Come Back to Me
by Spikesdeb
Chapter 1
In the imagination, an intensive care unit is a quiet place, dim and peaceful. In the hard white reality, Buffy sat at the side of a high hospital bed containing the still form of her sister. Dawn looked smaller somehow, diminished, and the ventilator breathing for her loomed monstrously in comparison. The rhythmic sound of the machine – hiss, click – inflating and deflating her sister’s lungs was accompanied by the constant beep of the heart monitor. Those sounds had become Buffy’s entire world. Part of her hated them; another part had come to rely on them as reassurance that although Dawn was so still and silent, she hadn’t left her.
Buffy reached out to clasp her younger sister’s hand. Dawn had become the taller during their last year in Sunnydale and had carried on growing since, her hands and feet also dwarfing hers in size. But lying here surrounded by medical paraphernalia, she seemed tiny.
Buffy drew in a ragged breath but was unable to stop the tears that escaped in silver rivulets down her tired and haggard face.
“Dawnie; I’m here for you. Don’t leave me…. please don’t leave me. I love you so much and I never really told you. Please, Dawnie, come back to me.”
*********************************
Buffy had been different since the closing of the Hellmouth. The adrenaline rush of her sprint across the rooftops had evaporated once she’d reached the Scoobies and they’d stood and watched dust settle over the ruins. Strangely silent after climbing back on the school bus and leaving the crater formerly known as Sunnydale behind, Dawn had tried to engage her in conversation with little result. After reaching LA and locating Angel and his gang, Buffy had only managed monosyllabic responses to all questions thrown her way and had finally passed out in a dead sleep, her head resting on the huge conference table around which they all sat. It had taken a while for anyone to notice but eventually Angel informed them all that they would resume the inquest later and scooped her up into his arms to lay her in his bed, lovingly stroking the hair from her drained face.
She had slept for a solid 24 hours, not even coming round when Dawn tried to rouse her to eat and drink. When Dawn became frantic, Giles gently led her from the room and laid a reassuring kiss on her forehead. After calming her down and making her understand that Buffy needed to heal and sleep was the best medicine, they had rejoined the others in the conference room to review events in Sunnydale and catch up on why Angel Investigations seemed to have traded up.
The green-skinned demon stood off to one side of the room, scanning the occupants and observing their body language. Lorne would have liked them to sing for him, let him discern their paths, but that would come later. For now, he’d just observe.
The rag-tag Sunnydale warriors were huddled at one end of the room, minus Robin Wood who was presently laid up in the hospital wing of Wolfram and Hart. Faith was pacing up and down, impatient to finish up and return to his side. Wood had told her he was going to surprise her and he had done just that, worming his way under her skin with glimmers of hope that she might have found someone to build a future with. The thought of that had her angsty, on edge, and that manifested itself in restlessness.
Giles and Wesley had their heads buried in a large tome of ancient demon writings, their gentle handling of the pages belying the strength and murderous skill each man possessed. Giles broke off his study to reach for his handkerchief and polish his glasses, chuckling softly when he saw Wesley absentmindedly reach for his own glasses, which were of course absent now that he wore contact lenses. As he realised what he was doing, Wesley gave a wry grin. The two ex-Watchers were obviously trying to immerse themselves in the familiar, falling back on the age-old crutch of research.
Willow and Kennedy were leaning into each other, the younger girl gazing at the witch with undisguised awe as they spoke quietly whilst holding hands under the table. Willow was smiling at the newly empowered Slayer, her face settled and serene. It was a snapshot - an island of still amidst so much movement.
Dawn sat apart, her hands folded in her lap, fingers restlessly clenching and unclenching in time with the tightening of her jaw. Her eyes were focused on a place outside the confines of the room, her demeanour one of pain and loss. It was obvious that she was unaware of anything happening around her. Likewise Xander was alone; standing at the large bank of windows overlooking the city, shoulders slumped and defeated. Lorne knew that the shattered young man had lost Anya in the final battle; he would need careful watching to prevent him drifting away into despair.
Switching his gaze from the Sunnydale group to his own companions, Lorne focused on the petite form of Fred dashing around the room trying to ensure that everybody had tea, coffee, juice, whatever they needed. She was like a bee, zipping from flower to flower, never settling on one for long. Lorne shook his head; her rapid hopping was making him dizzy. He’d have a word with Fredikins in a wee while; see if he could rein her back in to merely agitated instead of manic.
Charles was leafing through a legal textbook and pointing out clauses to an enraptured Andrew; the former streetfighter was revelling in his newfound knowledge and clearly enjoyed the rapt attention from the young blond. But Lorne doubted it was the contents of the book which was causing the hero-worship. Chuckling quietly, he decided to leave the two men to come to their own conclusions.
That left Angel. The dark form of the vampire was motionless, leaning against the sideboard along the back wall of the office, his arms braced either side. His face was blank; to a casual observer he seemed calm and collected, detached even, from all around him. But Lorne was not a casual observer; people-watching was a hobby of his and he could tell that the vampire was churned up inside. It wasn’t hard to discern the reason either; every now and then his eyes would flicker to the doorway and up to the ceiling in the direction of the bedroom in which the Slayer lay.
But there was something else, some other layer to his unease. Lorne squirreled the thought away for later analysis as Angel cleared his throat and called the meeting to order.
“Shall we make a start; see if we can come up with a plan for what happens next?”
Slowly the two bands of warriors, one weary and battle-hardened, the other anxious and still unused to the new surroundings, merged to become one group as they took their seats around the table.
In a steady voice Giles outlined all that had been happening in Sunnydale since the First Evil made its presence felt. He detailed the losses suffered in a dispassionate voice starting with the murders of the first slayers-in-waiting and their watchers and continuing with the telling of how the remaining potentials had gathered in Sunnydale. He described the further losses, the strange happenings and the bemused and insane vampire they’d found in the school basement. He carried on steadily and succinctly until he came to Anya; haltingly he described the final battle stopping mid-sentence as he came to the point at which the Scoobies had split into pairs, the last time he’d seen Anya alive. It was plain that he held her in high regard; his face was ravaged with pain. But the blank features of Xander as he stared dead ahead, face wet with silent tears, made Lorne shiver. The man was empty, all emotion wrung out of him leaving only a shell.
Andrew chirped in with a description of the battle in the school halls. Blessedly he managed to do so with minimal reference to Star Wars, only briefly equating himself and Anya to Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker without enlightening the group as to who played who. His voice lowered and became reverent as he described the way Anya slashed and parried with her sword and how brave she was protecting him from the murderous hordes. With a trembling bottom lip he recalled how he opened his eyes after cowering in a corner to see her lifeless body buried under rubble and how he ran after Faith and the other Slayers with the building disintegrating around them.
Faith jumped to her feet and was next to give her account of the battle in the caverns beneath the school describing the sensation of power boosted and shared as Willow’s spell with the scythe kicked in. At this point Willow just gave a brief mention of the incantation she used, of becoming the white-haired goddess, and Kennedy basked in the retelling. Wesley was desperate for more information but decided to hold his tongue and let the tale finish before jumping in. Faith continued, detailing the way the scythe cut through the swarming Neandervamps, easy as a knife through butter and how Buffy had taken a sword through the side and fallen. After lying still for a spell, Buffy had gotten to her feet and grabbed the scythe again swinging it around her and laying waste to any vampire foolish enough to get in range. And they just kept coming, endless hordes of them.
Faith paused for a moment, looking round the room. “Then Spike’s amulet started to glow. He’s up against the back wall by the steps and honest to god, he’s standing in this blazing light! The amulet’s hanging on his chest and big beams of light zapping out from it. Every vamp it hit was toast! Just mowed ’em down! It was friggin’ amazing!”
She resumed pacing throwing her arms around her to punctuate her words.
“So, we’re all stood there, lookin’ at him with the damn white light and then the whole cavern starts shaking and falling down around us, great chunks of stone bouncin’ off our heads. So I scream to the girls to get the hell out and we take off running back up to the school. Then I turn back and see Buffy just standing there, looking at Spike. I yell and yell to her to get out but she just walks toward him.”
She paused then; “And then we get the hell out, collecting droidboy on the way, and get on the bus. We’re really moving – trying to outrun what feels like a freakin’ earthquake. I thought B had bought it but somehow she makes the roof of the bus as we’re going along. Then it all went still and we stopped, had the big group hug thing going on. Took a look at the crater. No Spike.”
Lorne noticed that two of the people at the table drew in ragged breaths at that point; one being Dawn and the other being somebody who didn’t even need to breathe. Hmmm, so that was the other layer he’d picked up on earlier. Who would’ve guessed that the vampire was big on family? From what he’d gathered, Spike and Angel weren’t exactly bosom buddies but it seemed blood truly was thicker than water, even if that blood came from a butcher’s shop. Hell, he’d have to get a reading on Angel now too. He shuddered at the thought of another rendition of “Mandy”.
Silence descended on the gathering. The only person who could add to the story was Buffy who was still upstairs, sleeping like a baby.
**********************************
When it became apparent that the Sunnydale story was over for the time being, Giles asked the question which had been in all of their minds.
“So, Angel. It appears that you’ve had some adventures of your own since we last met. When Willow was here you were at the Hyperion Hotel, am I correct?”
At the nod of confirmation, Giles continued. “And you were running an investigation agency…I can’t help but notice that this is definitely NOT the Hyperion and you appear to have taken charge of an evil law firm.”
Angel looked shocked. How did Giles know Wolfram and Hart was evil?
“I see you’re a little taken aback. I was a member of the Watcher’s Council, Angel, and despite the outward appearance of being bumbling idiots we did in fact have access to a wealth of information. Wolfram and Hart has been known to the Council for centuries.”
Angel sat uncomfortably under the combined gazes of the other occupants of the room. The LA contingent was aware of the unsavoury status of the law firm but unaware of the reason why he had agreed to Lilah’s offer a few weeks earlier. He knew they still had questions and reservations but he wasn’t ready to discuss them yet. The loss of Connor weighed heavily on his heart and his soul. The boy had been so broken so many times in his short existence and could never have been whole. The deal meant his son was happy, living a normal life. He shook his head mentally; he always gave the ones he loved up to live a normal life – first Buffy, now Connor. And it tore him in two. But pain helped to atone for the guilt that ate away at him constantly.
“I wasn’t aware that the Watcher’s Council took an interest in such things. But I guess it figures; one’s a bunch of evil guys all massed together attempting to lay down rules and regulations and the other’s a group of lawyers.”
Gunn snorted at the quip. Giles just looked over the top of his spectacles, breathing in deeply and shaking his head.
The smirk on Angel’s face faded. Humour was not his strong point; brooding was and he decided to embrace it fully.
“What can I say? We’ve been battling evil in this city for four years and it quickly became apparent that the source of much of it was right here in this building. We fought them, we won some and we lost some. Then the Beast came and during the battles it slaughtered the entire staff of W&H LA. Game over. Or so we thought. Turns out though that we had a “Dawn of the Living Dead” situation when the whole place became overrun with zombies.”
“Next thing we knew, we won – beat back the Beast, rid the world of Jasmine and hey presto, along comes Lilah with the key to the battle in Sunnydale in the form of an amulet and a prophecy. Along with, I’m offered the post of CEO of Wolfram and Hart. Seems the Senior Partners concede defeat and suddenly I’m the king of the castle.”
Giles continued to stare at him. All eyes round the table were fixed on him in various stages of interest. All except Dawn that is who was still gazing off into the distance.
“Yes, well, I’m sure there’s more to it than that. I can’t see the… what do you call them, ‘Senior Partners’ giving you this empire without some strings attached. Evil strings no less.” Giles removed his glasses and polished them again, rubbing his eyes before replacing them on the bridge of his nose.
“I know what I’m doing, Giles; what we’re doing. We’re going to fight from the inside, use the contacts of this firm and eradicate them one by one. If you look at it like that, it’s a gift.”
“Mind you check the package for explosives. Surely you know to beware of gift bearers.”