Disclaimer: I own everything. I own... Joss Whedon, BtVS, Angel, and all the yummy characters. Yeah go me. Sorry back to reality oops there goes gravity. (Sorry momentary loss of sanity.) It's back now! I really own a pair of socks and some clothes, other than that... ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING god I hate my life.

Summary: What if Buffy could stop the last apocalypse without anyone being killed or hurt? Catch you ask? She must travel across the world to do so. No one from Sunnydale can help. Season 7 goes AU after the episode Empty Places

A/N: Hey guys, my computer was down when I originally wrote this story, so it had a lot of mistakes. So what I finally did was re-write it, and fix it a little bit. This story I got from watching Empty Places. I was thinking what if Buffy never came back to Revello drive and stopped the war without any one's help? How would Faith, Rona, Giles, Kennedy, Wood and everyone else who opened their damn mouths when they were 'voting for the leader' Blah stupid people. No wonder why she can't trust them. Hate them all. No I love Xander, he is so funny, always gives me a happy. hehe. Well now on with the story.


Never Came Back


Prologue


Buffy walked into the vineyard looking for a kill. She fended off all the Bringers that came her way. She even killed a few ubervamps on the way to Caleb.

"Caleb! Get your preacher ass out here! I'm ending this once and for all."

"Well, if it isn't miss slayer. What ever do you want?"

"I want this ended. I just lost all my friends because of you." They broke into battle. Buffy was dominating the whole fight.

"How do I stop the first, Caleb? Tell me and I’ll make it painless. If you don't then you'll wish I'd kill you."

"I'll never tell you anything," he said with worthless bravery. She took out her sword and pushed it slowly into an open wound over his heart.

"OW! Okay. You see that scroll over there." He pointed to her left and Buffy released some pressure off the wound. "Take it. It will give you your answers. Now, release me or kill me." She thrust the sword into his heart instantly killing him. She grabbed the scroll, took one look at it and ran out. 'Its' all Greek to me,' she thought. Coming out of the vineyard, she saw Spike.

"How was the mission?"

"Great." He looked down to the scroll. "Yet, now it seemed pointless. You already have the scroll."

"Well, I can't read a damn word of it, but I know who can."

"Willy! Get out here now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa slayer hey, hi. What brings you and, uh, Spike here at this late an hour?" She threw the scroll at him. "Translate it."

"Well okay. Write this down. 'Pieces of the Danzalthar. Trav-'"

"Danzalthar that's the seal right?"

"Yeah. Now no interruptions. 'Pieces of the Danzalthar. Travel from hart to hart. Across the ocean it must go to part. This is how you'll end your war and when that’s done Danzalthar will soar. You'll need the slayer's weapon which you'll get when you Rome to kill him you must lure him into the famous dome. When all that's done you're free to go. But home is not home you must know."

"Oh great. It's all riddles. I was always good at these," the slayer said sarcastically.

"Don't worry luv, will figure it out."

"Okay so from someone's heart to another."

"No, slayer," Willy said. "H-a-r-t as in the lawyer from the law firm WolfRam&Hart. It's in La. From what I hear, your boy Angel's going to be running it soon." Spike growled at the mention of his grand-sire's name.

"So I go there... why?"

"Well, pieces of the Danzalthar, the seal, so you tear it apart, luv, bring it to La. Then one across the ocean." He contemplated the next few lines. "Then I guess, the demon will rise, you kill it with the slayer's weapon."

"Yeah, Slayer. Which you'll get in, uh, Rome I guess."

"Oooo. Then I get to kill it in that famous gladiator's dome thing-y."

"Pet, I'm terribly surprised at you. You know your Rome."

"Shut up Spike."

"Uh guys... what about the last part? IS something going to happen to Sunny-D that will make it change? Oh Shit! I'm so out of here. BYE!" Willy ran out of the bar. Buffy and Spike hears the tires screeching as he drove off.

"Spike, I clearly have to do this by myself. Go to my pace and get everyone out. Make sure Dawn is safe. Make sure she takes her cell so I can reach you guys later, if I make it that is. If you don't hear from me in a, uhh, month, then assume the worst. Don't come looking for me. Stay with Dawn. Tell them I love them all." She stopped tears in both their eyes. "Spike? Do you still love me?" At his nod she asked, "Why?"

“A hundred plus years and there's only one thing I'm sure of. You. I won't ever ask you for anything. When I say I love you. It's not because I want you, or I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are. What you do. How you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy. You might not want to be the one, but I don't want to be this good-looking and athletic. We all have crosses to bear."

"Spike, I want to be the one." She closed in on him and crashed their lips together.

"Spike I love you."

"No you don't But-"

"No, Spike, I love you. No more games. We can't take any more. Now I've got to go. Get them to leave Sunnydale, Spike, I'm counting on you. Protect them."

"Till the end of the world, luv. Here take my Desoto. It's behind my old crypt. Now get going. Go be a hero.

"Okay." She kissed him passionately on more time. "Remember, I love you."

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me... Do we really have to remind me of this??

Chapter 1: Sounds right to me

"You are all bloody worthless pieces of bloody crap. You know that right?" Spike stated as he walked into the house.

"Spike? I thought we kicked you out for good?" Faith called from inside the living room where everyone was getting ready to go to the vineyard.

"And leave you ungrateful ponces to fend for your own arses? I don't think so."

"So tell me. Why are we worthless again?"

"Because you don't know how good you guys had it. You kicked out Buffy yet she goes into the vineyard, alone I may add. Kills a lot of bringers and the stupid bloody ubervamps. Meets up with Caleb-"

"Caleb?" Giles questions. "Is she alright?"

"Oh, now you're worried. Too late. She already killed him. She has the thing she was going to get before you kicked her out and now she is off to save the world. All we can do is get out of town and hope she doesn't die again!" He turned to look at Dawn. "Bit, get your stuff and your cell. You’re coming with me whether you like it or not. Red, whelp, Anya, and Rupert you can come with me or not. I got us a school bus. Every one is welcome, but you five are mandatory. Buffy will never forgive me if I don't get at least you five out of Sunnyhell before it all goes boom or what ever the hell it is supposed to do. Now-"

"Wait a minute, who put you in charge?" Kennedy questioned.

"I did! You got a problem?" Spike retorted.

"Yes I do actually."

"Fine you stupid bint. You're not coming on my bloody bus. Now as I was saying. I'm leaving in ten minutes. If you’re not on the bloody bus, too bad." They all looked at each other and then at him. With a nod from Faith they all hurried to gather all of the five items they owned.

"Spike? Is she really okay?" Dawn asked him when she was done packing.

"Yeah, bit. She is a tiny bit hurt, emotionally, but nothing major."

"Why do we have to leave?"

"Some time soon, something bad is going to happen to Sunnyhell."

------------------------------------------------

Buffy walked into the school with dome weapons she found at Spike's crypt. It was going to take a lot more than her slayer skills to pull apart this baby, with out awakening it. But a little after ten minutes she had it all into the car.

'For once I am glad Spike has this car.' She thought to herself. She drove down to La and went onto the street where he was last located. Where his office had previous occupied was a pile of garbage and pieces of the wall. 'What did Willy say? Wolfhart&Ram? NO! Woldram&Hart.' She ran to a telephone booth to look up the address.

When she got there a few minutes later, the first thing she noticed was Wesley walking into the tall building.

"Wes! Hey, Wes!" She called out to him. He turned around and saw a blonde girl running up to him.

"Buffy? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here to avert the apocalypse, again. Where is Angel?"

"He is up stairs getting inaugurated or something like that. Which reminds me, I guess I really should be there seeing as how, I’m getting a chief job, too. Oh, well, I’m not really needed there now am I? I'll take you to him." She followed him down the winding hallway that eventually lead to the elevators. People really like their secretiveness here, huh?

"So what do you do here at this crazy law firm?" She asked gaping at the size.

"So you already know it is evil?" Wes questioned.

"No I just hate lawyers. So it's evil? The people or the building?"

"Probably both," said a voice from behind them.

"Hello, Angel. I need your help. What do you know about the seal of Dazalthar and the first, except for the obvious?"

"I don't know but I do know who does." Angel led them into a room which Buffy knew was the C.E.O.'s office. Actually she just read the sign on the door. Inside was a woman who she knew she was going to hate.
-----------------
Willow was on her way up to see what Kennedy was packing in her duffle bag, when she was stopped by Faith. Faith was looking so well to Willow, she looked as if something was eating her up inside. Not me, I swear. I don’t have those thoughts about Faith. Eww, I’m with Kennedy for gods sake, and she’s uh nice. She’s dangerous, sexy, bold, wonderful, and this si no longer Kennedy is it?

“Hey, Willow, wait up. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Uh yea, sure Faith. What’s on your mind?”

“Well I was wondering, about this whole kicking Buffy out thing that we did, do you think it was the right thing to do?” Willow had never seen this side of Faith before. The side where she was unsure of herself and her decision, albeit this really wasn’t her decision in the end, it was hers, well mostly. She was the best friend, she was the one that should have said, ‘no don’t go, I don’t want you to go.’ But she didn’t and now she, and apparently Faith, were feeling the guilt. Then again, Dawn was the one that had the final say, and she practically was the boot that kicked her out. But-
She was cut out of her thoughts by the sound of Faith making a coughing sound, trying to grab the attention of the red head.
“Oh, sorry. In the end I guess it was, we finally made a decision for ourselves instead of for Buffy and it looks like that this was what she needed to get the strength to get rid of Caleb and stop the first, I guess,” Willow said without much conviction.
“Umm, yea sure Willow, sounds uh, okay to me. Thanks.” With that Faith made her way out of the hallway and into her makeshift table, that really was a box, that was holding up her duffle bag.
“Yeah, sure. Sounds uh, right.”

Chapter 3: Leaving Town


"Buffy, this is Lilah. Lilah, Buffy the-"

"Vampire Slayer." Lilah finished. "I know why you are here and I can't help you. But the Senior Partners in the white room can help. Angel took her up to the white room." Angel led Buffy into the elevator and pulled out a white piece of paper. Then he hit a bunch of buttons. When he was done a big button appeared and Angel pushed it. No sooner did he push it did they become enveloped in white light.

"Hello, Buffy killers of the vampyres." Buffy turned around. Angel saw her face a willed him self to also turn around and face the figure she saw.

When Angel turned around he saw a sight so beautiful that he could not control the smile that was slowly creeping up his face. The sight of a little girl identical to the woman, Joyce, basking in golden light was enough to make him cry, let alone Buffy. He looked over to her and sure enough he saw tears streaming down her face.

“Mommy?” Buffy asked.

“No sorry, I am only one of the Senior Partners, in fact one of the nicer ones, Hart. I can take the form of a soul that has passed. I am pleased that I was aloud to occupy this form. Joyce, as you call her, was a great asset to your power and if she was not around then you would not have played an important part of this apocalypse.” She looked over to Angel then back at Buffy.

“I don’t understand,” Buffy said.

“You will, when it is time. I know why you have come. You seek information about the demon Danzalthar and the seal it resides in. I can not tell you much. I can tell you that you can find more information from the Senior Partner in Rome. His name is Wolf. He is too devious and I do not suggest you approach him lightly. He is a brutal one.

“Also the seal must only be destroyed by you and at the most two friends, only that friend must be human. I suggest the people be of great knowledge. You will have a tough time, but you may not contact anyone from here or Sunnydale. I wish you luck, Slayer.” With that the little girl vanished into thin air and Buffy and Angel were standing in the middle of his new office, Lilah sitting behind the desk.

“So what did you learn up there?” Lilah questioned.

“Nothing that concerns you.” Angel spat at her. “Buffy, take Wes and Fred with you. They are the smartest of my crew.”

“But are they street smart or book smart?”

“Wes is both and Fred is a science genius. She can help you with translating a research. Wes is strong so he can protect Fred in a battle, if one comes up. I with I could come with you, but, you heard what she said.” Angel moved in to kiss her, but Buffy stopped him.

“Angel, I am in love with Spike.” She said softly.

“That’s great Buffy. I hope we can still be friends. You know you can always count on me to back you up.” Buffy looked at him with surprise. That was not the type of reaction she was looking for. Yelling, throwing, and broodiness- now that she could handle but not this.

“Angel? Is that really you in there?” She asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I just wanted to know if there was anything left for us, when I tried to kiss you. I think that I am deeply in love with Cordelia.” Buffy started to laugh.

“Cordelia? The Cordelia? Wow, Angel. I am really happy for you. Or at least I will be when I stop laughing.” She finally calmed down and was about to tell him she was sincerely happy for them when she was cut off.

“Did you guys forget I was in the room?” Lilah asked

“No, just hoping you would leave on your own accord,” Angel said. “Well, Buffy, you better be gong.”

“Yeah, see you around.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away.

“Buffy!” She turned around back at Angel. “Go save the world.” She smiled a nice, gentle, warm smile and left.

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Spike was ready to leave all the Potentials and the Scobbies pack away on a nice tinted Grey Hound bus. This is going to be a great ride! He started driving away, glancing back to the people, making sure they were comfortable. Not that I care, but Buffy would want them to be.

“Spike where are we going?” Dawn asked from the seat closest to him.

“Don’t know niblet. What’s your fancy?”

“I say we go to Louisiana.”

“No too many vampires, you know the whole Anne Rice thing. Let’s go to Orlando. That could be fun.”

“Yes please!” Spike went on the intercom and reported that they would be heading to Florida and that Giles would be helping with the driving.

“Oh, no the last time I drove a vehicle this big, I almost died.”

“Too bad.” But he was barley heard for all the girls, including Faith wanted to hear that story. As the story was ending with the part where Buffy died the whole bus was in tears, Spike and Dawn trying to hide it but having no such luck.

What a great beginning, Spike thought.

-------------------------------------------

Buffy, Fred, and Wes were on WolfRam&Hart’s private jet. They were traveling to Rome where they would seek the Senior Partner, Wolf, if that was even his real name. Buffy had given Wes and Fred the scroll to see if they would come up with anything different than Willy did. Not that she didn’t trust Willy, oh yeah it was that she didn’t trust Willy. It was late when they left LA; around 11:30 pm. Angel had helped them load all the pieces of the Danzalthar into the jet. But then he had to leave, because, well, Ram had said that only humans could help her.

She was still stumped about what the girl had said about her mother helping Buffy play an important part in the apocalypse. It aggravated her that she had her life was, yet again, a pawn in some evil plan. ‘When will they ever learn not to mess with the Slayer?’ she asked herself. But something about this one really got to her. The oh-so-special feeling of defeat had nestled into the air around her.

‘No I will win. I have to win. For Dawn, for me, for Spike.’ She never knew that she could love someone as much as she loved Spike. She always loved him, she realized. Some where, deep down, she knew that Spike and she were meant to be together, always. It was inevitable.

‘But what if she didn’t make it, again? What if this would be my last battle? Would my friends ever forgive me? Would they be able to let me move on? No, they probably wouldn’t let me rest. But, would Spike stop them this time? Would he let me finally have my long deserved rest?’ All these thought were taking a toll on Buffy. She had to get out of them.

“Buffy!” Wes called her out of her reserve. ‘Thank God’ she thought. “Buffy, we found something!” Buffy made her way over to Wes and his computer. Fred was in the bathroom, having trouble with airplanes. ‘Poor girl,’ Buffy commented to herself.

“What did you find, Wes? Anything I can use?” she asked with a hopeful face.

“Well, yes I actually did find something that you can use,” Wes answered. Buffy noticed that most of his British stuck-up-snob look had disappeared throughout the years. Buffy for one was glad about that. It really aggravated her when he had lived in good ole Sunny-D. She also noticed that Giles had lost some, too, but not as much as Wes.

‘I remember something about one of Angel’s talks that had something to do with Wes stealing a baby of some sort. I’ll ask Fred when she is feeling better.’ They still had a few more hours till they would land in Roma.

“Yeah, this First or whatever, as you know it is incorporeal ad can take the form of any dead spirit it wishes. Since you have died, it can even take yours. You might want to call up your friends and warn them about that. Anyways, this first, it has a man that helps it. Not a demon, a human, the man acts as its vessel. With all the power the first has. You must kill him before you can even attempt to kill the first and its armies.”

“Hey, guys I think that this plane is really evil, also. I am never plane sick and here I am puking my darn guts out,” Fred said as she walked out of the bathroom, hands placed lightly as if she was trying to push in her flat stomach. She noticed Buffy and Wes hovered over the computer and turned a bright red color, heat seeping into her face.

“Sorry ya’ll. I didn’t know that you two were talking about something important. My mistake, I’ll just go sit over here.” She made her way over to a seat about five rows up from Buffy.

“No, Fred, you may need to hear this, too,” Wes said.

“About that vessel,” Buffy started. “I think that I may have already killed him. Back in Sunnydale, there was this preacher guy, Caleb, in a vineyard, praising the first like it was some sort of god.”

“Yes, that does sound like the vessel,” Wes simply stated. They remained quite for a while, and then Wes went into the bathroom. Buffy moved to go sit next to Fred, wanting to ask her some questions, child-taking-Wesley for starters.

“Fred?” Buffy asked as she approached the young girl.

“What?”

“A while back, Angel said that Wes had something to do with a child taking thing? Would you know anything about that?”

“Yeah that was the time that Wes went all evil on us for a while after the incident. You see, Wes had taken Angel’s son-.” Suddenly, Fred stopped talking and looked a little dizzy.

“Fred? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, Buffy. What was I talking about?” asked the young brunette.

“Ummm… something about Angel’s kid…”

“Angel never had a kid. Unless he had one before I met him.”

“You just told me about him.” Buffy paused to overview the situation. Obviously something had gone wrong with Fred. ‘Well she was talking about Angel’s son. Why don’t I ask him about it?’ Buffy dialed up Angel’s number at the law firm which he had given her when they had left. She walked away so that she could talk in private.

Phone conversation

“Hello WolfRam&Hart, Angle speaking. How may I help you?”

“Wow, Angel, so phone answering like.”

“Buffy? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I just want to ask you a question, peaches.”

“Peaches?”

“I just wanted to see how it felt like rolling off my tongue. Now I know why Spike likes to call you that. Anyways, I was talking to Fred, asking her about Wesley, and your son came up. But then, a few seconds later, she fazed and didn’t remember you had a son. Want to explain this to me?” Buffy could almost see his hesitation.

“I-I had a spell done. So that Conner, my son could have a normal life without having to know about all this stuff going on here. Please do not lecture me about all this. I have enough guilt on my own accord. To think that I will not see my only son ever again, it hurts me. Please do not tell anyone about him.”

“Okay, Angel, I won’t tell. But that does not mean that I am okay with this. If I get back, we’ll talk about it. For now I won’t mention it at all.”

“Buffy, I think you mean when you get back.”

“I don’t know, Angel. I just don’t know.” Buffy hung up the phone, not waiting for a comment from Angel or saying goodbye. Buffy sat in her seat thoughts about Danzalthar, Angel, and her friends ran through her head. Finally, her thoughts landed on Spike before she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 4: Pit Stop

Faith felt nervous being this close to a vampire who could hear her rapid heart beat and she didn’t like it. It seemed like she would be on the bus forever. She didn’t want to be this close to a vampire that could hear her rapid heartbeat. She didn’t want to let on that she knew something that she shouldn’t. She wasn’t about to jeopardize her life anymore than she had over the last couple years. She decided that the only sane thing to do would be to sit in the back of the bus with the potentials and away from the scoobies.

On the way she passes Dawn and Willow. Dawn saw that Willow and Faith were visibly nervous about something and threw them both questioning looks, but they both missed them. She opted that it was just nerves about Sunnydale being destroyed and not being far enough away when it happens.

Actually, that was what she was feeling, so Dawn just figured that everyone was feeling the same thing. Besides her, Willow was extremely quiet, she hadn’t said a word to her the whole drive so far, which is quite unusual for Willow, seeing as how she is an avid chatterbox.

“Dawnie let me out, I have to go to the bathroom,” Willow said a little too quickly.

“Um, okay.” She stood up from her seat to let Willow pass. She practically ran to the bathroom not really noticing that Xander and Anya were getting out of it looking disheveled. Giles on the other hand did notice the couple’s reappearance and started to rapidly clean his glasses.

“Well, if you have to go, you’re going to have to wait. Rona was here first and she has been waiting a long time. It’s not really my fault that Xander took a-” Anya began, but Xander’s hand quickly covered her mouth knowing what she was going to say.


After hearing that last bit, and knowing what Anya was about to say, Giles again took out his cloth and began to clean his glasses like there was no tomorrow.

“An, sweetie, lets go back to our seat.”

Willow stood there at the end of the bus, waiting for Rona to get out the bathroom. She needed her privacy and with the last couple weeks being full of mass amounts of teenage girls everywhere, she needed some time to herself.

Standing up, Giles walked up to the front of the bus, half because of the needed to get away from the loud group of teenage girls that surrounded him in the back, and half feeling the need to talk to Spike.

They were on the bus for a total of only two hours so far. Giles had realized that they hadn’t passed the ‘Welcome to Nevada’ sign yet, and wanted to find out where they were.

“Spike, where exactly are we?”

“What do you mean, Watcher?” Spike didn’t feel like much talking to anyone on the bus, even Dawn. He was still pissed off that they kicked Buffy out of the house, and even though she benefited from it in the long run, he didn’t want to talk to someone who could betray their leader of seven years, especially as their leader happened to be the woman he loved.

How could someone do that to their ‘friend’ like that? She supported them in ways that no one else could. The witch should have done something; she’d lived with the girl for almost two whole years. Knowing Buffy had paid for the house and everything, did Red really think that she owed Buffy nothing? Not just with the normal human stuff as well, but Buffy has stopped every demon, hellgod, and any other creature that wanted to do harm to Willow. She died so that demons wouldn’t reign on the Earth. It was very natural to feel the way he did right now when he’d been put in this type of situation.

“Well, Dawn said that we were going to Orlando. Shouldn’t we be at least in Nevada by now?” Giles was getting extremely worried; he had already cleaned his glasses ten times in the last five minutes. He didn’t want to be in California when Sunnydale blew up, or whatever it was going to do when it happened.

“We’re making a little pit stop and trust me I really don’t want to go but I got to do it. We’ll be there in 20 minutes.” Just then, Giles saw the “You’re now in Los Angles” sign and knew where they were headed.

----------------------------

“Grandpapa!” Spike yelled out when he saw Angel sitting in his office. He, Giles, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Xander, Anya, and Faith were walking into his office at W&H, Harmony close on their tails.

“What are you doing here, Spike, and don’t call me that!” Angel replied once he saw them, shocked a little bit that he didn’t notice their presence before then.

“Aww, is dead boy getting a little senile in his old age?” Xander asked patronizingly. “Is it too hard to notice little ole humans any more?” Xander was strolling along Angel’s office, taking notice on the objects that he found. What he did find interesting was a piece of paper that had some very bold writing and symbols on it.

“Shut it, Xander. It just so happens that I have a big important case that I’m working on, and it’s taking all of my time and focus,” Angel lied.

“But, boss you just finished you only case yesterday,” Harmony said in a typical Harmony fashion. The look she got from Angel was not a pleasant one. All the same she didn’t notice it.

Angel’s eyes grew wide at what he saw in Xander’s hands. He rushed for it only to watch Xander crumple it up and throw it to Spike. Spike took little time to unravel it and read it. He burst out laughing and quickly passed it on to Giles, who took one look at it, passed it to Willow and started to clean his glasses.

If it was possible, Willow seemed to go more red than her hair color even. Faith grabbed it off Willow and she and Kennedy read it together.

“Well, well, well, Angel, what do we have here?” Faith asked Angel, clearly not expecting any answer, so she continued. “Does Miss Blonde Bimbo over here,” she indicated towards Harmony, “Not give you the satisfaction that a big beefy guy like you needs? Do you need some outside help?” She couldn’t control herself any more and started to laugh so hard that her sides would hurt in a while, and that was saying something about how amusing it was.

Finally after a few minutes of infectious laughter from the whole gang, besides Dawn, Harmony, and of course Angel, they all sobered up. Spike had forbidden Dawn to see the paper, due to her virgin eyes, and to help that cause along, he ripped up the paper. All that Dawn saw was a corner that said, ‘Customer Receipt.’

“As amusing as that all was,” Spike began, “We actually came here for a reason.”

“Yes, and I am guessing it must be very important seeing as how this is taking away my valuable tanning time on the beach in Orlando,” Anya bluntly said showing how annoyed she was at being here.

“Wow, tanning, I haven’t done that since high school,” Harmony reminisced.

“That’s because you are a bloody vampire, Harm, have been since the end of High school,” Spike said. “Sunlight kills you, you know.”

“Spike, what is it that you want from me, I do have an unlife to um, unlive.” Angel was growing more impatient by the minute and it was generating great glee from Spike.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, I was about to explain that before someone interrupted me.” He glared over to Anya. Why did they have to come in with him? It was not like he needed, let alone wanted them within a ten-mile radius. He especially didn’t need them with him to deal with Angel. But even though he would never admit it to anyone ever, he found it enjoyable when Xander bashed Angel instead of himself, once in a while.

“Did you help out Buffy?” Spike asked.

“Oh my God!! Why does everything revolve around Buffy with you two?” Harmony asked, exasperated. “It’s not like she is a super girl or something.” With that she stormed out of the room. Everyone looked after her with the same questioning look on their faces, ‘what?!?!’

‘I like this girl, well vamp,’ Kennedy thought.

Spike turned back to Angel. “Well, anyways, back to what I was saying. Did you help Buffy?” Spike repeated.

“Of course I helped Buffy. Who do you think I am?”

“Well, I think you’re a guy that uses way too much hair gel for starters. Do you actually get orgasms with that style?” Anya asked seriously staring at Angel’s hair. Angel guided his hands up to his hair to check if any strand was out of its place at her accusing stare.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough!.” Spike finnaly had it with these people. “Everyone but the Watcher and lil bit, have to leave. I can’t concentrate if I have everyone butting in after every thing I say. Leave, get back on the bus and stay there until we come out.” Seeing the look on Spike’s face and knowing that he no longer had the chip made up their minds and they quickly fled to the bus. Spike took some unnecessary breaths to try and calm himself down. Once they had all left, he again turned back to Angel.

“Now, as I was saying, what did you give to her to help her out?”

“Well, I took her up to the White Room and one of the Senior Partners talked to her. She was very disturbing, not with what she had said but what she looked like. Or should I say, who she looked like.” He stopped, and the others in the room were left waiting to know who the Senior Partner looked like. His looked around the room and his eyes stopped at Dawn’s. He nodded slightly, but it was clear to her what he was trying to say.

“Well, out with it man. Whom did she look like?” Giles asked.

“Yea, peaches, who? Buffy?” Angel shook his head to say no.

“Mom,” Dawn said in such a soft voice that it was barely heard by Giles.

“What was that Dawnie?” Giles asked her?

“She looked like my mom.” Dawn left the room not wanting to allow the boys to see her cry.

“Peaches, as much as I would love to continue this conversation, I have to go after Dawn.” Angel nodded his head in understanding. Just as he was about to leave, Harmony came back into the room.

“Uh, Boss, this note just um, appeared on my computer screen,” she said handing the print out over to Angel.

It read:
Send Spike, Giles, and Dawn up to the White Room
~Hart

“Well, it looks like we need Dawn after all, The Senior Partner wants to see all of you,” Angel told Spike.

Giles went to go find Dawn and after a full 20 minutes of searching for her, he found her coming out of the bathroom.

“Dawn, you are needed in the White Room. Angel is going to take us up there.” Dawn just loked at him puzzled but followed anyway.

They went back into Angel’s office and two minutes later, they were in the elevator. Angel lit up a few numbers from a list he pulled out of his pocket. When he was finish, there was a big white button above all the other numbers.

“Here, we go.” And with that he pushed the button, engulfing them in white light.

TBC…

Chapter 5: Lady in White

“Here we go.”

Angel stepped away from the group first. He knew what they were going to see and wanted to give Dawn some privacy, well as much privacy she was going to get while the four of them were still in the same big room. But still, seeing as how he had not been part of the group for over three years now, he felt out of place, knowing how emotional Dawn could get based on what he saw with Buffy and her reaction to the face of her mother. So he moved away from them, not knowing how he would begin to comfort her if need be.

Spike saw his move and gave him a small smile, knowing what he was doing. Really it was only a tweak of the corner of his mouth, but Angel understood what he was displaying and gave him that ‘tweak’ in return.

Spike moved closer to Dawn, wanting to shield her away from the visage of Joyce’s face if it got to emotional for her. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it a bit. Dawn turned towards him and smiled a real genuine smile at him.

Giles watched the display of intense sentiment and stared in wonder at Spike. How could a being that was supposed to be evil and not give a damn about the human world, show such strong feeling for another? It used to perplex him, but over the last couple months of living with him in the Summer’s home, he had found his answer. Buffy. She was the one person on this entire planet that could make a being go against his nature.

He knew that it went much deeper than Buffy, also. He knew that Spike was no ordinary vampire, he held so much of William in him, that it made him want to study him and take notes. Secretly he had done just that in the past. He would see Spike interact with the Scoobies each day and record it at the end of the day from the privacy of his own home away from prying eyes. And although he would never in his life admit to anyone, least of all Spike, Giles was proud at the man that Spike had evolved into over his years in Sunnydale.

A small movement knocked the four of them from their thoughts. Spike and Angel saw the movement, and when Giles saw Spike look to his left, he and Dawn followed suit.

“So glad you all could make it,” said a voice that was obviously not Joyce’s. She was a little girl with long dark brown hair. It was tied into a small braid behind her head. She was wearing a yellow sundress, which stopped just below her knees. He features were nothing like Joyce’s and it left them all wondering why she had shown up as Joyce before to Buffy.

“Why don’t you look like my mom?” Dawn asked her. Dawn took five steps towards the girl.

“I have a surprise for you, Dawnie. Your sister has been offered a reward from the powers and you get to view it first.” The Senior Partner disguised as the little girl circled around Spike, Dawn, and Giles. It looked like she was a hawk circling its prey, just waiting for it to make the wrong move. “Come, Dawnie, follow me.”

“She will not go anywhere with you alone,” Spike walked up to Dawn and put a protective hand on her shoulder.

“Of course, William, you and the others are welcome to come along.”

For the first time in over a hundred years, Spike looked back at Angel and looked at him for confirmation as to go with her or not. Angel looked as surprised as Giles did when they saw this, but Angel gave him a comforting smile to ease his worry. He briskly walked towards the group and gave the girl a menacing glare. She laughed at him, and he backed away.

“Oh, Angel, are you trying to scare me? I am older than dirt and you are no match for me. Now come, all of you, follow me.” With that she walked away, knowing that they would follow sooner or later.

With a shrug, Spike pushed himself in front of Angel and led them towards where she had left.

------------------------------

Buffy stepped off of the plane and walked down the tunnel to get to the main airport. Once she, Wesley, and Fred were out of the gate, they immediately went to get some food, waiting for their luggage to be unloaded from the plane and brought into the terminal.

Buffy sat at one of the tables and ate her Big Mac and fries, waiting for Fred and Wesley to get their food and sit with her. She was very tired. On the plane she wasn’t able to get any sleep; she was constantly worrying if her family was alright. She had tried calling Dawn’s cell but got no answer on it and she wasn’t ready to talk to Willow or anybody else. She just hopped that through Dawn she could have talked to Spike. She was sure that they were half way across the country by now and would have liked to confirm that to soothe her fears.

Wesley was the first to sit down next to Buffy, but she really didn’t notice it too much. She was too engrossed in her thoughts to take part in the real world. It was too hard. If she did then she would have to face that she wasn’t going to make it out of this one. Buffy didn’t feel like disappointing anyone this time, so she stuck herself in her thoughts.

That all lasted about two minutes, for Wesley pulled her out of them by mentioning Dawn out loud.

“What did you say about Dawn?” Buffy asked, worry evident on her face and in her voice.

“Nothing, only that I hope she is okay,” Wesley replied. He noticed Fred standing in the crowd a bag from Roma Pasta in her hands, obviously searching for Buffy and Wesley. He stood up and flagged her down.

“Hey, you guys, what did you get?” She asked as she took her seat next to Wesley.

“McDonalds” “Chinese” They all shared their foods as if they had known each other for ever and had done it the same amount of time. Fred got some French fries and some noodles, Buffy some noodles and egg rolls, and Wesley some French fries and egg rolls. Each of them keeping their main course to themselves.

They ate their meal in silence, and then made their way to the bag pickup where an employee from WolfRam&Hart was meeting them. The employee was about 5’10’’ and wearing a very expensive Armani suit. He held a flap of a cardboard box with the name, ‘Summers’ on it.

They slowly made their way over to him. Wesley extended his hand and the other man took it.

“Hello, my name is Wesley Windom-Pryce. This is Buffy Summers and Fred Berkle,” he said indicating the two girls. “Are you the one who is to bring us to our hotel?”

The man had a confused look on his face. “Non parlo di inglesi,” he replied to the threesome.

(I don’t speak English.)


Wesley repeated himself again, this time in Italian. “Questo è le Buffy Summers e Fred Berkle, e sono il Wesley Windom-Pryce. Lei è l'un che va portarci al nostro hotel?”

(This is Buffy Summers and Fred Berkle, and I am Wesley Windom-Pryce. Are you the one who is going to bring us to our hotel?)

“Sì, sì sono. Venire seguirme.”

(Yes, yes I am. Come follow me.)

Wesley looked back at the ladies and motioned them to follow him. “He said for us to follow him.” Buffy looked at Fred, who only shrugged, knowing what she was wondering.

They walked out of the airport where a few men in black suits took their luggage and opened the door for them to enter the stretch limo. Of course, that was black also.

Ten minutes later they were stopped outside of the Roman W&H.

“Wesley, what are we doing here? I thought that we were supposed to go to the Hotel Roma. Why are we here?” Buffy was nervous, she didn’t want to be sidetracked from her mission. Even though she knew she had to go to WolfRam&Hart, she didn’t want to make the trip her first day in Rome. All she wanted to do right now was sleep till noon tomorrow. Right now, it didn’t look as if she was going to be able to do that.


Wesley lowered the window that separated them from the driver and asked, “Perché siamo qui? Dovrebbe non siamo al hotel proprio ora. Siamo tutto stancato ed amerebbe per riuscire a dormire.”

(Why are we here? Shouldn't we be at the hotel right now? We are all tired and would like to get some sleep.)

The driver turned around and looked embarrassed.

“Spiacente, il signore. Le mie scuse, ma ho dimenticato di dire a lei che Ilona amerebbe per parlare con lei. , È venuto per favore con me nell'edificio. Lei può riuscire a dormire molto brevemente. La porterò personalmente al hotel quando Ilona è fatto parlare con lei.”

(Sorry, sir. My apologies, but I forgot to tell you that Ilona would like to speak with you. Please, come with me into the building. You can get some sleep very shortly. I will personally take you to the hotel when Ilona is done speaking with you.)

----------------------------------------

It seemed that they would be walking forever. Shortly after Spike, Angel, Dawn, and Giles walked after the small girl they were taken down a small hallway that they would not have known was there unless they were being led like they are now being. It was so pure of white like the big room had been that you could barely tell where the hallway had opened. The hallway was so small that they had to walk down it single file, and Dawn could not be besides Spike any of the way.


Finally it opened up to a room that was surprisingly not white. In fact it was a bright neon green. Sitting at a table at the far side of the room with her back facing towards the group was a lady that had golden wavy hair, and Dawn knew just who it was.

She turned to Spike with a bright infectious smile that he readily gave in return showing that he too knew exactly who that lady in white was.

Dawn wasted no time in running to the woman. All the while a big sappy grin plastered on her face. She couldn’t have been any happier than she was this minute. When she reached the woman in white, the woman turned around and also expressed the same glee Dawn did.

“Mommy!”