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Author's Chapter Notes:
Just imagine the usual neurotic rambling is here, I'm too tired to write it.
Chapter 6 Clean Up

Gunn, Willow, Xander and Illyria were headed out in one of the firm’s vehicles to track down Spike. Behind them were two vans, one loaded with another security team, and the other loaded up with more Slayers, who had been brought to the city, in case they were needed.

Willow had performed a locator spell and had found Spike, moving quickly away from the firm, obviously still chasing after Buffy. Angel had called Gunn and Wesley back to his office and asked Gunn and Illyria to go with track the MIA pair down. This time there was no bickering over how they were going to do this or who would take custody of Buffy after they caught her, since neither side sure if they were actually going to be able to catch her.

By the time they left Spike had stopped moving; and Willow was worried they were going to be too late if there was a confrontation between them.

Angel wanted Wesley to stay behind and try and research a way to make Nina transform into her wolf state without a full moon.

In an attempt to mend fences, Willow offered to try and contact Oz if Wesley couldn’t come up with anything. An offer Angel had told her he may take her up on.

Awkward silence filled the car as they raced through Los Angeles. Willow concentrated on following Spike’s trail while attempting to ignore the fact that Illyria was sitting next to her in the back, studying her in much the same way one would study a lab specimen.

“So if you don’t mind me asking,” Gunn began hesitantly, speaking to Xander. “How did you lose your eye?”

“All I can say, is when they tell you not to run with scissors, its for a reason.” Gunn’s jaw dropped and Xander laughed. “Actually, it was taken out by a deranged preacher during the war with the First Evil.”

“That was the one Spike burnt up in, right?” Gunn said trying to connect all the stories and tidbits he had been told about the Scoobies over the years.

“Actually, its because of Spike this was all that happened to me. If it weren’t for him this probably would have been a lot more terminal.”

“So you two were tight?” Gunn asked.

Xander started laughing. “Sure. In a, I hated him and wanted him dead, kind of way.”

“Oh.”

The awkward silence resumed as they sped through the night. This time it was Willow who spoke.

“Uh oh.” She said.

“Uh oh?” Gunn looked back at her in the rearview mirror. “What’s ‘uh oh’?”

“I lost him.”

“You LOST him, Will?” Xander turned in his seat to look at her. “Did the spell stop working? Do you need to recast it?”

“No, it was working fine. He was there and then ‘poof’ he was gone.” She said, nervously looking at him.

“Poof?” Xander said weakly. He and Gunn exchanged a glance, neither said anything, but Gunn pressed down hard on the gas pedal and they accelerated quickly.


Buffy’s body had slowly stopped shaking, and her breathing evened out, as she fell into an exhausted sleep. Her body drained, not only from not resting at all, during the Slayer’s quest to hunt Angel down, but also because some she no longer was filled with the powerful blood that kept her moving.

Her blood.

Spike had tasted Slayer’s blood before, the aphrodisiac elixir, that dispensed a feeling of power and euphoria, better than any adrenaline rush.

It was always about the blood.

He had also tasted Buffy’s blood before, under the control of the First, in the basement of the house he had left his victims in. Buffy’s blood had been a serum that freed him from the First’s control and unlocked his memories of what he did.

Her blood was pure power and warmth all wrapped up into one.

This blood was like all of that together, and yet completely different.

He could feel it burning its way through his veins. While it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, it was a curious feeling and made him slightly nervous. It tightened and hardened his muscles as it traveled along through his body and he could feel his strength increasing by the second. His mind was filling with memories and knowledge, that he knew he didn’t possess before. Memories of girls, Slayers, engaged in various fights throughout the ages. Even stranger, though, were the memories that came from before the Slayers, the memories of the demon.

Spike shook his head trying to push the memories to the side while he focused instead on the changes occurring inside him.

He became aware of a rustling noise coming from the walls surrounding him. He finally realized, as he peered into the darkness, that his hearing sharpened along with his other senses and the noise he was hearing was roaches and other insects that were living in the rotting building. Also, before he would have had to peer hard into the darkness to make anything out in the black corners, now he could see into them as clearly as he could see in a well lit room.

He filtered out the noises in the walls and extended his senses farther out into the night. For a few moments there was nothing. Then he felt it.

Something powerful was approaching.

Now he could hear the vehicles as they raced down the street.

He shook Buffy roughly, trying to wake her up, with no success as she just burrowed closer to him in her sleep.

He pulled back and away from her, not an easy task because her grip on him was tight, even in her unconscious state. Once free from her grasp he did up his jeans and dashed for his coat.

As soon as he lost contact with Buffy she began to cry softly in her sleep and rolled over as if she were seeking him out. He came back to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead and ran a hand through her hair, noticing for the first time all the dirt caked on her and the tangled mess that was her hair.

She quieted down immediately when he returned to her side. Spike heard the doors of the vehicles slamming shut outside. He could feel the Slayers out there and knew he didn’t have much time left. He could also feel the presence he somehow knew was Illyria.

Spike wrapped Buffy up in his coat and lifted her into his arms. “We need to get you someplace safe, luv.” He whispered to her. He was aware that he wouldn’t be able to get out through the front door so he headed towards the back hoping there would be a back door he could get out through.

Instead he found a pile of old crates the reached almost to the ceiling.

Making sure he had a good grip on the Slayer, he leaped on top of the crates, something he wouldn’t have been able to do before, and from there climbed up among the metal bars that ran the length of the ceiling. He managed to brace himself with his legs on two of the bars, in a back corner of the warehouse.

There he waited pensively, hoping they wouldn’t be able to locate him, knowing if they did, they were both sitting ducks.

He held Buffy more tightly to him and was rewarded with her arms wrapping around him and holding him tightly back, all while still asleep.

The doors opened and beams of light entered first searching for any sign of the vampire or the Slayer. The security team came in first, followed closely by the Slayers. They fanned out below him, checking in crates, behind crates, anywhere they could possibly fit.

Spike felt Illyria enter with Willow, Xander and Gunn. He could hear their voices clearly from his perch.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here.” Xander commented.

“They were here, though.” Willow insisted. “At least Spike was before I lost his signal.”

“I hate to say it, but maybe we should check for signs of dust.” Gunn said.

Xander shined a light around the darkness. “That should be easy enough.” Xander said wryly.

They could all see particles of dust floating in the air wherever they shined their lights.

Several long minutes went by, and one by one the Slayers and the men returned from various areas below, reporting there were no signs of the ones they were seeking.

One slayer did find the remains of Spike’s shirt, along with the scraps of Buffy’s clothing, but other than that they found nothing. After the last one returned and headed out into the night to search the perimeter and surrounding buildings, Gunn and the others stayed inside still talking.

“Well, this was a bust.” Gunn said. “Now what?”

Willow shrugged. “I don’t know what else to do. I guess we’re back at square one.”

“Does that mean we get to use Angel as bait again?” Xander sounded excited at the prospect.

Illyria stepped away from the others and turned in a circle slowly, her eyes searching. She stopped when she was facing in the direction Spike and Buffy were hiding in. She raised her head and Spike swore she was staring directly at him.

Gunn noticed her actions and moved closer to her. “Do you see something?” He asked her.

Spike waited for her to say ‘yes’ and point them out.

“No there is nothing here, but us.” Illyria stated.

Spike almost fell from shock. He had been certain she knew he was there.


Finally, they left. Spike heard them outside, calling back and forth to each other, before they all climbed back in their vehicles and took off.

Even though by now his muscles, even with their increased strength, were burning fiercely with exertion, Spike waited an extra fifteen minutes before climbing back down to the floor.

Sunrise was less than an hour away now and without any vehicle he was limited in options on where to take Buffy. He finally decided just to take her to his apartment. None of the people at Wolfram and Hart had ever been there before and while they could probably find out where it was from Lindsey, it didn’t seem too likely they would check there for him, especially not if they assumed he was dust.

He headed out in the night wondering what Willow had meant when she said she lost his signal. Why would she have suddenly lost his signal when he was still in the same place?


Wesley sat at his desk frustrated. So far the only ways he had found to call out a werewolf were extremely dangerous and involved dark magics that he didn’t feel comfortable using. There were a few spells that he was going to ask Willow if she could alter to make them less volatile.

In truth his mind was having trouble focusing on the task at hand. He kept returning instead to his earlier conversation with Illyria. He had pulled several books on demon half breeds hoping to determine if the emotions she was experiencing were genuine at all. Either way he didn’t know how to handle the situation.

He was well aware of the connection between himself and the Old One, but he had assumed it was because of the fact she looked like Fred. What if it was more than that? He knew it wasn’t the soft feeling he had felt for the innocent girl from Texas, but what it was exactly he couldn’t tell.

Angel entered his office, obviously agitated.

“They’re on their way back.” He said. “They couldn’t find either one of them. Willow lost Spike before they even got there and aside from some shredded clothes there was no sign of Buffy.”

“Do you think she killed him?” Wesley asked.

“No. I would know if he was gone, but I suppose she could have knocked him out and moved him someplace.”

“Would that have affected Willow’s spell like that?”

“I don’t know Wes,” Angel snapped. “But I want to meet with everyone in my office when they get back.”

“Angel, I know you want to find them, but we’ve been up for almost 48 hours straight. I think it would be wise to get some sleep before we start to get sloppy.”

“You haven’t been sleeping anyway, Wes.” Angel told him angrily. “You just want to be left alone to do more research on Illyria.”

“I wasn’t thinking of myself.” Wesley told him stiffly.

Harmony knocked on Wesley’s door before poking her head inside. “Boss, they just arrived downstairs. And the infirmary called and Mr. Giles is starting to come around. They said he’s still groggy, but he should be fully awake within the hour.”

“Thanks, Harmony. Tell Gunn to meet us in my office.” She nodded and left. Angel turned back to Wesley. “See there, Giles will be wide awake within the hour. Why don’t you see if he’ll give you any answers now and I’ll see what happened out in there and then let the others get some sleep?”

Wesley sighed resigning himself to the fact he wouldn’t be able to do any more research on Illyria until after they had solved the problem with the Slayers.


Spike entered his apartment just before the sun rose over the horizon. He took Buffy directly into the bathroom and laid her gently in the tub. He turned the water on and after adjusting the temperature he began to fill it with hot water.

He understood that she would probably just go out and get filthy again if she woke up no different, but on the chance she woke up and was herself again, he wanted her to be clean. Buffy would be mortified if she knew how tangled her hair was, he thought with a smirk.

He stood up and left the bathroom to search for a towel and some clothing to put on her when he was finished. When he got back to the bathroom door he stopped in his tracks, Buffy had started crying again only this time she was talking in her sleep, too.

“No.” She shook her head. “Spike, no, please.”

Spike’s knees almost gave out from underneath him. The sound of the running water and Buffy’s crying, and her voice telling him ‘no’ brought back that disastrous night in her bathroom. Seeing her here like that again, pain lanced through his soul and he closed his eyes trying to shut out the images and the memories.

He stepped back outside and slid to the floor. He realized that what happened between them tonight was almost as bad as what happened back then. Buffy was obviously not herself, not in control, and yet he had given into his lust for her without any thought of what she would have wanted, if she were in her right mind.

Her voice came again louder. “Spike, please!!” Spike knew he was going to have to go back in there. He couldn’t just leave her filthy and crying in a tub of running water, but he couldn’t get his emotions under control.

“You don’t have to stay.” He heard her say. “Come with me.” Spike peeked his head around the corner. She was still crying, her arms were reaching out for something only she could see in her mind. He hesitantly crawled into the bathroom, he sat on the floor next to her, but didn’t reach out to comfort her, instead he just watched her.

“No!!! You’ve done enough, you can still get out.” Spike let out a sound, something between a laugh and a sob. She wasn’t reliving the night he almost raped her, she was reliving his last moments in the Hellmouth.

He reached out and brushed her forehead lightly. “Its all right pet. I’m here. I’m ok. It’ll take more than a Hellmouth collapsing to get rid of the Big Bad.”

Her eyes flickered for a few seconds and then she opened her eyes. Spike was relieved to see they were hazel once more. She looked around for a few seconds, but her eyes didn’t focus on anything, then she looked in his direction.

“Spike?” She whispered.

“I’m right here, Buffy.” Her eyes closed again and she relaxed, he though she had fallen back to sleep again, but then she spoke again. Her voice was so soft he could just barely make it out.

“Every night since then I saved you.” Spike felt his heart swell and there was a prickling behind his eyes as he blinked back the tears that wanted to fall. Her breathing had become slow and steady again as she did fall back into sleep.

“Come on pet lets get you all washed up and put to bed.” He put the stopper in the tub and the water began to rise. “It’ll be a lot more comfy there.”

Spike picked up a cloth and the soap and began washing all the dirt and grime off of Buffy’s body.

He could tell she must have been getting out into the sun more because her skin was golden bronze on her limbs, chest and stomach. He could see the tan lines, triangles that barely covered her breasts and a small patch between her legs.

Spike’s mind wandered as he bathed her, wishing he could see her lying on a white beach soaking up the warm rays of the sun. Or even better yet, instead of just watching her he could help her rub the sun tan oil into her skin making it glisten in the bright clean light.

He pulled the stopper out and allowed the dirty water to drain away, before rinsing her off, replacing the stopper and again filling the tub.

This time he took a cup and began to pour water down the back of her head, trying to loosen some of the dirt caked into the tangles of her hair.

He had plenty of experience bathing someone like this from his time with Dru. During some of her more violent fits, she would have her hair into such a tangled mess, it resembled dred locks. He would patiently wash and condition her hair before taking a pick and carefully working out all of the knots.

Buffy’s hair was a lot softer and much more fine than Drusilla’s, so once he removed most of the dirt, and cleaned and conditioned it, it wasn’t hard to work the tangles out of it.

Finally clean and her hair now hanging down her back, Spike dried her skin off and lifted her from the tub. He he carried her over and put her down on his bed. He planned on leaving her there by herself to sleep while he went and lay on the couch, but as soon as he stepped away from her she started crying again. Spike sighed. Honestly, he wanted to lie next to her and sleep, he was just afraid of what her reaction would be when she woke up.

She whimpered and her hands reached out, searching for him. He sat on the bed and lay down next to her. He only planned on staying there until she fell deeper into sleep and then he was going to move onto the couch.

Buffy had other ideas and she immediately wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him. Spike had loosened his boots earlier so he was able to just toe them off, and then used his feet to grab a blanket from the bottom of the bed. He covered her up and put his arms around her.

She gave a tiny sigh of contentment and settled against him. Her warm breath on his chest and the steady beat of her heart lulled him to sleep not long after that.


Once again everyone was gathered in Angel’s office. Willow and Xander’s eyes were almost drooping they were so tired. Angel asked them again and again, what happened with the locator spell, thinking he was going to get a different answer if he asked enough. Willow was about ready to cast some sort of teleportation spell to get herself out of there when they heard a loud commotion from outside. The door to Angel’s office burst open and Harmony was drug in by her hair by Dawn. Once she saw those gathered inside Dawn let go of Harmony and marched up to Willow.

“Did you really think you could keep this from me?” She demanded angrily.

“Dawnie!!!” Willow exclaimed.

“Don’t ‘Dawnie’ me. Where the hell is my sister?”





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