Standing in Angel's office Buffy glanced around to the group assembled there. Everyone was present and accounted for. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited while Angel talked on the phone. She needed to do something, move around a bit to expel the energy she felt coursing through her limbs. It was a rough combination of the left over adrenalin from watching helplessly as Laura collapsed and the fact that after months of slaying non stop she hadn't been out for days.
Now standing in the fancy office at the top of Wolfram and Hart she was feeling a bit antsy. At least she wasn't the only one. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Spike pacing across the office. With every lap he completed he earned another glare from Angel.
Wesley was sitting on the couch next to Fred his knee as close to hers as possible. Oh yes there was definitely something going on between the two of them Buffy was sure of it.
On the other side of the room Gunn was talking to some green skinned guy that Buffy hadn't met.
Before Buffy could think of a good reason to bolt out of the room Angel hung up the phone.
"And?" She sounded as impatient as she felt.
"Their not sure. It's almost like some kind of parasite is invading her body."
"Meaning what exactly?" Wes asked.
"Whatever it is it's cooking her organs. They'll liquefy in a day's time."
"And that's a wonderful mental picture, thank you."
"It doesn't match anything in our archives. Whatever it is it might be mystical in origin."
"What about the sarcophagus?"
"I've thrown everything we have at it and nothing's worked." Fred sounded as upset as Buffy felt.
"What about you Wes?"
"We've been trying to look it up but the symbols, the markings don't match anything we have."
Buffy was listening carefully at the lack of information that was being passed around. Something just wasn't right about the whole thing and it was sending little messages to the back of her mind. But she was unable to get what it was trying to say.
"Where did it come from?"
"It just showed up at the lab. Someone delivered it last night."
"In the middle of the night someone dropped off a really old unasked for stone box?" Sarcasm was still her friend in a tense situation.
"You think this was deliberate?" Wesley seemed to be putting something together in his mind.
"It would make more sense. Maybe the Senior Partners?" Angel asked as he looked at Gunn.
"It doesn't add up. But I can go hit the white room."
"What about that Lindsey guy? He likes to play games." Angel gave Spike a slight nod.
"Since we have his address now it's a good place to start."
"I'm going I've got to get out of here." And she wasn't kidding.
"I'm right behind you luv."
"We can call it a double date." The green guy replied at which Buffy felt a smile emerge onto her lips.
"Let's not." Angel commented as he headed out the door.
*******
Buffy stepped into the apartment and looked at the strange markings on the walls. Not something Better Homes and Gardens would include in their decorating tips.
She and Lorne began to search through the living room looking for even the tiniest scrap of paper giving them a clue about what was happening to Laura. Spike and Angel began to make their way to the back of the apartment.
"Well I'll be damned all over again." She could hear the surprise in Angel's voice and rushed to see what he had found.
She entered the room behind the two men who were standing in front of the bed. On it was a woman that normally would probably be pretty attractive that was wearing only a man's dress shirt and looked like she hadn't moved in days.
"Whose your friend?" She was really curious now.
"Eve's no one's friend pet. Used to be the poof's liaison with the Senior Partners." He sneered at Eve. "Bet you’re a bit lonely though now huh?"
"Don't come near me."
"How long before they notice your missing Eve or do you have that many sick days saved up?"
"What do you want?"
"Answers. Mystical parasite a young woman's infected with it."
"I don't know anything about it."
"How about your boyfriend then? Any schemes throwing coffins about?" He took a menacing step closer to the bed. "Sarcophagus older than anything we know."
"Lindsey and I have nothing to do with that. I don't have any reason to lie." She looked at all four of them in turn. "Have you heard from him?"
Buffy hid a smile as she watched Spike roll his eyes at the pathetic woman.
"You aren't telling me anything useful."
"Why would we do anything to someone we don't even know?"
"Because it wasn't supposed to be someone you didn't know." She said it quietly the wheels in her mind spinning.
"Buffy?" She looked into Spike's eyes for a moment.
"Think about it. Who would have been the first one to touch that thing? Only she was distracted because we went to the lab."
"They were trying to get to Fred." Angel's voice sounded flat as the implications set in.
"Why would we want to do anything to her? Why would we even care?"
Heads turned as the sound of Lorne's fist connecting to Eve's face sounded in the room.
"Ow that really hurt." Lorne leaned in right into Eve's face. "Here's the thing Eve. You're going to sing for me and I'm going to read you right now. And here's one more thing; Winifred Burkle once said to me after a sinful amount of Chinese food and in lieu of absolutely nothing: "I think a lot of people would choose to be green. Your shade if they had a choice." If I hear a note, one quarter note that tells me you had any involvement in this and these two won't even have the chance to kill you." Lorne straightened up.
"I wanna help you I swear I don't have a thing against Fred or this other chick."
"Croon it to someone that cares." Spike snarked.
Buffy watched as Eve sighed and then took a deep breath.
"Memories all alone in the moonlight-"
"Stop! I should kill you just for that." Lorne rubbed his temples. "She's clean."
"You sure?" Angel didn't sound convinced.
"Yeah. She reads clean her future's not too bright but..."
"What do you mean?" Buffy watched, as the woman seemed to curl into herself.
"Nothing's written in stone of course but if I was you I'd make like Carmen Miranda and die." Lorne turned to head out of the door.
"Wait. You're not going to tell them about me are you?"
"Hell of a bargaining chip." Spike said and Buffy watched, as Angel seemed to mull that over in his mind.
"They can't help you. If you're talking about a sarcophagus. There’s nothing that doesn't match with our records except for what came before. The old ones."
"The original demons. Before human kind. They were all driven out of this dimension."
"The ones that were still alive. But before that they were killing each other all the time and they don't die the way we do. Wesley may not know it but his source books can conjure up anything not just our own stock. Tell him to look for the texts that are forgotten, the oldest scrolls. You need to find the Deeper Well."
*******
Back in Angel's office Buffy could feel a headache coming on. The waiting was always what she had hated. After all she was the original action girl and right now there was nothing she could do. The fact that a nice young woman that she had just met was now lying in a bed getting ready to die was clawing at her insides. They were almost the same age and Laura seemed to have the normal life that had always been just a dream to her. Now it was all going to be taken away in one fell swoop by an ugly twist of fate.
"It's called Illyria, a great warrior and monarch of the demon age murdered by rivals and left adrift in the Deeper Well." Wesley looked as though he had been run over by a truck.
"Which is?" Wesley was starting to sound like the watcher she remembered.
"A burial ground a resting place for all the remaining old ones."
"This one ain't resting." Gunn replied.
"No. I don't think this is merely an infection. Laura's skin is hardening like a shell. I think she's being hollowed out so this thing can use her to gestate. To claw it's way back into world. That's speculation. Either way she dies." His voice held a tone of defeat.
"Do we have any chance of finding the Deeper Well?"
Wes nodded to Angel.
"I already have. It's in England, in the Cotswolds." He handed him a slip of paper. "That's the location to the inch."
"How soon can we be there?"
"In one of our jets four hours." Fred answered.
"It will have a guardian maybe several." Wesley warned.
"I've been looking for a good fight." And Buffy wasn't surprised to hear the anticipation in Spike's voice.
"How do we know going there's gonna help?"
"The Deeper Well is almost like a prison for the dead. If something gets out it's written that it can be drawn back to the source."
"Then it's our only shot." Angel sighed.
"We'll keep working here but yes I think it is." Buffy watched as Fred stuck a comforting hand on Wesley's arm.
"Buffy are you coming?"
She turned towards Angel and thought about it for a moment. "No I'm going to stay here. Maybe go and sit with Laura."
"Well if nobody thinks it's too ridiculous I'm going to go pray."
"No it's not. Time is not on our side."
"Nobody's on our side."
"Let's go." Angel gestured to Spike.
"Can you give us a minute Angel?" She looked into his face and saw an empty acceptance. He nodded to her and left the room.
Everyone else had filed out in the meantime and now they stood looking at each other.
"You sure about stayin' luv?" God his eyes were just so blue.
"Yeah she's probably scared and she's alone. No one should have to deal with that on top of all this."
He stepped closer to her and wrapped her in his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder taking the comfort from his embrace that he offered.
"Promise me you'll be careful."
"Nothin' s gonna happen to me pet." He placed his fingers under her chin and tipped her head to look at him.
"I want to believe that." Her eyes searched his and she could see her concern mirrored there.
"Then believe it. We'll go be heroes and be back in no time." She melted into him as his lips slowly brushed hers.
"I love you." She put more feeling into those words then she felt was possible for a human being.
"I love you, Buffy always will." He took her hand in his and feathered a kiss on the back of it.
He took two steps back and looked deeply into her eyes. Slowly he dropped her hand and went out the door.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
OMG! Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I agree with everyone and think that Fred was a great loss, Not that Illyria wasn't interesting just I think Fred was too. I also have to state that some of the dialouge for this part was taken from A Hole in the World which was written by Joss Whedon and so credit where credit is due. Thanks again for all the support and the reviews they are just terrific. Please keep letting me know what you think and I will keep slaving away at my keyboard just for you. Thanks.