re my husband”


Spike felt his stomach back flip and he homed in, not on her neck, but her mouth…

“Baby…we’re wasting time!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist. Yes – okay I won’t hurt you, princess”

“I know” She reached and cupped his cheek, leaning her head again so he could bite with ease

As soon as Spike tasted her ambrosial fluid coursing through his veins, he felt the renewed vigour flow through him – tired limbs become rejuvenated. He was careful to stop at a pint – he wouldn’t take anymore, even though he knew she was fit enough for him to take double that amount – he would only take what he thought of as sufficient – if need be in a few hours he could take a nip more if necessary.

“Sure you’ve…”

Spike kissed the wound after licking them, giving her a squeeze and a hug.

“I can have a nip more if need be later, kitten…now how do we get out?”

“Well, first, we do this!” Buffy ripped the groundsheet into five just over a foot wide strips, then she knotted them together, leaving her with a ‘rope’ (taking into consideration how much the knots took up) just about twenty feet long.

“Then, I get the machete’s, and do this!”

She stabbed one of the knives into the earth, creating a foothold, with the other knife, she stabbed about chest height, limbered herself up and used it too, as a foot-hold for the other foot, before reaching and pulling out the first knife, and stabbing that into the earth above her.

She was soon over half way up the earth wall, there was some liana’s draping down, and she used them to leaver herself up.

Spike cradled his stump towards his chest, and tied, with a little difficulty, a triangular bandage creating a sling. He picked up the swollen hand and shoved it un-ceremoniously into his rucksack, put it over his shoulder and waited until Buffy was up and out of the hole.

Buffy allowed herself two seconds on her back, panting and grinning that she was free, before she quickly stood, unfurled the homemade rope and let it down for Spike.

Spike’s feet barely touched the wall as Buffy hauled him up and out of the hole

Spike switched his torch on, pleased to see it was working.

“Come on babe – lets see if we can see the trail we made when we came in here…”

“Spike, be careful…don’t you think we should hole up for a few hours?” Buffy straightened and tidied his triangular bandage sling for him.

“Nope- I’ve got the smell of safety in my nostrils…I want out, ready?” Buffy grinned took the torch off him, held onto his empty sleeve and told him she was right with him!


**********************


“All I’m saying is, it won’t do any good any of us tearing off into the pitch black, that’s all, they’ve got themselves into difficulty during the hours of daylight, imagine what it would be if you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face!” Wesley tried to reason with Angel, who, wanted to trek off in search.

“He’s right Angel - there’s all sorts of ravines, traps, booby traps and all sorts - better to wait until we can see what we are up against first” Gunn said.

“But…well, it’s another 6 hours before it officially gets light – to me, that’s six hours wasted!”

“Angel…we don’t want to have to send a search party out for you too – going out there now would be a suicide mission, trust me”

Angel ran a hand over his face, rubbing, before nodding his head

“Yeah…yes I suppose you’re right – but look, I suggest we build the biggest fire we can, it might give them a beacon if they can over-come their troubles”

“That’s the spirit, big fire we can do!” Gunn slapped Angel on the back calling him to collect as much dry wood as he could for kindling to start the fire.


**********************


“Hmm, not much, is it?” Gunn frowned forlornly at the meagre pile of ‘dry kindling’ with which to build the ‘beacon-mega-fire’

“Well YOU try then – hello, it’s a RAIN forest – everything is wet!

“Look, go and…go and see if the radio’s working yet or something” Wesley said, just to get Angel out of the way.

“Who wants what, or shall I just whack it all in together?” Giles asked, looking at the packets of dried food.

“Mix it all up – what is there?” Cordelia asked

“Chili-con-carne…beef curry, and um…lamb casserole – all served with long grain rice”

“Yeah mix it, it’ll be curried lamb and beef with red kidney beans…different!” Cordelia said

Angel dropped another dry branch next to where Gunn was kneeling, building the fire.

“Wish that bloody – what is it Spike calls him? The ‘over-grown hall monitor’ was here, I’d put him on the bonfire” Angel grouched

Gunn rolled his eyes, and continued to layer kindling sticks.

“Hey, look what I’ve found, the trash from the soldiers stay here, it’s dry and should burn okay” Wesley pushed a metal container towards Gunn – Angel saw this and went to help. There was a fair amount of burnable rubbish

“Great, anything papery, put underneath, in the middle – these cardboard tubes should burn like sticks as they are thick…what was on them?”

“This thin orange rope stuff holding up the tarpaulins”

“Well stack then round the edge…okay, I’m going to light it now………”

The smell of food wafted from the small camping stoves, and there was a nice fire going, Wesley got water and they made tea – things didn’t seem so bad – except Angel, who didn’t eat and wouldn’t drink tea, stood off staring at the jungle, every so often he turned game-face to see if his enhanced hearing could detect anything, but it was nigh-on impossible with all the night jungle sounds.


***************************



Buffy’s arm ached a little where she had to slash away at the vines, and Spike volunteered to take over.

“But, you need to hold the torch too, it’s okay, I’ll carry on”

“Tell you what…give me the torch…” Buffy passed it across to Spike, who ripped some of the ground-sheet rope they’d made earlier and tied the torch to his head.

“There you go, problem solved!” Buffy smiled, took hold of his sleeve again and this time, Spike lead the way.

After another ten minutes, Spike slashed and said,

“Buffy, babe, look!”

“What? – What is it?”

“THIS looks like that clearing we crawled to, when you had that encounter with Mr Anaconda, I’m pretty sure it is………”

Buffy peered into the darkness, then she grinned

“YES LOOK! – Over there! There’s our trail across the way – see all those slashed vines and flattened earth – Oh Spike! We’re on the right track!”

Spike grinned at his wife, gave her a smacking kiss, bumping her forehead with the torch that set them both giggling!

This little victory gladdened their hearts and their weary steps took on a newfound spring as they both strode over to their old trail.

**********************


Gunn scraped the last bit of sauce up with the last spoonful of rice and sat back

“Well, that was different!”

“Tasty enough………I wonder how they are?” Cordelia was staring into the flames, her dish of food still only half eaten.

“Who, Buffy and Spike? – Don’t know…Angel seems to feel that they are both still alive – well he did. What’s that all about, blind faith or is it some vampire thing, do you think?”

Cordelia shrugged and said

“I don’t know”

The radio crackled into life

“Base-camp one, this is HQ, come in please”

Giles stood and went to the radio, pressed the call button and spoke
“We’re here, what do you want? Um – over?”

“How are things, any sign of them? Captain Finn asked me to call – he’s still in with the colonel – he thinks you’ve gone home, over”

“What does he want?” Angel asked glaring at Giles

“Angel shush, just them wanting to know if there’s any sign of them, that’s all”

“Tell them to…to get lost!” Angel sauntered back to where he’d been standing and brooding

“HQ We’ll let you know the minute we know anything okay – over”

“Okay base-camp – try and build as big a fire as you can, you’ll find some trash that’s covered you can burn, and –“

“We found it, we don’t NEED your help!” Angel shouted

Giles rolled his eyes and continued to listen

“There is some dry wood under the groundsheets, over”

“Right, well thanks, we’ll let you know if there’s any development, over”

“Night then base-camp, over”

“Yeah, night HQ” Giles put the radio down and said to Gunn

“They told me that there was dry wood under the groundsheets” Gunn followed Giles to the tarpaulin covered area, pulled back the groundsheets and found a nice big pile.

“Great, I can really build it up, it’ll last well into the morning now”


******************


Spike stopped walking, Buffy looked at him, they could both hear a grunting, rutting noise

“What is that?”

“Probably just some sort of wild pig…hold on to this for me” Spike passed her his machete while he bent down and scrabbled in the undergrowth for something to throw at the creature to frighten it away. His fingers closed around something the size of an apple – probably a seedpod of some kind.

He took aim towards the noise, threw the missile and shouted,

“WHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Whatever it was took off, and grinning Spike held his hand out for the machete, which Buffy passed to him. He looked up towards the canopy

“It’s getting lighter and……………(he turned game face) can you smell that?”

Buffy took a deep sniff, and said,

“Smell what?”

With a grin Spike morphed back to his human guise and said,

“Wood smoke…I can smell wood smoke, come on pet, with any luck, we should make it back to base camp before dawn!”

Chapter 12


Buffy’s leg was aching, and Spike was beginning to flag, his steps weary, but all of a sudden Buffy said,

“I can smell the smoke!”

Spike turned and smiled at her

“Nearly there pet!”

Two minutes later the smell of smoke was really strong, and Spike yelled out,

“HELL-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Buffy did the same, and Angel woke with a start, scrambling out of his hammock, everybody else was sound asleep.

“HELLO?” Angel yelled back

Spike grinned and said to Buffy,

“Never thought I’d be so pleased to hear Peaches in all my existence!”

“Everybody, quick, there here – there back, Gunn, wake up – Giles, GILES!”

“Huh, wha- oh!” Giles woke and groggily swung his legs over the side of the hammock

“HELLO – HELLO?” Angel called again, peering into the half-light, and he saw the vines shake and Buffy and Spike stepped through

“BUFFY! Oh gods, Buffy – I’ve been SO worried about you!” Buffy found herself squashed to Angel’s chest in a bear-hug. Angel looked down, and saw the fresh bite-mark on her neck, suddenly held her away from him by the shoulders and then marched up to Spike

“You BLOODY ANIMAL! I can’t believe – my god – there’ just no words to describe you! – I ought to, in fact I think I WILL knock your block off - how COULD you bite her when she has a gunshot wound and had already lost pints of blood!

“Hey, HEY!” Spike held his arms up to cover his face from the blows that rained down, then Angel suddenly saw Spike’s stump instead of his hand.

“ANGEL!” Angel was suddenly aware that he was, 1. On the ground, 2. Had a pain in his jaw, and 3. Was in actual fact, seeing stars, with Buffy glaring daggers at him

“How DARE you! When you don’t even know the circumstances! And, and what gives you the right to – to say what goes on between a husband and wife, hmm?”

Gunn sauntered over, offered a hand to Angel, but he stood without help, and rubbed his jaw, looking rueful.

“You know mate, Buffy has a point! You can’t leave well alone, can you?”

He watched as Giles hesitantly stood in front of Buffy, wondering whether to hug her or not, as it happened, she solved the problem and gently pressed her cheek to Giles’ own for a few seconds.


“Buffy it’s so good to…I wish I’d never…I’m SO sorry that I…will you ever forgive me?”

Giles took off his glasses and began a swift agitated polish of the lenses.

Wesley came over to Spike, and looked at his stump

“Buffy was shot, and you, snakebite, right? – And you couldn’t feed?” Spike just nodded

“As we thought, well that’s how Cordelia saw it; so you just lopped it off? Well, well no worries old man, Fred will sort you out when we get back to LA, you’ll be as right as nine-pence in no time”

“Fred, who’s he?”

“Fred isn’t a he, she’s a she, and a very nice she too, she’s our science girl – you DID bring the hand with you?”

“Course I did, it’s in my rucksack”

“Good…well, like I say, don’t worry, she’ll sort it all out for you!”

“Thanks” Spike mumbled walking over to his wife.

“That leg of yours pet, needs seeing to, it could be infected”

“Yes I know, Giles said as soon as we get back to HQ, he’ll get the doc to have a look at it for me”

“Spike, how are you?”

“I’m okay, tired, starving, but I’ll last!”

Giles nodded, noticing his stump

“Oh god, you cut it off?”

“Had to, to feed, I needed the energy – no other alternative. Buffy was going to try a tourniquet, but there was a chance that some of the venom, you know, could have got in my bloodstream!” Giles nodded

“Hello, hello, anybody there, hello – somebody answer me”

Everybody looked over to Cordelia, who was trying to get the radio to work

“Press the button in on the side…yeah, that’s it” Giles said

“Hello, it’s us, somebody speak to me – hello”

“HQ to base-camp 1 receiving you, what can we do for you, over?”

“You can come and get us, ALL of us, they’re back – and we’ll need a medical team”

She released the button to hear what was said, but nobody replied

“Hello – did you hear me?”

“Loud and clear base-camp, was waiting for you to say over, over”

“Over, over? Oh I see sorry, over”

“There will be somebody with you within the hour, over”

“Tell them to be quick about it, coz it’s raining AGAIN!” Gunn yelled.

Cordelia put the radio down, and the camp suddenly became a hive of activity, Buffy and Spike sat on a groundsheet under a tarpaulin to save getting wet while the others packed up the things.


*****************


They reached HQ and both the hero’s were taken to the medical ward, where Spike had his stump washed and dressed, and Buffy got her wound cleaned and had an anti-biotic shot to be on the safe-side. Twenty minutes later, they were in Riley’s office, he was sitting behind his desk listening to Spike rant…………

“Typical!” he paced the floor, while Buffy sat.

“Bloody typical of you double-crossing, yellow-bellied, poor excuse of an out fit you really are- not even sending a search party!”

“Like I told the others, it was out of my hands, the colonel said –“

“The colonel said, the colonel said! Well I’ll tell you what you can tell your bloody colonel when you see him again, you can tell him next time he wants any bloody dirty work doing, to look else where, coz neither the slayer or me will be willing to risk anything like this again, that’s what you can tell him!”

“He thought you were dead!” Was Riley’s feeble excuse

“I was dead, I AM dead! That’s not the point! He obviously doesn’t know what the special circumstances are with us, why has nobody told him?”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference…he’d have only then said, well, if two ‘super-beings’ like that are lost – then what chance does anybody else stand, and he STILL wouldn’t have sanctioned a search party – so you see-“

“NO! – YOU see! This is the last time Finn! I MEAN it! No more calling on Buffy because you know her powers or you think she owes you something, I won’t have my wife put in any more danger by you or any other bunch of prats who do nothing more than sit behind poncey desks making life or death decisions about everybody else – do you understand me?”

“Well, yes, but knowing Buffy as I do, I know that she’s her own woman, and I imagine that she doesn’t appreciate you dictating to me what she will or will not do in the future”

Spike looked at Buffy, who was looking at her bandaged leg, she held her hand out to Spike, stood and said,

“Riley, you like to THINK you know me, but you don’t know me at all – EVERYTHING that Spike just said, I agree with 100% - find yourself some other suckers, coz these two have had MORE than enough – shall we go babe?”

Spike grinned and held open the door for his wife and they both left. Riley dropped his pen on his jotter thinking just how much Buffy had changed…

********************



Following day, back in LA, Wolfram and Hart


Spike was sitting on a medical trolley, Buffy next to him. On a large medical tray, Fred had Spike’s hand hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires, it was back to the right colour and size, ready for reattaching.

“I got what venom out I could just by squeezing at first, then I used a special vacuum-pump, then I’ve run two lines of anti-venom through, that’s when the colour came back and the swelling went down, and just to be safe, I’ve run two pints of blood through it and flushed it away, now, I’ll give you a shot of anti-venom, and then I can start to reattach it, okay?”

Fred smiled at them, and they both beamed back at her.

“So pet, what’s a nice girl like you doing working for a wanker like Angel?”

Fred giggled and told them all about Lorne and his home-planet Pylea, and the ‘hot-spot’ vortex they came through and brought her back.

“This is going to take a while, are you sure you don’t want to be knocked out – it’s seems strange having the patient awake!”

“I’m fine – fascinated in fact!”

“Baby, mind if I go to talk to Cordelia, I’ll come back later”

“Sure babe, you go” Buffy gave Spike a kiss and left.

“So, gonna tell me who floats your boat here? – I know Wesley spoke of you in glowing terms yesterday” Spike teased

Fred went all shades of red and giggled

“Wes – no! He’s…he’s just a friend!”

“That’s how the best relationships start pet – being friends!”

“Now sit still…this bit is delicate, I’m sewing together nerve endings…”

Fred studied what she was doing under the big electro-microscope that magnified everything X 50 so she could see easily.

“Nice clean cut, anyway”

“Yeah, I used a machete – just wham there it was on the end of my arm – then it wasn’t”

“You were brave!”

“Well it was either that, or not existing anymore, AND leaving Buffy to the mercy of the rain-forest too – I couldn’t have my girl perish, not for a bunch of ingrates like the Initiative”

“I couldn’t believe it when Cordy told me they wouldn’t send a search party out for you………”

Two hours later


“There – embroidery was never my forte, but I think that looks neat, even if I do say so myself!” Fred dropped the suture needle into the kidney bowl and put it on the trolley

“Now, it’ll need a pressure bandage to stop swelling but as you don’t have a permanent circulation, I don’t envisage any problems. You can take it off tomorrow – and you can feed as normal – so, how does it feel?”

“Little numb – but great – you’re one terrific lady, do you know that?”

Buffy knocked and entered the medical room to see Fred blushing

She came and stood by Spike automatically holding his hand.

“I was just telling Fred here what a terrific lady she is!”

“Oh yes, all done then I see?” Buffy said smiling

Spike held up his bandaged arm

“Good as new”

“Thankyou Fred” Buffy said

“You’re very welcome!”

Giles knocked and waited for the ‘come in’

“All done then Spike?”

“Yup – we can go as soon as you like”

“What about the stitches Fred, when will they have to come out?”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ve used special melting ones”

“Great – well, thanks again love!” Spike leaned over and kissed her cheek, Fred went red, and Spike teased

“And don’t worry, you’re secret desires are safe with me!”

Fred blushed beet red and Buffy laughed, shook her head and popped Spike gently on his bicep

“Stop teasing her…” When they’d got out of ear/eye shot of the medical lab, Buffy said,

“Well, come on then, who gives her the hots?”

“Can’t tell you, I promised to keep it a secret!”



************************


Standing in the foyer everyone said goodbye

Angel was standing with his arms crossed, brooding. He had a big bluish bruise on his cheek from the previous day when Buffy had hit him, and he hadn’t spoken to Buffy since then. He’d tried to say something to her at dinner, but Buffy just turned her head away and started to talk to Gunn instead.

“Buffy…please don’t go like this”

“Like what?”

“This…us not speaking, I realise now that I reacted badly to a situation that I saw was wrong”

“And?”

“And? – And what?”

“Well if this is an apology, I haven’t heard the word yet”

Angel took a deep breath and said,

“I reacted badly to a situation I couldn’t and didn’t fully comprehend at the time – and I don’t want you to leave with us not being friends”

“Say sorry” Cordelia hissed at him, but Angel chose to ignore her.

“Bye all” Buffy turned and Angel said

“Wait!”

With a sigh, Buffy turned and said,

“Angel…it’s Spike you have to apologise to, not me”

Angel spluttered and uncrossed his arms, jabbing the air

“The day I apologise to HIM – is the day I’ll-“

“Is the day I’ll deign to speak to you, and until then... May I remind you, many MANY moons ago, I allowed you to feed from me to cure you? And I did the same for Spike, different circumstances, granted, but same outcome, it spared his existence.

Now when we first came here, I seem to remember you going ape-shit at Spike for the predicament you found yourself in, eg; being caught dressed up in female attire, and for some unknown reason, you thought it was down to Spike, and Spike said to you, it’s about time you started to take responsibility for your own actions, it’s never YOUR fault is it, it’s always somebody else’s, well not this time Angel, we’ve both had more than enough”

Buffy left behind everybody else, without so much as a backwards glance, Spike didn’t know how he kept the smirk off his face!

Cordelia looked at Angel and said sadly

“All you had to do, was to say sorry – that was all – one little word to Spike, but no, you’d rather blow your friendship with her because of this vendetta you have with Spike – you REALLY ought to learn to grow up Angel” Cordy ran up the stairs, leaving Angel feeling a prize prat…

Chapter 13


Buffy almost collapsed through the front door, threw herself onto the sofa. Spike closed the door quietly and looked up the stairs and then into the lounge – they were sights he thought he wouldn’t see again at one point in the jungle.

“You okay Kitten, want some tea or something?”

“No thanks, what I want, is a hot bath, and our bed, and you”

“Sounds good to me kitten!”

“Spike”

“Yes pet?”

“It’s good to be home, isn’t it!”

“Sure is babe”

Spike sat down carefully and looked at Buffy. She had her head back, eyes closed. Spike licked his lips, looked at his bandage hand, took a deep breath, and taking his courage into both hands he said,

“Um, babe”

Without opening her eyes, Buffy just said, ‘Hmm?’

“I’ve um…I got a confession to make – well sort of – well it IS a confession. I want to come clean about something”

Buffy cracked one eye open, and Spike’s stomach back-flipped – he knew that look – well half look as it was only one eye, but all the same…

“Go on” Buffy said in an even tone

“It’s…it’s about Angel, and him being dressed up, and that video”

“Go on” Buffy repeated

“I DID have something to do with it – well not physically, I didn’t dress him up, but-“

“But it was your idea?” Buffy said, she was wide-awake now, and sitting up.

Spike looked at her, like a little boy lost, all big eyes and remorse, he just nodded and looked down at his hand again

Buffy grinned

“I know”

Spike looked up sharply

“You know? How do you know – when did you…” Spike stopped waffling and began to smile

“Well, for one, you were FAR too careful the way you worded what you said to me………

“Uh?”

“Well, when you said to me, ‘ I swear to you, I had nothing to do with him being dressed like that’ meant just that – you were innocent of putting the clothes on him – I know when your lying – and I knew you were telling the truth. Just because you didn’t actually physically dress him up didn’t mean it wasn’t your idea. I take it, it was at Willy’s bar?”

“Yeah, yes it was – when I went to investigate what was making everybody drunk – I saw something a the back of the place, by the empty bottle store two people in white anti-contamination suits combing ‘cousin it’ – the Inebris…when I went to question Willy I could hear strippers music – he’d got a gig on in the function room”

“I see – and you told him, what?”

“I suggested that I’d got this acquaintance, Angel, and he was shy – and how he’d love to be a part of the show…if only he could over-come his nerves…I then suggested to Willy that Angel could be made to over-come his nerves with the help of the Inebris…then, maybe he would like to, you know, perhaps be dressed up – the full works…make-up the lot…and then I suggested that he’d like to have a video taken of the event…”

“And I presume you ‘suggested’ this to Willy under certain duress?”

“The usual, uh huh, got him by the shirt front, threatened his manhood and his bar, you know the routine with Willy” Buffy nodded and stood.

Spike still sat, and guiltily said,

“Are you mad at me?”

“Mad at you, am I mad at you?” Buffy had her ‘angry’ look, which instantly melted when Spike looked up forlornly at her

“I only wish you could have got Riley in on the act too! – Come here you silly old thing!”

Relieved beyond belief, Spike was in her arms in a trice, cuddling her up.

Buffy leaned out of the embrace a little and held Spike’s face gently

“You forgive me then?” Spike asked hopefully, and Buffy giggled, replying,

“There’s nothing to forgive – it was about time you got one over on him – pompous dickhead he is! – So…what made you ‘fess up now?”

“Didn’t want to be any secrets between us” Spike said simply, and Buffy smiled and gave him a big kiss and then whispered,

“Let’s go and have that bath, hmm?”

*******************



Buffy groaned with delight as Spike (who was sitting behind her) squeezed out the contents of the soapy sponge down over her shoulders and back, then made gentle circular movements with it over her skin.

“Oh that’s good…I was wondering if we’d ever do this again” Buffy said, leaning back into Spike’s chest.

Spike dropped a light kiss on her soapy wet shoulder and whispered, ‘me too’.

“How’s the leg?”

“Well, the bullet-hole is just a slightly pink mark, ‘bout the size of a dollar, look” She raised her leg out of the bath

“Good”

“How’s the hand?”

“See for yourself – the stitches have melted, I have full movement…see!” Spike cheekily slipped his hand around her and cupped her breast, making Buffy wide eyed with delight

“Oh!”

“How about if we………”

“You read my mind, kitten!”

************************


“Oh yes, oh god, don’t stop – don’t stop – ah – aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! – SPIKE” she felt him swell and flood her with his cool essence

Spike collapsed grinning, and carefully rolled off her.

Buffy lay panting.

“Oh god, I’ve missed that so much!”

Spike turned on his side and propped his head up on his hand.

“I thought, we could spend all day in bed”

“Did you now?”

“Uh huh, then, we could send out for pizza and ice-cream, watch a couple of DVD’s, then have an early night! – How does that sound?”

“Absolutely perfect, except for one thing”

“What’s that kitten?”

“Patrol”

“All taken care of”

“Really?” Buffy too turned on her side and faced her hubby

“Yup – I said to Giles, after what we’ve been through we could do with a day/night off, and he agreed”

“You didn’t have him by the shirt-front, did you – you know, a la Willy?”

Spike smiled

“No, nothing like that pet, scouts honour!”

“YOU a boy scout – do me a favour!” Buffy began to giggle as Spike began to tickle her

“And what’s wrong with me once being a boy-scout? – I could have ‘dib-dib-dibbed’ with the best of them – and I’d have kept my woggle clean!”

“THAT sounds disgusting!” Buffy said wide-eyed and still laughing

“Ha, well shows you what YOU know! A woggle is what a scout fastens his tie with round his neck!”

Buffy pushed him onto his back, slid her hand down over his hard lean stomach and gently cupped his balls, rolling them before moving her hand up to hold his rapidly hardening cock.

Spike instantly forgot all coherent thought

“Well…at girl-guides………they always taught us…(she slipped down, under the covers) to ‘Be Prepared’

Spike’s neck arched as her soft warm lips closed over and slid down his monster sized erection, his hand went to her hair as Buffy pumped and sucked him to a shuddering climax – a few second’s recovery time for him then Buffy found herself on her back, with Spike’s head between her thighs, teasing, growling and lightly nipping her until she begged him to touch her properly.

Obliging his lady wife, Spike had her crying out with a tooth-rattling orgasm within minutes, and bringing her close to the edge of another, before he lithely slid up her body and entered her hot depths, expertly bringing them both to a tremendous simultaneous orgasm that left them both exhausted. They snuggled down, and fell into a dreamless sleep, safe in the knowledge that, for now at least, nothing could touch them.

The End
Now go Read Buffy and Spike's B-I-G Adventure for Car Trouble 13