Chapter 8
by Diabola
Beta'd by AmyB and Always_jbj
It had been three days since Buffy had made the decision to have Angelus’ soul restored, and so far things seemed to be running smoothly. Giles and Dalton had the resouling ritual mostly prepared, although they were playing their cards very close to their tweed vests, and all that now remained to be done was enlisting Jenny's help in translating the portion that included the original curse into Romanian so it would fit with the spell as they had constructed it.
Buffy and Spike had used the time to get to know each other better, and were finding that the connection that they shared ran far deeper than just the shared strain of the situation or the undeniable physical attraction between them. Even so, it was becoming increasingly difficult to honor their promises to themselves and to Joyce and stop themselves before their make-out sessions became much more. So far they had managed to be good, though there were some encounters that had been very close to the line.
So yes, things in the past few days had been good, and now it was Buffy's mother, of all people, who decided to throw a wrench into the works. Joyce had announced earlier in the day, quite calmly and in a tone which clearly indicated that arguments would not be tolerated, that they would be having a dinner guest. More specifically, they were expecting a male dinner guest—someone that she wanted Buffy, and consequently Spike, to meet.
Buffy was beyond annoyed. Couldn't her mother see that this was not a good time to bring anyone home? With all that was going on right now—with her daughter's vampire boyfriend living in the basement and her crazy unsouled ex and his nutso childe running loose? What was she thinking?
But Joyce had been unwilling to listen to any of her daughter's arguments, going so far as to pretend not to hear any words that went against her plans. So now Buffy and Spike were grudgingly setting the table, preparing to play normal family for her mom's new boyfriend Ted; Buffy was just certain that this would go well….not!
The others were supposed to join them after dinner; even in her euphoria over having her new man meet her daughter, Joyce still seemed to realize that having them spend the whole evening alone might not be the best idea.
As far as Joyce was concerned, the meeting went over beautifully. Ted seemed to take an instant liking to her daughter and after a few confused questions as to the reasons for Spike's presence in the house – which she had forgotten to explain beforehand – he seemed to believe the cover story that Joyce had concocted and even complimented her on her kindness in harboring the poor young man during his search for a new apartment.
Had she been more aware of Buffy's mood instead of being wrapped up in her boyfriend's attentions, the older Summers might have had a different opinion of the introduction of her suitor to her daughter. The Slayer had taken an instant dislike to the man her mother brought home, although she couldn’t exactly say why. Buffy was unable to explain her strong feeling of animosity, other than to assume that they came from a sense of jealousy and the feeling that he might take her mom's attention away from her. Deciding that those reasons were selfish, Buffy had tried her best to ignore them and the nagging sensation that something more than jealousy was wrong with this picture.
Spike had remained unusually silent throughout the meal, and it seemed like he had tried his best to appear as though everything was comfortable and completely normal. As soon as he and Buffy managed to spend some alone time however, he confided in his girlfriend that he believed that there might something be wrong with the man.
Relieved that she might have been right, and especially relieved that she really hadn’t been channeling her inner spoiled brat, Buffy had eagerly latched onto the vampire’s suspicions and explained her own worries. She only had a vague feeling that something was wrong; however, she started really fearing the implications when Spike mentioned that there seemed to be something off about Ted's smell.
While she had first feared that being the Slayer might enable her to somehow sense any bad intentions that the new man in her mother's life might be harboring, it now seemed that he might not even be human. Had they inadvertently invited a demon into their house? Could Angelus have sent him? Buffy was terrified by the implications of what Spike seemed to be suggesting.
Spike, however, was certain that whatever was off didn’t make the man any sort of demon. He patiently explained that while the man didn't smell right, he did have a heartbeat, which ruled out vampire and a few other major species of demon; also, Spike was absolutely certain that if he was a demon, it was a species that even Spike on all of his travels had never encountered.
Unsure what to do about their suspicions; the two blondes decide to talk the matter through with Willow and Giles once they arrived. The fact that Xander would once again be present went mostly ignored, as neither Buffy nor Spike were quite ready to forgive the boy yet. Despite the continuing hostility between the three, however, Willow's begging had made them agree to welcoming him back into their midst—but only on the condition that he remain as far from Spike as possible. The distance was absolutely necessary to keep the vampire from attacking the boy; while Buffy wouldn’t have minded a little bit of bloodshed, she knew that now was not the time.
The blonde couple was extremely surprised to return inside and find the Slayer's friends amiably chatting with Ted and Joyce in the living room; this surprise, however, in no way compared to their shock at the hostility they faced once they got the gang alone and voiced their suspicions about the new man.
Buffy had believed that at least Giles, as Buffy's Watcher, would put more trust in her “spidey senses” than in some stranger's word. But it wasn’t just her word that Giles should trust; surely the man would be aware enough of a vampire's superior senses to realize that, if Spike claimed something was off about Ted's smell, it should at least be investigated. Instead, the Watcher blatantly ignored the vampire’s warning and just smiled bemusedly at his Slayer before dismissing her entirely.
Xander couldn't keep himself from grinning gloatingly at the pair, an act that earned him a sharp kick in the shins from Willow. The redhead seemed to be the only one of the Scoobies to at least listen to Buffy and Spike's worries, though even she clearly thought they were overreacting; she was just far nicer about it than Xander and Giles had been.
Frustrated by her friends’ unwillingness to take them seriously, Buffy finally grabbed Spike and dragged him back into what she now deemed “their” basement. They'd just have to figure out a way to make sure Ted was not a threat to her mother on their own.
The next day at school, Buffy tried once again to convince Willow of the possibility that Ted might not be what he seemed to be while simultaneously ignoring Xander's continued bitching about Spike; just as she was about to throw up her hands and walk away in extreme frustration, Ted himself suddenly appeared behind her.
Buffy forced herself to put on a friendly face while listening to his explanation about being there to update some software – as if she was interested in what he was doing? Please. She was pulled out of her distracted mental ramblings by shock, however, when he suggested playing a game of mini-golf “as a family” in the afternoon when she had finished school.
"What? No. Didn't you hear mom explain about William's sun allergy? Don't you think it'd be a bit unfair to invite everyone somewhere he can't go?"
Noticing that Xander was about to once again lay into her friend about what he saw as her poor choice of boyfriends, Willow hastily declared that she wanted to take the software updates that Ted had brought to Miss Calendar right away. Jumping up, she grabbed Xander by the hand and dragged the unwilling boy away before he could start another fight. On the way inside the school, as Xander struggled against her grip on his hand, she realized that she really needed to have another talk with her oldest friend before his prejudice and jealousy destroyed any chance he had for reconciliation with the Slayer.
Once the two teens left, Ted's demeanor changed instantly and he became just as menacing as he had been friendly only moments before.
"Listen, young lady—this guy you’ve decided is your boyfriend. He's creepy, he’s way too old for you, and this illness of his? No family should be burdened with someone like that. I don't understand why your mother puts up with him, or why she hasn’t knocked some sense into you, but I can assure you that I won't have him under my roof much longer."
Stunned, Buffy just stared at Ted for long moments, amazed that after only just meeting her mother he not only dared to insult Spike but presumed that he had the right to decide who would or would not be welcome in her house.
As soon as she found her voice, Buffy spoke up angrily. "How dare you! You don't get to decide who I can see, or who my mom can invite into OUR house. You… you…."
Too angry for words, the blonde Slayer finally turned and stomped off, leaving the older man standing alone and fuming in the corridor.
Oh, the little bitch thought she could get prissy with him? He'd show her—no one spoke to Ted Buchanan in that way! Least of all a woman!
Buffy’s fury carried her all the way through the school and directly to the door of the library, determined that she would finally convince her Watcher that they needed to keep an eye on Ted. Unfortunately, her attempts ended with another dismissal as soon as she brought up Ted’s comments about Spike; Giles this time gave her a cold glare rather than a patronizing smile and told her in no uncertain terms that he agreed with Ted on the issue of Spike being allowed to remain under Joyce’s roof. Feeling defeated, Buffy was more than glad to return home; at least there she had one person who not only listened to her worries but actually agreed with her.
Sadly, besides attacking the man and forcing him to tell them the truth, the only plan that she and Spike had been able to come up with involved trying to trick Ted into cutting himself; the best they could hope for was a sample of his blood that Spike could taste. The vampire was completely confident that he would be able to taste anything unhuman that was present in the blood. It wasn’t exactly the best plan, a fact of which they were both painfully aware; for once they were going to have to rely on luck and had to hope that he would fall into their trap and injure himself. That was stressful enough, but the taste test wasn’t foolproof, either; while Spike was sure he could identify demon blood, nothing they gained would be of any use if Ted wasn't a demon—if he was an evil human.
To the Slayer's great relief, her mother sided with her when she declined the invitation to the afternoon out under the pretense of needing to stay home with Spike. She was more than a bit shocked, though, when she realized that Ted had not only invited her mother and her friends on his little “happily family” outing, but her Watcher, too. The two men seemed unusually chummy for people who had met only the day before, and she was instantly uncomfortable with what seemed to be their budding friendship. She would have been even more worried had she known that the two of them had bonded over their mutual hatred for her vampire; however, realizing that he would still need to be careful around the Englishman, Ted had been careful to keep his low opinion of Buffy to himself.
As soon as the others left, the two blondes snuck out and started their own investigation into Ted. Using the sewers, they managed to make their way to his workplace; unfortunately, besides the shocking revelation that he seemed to have been planning to marry her mother in less than two months and the fairly useless fact that he was great at his job, their investigation proved unsuccessful.
Buffy wanted to bring up the question of marriage during dinner that night, but Spike stopped her, reminding her that if Ted was indeed a demon using some sort of thrall on the others, any abrupt mention of a question so incriminating made in her mother's presence might endanger Joyce even more. Besides, he reasoned, seeing that Buffy was still on the verge of argument, why should they admit to snooping around until they had been able to find some sort of proof.
Buffy finally saw the logic in her vampire's argument and agreed to keep silent; she didn't even try to interfere in the date her mother had with Ted the next day. Her mother didn’t need to know that she and Spike had planned to take a look at Ted's home the next day; if anything, the date helped because they could be certain that he'd be out of the house.
While Buffy was relieved that the burglary she and Spike were planning had become much less risky, she was still worried for Joyce's safety. After a fair amount of argument, during which Spike repeatedly pointed out how useless the solution really was, the two blondes agreed that Buffy should talk her watcher into coming over the next day to watch out for Joyce. He seemed to be becoming fast friends with Ted; despite his unwillingness to listen to their suspicions, however, they felt that he would surely be willing to spend the day with the other two adults. If Buffy got desperate, she thought to herself, she could always suggest that he could invite Jenny Calendar along so that the adults could have a day off from the teens.
Buffy was surprised when Miss Calendar agreed that she should try to find out more about Ted since the man was apparently coming on far too strong, and she was even more surprised when the older woman agreed to help her convince Giles that he should visit Joyce and her boyfriend during the afternoon. The computer teacher even promised to try and get through to the watcher in the hopes of making him understand that using a bit more caution in his approach to the volatile situation couldn't hurt.
Thus assured that her mother would be safe for the day, Buffy went home quickly, only to leave once more with Spike through the sewers as soon as the adults had arrived.
It didn't take the two blondes long to make their way to the address they had gotten from Ted's colleague, and with Spike's skills in breaking and entering they were soon inside the man’s supposed apartment. The fact that Spike could enter without an invite was telling, and they now knew for certain that they were definitely dealing with something more—or less—than human.
Surprisingly it seemed to be more of a workshop than a living space, but that strange observation was soon forgotten when they discovered no less than four marriage licenses bearing Ted's name, the oldest dated 1957. This discovery only supported their suspicions that he was a demon; a human of Ted's age would have still been a child back then.
As he looked around for some clue as to what kind of demon Ted might be, Spike's keen hearing enabled him to notice the hollow sounds made as Buffy walked across the room. Interest piqued, the vampire rolled back the carpet that the Slayer had just been walking across; both were intrigued to discover a hidden trapdoor.
After the two had made their way down the stairs, Buffy took in the creepy décor while Spike instantly followed the easily recognizable smell of decay to a door at the back of the room. Opening it, he stared in shock at the four more or less decayed corpses hanging like dresses in what appeared to be a simple closet. The bodies themselves wouldn't have disturbed him so much— after all, he had spent a century as a vampire with Drusilla and had seen far more than his share of corpses in all stages of decay. Hell, after Dru, it didn't even seem all that crazy to find them hanging in the closet like dresses. It wasn’t the bodies at all, but the fact that all four women bore a close resemblance to Joyce, that compelled the vampire to slam the door shut and rush the Slayer back towards her house as quickly as possible.
As soon as she heard her boyfriend's description of what he had seen in the closet, Buffy took off at Slayer speed. The vampire followed hard on her heels as they tore through the long-since darkened streets of Sunnydale.
They both allowed their pace to slow as they approached the house, seeing the lights ablaze and breathing sighs of relief that its occupants still seemed to be inside. However, their relief was to be short-lived; immediately upon entering they discovered that only Giles was present in the living room of an otherwise empty house.
"What… what is going on here, Giles? Where is my mom? Where are Ted and Miss Calendar? Didn't you hear me or Miss Calendar tell you that Ted might be dangerous? I asked you to look out for my mom! Where is she, dammit? Giles!"
Annoyed that his Slayer had begun to ignore his advice since she had begun her relationship with the despicable vampire currently standing next to her, Giles didn't even bother to show her the respect of standing while he addressed her. Instead, he remained seated and explained calmly that Jenny had found it necessary to leave early so that she could finish her work on the translation with Dalton, while Ted had wanted to show Joyce his apartment. Aware of the ridiculousness of Buffy and Spike's accusations, he had seen no reason to stop them.
"God, Giles! How could you?! This guy has the corpses of his four ex-wives stashed away in his basement closet, and they all look like mom. And you let him leave with her after I specifically told you there was something wrong with him?! After I told you that Spike said he doesn't even smell human?! If something happens to my mom, Giles, you are going to find out the VERY hard way just how much I've been holding back during training!"
"Leave it, Slayer. We have to go get your mum—you can deal with this arrogant prick later."
Spike's urgently-spoken words finally shook the furious Slayer out of her anger at her Watcher's actions, and without another word to the stunned man the two blondes hurried back to Ted's apartment.
Refusing this time to waste any of their precious time in attempts at stealth, the couple crashed through the front door hurriedly; upon seeing the open trapdoor, they allowed their fear to move them, throwing caution to the wind and jumping down.
The picture that greeted them was sickening, even to the worldly eyes of the vampire. Joyce had been shackled to the floor, and Ted seemed to be draining her blood from her. Screaming in fury, Buffy attacked the man while Spike rushed to Joyce’s side and tried to stop the bleeding.
It was funny that knowing and caring for a person made the thought of tasting their blood so unappetizing, Spike thought absently as he carefully set about removing the collection of tiny needles that marred her flesh. He was certainly still drooling at the thought of tasting his Slayer, but for the first time his brain consciously made the distinction between tasting Buffy for the pleasure of the experience and tasting the blood of a person he cared about when the blood had been shed in a way that endangered their life.
Having removed all of the needles from Joyce's veins and bound her wounds, Spike started working on the shackles that were presently holding her down, finding them fairly easy to remove with his enhanced.
While Spike guarded Joyce and treated her wounds, Buffy fought Ted; at least now she knew that he was most definitely not human, since he seemed to be almost as strong as her. The mystery of what exactly he was was solved when an especially vicious kick from the Slayer sent him careening into the wall, smashing the side of his face into a bookshelf along the way. The impact tore open his cheek; instead of blood and ripped flesh, Buffy saw metal and wires. The guy was a freakin’ robot?!
Stunned by her discovery, the blonde Slayer missed her opponent’s charge and ended up flying across the room, landing in a heap next to the vampire protectively crouched over her mother's prone body.
"You want me to help you, Slayer?"
"Nope, you look after mom; I wanna smash this asshole to pieces all by myself."
Nodding his understanding at her need for an outlet for her panic over Joyce's condition, as well as the pain of her Watcher's betrayal, Spike simply watched his Slayer pound the robot into the floor.
Once the horrible thing had been completely disabled, Buffy turned, still panting, back to the other two occupants of the room. Her turn yielded a surprise, as she discovered that Spike was no longer crouching protectively over her mother but was instead standing near the stairs, her mother's body cradled carefully in his arms.
"We have to go now, luv. Your mom needs to go to the hospital—the git drained quite a bit of her blood, and we can't help her on our own."
Shaking herself out of her terror, Buffy quickly decided that this moment would not be the time to break down at the thought of nearly losing her mother. She met Spike’s gaze and nodded slowly to him; slowly and carefully, the two of them headed up the stairs, changing their pace once they reached the street and making their way as fast as possible to the nearby hospital.
Once there, they explained that Joyce had been attacked by an obvious psycho who had tried to bleed her dry; while it was funny to see the nurses’ confusion at being unable to detect a bite wound, they were greatly relieved when a doctor took over and ordered an instant transfusion.
A few hours later, Joyce was back to consciousness and officially out of danger. Grudgingly accepting that they would have to leave the hospital soon, while the older Summers woman would need to stay at the hospital until the next day, Buffy and Spike wished Joyce a good night and headed back to Revello Drive.
Having calmed down a bit, Buffy was again reminded of her earlier anger upon coming face to face with her Watcher. The time spent at the hospital, however, had given her perspective; instead of screaming at the older man like before, she informed him in a dangerously calm voice of the night’s events and also of the fact that she held him personally responsible for nearly getting her mother killed, all due to his stubbornness and arrogance. Shocked at the ice in her tone, Giles could do nothing but obey her request to leave her house, although he was stunned when she followed up the request with an order that he not come near her again unless she specifically asked him to do so.
The Slayer was just about to close the door behind him when they heard someone calling out her name. Turning towards the sound, all three were surprised to see Willow rushing in a dead run towards them.
"Buffy! Buffy, you have to help… Angelus… he … he has Jenny, I mean Miss Calendar. He's got her…"
Shocked silence followed the redhead's panicked exclamation, and it took the three at the door a moment to get their bearings. Ultimately, it was the vampire who asked the first question.
"Where, Red? It's nearly sunrise—if we want to have a chance to get her back today, we need to know where they are."
"I… I'm sorry… I don't know. He was taking her with him. She did something… spoke in my head. She told me to run, and… and I did. I know that was wrong… I should have stayed but she sounded so sure of herself and … and I panicked. I don't know…"
"Shit! There’s no way we can find them today, Slayer. I could probably try to track them by scent, but I'd have to stay on the streets; no chance of that working from inside the sewers. And seeing as how the sun will be up in less than five minutes, I can't exactly walk down the streets right now."
Buffy saw that Willow was near collapse from a potent combination of fear and exhaustion and pulled the distraught redhead into her arms, trying to console her.
"Ok. If we can't go looking for them now, Willow, you have to tell us exactly what happened. Maybe it'll help us once we can try tracking them again after sunset."
"Yes. Ok, I can do that. Yes. See, I couldn't sleep tonight since I felt bad about the way Xander is treating you, and then there was me with the not believing you about Ted, and I just wanted to make it better somehow. So I took a look at the updates Ted gave me at school, and I discovered that they might solve a problem Miss Calendar had with her translation program. You know, the one for the curse? I wanted to show it to her… I thought if I could help you guys get the soul restoration done faster, it'd make up for me being such a bad friend."
"Oi, Red! Lemme guess, you went to the school to show her, during the night. Didn't you listen when we told you that no one is to be out alone during the night as long as Angelus is running wild?"
"Yes… Yes, I know, Spike. But I was so excited, and I… I just forgot, ok…."
"It's ok, Spike, let her finish her story. Nothing happened, so Willow's walking around alone at night shouldn't be our main focus right now."
Nodding his agreement with his Slayer, Spike gave the redhead still huddled in Buffy's arms what he hoped was a reassuring smile, silently encouraging her to continue.
"Ok, where was I? Oh, yeah. So I got to the school ok, but when I walked into the library Miss Calendar and that vampire, Dalton, they were yelling at each other. I didn't want them to think that I was eavesdropping, but if I left and they saw me they probably would’ve thought exactly that. So I hid behind the counter. I thought I could wait till they had finished, and then I'd pretend to have just walked in."
"So you didn't want them to think you were eavesdropping when you weren't and solved the problem by actually doing it. Clever girl, Red."
"Spike! I asked you to let Willow finish."
"Sorry, luv. Go on, Red, promise I'll be good."
"Uh-huh. So I was sitting there behind the counter, and I didn't mean to, but it was impossible not to listen to them. Jenny, I mean Miss Calendar, she was so angry. From what I understood that Dalton guy had just told her that he and Giles were planning to use Spike as the vampire sacrifice for the ritual…"
Willow nearly toppled to the ground when the Slayer's arms suddenly left her, and it took the stunned girl a few seconds to realize what had just happened. Once she had stabilized herself, however, the picture outside was very telling. Spike was holding back the furious Slayer, who seemed intent on getting her hands on Giles. The Watcher, for his part, was still sitting morosely on the porch steps where he had sunk down when Willow had first arrived with the news of Jenny's capture.
Listening to Buffy screaming at her Watcher for a few seconds, Willow finally realized that she could barely understand a word of what her friend was saying; the fury was making the other girl’s speech a jumbled mess. Seeing that the older man seemed to barely react to the attack, Willow finally turned her confused eyes on the vampire.
Seeing the redhead look at him in confusion and mouth “nearly killed my mother?” – the only clear sentence his girl had uttered since losing the battle with her anger – at him, Spike shook his head slightly in response, hoping that she'd understand the “not now” meaning behind it.
Concentrating once more on calming his Slayer before she did something she'd regret later, like killing her own Watcher, he finally managed to get through to her by reminding her that she was the one who wanted to hear the full story of what happened to the teacher.
Only slightly calmer, but at least now able to stop herself from attacking the man who had not only been responsible for almost getting her mother killed, but who had also been planning to sacrifice her boyfriend for no apparent reason, Buffy turned back to Willow.
"Ah, you want me to keep going? Ok, but you two gotta explain what just happened here once I'm finished, deal?” Buffy gave her a quick nod, and Willow continued. “Anyway, so as I said, Miss Calendar was really, really angry. Going on about traitors and such, and then she just left. She said she'd tell Giles where he could stick his plan…"
Willow blushed as she recalled what else the computer teacher had been yelling while leaving the library. Who knew such words even existed?
“Oh, and she said that she'd make sure she told Buffy what was really going on. I… I went after her when she left. I mean, Giles would never do that, would he? I wanted to ask her, but she told me to go home when I caught up with her. And when I asked her again, she told me that ‘Arrogance can turn men into monsters too.’ That's exactly what she said."
The confusion on the redhead’s face stated clearly that she still didn't understand Jenny’s statement, but then she also didn't know the whole story. Buffy understood exactly what the gypsy had been referring to, and she really hoped that the watcher huddled on her stairs would understand it, too.
Shaking the thought off for the moment, Buffy nodded her understanding and Willow, happy that at least one person seemed to know what was going on, continued.
"I left, but I heard a scream and so I went back to check. And there was Angelus—he was holding her around the neck. He didn't see me, but she must have, because suddenly there was her voice in my head telling me to run. And the rest I already told you."
"Ok, Will. We understand. I think it'd be best if you came in now and we can let Spike make us some tea; he's really good at that. And then in a little while, when you’re calmer, we can fill you in on what else happened today, and we can try to come up with a plan to rescue Miss Calendar."
Buffy shook her head sadly at Willow when she saw the other girl staring at Giles, who hadn’t so much as moved at Buffy’s announcement of both tea and planning.
"No, Wills. He's not welcome here anymore. Come in, and I'll explain."
A few seconds later, the door closed behind the three and Giles was left on the porch, to face the dawn of a new day alone.
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