When You Need a Job Done Right, Send a Slayer.


Chapter One

“What do we know about that mess in LA?” Buffy had her hands on her hips as she stared at Giles. She tried to keep her face blank and curious, but she was pretty sure the suspicion and anger were bleeding through her carefully controlled expression.

Giles sighed and reached for his glasses and his handkerchief. Buffy wasn’t interested in his stalling tactics, snapping out, “They’re fine. Nice and clean. I can see your shifty eyes just fine through them.”

“Buffy.... I—”

“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t going to be ‘I’m sorry, Buffy. I had no idea Spike was alive and with Angel.’ you can just spare me the gory details. I don’t want to hear your excuses; just tell me what’s going on now.”

“We don’t really know,” he said so carefully she could tell that he was wondering if he’d failed one too many times to trust her judgment about the vampire she’d thought burnt to a hero’s death. “It seems that Angel was trying to take down the Black Thorn from the inside.”

Giles fixed his sternest look on her, and Buffy responded with an expression she hoped relayed her complete disinterest in his opinion. “And?”

“And, in the process of earning their trust, he committed some less than... honorable acts. I had no reason to trust him, or any information that came from anyone there. Most especially with his now being the CEO of an evil law firm... But then, you already knew that, didn’t you? Weren’t you the one who told me to be cautious, that he may have lost his soul again? You didn’t trust him either.”

“I’m talking about the vampire I do trust. And you damn well know it.”

“He chose to remain with Angel,” Giles said stiffly. “I had no reason to trust him either. Since he hadn’t contacted you, I had to assume he was no longer interested in fighting at your side.”

Buffy’s flinch was impossible to hide, but she pushed on. “Wouldn’t that have been information I needed to have? If Spike had lost his soul... which, by the way, he didn’t have when he first started helping me... you didn’t think that would be Important for me to know? What if he’d shown up here and I—”

“If I’d had any information that indicated he was on his way to see you, I would certainly have shared my concerns. But I didn’t. He seemed quite content to remain in LA with Angel, enjoying the perks of working at an evil, but very successful law firm.”

She took a deep breath before responding.

“But they don’t work there anymore, do they?”

He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.

“No. It would appear that they do not. It would also appear that there was a final battle in which the, understandably angry, Senior Partners, threw everything they had in the way of a demon army at Angel, Spike, and whomever was left of their group.” He sighed deeply. “It would seem that Wesley did not make that final battle, although he was responsible for—”

“Wesley is dead?”

“Yes. As I’m sure Faith has told you, at some point in his... search... for himself, he became a demon hunter on his own, and then was recruited by Angel and added to his small group of assistants. He died bravely, attempting to remove a powerful sorcerer, and was avenged by the creature calling herself Illyria.” He frowned. “I’m not clear exactly on how or why an Old One would have found itself in Los Angeles, let alone fighting against the forces of evil.”

“So, they pissed off a bunch of old evil guys and had a big fight. Which, I’d like to point out, might have gone in another direction if we’d had a squad or two of slayers there to help out...”

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. “In retrospect, perhaps that would have been a good idea. However, at the time I had no—”

“This is not the “I-used-to-be-a-Watcher”s council. It’s the Slayers and Watchers Council. How could you even think about making a decision about what fights we were needed for without consulting me?”

“Or me.” Faith had come through the door just in time to catch what the conversation was about. “There were people there I... I owe. Especially Angel and Wes.”

Buffy watched impassively as Giles stared at them - the world’s two oldest and most powerful slayers, both clearly furious with him. His fear was obvious. Either one could have killed him with one punch. In spite of their power having been shared with so many others, rather than becoming weaker, they had continued to get stronger until there were very few demons left that would be a match for either one of them – never mind both at the same time.

He slumped back in his chair. “You are quite right. I made decisions for you that were not mine to make. I am very, very sorry. Not just because that may have caused the loss of... people... who were important to you, but because I have probably eroded whatever trust I may have managed to recover in the past year.”

“We need to fix this. The seers told me that LA is pretty much cut off from the rest of the country. Some kind of major mojo of a glamor is keeping out everybody who wasn’t there when things went bad, and without creating any curiosity or panic about it. That’s some powerful spell casting, if that’s what’s happened.”

Giles nodded. “I am still getting reports myself, but it does seem to be the case that there has been no actual communication with anyone from inside the city limits.” He stared at them intently. “Which means, we have absolutely no way of knowing if Angel or Spike, or any of their companions are even still alive. You could be going to rescue people who are already beyond your help.”

Both girls gaped at him, Buffy finding her voice first as Faith was busy muttering curses. “So, what? You’re saying we should just leave an entire city full of – just in case you forgot – human beings trapped in a demon-infested hell on earth?”

He sighed. “No, I suppose when you put it like that—”

“What other way is there to put it? Do I want to find Spike and save his skinny ass so I can kick it for not letting me know what was going on? Damn right, I do. And if I can, I will. But even if I knew for sure he and Angel were dust, I’d still want to try to save whatever’s left of the city I was born in!”

Buffy was breathing hard and shouting by the time she finished, but her face was surprisingly calm. The cold stare she settled on him was meant to be more frightening than a more angry, hands on hips stance or a glare. Giles bowed his head and shut his eyes. Buffy nodded, accepting his acknowledgement of what was clearly another nail in the coffin containing what used to be a loving relationship.

“Right then,” he said softly. “What will you need? Our resources are at your disposal, although I would prefer that you not pull all our experienced slayers from the field—”

“I want the plane, at least forty girls, food, water, and credit cards -- in case we have to hang around outside the city, weapons – including some firepower. We don’t know what we’re going to find or be facing. Probably ought to have a witch or two with us. I think Willow was friends with one of Angel’s people – some guy named Fred?”

“Fred is a girl,” Faith put in. “Genius-type, just like Willow, only more about the science than magic. I met her a couple of times. Seemed like good people. I think Wes might have had a thing for her.”

“And what is your plan?”

“Get in. Slay everything that isn’t human and get out.”

“It may not be that easy,” Giles said, frowning as the two slayers high-fived each other.

“Easy is for wimps,” Faith said. “We’re taking slayers with us.”

“Make it happen, Giles,” Buffy said as she followed Faith from his office. “I want to leave tomorrow.”


XXXXXXXX


In spite of Buffy’s words, it was another three days before they had collected all the supplies, weapons and slayers they needed. But they were finally in the air and on their way to Los Angeles.

The first sign of trouble was when the pilot came back to tell them that for some reason, he could not get clearance to land the big jet at LA Airport.

“I’m just getting a runaround about where and when we can set down. They want us to land at Ontario.”

“Fine. Land there. We’ll find another way into the city.”

The slayer in charge of communications quickly sent a message to the Council employee who was to meet them, alerting her to the change in plans, and to Giles so that he could make whatever arrangements needed making at the new airport.

When permission had been received for the plane to land at much-busier than normal Ontario airport, and Buffy and Faith had shepherded their slayers off the plane and through a very brief customs set up in the airport’s out of the way area for private jets, they collected their bags -- including the weapons that a nod from the supervisor to his astonished workers assured were whisked through without question --and walked out to the parking area. They were looking around for the promised transportation when a dirty bus pulled up to the curb and the door opened.

“Ms. Summers? Ms. Lehane?” The driver was a middle-aged woman who seemed annoyed that they were there before her. “I’m to take you to the edge of the event area.”

“Event area?” Buffy stepped up into the bus and gestured for the girls to begin loading.

“That’s what we’re calling it. Nobody really knows what the event was... just that nobody can get in or out of the area.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Buffy muttered, exchanging looks with Faith.


XXXXXXXX


“So, waddaya think?” The witch studying the scying bowl in front of the mystical barrier into the city gave Faith a glare, before going back to her bowl. She frowned, then sat back and gestured for Buffy and Faith to take a look.

It took the two slayers a moment to orient themselves to what they were seeing – humans in chains held by demons walking openly down the street, vampires walking freely in the oddly dim light at high noon. As they watched, a dragon swooped down and bit the head off the demon at the front of the line of humans. In the confusion, a black van roared up and in front of their eyes Angel and Spike leapt out and began helping the humans into the van. While the dragon held off other demons with flaming breath, the two vampires that had been presumed dust jumped back in, pulling the doors shut behind them as the van took off, scattering demons and vampires in it’s wake.

The witch waved her hand, erasing the scene, and smiled at them.
“Well, now you know what it’s like there. And that there seems to be a resistance....”

“Yeah, Buffy. Looks like both your vamps made it through.”

“And now they’re trying to clean up their mess,” Buffy said, nodding. “Guess it’s time for the cavalry to arrive.” She smiled her thanks at the witch. “Jeannie, do you think we can get in?”

“Molly and I are working on something. A spell that might make a small enough opening that it won’t be noticed. I’m not sure we can keep it open all the time, though. We may have to do something else.”

“Okay. Well, let us know when you think it’s ready.”


XXXXXXXXX

“So, what’s the plan, B? You kick Blondie’s ass and I kick Angel’s? You can’t have them both, just so you know.”

Buffy sighed and nudged Faith with an elbow. “I don’t really want them both. I’m just glad to see they’re alive – so to speak – and haven’t gone all evil on us.”

“Just so we’re clear, which one are you planning to beat up?”

“Oh, it’ll be Spike. I’m just not sure if I want to kiss him and then beat him half to death, or beat him half to death and then kiss him. I guess I’ve got time to decide.” She smiled. “Either way, Angel’s all yours.”

Faith smacked her fist into her hand. “I can’t wait.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, then Buffy said, “Do you think we could have prevented this? If we’d known? If we’d been here with a couple squads of slayers....”

“I dunno, but I think your honey and his know-it-all grandpa have to take as much of the blame as Giles. They could have told you Spike was here, and you’d have coming runnin’ in time to find out what was going down.”

“Oh I know. Believe me, that’s one conversation neither one of them is going to want to have. But once Giles knew....”

“Once he knew – about anything – he should have told us. He needs a reminder that he isn’t a watcher anymore and we make our own decisions.”

Chapter Two

“So, this is our way in?” Faith stared dubiously at the three-foot-in-diameter circle swirling in front of them.

“That’s the best we can do. You’ll just have to bend way down to get through it.”

Jeannie smiled at them. “On the plus side, we’ve been able to locate the general area that the vampires seem to disappear into, and we can set this up to open in that area. If we get lucky, someone will be able to watch through the scrying bowl so you know what to expect on the other side. It’s going to take both Molly and me to keep the portal open for you.”

“So we won’t be able to get back out?” Buffy frowned and exchanged looks with Faith.

“We can keep the scry bowl open pretty much full-time, and follow you in that. Give us a signal when you need or want to come out, and we’ll open the portal again.”

“Or if we want reinforcements?”

“Or that. You’re not taking everyone then?”

“Not this time. We need to find out what’s going on, who the bad guys are, how to find them… stuff like that. We’ll take just enough girls with us to make it a bad idea for anything nasty to try to interfere. When we want the rest of the squads, we’ll give you a signal.”

“What kind of signal?”

Buffy and Faith snickered and at the same time said, “Help!” They were still giggling as they went to pick a squad to take with them.

“I guess we should come up with something more senior slayerish than ‘help’,” Buffy said with a sigh.

“Yeah. We need something we can do without sound, and probably more than one. One for ‘Get us out of here!’, a different one for ‘Send more slayers’.”

“And one that means ‘It’s on. Send everybody,” Buffy said. “Too bad none of us speak sign language.”

“Abby does. She’s the deaf girl, remember?”

“Former deaf girl. Can’t she hear now?”

“Yeah. When she got her powers, she got her ears back too. But she knows sign language. She can teach everybody a few simple signs to use.”

“Great idea. Let’s talk to her before we tell everybody what’s going on.”


XXXXXXXXX


“So, that’s the sitch. The portal is small and it can’t stay open, so Faith and I will take a few girls through with us and try to find out what’s going on and what or who we need to kill. The scry bowl will stay focused on us as much as possible, so you will know what we find.” Buffy gestured to the embarrassed girl standing next to Faith.

“Abby here is going to teach us all enough sign language to be able to communicate if we need to. Please pay attention – write it down if you need to.”

Buffy pulled Abby up beside her. “You’re on, Abs.”

Blushing and nodding, Abby took a deep breath and began to speak, signing as she did so. “I hope you can all understand me,” she said as clearly as she could. “I still don’t speak very clearly, but I’m getting better.”

Murmurs of “You’re fine. I can understand you.” came from the group of slayers watching her. Only one girl said, “What did she say?” and she was quickly shushed by her neighbors.

Abby held up her hands. “If you see anybody in the scry bowl doing this” – she made a very understandable gesture with both hands – “it means they need to come out. Tell Jeannie or Molly right away.”

“If they do this” – she made an “okay” gesture with one hand – “It means they’re fine and you should just keep watching. This” -- she made another very easy to duplicate gesture holding up fingers – “means we need to send more slayers, as many as fingers held up. And this—” she threw both hands in the air “—means send everybody and bring the weapons.”

She looked around the room. “Does everybody get that? I’m not trying to teach you sign language tonight, just give you some easy to use signs so that no matter who is watching, or who is communicating, everybody knows what is being said.”

Buffy stepped back up beside her. “Thanks, Abby. Does anybody have any questions? I suggest you practice among yourselves for a while. We’ll be going in soon and we’re taking Suzie’s squad with us. Angela, your squad is on scry bowl duty. Somebody should be monitoring it at all times. The rest of you, make sure the weapons are ready to go, and that you’re fed and rested when we send for you.”


XXXXXXXX

Buffy and Faith stood watching the portal grow from a tiny hole in the air to the much larger one they’d seen before.

“Okay, ladies. With a little luck, we’re going to be stepping out into a relatively safe area, but keep your eyes open. You’ve all been briefed on what the two vampires we’re looking for look like. Anything that doesn’t look like either one of them is dustable. The dragon’s an unknown factor. It seemed to be helping them out before, so we’ll treat it as neutral or friendly until we know otherwise. Let’s go.”

Buffy bent down and pushed herself through the portal, hitting the ground on the other side and rolling away as another girl came through right behind her. Faith came through last and they all watched as the portal winked out of sight.

“Make a note where it was,” Faith said, pointing to the now empty space. “What else is here, and how close.”

“Do we have to be here to go back?”

“Probably not. But if they can’t open it where we are for some reason… like a horde of demons waiting to go through… then this might be the safest place. We hope not. But if they see us with a group of humans, they’ll probably try to open it right there so we can send them all out. But we don’t know.”

The well-trained slayers formed a circle and surveyed their situation. To the left of the spot they’d come through the portal was a dumpster, overflowing with trash. To the right, was the burnt-out hulk of a car. One look inside had them retreating from it.

“Gross! There’s a burned up body in there.”

“Probably won’t be the worst thing we see here. Just keep together and lets see if we can find where Spike and Angel hide when they aren’t rescuing people.”

“There, maybe?”

One of the girls pointed at an old building that a first glance seemed deserted. A closer look showed footsteps in the dust of the loading dock facing the alley they were in. Buffy frowned at the familiar looking building, but Faith headed right for it.

“It’s the Hyperion. I’d recognize this old loading dock anywhere. Makes sense they’d be holed up in here.” She jumped up onto the loading dock, only to bounce off an invisible barrier. “What the fuck?”

“It’s got magical protection? That doesn’t sound like Spike or Angel.”

While they stared at the building, searching for some sign that it might contain vampires, they saw the doors begin to open. All eight slayers fell into fighting stances, stakes or swords at the ready, and waited to see what would emerge from the seemingly empty building.

Spike stood there, frozen, staring at Buffy, then shook himself and turned to yell back over his shoulder. “It’s nothing. Just Slayers one and two come to call. And they brought a few friends.”

He was shoved aside as Angel opened the door the rest of the way. “What the hell are you—” He halted, staring from Buffy to Faith and back again.

“Surprise,” Buffy said cheerfully. “Are we going to be invited in?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. You’ll have to be… “ Spike still stood by the door, only his mouth moving. Angel had yet to say anything, blinking slowly as if just waking up.

Faith rolled her eyes and walked as close as she could get to the barrier. “Well, is one of you two assholes going to invite us in? We’re feeling a little exposed out here.”

“Oh… sorry. Of course, of course.” Angel stepped back and said, “Come in, Buffy, Faith, umm… other slayers.”

Faith leaped onto the loading dock and shook her head. “Suzie, Amy, Sam, Julie, Annie, Grace. Repeat it, idiot.”

When Angel had stumbled through all the girls’ names and they had all joined Faith on the platform, Buffy took a last look around, made an OK gesture toward where the portal had been and then jumped up herself.

“Ok, lets get inside,” Angel said. “And then you can explain how you got here.”

Angel held the door while Faith led the squad inside and waited for Buffy to join them. When she didn’t follow immediately, Faith shrugged and mouthed “good luck” at Spike as she stepped inside, leaving the door ajar.

Buffy was staring at Spike with a combination of disbelief, longing, and fury. He took a deep breath and said, “I can explain—”

“If I let you live that long,” Buffy said, whirling to follow her slayers into the building.

“Right. If you let me live that long.” Spike sighed and followed her in, closing the doors behind him and putting a bar across them.

“What’s that for if you have a barrier?”

“It’s kind of a reverse barrier. Keeps demons and humans out, but a vamp could walk right through it. We learned that the hard way.”

They faced each other again, staring into each other’s eyes until they reached some sort of mutually acceptable conclusion. Buffy’s lips twitched as Spike’s expression faded into one of the soft smiles he used to give her when no one else was around. Without giving away how affected she was at seeing his emotions so clearly, she turned away, saying, “As soon as we’ve kicked whatever butts need kicking to get this city free, your ass is the next one in line.”

“Looking forward to it,” he said, risking a light touch on her back. “I missed you too.”

“Hmph!” Buffy twitched, then leaned back into his hand just enough to keep him from pulling away. “That’s kinda what I meant.”

“Was hoping it was,” he said, moving close enough to whisper in her ear. “Didn’t think you’d be that brassed off at me if it wasn’t.”

She whirled to stare at him, not backing away when that put them face to face, but instead moving closer to hiss at him, “FYI, you asshole, even if I’d been lying when I said I loved you – which I wasn’t, by the way – I still would have grieved for you, just like I did for Anya and all the girls we lost in there. In what universe would it have been okay for you to let me think you were dead too?”

He stared into her suddenly damp eyes as long as he could, then dropped his head, saying, almost too softly, “None.” He looked down between them for seconds, waiting for her to move away; when she didn’t move, he pulled his gaze back up.

“I… I wish I could find a way to tell you how sorry I am, Buffy. I wish I had some excuse that isn’t going to sound like a load of bollocks. But I don’t. I was stupid, and a world-class wanker, and in no way do I deserve your forgiveness or your… affection. I know that.”

Before she could respond, Faith called out, “Hey, can you two make googly-eyes later. You know, like after we figure out what we’re doing here?”

With a guilty start, Buffy turned around. “This isn’t over,” she growled, once more the general. Spike remained uncharacteristically silent as he followed her into the hotel kitchen where everyone was standing around.

“Sorry, everybody,” she said. “Letting personal stuff get in the way. It won’t happen again.” She felt Spike’s rumbled growl behind her, but ignored it. “So, Angel, what’s the sitch?”

Shooting a glare at Spike, he said, “Faith tells me you have a portal that we can send people through.”

“We do. Can’t leave it open, but we can open it when we need it. And we have more slayers waiting on the other side.”

He nodded. “Right now, the best thing you can do for us is open the portal so we can send all the people we’ve managed to rescue back through it. It’s getting really crowded in here, and it’s hard to keep this many people fed.”

“How many people?”

Angel looked at Spike who shrugged.

“Last time I counted, we had almost 200. That doesn’t include the ones we brought in yesterday, though.”

“Whoa! Okay, we’re going to need more than just sign language to set that up. One of you girls is going to have to go back and tell them what’s going on. We need to know the portal will be ready before we take anybody outside, and that it can stay open long enough to get them all through.”

Julie raised her hand. “I’ll go. Should I bring more girls back with me?”

Buffy shook her head. “Let’s get the people out of here first, and figure out where we need to fight. Maybe bring back some big sheets of paper and some markers so we can communicate a little better? Rather than sending somebody back and forth all the time? Ask Jeannie if she can keep the scrying bowl focused on that loading dock unless we ask her to follow us somewhere. That way, we can leave messages without getting outside the barrier.”

“Sounds good, B. I’m going to take Julie back outside. Don’t lock the door on me.”

“I’ve got it,” Spike surprised her by saying. He followed Faith and Julie out of the kitchen without looking at Buffy again.



Chapter Three

“Okay. So what do we need to know, who do we need to beat up or slay, and what the hell was that dragon doing?” Buffy stared at Angel, who sighed and stood up straighter.

“Buffy… about Spike—”

She held up her hand. “No personal stuff. Not till we’ve accomplished our mission. Then we will have that conversation – trust me.” She let her disappointment and anger show just long enough to make him nod and lower his head, then she continued, “But right now I want to know the whole situation.”

“Pretty simple, really. The Senior Partners – which are sort of the evil version of the Powers That Be – were pretty pissed of at us for taking down the Circle of Black Thorn. Thanks to Ilyria, Spike and I somehow survived the demon army they threw at us, but when she opened a portal and took most of the army with her to… who the hell knows… we still had a lot of demons left behind. Somebody, probably the Senior Partners, but we don’t know for sure, slammed a glamour on the city and cut it off from the rest of the world. The demons left behind are still squabbling with the ones already living here, the vampires are mad because the demons are running things, and the humans have to worry about being swept up by demon slavers.

“We’ve been saving as many as we can get to – with help from the dragon - but we’re outnumbered. So without Cordy’s help—”

“Cordelia Chase is a dragon?”

Angel gave Buffy a sad glare that showed her how much they were no longer in each other’s lives.

“Cordy is dead,” he said flatly. “The dragon seems to have some of her… essence… and it helps us when it can.”

Sam nudged the girl next to her. “Does anybody else feel like we’ve stepped into somebody else’s soap opera?”

Matching glares from Buffy and Angel had her stepping behind her companion and drawing an imaginary zipper across her mouth.

“You’ll get used to it, Sam,” Faith said as she re-entered the room. When Buffy raised a questioning eyebrow, she continued, “Your honey is watching for the portal to reopen so Julie doesn’t have to worry about what might be waiting for her when she comes back.” Faith smiled at Angel. “I take it not all the vamps know you keep the door locked.”

He shrugged. “The demons have mostly learned they can’t get in, but the vampires know we have people in here, so every once in a while one thinks he’s going to get in and help himself and we have to teach him a lesson.”

“And who usually hands out that lesson?”

“Spike does. He likes that kind of stuff.” Angel shrugged. “I’d just as soon pick them off with a crossbow and be done with it, but—”

“But he’s more a hands-on kinda guy. Yeah. I guess I should have remembered that from Sunnydale.” She rubbed her jaw. “Packs a mean wallop when he’s pissed off.”

“You fought with Spike?” Angel looked back and forth between Faith and Buffy. “Why? I thought you were all together against the First.”

“There was a… misunderstanding… about B here, and he was defending her honor, or something.” Faith looked uncomfortable for a few seconds, but Buffy said nothing about having been kicked out of her own home and the moment passed. “It was no big deal. Everybody kissed and made up, and Blondie used that gaudy jewelry to close the hellmouth and be a hero. Win – win.”

“That’s why he came out of the amulet,” Angel mused. “We wondered.”

“He didn’t tell you? That he wore it and burned up closing the hellmouth?” Buffy stared at Angel in shock.

“He said he died a hero, and on fire. I didn’t know you’d given him that amulet to wear, and he never mentioned it, so I didn’t make the connection. I figured he was just exaggerating what happened to him. I’m surprised Wes or Fred didn’t pick up on it though….”

“He was my champion,” Buffy said softly, ignoring the way Angel visibly flinched at that quiet declaration. “And then he… died… and I didn’t know—” She shook herself, noticing that Angel had flinched again but opting not to pursue it in front of the girls. “So, where are these people we need to get back into the real world?”

“They’re downstairs in the basement. It’s safer down there if anything gets in and goes looking for them. They’ve got weapons and they can defend themselves when there’s only one way in.”

“Okay, well, somebody needs to tell them we’re here and that they can leave as soon as we know when the portal will be available.”

“I’ll go give them a heads-up,” Angel said, seeming relieved to have a reason to get out of the room.


XXXXXXXXX


The slayers had wandered off to explore the hotel and its rooms, promising to keep an eye on their communicators in case they were needed. Faith shrugged and asked Buffy, “You want to take this break to go settle things with William-the-in-deep-shit-Bloody? I can stay here till Angel gets back.”

Buffy sighed. “I guess we need to talk. At least enough to be sure we aren’t going to screw up something important by getting into a fight at the wrong time.” She smiled at Faith. “Thanks.”

“Hey, it’s in everybody’s best interest to have you two working together and not walking on eggshells around each other. No biggie.”

“Your version of self-defense, huh?” Buffy snorted.

“You got it. If you get mad at each other, at least maybe you’ll be able to take it out on something evil.”

“Relationship advice from you,” Buffy said, shaking her head but giving Faith a grateful smile. “We really are in an alternate dimension.”

“Up yours, B. Just self-preservation.”

Buffy lifted her hand in a wave and walked toward the loading dock.


XXXXXXXXXX


She squared her shoulders when she got to the door, taking a deep breath and reaching for the handle. “I can do this,” she muttered to herself. “We can have a conversation without yelling.”

“You sure about that, Slayer?”

She jumped when she heard Spike’s voice, having forgotten about his keen hearing. He was leaning against the wall of the building, smoking a cigarette and seemingly relaxed. But she could see the tension in his shoulders and she forced herself to remain calm.

“Well, I know why I want to yell at you… or maybe beat you to a bloody pulp,” she said, taking an equally casual stance against the opposite wall. “But I don’t know why you should yell at me. I’m not the one who left somebody who loved me to grieve for over a year because she thought I was dead!”

In spite of her resolve, Buffy’s voice had risen as she spoke. By the time she finished speaking, she was standing up straight and glaring at him with damp eyes. She blinked rapidly to hold back the tears that had caught her by surprise, and slumped back against the wall, keeping her glare on Spike’s face as his expression went back and forth between anguish and anger. It settled on anger.

“I already said I’m sorry about that, Slayer,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “I figured Andrew would have told you, or someone from the Council of Wankers would have heard about it. And when you didn’t show up… and then wouldn’t help us when we asked—”

“When you asked? When did you ask us for help? And it’s the Council of Slayers and Wank—Watchers, thank you very much. “You didn’t even try to tell us about this!” Buffy waved her hand around to indicate the situation. “We had to learn about it from rumors.”

Spike straightened up and growled. “You wouldn’t trust us to take care of Dana – sent a squad of slayers with the idiot to pick her up. You wouldn’t let Red help out when sweet little Fred was being kicked out of her own body so an Old One could set up housekeeping in there…. Even if we’d been able to contact anybody outside, why would we expect you to help us? You didn’t trust us before, why would you now?”

“We didn’t trust Angel! I didn’t even know you were here until last week.” She lowered her voice, which had started to rise again. “Why didn’t I know, Spike? Even if you didn’t love me anymore, you could have at least let me know you were alive.”

Before he could respond, she continued, her voice firmer, “And anyway, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Giles when he said you and Angel might both be dead by now – this city is full of innocent human beings who are trapped here because of something you and Angel did. Even if you were both dust, I’d want to save the city I was born in. We’re slayers. It’s what we do.”

She faced him, chin high and gaze firm, watching as he shut his eyes as if in pain.

“Buf—“ He sighed and flicked his cigarette into the alley. Standing up straight again, he walked toward her, never taking his eyes off her proud gaze. Ignoring her flinch, he put his hands on her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. “Thought we’d already said what needed saying. I still love you. How could you doubt it? Was brassed off to think you weren’t willing to help us, but just thought I’d had my time with you and you’d moved on. If I’d had any idea you were grieving, or even missing me….” He raised his head and shook it slowly. “I love you, and it sounds like you—like you still care about me. As far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters. Can grovel some more, if it would help, but I can’t change anything. All I can do is whatever I can to help fix this mess.”

“I don’t want to fight,” she said. “I mean, I want to kick your ass for being such an idiot, but not right now. Right now, I just want to be happy you’re alive, and here.”

“I am here, love. Never doubt it.” He lowered his head again to brush his lips over hers. “And I’ll be happy to prove it to you as soon as we are someplace private.”

Buffy’s giggle broke off as a sound behind them brought them both whirling to face the now-open portal and a smirking Julie.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asked, trying to appear innocent. She paid no attention to Spike’s growl, waving the supplies she’d brought back with her. “Got a dry erase board and markers so we can leave messages. And if they have something complicated to tell us, they’ll make a small portal and just shove a note through it.” She looked dubious for a second. “I guess that means somebody’s going to have to be here all the time so a message doesn’t just blow away—”

“Or get picked up by the wrong person or thing,” Spike added. “This alley stays pretty clear, but it’s not demon or vamp proof.”

“All right, we’ll work that out. What did they say about getting the rescued people out?”

“Jeannie said they can do it. She said to give them about a hour to get set up, and then have the people ready to go as soon as the portal opens.”

“Okay. That’s it, then. Let’s start lining them up so we can hustle them out as soon as it opens. Julie, just leave the board and markers here inside the barrier and come with me to help me explain.” Buffy turned to go back inside, pausing when Spike put a hand on her arm.

“Are we good, then?”

Buffy shrugged and put a hand on his cheek. “As could as we can be right now. We’ll be better.”

He leaned into her hand, turning his head to kiss her palm. “Lookin’ forward to it, love.” He followed the two girls into the hotel, stopping to replace the bar when the door was safely closed.

Faith looked up with quirked eyebrow when she saw them. “So, you went for kiss him first and then kill him?”

Buffy flushed and Spike laughed. “So, that was the decision to make? Kiss me or kill me?”

“More or less,” Buffy muttered. “Just keep in mind, I haven’t done either one yet, so my options are still open.”

“Duly noted, pet,” he said, his grin showing how unconcerned he was.

Behind Buffy’s back, Faith gave him a thumbs up, earning herself a growl from Angel as he entered the kitchen.

“I know you didn’t just growl at me, asshole,” Faith said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Just so you know, B and I divided up the vampire ass-kicking duties, and I got you. Neither one of us is forgetting that you could have hollered for help and maybe prevented this mess.”

“The only time we asked for help, your boss turned us down,” Angel said with a snarl. “He said you didn’t trust us.” He turned he glare on Buffy.

“I’ve already had this conversation with Spike. I didn’t trust you,” Buffy said. “I would have trusted Spike if he called. But I never turned down a request for help. I don’t know who you talked to, but it wasn’t me, it wasn’t Faith, and it wasn’t Willow, and we don’t have a ‘boss’.”

“Well, Giles seems to think he’s still running things,” Angel said. “Wes called him and begged for Willow or somebody with magic skills to come help us save Fred. He got turned down flat. Giles made it sound as if they were your orders.”

Buffy and Faith exchanged identical furious looks. Faith smacked one hand into the other. “That wasn’t his decision to make. Just like not sending us here to help you fight the Senior Partners wasn’t his decision to make.” She smacked her hands together again. “I hope he wasn’t planning to live to a ripe old age. I don’t think he’s got that in his future…”

There was a long silence in the room as Buffy, Faith, Angel, and Spike dealt with knowledge that things could have gone so differently for everyone. The other slayers stared at them, shocked to hear Faith threaten the life of the man who as far as they knew, was the head of the Watcher side of the Council.

Finally, after several minutes of reflection, Angel sighed. “Much as I would like to see Giles suffer, I think we all have to take some responsibility here. I could have told you Spike was here,” he said to Buffy, before turning to Faith. “And I could have told you both what I was doing at Wolfram and Hart, and that it could go wrong in so many ways.” He shifted his gaze to Spike. “And you, you coward, you could have ignored me and just gone to her as soon as you could leave LA. Or at least called her and told her you were here and what was going down.”

Spike nodded, not meeting Buffy’s eyes.

Buffy started to speak, but Angel cut her off. “And you could have kept in touch. You could have told me…. I wouldn’t have tried to keep him here if I’d known you were hurting. I really thought you’d moved on and….” He shook his head.

“So, am I the only one who hasn’t done something to apologize for? Hey, that’s a first. I’m the good girl.” Faith looked very pleased with herself. “If everybody’s through taking the blame here, can we get started fixing it?”

“Right.” Spike spoke first. “We need to get our guests upstairs and ready to dive through when that portal opens. Then we can talk about Big Bads and how to get to them.”


Chapter Four

By the time the portal flickered back into existence, the anxious humans, some of whom had been living in the hotel basement for weeks, were all pushing and shoving to be the first ones out. It took the snarling vampires showing their true faces and the slayers convincing several big men that they were going to be last now that they’d made asses of themselves, to turn the mob into a semi-orderly line. Children first, then the elderly, and then the adults who hadn’t tried to be first. All in all, it took almost an hour due to both the size of the portal and the need for everyone to get out of the way on the other side.

When the last one was gone, Buffy bent down, stepped through, and made sure they knew that was everyone. She spent a few minutes talking about using the message board and receiving information from them.

“We should know more later tonight,” she said. “Angel and Spike are going to take us with them when they go out. And we’re going to meet the dragon.” She waved and disappeared from the compound the slayers had taken over, reappearing in the alley just in time to see Faith and Spike attacked by the first of what appeared to be at least a dozen demons.

“Can I play too?” she asked, wishing her sword was still on her back rather than resting with her scythe, just out of reach on the loading dock. It was pretty obvious the demons were focused on the portal, and she was afraid to move away from it until it was safely closed. She used her fists and feet to keep them from diving through, and as soon as the portal disappeared, she dove for her weapon, with which she removed the nearest demon’s head.

By then, Angel had emerged from the hotel with his own sword and an axe, followed by the slayer squad with their own swords. None of the demons survived to carry word of the portal out of the alley.

“What the hell was that?”

Angel shook his head. “I don’t know. I’d like to think it was just coincidence that a gang of demons walked through here just as the portal was open, but….” He gestured to the building. “Let’s get inside. At least we can be safe while we worry about it.”

Everyone trooped inside, at the last second, Buffy grabbed the dry erase board and markers and set them just inside the door. “Just in case,” she mumbled when Spike raised an eyebrow at her. He shrugged and locked the door.

“Wasn’t objecting to it, love. Prob’ly a good idea. No sense leaving any more information out there than we have to. Now that we have more demon-killers here, we can just post a watch when we have something to communicate.”

“We?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Right. If you have something to communicate. Forgot my place there for a minute.”

Buffy glared at him, glanced around to see they were alone in the hallway, and grabbed him by the belt, yanking him close to her. “Your place is right here,” she said, losing the glare when his face softened into a smile. “But the slayers are my responsibility – mine and Faith’s. You and Angel don’t get to make decisions about them. ‘K?”

“Whatever you say, love. If you keep those fingers where they are, you can get me to agree to pretty much anything…”

Realizing that her hand was resting next to the bare skin of his stomach with her fingers inside his jeans and just brushing his lower abdomen, she flushed and pulled it away. She tugged his shirt down to cover the exposed skin. “I didn’t mean to do that,” she mumbled.

“I know,” he said with a grin. “But it felt good anyway.”

“Pig!”

“Oink, love. That’ll never change.”

“I guess we can’t expect a soul to fix everything,” she said, her snort of laughter taking any sting out of her words.

“It might’ve penned that piggy up at first, but I got over it.” His expression turned serious. “I’m not quite the wimp I was when I first got it. I hope that’s not going to be a problem…”

Buffy shrugged. “Wimpy Spike was sweet… but he wasn’t very sexy.” She walked away quickly before he could continue the conversation, entering the kitchen with a cheerful, “So, where are we going tonight? And when do we get to meet the dragon?”

Angel looked back and forth between her smirking smile and Spike’s stunned expression, then shook his head. Forcing his gaze back to the rest of the people in the room, he said, “She usually finds us. I don’t know how, but so far she’s shown up when we need her. As far as tonight goes, we’re going to hit a factory on the other side of town where they’re using humans as slave labor.” He paused and looked around the room. “The plan was just to try to sneak them out of the dorm, but with all this extra help, we might be able to close them down completely. If we can take out the bosses….”

“The bosses being?”

“One of the minor demon lords. And his minions, which are mostly lesser demons, but I think he uses some vampires as security.”

“Sounds like a plan. When do we leave?” Faith stood up and glanced around at the eager slayers.

“We’ll leave in another hour. It’s going to take two vehicles – I’ll drive the van and Spike can drive the bus. I’ll take the girls with me… and Faith.” He sighed. “And Buffy can go with Spike.”

“Where do we get a bus?”

Spike nodded toward the door to the basement. “We’ve got an underground parking garage,” he said. “Got the entrance hidden pretty well – although we do have occasional vamps thinking they can make a lair of it – so far it’s worked. The barrier contains a glamour that makes it hard to see the entrance to the garage and of course, the demons can’t get in anyway.”

“Okay. Weapon up girls. Who knows what we’ll need. Stakes for sure, but probably swords or axes for the demons.”

“We have a pretty good armory,” Angel said. “Faith, you know where it is. Do you want to take the girls to pick out whatever they want or need?”

“Got it. Let’s go, slayers. Free weapons!”

XXXXXXX

Angel, Spike and Buffy watched the slayers follow Faith to the weapons storage area, leaving the three of them refusing to make eye contact.

“Don’t you want to pick something out, Buffy?” Angel said.

“I’ve got my scythe, and my stakes. I’m good.”

There was another uncomfortable silence, with both vampires sneaking looks at Buffy.

“What?” she finally exploded. “What’s wrong with you two?”

“Nothing,” Angel said stiffly. “Nothing at all. I guess you and Spike are… you and Spike. And that’s… well, it’s not fine, exactly, but I can live with it. As long as you’re sure, Buffy….”

“As long as I’m sure? As long as I’m sure? As long as I’m sure?” Her voice had risen with each repetition. “What the hell, Angel?” She glared at him. “I hope you aren’t under the impression that my love life is anything you’re entitled to have an opinion about. Because that would just be—”

Spike’s growling was a steady background sound as Buffy and Angel glared at each other.

“Be quite, Spike. I’ve got this.” She placed one hand on Spike’s arm, then faced Angel again.

“I am not a possession for you and Spike to argue over, or a prize for you to compete for. And I sure as hell don’t need to know if you’re ‘fine’ with my choices. I. Don’t. Care. What. You. Think. You left me. I cried. I got better. You got better. You had girlfriends. I fell in love with somebody else. Somebody who stayed, even when I was just a body in a grave. Somebody who proved himself over and over. Somebody you don’t approve of. Get over it.”

She stopped, breathing heavily as she realized what she’d said while Spike was listening. She cringed, waiting for him to crow about it, but he was uncharacteristically silent, only moving closer to her and putting a hand on her lower back. “I think he got the picture, love. Let it go.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Spike?” she muttered, turning to face him.

“Empathy,” he said. “Comes with the soul package, apparently.”

“Huh,” was the most intelligent thing she could think of in response.

They were all saved from further embarrassment by Faith’s return, followed by the slayers, now armed to the teeth.

“Did you leave anything there?” Angel asked, obviously more to give himself something to do besides stare wistfully at Buffy and Spike.

“There’s some stuff there for you and Blondie to look through.” Faith walked to the big refrigerator and peered in. “The girls and I need to eat before we go off demon-slaying. Whatcha got in here?”

“Just the basics – mostly for the kids. Bread, milk, eggs, peanut butter….”

While Faith rolled her eyes, the other girls immediately began grabbing things to make sandwiches.

“Note to self. Rob a demon-owned grocery store tomorrow.”


XXXXXXXXX


Almost as if the past year hadn’t happened, Buffy and Spike walked to the hallway and sat down side-by-side, backs against the wall and legs stretched out in front. Their shoulders were just touching. Not enough to give anyone a reason to say anything about inappropriate behavior, but close enough that there was no doubt they were together.

XXXXXXXX

“Come on, big guy,” Faith said as Angel stared at them talking softly with their heads close together. “If Cordy could see you belly-aching over B and her honey, she’d smack you upside the head.”

His only response was a growl, but he turned away and sat on a stool facing another direction.

“That’s better.” Faith cocked her head at him. “Just so you know? Between what I saw when I was in Sunnydale, and what I’ve heard and seen from Buffy all year… they’re the real deal. You might have been her first big crush—” She frowned when he growled again. “I was there. I know how she was about you when she was a teenager. But those two have history neither one of us knows anything about. Some good, some bad. She’s a grown woman now and she moved on. And so have you,” she added. “Give them a break.”

Angel sighed and nodded. “Taking relationship advice from you… I must be losing it.” He glanced into the hallway again. “You know, the worst part of it is… I love them both.” He glared at Faith. “You tell Spike I said that, I’ll rip your heart out.”

She just laughed at him and said, “Bring it, old man.” Her expression softened. “So, you’re gonna be okay with it?”

“Hell no, I’m not okay with it! She’s… she’s Buffy. And he’s… Spike, for God’s sake.” He shook his head. “But if I’m being honest with myself, I can see that they’ve got a lot more in common than Buffy and I ever did. I don’t need to know their history together to know that.”

“Okay. Well if that’s settled, how about you tell me what we’re going to be looking at later tonight? Should I give the real world a heads up that we might have more refugees?”

He shook his head. “No, whoever we rescue tonight can stay here and rest until we’re ready to send them through. If it goes well, we might be coming back with 50 or 60 people.”

“So, tell me about this demon lord and his minions. What are we looking at?”

They spent the rest of the hour talking about the layout of the compound, where sentries were likely to be found, and how hard it would be to get to the big boss. The other girls listened and chimed in with questions, giving Angel a good idea what an excellent job Buffy and Faith had done training the new slayers.

XXXXXX

When it was approaching time to leave, Spike and Buffy joined the group being quickly brought up to speed on the tentative plans that had been made. Buffy offered a quiet suggestion or two, and Spike added to the information about the compound, and then Angel indicated they should get ready to go.

The all followed Spike down to the basement, and out through the heavily locked door into the underground garage. The slayers fanned out, their senses telling them there were more than two vampires about. With a grin, Spike grabbed Angel’s arm and kept him back.

“Let the girls have a little fun first. Get their juices flowing. The vamps aren’t going to know what they are, they’ll probably—yep, here they come now. Like lambs to the slaughter.”

The small gang of vampires that had taken refuge in the seemingly deserted garage were delighted to find what looked like meals walking toward them and jostled each other to get to them first. When the potential meals didn’t run and scream, but instead grinned and pulled stakes and crossbows out, the vamps frowned and slowed their approach.

“What the hell…?”

“Slayers. They’re slayers!” said one of the older vampires. “I don’t know how they got in here, but that’s what they are.”

He turned to run, only to burst into a cloud of dust from a crossbow bolt to his back. It quickly turned into an execution, as Buffy and Faith stood in the garage exit, blocking them from escaping that way. The slayers methodically staked every vampire they caught, then spread out through the garage to look for stragglers. They located one, hiding under the bus they were planning to use, and pulled him out to meet his dusty ending.

All the girls extended their senses, exchanging nods as they agreed there were no other vampires present besides the two waiting by the door.

“Okay, let’s load up and go,” Buffy said. “Faith and Angel have the squad, Spike and I will have the bus for the rescuees. We’ll pull it right up to the door closest to the dorm, and then join the fight?” She finished with a question in her voice and looked at Spike for verification.

“That should work. If we can get them out and onto the bus first, we can leave someone to protect the bus and move in to clear out the compound.”

Angel spoke up. “I think we should take out all the sentries we can before you go in. Let us open the gate and clear the way.”

Buffy shrugged. “Sounds like a plan. But how will you get in?”

“We’ll think of somethin’,” Faith said with a grin. “Won’t we girls?”

“Damn, I think I want to go with them,” Spike said as the chattering slayers piled into the van talking about how they could take out the sentries with their crossbows, then climb the walls and take care of the guards at the gate from the inside.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh don’t get all huffy on me, Slayer. You know you’re wishing you could do something more exciting than ride in on a bus.”

“Hmmph!” She tossed her head and pushed open the door to climb into the old city transit bus.


Chapter Five


As Faith had suggested, they parked some distance away and let the girls make their slow way to the compound. Giving each other boosts to the top of the wall, the slayers quickly and quietly dusted the vampire guards, giving the victory sign when they were sure the walls were clear. As the slayers converged on the gate and dropped down on the guards there, Angel and Spike brought the vehicles up and through the opening.

There was no alarm raised as the demon lord depended on his vampire employees to keep watch during the night hours. Even though night was a relative term in the always-dim light of LA, old habits died hard and nighttime belonged to the vampires who were still assimilating.

Spike pulled the bus up to the entrance to the factory/dormitory and opened the door.

“After you, love,” he said, gesturing for Buffy to precede him down the steps.

“What’s that?” She peered over her shoulder at the box he was carrying.

“Bit of insurance that the factory won’t be open for business tomorrow,” he said as he set the box down outside the door of the building. “Let’s get those people out of here.”

They ran to the dormitory and began waking people up. Spike let Buffy go first, fearing that the sight of him might frighten them into screaming. She whispered to each group that they were there to rescue them, and that Spike was on their side. He led the dubious people to the door and pointed at the bus, holding a finger to his lips for silence.

“What about the guards?” one man asked, casting a worried eye at the wall.

“Not a problem.” Spike pointed to one of the slayers who waved back as she used her crossbow to pick off a vampire walking toward them. Reassured, they all got on the bus, where they were quickly joined by the next group of rescuees.

“Is that everybody?” Buffy ran through the dorm area, checking beds and shower and toilet areas. She crept to the door of the factory, but could hear or see no one in the pitch-dark building and the door appeared to be locked.

“They shut it down at night,” one girl explained. “We’re locked in here, so we can’t go in and sabotage anything.”

“Okay, lets go then.” They ran out to where Spike already had the bus engine running.

“Time to go, Slayer. The natives are getting restless.” As he spoke, some minor demons and a few more vampires came out of the main building, shouting for the guards.

“You go. Take these people to the Hyperion. I’m going to stay here.”

His growl had everyone in the bus cringing, but he ignored them. “I’m not leaving you here to fight alone.”

“Spike. I have Faith and six other slayers with me. Plus Angel. Just get them to safety and come back.”

“We’re gonna be discussing this later,” he growled. “It could get loud….”

Buffy just waved and went to intercept the vampires heading for the bus. Faith was already at the gate, making sure it remained open while Spike squeezed the bus through it and gunned the engine. He drove several blocks in the direction of the hotel, then stopped and stood up.

“Anybody here know how to drive a bus?”

One man raised his hand. “I was a bus driver until the… event.”

“Good. Take over here and go to the alley behind the Hyperion hotel. There’s an entrance to our garage. It’s hidden, but you should be able to find it. Just sit tight there till we get back. Demons probably won’t see it, but vamps can if they stumble across it, so stay alert.” He showed them where the extra weapons were stored.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not about to miss a fight playing bus driver – no offense. I’m going back to help out and then I’m going to blow the place up. Should be fun.” He gave a toothy grin and jumped down the steps. “Off you go.”

He waited until the bus was speeding toward the Hyperion’s neighborhood, then turned and ran toward the compound, from which he could hear sounds of battle. He arrived just in time to decapitate a demon trying to escape through the still –open gate.

“Bout damn time,” Faith said, grunting as she ran her sword through another fleeing demon. “These guys would rather run than fight.”

“Thought most of them probably would. Not all demons are all about ruling the world and what not. Most of ‘em would just as soon be left alone.”

With both Spike and Faith guarding the gate, the lessor demons began milling around in the middle of the compound, not sure where to go or how to get there.

“What d’ya, think? Let ‘em go and join the fun, or stay here playing clean up?”

“You can do whatever you want, pet. I’m gonna join the party.”

Spike whacked his way through the milling demons, not really caring if he hit anyone or not. They quickly got out of his way; dodging Faith as well as she followed him toward the sounds of battle. As soon as they realized the gate was undefended, they began to trample each other trying to get out.

Spike and Faith quickly moved into the open courtyard of the main house, where the slayers were decimating the remaining vampire and demon guards. Buffy was working her way toward Angel, standing by a locked door, behind which they assumed the demon lord was hiding. Skipping the remaining guards, which the slayers were having no trouble eliminating, Spike joined Angel at the door and sized it up.

“Pretty big.”

“Brilliant observation, Spike.”

“Thick, too.”

Angel rolled his eyes, then swore as Spike pulled out a slender piece of metal and began working on the lock, which responded in a satisfyingly short period of time. The door still didn’t open, indicating there was a barrier of some sort on the other side. “Bloody hell. Okay, we do it the fun way, then.”

“Fun?” Buffy joined them.

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.” Spike took off at top speed and was back almost before Buffy and Angel could ask each other what he was doing. “Okay, get out of the way.” He knelt down and packed something between the doors at the top and bottom, using a tool to push it in as far as he could. He stood up and gave Angel a shove, pulling Buffy with him.

“Wasn’t kidding about getting out of the way,” he said. “Mind your ears.” As he spoke, he was covering his own ears with his hands, just in time to protect them from the small explosions that knocked the doors open.

“Shall we?”

“Show off,” Angel muttered as he followed Spike and Buffy through the doors. Faith and most of the slayers crowded behind them as they all moved into a big room where a huge, mostly fat, green creature was sitting, surrounded by smaller versions of himself, all armed.

“Look,” Faith said. “It’s Jabba the Hutt and all the little Hutts.”

“You’ve been hanging out with Xander, haven’t you?” Buffy said as she began slashing through the crowd toward the quivering mound of green skin.

“Hey, even poor kids got to see Star Wars,” Faith said indignantly. “I saw all of them. Who doesn’t know who Jabba the Hut is?”

“I’m guessing this guy doesn’t, or he’d know that Jabba got his ass kicked by a little girl with a chain.” Spike stopped in admiration to watch Buffy start chopping away pieces of the demon’s anatomy until she could reach his head and cut it off. Which proved difficult until Angel joined her and started sawing on it from the other side. Eventually, with a loud sigh and the expulsion of disgusting smelling slime, the head came off and rolled down the big body to the floor.

The remaining members of his offspring set up a collective moan and began falling on their own swords. In very little time, the room was empty of anyone but the small group of rescuers.

“Our work is done here,” Angel said. Let’s go home.”

“Almost done,” Spike said. “I’ll catch up.”

Remembering the box Spike had brought in, Buffy smiled. “I’ll wait with Spike. We’ll walk back.”

“Be careful,” was all Angel said as he led Faith and the slayer squad back to the van which had somehow remained mostly unharmed throughout the battles.

Buffy and Spike stood at the still-open gate and watched them drive away.

“You’re going to blow it up, aren’t you?”

“You know me too well, love.”

“Xander will be sorry he missed this.”

“I’ll blow up something with him some other time. He’s the one what taught me how to use explosives, you know. But we didn’t have any of this fancy stuff back in Sunnydale.”

“Why do you have it here?” Buffy asked as she trailed him to the box he’d left near the dormitory.

“Nicked it from Wolfram and Hart before it all went down. Took whatever we could move easily and stashed it in the hotel.”

He began taking packets of the same stuff he’d used to blow the doors and handing them to Buffy.

“Here, let’s get these put out.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere you want, love. We just need enough of them to bring the factory down. If we have leftovers, we’ll throw some into the house.”

Buffy eyed the packets with suspicion. “They aren’t going to blow up in my hands are they?”

“Nope. I’ll set them off when we’re ready to get out of here.”

They separated and Buffy put a packet anywhere it looked like an explosion would have a destructive effect on the building. She met Spike back in front of the gate.

“Okay, this is the tricky part. I have to be far enough away not to get blown up, but close enough to set them off.”

Buffy looked up. “How about from the top of the wall? We can jump down and run away before it falls down.”

“I knew there was a reason I loved you,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Let’s do it.”

They scampered up the narrow stairway to the wall’s walkway. “Ready, love?”

Buffy nodded and Spike did something with the device in his hand, set it down, and nodded to the ground. Buffy jumped out into space, landing easily in a crouch. Spike landed beside her, even more lightly. “Damn vampire flying crap” she snorted as she stood up and took the hand he was holding out. Behind them a dull rumble was building and the ground began to shake.

“Time to go, Slayer.” He kept hold of her hand as they sped away from the compound that was now crumbling with a louder and louder noise of things breaking and falling, as well as occasionally bursting into the air, only to fall back.

They ran with speed no one but another vampire or slayer could have hoped to match, not stopping until they were within a few blocks of the hotel. Buffy slowed to a walk, still holding on to Spike’s hand as they continued their return. Rather than going in the door, Spike led her down to the garage where Angel was just explaining to the bewildered former slaves that they were soon going to be out of the city.

“You mean the whole world isn’t like this? It didn’t end?”

“Nah,” Faith spoke up. “Most of it’s still there. And when we get through here, maybe LA will be dragged back into it. Don’t know though, so you need to get through the portal when it opens and find yourself some relatives or something to stay with until you can come home.”

“Hell, I was at work when it happened. I live outside the city.”

“Good for you. Looks like you might have house guests…” Laughing at the look on the man’s face, Faith walked up to Buffy and Spike. “So. Did it all go boom?”

“Um, more like rumble, rumble, crash, but yeah. No more factory.”

A cheer went up from the humans and Spike took a bow, causing Buffy to push him hard enough to make him stumble. “Jackass,” she muttered, but she was smiling.

XXXXXXXXXX

After Jeannie had been messaged, a time fixed for the portal to open, and the rescued humans shoved through it, everyone adjourned to the kitchen, where Faith once again complained about the lack of food.

“Who’s up for stealing from demons?” she asked, looking around the room and focusing on Spike. Buffy shook her head, poking Spike when he seemed about to volunteer. He pouted, but shook his head and settled back on his stool.

*cough*whipped*cough* Faith stage-whispered as she turned back to the girls, all of whom were holding up their hands. “All right! Let’s go.” She turned to Angel. “Where’s the nearest demon-owned store?”

“They’re all demon-owned. Take your pick. The closest one is probably about two blocks from here.” He looked at Spike and growled. “Spike wouldn’t have done you any good there… he’s not allowed in that store anymore. They caught him stealing too many times.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Faith said while Buffy rolled her eyes. “I doubt they’re gonna want any slayers in there after this either, but it won’t matter if we can shut this place down. Angel, you need to follow us with the van. I don’t plan to leave much behind.”

Grumbling about slayers coming into his city and acting like they owned it, Angel went down to the garage to get the van. Faith and her slayers left by the loading dock door, which Spike locked behind them.

“How are they going to get back in?” Buffy frowned as he put the bar in place.

“Angel has a key to the door in the garage.” He seemed unconcerned, so Buffy reluctantly followed him back to the kitchen. She gave a yawn, which reminded her that she’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours.

“Sorry,” she said. “It seems like we’ve been here forever, but I know it’s only been a day.”

“Time feels like that here sometimes,” he said. “But we’ve all been up for a long time. I could do with a nap myself. Care to join me?” He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

“Seriously? We haven’t seen each other in over a year, and we haven’t even….. We’re in the middle of a demon city, and I’m still deciding if I want to kill you, for cripes sake!”

He looked abashed but nodded. “I’m sorry, love. You’re right, of course. Time and place.” He touched her cheek. “I’m just so glad to see you… it went right to my—”

“I know exactly where it went. Get over it! We have work to do.” In spite of her words, she blushed and leaned into his hand just a little. “That body part has no conscience and no sense of duty.”

“Not when you’re around it doesn’t. Never has. Even when I hated you… or thought I did.” He caressed her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her lower lip. “But you may as well take advantage of having some down time to take a nap. This is a hotel, you know. Lots of rooms and beds in it that aren’t mine. Let’s find you one, yeah?”

Buffy rested her hand on his for a moment, then shook her head. “Let’s figure out where everybody else is going to sleep, so when they get back with the food, they can eat and get some rest. I’m no more tired than anybody else.”

“And there’s my sweet girl, always putting others first. Alright, love, come with me.”

“They probably won’t all sleep at the same time, anyway,” Buffy said as they looked for reasonably clean rooms with made beds. “We still need to keep an eye on the portal, in case they have messages for us.”


XXXXXXX

By the time Angel and Faith got back with a van full of food, Buffy and Spike had identified several first-floor rooms that would work fine for the squad to use to get some rest. And he’d shown her where he slept and offered her the room with no strings attached.

With all of them helping, the day’s haul of groceries were soon in the hotel refrigerators and freezers, or the huge pantry off the kitchen. After a quick meal, the yawns indicated the hours spent in LA were catching up to everyone, and Buffy showed them to the rooms – allowing the girls to work out who would be sharing with whom.

“So,” Faith said, cocking an eyebrow at Buffy. “Are we roomies, or do you have somewhere else in mind?”

Buffy glared at her, then sighed. “Okay, yes, I’m sleeping it Spike’s room. But he’s going to be watching for the portal, so….”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, B,” Faith said with a laugh. “I’ll be here if you need me.” She entered the last room and closed the door, still laughing.

She went back into the kitchen in time to see Angel and Spike glaring at each other.

“Did I miss something?”

“Why aren’t you sleeping like everyone else?” Angel demanded.

Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “You mean, why am I not sharing with Faith?”

“You need to rest.”

“We know that, you git,” Spike said. “She’s gonna use my bed and I’m gonna be outside watching the portal. Not that it’s any of your business,” he added with a snarl.

“I’ve still got this,” Buffy said, patting him on the arm. “Go watch for any messages from the other side. Jeannie said they were working on undoing the spell or glamour or whatever the hell it is keeping everything in here. Wake me up if you get anything.”

“Yes sir, ma’am,” he muttered, shooting another glare at Angel before leaving the room.

Buffy sighed and shook her head, gazing at Angel with a mixture of anger and affection.

“Look, we have a job to do here. And we need your help. Yours and Spike’s. You’re the experts on what’s going on. But if I have to waste a lot of energy keeping you two from fighting….”

Angel rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I doubt the Powers themselves could keep us from arguing. We’ve been doing it for over a century – any time we’re in the same place together. It doesn’t affect our ability to battle real enemies, and it doesn’t mean we don’t have each other’s backs.” He met her dubious expression with sad eyes. “Having you here makes a difference. I can’t pretend it doesn’t. But you’ve made it pretty clear who you’re here for, and I accept that. I do, really. I just don’t want to have to hear…. I don’t want to be in the same position Angelus put Spike in years ago. And I know he’s got every right to do that to me if he wants to.”

Buffy’s expression softened. “I love you, Angel. I do. I always will. But it’s the remains of a sixteen-year-old’s crush that has mellowed into friendship. What Spike and I have – twisted as it has been from time to time – is different. And more.” She sighed when he flinched. “Neither one of us is out to hurt you, no matter what Spike says or does when you’re listening. And we’ve got some issues to thrash out before we start ripping off each other’s clothes, so even if we end up sharing that bedroom sometimes, it’s going to be because we love each other and because together on a bed is where we were the last time we were together. It’s where we’re at peace.”

She got off the stool she’d been occupying during the uncomfortable conversation. “And just so you know?” she added as she walked towards the room Spike had shown her, “I’m here to save my city. You and Spike are just… what’s the word for collateral save-age?”

“Beneficiaries,” Angel muttered.

“Beneficiaries,” she repeated. “That works.” She went down the hall to Spike’s room and shut the door behind her. She briefly considered taking a shower, then shrugged and fell face down on the bed.





CHAPTER SIX

She was dreaming. Dreaming that she and Spike were back in her basement, stretched out together on his cot, arms around each other. In spite of the looming battle against the First, she felt secure and safe in his arms – odd, considering that she was expecting to take the brunt of the fighting herself.

“But he’ll have my back,” she mumbled, snuggling back against him. She blinked her eyes against a light much too bright to be her basement in Sunnydale. And yet, she would swear Spike was— “What are you doing?”

“Watching your back, according to you. Did you know you talk in your sleep?”

She turned over and looked up at his amused expression. “I do not.”

“Do too,” he said, rubbing his nose against hers before standing up. She noted that he was completely dressed, including his boots, whereas she had lost her boots and was now under a light blanket.

“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to see how tired you were and to keep everybody out until you woke up on your own. But if you mean, how long was I cuddled up to your back – I don’t know. Wasn’t planning to fall asleep with you, just rest for a bit, but I guess I did. We should probably see what’s going on now. One of the girls took over watching the portal for me when she caught me dozing off.”

Buffy nodded and sat up, happy to see that her boots were the only things missing from her wardrobe. She stretched, smiling when she caught him watching her. “See anything you like?” she teased, using one of his favorite questions when he’d catch her watching him get dressed.

“You know I do, you minx. Now get yourself out of that bed before I lock the door and say ‘to hell with saving the city’.”

“Okay, okay. I’m up.”

“Not the only thing that’s up,” he muttered, adjusting himself. “Not fair, Slayer. Here I am trying to be all responsible and patient, and—”

“Sorry.” She surprised them both. “Will it help if I tell you that you interrupted a dream I was having about sleeping – I mean actual sleeping, with snoring – with you before we took on the First and his army?”

“Maybe. Which one of us was snoring?”

“I’m not telling,” she said as she walked to the door. “We—” She broke off as she almost ran into Faith raising her hand to knock.

“Damn! I was hoping I’d be interrupting something,” she said, grinning at Spike. “Anyway, here’s the deal – Jeannie has called in some more magical help and they think they can bust this thing open. Seems like the original spell was a whooper, but it’s gone and all that’s left is the barrier and a glamour that makes everybody think they’re in a hell dimension.”

The three of them walked into the kitchen where there was clearly a council of war going on. In addition to the slayer squad, Jeannie was sitting on a stool, sipping tea and chatting with Angel.

“Nice of you to join us,” he growled, wincing when Faith flicked the back of his head.

“Play nice. Or I’ll tell everybody you weren’t awake either until just a few minutes ago.”

“Hi,” Buffy said, ignoring the by-play to greet Jeannie. “So, what’s going on?”

“Well, I finally got the help I wanted from some other witches, and found out that there probably are still some right here in LA. I would guess they’ve got their own glamours going so they blend in. I’d like to try to find them before we do anything, partly to see if they can help, and partly to keep you guys from killing them accidentally if they’re disguised as demons.”

“That makes sense. But how are you going to do it? It’s a big city.”

She put a small bag on the counter and poured some colored stones from it. “These will glow in the presence of magic. I was kind of hoping you could spread out around the city and use your stone to identify anyone who’s not what they seem to be.”

Buffy frowned. “I’m not sure I want to send my girls out there alone. They’ll stand out like sore thumbs.”

“Oh, no, I have these for them.” She brought up a larger bag full of colorful scarves. “These carry their own glamours, so as long as she keeps her scarf around her head or neck, each girl should look like some sort of minor demon. It won’t be much of a change – maybe pointy ears and a crest? Or a tail? Or wings? Something will change her appearance. And it won’t trigger the stones because they’ve come from the same source.”

“How cool! I want wings!” The slayers crowded around, looking at the scarves and wondering which one would give them the features they wanted.

“Okay. But I still want them to go in pairs. Just to be safe. And nobody isn’t back here by what passes for nighttime in this place. Got it?”

Jeannie passed out the scarves and stones to the girls, who stood around admiring each other’s new look. Sam got the wings, but was disappointed when they wouldn’t lift her off the ground. She gnashed the pointed teeth that were part of the disguise and growled. “Whoa! Was that me?”

“Yes it was.” Angel looked them over

CHAPTER SEVEN

As soon as Jeannie and Faith stepped outside, the portal opened, proving that those on the other side were monitoring it closely. They waved and stepped through. Buffy watched it wink out behind them, feeling Spike just at her back.

“We’ve got this,” she said without turning to look at him.

“Never doubted you would, love. Just didn’t have any way to let you know we needed you.” He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest, nuzzling her ear as he did so. “Have I mentioned how much I love you?”

“Not lately,” she muttered, leaning into him despite her tone, and tilting her head so he could run his lips down her neck.

“I should probably remedy that,” he murmured. “Find some way to remind you….”

Buffy enjoyed his attentions for a few minutes, then sighed and stood up straighter. “You should. But not now. We need to decide when we’re going, who’s coming with us.” She turned her head to meet his disappointed gaze. “It’s just going to have to wait till we’re out of here. Or at least in control of the city.”

He released her after giving a light squeeze and nodded his agreement.

“Do you think we can trust that sorcerer guy?”

Spike frowned. “Don’t really know him. He and Angel have a history of some sort, but it was before my time here. I think he’s genuinely worried about Selene. That may be all it takes to keep him on our side long enough to get the job done.”

“I hope so. I don’t want to go into this thinking I need to watch my back.”

“I’m watching your back, Slayer. Just like always.”

She smiled and him and patted his cheek. “I know that. But you might not see him coming either if you think he’s on our side.”

“Sadly true.”

“Let’s get inside and make sure everything’s under control in there.”

XXXXXXXXX

With nothing left to do but check weapons and wait for Faith and Jeannie to come back to tell them when the outside help would be ready to go, everybody wandered around looking for something to do to counteract the nervous energy. Angel and Anteres were in deep conversation, with occasional glances at Selene and her friends. Angel finally nodded and they shook hands in reluctant fashion. Angel’s flash of fangs at the end of the handshake make the sorcerer roll his eyes and shake his head in disgust.

“Looks like Angel added an extra something to that agreement,” Buffy said as they watched from the doorway.

“I told him that git isn’t going to do anything to risk his little red-headed sweetheart. Now, what happens after she’s all safe and what-not, that’s between them. Maybe she’ll tame him, maybe Angelus will have to send him back into hiding. But I think he’s safe enough to be around for now.”

“Do you want to go somewhere and spar?” Buffy asked abruptly.

“Wouldn’t be my first choice for working off the tension, but it could be my second,” he said with a sigh.

“The first choice might be more fun, but it would be embarrassing to get caught at it,” Buffy said, elbowing him in the ribs.

“My room has a lock on the door… I think.”

“Spike! I’m the leader. I can’t go sneaking off for a quickie just before a battle!”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on a quickie,” he grumbled, “but point taken, love. There’s a sparring area in what used to be a ballroom.”

“Let’s go, then.”

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy wasn’t really surprised to find two of the slayers also making use of the converted ballroom to work out and do some sparring. She watched them for a while, a smile on her face.

“They’re good, aren’t they?”

“Got the best for a teacher,” he said.

“I’m sure you were referring to me.” Faith’s laughter preceded her into the room.

Spike snorted. “Do I look stupid to you?”

“I probably shouldn’t answer that,” she said, still laughing. She turned to watch the two young slayers and nodded. “They are good. They’re probably ready to have their own squads when we get finished here.”

“I think so,” Buffy agreed, then straightened up from where she’d been leaning against the wall. “You’re back, so does that mean we’re ready to go?”

“Pretty much.” Faith gestured to the girls who had stopped working out and were looking their way. “They need about an hour to get all the slayers in position and the spell cranked up.”

“Okay then. Let’s go find this focus thingie and turn it into an empty space.”


XXXXX

True to his word, Anteres accompanied them to the Wolfram and Hart building and explained where he expected to find the focus of the spell. When they asked him how he knew, he shrugged.

“It was in my best interest to know where it was. It’s not like they were going to let me in there to do anything about it, but I needed to be sure I didn’t accidentally get too close to it and make somebody suspicious.” He met Buffy’s gaze firmly. “I’m almost as dishonest as the do-gooder over there thinks I am, but this is my home. It’s where the people I care about live. I don’t have it in me to betray or even refuse to help the people who are going to make it better. If I’d been able to do it myself, I’d have broken than barrier weeks ago.”

Buffy nodded at him. “We’re trusting you. If you’re lying…. might be a race to see who gets to you first.” She waved her hand around, encompassing Angel, Spike, Faith and herself.

“I’m well aware,” he said with a sigh. “Alright, here’s what I can do. I can throw glamours over the whole group. They won’t be perfect, but they should be good enough to get you into the building and to the sub-basement—”

“If we go in through the garage, we’re already half-way there,” Spike said. Anteres looked at him in surprise.

“You know the sub-basement?”

“Much better than I care to,” Spike said without explanation.

“Okay then. That’s a help. And yes, the garage would be the best way in. I’m not sure I can make the glamour hold long enough to get all the way through the lobby and into the elevators.”

“Garage it is.”

Spike led the way around the building to the garage entrance where there were a couple of vampires lounging near the opening. They peered at the guards from behind a big truck parked on the street.

“Glamours or stakes?”

“We don’t want them to have time to raise an alarm… but I don’t want to waste the magic….”

“Got it. Be right back.”

Spike swaggered up to the entrance, lighting a cigarette as he approached. The guards stood up, but didn’t seem perturbed.

“You can’t come in here,” one of them said.

“Are you sure? I used to work here. Know my way around pretty good. What can it hurt?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” The other guard began to growl as Spike continued to stroll toward them. “Get lost.”

Spike flicked his cigarette in the vampire’s face, and while that guard was batting at the sparks, he took the other one down with a leg sweep and staked him as he fell. By the time the first guard had figured out he wasn’t on fire, Spike was already pushing him toward Buffy who took his head off with her scythe.

Taking a quick look to ensure those were the only guards, he waved everybody else in and they ran toward the door into the building. Ignoring the elevators, they took the fire stairs down until they could go no further.

“Here we are. The bottom layer of hell.”

“Hell?” Faith raised an eyebrow at him.

“Close enough,” Spike said through tightly clenched teeth. “Close as I ever want to come.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there….” To Buffy’s surprise, it was Angel who shook his head at them.

“You don't want to hear it,” he said.

Spike ignored them while Buffy and Faith exchanged puzzled looks. Filing it away as something to ask Spike about later, Buffy waved them all through as she held the door open to a dark and dank hallway that did not look like it belonged in the very modern skyscraper above it.

When they were inside, Anteres began to chant as he raised his arms over them, slumping against the wall when he’d finished. One by one, they each began to resemble demons of one sort or another. Except for Spike and Angel, who went into game face without even thinking about it.

“What are we looking for?” Sam whispered.

“We’ll know it when we find it. Look for guards, locked rooms, things like that. When you think you might have it, beep everybody else. Don’t try to be a hero by yourself.”

With a nod, the slayers broke up into pairs and began exploring the corridors leading off the main hall. Buffy and Spike went their own way, leaving Angel and Faith and Anteres together.

“Do you know your way around here?” Anteres asked. Angel shook his head.

“Not like Spike does. I only know how to get to the cell area – and that from the elevators.”

XXXXXXXXXX

It was Buffy who first spotted the vampire guard sitting on the floor in front of a door that looked just like the others. Knowing he would be able to hear them whispering, she tugged Spike’s arm and they retreated out of vampire hearing distance.

“What do you think?” Buffy whispered.

“He’s not sitting there for the fun of it. And I doubt there’s anybody left in those cells. Probably all released when the demons took over.”

Buffy touched her communicator and sent a locations signal to the others. In a very short period of time, they were all quietly gathering in a side corridor.

“Are we still all disguised?”

Buffy looked around and sighed as she saw the glamours flickering. “Sort of?” She glanced at Anteres. “Can you give them a little boost?”

“I’ll try. But you need to be quick. Get the guard to open the door and get in there before he can see what you really are.” He began chanting again, then sagged against the wall. “That’s as good as it’s going to get,” he gasped. “Go!”

Buffy and Spike started down the hall, looking at a glance like a vampire and a small pink demon. They stopped when they got to the door, where the guard had stood up and was frowning at them.

“Who are you, and what are you doing down here? You’re not on the list.”

“Are you sure? Look again. William the Bloody? And Buffy the cute little demon?”

The vampire was looking at a clipboard when Spike grabbed his head and twisted it enough to break the neck, but not to rip it off. Buffy caught the clipboard before it could clatter to the floor while Spike frisked the vamp. He held up the key with a triumphant grin and shoved the immobile guard toward one of the approaching slayers. She ran a stake into the vamp’s chest without even looking at him.

Holding up a hand for quiet, Buffy carefully inserted the key in the lock and turned it. As she began to open the door, it was yanked out of her hand by large, muscular green demon of a kind she’d never seen.

“What the hell are you—” His question ended in a snarl as he took in the group of total strangers now fading from small demons into armed humans. Angel and Spike dropped their shoulders and hit the much larger demon hard enough to shove him back from the door, allowing Buffy and the other slayers to burst into the room.

Sitting in the center of the room was a glowing orb, a little smaller than a soccer ball, resting upon a cushion behind a small barrier. They all approached – except Spike and Angel who were busy trying to find a way to bring down something bigger and stronger than they were. Surrounding the harmless-looking fence, they stared at the object.

“Is that it? Doesn’t look like much.”

“Well, we need to be able to—hey!” The snarling, snapping, swearing trio of demons had managed to work their way across the floor and as the slayers watched with varying degrees of interest, they fell across the barrier and landed – big demon on bottom, vampires on top – on the object it was protecting. There was a loud popping noise and the guardian demon screamed. He threw the two vampires off his body and rolled to the side, bringing the still intact, but cracked focus stone with him.

One slice with Buffy’s scythe removed his head, and a simultaneous blow with Faith’s axe smashed the no-longer glowing globe into several pieces. The other slayers took turns smashing the pieces into much smaller ones while Buffy used her communicator to tell everyone listening – “It’s done. Let’s get this city free!”

After assuring themselves that the globe had been smashed into dust, which, just to be safe, Buffy scooped up some of, they all headed out the door to join the fight. Which didn’t require going very far as vampires and demons were coming down the corridor in large numbers.

“Okay, ladies. Time to earn our keep.” Faith led the charge into the unsuspecting demons, cutting a path through them to the hallway.

“Hey, Blondie. Which way do we go to get out of here?”

Spike forced his way through the melee of demons, vampires and slayers to the main hallway. “Left! Go left.”

With Buffy, Faith and the six young slayers laying about with axes and swords, and Spike leading, tearing through whatever got in his way, and Angel, surprisingly, helping Anteres who was still weakened from holding the glamours as long as he could, they made their way to the garage. Only to find it swarming with more demons.

“Wait here,” Spike growled, slipping through the door and making his way to an SUV. His snarl was enough to discourage a lesser demon who had also been heading for that vehicle, but it didn’t retreat quickly enough to prevent Spike from grabbing the key from his tentacles.

He roared up to the door, and as soon as everyone was mostly inside, he steered for the exits, mowing down whatever got in the way. As they pulled out, he let out a “yee haw!” and let the big vehicle fishtail down the street away from the building.

Rather than returning to the Hyperion, the slayers decided to get out and begin slaying the demons not smart enough to have figured out that their safe haven no longer was. Buffy and Faith elected to go with them, instructing Spike and Angel to make sure Jeannie and her witches were working to keep the barrier from being re-installed.

“I want to fight with you. Can’t watch your back from inside the hotel!”

“The spell is off, moron. There’s sun! Or didn’t you notice?”

“Oh. Right. Sun. Almost forgot what that was like.”

“You and Angel can hold down the fort. You can protect the witches, and be there if anybody comes from outside.”

“I’ll be there to protect the girls,” Anteres said, seemingly much recovered from his exhaustion.

“If you’re not back by sundown, I’m going to come looking for you,” Spike growled.

Ignoring Angel’s growl and Faith’s snicker, Buffy kissed his cheek. “You’re so sexy when you’re being bossy,” she whispered with a giggle, then somewhat louder, “I’ll be back when I’m back.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The squad of six slayers, led by Suzie, spread out in well-disciplined fashion, maintaining enough distance to cover a lot of ground, but not so much that a girl couldn’t get help if she needed it.

“Take out the ones you know for sure are evil first,” Faith instructed. “We can clean up the rest later.”

Buffy held her communicator to her ear for a second, then beamed. “The girls came through as soon as the barrier went down. They’ve already advanced several blocks in from the perimeter.” She sighed. “I would have loved to see that. The barrier drops and all of sudden there are slayers everywhere.”

“Yeah, it would have been wicked cool to see – all those girls just showing up before the demons even had time to figure out they weren’t living in evil-heaven anymore.”

“Okay, well we know where they are – more or less, why we don’t start hitting some buildings? If we find people hiding, we’ll just tell them to hang tight for a while longer, and if we find demons or vamps….”

“Adios, assholes.”

“Something like that.”


XXXXXXXXXXX

By the time real dusk was falling, a fairly large section of the center city had become almost demon-free, thanks to the forty slayers still hacking and slashing their way through. As soon as the sun was gone, Spike and Angel joined them only long enough to tell Buffy they had to check on something at the Wolfram and Hart building.

“Do you want me to come with you?” She frowned as they both shook their heads.

“No. Don’t want you anywhere near— No. We just need to check on a prisoner. Make sure he isn’t loose in the city.”

“I don’t think he could be. Even if those idiot demons let him out, he’s probably a real ghost again by now. He’s just as stuck in that building as you were. And I’m not sure even a demon would be stupid enough to let him out. ” Angel said, speaking only to Spike.

“Who?” Buffy was getting angrier by the second.

Spike put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. “Trust me?” he asked. When she nodded dubiously, he continued, “Just an old evil guy who was haunting the Wolfram and Hart building… He was… Well never mind that. Point is, Fred managed to find a way to make a ghost solid—” Buffy frowned again when Angel growled, but didn’t interrupt. “And Angel put him away in a cell. I imagine he’s starved to death or the ghostly equivalent by now. We just want to be sure he can’t get out and about. If I have to, I’ll blow up the whole bloody building to keep him there.”

“All right. Well, we’re heading for another demon-owned factory that has slaves. Use the communicator I gave you to find me when you’re done with whatever it is you don’t want slayer backup for.”

With a final offended sniff, Buffy walked down the street to liberate another group of humans. When they got to the new factory, they found word had already spread of their earlier prisoner releases and subsequent death of the business-owners. So as soon as they’d fought their way in, the humans were shoved toward them while their former masters beat a hasty retreat.

Similar things were happening all over the city as groups of slayers descended on demon-run businesses, destroying them completely and releasing all the human slaves. The gathering darkness was full of small groups of people, some with slayer escorts, finding their way out of the city or back to their homes.

Two squads of slayers were assigned to do nothing but take out the vampires now emerging into the darkness. Those that survived the slayers soon took themselves elsewhere. As the night wore on, more and more areas of the city had been taken back by the humans. Even in areas the slayers hadn’t reached yet, word of what was happening had reached the demons and they were either going down into the sewers or finding some other way to make themselves inconspicuous. Those that could, left the city for remote suburbs where they could get away from the vicious little girls with axes and swords now working their way through downtown Los Angeles, neighborhood by neighborhood.


XXXXXXXXX


It was getting closer to morning when Spike caught up with Buffy and assured her that Pavane was not going to be a problem for anyone.

“He was fading away. Couldn’t even curse at us as much as he wanted to. I’m pretty sure he was finally on his way to the hell he thought he could avoid by sending others in his stead. But just in case, we sealed off that section of the sub-basement. Took a while, but even if somebody goes looking down that corridor, they won’t notice that it ends with a wall that wasn’t there before.”

“Someday you need to tell me what that was all about.”

“Someday, I will. Now what’s going on out here? All the newbie slayers gettin’ the job done?”

“Seems like it. But I wish we could get the street lights back on somehow,” Buffy said. She pointed to a building that was well-lit on the inside. “It’s not like there’s no electricity. It just isn’t working out here. If we had streetlights going for us, we—”

Spike took her hand and turned her to face him. “You’re not going to fix it all in one day, love. When the sun comes up again, it’ll be safer for people to be out and about and someone will head for the switches that need throwing. The streets will have lights again soon. If not because of someone already here, then somebody from the power company outside.”

“There is no inside – outside anymore,” Buffy said.

“Kinda my point. Repairmen can fix whatever needs fixing, grocery stores can start receiving human food, and people from here can go wherever they want to eat or sleep. While you and your little army of slayers are snoozing during the day, things will be getting back to normal in here. Gonna take a while… and you’ll be busy at night, but the city’s on it’s way back.”

“Oh. Well then I guess…”

“Why don’t you let all these bloodthirsty little girls who had to wait outside get their fill of slays, and you come back with me to get some sleep?”

“You sure spend a lot of time worrying about how much rest I’m getting. A suspicious person might think you were trying to get me into bed.” She smirked at him.

He growled at her. “A blithering idiot would know that’s what I’m trying to do, Slayer. Suspicion has nothing to do with it.”

“So, you want our first time having—making love—in over two years to be in a hotel full of teenaged slayers? Not to mention Angel and Faith. I don’t know about you, but that thought isn’t making me all tingly.”

“Good point, love. We need a plan B, then.”

“Which is?”

“I’m working on it. Meantime, let’s start heading back, just in case I don’t come up with anything.”

“How about something like that?” Buffy pointed at a house with a “For Sale” sign in the yard. “If nobody lives there…”

“Taking over an abandoned house. I like it. It has historical resonance.”

“Historical what-a-nance?”

“I mean, love,” he said as he opened the door and pulled her inside. “That it won’t be the first night we’ve spent in a deserted house that doesn’t belong to us. Not even the second.”

“Oh. No, it won’t, will it?”

“Happier circumstances this time, though.”

“Much happier.” She raised her face for the kiss she knew was coming. “Much, much happier,” she murmured against his mouth.

Buffy sank into the kisses she hadn’t been willing to admit she missed after she’d told Spike using him to make herself feel was killing her. Even as close as they became during that last awful year in Sunnydale, she’d kept a tight rein on her libido, telling herself that Spike was just a very, very close friend and his newly-souled emotions were very fragile. He was someone she cared about, but not someone she needed or wanted a physical relationship with. It hadn’t been that hard to do, with everything else that was going on around them, and the lack of sleep and general exhaustion. It had been easy to believe she didn’t love him in a romantic way. That sleeping in his arms was enough for both of them.

The “I love you” that popped out when she’d realized she was watching him die, caught her as much by surprise as it did him. The moment she said it, she realized the truth of it, but it was too late to do anything but try to get out safely and have herself the life he was buying with his. And if, during the time she’d thought he was gone forever, she’d had the occasional dream in which those lips were on hers — and on other parts of her anatomy, if she was being honest — she was able to push them away in the daylight, refusing to dwell on the fact that they were gone forever.

Except they weren’t gone forever. They were here, and kissing her until the only things holding her up were the strong arms banded around her body. Her own arms tightened around his neck and she pulled him close so hard he grunted.

“Never. Never thought… never…”

As if he knew exactly what she was trying to say, he added his strength to hers until their bodies were almost one. “Thought I’d never see you again. Never hold you, kiss you, taste you, smell you…. Missed this more than you’ll ever know, Buffy.”

“Don’t ever die again. Don’t leave me like that.”

“Right back at you, love.”

They loosened their embrace, allowing Buffy to pull some air into her lungs. Spike rested his forehead against hers.

“I love you, Buffy Anne Summers. Never want to be anywhere but by your side forever.”

“If I tell you I love you, will you believe me this time?”

“I… I believed you, sweetheart. I knew you meant it as you said it. But I just thought it was a time and place sort of thing, and was too cowardly to face you and find out you regretted it.”

“So you let me grieve all year….” She stiffened and almost pulled away as she remembered why she was mad at him. “If you were smart, you’d start kissing me again,” she said. “You need to remind me why I’m not making you grovel at my feet.”

“Got a better idea,” he said, stepping away, but pulling her with him. “Why don’t we find the master bedroom, and I’ll do my best to make you forget what a wanker I was.”

The master bedroom turned out to be quite large and nice, and with a big master bath attached to it. They looked at the large shower area, at each other’s dirty, smelly, and bloody clothes and hair, and grinned.

Spike turned on the water and shed his coat and boots while he waited for it to get nice and warm. He watched Buffy kick off her boots, then pulled her into the shower stall, clothes and all. Her indignant squeal wasn’t serious as she stood under the water and let it pour over her head. While she was enjoying the sensation of her first hot shower in several days, she could feel Spike beginning to remove her clothing. After he removed each piece, he kissed his way all over the exposed skin before moving on to another one. Removing her bra slowed him down a bit, as he felt he needed to suck on each nipple multiple times, egged on by Buffy’s contented moans.

Eventually, he undid her jeans and began to push them down her legs, surprised when she stopped him.

“Wait,” she said, tugging on his tee shirt until she could pull it over his head. “That’s better!”

They paused in their undressing to do more kissing, oblivious to the hot water pouring over them as they felt skin against skin for the first time in years. When Spike was having no success pushing Buffy’s now-wet jeans off while still pressed against her, he sighed and reluctantly pulled away long enough to drop to his knees and tug her jeans and underwear all the way down. Buffy lifted one foot at a time to help him get them off. No sooner was that done than he was kneeling in front of her again, his face pressed against her abdomen, her hands clutching his hair.

“Spread your legs, love,” he rasped. “Got to… want to taste you now.”

“Don’t you want to….” she gasped, even as she obeyed his directions.

“Do. Will. But I’ve missed this so much….”

He buried his face as far into her as he could without knocking her down, nuzzling, sniffing and licking everywhere he could. With an impatient growl, he lifted her up far enough that he could get his mouth where he wanted it, and he held her there, mewling with need, as he worked her into a frenzy. When she cried out and her legs clenched around him, he slowly let her down, taking care to hang on until she was able to stand on her own feet again.

As soon as he could, he got to his feet and tried to remove his own pants, also soaked and uncooperative. With Buffy’s help, he finally got them down his legs and tried to shake them off.

“Lie down!” she ordered.

Grateful for the oversized shower stall, he complied, leaning back on his elbows and letting the water stream over him while she tugged his uncooperative pants off his feet and threw them away. Buffy crawled toward him on her hands and knees, pausing to give his swollen cock an appreciative lick before she moved forward to hover over him.

“I love you, William the Bloody,” she said, as she leaned in to kiss him, putting her body against his and making them both whimper with unfulfilled need. She slid back far enough to lower herself onto him, settling in place with a soft sound of appreciation. His hissed “yes!” complimented her moan and they remained still for a few seconds, just enjoying the sensation of being intimately connected again. The water continued to pour over them, unnoticed as they began to move together.

The years of pent-up desire meant they took very little time to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion, and as Buffy collapsed on his chest, she noticed that the water was no longer as warm and welcoming as it had been when they started. With a shiver, she sat up again, smiling when he automatically pushed his hips up, already growing hard within her.

“Let’s get out of here and dry off,” she suggested. “Just hold that thought until we make it to the bed.”

Buffy got off, whimpering a little when his cock slid out of her, but getting to her feet quickly and stepping out of the now-cold stream of water. With a sigh, Spike also got to his feet and turned the faucets off. By the time he’d joined her on the oversized thick bathmat, she was holding out soft towels. They dried each other off with great efficiency to start, slowing down as they found places that needed more rubbing.

Buffy turned her back, and as if they hadn’t been apart at all, Spike began to dry her hair as he’d done for her several times years ago, before it had occurred to her she was letting him be too caring and intimate. Neither of them mentioned those times, and when it was as dry as he could get it, and he’d combed it out as best he could with his fingers, he pulled her back against his chest.

Holding her in place with one powerful arm, his other hand explored the front of her body while he nibbled on her neck and pressed into her from behind.

“Bed,” Buffy gasped, as her knees began to weaken again. Without responding verbally, he scooped her up and carried her to the bed, falling backward upon it so that she was again atop his body, squirming around and raising her face for kisses. He rolled them over and slid back into her, smiling as her hips rose to meet him.

“Hang on to your hat, Slayer. We’ve got a lot of wasted time to make up for.”

“Bring it, vampire.” She wrapped her arms and legs around him, pinning him in place. “Bring it on.”

And he did. Repeatedly. Until they both fell asleep sometime in the early afternoon.



CHAPTER NINE

They awoke, after dark, to the sound of Buffy’s communicator buzzing angrily.

“Uh oh,” she said, yawning and stretching. “I think we’re in trouble.”

“May as well stay here in hiding then,” he said, pulling her down on top of him.

Just then, his own communicator went off and he groaned. Buffy giggled and ran to the bathroom to fetch the noisy little devices from the floor where they’d left them.

“Here,” she said, handing his to him. “You talk to Angel. I’ll answer Faith.”

With a sigh, he touched the screen. “What do you want?” he growled, making no attempt to hide his bare chest.

“I want to know where the hell you two are!” Angel snarled. “And why you didn’t report in with everybody else.”

“Didn’t want to,” Spike said and flicked the device off.

Buffy had answered her own communicator and heard Faith say, “I told you they weren’t coming back today, asshole. Leave them alone.”

“Hi?” Buffy said, bringing Faith’s attention back to her.

“Sorry, B. Somebody’s being a jerk about what he knows perfectly well is why you and Blondie ran off together.” She sighed and continued, “But it is almost time to head back out. I’ve got the girls doing shifts – half of them are here resting while the other half are doing cleanup and moving across the city. And then they’ll switch. We should be able to have things in pretty decent shape in another few days.”

Buffy nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks, Faith. Tell tall, dark, and nosy that we’ll be back soon. We didn’t run away together, just decided not to get our sleep in a crowded hotel.”

“It’s all good. See you when you get here.”

Buffy said goodbye and flopped back on the bed. “Don’t,” she said when Spike reached for her. “I have to get back to work.”

“Know that, love. Wasn’t planning to start anything time consuming… unless you’d like to?” he interrupted himself to ask hopefully. When she shook her head, he nodded. “I just wanted to start the day with a kiss and a cuddle.”

Buffy gave him a quick peck, then jumped to her feet. “Kiss yes, cuddle no.” She went into the bathroom to see if the clothes they’d hung up on the towel warmer at some point during the day when they’d taken a break from their non-stop love making to remember they had to wear those clothes again, were dry. To her surprise, they almost were. Not dry enough to be really comfortable, but dry enough to put on to return to the Hyperion.

“Let’s go,” she said, tossing his pants and shirt to him.

“Bossy bitch,” he muttered, smiling as he said it. Buffy just smiled back at him and began to dress.

XXXXXXXXX

They strolled to the Hyperion, pausing occasionally to look into any businesses that had been demon-run. Only once did they find one containing anything alive. The almost human looking woman (if you ignored the tail and the horns) was working in a small café called “Lola’s”. Before they could throw her out, the human owner ran up and put her arm around the cowering demon.

“Leave her alone!” she demanded. “She’s the only reason I still have a business left to run. She let me hide in the basement while she kept the restaurant going. She works here. And Fiona will have that job as long as she wants it.”

The angry woman faced off against Spike and Buffy as if backing down armed slayers and vampires was something she did every day. Buffy looked at her with newly aware eyes, then glanced at Spike for confirmation. At his nod, Buffy smiled.

“If you say so,” she said. “We slayers have to stick together.”

“I’m not a slayer,” the woman muttered, still protecting her friend from them.

“You were probably too old when we did the spell,” Buffy agreed. “You’d aged out. But you’ve got ‘former potential’ all over you. I’ll bet anything you’re stronger and faster than most human women, and you’re obviously braver.”

The woman didn’t reply, but the demon nodded at them. “She is. She’s brave and strong and takes care of others.”

“There you have it,” Spike said with a grin. “Slayer to the core.” He let his grin fade. “We’ll tell the others, but just in case, you should probably keep her out of sight for a while.”

“I’m going back into the kitchen where I belong,” Fiona said. “Running this place is much too stressful for me. I’m a cook, not a boss.”

“Nobody will see her,” Lola said. “They never noticed her before, and they won’t notice her now. She’s worked here for years. We just had to switch places for a while.”

“Good job,” Buffy said, her smile including both of them. “Sorry to give you a scare.”

“Have a nice day, ladies,” Spike added as he followed Buffy out of the building. His ears picked up the conversation behind them.

XXXXXXX

“Did we just meet a real slayer and a real vampire?” Lola said, forgetting that, as a demon, Fiona had met plenty of vampires.

“I’ve got a feeling that was more than just a slayer and a vampire. I think I know who that vampire is, and the power coming off that slayer was enough to knock me to my knees without her raising a hand to me. I think we just met Spike – one of the two vampires that were trying to help people before and after the battle.” Fiona frowned as she remembered that the two vampires may have had something to do with causing the event itself, then shrugged it off. “I’m not sure who his girlfriend is, but I’ll bet you she’s somebody special.”

“Well, I’m glad they found us rather than one of the other slayers running around the city.”

“Me too. But just in case, I’m going back to the kitchen. You’re on your own out here.” Fiona gave Lola a grin and retreated to the out-of-sight kitchen where she’d reigned since Lola hired her several years ago.

“Coward,” Lola said, but she smiled. “But smart.” She went back to organizing the tables and making notes of what items needed replacing before she could open for business.

XXXXX

Spike’s laughter made Buffy frown at him. “Were you eavesdropping?”

“Was. Couldn’t help it. You’ll be happy to know the demon bint recognized me, and figured you for both my girlfriend and somebody a bit more special than just another slayer.”

Buffy nudged him with her arm. “Which of those came first? Girlfriend or special slayer?”

“Does it matter? I can tell you which one is most important to me…” He reached one arm around her shoulders.

“I guess it doesn’t,” she agreed, letting him pull her into his side. They finished the walk to the Hyperion side-by-side, shoulders brushing occasionally.

XXXXXXX

Several days later, things at the Hyperion had settled into a routine and the non-active slayers were becoming restless. They’d taken to hitting all the shopping areas and malls, “just in case there are demons hiding there” they assured Buffy and Faith who rolled their eyes, but let it go.

The city was gradually returning to normal, the surprisingly large number of humans that had remained safely hidden emerging to go back about their business, the ones who’d been blocked out by the spell coming back to retake possession of their homes or businesses, and the ones who’d been trapped inside, returning to their friends and families in the unaffected neighborhoods.

“Can you imagine how long this would be taking if that spell had covered the whole of Los Angeles and not just the center of the city?” Buffy shook her head. “I’m not sure we have enough trained slayers to have cleaned that up. Half of them aren’t even old enough to drive, and in LA that’s just….”

“Yeah. We’d have to be running a shuttle service to get them around.” Faith peered at Spike. “Although your honey there makes a decent bus driver, he could probably—”

Spike snarl interrupted her comment, but couldn’t prevent her laughter. Still laughing, Faith said, “Jeannie heard from Giles. She said he wondered how long we were going to stay here.”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “Until we’re damn good and ready not to,” she said.

“That’s pretty much what I told her to say,” Faith snorted. “But we do need to think about how to wrap this up.”

Buffy nodded. “I’m thinking we leave two squads here to continue cleanup and discourage any ideas the vamps or demons might have about trying for a comeback. We can decide later how many slayers we should put here permanently.”

“I—we—can handle our own city now,” Angel growled, waving at Spike who exchanged a quick look with Buffy.

“About that….” Spike began, frowning when Angel cut him off.

“So that’s how it’s going to be? Buffy comes waltzing in here – like she couldn’t be bothered doing when your hands were cut off – and you’re just going to leave with her,” Angel sneered in a way that reminded a shocked Buffy of Angelus. “I guess I can’t expect anything else from somebody who brags about being Love’s Bitch. You’re obviously Buffy’s bitch.”

While everyone in the room gaped at him with varying degrees of surprise and dismay, he snarled and stomped out of the room to his office, where he slammed the door behind him.

Spike made a sound somewhere between a growl and a sigh, clearly not sure how to take Angel’s anger and accusations. Buffy, who had initially flinched when Angel mentioned Spike’s hands, was now glaring in her former boyfriend’s direction with eyes that didn’t bode well for his continued existence. Spike reached for her hand and pulled her toward him.

“Didn’t mean to speak out of turn, love. But if you think I’m not sticking as close to you as I can from now on….”

“You weren’t speaking out of turn. I mean, I know we haven’t talked about it yet, but I wasn’t planning to leave you here. Not without me.”

“Looks like Angel hadn’t thought that far ahead. Maybe I should go talk to him.”

“I think I should go talk to him. I thought we’d settled all this when we first got here. He can’t tell me who I can see.”

“I think you should both stay here and let me drag him into the real world.” Faith shook her head at them. “It’s less likely to get bloody.”

“I did tell you he was yours to beat up,” Buffy said with a sigh. “But he can’t talk to Spike like that. Like he’s some kind of minion or something and I’m a—”

Faith and Spike exchanged looks. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on, Buffy,” Spike said softly. Faith nodded her head.

“He knows how you feel about Spike, and how Spike feels about you. I think this more about how he feels about Spike, and knowing he’s going to be losing all that’s left of his family here. He’s having a tantrum, but I can guarantee you right about now he’s wishing he hadn’t said those things.”

“That’s why I should talk to him,” Spike insisted. “It’s me he’s brassed off at for wanting to leave.”

“You’ll just get into a fight. I’ve got this. You two can go for a walk. Plan your happy-ever-after or something.”

A dubious Buffy and Spike allowed Faith to push them out the door into the just darkening night. By mutual agreement, they got into the SUV that was parked by the loading dock and drove off to see what was going on in the city. When they found no pockets of demons to harass, Spike steered the car out of the city and up to the hills above it. He parked in one of the overlooks, and settled back against the seat, pulling Buffy over beside him.

“Are we parking?”

“Might be. If you’re not afraid to be alone in a car with the Big Bad.”

“Are we gonna make out?”

“Oh yeah. That we are.”

“Okay then.” She settled into his side and joined him in taking in the view.

As Spike had predicted that first night, most of the outside lighting and street lamps had been fixed or turned on by now, and they stared out over the lights of greater LA.

“Penny for your thoughts, love,” he said.

“I was thinking how this should all feel more familiar than it does. I mean, other than Sunnydale, this is where I spent most of my life until just last year. But it doesn’t really feel like… I dunno. It’s not like I need to be here. It’s nice to visit, but…”

“So where are we gonna go? Back to Rome? Or Merrie Olde?”

“I was thinking… there’s a hellmouth in Cleveland. We stopped there on our way back to England, but we didn’t leave anybody on it. It’s not much. Nothing like Sunnydale’s, but it is a hellmouth and, you know, things happen there.”

“Things that might require the presence of the world’s best slayer and her bitch?”

Buffy stiffened. “That’s not—” He stopped her with a languid kiss that lasted long enough for her to forget her indignation.

“I know that, love. Was just yanking your chain. But I am yours. Make no mistake about it. Where you go, I go. If that makes me your bitch, I can live with that.”

“That makes you my partner,” she said. “Or my boyfriend, my lover, or my… whatever.”

“I can do whatever,” he said, nuzzling the side of her neck. “How about I do all of those things?”

“Can you do them in Cleveland?”

“If that’s where you want to be. Maybe it’ll turn out to be a nice place to retire. Just enough activity to keep us from getting bored, not so much that anybody’s likely to have to die to fix it.”

Buffy shuddered against him. “Never again. Neither one of us.”

“That would be the plan.”