Chapter Eight – the Getaway
They tore out of the warehouse holding center as fast as they could. It was just a few moments before Raj was on the motorway speed limits be damned. Wesley attempted to examine Spike, but after a few failed attempts he finally handed Buffy the First aid kit since she wouldn't let anyone near him.
Buffy registered exactly none of this. She didn’t even notice Wesley attempting to help her. All she thought was Spike is gone and there was no telling whether she was going to get him back.
She laid him out tenderly on the floor of the van and balled up his coat to serve as a makeshift pillow. Murmuring a mixture of obscenities, threats and naked bribes-anything to get some sort of reaction, she grabbed a knife from her boot and made a small incision on her wrist.
“Spike?” she said softly, pressing her wrist to his mouth. “Spike you asshole, fucking drink. Drink. It's good it's slayer blood. You love slayer blood. C'mon. Please, I can’t do this by myself. Spike. Fucking. Drink. Or. I. Will. Kill. You. Spike.You need to drink this now you hear me you stubborn stupid bleached crap-tard? you drink this or I will start cutting things off and your head will be the last to go! Spike, please?”
Wesley cast his eyes about the van; he caught the red headed girl’s eye for a second and both of them looked away. Neither of them wanted to be in the presence of the vampire and the slayer. They both inched away trying to give them as much space as possible in the cramped van. Buffy was murmuring to Spike, and then all out shouting at him. It was hard to ignore her, but it was clear she didn't know they were there. The rest of the world was immaterial and Wes contemplated braving the breakneck speed and making his way to the front with Raj but the van shuddered and he collapsed back to the floor. Red smirked at him.
It may have only taken seconds, but time stood still for Buffy, all she could do was look at Spike's swollen face and the crusted blood that had streamed from his ears. And all she could do was beg him to take her blood. She pressed the cut to his lips and waited, she tilted his head up to allow the blood to flow more easily like she had seen in movies. She couldn't breathe, she felt like everything in the world had compressed into one point, if she could make Spike drink out of sheer force of will, she would have. And then, impossibly she felt him begin to suck. Her body flooded with so much relief she nearly collapsed onto him. Instead she pressed her wrist harder against his lips in an attempt to make him drink more.
Wesley let loose the breath he realized he had unintentionally been holding. He didn’t know what he would do if Spike had dusted in there. He didn’t want to face the Buffy that blamed him for that. Buffy looked so hopeful it hurt--he couldn't remind her that he was not in the clear completely. Spike’s feeble sips were his only sign of life since they left the facility.
The former watcher wisely decided to say nothing about the blood sharing. He knew from his previous observations that Buffy and Spike had come to trust each other. He suspected the connection was deeper than either of them admitted to, but facing the proof of that was pretty staggering. The expression on Buffy’s face when she caught him staring, dared him to say something, but he knew he was already in enough trouble as it was so he kept his mouth shut. She turned her attention back to Spike, she did her best to treat the bullet wounds but some of them had not gone clean through the vampire there were at least two that they would have to clean out. Finally after a few clumsy attempts, Buffy handed the forceps to Wes. Her hands were shaking.
“I don’t have must experience with bullet wounds.” She said. "You live in LA. You do it."
Wes hesitated before he looked at the holes in the vampire chest. A few had gone clean through but two of them had lodged themselves deep in his flesh. It was exceptionally difficult to get to the slugs when the car was careening down the highway at 200 kms per hour but vampire blood didn't flow like human blood so there was little pooling and it wasn't like he had to worry about fucking up anything else in there. Finally after a few seconds he was able to get one, and once he got out the first one, the second one was easier.
Buffy fretted over it for a second, but while Wesley was doing it she suddenly remembered that Wes and Spike had brought someone back with them. The package was apparently a teenaged girl.
“Who’s she?”
Wes glanced up from what he was doing he had been so concentrated on getting the bullets out he had totally forgotten where he was.
The girl was hunched over in a corner watching he exchange. She had dark circles under her eyes and now that he had time to take a good look at her, Wes could see that a couple of inches of brown hair had grown out of the shock of bright red. Little Red couldn’t have been older than 15. Wesley felt sick, he wondered if they had done to her what they had done to Buffy and Spike.
When she noticed that the conversation had turned to her, she lifted her head but she didn't make eye contact. She had a thin, long face and bright blue eyes, and Wes reckoned that she was about the age Buffy was when she had been called. She definitely fought like she had some training. A potential, perhaps, though those girls were usually kpet under strict supervision. He had never known them to be allowed hair dye. Perhaps he had been wrong in his theory that Buffy had lost the ability to pass on her slayer powers.
Wes was suddenly struck with the ramifications. If Genesis was able to get their hands on a potential then their influence went much higher than he though. That level of infiltration was unprecedented. Then the girl cleared her throat and Wesley jerked out of his thoughts.
“I apologies, I was preoccupied with Spike’s condition.” He answered—He realized then that he had neglected to ask the poor girl for her name. He had been completely unprepared for the mystical item to be a girl—possibly a slayer. “I’m so truly sorry. I had no idea that the package that they talked about was a person. I’d have come sooner if I had known. What's your name?”
“I’m Alex" The girl said evenly. She looked far too calm about the turn of events. "I'm not really sure what's happening. Did my grandfather send you?" She searched the van for something non of them could name. "Are you working with the council?"
Wesley arched an eyebrow. "Council?"
"The International Concrete Safety Standard Council?" she supplied smoothly. "Could I have a phone please? to call my grandfather?”
“Sure,” Wesley said he handed her the flip phone he had gotten in LA. “I’m not sure how to make international calls on that thing, but if you have any trouble once we stop I’m sure our, er, associate could help you. Where exactly is your grandfather?”
The girl—Alex looked down at the phone in her hand and then looked back up at Wesley, her eyes were wide as saucers. “I’m sorry, who did you say you were?”
“We uh, help people.” Buffy interrupted. She was pressing a bandage to her arm which had stopped bleeding. She seemed to have just remembered where she was and what was going on around her. Flashing a smile at the teenager that didn’t reach her eyes. “My name is Buffy, please give me your hand.”
“Buffy?” The girl sputtered in disbelief. Her eyes turned from the dark-haired slayer to the former watcher.
Buffy sighed, a little bit annoyed. She took the younger girl’s hand in her slayer grip, Alex instantly tried to wrench it away. She was stronger than she looked but Buffy held her in place.
“Yes, Buffy. Look, we just saved you from untold harm and pain and your reaction is the immediate mockery of my name? Nice.”
“What are you doing?” she asked eyeing the slayer carefully.
Buffy pressed around the skin of the red head’s arm before looking up triumphantly and proceeded to bring her knife up to the inside of the elbow.
“Buffy?” Wes intervened. “What are you doing?”
Buffy sighed. “Track dot in her arm. Gimme a sec. I'm sure Raj is jamming the signals but I don't want to risk anything.” And then to the girl. “This may hurt a bit.”
The red head nodded and bit down on her lip. Buffy made a small incision and squeezed the pill sized tracker like Spike had done to her, Alex cried out but didn’t pull her arm away. She got it in just a few seconds but as she was less familiar with blood vessels the girl’s blood spurted everywhere.
“Not as neat as last time, but." She said picking up the tracker dot and proceeded to the front of the van to throw it out the window.
Wesley did his best to smile at the girl sympathetically as he applied antiseptic and dressed the wound.
“Are you alright, Alex?” he asked then grimaced at how lame that sounded. “I mean, er, Have you called your grandfather? Don’t worry about the charges on the phone.”
“Just a little disoriented.” She replied glancing down at the phone and then back up, switching from Wes to Buffy. She took over applying pressure to the wound. “Uh, How long have I been there? What day is it today?”
“January 29th, 2001”
The girl was already fair, but she turned sheet white.
“It’s 2001?” she paused and looked a little lost.
Wesley and Buffy traded sympathetic looks.
“I’m so very, very sorry.” Wesley said quietly. “You must have been in there for quite some time.”
The girl nodded absently as if it didn’t matter and then turned her attention back to Buffy. “So what happens now? What are you going to do with me?”
Wesley looked sheepish. “Honestly at this point the rest of the operation was rather—er—a wait and see moment. I didn’t know what they had, I only just knew that they needed it—you, which meant—er—ensuring we get to you—I didn’t know you were a you, however, I’m not sure it’s as simple as dropping you off at your door step. We need a little time to er-re-group.”
Buffy smirked despite her worry over Spike, “Well said, Wes, now you really seem like a proper man with a plan. I definitely feel reassured.”
Wes scowled at her, despite the dire situation he was inwardly grateful that she was smirking and making jokes instead of throwing him out of the speeding van.
“I really am sorry if I had had any sort of inclination I would have been more prepared.” He said, then realizing how that must have sounded to Alex backpedaled. “Please don’t consider this your fault or anything—we will figure this out, I assure you.”
From her corner Alex was following the exchange with amusement. She fiddled with the flip phone for a second but ultimately decided against trying a call. She handed the phone back to Wesley who looked a little bewildered that she was choosing not to contact her home.
Alex shrugged.
“You’re right, we need to regroup. I don’t want to call home and have them complicate things further.”
Buffy studied the younger girl a little suspiciously. She could not have been older than Dawn. She couldn’t even imagine Dawn in this sort of position but she knew her sister would not be nearly so matter-of-fact about her situation. There would be a lot of screaming and demanding that Buffy come take her home.
“You are oddly calm about this.”
Alex shrugged.
“You’re Buffy the vampire slayer.” She said simply. “I’m in the best possible hands. You say we need to regroup, we need to regroup.”
Buffy was about to open her mouth but closed it abruptly.
“You’ve heard of me?”
Alex nodded.
“Slayer.” She said. “Hellmouth. A few prophesies come to mind.”
Wesley studied the girl carefully.
“So you are aware of—”
“All the things that go bump in the night?” Alex supplied. “Well, I thought I knew what was what and then a blood thirsty group of sadistic humans just about threw me for a loop.”
"Er, so what was that about an International Concrete Council?"
"The ICSSC? It's a precaution in case someone slips up and mentions 'the council'." Alex replied. "We all memorize it. Y'know, like natural."
Wesley arched an eyebrow. That was a new policy. It was an exceptional idea, he wondered who thought of it.
"Alex?"
Buffy was about to ask Alex how she even knew about the council at all, but Raj took advantage of the short lull in conversation.
“Hey, guys, I’m glad the powwow back there is going well. But I’ve been trying to get someone attention for a few minutes now. I’m not sure where we want to be going? Shall we take a minor across borders--EU Transnational kidnapping laws be damned?” He said called back. “Do we just follow the original plan?”
An alarmed Buffy caught Wesley’s eye and instantly touched her hand to her nose. The former watcher gave her a strange look and moved as steadily as he could to the front of the van.
“I think perhaps we should.” He said. “The borders are porous and Alex would be the least of our worries if we do catch attention.”
"Right, well, then everyone be very bloody quiet."
"We're at a border now?" Wes demanded scrambling to his feet.
"As I said, I've been trying to get your attention for a while." Raj said. He was pale and shaking and looked utterly petrified.
Wesley hurriedly sat down and buckled himself in, trying to think of a reason to explain having two injured people at the back of a van. He was half-way through an explanation of being in a rock band when it was their turn to pay the toll. He needn't have bothered. The bored, grungy attendant barely looked up from her magazine the entire transaction. They passed through and sped away, all letting out a collective breath of relief.
For a few minutes the miles flicked by in silence.
“You shouldn’t worry about the vampire.”Alex spoke up.
Buffy glanced up to see the teen was smiling at her tentatively. The slayer studied the girl for a second. The red-head had just been through a whale of an ordeal and now she was comforting Buffy.
“You know a lot about vampires.” It was not a question.
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m not like an expert or anything.” She said with a shrug. “But I’ve been around the block. I know a master when I see one." She shrugged as if it didn't matter, "He’s not dust so whatever it is, he will come back from it. I heard about a vampire who was shot in the head once.”
Buffy nodded. “How do you know these things? You’re a little freakishly okay with the freakish.”
The girl didn’t flinch at the accusatory tone.
"I'm a slayer." she said proudly. "So I've had some practical experience.
“A slayer, huh?” Buffy shook her head and glanced over at the watcher in the room. “So that chosen ONE thing really is a crock of bullshit. Because I think now we’re at what? 3?”
“Maybe if you stopped dying, Summers.” Raj called back from the front of the van. His voice was high and reedy, but he obviously was feeling better.
Buffy's smile was wan. She was about to come back with something about what Wesley said before about thinking the slayer could have been someone other than her actually clicked in her brain. Raj glanced back at her nervously, worried he had pushed too hard with the joke, but Buffy wasn't upset about his making light of the situation, if Alex was a slayer then maybe they had a little piece of the Genesis puzzle.
“Oh, god!” she stammered. “They must have done that! They actually killed me to try and activate another slayer! It would convince everyone I was dead! And they have one more slayer to play more games of operation with. No one would question my Actually-dead-this-time status if someone else was called“ She hurriedly turned to Alex. “How long have you been the slayer?”
Alex took a moment to study Buffy as if she didn't understand the older girl was talking about. It seemed to dawn on her after a few tense seconds and shrunk back against the side of the van. For the first time since they found her, she looked like maybe she was just a kid who was far from home.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I mean I—kind of jumped the gun a bit, you know? I’m a-a potential.” She said sounding ashamed to have been caught in a lie. “Not really a slayer yet. Rung below."
Buffy shrugged and demurred to Wesley who nodded.
“Usually potentials are taken by the watcher’s council for training.” He said. “You, Buffy, were an unusual case.”
“Great. Go me! Finding the abnormal inside the abnormal like the worlds worst babooska doll.” Buffy said shaking her head.
She looked so distraught in that moment, stealing glances at Spike and ignoring the red-headed potential that Wesley decided to distract her. He decided to bring up something he had been thinking about since he had first realized that the girl he and Raj had rescued from Genesis was Buffy.
“I think you may have been on the right path by thinking they may have attempted to temporarily relieve you of your-er-life. But I am not convinced killing you would achieve the end they desire.” He said thoughtfully. “I think that your ability to pass on slayer powers was exhausted during the Master’s prophecy incident. DO you think perhaps I'm wrong?”
“Incident?” Alex asked incredulously.
Buffy nodded absently,"Unbeatable vampire, unspeakable danger, died for two minutes, CPR." she summarized carelessly and then her focus was beck on Wes. “You think that’s what they thought would happen?”
Wesley nodded.
“It would have served two purposes.The Council has all sorts of ways to ensure the slayer had passed on, oracles and prophesies and soothsayers.” Raj piped up from the driver's seat. “I actually had to write a script for all the data bases that keep track of all the prophesies and predictions. Thy would have notified Rupert Giles once they went off at your timely death.”
Buffy caught Raj’s face in the mirror.
“Yeah because that’s just what a watcher who’s mentored a warrior and guided her through thick or thin would want to see. A generic e-mail from the council!”
Raj looked crestfallen. He had been proud of that program. Wes put a comforting hand on his shoulder and then shouldered his way to the back of the van to deal with the surly slayer.
“Now, Buffy, that was a little uncalled for.” He said. “Raj was doing his best to alleviate the uncertainty for the watchers. Just because you don’t like the way they go about announcing your demise--”
“Excuse me? Are we really just cavalierly talking about her dying?” Alex cut in pointing at the other slayer. Her exclamation was met with a guilty look from a now-brunette slayer. “Wait, have you died once or twice?”
“Well, twice, we think. Twice definitely twice.” Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. “Dammit, I hate not knowing what those idiots did.”
Alex’s brow furrowed and she looked from Buffy to Wes. There was silence in the van for a few minutes while Buffy fumed in impotent rage at the scientists and Wes tried to steer away from her ire while find a way to talk to Alex. He was studying her quite unabashedly, but all of the red head’s attention was currently occupied with the slayer and her realization.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and suppose that whoever decided to play slice and dice with me did the same to you?” she said finally. At Buffy’s nod she jerked her head at Wesley and Raj in the front seat. “So who’re they?”
“My name is Wesley.” Wes answered her, he was puzzled at her inclusion of him in a group separate from Buffy and Spike. “They?”
Alex jerked her head towards the driver’s seat.
“That would be my associate Raj.” He said. “We have our own motives for taking on the Genesis Project. Those are the people who were keeping you. They also detained Buffy and Spike but clearly they managed to escape.”
Alex glanced at the supine vampire. “That is Spike?” she asked. She studied the vampire laying supine on the side of the van, still dead to the world.
“Yeah.” Buffy said in a small voice.
Alex was still looking at him but turned her attention back to Wes and Buffy. “Remind me to thank him when he gets up.”
“If he get’s up.” Buffy said in a small voice. “Stupid fucking chip. I’m really starting to hate that thing. I don’t like Spike being unable to fight.”
“Not unable.” Wes said keeping his tone level and trying not to balk at Buffy bemoaning a vampire’s inability to fight. He had been forced to acknowledge shades of gray in his world; it looked like Buffy had gone through the same thing. “He took down half a dozen guards to save Alex. I really wish you had told me the extent to which it worked sooner.”
“And I really wish your plan hadn’t gone to hell.” Buffy replied sweetly. “And then he could have had backup.”
Wes deflated. “I am really sorry Buffy I had no idea that it would go that way.”
The slayer sighed, it was no use to keep rehashing it. Today had been hard for all of them but they had somehow managed to survive.
“I know, Wes.” She said finally. “I’m sorry to keep reminding you I was just- scared. No more than that actually. The thought of being back there—” she stopped and shook her head. “A-a-and now Spike is not at a hundred percent and He’s the only one who’s as much use in a fight. I mean, no offense, you’ve gotten better and all—”
“No, it’s fine.” Wes said cutting her off. “I understand, Buffy.” He hesitated for a long moment but physically came to a decision and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, was relieved when she didn’t flinch. “We are going to do everything that we can. You are no longer on your own.” He paused, Buffy’s attention had turned back to Spike and he wasn’t going to be able to accomplish anymore tonight. “Perhaps you should try and get some rest? Raj booked us at a fancy suite in Vienna.”
“Made sure to go a round about way of it as well." Raj added. "That should hold them at least for a day. I booked the best suite at the best hotel for a few days. Let them think I'm some sort of South Asian Billionaire. We’ll get rid of the van and blend in with any wealthy party go-ers arriving home after a night of debauchery.”
“How we are ever to pass for that I have no idea,” Wes said with a shrug.
Raj’s grin was evident in his tone of voice. “You come packing black card heat and no one will ask any questions.” He paused as if he was waiting for them to be excited about his idea, “Black card? Credit? No limits? My genius is never going to be appreciated.”
That served to break a little bi of the tension and both girls chuckled a little bit. Wes cracked a smile and shook his head. Raj, satisfied that he was able to help, turned his attention back to the road muttering about masters of espionage, and a hush settled over the van.
Alex was gone inside five minutes. She had mumbled something about the adrenaline rush and the sedative doing weird things with her system before passing out.
Buffy knew, however, from the pounding going on in her chest and the general unmove-y-ness of the vampire next to her, she wasn’t going to get any rest tonight so she made herself comfortable and waited.
They arrived in Vienna in the wee hours of the morning. After ditching the car and hiding any torn or bloody clothing under expensive tuxedo coats and smeared make up, they stumbled into a high end hotel, Wesley and Alex propping up Spike like he was passed out. The four of them were acting as drunk as they could. Wesley drank from his whiskey bottle and sang "American Pie" off hey while Raj put the suite on his credit card. Raj was quite the actor, he proclaimed loudly that his dad would kill him when he found out about the suite and swore the beaming concierge to secrecy. It seemed that they were at least a little effective as the indulgent hotel staff, upon the rental of the obscenely expensive room, sent up complimentary champagne.
*****
The place was plush, full of couches and featured a master bedroom with a huge bed and a bunch of overstuffed chairs and couches. There was an adjoining room with a full dining room table to seat at least 12 people. Buffy and Alex laid Spike on one side of the bed, the teenager quickly bowed out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. Buffy had been about to offer the red-head the other side of the bed but when she turned around Alex was gone. For a second she stood alone with Spike. The silence got to her after just a few second and she sought refuge outside.
the dining room table was covered with Raj's various gadgets, he and Wes were fiddling with the network. Buffy knew they were exhausted but they were still going on, she had thought she would be the only one getting no rest tonight.
“You’ll let us know right?” Raj asked anxiously, he gestured to the room behind her. “About Spike?”
Buffy glanced back at the motionless vampire and nodded.
“I will.”
Raj smiled crookedly. He looked like he wanted to say something else but decided against it. Wesley called him back and he went back to his computer.
“I’ll see what I can scrounge up okay?” he said.
"Raj, you need to sleep too." Buffy said."we need you to play Bueller of the 90's whiz-kid. No one else can make heads or tails of any of these things."
the younger watcher looked so happy in that moment that Buff wondered what she had said right. Raj hesitated for a split second and then threw his arms around Buffy.
"Thank you for saying that, Buffy." he said to a thoroughly surprised slayer."I understood almost none of that but I'll take it."
He eventually released her and Wes walked over, he clapped Raj on the back and handed him some sort of steaming beverage. He turned his attention to Buffy and was immediately concerned. "You should get to bed, Buffy, we have it from here."
She nodded and much as she didn't want to be left alone, she realized she had to go into the bedroom and face Spike. SPike who was dead. She quickly shut the door behind her, unsure if she could keep the tears at bay for much longer. Wesley was right, they weren’t alone anymore. She didn’t have to worry about Spike all by herself anymore.
She did her best to occupy her hand and her thoughts taking care of Spike’s injuries.
“Spike,” she whispered so low she could barely hear herself. “Please, Spike do anything.” She waited for a moment. “please don’t just lie there you bleached pain in the ass!”
His stillness made everything worse, it had taunted her throughout the ride to Vienna, it was a painful reminder of just how alive Spike was all the time. He just moved all the time, he was downright restless, always pacing and bouncing on his heels. Even in his sleep he thrashed and mumbled things and it was annoying as hell, but it reminded her that he was there and after a while it became normal.
She idly wished he looked troubled or more Spike-like. He looked boyish in his sleep, innocent almost. It should be striking, it should have made her feel all feminine and nurturing, but all it did was make her worry that he was not going to be the Spike she knew when he got up.
What if the chip had done some sort of irreparable damage?
The car ride had done a little to distract her, but here in the room with everyone else asleep Buffy was alone with her thoughts. It was something she had avoided for almost a month now, barring her pre-mission soak. Usually she was careful to be either doing something or sleeping, but everything from the past few months came crashing down on her and she couldn’t help it. She laid her head on the chest of the only person in the world who would have understood her hatred and her violation and her despair, the person she might still loose today as yet another blow from Genesis to team Buffy. It should make her more angry or strengthen her resolve but it was already too much for her to handle and she wept.
Buffy was never one to cry in public. She avoided it as much as she could in front of her friends, especially when so much was on the line. She had to be the one to hold it together, but the room was so quiet it was deafening and she was alone so she could cry as much as she wanted. She hadn’t realized that Spike had been helping her hold it together all this time. He was a fellow warrior, a fellow fighter and if he was around she didn’t have to fight by herself. Seeing him beaten and bloody and still as the corpse he technically was, was just too much for her. There had always been something about Spike that was alive. He understood the Scoobie pop culture references, he listened to contemporary songs and breathed even though he didn’t have to. There was just something so there about his habits that it was easy sometimes to forget he was a zillion years old.
She cried until she didn’t have the tears anymore then she just sobbed angry dry sobs. After that, Buffy picked herself up and walked into the plush bathroom. It was all gold and marble and beautiful, and Buffy wanted to ruin it she wanted to crack the stone and break the damn mirror make all of it as cracked as she felt, but the stone held up more impressive than she thought and she was so exhausted it was funny. She started to laugh, it wasn't a happy sound. It was an ugly, hysterical guffaw and before she knew it, she was grabbing the perfectly folded towels and thrashing them around dropping them to the floor with the perfect fluffy white rug, she picked up all the tiny sops and flung them across the room and stomped all the shampoo out of the little bottles from Van Cleef and Arpels. She wasn’t sure why but it felt so good to trash the place. After a few moments though, the compulsion subsided and she sunk to the ground. She avoided looking at herself in the mirror. She was sure she was all blotchy and make up runny.
“So not of the good.” She muttered.
She wasn’t sure what prompted it but a second later she found herself on her knees hugging the toilet bowl and emptying the contents of her stomach into it. After a few dry heaves, she got up, wiped her mouth and chanced a look in the mirror. Not bad. She had bought some drugstore mascara earlier that week in an effort to feel more like herself, and for once waterproof was not a lie.
Spike.
The thought rang out in her brain, the way a shrill cellphone ripped apart the silence of a tense moment, too lound and echo-y and as present in its absence in the moment after. Buffy thought perhaps, that this is what it must be like to have lost a limb. You distract yourself as much you can but every so often it comes back and hits you like a ton of bricks. Distract-y bricks. She wondered why she was even in here, why she had left him in the other room.
It took her a second to force her thoughts to take shape. She had come into the bathroom to wipe the blood off his face. That fucking chip had fired so hard he was crying blood. She knew she should go into the other room and clean him up. If she was lying there she would want someone to do that for her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to get up. Spike was all she had in this world. Her new world. And all of it was made possible by that stupid bleached weirdo and now he was lying there like the dead and there was nothing she could do about it.
It was just one more thing that she couldn’t fix or change or control.
The thought of it had her running back to the toilet again. She tried to make herself go out to the room and do what she had intended but it was like she was frozen. She couldn’t move or cry or throw up. She sunk down to the fluffy bathroom rug and towel pile just overwhelmed with everything that had happened to her in the last few weeks. She could feel everything she had been trying so hard to ignore. Her own devastation that she had been reduced to this mute creature unable to move, or rage, or even cry. She was so scared all of the time and now they had given her something else to be scared for. She had thought that they had taken everything from her, her dignity, her confidence in her abilities and now her partner. Because that was what Spike was. He had been her partner in everything. She could rely on him in ways she could never rely on Wesley or Raj. Even though they had the same goal they weren’t on the same page. No one could ever understand what happened to her; not like Spike could.
For a while she sat in the fancy bathroom, not crying or heaving or anything. She just sat there and stared off into the distance. She didn’t even want to hope because hoping made her think about it. Her hand throbbed where she had cut it, but Buffy just ignored the pain. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she didn’t want to get up. So she sat in the bathroom, head against the wall and succumbed to her own exhaustion.
*****
When Wesley came to, he was sprawled on a couch, every inch of his body felt stiff, and bruised and a little bloody. He groaned when he tried to get up, his foot still hurting from kicking in a door.
“Ah, it wakes.” Raj greeted him.
Wesley had half a mind to find something, anything to throw at his friend. Instead he unfolded his lanky frame from the couch and tried to get rid of the minor crick in his neck.
“Has Spike gotten up yet?”
Raj shook his head.
“Alex woke up though.” He said. “She’s in the loo right now washing the blood off of herself. I guess she was pretty knackered last night. I was wondering what we should do from here, I have all of our equipment, and I got up early and drove the van into an underground parking lot on the other side of the city. We should still be out of here as soon as Spike gets up.”
Wesley smiled ruefully at his old friend. Taking in the rest of the suite, it was later than he had thought at first, but it seems the place had designed the rooms with late risers in mind. It was nearly noon. Upon cracking open the drapes, the sun was high over the Vienna rooftops. Wesley’s stomach reminded him that he had not had food since the previous afternoon. He scanned the living space of the suite and saw a small ornate tray with 5 empty porcelain cups. No doubt some sort of specialty Viennese coffee compliments of the hotel.
“How many espressos have you had?”
“They sent up a few complimentary ones.” Raj replied. “And I may have plowed through them. They were tiny little things and I thought maybe the slayer would prefer something a little more her style. Like Starbucks maybe. There’s a starbucks near here and I know that Americans like that sort of thing and it’s probably been a while since she had something that was familiar because she’s been on the run all this time. And now she has help though but I suppose we didn’t really do all that much to help her. Bollocks. I’m so sorry this has all gone completely balls up. And I’ve gotten you involved. And I shouldn’t have and I just thought that these people should not be allowed to keep going like this especially since they—”
He paused his tried at Wesley’s amused look and signed.
“They’re little tiny things.” He said. “And I’m an addict. Just give me a proper sized cup of something that I can sip, seriously, or else all of it just goes. Look, I suppose I’m just saying that I had no idea it would go down like that.”
He looked so distraught that Wesley actually reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You think this is your fault?”
“I got everyone involved!” Raj said unhappily. “I really didn’t think it would go this way. I thought that I could just expose the mole, find some incriminating evidence and turn this all over to the Council and now we’re in Vienna? In a hotel I got with a fake identity my father fixed for me. I feel like I I’m plugging a hole in a dike and then someone else came over and smacked me on the bloody face with a cricket bat.”
“I was involved when they killed Ravi.” Wesley said simply. Earning him a grateful smile from his friend. “I’m not going to lie to you though, Raj, when I offered to help I thought that this would be a sort of excuse to get utterly sloshed.”
"I'm an over-achiever?"
That made Wes crack a smile.
"I suppose it was too much to hope for."
Raj barked a short, self-deprecating chuckle. “Yeah, That was never how I operated. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do about this when this all started. Wes, I’m not even a full watcher. I’m an analyst. I haven’t the foggiest idea what I’m doing. What I’m getting us all into.”
“You’re fighting the good fight, Devraj. And your father would be very proud to know that.” Wes said. “What did you find out from the documents we stole last night?”
“Not very much, all medical gibberish I’m going to have to get Simon to sort though.” Raj said turning his attention back to his computer. “But I don’t think the potential is just any old potential.”
“Potential? Is this where you tell me that I’m a beautiful woman with the world ahead of me and all the tools to make my dreams come true?”
Neither of the men had heard the door open, but just like that Alex was standing in front of them arms akimbo and eyes narrowed.
Wes glanced from her to Raj. Raj instantly looked down at the floor and the former watcher rolled his eyes.
“We already know you’re some sort of supernatural being.” He said. “But we don’t discriminate, so don’t worry about that.”
The girl’s look softened.
“I’m sorry.” She said. “I should be hostile. This is all a little bit surreal for me. I’m not completely sure I’m not just dreaming all of this.”
Raj obligingly snapped a rubber band on her direction which she side stepped and got right back into fighting stance in under a second.
Wesley turned his best disapproving look over to his friend who smiled sheepishly.
“No teasing the volatile newly released prisoner.” He said lamely. “Right.”
Wesley sent Alex an apologetic look that the red head seemed to accept because she relaxed.
“I’m so very sorry.” Wes said simply. “I understand you really have no cause to trust us. I think for now you’re going to have to be patient as we sort this out. We have a few other more pressing concerns.”
“You have concerns above that place we were in right now?” Alex demanded incredulously. “I’m not sure you have any idea what’s at stake then.”
She bit her lip as soon as she said it, as if she thought she had given away too much.
Wesley considered her carefully.
“Where exactly did they take you from?”
“My home.” Alex said shifting uncomfortably under the former watcher’s gaze.
“Where you are living with your…” Wes paused and waited for the girl to supply the words.
“My grandfather, Back in the states.” She said. “listen, they aren’t just messing with Vampires and slayers they reached out and pulled me from—” She paused as if she was unsure how much to reveal. Both Wes and Raj were hanging on her every word, But Alex stalled as long as she could, hoping they would just forget she said anything.
As if on cue, they all heard the tell tale sound of the vampire groaning from the other room.The tension broke and suddenly the conversation was forgotten. They scrambled to the door, Alex leading the way. The girl was clearly worried about the vampire who saved her life. It could have been that she was happy to be granted a reprieve, but she looked so relieved that Spike was alive, it was clear in ever fiber of her being. She sped past the two men and ran into the room just as Spike groaned again.
“Bloody hell just cut the sodding thing off and put me out of my misery.”
The three in the living room crowded around the doorway, waiting for Buffy to come to Spike’s aid but she was nowhere to be found.
Spike noticed that too as he searched the room, he looked more and more worried.
“Where’s the slayer?” he demanded, looking suddenly horrified. “ Where is she? You didn’t leave her there did you? Watcher, so help me I’ll—”
Alex and Raj both shoved Wesley forward who approached the vamp like he was a bomb just waiting to explode.
“Spike, I assure you Buffy was with us last night, she’s probably gone for a walk or—”
“Or the Bathroom.” Alex interrupted quickly. She gestured to the door of the bathroom. “I’ll check.”
Spike’s laser bright eyes snapped to the teenager and then cut right back to Wesley.
“The girl. I thought i remembered a girl.” He said. “Were you expecting a girl?”
Wesley shook his head and exhaled heavily.
“Go get Buffy, Alex.”
Alex nodded and ducked into the bathroom. Buffy was still passed out on the floor next to the toilet, her dark brown hair was everywhere. Alex froze, unsure of how to proceed.
“Guys! She’s in here!”
She reached out and prodded Buffy as gently as she could.
“Buffy? Buffy?” she repeated. “Buffy, it’s me, Alex?”
The slayer groaned much like Spike had in the other room. Her arm lashed out and grabbed Alex by the wrist. She had the younger girl in a bind in less time than it took for the redhead to yelp.
“Buffy, great. You’re up.” Alex said play-sunnily between all the choking. “Wanna maybe let me go and I can tell you that Spike’s up?”
“Spike?”
The slayer let her go and yanked the door open to see a very relieved vampire and a rather awkward Wesley.
“Morning, Buffy.” He said backing away from the vampire just in time to side step the slayer who seemed to be unaware he was in the room. “er, are you okay?” She didn’t even acknowledge his presence instead checking Spike’s injuries. The vampire yelped in protest when she poked some of the more tender bruises. “Buffy?” still nothing. Finally, Wes opened the door and gestured for the two others to precede him. “Why don’t Alex, Raj and I see about breakfast?”
He didn’t get a reply.
There was no one else in the room but the two of them as far as Buffy was concerned. But she wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to throw her arms around him just as much as she wanted to slap silly for letting himself be taken down. Neither seemed like a good idea in his predicament.
Alex scowled at her dismissal but it was pretty clear Buffy and Spike needed a moment and neither superbeing would be at ease unless they were alone so she left with Wes and Raj.
“Don’t think for a moment I have forgotten our conversation before this.” Wesley warned her. “You seem to know an awful lot about what’s going on.”
Alex arched an eyebrow and Wesley set his jaw.
“You know at least more than we do.”
"Considering how surprised everyone is at my presence, I'm going to go ahead and say, that's not the hardest thing in the world."
Wes scowled at her. "Come along now."
She allowed Wesley to usher her out the door. He made a signal to wait until the door was closed before he gestured for her to explain.
“It’s not really that complicated.” She said. “They’re called Genesis, Wes, They had Buffy and Spike, a descendant of the Master in the line of Aurelius and a slayer—one girl in the all the world-- what do you think they wanted with them?”
Wesley sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You’re a watcher.” She said. It wasn’t a question. She looked passed Wesley to indicate Raj. “He probably is one too. You definitely get it.”
“Get what?” Raj piped up.
Alex ignored him; her focus was on the more senior of the two.
“Wesley, tell me you haven’t figured out what they wanted.” She challenged, folding her arms in front of her.
“What did they want?” Raj demanded while Wesley studied Alex more carefully.
“We weren’t sure.” Wes replied addressing Alex.
“Really?” she said. “You didn’t figure out what I am as soon as Raj told you something was up?”
“It’s impossible.”
“There’s a saying.” Alex said with a smirk. “Something about impossible and improbable. Now think about the girl in question.”
“You know Buffy?”
Alex hesitated and then nodded. “Sort of.” She said. “And I know Genesis and I know they are never going to let up searching for them. It was a huge gamble using Buffy as bait.”
Raj finally managed to cut in. “What’s going on? Wesley, what do they want with Buffy?”
“They want her baby.”
Raj's mouth dropped. "Hybrids. That's what they meant by chimeras. They are making hybrids. Which means you are--"
Alex nodded. "Half-vampire."
Wesley looked worried. "They need to see if it worked. They mean to make more"
"Way more." she replied. "I think they're going to pull a Star Wars and create a clone army and then sell them to the highest bidders."
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hi all! so sorry this is so terribly late! but thing have been crazy, I live in Boston so this last two weeks have been filled with catching up. I'll be better I promise and you get an extra long chapter this time! enjoy!