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Reunions / Part 15

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When Willow called Giles at 2:30AM her time in L.A. it had been 10:30 AM in London, there was an eight hour difference in time zones. She had explained everything she had learned and every new thing she was guessing at from things that Spike had mentioned while they had talked. She also explained that she had very little new information about Spikes daughter Joy, except that she appeared to be an empathic telepath who besides being able to read minds could also read emotions.

Giles had written everything down as Willow told him. When he was finished and had thought about it for a few minutes he told Willow that he would be telling Buffy everything either sometime today or the next morning at the latest. He explained that he had to make some calls and arrangements in advance of telling Buffy, but within the next twenty-four hours they should be on their way to Los Angeles.

Giles spent the next two hours making phone calls and special arrangements. He then sat down at his computer and started from the beginning and wrote up every fact and conjecture that had occurred to anyone since Robin and Faith had talked to Clem and they had decided to contact Giles. By that time it was 4:30PM.. At 5:00PM his secretary buzzed him to let him know that the Coven had just confirmed that three of their members would be in London by 9:00PM that night. He then made a call to arrange for the ladies from the Coven to be put up for the night at a hotel close to the airport and arranged for them to be picked up and transported there when they arrived, and taken to the airport again in the morning.

At 5:30PM he left his office and drove to his home where he showered, dressed in some comfortable cloths, had dinner alone, and after dinner spent a quiet hour listening to music and drinking brandy. At 8:00PM he went to bed. At 2:00AM he got up, shaved carefully and dressed. When he came out of his home there was a mini-bus parked out in front of it with six young women and a driver already in it.. The bus could carry twelve people and their luggage easily. From his home the driver took them straight to Buffy’s home where he arrived at 3:00AM.

Giles already knew that Buffy would not have been out on any kind of patrol the previous evening and with Dawn out of town, unless she had stayed up for a movie, she had probably gone to bed around 10:00PM. That would mean that she had already had some sleep. After knocking on the door loudly he waited on the doorstep for Buffy to answer. It took a couple of minutes before the door opened and Buffy appeared. Her first words to Giles were to ask if something was wrong with Dawn, had anything happened to her. When he assured her Dawn was fine, she then asked if it was Willow or Xander or Faith or Robin or Angel. When he assured her on each count that the person she was concerned about was fine she asked him what he was doing at her place at three in the morning if nothing was wrong.

“I didn’t say that nothing was wrong Buffy” Giles said to her calmly. “In fact there is something very important that is happening and were going to have to make a trip to the States. I already have our flight booked and we have to be at the airport by 5:00AM to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. You need to get dressed and pack enough clothing for at least a week.”

Buffy stood there with her mouth hanging open, then snapped it shut. “What’s wrong Giles? Is something big happening at the Hellmouth? Is it another apocalypse?”

“No, nothing is happening in Cleveland and there isn’t any apocalypse that I’m aware of, but it is important. Were catching the 6:00AM flight to Los Angeles, there’s someone there we have to go see.”

A stubborn look settled on Buffy’s face as she said “No, I’m not going.”

“Yes, you are” Giles said calmly. “I have six slayers outside who will tie you up and gag you, if necessary, to get you on that plane. So stop wasting time and get dressed and packed. If I have to have the girls come in and pack for you I will tell them to pack the ugliest of everything you have and to be certain that nothing matches anything else.”

“You wouldn’t dare” Buffy said loudly.

Giles walked to the door and after opening it he waved at the people inside the bus. Buffy heard the bus door open and seconds later six of the most senior slayers, all of them survivors of the Sunnydale Hellmouth and members of the ‘Inner Circle’, came through the door. “Now you know perfectly well that you won’t do anything to any of these girls that would permanently injure them” Giles continued on, speaking calmly. “But you also know that they don’t have to be as concerned about injuring you. So the choice is yours, do what I tell you to do or do what I’m willing to force you to do.”

Buffy stood there fuming for a full minute before she could speak. “Your going to pay for this Giles, and the rest of you too.” She then stormed out of her living room and went to her bedroom. Giles gave a signal and two of the slayers followed after Buffy.

By 4:00AM Buffy had showered, dressed and packed one large bag and one small one. The two slayers who had stayed with her the whole time came out of her bedroom carrying her bags. Buffy had refused to speak to either one of them the whole time. Once they were back in the living room Giles opened the front door and motioned for all of them to precede him and locked the door behind him as he left. Once Buffy got on the bus Giles sat down next to her. She refused to speak to him for the whole drive to the airport.

Once at the airport a porter loaded all of their luggage on a big push cart and followed the eight of them to the ticket agent where they received their boarding passes and the luggage was tagged and sent to be loaded on the plane. As they waited, Buffy was still refusing to talk to anyone, eight more slayers and three women from the Coven arrived at the ticket counter to collect their boarding passes and to check their luggage. At 5:45AM the announcement was made that they could now board their plane.

Just before getting on the plane Buffy stopped and turned to Giles “Wait, what about Dawn? I didn’t leave her a message.”

“Don’t worry about Dawn” Giles replied, “She already knows where your going. She’s been in Los Angeles for two days already, trying to prepare things in advance. Willow has been there four days, Faith and Robin should have arrived yesterday afternoon. Angel and Nina left last night on a special airplane. We’ll still get to Los Angeles before them, that’s why we didn’t fly with them. They should arrive after dark tonight in Los Angeles, just in time for our meeting.”

During all this conversation Giles had been moving Buffy down the aisle toward her seat. Buffy wanted the aisle seat but Giles insisted she take the window seat. Once she sat down Giles sat down next to her. Buffy became aware that all of the seats both in front of and behind her were filled by slayers and that the seats across the aisle were filled with the women from the Coven and more slayers. Buffy had been to mad to notice earlier but all of the slayers on the plane were members of the ‘Inner Circle’ and survivors of the Sunnydale Hellmouth. She hadn’t seen some of them for years, others she saw all the time. When she did a head count there were only three missing.

“Where’s Vi, Ruth and Kennedy” she asked Giles with a note of nervous tension in her voice.

“Vi is with Willow, Ruth is with Angel and Nina, and Kennedy should arrive from Rio de Janeiro with Xander sometime this afternoon” Giles responded in a calm measured voice.

As the full impact of who was on the plane registered, added to the names of who Giles had said were already in Los Angeles or would arrive sometime during the day, a sense of dread filled Buffy. There was only one person missing, “Where’s Andrew?”

“He’s in the back of the plane. You’ll understand why he’s back there in a little while. But first I have something to tell you and something for you to read that is very important” Giles continued in a calm quiet voice as he opened his briefcase and extracted a folder of type filled pages.

The way Giles was speaking to Buffy was freaking her out. He sounded like a doctor trying to prepare the patient before telling them that they were fatally ill and had only days to live. As that thought crossed Buffy’s mind a grim smile crossed her lips.

“Okay Giles, what do you have to tell me and what do I have to read that’s so important?” Buffy said quietly.

“We found out five days ago that Spike is alive and living in Los Angeles” Giles replied.

Buffy sat in her seat in total shock for a full minute or more as she tried to comprehend what Giles had just said. When the full impact finally got through to her she started to stand up. Giles blocked her and pushed her back down into her seat. “Where do you think your going now” he asked quietly but forcefully.

Buffy’s mind was very confused, she didn’t know how to answer the question. “To Spike, I have to get to Spike” it was all she could think of to say.

“Do you really think you can get to Spike any faster by getting off this plane” Giles asked?

Buffy sat there feeling even more confused. Her mind was whirling around, she couldn’t seem to think straight at all. *Spike* *alive* *Los Angeles* *got to get there* * how long* *where has he been* * does he have his soul* *I don’t care* *I don’t care* *Spike* *alive* *where is he* * why didn’t he call* *how long has he been back* * I don’t care* *Spike is alive* *Spike is alive*

For long minutes Buffy sat there looking off into nothing trying to process what Giles had said. She didn’t even notice when the plane took off and started climbing for altitude. She was still staring into space when the signal was given to the passengers that they could remove their seatbelts. When all of the words beyond ‘Spike is alive’ finally registered on her conscious mind Buffy turned to Giles and almost with a growl in her voice asked “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t you tell me immediately? Why did you hide it from me? Why did you do this to me?” With each question Buffy’s voice got louder and louder.

Giles looked at her and trying to stay calm, replied “Because we didn’t know if he still had his soul. Because we didn’t know if we could force it back into him. Because we didn’t know if we were going to have to kill him before you found out he was alive. Because we love you so much we would rather die ourselves than see you come to harm.”

Buffy was stunned by what Giles had just said to her. When she was finally able to process it she looked at him with eyes full of pleading and barely whispered “Does he? Does he still have his soul?”

“Yes Buffy, he still has his soul. He’s still a good man in his heart” Giles said to her quietly.

Buffy sat there not saying a word as tears flowed from her eyes. She finally leaned forward and buried her face in Giles chest and let herself cry until she couldn’t cry anymore. Giles held her as she cried and at some point he started crying with her. When a stewardess tried to see what was going on, two of the slayers stopped her from getting near Buffy and Giles and told her it was a family thing and she shouldn’t bother them.

When Buffy was finally able to sit up the tears had finally stopped but her eyes were red and puffy. One of the women from the Coven handed a wet washcloth across the aisle to Giles, who handed it to Buffy. The cloth was wrapped around pieces of ice. Buffy held the cold cloth to her face and eyes as she sat back in her seat and tried to breath normally. Giles spent this time getting himself back under control.

When he finally felt that Buffy was ready Giles handed the folder to her and told her to read it carefully and to think about each paragraph carefully. There were twenty pages of single spaced typing. It started with Faith and Robin meeting up with Clem and talking about the old days in Sunnydale and Clem mentioning a friend telling him about another old friend he thought he had seen in a fight between humans and vampires in Los Angeles. It went on to Faith and Robin calling Giles. Then on and on through every detail that Willow had been able to learn from Spike after she found him and found out he still had his soul. It told about every fact they had and every conjecture they had made. When it got to the part about Spike having a daughter and her name being Joyce, Buffy started crying again and couldn’t read for awhile.

When she had herself back under control she started reading again. When she got to the part about Andrew having known that Spike was alive and living in L.A., working with Angel, Buffy started muttering to herself. When she got to the part about Spike and Angel being in Rome and Andrew telling them both that Buffy was in love with the Immortal she started muttering louder that she was going to kill the little weasel. But when she got to the part where Spike had told Willow and Dawn that he has seen Buffy dancing and that she was so happy and full of life that he couldn’t bear the thought of coming back into her life and hurting her again, she started crying.

On the last page of the typed report Giles had added that he had contacted everyone else who had been at the Hellmouth with Spike and had given them the option of coming to Los Angeles to meet with Spike again. Everyone of them had said they wanted to go. He concluded by stating that he had held off telling Buffy until the last minute because he was unsure how she would react and was afraid she would just go rushing off on her own and leave the rest of them behind.

Buffy sat quietly for a long time not saying or doing anything. When she did move, it was to pick up the report and start reading through it again, a little faster this time. When she got to the last page and the last line she lifted her head and looked over at Giles who had been watching her read and then reread the report for the past two hours. She gave him a weak little smile, tears forming in her eyes again, and in a barely audible voice whispered “Thank You”, then turned her face to the window and let herself cry.

Somewhere in the middle of her crying and emotional exhaustion Buffy had slipped off into a troubled sleep. She started dreaming of her last minute with Spike, at the Hellmouth with the whole earth shaking and Spike standing in a shaft of light. She dreamt of taking his hand in hers and the both of them bursting into flame with out any pain or injury. She dreamt of telling him “I love you” and Spike looking at her with his soul shining through his eyes as he replied “No you don’t, but thanks for saying it”. When she got to that part of the dream it woke her up.

Buffy looked over at Giles, who had noticed her abrupt awakening and was watching her. She felt fresh tears forming as she said to Giles in a pain filled voice “When I told him I loved him, he didn’t believe me Giles. He thought I was just saying it because he was going to die. More than anything else in the world I wish he would have believed me. Now it might be to late.”

“It’s never to late to tell someone you love them Buffy” Giles said in a choked voice. “It’s never to late!”

“But he found someone else to love him. He has a daughter. He has a child.” Buffy said as her tears choked her voice into a rasp.

“Yes Buffy, he does have someone to love, a little girl that he named Joyce. A little girl that Dawn claims looks exactly like you. A little girl who might not be his own daughter but his adopted daughter, Buffy. Willow said that all the children that Spike takes care of are orphans and he calls all of them his children. Buffy, we don’t know everything yet. We barely have any information on the little girl at all. Please hold on. Please wait until you see him and learn more. Please don’t let yourself fade away.”

“I won’t Giles, I won’t fade away. At least not until I see him again. I have to tell him that I love him. I have to make him believe me this time. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t love me anymore.” Buffy choked as she said these last words. “That’s a lie Giles, it does matter. It matters more than anything else in the world to me and I don’t know how to get past that. When I thought he was dead, all I could think of was how much I missed him. But knowing he’s alive and that he might not love me anymore is breaking my heart. I don’t want to live without him Giles. I don’t think I can live without him, not anymore.”

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