~Chapter Three~
AN: Ooo ooo, we're almost to the appearance of Spike, hehe.
Buffy sat in the lab watching Fred as she did most days when she wasn't holed up in her suite moping. She liked the mousy brunette the most of those she had met here. The other woman was kind to her and reminded her somewhat of the younger Willow. The way Willow had been when Buffy had first moved to Sunnydale. Her heart constricted at the memories of the friend she thought dead. She pushed the bad thoughts aside and resumed watching Fred.
She never really could completely follow half the things the woman and the others did here, but that was okay. She was hoping some of the brain cells would rub off on her eventually. Plus, even as a ghost, it probably wasn't good for her to mope so much... she needed to eventually get on with her life... or unlife as the case seemed to be at the moment.
It also meant she was around in case Fred had a question to ask while researching ways of making Buffy corporeal again. As well as if she came up with a theory and wanted to run it by the slayer. Buffy was mildly surprised that Fred was running ideas and such by her instead of Angel. He seemed like he would want to be kept up to date on all of this, but maybe Fred kept him informed through memos or something. Or told him later after Buffy left to wonder about or return to her suite for her nightly mopings.
At one point they had come across something including the sacrificing of a virgin, but Buffy had quickly shot that down. She was pretty sure Fred didn't want to do that anyways and was only telling Buffy so she would know it was an option. They both agreed to leave that in the last ditch, if there was an apocalypse or something pile.
Another, oddly enough, was for her to bleed on it to separate the entity from the amulet. Her, as in the original slayer, which was mondo weird, because how was she going to bleed on it when she was a ghosty? It made them think of several possibilities. That maybe it was meant for after she turned corporeal... that she would still be linked to the amulet and so would have to do that. Or, much scarier to Buffy, was that maybe the amulet had been meant for someone else. She shoved that aside. No, she made the right decision. She wouldn't have wished this existence on anyone else. So even if she messed up some grand scheme, she wasn't going to regret her decision.
Fred stood and stretched, then looked over at Buffy. "Well, I say we call it a night for now. Please don't lose hope, though. I'm sure we'll find something besides that sacrificing a virgin thing. No one wants to do that, but if its the only way we'll just have to find a loophole." She nodded and pushed her glasses up her nose.
Buffy nodded as well. "But if that's our only option and there's no loophole, then you might as well just let me fade away. I'm not afraid. I've died twice before... and I'll get to be with my friends, I'm sure." She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans and followed Fred out of the lab.
Another young lab tech came over to talk to Fred. She thought she remembered his name being Knox or something, she remembered because of course the mind immediately went to Ft. Knox. Did he have hidden gold? She giggled and earned a funny look. She blushed and headed out of the room ahead of them, giving them some semi-privacy. She had noticed the oh-so-obvious glance footsy they had been doing. Knox obviously had a thing for Fred, even if she probably had big glance footsy contests with Wes. Knox was a bit persistent anyways.
She was passing by Harmony's desk on her way to Angel's office to check in when the annoying blonde stopped her. Well, the best she could when the person you were stopping was intangible.
"Um, Buffy... Buffy!" Harmony waved her arm.
Buffy finally turned around and did her best to not wince at the bright pinkness that was the blonde vampire. How Spike could have ever... she gave a mental shudder. But then, he had spent a century with a raving loon. Throw her in the mix and it was obvious he liked crazy women.
"Yeah? What is it, Harmony?"
"You got a package," she held it out and her brows wrinkled slightly. "Though, really not sure who would be sending a ghost a package. There's no return address, so don't know. Is it your birthday?" She really didn't care if it was the slayer freak's birthday, but she was curious as to what was in the package. She had shook it, but there was no clunking noises.
"Not for a couple months, actually." Buffy said and walked back over to the desk, expression of deep curiousity. The only people she knew, who were still alive or at least walking around, were here in Los Angeles. And, in the same building. No need to send her a package. "You think it could be some sort of booby trapped thing?"
"I don't hear ticking," Harmony shrugged and held out the package. The slayer arched a meaningful brow. "Oh, oh yeah. Let me... at least it can't kill me if it is booby trapped. But, just in case, going to open it at arms length. You can also see it that way."
Harmony set the box at the top of the desk and pushed it towards Buffy, running a letter opener along the tape that held the flaps together. She looked up at Buffy for a second, waiting for a sign she was ready and receiving a nod. So she opened the flaps and jerked away instinctively from the bright light. After a moment, she poked her head out from under the desk, relieved that she hadn't burnt to dust.
Buffy lowered her hands and blinked back the stars that danced in front of her eyes. "Well then... what the hell was that all about?" She frowned, this was not a very funny idea for a joke gift. Especially after the way she had died... both this time and the time she had jumped off the tower. Both seemed to involve a very bright, burning light. Anyways...
"What the freak was THAT?" Harmony stood and brushed herself off indignantly.
Everyone else had seemed to come to a screeching halt and were staring at the two blondes.
"Uh, I'm going to go tell Angel what just happened..." Buffy pointed towards the office and turned to do just that.
The blonde vampiress's nose twitched and her head cocked. Her brows crinkled again and she lifted a hand. "Uh... Buffy?"
It was too late as the slayer walked straight into the office door and bounced off with a loud smack. She landed on her butt and blinked up at the door with wide eyes, then slowly reached up to rub her throbbing nose. She had hit the door. She would have thought she had concentrated to solidify herself on accident except there was pain. Ghosts didn't feel pain.
"I tried to warn you..." Harmony rolled her eyes from behind her desk.
Before Buffy could respond, Angel jerked open the door after hearing something bang into it. "What the hell was that?" He noticed the slayer on the ground and cocked his head. "Buffy?"
"That was me, apparently running into your door." She still looked majorly shocked and confused as she continued to rub her nose. "I... don't know how... I was coming to tell you about the strange package and then POW!"
He extended his hand and helped her to her feet. "It seems you really are solid again."
"Guess we don't have to sacrifice that virgin." She rolled her eyes and touched her nose gingerly. It was already starting to feel better. Yay for slayer healing. She was still in too much shock to start realizing what all this was going to entail besides the fact that she couldn't go through things and she could feel pain.
"You mentioned a strange package?" He glanced over to Harmony then back at the petite blonde in front of him.
"Yeah, I mean, who would send a ghost a package?" Harmony rolled her eyes and held up the empty box. "Maybe the thing inside was a ghost, too." She muttered sarcastically.
Buffy shot her an annoyed look and then looked back at Angel. "She opened it for me and there was a bright flash of light. When it cleared, I was going to come straight to your office to tell you and well... you know the rest there." She pointed at her sore nose. "Think it was the wiggy light? I mean, that seems to be the most likely since I was still a ghosty when I left the lab."
"Lab... we need to call Fred back to check you out," Angel said quickly and hurried off down the hall, pulling her along with him gently.
Angel caught Fred before she left and filled her in, then went about gathering the rest of the team in the lab while the brunette started studying the now non-ghosty Buffy. Buffy sat on her stool with her hands in her lap, watching the same device Fred had used when she first got there being used again. It was better than watching the others stare at her.
She looked herself over, glad that she hadn't reverted back to the way she looked when she first popped out of the amulet. She had always feared she might... if she ever got her body back that was. But, no. She still had the wavy shoulder length hair she had been sporting recently and her clothes weren't burnt and dusty. In fact, the black jeans and red long-sleeved shirt looked brand spanking new. Not even any scuff marks on her boots. If she had known, she would have thought herself in lots of jewels or something. Maybe even tried giving herself slightly bigger breasts.
She sighed and watched Fred as she tapped keys over at the computer, studying the data she had collected. "So... did I come back wrong or something?" She tried to break the silence and the ice.
"It seems as far as I can tell, you came back normal. Well, I suppose normal for a slayer." Fred shrugged. "I would still like to keep an eye on you for awhile, just to make sure. You never know what can crop up after such odd events. That shouldn't be a problem, since I'm assuming you'll be sticking around for awhile?" She peered at Buffy through her glasses.
"Uh, I suppose for now," Buffy shrugged. "Until I get things together and decide what I want to do with my yet again renewed life."
"You're always welcome to stay here. I can offer you a job and a place to stay. Anything you want." Angel interjected, coming forward. He needed to squelch any talk that might lead to his plans being ruined.
"That's very nice of you. I'll think about your offer." She nodded and stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.
"It is late. Why don't you head up to your suite and get some rest. Like Fred said, we'll just have to see if this has any long term affects. Also, think about my offer. We could use the help of a slayer around here," he smiled.
"I said I would... and sleep would be very nice. Haven't slept in many months and I think its catching up with me." She nodded as she headed for the door.
Fred wrinkled her nose. "Uh... you haven't?"
"Ghosts don't sleep," Buffy shrugged.
She nodded, making obvious mental note of this new tidbit. "So..." She looked a little reluctant to ask, clearly curious.
"I believe Fred isn't blunt enough to ask you and pry into what may be private. But, what do you do all night then... while everyone is gone and/or sleeping?" Wes stepped forward and tilted his head slightly.
"Oh, no biggy. I mostly just wander about... and even leave the building on occasion. You wouldn't believe the things that go on at night. Well... I guess you guys would, but yeah," she looked up in thought and then back to them, raising her hands. "Oh yeah! I was getting better at concentrating to touch things, yeah. So now and then I'd be able to turn on the TV to watch. Though, I couldn't flip channels a lot, so I had to be lucky about finding something good on."
Fred giggled and pushed her glasses back up. "And I can't imagine there being a lot of choices late at night."
"Yeah," the blonde agreed with a friendly smile. "Well off to get real sleep finally. I'll probably see you in a week." She turned and left finally, going up to her suite and collapsing on the bed without even getting undressed or pulling back the covers.
"Even if she stays she's bound to find out that her friends are still alive," Wes flung out a hand.
"Then we make sure that doesn't happen," Angel said pointedly and leaned in close. "And don't think I won't be keeping a very close eye on everything, so you better not try anything. Not if you like your cushy job here."
"I'm beginning to think the job isn't worth it." The former watcher shot back. "We thought working for some evil law firm, that we'd be the ones changing it to use the resources for good. But, it seems that this place has been changing us. Some more than others. And maybe that's just what they wanted when they extended you their offer. You know the saying, 'If you can't beat them, join them.' Well, seems they decided to do their own twisted version of that, except when they couldn't defeat you they recruited you. And, you went right along with it, didn't you? Gave up the good fight for some money, fancy cars, and a big corner office!"
Angel's fist connected with Wes's face, causing the man's head to snap back and him to hit the wall behind him then slump to the ground. Fred gave an alarmed cry and went to kneel beside him. She touched his face and then felt his neck worriedly, giving a slightly relieved sigh when she found that he wasn't dead from the blow. She looked up at Angel, horrified at his behavior, but too scared to say anything. She wasn't so sure anymore that he wouldn't hit her as well.
Gunn stepped forward to stand between them. "Let's just all go sleep it off. I'm sure he'll be sorry for what he said in the morning." Anything to get Angel to lay off for now. Wes probably would be sorry he ripped Angel a new one in the morning, knowing better than to piss off a master vampire.
"I'm sure he will. I'm giving him extra chances here because he's a friend, but there's only so much of his insubordination I'm willing to take. Especially considering his history for selling out the team," the vampire spat and turned to leave the lab.
Gunn sighed and bent to help Fred lift Wes to his feet. Once they had Wes to his quarters and resting on his bed, Gunn looked over at Fred with sad eyes. "I think Wes was right for the most part. Not for taking on the boss man and getting himself decked. He could have gotten killed even. But, what he said. Angel's changed. I'd almost be worried that we were dealing with Angelus, but Angelus never did care of laying low and wouldn't be taking things slowly like this."
With a nod, Fred sat on the corner of the bed. "I like Buffy and this just isn't right. Wouldn't be right to do to anyone. I'm not sure if there's a way we can tell her what's going on with Angel keeping a close eye on her. Even if we got her out of the building to some place remote, I'm sure he's got other people tagging her for him. I mean, he obviously isn't trusting us much anymore to help him with his plans, just threatens us to keep quiet like hostages."
He nodded and sat down beside her. "There has to be other ways... of revealing his lies..."
"If only her friends weren't all the way on another continent... then there would actually be risk of her hearing about them or running into them. It wouldn't be so easy for him to keep her cut off."
His eyes lit up slightly. "I've got a plan, I think. I'll have to think on it more. We'll have to find a safe place to talk about it it, but I'll get to you and Wes when I've got it figured out. Then we can meet up somewhere to discuss how to get it rolling."
She smiled a small relieved smile. "Okay." She glanced back at Wes. "I'm going to sit here with him until he wakes up, just to make sure. You get some rest."
He nodded and squeezed her shoulder before slipping out of the room.
Willow sat down at the table in the large kitchen with a sandwich and a soda. She pushed her long auburn hair over her shoulder and started munching on her sandwich. She looked out of the window thoughtfully. They had stopped in Cleveland to regroup as Giles had suggested, but there was already those there who were fighting the good fight. Xander stayed there along with some of the young slayers to lend some help.
The rest of them had continued on to England where Giles took control of the council again, setting up a system immediately for going about gathering all the newly awakened slayers. It also led to them realizing they needed to step up their efforts to recruit more watchers to help with the sudden explosion of new slayers. Faith and Kennedy had started taking over training of the new slayers as they came in. They didn't think Spike should help, what with the whole slayer hormones making them look at him the same way he would look at someone's jugular. Also, with them being so inexperienced, the chances that they might actually accidentally stake him during sparring was very good. Not that he looked up for much fighting since the battle. Been all mopy ever since, and nothing they did helped so they just left him to it. At least he had stopped stumbling around shitfaced... it scared the younger girls. Well, it scared the rest of them, too, since they weren't sure what he would do while drunk.
Willow had taken over the job of surrogate mother to Dawn, making sure she continued school over here in England. She had come a long way from the shy awkward nerd that she had been when Buffy first came to Sunnydale. That girl would have quaked at the idea of laying down the law to a rambunctious teenager. But, she figured that whenever the unsure girl in her started to waver when she had to be all stern with Dawn, she just thought to herself of what Buffy would do. She wanted to make her friend proud by continuing to take care of her little sister and raise her right. Make Joyce proud as well.
Her head came back around as someone entered the kitchen. She blinked in surprise. It was the mopy vampire.
"Hey there," she said softly and got up to toss her plate. She leaned her hip against the island and sipped at her soda, watching him worriedly.
"Hi, Red," he peered into the fridge, just staring at the contents blankly.
"I got more blood from the butchers last night. So its all fresh and tasty." She tried to sound chipper, but she didn't know why she tried anymore.
"Thanks, luv," he closed the door again without taking anything out. He finally looked at her, "Oh yeah, Rupert needed t' speak with you. Somethin' 'bout business back in LA."
She nodded. "Come with me. Sure you could help and you really need something to do to keep your mind occupied. It helps. Some." She bit her lip and glanced away, remembering how hard it had been for her to lose someone she loved. At least Spike hadn't tried to destroy the world, just got drunk and wandered the halls naked. "Just come and try to keep busy a bit."
"I..."
She rolled her eyes and took his arm, leading him out of the kitchen and down the hall to Giles' office. The watcher looked up and blinked a bit at the sight of them with linked arms, then quickly discarded the short lived alarm. Spike wouldn't and Willow wouldn't. End of story. He stood and removed his glass to clean them.
"Good of you to remember to deliver my message to her. I wasn't sure if I would have to go looking for her myself shortly," Giles said and motioned for them to sit down.
"I nearly did forget... sorry, Rupes." He shrugged and sat himself down, reclining and shoving his hands in his pockets. "Jus' happened that I got a bit peckish an' went int' the kitchen where Red was."
"Well, it worked out either way." The elder man waved it away. He looked to Willow, "I have got news of another slayer in the Los Angeles area. As you know, we are stretched a bit thin here and while I understand that you have taken Dawn as your charge, I need you to go since you are the only one I can spare at the moment. I can watch over Dawn while you are away. You may take one of the other slayers with you if you think you might need assistance."
"Oh well, I guess if I'm the only one who can go and Dawn'll be taken care of... then I suppose I'll be taking a sunny LA vacation." Willow gave a small smile and a shrug. "And, I'll go ask for volunteers, see who actually wants to go rather than forcing one and having them be in a foul mood the whole trip."
"No need, I'll go with you." Spike spoke up nonchalantly and both of them stared at him. "What? A nice paid vacation t' Los Angeles an' who better t' back her up?"
"Oh, and I'm sure the fact that your Grandsire is there, too, has nothing to do with it?" Willow smirked at him. "I'll be glad to have you as my travel partner. I'm not sharing a hotel bed with you, though." She grinned even wider.
"Ew, wouldn' be caught dead in the same bed as a human. The cooties." He shot back with a ghost of his old smirk.
"Will you two cut it out... about as bad as-" he caught himself and started cleaning his glassed yet again. "Fine, go. If only to get you out of my hair for awhile and maybe you'll decide you like it in the states then stay there... then we won't have to worry about your lily white ass roaming the halls at night."
Willow put her hand over her mouth as she snickered.
"Oy! Most of the girls enjoy seein' my ass." He was in full out smirk for the first time in months.
Giles rolled his eyes. "Oh shut your gob before I decide to stake you, you prat." He looked at Willow again. "The people who tipped me off to this slayer have pledged their help in bringing her in. She is... a bit wild. And what with her new slayer abilities, that makes her very dangerous. They have arranged lodging there and will pick you up at the airport."
"Who are these people? Initiative?" The redhead cocked her head slightly.
"Well... it seems they are affiliated with Wolfram and Hart, which last I had heard was a law firm who worked with demons and the other dregs of society. They also claim to work for someone we all know," he eyed Spike warily, "they're associates of Angel. You met them, Willow, I believe." He looked over at the witch. "The other thing I find odd is that it wasn't Angel himself who contacted me."
"He was too busy being a magnificent poofter." The bleached vampire muttered and Willow swatted at him.
"I... sorta agree. Maybe he was busy. If he's working at a law firm, then he must have lots to do." Willow nodded. "And there must be a good reason for him to be working at supposedly evil law firm."
"He's joined up for all the shaggin' he can get an' no worries 'bout losin' his soul."
"Spike, please do shut up." Giles snapped. He clenched his jaw and looked back at Willow, "No, he seems to have taken it over. Maybe he's trying to change it from the inside out or some such nonsense. None of our business either way. The only thing that concerns us is that they have found another slayer for us and are going to help us bring her in."
"I'll go get us tickets for a the soonest flight I can get out of here. You can call them back and tell them I'm on my way, but don't tell them I'm bringing Spike with me. They're not going to like that; Angel might throw a fit." Willow got up and yanked Spike out of the office after her before he could irritate that irate watcher anymore.
Willow stretched her arms over her head as she stepped off the plane, trying to restore circulation after such a long flight. She tossed her long ponytail back over her shoulder and moved through the crowd, trusting Spike to follow her and not get lost as she searched for the familiar faces that were supposed to be there waiting for her. She spotted Wes and hurried along.
"Hey," she said a bit out of breath after dashing through the crowd, dodging around people to get to him and Fred. "Glad to see you again, even if its always under bad circumstances."
He wasn't looking at her, but past her as he saw Spike. He was trying to decide if this was a good or bad thing. He would hope for good...
"Hello," Fred smiled at Willow and then looked at Spike, smiling at him as well. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Winifred Burkle, but everyone calls me Fred."
"Uh... William, but I prefer Spike." He shook her hand awkwardly.
"Oh! So you're... so this is..." She pointed at Spike and looked between him and Wes.
"Yes," Wes gave her a look that reminded her they weren't supposed to say anything about their recent ghost problem. Just lead them back to the office and let things unravel from there. Then they can't be blamed and Angel's lies will be revealed. Seeing Spike might make Angel's temper even worse, but at the same time he was probably the only one strong enough to take on the vampire if he went into some sort of rage.
"Yes, the great Spike is here." He smirked and hooked his thumbs in his jeans. "Now lets get our bags an' then get me over t' your offices where I'm sure a place like that's got somethin' for a famished vampire t' drink. The airline didn' exactly cater t' blokes like me." He thumbed over his shoulder.
"Uh, yes, we've got a stock of animal blood. Angel doesn't allow the employees to drink human blood and in fact has these random tests, kind of like how sports teams do drug testing. It's complicated and probably more than you wanted to know. But yes, we have something to hold you over." Fred smiled nervously and led them to the luggage carousel.
The group walked off the elevator and Wes started to lead them towards Angel's office. They didn't get far, though, when Harmony spotted Spike and let out a shriek somewhere between excitement and fright.
"BLONDIE BEAR?!" She came around her desk and started to rush him.
"Oy!" He held out his hands to ward her off and started backing away. "Now, luv... we've got a bit of business... really important..."
She put her hands on her hips. "You went off and got all freaky with the slayer freak? That is so gross! I can't believe I ever kissed the same mouth. I mean, how could you even put up with her? She's so annoying! I mean really!!"
He started to growl. How dare she talk about Buffy like that? The love of his unlife who died saving the world. Harmony wasn't even worthy to speak her name. His eyes flashed gold and he took a step forward with deadly intent in his eyes. Willow grabbed his arm and pushed him back a couple steps, then turned to usher Harmony back behind her desk.
"I suggest you just get back to your job and not try to stir up trouble." Willow said firmly. She came back around to stand in front of Spike, looking up at him and laying her hands on his arms. "Just ignore her. She's always been a pain in the ass and always will be. Not even worth getting worked up about."
Spike opened his mouth to thank her for taking care of him these last few months, but the door to Angel's office was jerked open. Angel looked around to see what had caused Harmony's latest shrieking and his eyes fells on Spike. His face darkened and he began to growl as well.
"Spike," he ground out.
"Spike," came a gasp and all eyes went to the stairs. Buffy stood there with her hand on her chest, "My god... and Willow? They said..." She took a shuddering breath and then fainted, tumbling down the last couple stairs before Spike overcame his stupor and rushed over to her.
tbc...