Chapter 14

Buffy and Spike heard a strange squelching sound coming from the steps and turned to stare at the open door in time to see Xander walking up completely soaked.

Xander was a little surprised to see the them sprawled across Buffy’s bed “Buff, Deadboy” he casually greeted the two pretending that he wasn’t dripping all over the floor.

“Whelp” Spike smirked “Always knew you were all wet”

“Ha Ha very original” Xander wriggled his toes in his sodden shoes.

“What did you do Xan” curiosity was getting the better of Buffy.

“Umm went for a swim.” Xander offered with a shrug.

“You went for a swim with your shoes on?” Buffy pointed at his feet.

Xander looked down “Well yeah.”  He turned to look towards the stairs as he heard someone approach.

Rebecca and Dawn came into view at the head of the stairs.  Dawn smiled as she noticed Xander's new ‘drowned rat’ look “New fashion statement Xan?”

Xander decided to ignore that comment when his eyes lit on the bundle that Rebecca held.

“We bumped into Bo outside, she said you’d be needing these” Rebecca handed him the bundle of dry clothes.

Just then Dawn pulled a pair of shoes out from behind her back, swinging them in front of his face.  When Xander tried to grab them from Dawn, she took off at a run with Xander in hot pursuit.  A trail of puddles was all that was left behind.

Rebecca watched them leave before she turned to study Buffy and Spike.  Both were still reclining on the bed side by side.  Rebecca walked in and lay on Spike’s other side, half her body draped on his.  She gave him a small kiss hello before laying her head on his chest and looking at Buffy. “So did you two have your talk?”

“Yes luv.”

Buffy merely nodded.

“Good, so everything is clear between you?” Rebecca snuggled closer to her husband.  “So what was the outcome?”

Buffy tried to speak but no sound would come out.

“It went something like Buffy loves Spike, Spike loves Buffy, Rebecca loves Spike, Spike loves Rebecca” Both of them held their breath while they waited for Rebecca’s reaction.

Rebecca remained silent for a moment “Well I knew all that” she peered up at Spike before turning back to face Buffy again “I was just waiting for you two to catch on.”

“So you don’t mind that we have feelings for each other” Buffy was completely confused by Rebecca’s reaction.

“No I don’t mind” Rebecca frowned for a moment “But I thought I already told you that didn’t I?”

Before either of them could answer Dawn walked in “Oh Hugs” she squealed before throwing herself onto the bed, wriggling in between Buffy and Spike.

Spike reached an arm out to pull the two girls closer enjoying the feeling’s of love and affection they were sending him.

“Hey what’s with the smoochies!”

They looked toward the door to see Willow standing there, hands on hips.  Tara came up behind her, whispering lightly in her ear.  Both girls flung themselves at the bed with shouts of “Group Hug”.

Anya and Giles had followed the girl’s home and were now watching the fun.  Anya looked up at Giles hopefully.

“Oh go on” Giles sighed as he watched Anya join the group on the bed.

The six girls squealed and giggled as the bed adjusted to fit all of them.  Spike was enjoying being the centre of attention from this writhing mass of females until….”BALLS!”  The girls all stopped eying him suspiciously.  Spike tried to worm his way free “Jus’ watch where you’re putting those knees ladies.”

The girls stared at him aghast for a moment, until Rebecca piped up “William was always very ticklish.”

Spike looked at his wife in horror “That’s just evil”

The girls looked at each other before turning back to face Spike, the look of horror increasing as he watched them inch closer.  He sprang forward as they chased him around the room; everywhere he turned there was a laughing female and her devil hands.  Eventually he ended up on his back on the floor with the girls surrounding him.  Spike was trying to contort his body away from their hands when he caught sight of Giles and Xander watching from the doorway. “Help me you gits!”

Both men shook their heads vehemently unwilling to risk becoming victims themselves.  They took a large step back when the girls looked their way, an evil glint in their eyes.  Giles and Xander looked at each other and back at Spike’s pleading face before shrugging and slamming the door shut.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Giles and Xander sat downstairs nervously watching the stairs, just in case the girls decided to turn their attention towards them.  Everything had gone quiet a few minutes ago and the suspense was killing them.

Spike came stalking down the stairs and threw them a filthy look “I should bite you for leaving me up there.”

“Oh is the big bad vampire frightened of a few helpless girls” Xander said in mock sympathy.

“HELPLESS!” Spike shouted before lifting his shirt to display the myriad of scratches that now adorned his stomach and sides “You left me up there with TWO slayers, two witches, a vengeance demon AND a teenage girl.”  Spike ran a hand through his hair trying to smooth it back into place “Your lucky there was no bloodshed”  he sat down near Giles.

“So who was the scariest” Giles’s amusement was evident in his voice.

“Dawn!” Spike shaped his hand into a claw “I swear that girl has talons.”

“Oh don’t be such a big baby” Dawn pouted as she joined them.

Spike merely raised an eyebrow as he once again lifted his shirt.

Dawn paled slightly “Oops.  Sorry.”

“What you sorry for Dawnie?” said Willow as she and the others finally came downstairs.

Dawn simply pointed at Spike’s stomach.

“Oww” agreed Willow

Spike sat there pouting and behaving like a two year old until Rebecca gave him a playful slap across the back of the head “Don’t be a baby”

Xander was thoroughly enjoying the show “Owww does wittle Spikey have a boo boo?”  He managed to duck Spikes swinging hand before continuing “Does Spikey want a Band-Aid?”

“No whelp I don’t want a Band-Aid.  Vampire healing remember?”

“So you don’t want us to kiss it better then?” Tara was smiling cheekily.

Spike smirked back at her, curling his tongue behind his teeth and waggling his eyebrows “Now I didn’t say that luv” he began to swagger towards her.

Anya walked past giving Spike a short slap on the back of the head as she did.

“HEY”

“We have a meeting to attend, if you had forgotten.  There will be time for group fun after.”  Anya purposely strode towards the door as she attempted to hurry everyone along.

Spike muttered to himself as he grabbed his robe so he could venture outside “Bloody bint”

Spike felt a slap across the back of his head again as Giles strode past “I heard that.”

Spike rubbed his head “Bugger” he pulled the hood of the robe low over his face before following the others.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anya lead them into the a small building in the heart of the town, the group sat down looking around them curiously as they waited for the elders to join them.

The walls were adorned with an array of deadly looking weapons, each seemingly embedded in the wall.  Buffy moved to stand in front of them and tried to pull a small dagger from its resting place. 

“The spirit will only release a weapon if you are in mortal danger” Buffy turned to see a small white haired man. “Those particular weapons haven’t been used in over 2000 years.”

Anya moved forward to great the man “Dante!”

Dante greeted Anya warmly before taking his place at the head of the table “The others will be in directly, if you’d like to take a seat Miss Summers.”

Buffy sat at the opposite end of the table, to her right sat Spike, Rebecca, Giles and Anya, the others sat to her left.

Dante studied each of them in turn “I would like to welcome all of you to Midian.  It has been a long time since we had a visit from a Slayer.”  He turned his attention to Rebecca “I believe that you visited Salus near Oxford often in the past.”

Rebecca nodded

“I’m very sorry dear but only a handful of residents managed to survive.” Dante sighed deeply “It was one of the first communities to be attacked; when the sanctuary spells were shattered we were unable to restore them.” 

“You’re spells were shattered you say.” Giles looked worriedly around him.  “Does that mean that Midian is susceptible to attack?”

Dante shook his head “No Midian has always been protected by the forest, we were the only ones not affected when the barriers went down.  We tried to bring as many survivors here as possible.”

Rebecca stared numbly at the table, somewhere inside she had known that her friends were probably dead, but to have it confirmed was still painful.

Spike could feel his wife’s pain and bent over to nuzzle her neck while he whispered words of solace.

Buffy watched Spike comfort his wife for a few minutes before turning her attention back to Dante. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but what are you? I mean are you human or……..”

Dante gave a chuckle “That’s quite alright Miss Summers.  I am a Tenlasia demon dear.  I believe Rebecca knew my sister?”

“Rachel?  Did she …..” Rebecca couldn’t finish that sentence.

Dante shook his head sadly “No both she and David were killed during the attacks, they were defending the village so that others could bring the children here.”  Dante passed a hand across his eyes wearily.  “One couple managed to bring about seven children here safely.  The others were lost.”

Before Rebecca could ask who it was that had survived, others began join them in the room.  An extremely tall woman with light purplish skin seemed to glide across the room to sit beside Dante; she turned violet eyes toward the group smiling warmly “I am Jayala!  Welcome.”

A demon similar to the one Xander had seen earlier sat on Dante’s other side.  He smiled widely exposing his vicious teeth to the group before thrusting a clawed hand in Xander's direction. “Hi I’m Mathew; I believe you met my sister-in-law earlier.”

The others were amazed when Xander grasped the offered hand without hesitation “Hey, pleased to meet you.”  His eyes lit up when he saw Isabo enter the room “Bo!”

She settled herself between Mathew and Xander before waving hello to Rebecca and Dawn.  Bo turned and gave Xander a seductive smile while she ran her hands across his shoulders “I see the clothes I sent fit you…very well.  So are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Xander started to blush and looked sheepishly towards the others “Umm guys this is Bo, we meet earlier today.”

Anya watched the pair closely before snuggling up to Giles and sending Xander a knowing smile “I wonder if he knows?” Anya’s smile broadened when she thought of the look on Xander's face when he found out exactly ‘what’ Bo was.

Buffy was amused by the interaction between Xander and Anya when she heard a small cry.  Buffy turned to see Rebecca staring at the couple who had just entered, tears streaming down her face.  Buffy was surprised to see a similar look of shock on Spike’s face; she turned to study the newcomers.  Something about the man seemed vaguely familiar, almost as if she had met him before.  Buffy startled when Rebecca flew across the room to wrap her arms around the man, sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. 

Spike stood and followed his wife, as he neared the man he stopped and hesitantly nodded “Hoston”

“William” the man nodded back before turning his attention to the weeping slayer in his arms.  “Shhh Shhh Rebecca, it’s ok dear, everything’s going to be alright.”  He gently stroked her hair as she calmed and looked up at him questioningly “I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

Next