Chapter Twelve – The Romance of Train Travel part II



Alex sat on the cheap orange vinyl seats sipping a coke and feeling silly for running out of the compartment. She wasn’t sure if she should just cut her losses and go back in. She knew it was stupid to bail, but she couldn’t stop herself. She had been thinking about what she would say to her mom whenever she saw her again and she had been rehearsing what she was going to say to her dad since she could talk. And that stupid babble that bubbled up from her gut was definitely not in the script.

Now in hindsight the prophesy she had followed her around since her birth was pretty easy to interpret.

Grandpa Giles had always figured it meant she was going to die which her mother had always assured her was not going to happen and if it was, they would burn that bridge when they came to it. Then, when she thought Alex was out of earshot she would look at Giles and say “3rd time’s the charm.” And she was right, or maybe she wasn't. Trying to figure out if this timeline had gone completely askew was giving her a headache. Because Alex had just been sitting across from her, fighting beside her and watching her bicker with Spike. William the bloody, Alex’s father and the slayer of slayers.

She had been told stories about Spike. As far back as she could remember. He was her mother's champion, and even her uncle Xander who hated him said that Spike had died to save them all. Her aunt Willow used to tell her about that time he offered to bite her because he knew she was so low, and that was when he was evil. And now he was there. She still didn’t know how she felt about him. He was everything she had been told and less and more. And she was pretty sure she was currently in some kind of shock because she really had no clue what she was feeling and she had always thought people like that were being dramatic.

She heard footsteps approaching and the sliding compartment door open and shut. She knew she’d have to face him sooner or later.

“You’re shorter than I always thought, you know?”

“Really?” replied a wry voice. “Because if it’s because I’m Asian, I’m not sure that’s cool.”

Alex started in surprise.

“I thought you were—”

“Yeah.” Said Raj. “I know. He’s looking for you too but he’s been a vampire for 120 years, I’m not sure he even remembers that there are dining cars. I expect he’s looking to find you sitting alone in another compartment stoically trying not to cry.”

“I don’t feel like crying.” Alex informed him archly.

“Maybe not.” Raj replied. “but you’ve rehearsed that speech everyday since you can remember and have been adjusting it to whatever scenario you can come up with. I’m willing to wager this incarnation was something that took the bulk of last night. Did it got as well as you wanted?”

Alex glowered at him silently. He waited.

“You were there.” She said miserably.

“Right, well, I’ve also been rehearsing my own speeches.” He signaled for beer and an overweight sales girl in goth makeup handed him a plastic cup filled with a slightly foamy Budweiser--the Czech kind. “My mum died when I was little and my father—” Raj stopped and took a deep drink of his beer. “My dad passed on a month ago. All I’ve thought about since I saw him was revenge, but even with all that I have this speech ready in multiple variations in case I ever see him again. Her too. Hers is nicer, I've had more time to work on it.” He took a long drink of the beer. “You and I have that in common. That and the insane hope.” He glanced at her to see if she was listening. She was. “Growing up knowing what we know, Death doesn’t stick like it does for other people. So we hope when other people don’t, sometimes and in some ways I suppose, that’s worse." he paused to drink again and Alex took a drink of her coke, mulling over his words. "We make speeches and we practice them because we hope that one day we’ll get the chance to deliver them. Maybe there’s something mystical we just haven’t discovered yet that will bring them back to hear it."

Alex nodded. That was exactly it. Something she had sort of held onto with that prophesy. Maybe she would go somewhere else and meet her mum and dad there.

"I know how that feels, but I never got the dream. You did, and yet something tells me that delivering that speech, doesn’t always feel like you think it’s going to. So I thought maybe it would be best if you could recover and collect your thoughts with someone who isn’t” he paused and then cringed. “Your long dead father who saved the world and happens to be a vampire.”

Alex choked on her coke. There was something about hearing it out loud in a train that made it just seem all the more ludicrous.

“Forgive me, there really was no gentler way to put it.” Raj said relieved that the teenager seemed to be laughing. Her mirth, however, petered out and Alex looked at him seriously.

“I’ve messed up but good.” She said. “I don’t think I should have even told them about all of it.”

It was Raj’s turn to laugh. “About you being their child? You had to tell us.” He said continuing and not really acknowledging Spike’s insight into it. “because we need to know how to proceed. We’re out. We’ve outrun them for now. It’s our move.”

“You’re taking this action hero re-cast pretty well.” Alex said. “for an IT guy.”

“That's what it looks like?” Raj said sounding pleased. “Excellent, because I’m petrified. I’m glad I’m inspiring some confidence. I’m far more accustomed to controlling some sort of avatar in those situations.”

Alex smirked. “You were born in the wrong generation, Prasad.”

“Tell me that in 2018 all the slaying happens in Hyrule?”

Alex arched an eyebrow and Raj looked chagrinned. “Nevermind”

They sat in companionable silence for a couple of minutes.

“I have no idea why I bolted.”

“The speech got away from you.” Raj said. “You try and self-edit and that just turns everything into rubbish. Best stick to lines.”

“Think I should go back?”

“Reckon you should give Buffy a little while to process, she might have suspected you were her daughter but it’s another thing all together to have it confirmed.”

Alex looked down at her coke and took another drink. Then she glanced over at Raj’s beer.

“Oh, don’t get cute.” Raj said. “Your father is on this train and he’ll have my head chip or no chip.”





******



Daughter. She had a daughter, she might have more than one. Buffy stared at the space Alex had sat in just a second before. There was an exchange happening around her, but all she could think about was that she had a daughter. She could have more. She had thought once the Chosen thing happened babies and all of that were out of the question. And now, she could have it. She could have a baby and Genesis tainted it. Buffy felt a familiar rage bubble up and she tamped down on it as much as she could. She had dealt with not having that for so long and she did not like having it forced upon her now.

When she was made aware of her surroundings again, It was just her and Wesley sitting in the compartment.

“How did we get here, Wes?” she said wistfully.

Wesley shook his head.

“This is not how I imagined my somber sojourn to England.” He said. “I thought I would mostly be cleaning up Raj sick.” He paused and cringed. “I’m unsure If I’d rather be doing that.”

Buffy smiled faintly. “The good fight looks good on you.” She said. “You know, I had sorta given up on the whole ‘family matters’ thing. Figured the slayer gig was not so much with the maternity leave.”

“Spike told you back at the hotel I take it.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“Spike was actually the one who pointed it out to me.” Wesley answered. He looked pensive. “He’s more astute than I ever gave him credit for.”

Buffy nodded.

“Yeah, he’s been all sense guy. You know? And Survival guy. And understanding guy.” She said. “I used to hate him. I hated him two months and a lifetime ago, Wes. All things aside I should hate him because of what he is, but I don’t anymore, not after that. The people over there. They’re human. Regular run of the mill maybe a little sociopathic humans. I'm supposed to protect humanity from the demons and the forces of evil. Demons didn’t do that to me. Giles once told me that all the bad guys could be pointed out with their funny hats and mustaches.” Her smile when she looked back up at Wes was watery. "Liar."

“You don’t hate Spike?”

Buffy shook her head. There was a faint smile on her face.

“I wouldn’t be here without Spike.”

“That doesn’t guarantee any benevolent feeling.”

Buffy looked down.

“I trust him more than I’ve trusted everyone in my life.” She said. “I’ve never—I’ve always been the one people trust to protect them. Now he’s protecting me.”

“Even with the microchip?”

“He nearly died in Germany.” She said. “He risked everything he had. And just to find a piece of what happened to us.”

“I must admit, he’s quite the puzzle.” He said. “He doesn’t have a soul and yet, he’s somewhat in control of his demon. He was clearly starving after the ordeal you suffered and yet he didn’t take advantage of a human full of slayer blood.”

Buffy arched an eyebrow.

“That’s me. Bag o’ blood Buffy.” She deadpanned. Thinking of her like a bag of blood marked uncomfortably closed to what she was at Genesis. “Just go ahead and string me up and see what happens.” She said bitterly.

Wes grimaced, he had not meant to remind her of her time at that place.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine, I don’t expect you to get it.” She said, she glanced outside towards the corridor, instinctively looking for him.

“I had already assumed you were sharing blood, Buffy. Even before I saw it. It’s obvious your relationship has changed.”

Buffy didn’t say anything to refute the statement. She just looked sad. “I had given up on this whole partnership and childbearing thing. That last time I even thought about it, I must have been in high school. Even with Riley I never thought—” she paused. “I don’t even know what it is they did to me. Alex said this never happened in her world.”

Wes sighed and tried to look as sympathetic as he could but this was a little more than he was capable of handling.

“Wesley, would-“ Buffy hesitated and looked away, unable to meet the eyes of a man who had been her watcher if only for a very short time. “Would you think less of me if I wanted to get rid of it?”

“You are considering an abortion?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s even human. I don’t want to fall in love with it and deliver—“ she felt herself choke a little. “I don’t know. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be able to slay it. I’ve already had to see so many people I love die. What if it is this Rosemary’s baby and I can’t do my duty because all I could think about was how much I love it because all of the damn mommy hormones. It’s just too much, Wes. I can’t take it.”

There was a slam that jolted both the slayer and watcher somewhere form the bowels of the train.

“Buffy, this is a situation you didn’t ask for and by no stretch of the imagination would I judge you for finding a way to cope but your anxieties are theoretical.” He tried to say as gently as he could, he realized that this was a very tenuous situation and he did his very best to channel Cordelia at her most tactful. “Maybe if it would be best to determine first whether it is a child or not and then we can decide er, if it will be necessary to er, slay it.”

Buffy looked at him like he had just grown three heads.

Oh dear, perhaps that was not the best laid plans. Wesley thought but to his everlasting relief Buffy chuckled.

“I think you’ve been spending a little too much time with Cordelia, Wes.”

The former watcher smiled ruefully. “Yes well, she has become an influence.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“This is not how I ever wanted this to happen.” She said softly. “I need to get them. I need to hurt them. They took even this away from me. I’m going to make them pay for it.”

“You’re going to have be patient.” Wesley reminded her. It was a warning not a rebuke. “It helps no one if you are marching on their well protected facilities half-cocked.”

Buffy smiled at him knowingly. “You? As in just us and Wesley not included?”

He sighed. “Of course I will be there, especially if you’re ready but—”

“You are going back to LA.” She finished for him.

Wesley nodded. “I have a little time yet. But I would be the most useful to you there. I have some resources, however modest they may be, I may be able to help with Spike’s chip.”

“You need to not tell anyone about all of this.”

“That really goes without saying, Buffy.” Wesley said. “but first things first, let’s get a handle on the rest of the crew. and, Buffy, you do have options.”

Buffy nodded sagely. “I just need to find out what happened. I have chance now to have this thing I though was impossible. Now it’s all here and I’m worried something will happen to ruin it. I think I want this, Wes.”

The watcher nodded.

“I know, Buffy.”

“I just hope it’s the it I’m thinking about.”



*****



“I think there’s a dinning cart over that way.” Raj had said pointing Spike down the shadier hallway running like a spine through the train.

“Thanks, gadget”

The train wasn’t very long and Spike didn’t come across the bit. At first he had thought he missed since he was distracted by the stunning revelations Alex had delivered.

Alex Pratt. His kid. His daughter with the slayer. Truth be told he was a little ashamed he had not put that second part together himself. Who else could have a vampire child? How else could something like that come into being without some sort of divine intervention and who would intervene for anyone like him if it wasn’t for her?

He wondered idly, if the sprog he could hear in her belly would eventually be this world’s Alex. Or perhaps this world’s second Alex since buried in her babble the girl had basically said her place was here.

Not just the sprog, two daughters.

He had had the inkling since Wesley had told him about Genesis days ago while they had tea at his flat hear Paddington. Hell, he had had that idea since they placed the very first electro-clamps in a strategic place. But he couldn’t bring himself to believe that, he couldn’t bring himself to hope. And he couldn’t hear the extra heartbeat. That was until last night in the stillness of the suite in Vienna. He heard it right before Buffy launched into a tirade, berating him for being passed out. There was a flutter; a small teeny little irregularity that corrected itself almost immediately. Spike strained to hear it and finally after a moment of concentration he could hear it, a little whir that kept as close as possible to Buffy’s heartbeat. It was hiding.

No wonder his demon had been placated with the small amount, his demon could sense family, taste it in the blood.

He hit the front of the train and turned his heel, he was pretty sure he did not see Alex anywhere.

Family.

Spike had given up on the human notion of family long ago. Good Victorian men were meant to marry fecund women and start creating the next generation of Englishmen and that was all he wanted—it was everything to him. He wanted a family he wanted to give his mother grandchildren. That was until that fateful night he met Drusilla. And she talked about so many different things and opened up the world to more than family. And Spike let go of that notion after he tried to hold onto his after he turned.

He walked back to the compartment still careful to check for the Bit and avoid any patches of sunlight.

He had just entered the car that held their compartment when he heard Wesley’s voice assure Buffy that it was her choice whether or not to proceed with her pregnancy.

Spike froze.

She wanted an abortion. There wasn’t anyone else in the vicinity and the car was dead silent save for the Watcher and Buffy’s conversation.



She was railing against the Project for taking the choice to have a family away from her. She didn’t want to think of them every time she looked at the child. Their child; if it even was a child. She couldn’t be certain they weren’t using her as a human incubator for something else.

Part of him, in that moment, wanted to burst into the compartment and take her into his arms and hold her and assure her that they will never get away with it. He wanted to tell her that he could make everything better and that he was going to make sure they wouldn’t be able to get to her.

But another part, a bigger part of him went completely numb. This scar tissue was familiar. It felt like every time Dru ran off with another demon for weeks at a time or when Angelus would call him unworthy and refuse to teach him. Only this was worse, everything else he could be distracted from. He could get lost in the violence of a brawl. He could provoke Angelus until he came right back and threw a punch, he could kills each demon Dru ran off with and made them suffer more then they ever had in their lives. But he had heard his child’s heartbeat and he had seen the young woman that sprog will grow up to be and in that moment he didn’t commiserate with Buffy’s confusions or realize that she had not heard the heartbeat. He was too caught up in the betrayal that nothing else mattered.

This was his one chance to have a family. Another voice reminded him that baby or not he had a family, and he remembered the moment Alex confirmed that she was his child, his heart had swelled then, just like it had when he noticed the little whirr of an infant heartbeat, his infant’s heartbeat, and now he would be able to make up for never being there for the bit.

Only he may not get the chance, he bit back hot tears and forced himself to stop.

He slammed the sliding door that divided the cars shut and stalked across the corridor too quickly for them to follow paying no mind to the minor singes from ignoring the patches of sunlight.

He was so caught up in the mire of his own thoughts that he almost plowed headlong into Raj and Alex.

Alex took one look at his thunderous expression and cocked her head to the side studying him intently. She was wordlessly asking him what had just happened and erasing any doubt he had whose daughter she was.

“You look murderous.” she informed him.

He stared hard at her and then realized that he had his demon in the forefront. Raj was staring at him like he had forgotten Spike was a vampire all together.

Alex seemed to get the picture and she nodded to Raj. The watcher took one look at Spike and slid passed them to join Wes and Buffy. Alex then pulled the vampire into one of the neighboring compartments knowing that the humans would not be able to hear them talking.

“What happened?” she said. She had no idea what Buffy said to make the vampire this angry, but she had no doubt in her mind it was Buffy who was to blame for Spike’s teeth grinding.

He didn’t answer but he shook off his demon. His eyes remained golden for just a smidge longer than usual.

“She said something.” She concluded.

The vampire said nothing but didn’t refute her statement. “I just thought that we had come to an understanding and she’s all making decisions without consulting me.”

Alex raised her eyebrows, so it was something about the baby. Crap. This was about decisions and choices about the baby; better and better. She sighed and waited to Spike to finally look at her.

“Spike, I just dropped a Hiroshima-level news on all your heads. You cannot expect her to put to rights so quickly. She needs to adjust to all the news she got today, and she processes by word vomit.” Alex paused trying to wrap her head around the two Buffy’s she had to keep straight. “or the other her did. Anyway, either way you can’t saunter in there looking like that. I know that look. I get that look too. And it leads to badness. So sit here and let’s just—“ she sighed. “Not have badness.”

Spike seemed to see the wisdom of her words and he collapsed into the seat across from her. He took a battered pack of cigarettes out of one of his pockets as well as his trusty zippo. He was about to light it when he realized she might object. She shrugged.

“It’s not like its going to kill me.”

“Your mum might. If she knew I was doing this.”

“She is not my mum.”

Spike arched his eyebrows at the quick reply. He puffed thoughtfully on his cigarette. She was the first one to look away.

“And I’m not your ‘da.” He finished for her. His tone was bitter.

“You know I’m pretty sure that you aren’t allowed to smoke on a train.” She said turning her attention to the scenery flashing by them.

Spike smirked, but said nothing. He was clearly waiting for her to go on.

“I was talking to Raj about speeches and how often I practiced the speech I was going to present to my parents when I saw them again and I just sort of realized that you aren’t them. And I wanted you to be them so badly.” She said finally. “When I realized who was rescuing me, who exactly I was dealing with. I didn’t know for sure until I saw Buffy because— you know, I don’t have any pictures of you. Well, I have one, but your hair is different and you’re lighting a cigarette so you can’t really see your face. So I wasn’t really sure; and then mu-Buffy was there. And I figured it out. And I was so happy and then I was so sad because you aren’t the person I’ve been talking to my whole life. You aren’t the person I told the first time I dusted a vampire, vanquished a falanjoid demon and graduated Middle school. I have to keep reminding myself that you didn’t hear that and I barely know you." she sighed. "I just feel like I do because I assumed that you were listening to me all those times I talked to you and told you about what was happening in my life. But you weren’t. You were here, you know.” She gestured wildly. “… living. So you don’t know all of those things about me and that’s okay. I just have to remember that and try and try and try to not hold that against you and I’m having a very hard time keeping you two separate.”

Spike had stopped puffing on his cigarette and turned to her. Alex found herself studying his face and comparing each of his features to her own. She had the same hair--a little darker than his, and the same eyes. She wondered if she looked like that when she was thinking or if he would notice the small scar on her eyebrow she had tried to make when she was four because her daddy had one and she wanted to be more like him.

He looked like he wanted to reach for her, she wasn’t sure if he should. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and when she looked back up he was puffing away, watching the European countryside, fastidiously keeping his attention away from her.

“Now your turn what’s got your fangs all fuzzy?”

He sighed heavily, finished off his cigarette, and flicked it out the window. “I just heard Buffy talking about y—her pr—the sprog is all.” He said. “She was wondering if they went further than hybrids. And the possibility of termination.” He raised his eyes to hers. “I know the sprog is not you but I don’t—" He stopped and sighed, unsure of how to put it, worried about offending her and confused as to how Buffy could think that, could speak to Wes about it and not him. "I don’t want to do anything too hasty.” he finished lamely.

Alex let that sink in. She hadn't actually thought that he would indulge her. But it sounded like Spike needed someone to talk to.

“And bumpies because?” She pressed, her tone was gentler than before.

Spike started another cigarette. “I gave up the idea of family—a human family long ago, sweet bit. I knew what I was givin’ up. But before that night—has no one ever told you how I was turned?”

“Just stuff about chips and souls and Passions.”

“Story for another time.” Spike said wistfully. “Anyways, I knew what I was giving up the night Dru turned me. Never really looked back but now, but before that family—it was all I wanted. Now it could be again. Bloody miracle that is and she doesn't realize it or she does and she doesn't bloody well care.”

“So you’re mad at Buffy because she doesn’t seem to get that.” She concluded. “Even though you don’t know what they did to her at that place.”

“I know what they did to her in that place.” Spike said darkly. THey did the same thing him. And they--and just like that Spike felt his insides drop and an ice-cold vice wrapped around his heart. He pivoted instantly, suddenly nothing else in the world was as important as the answer to his question.

“Nibblet, did they do that to you?”

There was something on his face,blind panic that made Alex answer instantly.

"No, nothing like that." She said, wisely deciding not to even joke around or deflect. "Nothing like what I'm guessing you went through. It was all endurance testing, which was no walk in the park but--

“Alexis.” His voice was low and dangerous.

“They took a lot of blood.” She continued. “and they did scans and stuff. And they asked me a lot of questions, some light and sound torture but they didn’t—you know—go there. I think they wanted to know what made me tick, how being the progeny of a vampire makes me different.”

The more she said the slower she said it. She had been watching this vampire who was her father carefully these last few hours and there was just something about him that made it easy to forget he was a vampire. He made cultural references, breathed, and he played the bad-boy role so well that the assumption that it was all an act was all but a given. It was so easy to forget that Spike was a whirlwind; a scourge of Europe and an Aurelian Master Vampire and the slayer of slayers. Just now, with his fists clenched and his eyes flashing yellow, all that human-ness fell away.

Alex felt herself shrink back into her seat. The vampire growled lowly and Alex suddenly felt herself being engulfed in a sudden and violent embrace.

Spike ignored the twinge of pain in his ribs reminding him that it wasn't so long ago that he was beaten to a pulp, slayer blood or no. But he ignored it. He honestly wasn’t sure who he was more enraged at himself or those people. He had known Alex for hours now and with all that had happened he didn’t really get to process that she had been there too. They had taken her and performed experiments on her. She was an unsuspecting Fifteen-year old girl and because of what she was they tested her like a lab rat. She was at their mercy for months. Even as he held her he felt his insides churn. He wouldn’t wish the Genesis Project on his worst enemy, on Angelus on a bad day or one of Buffy’s annoying friends. But this girl endured it. And he knew, logically, that there was no way he could have helped her until he did. He knew that he was just as incapacitated and he knew that she knew that. So, he was the most angry with the powers, because they knew his little girl was being tortured and they didn’t tell him.

“I’m so sorry, Sweetheart.” He said unable to keep the rage and guilt out of his voice. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

“You didn’t know.” Alex replied from her place smooshed against his shirt. “You couldn’t have. As far as you knew it wasn’t even possible.”

“Too right.” Spike replied still not letting her go, the pain in his ribs was getting more insistent but he knew this was more important. “but someone up there did and they should have sent me sooner. And I know now. And no one.” He pulled away finally and held her at an arm’s length. “Is going to get to you again. Do you understand me?”

He shook her a little and she nodded, a little bit stunned at what was going on.

Spike pulled her back in for another hug and she stiffened but that was ignored. “Bloody buggerin’ an’ here I was complainin’ about the sprog and worryin’ about all that and I didn’t—at your expense, Alexis, that won’t happen again either.”



She tried to mutter something reassuring but she realized she had a lump in her throat and she couldn’t say anything. She was pressed up against her long dead father, something she had irrationally wished for since as far back as she could remember. So she said nothing and just let herself enjoy it.

Finally he pulled away.

“Let’s see about the others, yeah?”

She nodded, still unable to speak. Wordlessly, Spike handed her a handkerchief from somewhere in his duster. She stared at it dumbly for a second before taking it to wipe her damp cheeks.





*****



“Hey did you realize no one’s asked us for our tickets?” Buffy said to no one in particular.

“Trains can sometimes be run on honor system.” Raj said, he was typing on his lap top. “But if a conductor comes around and you don’t have a ticket the fine can be up to five hundred euros.”

“Oh, so we’re living on the wild side.”

Of course at that moment a rail employee poked his head into their compartment and rattled off something in German. Raj glanced up from hiscomputer screen and then turned accusingly at Buffy. She collapsed back into her seat.

“That was me. I jinxed us. Why do I even talk?” She sighed.

“We all ask ourselves that question.” Raj informed her before going back to whatever he was doing on his computer.

“I don’t see you making yourself useful.”

“You want me to overwhelm him with my physical prowess?”

“You couldn’t hack into the system and make us tickets?”

“Yes, right after I make up some sort distraction let me just type up Kelly leBrock.”

“Weird science, really?”

"Excuse me," The rail employee cut in. "My English is not so good, but you are saying you have no ticket?"

“Could we please take this seriously?” Wesley demanded. He turned away from the suddenly contrite pair and began to haggle as best he could with the warden in German as the man seemed to have exhausted his English. The more Wes talked, the rail employee only got more insistent.

Suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder and Spike materialized behind him. The vampire growled at him in game face and sent the poor man running and stumbling away. Spike then sauntered into the cabin, still wearing his vampiric features. He cocked his head in a challenge at Wesley.

“About time you showed up.” The former watcher said wryly. “I was stalling him as best I could.”

Raj watched him go. “You don’t think he’ll call for re-enforcements?”

“You would be surprised at the sheer power of denial.” Wesley said tiredly, he removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose and then replaced them. “About now he’s convincing himself he’s not seen anything untoward. He’ll forget everything soon enough and then he’ll avoid checking this car and he won’t know why, just an inkling. The human capacity for self-conviction is truly astounding.”

The vampire shrugged and shifted back to his youthful features. “Bloody useful is what it is.”

There were a few half-hearted agreement noises and then the car lapsed into silence the last few days, the last few weeks really, had been an adrenaline fueled blur of panic, apprehension and revelation and now they were all sitting in the aftermath. The steady clicking of the train over the tracks would have been soothing but each of them had something to think about and all of their reserve energy had been spent. Before long the countryside gave way to the city.

“Is it just me or is it really fucking cold?” Alex spoke up as they waited for a taxi.

She was right. The pacing of the last few days had little time to really notice the weather, but the adrenaline was dying down now and everything was starting to catch up. Alex was still wearing the clothes she was taken in 2018, a little smelly and gross now, but nothing she’d part with. Ohio got cold in the winter but it had been balmy and she was without her winter coat. Everyone else was in their infiltration blacks, functional clothing, almost uniform. Spike quickly shrugged off his duster and draped it around Alex’s shoulders. Alex was about to protest, but their turn had come and a taxi pulled up.

After the onslaught that was the last few days the taxi ride to an anonymous corner of the city seemed anticlimactic. The entire company waited for the other shoe to drop. The cabbie drove off without comment and Spike lead them on a moderately long walk to a warehouse. The door was unlocked, dark had fallen and despite the light from the street the inside of the place was pitch dark.

“Bit, be a good minion and help me find the lights!”

Alex, whose night vision was almost as good as Spike’s, located the circuit breaker immediately.

“I’m not your minion.” She said sounding very much like a fifteen year old for once. Even with the lights the place was gloomy and abandoned, but Spike lead them across the empty floor and to a spiral staircase at the far end. At the top was a large loft apartment with ultra modern Scandinavian style furniture, all low tables and blocky couches. The place looked like a cross between the bronze and some really chic show-apartment.

“Heat too much to hope for?” Buffy piped up rubbing her arms in her functional canvas jacket.

Spike didn’t answer her but he crossed to a circuit box and messed with it for a while. Somewhere in the bowels of the building the grinding sound of a heater started up.

Wesley was exploring, there was certainly enough space for everyone. There were several alcoves with couches and low tables and large beanbag chairs. A small kitchen that looked like it had never been used. On the far side of the wall were large bright orange industrial panels that the former watcher guessed lead to bedrooms or, hopefully, a bathroom. “All this extra room was for the entourage I take it.”

Spike considered this uncomprehendingly for a while.

“You thought his was my place with Dru?” He asked incredulously..

Across the room, Buffy stiffened but no one but Alex seemed to notice.

"Sorry, Oxford, those digs were sacked years ago when that bloody mob ran through it. This spot actually belongs to a Balat demon. Her lair if you will. But we can camp out here for a few days and rest up.” He stretched and winced—his muscles still hurt but his breathing had gotten better the cracks in his ribs must have healed up, the binding doing its job properly and holding it in place so it could knit back together. It was hard to believe how much healing could happen in one day—slayer blood was a powerful thing. “Thora is usually in some luau happy island about now. ‘detoxin’ and all that rot. Girl’s made a fortune as a walking billboard for plastic surgeons.”

“That seemed to pique Wesley’s interest.

“Were they able to—”

Wordlessly Spike handed him a framed photo.

“Well,” Wesley said mildly setting it down. “They certainly did a remarkable job.”

Curiously, Buffy craned her neck to take a look at the photo. Raj looked over her shoulder.

“Balat demons feed on feelings.” He informed her. “They absorb them through their skin. So it would be perfectly normal for her to be nude all the time.”

“How do you know this girl, Spike?” the slayer demanded.

“What is it to you, slayer?” Spike countered quickly. “I thought I was survival guy. I got us the digs, I can’t always guarantee they ‘ll pass your delicate slayer sensibilities.”

She wasn’t expecting the vehemence in the reply and recoiled long enough for allow Spike to stalk away. She was about to stomp right after him and demand to know what his problem was, he was the one taking them to the house of a demon. But she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Alex. The girl shook her head, clearly suggesting Buffy leave Spike alone. Then the damphyr turned and addressed the rest of the company.

“I don’t know about you but I’ve been in these clothes for weeks.” She said a little bit louder tan necessary. “Raj, that black card of yours compromised?”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I believe so. But I have something else that should work, I was saving it for an emergency but survival guys seems to have us covered,”

“Why don’t we go see if the shops are still open? I need a coat.”

Buffy was still glancing over to where Spike was rummaging around in secret cabinets, but she perked when Alex mentioned shopping. It was clear the slayer could go for some retail therapy, but she hesitated, looking back over her shoulder.

“He’s still healing.” Alex told her. “and he took quite a beating, we should let him rest.”

Wesley nodded.

“That sounds like a very good idea actually.” He said. “The leaving Spike and the er, shopping. We need to look normal and right now our uniform appearance does work against us. You go, I’ll stay here and do some research on our next step.”

Before Buffy could make a crack about a Wesley being computer literate, he pulled a dusty tome from one of Raj’s black computer bags. Her eyes bugged out.

“How did you—we lugged that—sprinting across—and—”

Raj shook his head.

“Don’t ask.” He said leading Buffy away. “that’s what he wants you to do.”

The three of them hurried out the way they came. Wesley watched them pensively.

“Do you think they have any where they’re going?”

Spike snorted derisively.

“You aren't worried about them?”

“The minion’s got a good head on her shoulders, Wonderboy’s got a phone.” He said with a shrug, but his tone darkened when he mentioned Buffy. “and the slayer can take care of herself.”

This was a complete reversal of everything Spike had done in the last few weeks. He had been fiercely protective of Buffy since they had joined forces. Wesley didn’t ask what caused the change. He was familiar with vampire hearing and he was beginning to suspect Spike had heard a conversation Buffy would have rather kept from him.

“There’s no food around, but Thora like to use this place to throw parties so the whiskey’s good.” He held out a bottle for Wesley. “Or wasn’t your claim of research a load of crock for the kiddies?”

Wesley grinned and accepted the challenge.