“Even if the soldiers are doing the right thing-“ Willow began.
“Which they're NOT!” Buffy exclaimed vehemently. She was still a little upset about both Giles attempts to conceal the truth and Angel's apparent capture.
“Yes, well, I guess they aren't. But what I was going to say was, their obviously not drawing any lines. I mean Angel hasn't killed anyone in… O.K, like two years, so maybe he's not the best example. But there have been non-violent demons like Spike's friend Clem, and Spike himself now. If they just grab them all that's not fair! We don't just grab every guy and put them in jail just because some guys are criminals!”
Willow was getting herself quite worked up about this and Tara placed a calming hand on her shoulder, “We all agree something needs to be done. No institution is airtight. We can find a way in to rescue him.”
Buffy looked confused, “But you called him a monster, why would you help us?” To tell the truth, Buffy had been conflicted in her own feelings about Angel since the Great Revelation not very long ago at all.
“Because Spike still wants to help. And considering what he's suffered and is willing to overlook, it's the least I can do to support his growth. I'm really impressed with him. I don't know that I would be willing to do the same if I were in his shoes.”
Buffy nodded and looked out onto the porch where the glow of a cigarette tip was flickering in the darkness. Spike had said he would do whatever the Slayer planned and vanished into the dark after his tale.
All the Scoobies were worried about him now. He'd been distant and downright snarky when questioned too closely. He was withdrawing from them for some reason and Buffy missed his presence, even if it had been there only hours before in the most intimate of ways.
She knew it had to have something to do with Angel and his capture. Tara had said something about self-protective impulses and Buffy was starting to realize a lot of Spike's tougher personality traits had been created by him to fit who he thought he should be.
She realized she'd met William, his softest side and she understood why he wasn't leaving that part of him in control.
Buffy cared about Spike in all his parts, but she was really missing the part of him that would be here now, cuddling her and helping her plan.
She left Army Xander in charge of the planning for once and ventured outside.
* * *
“Spike?” She called softly and jumped a foot in the air when he appeared next to her from absolutely nowhere.
“What do you need, Slayer?” His voice was gruff and he wouldn't meet her gaze.
“I want my boyfriend, can he come out for a while?” Buffy asked, arching a brow at the 'Slayer' moniker.
Spike sighed and sat down on the steps, “Knew you wouldn't like me like this. I have to be this way. We're never going to get him out if I worry about hurting those G.I Shmoes.”
“Eeeeh!” Buffy made a buzzer noise, “Wrong! I've met you like this before. Yeah, you were annoying, but for the most part you got the job done and I get why you think you have to do this. But why can't we be together now? You can love being the Big Bad, I've seen you.”
“Do you want me like this?” He demanded, morphing into game face, “It isn't pretty and it's what I have to be if we're going to get him out. I'm a vampire! That's never going to change and I think you've just been able to forget that!”
“Wrong again! Man, you're just on a roll tonight!” Buffy reached out and caressed the ridges along his brow, “And for the record, you are sort of pretty this way, too.”
Then she did something that shocked him completely and leaned in for a kiss, carefully avoiding razor-sharp fangs.
She pulled back, panting a bit for air and discovered his shifted back to his human visage sometime during the mini make-out session. Buffy thought that was funny. The first time she'd kissed Angel, she'd brought out his demon in full force. When she kissed Spike, she brought out the man.
“For the record again, “ Buffy began, “I'm different when I have to be strong, too. There's 'friend Buffy' and 'school Buffy' and 'daughter Buffy' and 'girlfriend Buffy' and they're basically the same- Er, with the exception of 'girlfriend Buffy'. I have to tell you, you bring parts of me out that have never seen the light of day.”
Spike grinned and stamped out his cigarette.
“But when I'm 'saving the world Buffy' even my friends look at me differently. I guess everyone has different parts of themselves that take care of certain things.” Buffy leaned in close and was pleased when Spike put a hesitant arm around her.
“So I guess what I'm saying is, if you can love General Buffy, I certainly think I can love General Spike.”
Spike was quite confident she didn't realize the implications of what she'd just said, basically informing him that she loved him. So he tempered his excitement and decided not to comment on it.
“I guess I just never looked at it that way, love.”
Buffy's insides did a little dance. They were back to the pet names and off the formal 'Slayer' title. She laid her head on his shoulder; “We're going to get him out of there. You're on the good guy's side now remember? We always win.”
Spike still had his doubts, but those were mostly in himself, never in her. He knew full well that she would get the Poof loose. He just wasn't sure he'd survive the rescue mission to be there to see it. Because he knew for certain after what Giles had admonished him over: If anyone was dying, it wouldn't be her and it wouldn't be Tara or Willow or Xander. It would be him. And he was getting himself prepared to face that possibility.
* * *
As far as rescue missions go, it was more than a bit half-cocked. But Spike knew well that those were the best ones to launch on organized groups.
In the Forties, the Nazi party had been experimenting on demons and vampires. Hitler was obsessed with the supernatural and somewhere along the way, the word about the psychic vampire Drusilla had gotten out.
They'd captured her while Spike was away on an ill-fated submarine and he'd raised holy Hell when he'd returned to find that out.
In a matter of hours, Spike declared war on the Nazi party and stormed one of their labs in Dachau.
They left a seen of carnage so vast, it had to be aggressively covered up by the propaganda bigwigs in a very big way.
But Spike still found it less horrifying then what the residents of the camp looked like. Most of the adults were dead, every one of them was parasite ridden and emaciated. The stink of despair hung heavily in air permeating everything.
And then Spike had done something completely insane.
A little girl had grabbed his coat as he stormed by carrying Drusilla in his arms. He looked down at her, stunned by her audacity as he was still in his vampire visage and all.
She had eyes like his sister.
He stood there stunned looking into them. She was deathly pale and her green eyes almost took up her whole face.
She looked just like Victoria, dead of the Consumption before her ninth birthday.
Then he lost his mind.
He grabbed a minion and put Drusilla under his care and started rounding up the children of the camp towards the train at the edge.
When he'd loaded them all on he counted, there were four hundred and fifty-six of them. He found the handful of guards that were left alive and knew how to operate the behemoth and informed the man they were going to Switzerland.
He watched the train disappear, his minions all too stunned to even ask what hell he'd been doing.
To this day he had no idea why he had done such a thing. He'd never told anyone. He had looked up the train and its passengers a few weeks later and found out they had all made it. Apparently his threats to the German guards were more than enough to get them to heed him before they heeded the call of their precious Fuehrer.
But his attack had been fuelled by rage and nothing more. He'd scrapped together a handful of fledglings and marched them right into one of the most structured instillations ever built and completely took it over. The Nazis were so confident and so secure they never even saw it coming. They were more concerned with people leaving the camp than coming in.
And that was why Spike knew this could work.
* * *
He helped Buffy lift the vent cover and slide it over onto the grass. She was wearing all black in an apparent attempt to at least look the part of covert spy. Spike thought she was as cute as a button but didn't dare say so.
She was completely in General Buffy mode as she'd described to him earlier and would not appreciate wardrobe commentary.
They looked at each other over the opening before descending into the belly of the beast. Spike offered her a wry smile and Buffy returned it.
Then they went in.
* * *
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