Chapter 2: God Save the Queen
 

             “Is he here yet?” Dawn asked excitedly as she bounded down the stairs two at a time.

             “Calm down Nibblet, I’m sure his flight just got delayed. He’ll be here.” Spike ruffled her hair playfully and led her to sit on the living room couch.

            Buffy was running around the house, straightening things up nervously, while Spike tailed after her, trying to convince her that the house was already spot-less.

             “Love, come on, it’s just Giles, not the bloody Queen of England.” Spike said.

             “I know, I know, I’m just nervous.” Buffy fidgeted as Spike sat her down on the couch next to Dawn.

             “Welcome to the couch of over-excitement. Population: us.” Dawn said pouting.

             The front door opened, and Willow and Tara came in, their arms loaded with grocery bags.

             “Hey, we come bringing party favors!” Willow announced as they brought the bags into the living room.

             “Thank God you’re here Red.” Spike said. “They’re driving me up a bloody wall.” Spike leaned in and whispered so the Summer’s girls wouldn’t hear.

             “I heard that.” The two girls chimed in at the same time.

             “You have any alcohol in those bags?” Spike asked, rolling his eyes at the Summers’ women.

             “Nope, sorry.” Willow shrugged apologetically.

             “But I do.” Xander exclaimed cheerfully as he entered the house carrying another paper bag, Anya trailing behind him.

             “Harris! I think this is the first time I’m actually glad to see you.” Spike commented wryly as Xander passed off the bag to him. Spike immediately inspected the contents of the bag.

             “Yeah, other then when you’re stealing my money at pool.” Xander scowled as Spike tossed him a beer.

             “So, when is Sir Poof-a lot going to get here?” Xander asked as he popped the tab on his beer. Spike chuckled.

             “In a couple of hours. Peaches wanted to make his grand entrance at high noon like the prancing nancy-boy that he is.”

             “Xander are you gonna complain about Angel, or are you gonna help us set up?” Willow asked, raising the “welcome home” banner out of the bag.

            “Banner duty calls.” Xander sighed and went to help her.

             “Arrg!” Buffy suddenly jumped off the couch and started straightening up things again in an attempt to calm her nerves.

             “Bloody hell, here we go again.” Spike sighed and chased after her. He cornered her in the Dinning room as she started cleaning the window with Windex for the second time.

            “Love, what are you so stressed about?”

            “I’m not stressed! I may have to take care of Dawn, find a job, pay my bills, face Giles again, deal with Angel and the fact that he has a *son*, face the inquisition about our relationship and be….God all-mighty!”

            “Well no wonder you’re stressed, you have a whole universe to run.” Spike deadpanned.

             “Hide Dawn, NOW!” Buffy commanded in full Slayer mode.

            Spike glanced out the Dinning room window at where Buffy was looking and saw Doc standing out on the front yard in the afternoon sun, gazing in at them with a strange smile on his face while waving at them.

             “Bloody fucking Hell!!” Spike shouted. “It’s Doc!”

             Giles arrived in a taxi in front of Buffy’s house and could hardly believe his eyes.

             “Dear Lord!”

             “Jesus. Hey buddy, you want me to call the cops?” The taxi driver asked Giles.

             “Wha-? Oh, no, no, I’ll take care of it, thank you.” Giles said as he paid the driver and quickly got out of the cab. He left his suitcases on the sidewalk as he ran up to the battle playing out on the front lawn.

             “Spike?!?” Giles exclaimed in shock, seeing the vampire fighting in broad daylight.

             “Giles!” Buffy turned, dropping her guard for a second, but quickly had to block another sword thrust. That is when Giles noticed whom they were fighting.

             “Doc!!”

             “Watcher!” Spike grunted, throwing him an extra sword while he blocked a parry from Doc. The demon stood calm as could be with one sword, blocking both Buffy and Spike’s blows.

             “He’s after Dawn!” Buffy shouted to Giles as he entered the fight.

             Doc realized that he wasn’t going to retrieve the Key this time. He was out numbered. The sun glinted off of Spike’s amulet and Doc smiled maliciously, recognizing its purpose. He feigned to the left with his sword and punched Spike in the nose with his right, grabbed the amulet and yanked it from Spike’s neck.

             “NOW!” Doc shouted, turned and ran.

             Hidden behind a hedge, Warren pulled the trigger on the freeze ray, aiming it at Buffy, Spike and Giles, but just then Jonathan fell and bumped into him, sending the beam up a tree and onto half of the house before it shut off.

             “Ow! You idiot! Look what you did!” Warren yelled at Jonathan, pointing at the frozen trees and house.

             “Sorry.” Jonathan said lamely.

             “Just get in the van.” Warren snapped and the three nerds jumped into the van where Doc was already waiting, and sped off.

              “Bloody hell!!” Spike shouted as he started to sizzle in the sun.

             “SPIKE!” Buffy shouted and grabbed his arm, dragging him to the safety of the shade on the front porch where they collapsed. He started to catch on fire and Buffy immediately started patting out the smoldering clothing.

             Giles was still outside looking down the street as the black van disappeared around the corner, with a perplexed look on his face. He walked up to the house where Buffy was still patting out the smoldering spots on Spike. Giles looked on curiously at Buffy’s apparent show of tenderness, something she never showed Spike before.

             “Hi Giles.” Buffy smiled up at him.

             “Giles!!” Dawn squealed from inside the house and next thing Giles knew, he was bowled over by an over-enthusiastic Dawn.

             “Oh bloody hell.” Giles gasped. “What have you been eating?” He asked Dawn.

             “Hey.” Dawn said, offended.

            “Same bloody thing I said.” Spike mumbled.

            “Buffy, what has been going on here?” Giles asked, stunned.

            “You want the long version, or the longer version, mate?” Spike sighed as he stood up and helped Buffy to her feet.

            “Lets get inside.” Buffy said as she dusted herself off. They went inside and Giles glanced around the living room where the “Welcome home” banner and streamers were half hung up.

            “Uh, Surprise.” Willow shrugged and blew on her party horn, then threw it over her shoulder.

             “So, you’re telling me that The First Evil came back…to torture Spike.” Giles said with raised eyebrows as he cleaned his glasses. When no one said anything he continued.

             “Then she removed Spike’s chip, and according to Buffy, went ‘poof’.”

             “After she bored me to death with her “I’m all important” speech, then she said my *favorite* line.” Buffy grumbled.

            “Favorite line?” Giles furrowed his brows.

             “I haven’t even begun, blah, blah, blah.”

             “Oh. Right then.” Giles said as he put his glasses back on. “Then… correct me if I’m wrong, Willow and Tara gave Spike the amulet of Bytanor…”

             “He is a part of the gang now.” Willow said.

             “Yeah, I got a member card an’ everything.” Spike said and Willow chuckled.

             “…Then Buffy gets a call from Cordelia,” Giles continued, “to tell you that Angel has a son, and is now back in Sunnydale to help because Cordelia had a vision about Doc and …those three I saw outside, whom were from Sunnydale High school. I’m sure one of them was Jonathan, and I think the other was Warren… I’m not sure who the third was.”

             “Jonathan? Warren? Are you kidding?” Buffy raised her eyebrows.

             “Wasn’t Jonathan the one from ‘the Matrix’?” Xander asked, but then shook his head. “Sorry, must be left over from the spell.”

             “Oh! Hey, do you think they had something to do with the diamond theft and the frozen guard?” Willow asked.

             “Three nerds making a freeze-ray gun sounds more plausible than a frost monster.” Xander shrugged.

             “Frost monster?” Giles furrowed his brows.

             “Ugh, don’t ask. One of our more lamer theories.” Buffy groaned.

             Just then there was an urgent knock on the door. Buffy got up and opened the door, only to be greeted by a figure covered in a black blanket rushing inside, followed by Connor and Lorne.

             “Hey Angel. Guys.” Buffy ushered the two of them in and then her jaw dropped in shock. “Cordelia??”

             “Hi Buffy.” Cordy walked in like she owned the place.

             “Hi… Angel, you didn’t tell me Cordelia was here.”

             “She wasn’t until last night….” Angel started to say, but Cordelia cut him off.

             “I wanted to help, so I came. Besides, home sweet hell-mouth right? It’s not like this place holds some of my worst nightma-Aaaahh!!” Cordelia yelped when she saw Spike sitting in the living room. “That’s Spike!!”

             “Yeah, all six feet and four inches of me.” Spike smirked and gestured to himself, stretched out in his favorite chair.

             “Oh you are so not six foot four! More like six foot two, shorty!” Buffy challenged him.

             “Oh like you can talk midget girl.”

             “I am not a midget!!”

             “You’re the smallest slayer I’ve ever seen. Face it love, you’re a midget. Even the Nibblet’s taller than you.”

             “Uh guys?” Willow said.

             “She is not! She’s just…stretchy.” Buffy said lamely.

             “Oh please!” Spike scoffed.

             “GUYS!” Willow raised her voice.

             “WHAT??” Buffy and Spike yelled in unison.

             “Uh, does the word “guests” ring a bell?” Willow gestured around the full living room of amused spectators.

             “So you two are an item?” Cordelia asked out of the blue.

             “Hu?” Buffy said.

             “Oh come on. Banter like that only happens between boyfriend and girlfriend.” Cordelia said with her hands on her hips.

             “Oh no, they always fight. It’s been like this for years.” Giles said, oblivious to the inner core of the Scooby group shifting uncomfortably.

             “Uh, right. Yeah. We’ve hated each other since we first met, right Spike?”

             “Uh, yeah. Right.” Spike said, a little disappointed she didn’t admit their’ relationship.

             “So cats and kitties, aren’t we at this wonderful reunion for a reason?” Lorne asked to change the subject.

             “Ah yes, getting to the matter at hand…” Giles said, taking the lead.

             “You’re such an idiot!!” Warren shouted.

             “I said I was sorry!” Jonathan said.

             “And now because of you we have to go to plan B!” Warren ignored him.

             “Good idea. Let’s do plan B…..do we have a plan B?” Andrew asked. The three nerds looked at each other expectantly, and when no one said anything Warren sighed.

             “I have *got* to be cursed with the worst side-kicks in the world!” He said, grabbing his hair in fistfuls.

             “Nu-uh! What about the villain’s sidekicks from the old Batman? Like the Penguin and the Joker...talk about lame.” Andrew said. Warren smacked the back of his head.

             “Those weren’t sidekicks, those were minions you moron!”

             “Gentlemen….if you don’t mind, I have another plan to get the key.” Doc smiled.

             “So is everyone caught up then?” Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

             “Looks like we’re dealing with Doc again. Joy.” Buffy sighed and glanced at Spike. He had a grave look on his face, but said nothing. “Well we should probably get to the Magic Box to do some research.”  Buffy said and everyone stood up to leave.

            Xander was going to take Giles, Dawn, Willow and Tara in his car, while Cordelia, Connor and Lorne were going to ride in the Angel-mobile, and Buffy planned on her and Spike going on Spike’s motorcycle.

            When Spike tossed her the keys she gave him a strange look.

             “Lizard man took my amulet Love. No more walks in the sun for me. Looks like Angel and I are sewer buddies.” Spike grimaced.

             “We’ll get it back,” Buffy said, but then pouted. “I was just starting to get used to you with a tan.”

             Spike chuckled and brushed a piece of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

             “Don’t fret my pet. I’ll kill him good and proper this time.” Spike said with as much bravado as he could muster, but his voice cracked on ‘this time’. Buffy smiled.

             “*Ahem*” Cordelia cleared her voice from the doorway. “Not a couple hu? Right.” She rolled her eyes and then walked out the door. Buffy and Spike shared a nervous glance.

            Everyone was outside in their’ designated cars waiting. Angel stood on the front porch in the shade with SPF blanket draped over his head. Spike grimaced.

             “Bloody hell I hate those things.”

             A little while later the entire group was researching every book the shop owned that was relevant, while the two youngest of the group, Dawn and Connor looked bored.

            Spike walked over to Dawn and sat next to her on the stairs.

            “Hey nibblet. How’s it going?”

            “I’ve had more fun watching glaciers form. Or paint dry…or-“

            “I get the idea, Bit.” Spike chuckled. “Why don’t you talk to the kid over there? He looks kinda lonely.”

            “I donno..”

            “What’s wrong? Don’t think he’s cute? I admit, he’s got Peaches’ hair, but that’s no reason to-“

            “Spike! It’s not that! Geez!” She pushed him playfully.

            “What? Oh. I get it. You *do* think he’s cute.”

            “I do not!”

            “Ah! Denial. The first sign.”

            “Oh hell, fine. I’ll go talk to him!” Dawn sighed.

            “That'a girl.” Spike said and pushed her in Connor’s general direction.

             Connor was sitting in the pillowed corner of the bookshelf, flipping through a magic book for beginners.

             “Uh, hi.” Dawn said awkwardly and sat next to him. “What are you reading?”

             “I’m not really reading it… I’m just looking at the pictures. I don’t read so good.” He said, putting the book down.

             “I just started learning this stuff, you know. I can float a pencil and light something on fire. I’ve been practicing other stuff, but with not so good results.”

             “I don’t use magic…I’m good at hunting though.”

             “Hunting?”

             “Yeah. I’m good at tracking and killing things. My fath-…I mean.. Holtz told me it was because I have the senses of a vampire. I have heightened hearing, eyesight, speed and sense of smell. I’m a freak of nature.”

             “So am I. I’m not even a real girl. I’m an inter-dimensional key thingy. It’s not so bad, you know.” Dawn said. She noticed that Connor didn’t look that convinced. “You know, Spike told me something once that really helped. He said that it doesn’t matter where you start out in life. It matters where you end up.”

             Connor looked up at her. “I get that.” He said, a genuine smile crossing his face.

             The two sat there in silence for a few minutes.

             “Come on. I’m hungry. I’ll show you the all the merits of going on a donut run.” She said as she stood.

             The over-extended group was still sitting around the round table in the Magic Box researching when Dawn and Connor entered the store, back from the donut run.

             “Wow, twelve’s a crowd.” Dawn said as she walked up to the group and placed the donut box on the table. When no one laughed and just gave her a funny look she sighed. “You know, instead of three’s a crowd? Oh never mind. It’s not funny if I have to explain it.” She mumbled and leaned against the wall since there were no chairs available. Spike noticed that Connor stood next to her but not close enough to be considered anything special.

            The donut box was practically emptied the moment it hit the table. Giles smiled appreciatively when Dawn remembered to get him a jelly.

             “So what’s up guys?” Dawn asked, nibbling on her maple bar. She passed Connor a chocolate covered one, and the kid looked at it apprehensively, but followed Dawn’s example. The donut was gone in seconds.

             “Oh you know, the apocalypse, as usual. OW!!!” Xander yelped as he got three kicks in the shin, from Buffy, Willow and Anya. “What is it with you girls and my poor defenseless shins?” He said, rubbing his leg.

             “Oh. Doc, right?” Dawn said, looking crestfallen.

             “Yeah Nibblet. Looks like.” Spike sighed. The two shared a look of empathy.

             Buffy got up from her chair to pace nervously, leaving it open for Dawn to steal.

             “We need a plan. Doc’s going to strike again, and he seems to have no problem with doing it in daylight. That takes Angel and Spike out of the fight, since Doc got Spike’s amulet.”

             “Bastard!” Dawn said.

             “Dawn! Language!”

             “Nibblet! Language!” Buffy and Spike both said at the same time. They both ignored it, but the rest of the group did double takes. Buffy stopped pacing, and when she saw that Dawn stole her chair, without thinking she sat on Spike’s lap. Then she realized what she did and jumped off him like he was a hot potato.

             “I was right!” Cordelia said. “They *are* dating!”

             Giles nearly choked on his donut.

             “I beg you’re pardon?”

             “Uh oh.” Dawn said. All was quiet in the room for a few very uncomfortable seconds.

             “Uh…Giles… I’m dating Spike.”

             “WHAT?”

             “WHAT?” Both Giles and Angel said at the same time.

             “Not good…” Dawn said under her breath.

             “Tell me this is a spell. Willow!” Giles pointed a finger accusingly at her.

             “No, of course not.” Willow shook her head.

             “You knew about this? You all knew and you didn’t tell me?” Giles said.

             “When were we supposed to tell you? During the sword fight, or after when we were discussing the coming apocalypse? I think apocalypse rates higher on the importance scale than telling you who I’m dating!” Buffy said.

             “It’s SPIKE!” Giles shouted.

             “Giles, a lot has happened since you left. Things are different.” Willow said.

             “I can bloody well see that! Things have gone to hell here! I left so that you would take responsibility Buffy, not get involved with another demon.” Giles said.

             “Hey! Watch what you say Watcher. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Spike said standing, raising a finger at him.

             “I know that you are an evil, soul-less thing that is not a good influence on Buffy or Dawn.” Giles said.

             “I’m the best thing that has ever happened to them, you pillock. You have no idea what I’ve gone through for them, and you have no right to come prancing in here like the Bloody Queen of England! You left Rupert. You left her when she needed you the most. You wanted her to grow up and make her own decisions? Well she has.” Spike said, seething with anger.

             “And she chose you?! You’re a demon Spike. A vampire! What’s to stop you from turning on us? On them?” Giles said, pointing at the Summers’ girls.

             “Love!” Dawn shouted at him.

             “What?” Giles turned to her.

             “He loves us! You have no right to come back here and judge them! Spike went through hell when The First Evil tortured him! She tried to make him kill us, but he wouldn’t do it!” Dawn shouted.

             “The First Evil?” Angel asked surprised. Everyone ignored him.

             “Dawn…”Giles started to say, but she cut him off. She was getting good at that.

             “No! Don’t you dare say he’s an evil, soul-less demon again! He’s not! How many Evil vampires do you know that read poetry?”

             “Nibblet!” Spike said, embarrassed.

             “Poetry?” Giles furrowed his brows. Spike covered his face with his hands in desperation, knowing she wouldn’t stop there.

             “Yeah, and you know what else? When Spike found out the chip didn’t work anymore, he left to go find the Initiative so they’d put another chip in his head! He thought that was the only way we’d trust him! And now you come back here and act all high and mighty passing down judgment? If that’s the way you’re going to act, why don’t you go back to England? I don’t want you here!” Dawn said, glaring at Giles as she stomped off into the training room. An uncomfortable silence filled the room for what seemed like minutes.

             “Well…that went well.” Buffy said to Spike.

             Giles stood there for a moment, fiddling with his glasses in his hands.

             “It seems…I owe you both an apology.” He said, putting his glasses back on. “I was rash, and I over-reacted…and I’m sorry.” He said with his head down.

             “Giles…” Buffy started to say, but Dawn’s shrill scream from the back room cut her off.

             “BUFFYYYYY!!!”

             “Dawn!”

             “Nibblet!!” Buffy and Spike both sprang into action, racing through the training room doors, the rest of the gang right behind them. Buffy and Spike arrived in the training room just in time to see Warren and Andrew pulling Dawn out the back door into the alleyway.

             “SPIIIIKEE!!” Dawn yelled as the nerd duo dragged her to the end of the alleyway where Jonathan sat in the driver’s seat of the black van, looking nervous.

             “DAWN!” Spike ran after them, into the sunlight. Warren and Andrew pulled Dawn into the van, slamming the door practically in Spike’s face, shouting for Jonathan to step on it. As the van sped off, Spike continued to chase it down the street yelling “NIBBLET!!”

             He didn’t even notice when his skin started to sizzle.

             “SPIKE! Get out of the sun!!” Buffy yelled as she pulled him toward the shade, but he wasn’t going easily.

             “SPIKE!!” Buffy shouted again, but he didn’t respond. “Guys! Help me!” She shouted to the group that had stood back in they alleyway. Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Giles stepped forward and started pulling on Spike.

             “Bloody hell man! Get it together!” Giles yelled at him and punched him in the nose. That shocked Spike enough to realize he was starting to burn.

             “Bloody hell!!” He yelled as he stumbled into the shadows. It took them a few minutes to pat out his smoldering clothes. But as soon as the danger was over he was on his feet again ready to go. “We have to find Nibblet.”

             “You won’t do us any good if you’re a big pile of dust! Snap out of it Spike! Dawn needs you. You almost burned yourself to a crisp, and you didn’t even notice! I know you want her back, but bloody hell man, you need to keep a level head about this.” Giles said.

             Spike looked down the alleyway again where the bright sunlight prevented him from setting foot outside the shadows. He nodded reluctantly and looked directly into Buffy’s worried eyes.

             “I’ll get her back. I swear I will.” He said, his mind already reeling with plans on how to kill Doc and the bot-guy in the most painful way.

             “Ow! You’re hurting me! Let go!” Dawn said as she struggled against Warren and Andrew as they started to tie her hands and feet with rope.

             “That’s the idea princess.” Warren said as he tied the ropes tighter.

             “Ow! Stop it!” Dawn said and kicked out at him with her tied feet, catching him in the ribs. Warren went flying back into one of the built in shelves, holding various odds and ends of equipment.

             “You’re going to pay for that little girl.” Warren glared at her.

             “Guys, I don’t know about this…” Jonathan said from the driver’s seat.

             “Shut up and drive you moron.” Warren snapped.

             “I mean, this is kidnapping. We could go to jail for this.” Jonathan continued, ignoring him.

             “We could also go to jail for stealing the diamond you idiot.” Warren said.

             “So that was you guys!” Dawn said.

             “Shut up.” Warren glared at her.

             “The slayer’s going to find us. Dude, that’s her little sister. We just opened up a big-ol' can of Slayer whoop-ass.” Jonathan said.

             “Will you shut up?! Stop being such a sissy and drive! You said you wanted to be villains and take over Sunnydale, so stop whining!” Warren said, taking the bucket seat.

             “Buffy and Spike are so gonna kick you’re asses!” Dawn said.

             “Spike?!” Jonathan practically swerved off the road.

             “Dude that’s so cool.” Andrew said.

             “Oh shut up Andrew! Spike’s going to tear our heads off and Buffy’s not gonna stop him.” Jonathan panicked.

             “Will you two girls stop it? Spike’s a vampire, Buffy’s the vampire Slayer. There’s no way Buffy would let Spike kill us.” Warren rolled his eyes.

             “Want to bet?” Dawn glared at Warren.

             “I’ve had enough of you.” Warren pointed at her, then grabbed a rag from behind a shelf and gagged Dawn with it.

             “Mmphhm!”

             “What? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you’re annoying voice through the gag. Oh wait, that was the point.” Warren smiled sarcastically. Dawn growled at him and glared.

             “We’re here.” Jonathan sighed and put the van into ‘park’.

             “Alright ladies, everybody out.” Warren said as he opened the sliding side door, then grabbed Dawn and pulled her out. Dawn struggled against her bonds as Andrew and Warren dragged her inside the abandoned warehouse.

             “Mmmphmmhp!!”

             “Ah there she is. What pretty, little green energy girl.” Doc said, stepping out of the shadows. Dawn froze, paralyzed with fear.

             “Oh don’t worry little girl. I don’t have a knife on me this time,” Doc smiled and walked closer to her so he could whisper into her ear.

             “Yet.”

Chapter 3: Out for Blood
 
 

             Spike paced around the main floor of the Magic box restlessly.

             “I’ll bloody kill them. I’ll rip their’ heads off and play with their’ intestines.” Spike ranted to himself as the Scooby gang and half of the fang gang listened. Willow was typing away on her laptop, and the rest of the gang looked through several large books haphazardly stacked on the table.

             “Well, it’s good to know my intestines aren’t the only ones you threaten, blondie.” Lorne commented, looking up from the book he was reading.

             “Spike, calm down. We must deal with this calmly and rationally.” Giles said. Just then Buffy came out from Giles’ office, carrying a large tome. “Buffy, you agree don’t you?” Giles continued.

            “I’ll kill them, the bastards.” She muttered as she slammed the book down on the table. Spike immediately went to it, flipping through the pages for anything on Doc.

             “I think calm and rational went out the window there, G-man.” Xander shrugged.

             “Well I’m glad to see you’re thinking things through and formulate a plan like I tried to teach you all these years.” Giles said and threw his glasses on the counter, frustrated.

             “Giles, they have Dawn. I’m going to get her back. That’s the plan.” Buffy said.

             “Oh yes, brilliant plan. Why didn’t I think of that?” Giles said sarcastically.

             “We’ve got to come up with a more detailed plan then that, love.” Spike said. He got frustrated with the book and started pacing. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, not caring that he wasn’t supposed to smoke in the Magic Box.

             “Oh yes, because all of your plans just go so well.” Buffy snapped.

            “We need to figure out where they took Dawn.” Angel said.

             “Thank you Mr. State-the-obvious.” Spike scoffed at him, and then turned back to Buffy to continue their argument as if Angel hadn’t said anything.

            “And your plans always come out puppies and kittens in the end? What do you suggest we do? Go in guns-a-blazing, when we don’t even know where to look?!” Spike snapped back.

             “We’ll find a way. We always do!” She stomped up to him angrily and pulled the lit cigarette out of his mouth, threw it on the floor and stomped it out.

             “Oh that’s just bloody brilliant. You’ll get us all killed!” He said, taking out another cigarette. As soon as he put it to his lips, she yanked it out again, crushing it beneath her heel.

             “Bloody hell woman!”

             “If you’re going to smoke, go outside!” Buffy yelled, pointing to the back door leading to the alley way through the training room.

             “If you’re going to be a bitch, go walk it off! Go kill something!” He snapped back.

             “Fine!!”

             “Fine!!”

             They both simultaneously turned and stomped off in opposite directions; Buffy out the front door, and Spike out the back in the training room. When the Scooby gang and the fang gang heard both doors slam at the same time they all looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

            Then Lorne chuckled.

             “What?” Angel asked.

             “Does anyone else feel like we just stepped into a Moonlighting scene?” Lorne asked, grinning.

             “What was that all about? They were all buddy-buddy just a few minutes ago outside.” Cordelia asked.

             “Buffy and Spike have a…. unique relationship. They always have.” Giles said, pondering his own words.

             “Yeah, one minute they can be all campy and the next they’ll be at each-other’s throats…..then ten seconds later they’ll be making out.” Willow said.

             “T-they kinda get a-a little edgy when it c-comes to Dawn’s safety.” Tara shyly added.

             When Angel took up a brooding stance, Cordelia smacked him on the arm to get him to stop.

             “Those two are like Momma and Papa bear defending their’ cub.” Lorne commented. “I almost feel sorry for the ones who took Dawn. There’s gonna be hell to pay.”

             “Woah! Hey guys…I think I found something!” Xander exclaimed, motioning to the book he was reading.

             Warren walked through the darkened abandoned warehouse like he owned the place. He went down a long shadowy corridor and turned into a large room where Doc was pouring over a large book and some scrolls scattered on a large desk in the center of the room. Warren pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the desk, rested his elbows on the surface and perched his head on his hands.

            “So…what’s up Doc?” Warren quipped. When Doc just looked at him with passive annoyance, Warren sighed. “Sorry, I’ve been itching to say that.”

             “The time is almost near. Tonight the moon will be in the right phase, and the stars will be aligned in the proper order. All is going as planned.” Doc said.

             “What about the Slayer?”

             “The Slayer is already too late to stop it. It has already begun.” Doc smiled coldly.

             “The full moon…of course! It’s always the bloody full moon!” Giles sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily. He looked out the shop window at the darkened sky, cursing himself for his stupidity. How many years had he lived on the Hell-mouth?

            “The full moon is tonight. We’re running out of time.” Giles continued.

             “No wait, there’s more! G-man,” Xander said in a mock salesman voice. “We’re the lovely winners of a brand new shinny apocalypse, complete with ancient hell-beasts, demons and even a God of Chaos and Destruction. It says so here in the Chronicles.” Xander pointed, Giles put on his glasses and started reading the prophecy.

             “Chaos and Destruction? That has to be Etheos.” Anya said.

             “I-I beg you’re pardon?” Giles looked up from the text at her, still squinting from reading the small print.

             “Etheos. It would make sense that Doc is aligned with him. Etheos is just as bad, if not worse than Glory was.” Anya said. The entire Scooby gang exchanged worried glances.

             “Oh God. Not another Hell-God. Please tell me he isn’t walking around sucking out people’s brains.” Xander said.

             “Oh no. Etheos is forever trapped in hell,” Anya said.

             “Oh thank God.” Xander breathed a sigh of relief.

             “Unless someone opens the Gates of Hell and summons him.” Anya shrugged.

             “Oh Holy God!” Xander turned white.

             “And let me guess what Doc wants with Dawn…” Angel sighed.

             “He’s going to need some heavy magic to summon Etheos. Somebody with access to a lot of power and an experienced user.” Anya said.

             “Do you know what the person would need to do this ritual?” Giles asked.

             “Yeah. We have all the ingredients here. If anyone purchased the supplies from here, I’ll have it on record.” Anya said, walked behind the counter and started shuffling around in the shelves below the cash register. A few seconds later she peaked her head back over the counter.

             “What did you say one of those guys’ name was that kidnapped Dawn?”

             “W-Warren or Jonathan?” Tara asked.

             “That’s it! Jonathan came in and bought all the ingredients for the ritual about a week ago.” She said, holding up a receipt

             “And you didn’t recognize him?” Giles asked.

             “It wasn’t me that rang up the sale. It was Spike, and he wouldn’t have recognized Jonathan.”  Anya said, handing Giles the sales receipt.

             “Bloody hell.” Giles threw his glasses on the table. “We’ve had all of the signs staring us in the face the entire time.”

             The bell above the Magic Box door jingled and everyone looked up to see Buffy and Spike walk in covered in some kind of blue-ish purple slime, looking none-to-pleased.

             “What happened to you two?” Cordelia asked with her nose curled up.

             “The Slayer decided to take on a demon all by her lonesome.” Spike glared at her, but it was more playful than it was before.

             “Well I didn’t have my slaying partner, now did I? Besides, I could have handled it alone.” Buffy said flippantly.

             “Right. You were doing such a fabulous job getting you’re ass kicked,” Spike rolled his eyes. “That is until I came along.”

            From the two’s body language, the inner Scooby gang could tell they had already kissed (most likely more than that) and made up.

             “She meant the demon slime.” Angel pointed to their clothing.

             Spike lifted the severed head of a large horned demon that resembled the head of a buffalo…except with squiggly little tentacle thingys coming from its head.

             “Porlarga demon. We came, we saw, we hacked into bits.”

             “Porlarga? Oh dear lord.” Giles said. The Scooby gang collectively groaned.

             “What? What’s wrong?” Angel asked.

             “Whenever Giles says ‘Oh dear lord’, nothing good can *ever* come of it.” Xander moaned.

             “We’ve got to stop this, before it goes any further. That particular demon is attracted to active Hell-mouth energy. We haven’t seen any around because we sealed off the hell-mouth…but this one’s appearance suggests…” Giles trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

             “The Hell-mouth is leaking.” Spike finished for him. “What’d we miss out on Watcher?” Spike asked, setting down the head. Anya looked furious that he was dripping slime all over her shop, but she didn’t say anything. She figured she’d get him to clean it up later. He was on the payroll after all.

             “Oh the usual. Apocalypses, full moons, star alignments, Hell-beasts and oh! Joy! Another hell God.” Xander said.

             “Oh God.” Buffy went deathly pale. “I think I need to sit down.” She barely squeaked out.

             “Alright love, come on.” Spike said and took her by the arm to lead her to a chair, but instead she just plopped down on the floor and sat there.

             “Or that’ll work.” Spike said, sitting down next to her and rubbing her back to try and calm her.

             “As always Xander, you are completely tactless in breaking horrible news, thank you.” Giles said. “As I was saying, a way to prevent any of this from occurring is to stop it before the ritual of summoning Etheos takes place.”

             “Watcher, if the Hell-mouth is opened…does it need Dawn’s blood to be closed again?” Spike asked reluctantly.

             “Thankfully, no. The Hell-mouth can be closed magically, just as we did last time.”

             Both Spike and Buffy visibly let out their sighs of relief.

             “We need to find where they’re keeping Dawn. There’s got to be a way we can track the van.” Angel said.

             “I…I know a way.” Connor spoke up.

             In the darkened warehouse, down the corridor from where Doc resided, Jonathan sat and kept watch on a tied up Dawn. She was tied to a chair with thick ropes and a gag was in her mouth.

             “Stop glaring at me. It’s freaky.” Jonathan shifted nervously under her gaze.

             She intensified her glare.

             “Stop it! I don’t have any control over this, okay?”

             “MmmphmmMphh!”

             “What?”

             “MphmmMph!!”

             “I can’t understand you.”

             Dawn rolled her eyes. She tugged on the ropes that binded her, and struggled against her gag.

             “You want me to take that off?” Jonathan guessed

             Dawn nodded frantically. Jonathan got up and untied the knot behind her head, releasing the gag.

             “You can let me go.” Dawn demanded.

             “Uh, no I can’t. Look, I don’t want this to happen any more than you do, but Warren and Doc’ll kill me.”

             “Not if they can’t find you! If you let me go my sister and Spike won’t let them hurt you. I’ll tell them you helped me.”

             “I don’t know…”

             “Jonathan! Get in here!” Warren shouted from the other room.

             “Uh, coming!” Jonathan said, giving Dawn and apologetic glance as he left the room.

             “I really hate being the damsel in distress.” Dawn mumbled under her breath and sighed.

             She glanced around the room for anything she could use to escape. She saw amongst a pile of garbage a shard of glass. She focused in on it and concentrated on levitation. After a few tries, the shard floated over to her. Slowly and exhaustingly she concentrated on moving it in a sawing motion across the ropes that bound her.

             “Oh, now this won’t do.” Doc’s coldly sarcastic voice startled Dawn, and the shard of glass dropped to the cement floor. She looked up and her large eyes widened with a haunted look on her face when she saw Doc had a knife in his hand.

             “It’s time to go little girl.” Doc smiled serenely.

             “What?” Jonathan asked nervously as he entered the room where Warren sat.

             “It’s almost time for the ritual. Get you’re stuff together. We’re moving out.” Warren told him as he gathered up texts from the desk and shoved them into a backpack.

             “Where’s Andrew?” Jonathan asked.

             “Man…this sucks.” Andrew said out loud to no one. He stood in the charred remains of Sunnydale High’s library, lighting candles, burning incense and smudging the area with a sage stick.  He looked around with a paranoid look on his face, like he was afraid that something from the Hell-mouth would come crawling out.

             “Aaaahh!!” Andrew screamed like a girl as something made a noise in the far corner. A few seconds later a rat squeaked and crawled away.

             “Great.” Andrew grumbled, and then imitated Warren. “Why don’t you go to the Hell-mouth alone to set up Andrew?”  “Sure Warren, anything for you.” He mocked his reply. “God I’m such an idiot.”

             “Hey idiot boy, you got everything set up?” Warren asked as he walked through what was left of the library double doors, Jonathan was right behind him carrying both Warren’s and his backpack like a pack horse.

             “Uh yeah. It’s all set.” Andrew gestured to the alter set up in front of the crack in the floor.

             “Good. It is almost time.” Doc said, dragging a tied up Dawn with him into the library. He pulled her to the Hell-mouth and tied her to the chair that sat directly in front of it.

             “Oh don’t cry little girl.” Doc said when he noticed the tears streaming down her face. “You have plenty of time to cry later.” He smiled maliciously, playing with the blade of his knife.

             Connor was walking swiftly down the streets, intent on his goal. The Scooby gang was trailing behind him.

             “What is he doing?” Tara asked.

             “He’s tracking her scent.” Angel said, watching his son with great interest.

             “Why can’t you or Spike do it? You’re both vampires.” Willow asked.

             “Connor’s sense of smell and hearing is better than a vampire’s for some reason. I have this theory that since he’s the child of vampires, all of his senses are twice as good.” Angel said.

             “In there.” Connor said, coming to a halt in front of a large abandoned warehouse.

             “You sure, mate?” Spike asked.

             “Positive.”

             “Alright then kiddies, everyone got their favorite weapon?” Spike asked, hefting his battle axe onto his shoulder. The gang all had various weapons; Giles and Cordelia had swords, Buffy had double-weighted blades, Xander and Willow had cross-bows, Anya had a baseball bat, Tara was using magic, Angel had a mace, Lorne had protested he was a lover, not a fighter, but was given a cross-bow anyway, and Connor had a self made slingshot with steel balls for ammunition. The kid also had other self-made weapons that the gang had no idea what they did, but didn’t ask.

             “Lets do this then.” Spike said. He and Buffy charged in first, then Angel and Giles, and then the rest of the group. They ran down the corridor checking each room as they went. When they came to the room where Dawn was kept prisoner, Connor stopped and sniffed.

             “She was in here. I can smell her fear.”

             Angel and Spike sniffed also and nodded.

             “Damn it. We’re too late. They’re not here.” Angel said.

            “Split up. Search the room for clues.” Spike said.

            “Why does it always seem we’re one step behind?”  Xander pondered.

             “Because it’s in the script?” Lorne shrugged. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing and gave each other confused glances.

            “You know, the ‘Big Plan’, as in the script from the PTB?” Lorne continued.

            “Oh I get it!” Xander laughed nervously. “For a minute there I thought you were suggesting we were all made up characters of some crazy TV show or something. That’s pretty lame.”

             The group collectively rolled their eyes, and continued searching the warehouse. They ended up in the room Doc had resided in, but everything was gone.

             “Blast.” Giles said. “They’ve already gone to the Hell-mouth. We only have an hour until it opens.”

             “Well then, we better get a move on.” Spike said. The entire group exited the warehouse and headed towards the old Sunnydale High School.

             Buffy walked next to Giles at the back of the group.

             “Giles?”

             “Yes?”

             “I’m really glad you’re here.” Buffy smiled at him.

             “Oh Buffy…I’ve missed you too. You don’t know how hard it was for me to leave.” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder as they walked.

             “So you’re not disappointed in me then?”

             “Disappointed? How could I ever be disappointed in you?”

             “When you found out about me and Spike...”

             “Buffy… I must admit I was a bit…rash. But I was wrong. Clearly a lot has happened since I left, and I had no right to judge. While Spike certainly isn’t an ideal boyfriend in my eyes…” Buffy gave him a look that made him chuckle. “He does love you and Dawn. He proved that to me that he is deeply loyal to you two when Dawn was kidnapped…He was so intent on his goal he didn’t notice he was on fire. That takes great loyalty…to be willing to sacrifice yourself for the ones you love.” Giles paused for a moment, and then continued thoughtfully, “I’ve always pondered why Spike came to us when he was chipped…I confided in him once that I thought maybe the chip had some kind of higher purpose. Maybe I wasn’t wrong after all.”

             They walked on in silence, and soon Sunnydale High School was looming ahead of them.

             “Well, this is it then. Protect Dawn, and don’t let them start the ritual…is everyone clear?” Giles asked. Everyone nodded their’ agreement.

             “Alright, let’s go kick some ass.” Buffy said.

            “And kill that bastard once and for all.” Spike said vehemently.

            The group walked into the burnt out hull of the building, disappearing into the darkness to face the coming apocalypse.

Chapter 4: Opening the Gates

             “Don’t worry little girl. It will all be over soon.” Doc smiled at a captive Dawn.

             “Buffy and Spike are so going to kick your ass.” Dawn glared at him, seething in anger.

             “Spike? Oh yes, the vampire. Strange fellow…the Vampire with a heart. It’s a pity I’m going to cut it out of him.” Doc said with that cold sarcasm that sent a chill up Dawn’s spine.

             “Start the ritual. It’s time.” Doc commanded of the nerd trio.

            That was Jonathan’s cue. He looked up nervously at Dawn’s pleading eyes. He then glanced at Doc, Warren and Andrew watching him expectantly. He gritted his teeth and started to mix the ingredients in a mortar, crushing them with the pestle.

            Doc turned back to Dawn, holding up the dagger with a cold smile.

            “Time to bleed little girl.” Doc said taking hold of her wrist, drawing the blade over her flesh.

            “Over my dead body!!” Spike growled as he charged at Doc, knocking him to the ground.

            “Spike!” Dawn shouted in relief.

            The rest of the extended Scooby gang charged in, but when they saw only Doc and the three nerds in the room they all stopped mid-charged and glanced at each other.

            “It’s just you four? No big nasty minion demons to fight? How lame!” Xander said in disbelief.

            The blood from Dawn’s cut wrist dripped down into the Hell-mouth.

            The ground started to shake as the Hell-mouth came alive.

            A ‘normal’ resident of California would have shrugged off the ‘Earthquake’ as a mild 3.6, but the group gathered around the Hell-mouth knew all to well what the quake meant.

            Unholy screams and shrieks pierced the silent library as giant demons started to emerge from the Hell-mouth. Lorne’s jaw dropped. He didn’t like Sunnydale anymore.

            “You just *had* to say something to jinx us, didn’t you Xander?” Buffy said, clutching her double-weighted swords for the ready.

            “If you don’t need me, I’ll just be waiting outside…” Lorne gestured behind himself as he turned and headed for the door, but Angel’s sudden firm grip on his shoulder stopped him. “Oh I *knew* today was going to be a bad day…” Lorne whined.

            “BUFFYYY!” Dawn shrieked as a large snake/dragon looking demon focused in on Dawn just as it crawled out of the Hell-mouth.

            “Dawn!!” Buffy shouted, sprinting to the demon and started hacking it to bits. The rest of the group joined the fray, attacking the various demons that the Hell-mouth spit out.

            Across the room Doc and Spike were still involved in their scuffle.

            “I still don’t smell a soul on you, vampire.”

            “Don’t need a soddin’ soul to kick your ass. Now shut up and die you pillock.” Spike said, striking out a Doc, but he dodged far too easily.

            “You’re not still holding that grudge are you? For the Lady, isn’t it? It’s always about a woman...” Doc smiled ruefully. Then his face turned cold and calculating. “You failed Vampire. A failure that ended in her death.” Doc said icily. If it was possible, this pissed Spike off even more.

             “Buffy, untie me!” Dawn pleaded as her sister finished off another demon that had gotten too close to Dawn. Once Buffy assessed there were no more demons close enough, she turned to Dawn and easily cut the ropes in one swift motion.

             Dawn brushed the ropes off of her-self and stood. Suddenly the relieved look on her face disappeared.

             “Buffy look out!” Dawn said pointing behind her sister. Before Buffy could react Dawn grabbed one of her swords out of her grasp and with what seemed like a flick of her wrist, slashed the demon across the throat, killing it. Buffy glanced at the demon and back at Dawn.

             “I *really* hate being the damsel in distress.”  Dawn shrugged and flipped the blade around her hand experimentally.

             “How?” Was all Buffy was able to ask.

             “Spike taught me some moves.” Dawn said with a shrug, and quickly turned to stab a smaller demon nearby. She turned back to Buffy with a fiery glint in her eyes. “What do you say we kick some demon butt, sis?” Dawn smiled eagerly.

             “Don’t let Jonathan complete the ritual!” Giles shouted to the group as he fought a particularly vicious Fyarl demon. The demons and hell-spawn just kept crawling out of the Hell-mouth. The room was so over crowded with demons that they began to fight each other.

             “Which ones Jonathan?” Angel shouted back.

             “The one reading from the spell book numb-nuts!” Spike yelled from across the library as he traded punches with Doc.

             “I really hate that boy.” Angle sighed as he slammed his fist into a Hell-beast’s face, trying to make his way to the trio.

             Jonathan, Andrew and Warren were situated in an alcove that used to be the entrance to Giles’ office. Blocking the way to the trio was a horde of demons that continued to crawl out of the hell-mouth. In the center of the fray, closest to the Hell-mouth, Buffy and Dawn stood practically back-to-back fighting off demons left and right. Dawn was no Slayer, but she was pretty nifty with a sword.

             “We’re out numbered!” Angel shouted.

             “Thank you for that keen observation!” Giles said, then gritted his teeth and grunted as he slashed another of the countless demons coming forth from the hell-mouth.

             “Aaah!” Cordelia shrieked as she was thrown a few feet in the air and landed unceremoniously against a wall, sliding down.

             “Cordy!” Angel tore through the remainder of the demon he was fighting and pushed his way through the demons to get to her. When he finally got to her she was just starting to regain her senses.

             “Are you okay?” Angel asked her, worried.

             “Other than this concussion, I’m fine.” Cordelia said as she held her hand to the side of her head. She grimaced when her hand came away bloody. She looked down at her white designer blouse and saw drops of her blood had dripped onto it.

             “My favorite shirt! That’s it! Now I’m pissed!” Cordelia stood up abruptly, walked past Angel and stalked to the demon that had thrown her across the room. The demon saw her and swung its fist at her, but she somehow managed to dodge him and suddenly grabbed his head between both her hands. Her eyes started to glow, spreading to the rest of her body until it shimmered bright white.

             The demon entire body tensed, then it’s eyes rolled back in its head as the white glow engulfed his body. When she released the demon it fell and touched a different demon, spreading the glow to it. Shortly after the glow had been passed on, the demon shriveled and turned to dust. The next demon fell, touching another demon, spreading the glow onto it. The domino effect cut out at least half of the demons, turning them to dust as soon as the white glow was passed on.

             The Scoobies stood stunned as they had watched the demon population get cut back dramatically by Cordelia.

             “Wow, puts a whole new meaning to the word ‘fashion victim’, don’t you think?” Lorne asked with raised eyebrows.

             “No rest for the weary, come on then!” Giles said as he charged after another demon. The rest followed suit, taking up the battle again. This time the odds didn’t look so bad.

             “This didn’t have to get so personal, you know.” Doc smiled as Spike struggled to get a land a punch in on him. “We’re both demons. We should be working towards the same goal.”

             “Yeah, well, I kinda like the world how it is now.” Spike said, taking another shot at Doc, but the demon easily dodged it, yet again. “Besides, if I get to kill you, then I’m all for it.” Spike grunted.

             “Arrogant boy. I’m not so easy to kill.” Doc smiled coolly as Spike’s fist came centimeters from his face.

             “Then I’ll settle for beating you to a bloody pulp until I figure out how to kill you.” Spike said, finally landing a blow on Doc’s face, but the demon quickly retaliated with a punch to Spike’s nose that was stronger than his, knocking Spike to the ground.

             “I’m not so easy to beat either.” Doc said, straightening the lapels of his jacket, and dusting imaginary dust off him self.

             Spike gritted his teeth. This was going to be a long fight.

             “Grrr!! First my blouse, and now my poor skirt! What is it with you demons and my clothes?!” Cordelia shouted as she clamped her glow-y hands on another demon, sending the domino effect through five of them.

             “Makes you wish you had stayed home, doesn’t it?” Lorne shouted as he shot a bolt from his crossbow, hitting a demon in the shoulder. It shrieked loudly making everyone in the room wince and clasp their hands over their ears at the intensity of the volume. By the end of the battle, everyone’s ears were gonna be ringing, that’s for sure.

             “Tell me about it! I bet Gunn and Fred are having a better time than we are.” Cordelia said frustrated, looking down at her tattered skirt and wincing at the loud noise filling the library.

 Back in LA, the Hyperion hotel…

             Fred and Gunn sat in the main lobby in silence. The clock ticking on the wall was the only sound in the entire room.

             Gunn sighed and glanced at the door, mentally willing a customer to walk through the doors.

             Fred glanced at Gunn, and gave him a small smile. He smiled back, and then went back to looking extremely bored.

             Fred fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

             Gunn glanced at the clock, ticking insistently. He was seriously considering ripping the clock off the wall.

             “Man…we should have gone to Sunnydale with them. I bet they’re having a better time than we are.” Gunn sighed.

Back in Sunnydale, the old Sunnydale High Library…

             “I doubt it sweet-cakes.” Lorne replied to Cordy, raising his voice over the battle sounds.

             “Will you two stop yapping and fight?” Angel sighed.

             “Hey! I took out half of them in one move! Beat that!” Cordelia glared at him, then added under her breath: “Numb-nuts.”

             “Yeah Angel-cakes, not everyone has as much fun killing things as you and Connor.” Lorne said, gesturing to the young boy.

             Connor was fighting tirelessly in the center of a large group of demons, with a large smile on his face.

             “Gotta admit, the kid loves the fight.” Angel smiled proudly. “Just like his daddy.”

             Cordelia and Lorne rolled their eyes and went back to killing things.

             “Take that you slimy….thing!” Dawn said, slashing through a demon.

             “Dawn, less non-witty banter and more killing!” Buffy shouted.

             “They just keep coming!” Dawn said.

             “Willow!” Buffy shouted. “How’s Tara doing with that spell?”

             “She’s working on it!” Willow shouted back, glancing at Tara. She was situated in the twisted wreckage of the caged in area. It was damaged, but mostly intact, so it created a space for her to perform the spell away from the fight.

             “Well hurry!” Buffy shouted.

             Spike was getting his ass kicked… and he had hardly landed three punches on Doc.

            “I’m getting bored of you. I’ve got business to attend to.” Doc smiled coolly and slammed his fist into Spike’s nose. He fell to the floor, knocked out.

             Doc straightened his suit jacket and walked over to the three nerds.

             “Its time. You must summon Ethos standing above the Hell-mouth. It will take all three of you.” Doc told them.

             “Hey wait, you said Jonathan was gonna do the spell. Not all three of us.” Andrew said.

            “That is true. It is Jonathan that must perform the spell. You two are just there to… help.”  Doc said.

             The trio glanced at each other nervously.

             “How do we get past the demons?” Warren asked.

             “And the Slayer.” Andrew reminded.

             “Don’t worry about that. I’ll deal with the Slayer. Just perform the ritual.”

             “And then we’ll rule Sunnydale, right?” Warren asked.

             “Yes…” Doc lied through his teeth with a smile on his face. “You will.”

             Doc turned and walked through the crowd of demons, intent on his goal.

             Jonathan and Andrew glanced up at Warren.

             “I don’t like this. This isn’t how things were supposed to go.” Jonathan said.

             “Well whose stupid idea was it to summon a Hell-God’s servant?” Andrew glared at Jonathan.

             “It wasn’t me you moron! You suggested it!” Jonathan shot back.

             “I did?” Andrew furrowed his brows.

             “Yeah! You said, and I quote…” Jonathan started, but Warren cut him off.

             “Will you two shut up! The way I see it we are exactly where we want to be. We’ll get to rule Sunnydale…” Warren smiled devilishly, “and take out the Slayer in one shot.”

             Jonathan didn’t like this at all. He didn’t want to get rid of Buffy, that’s for sure. She was always nice to him. He didn’t know how things had gotten so out of control, but he didn’t know what he could do to stop it. Warren was pretty intent on his goals…and Andrew wanted to do whatever Warren wanted. Plus if he went against them, Warren would probably kill him, or exact some kind of weird revenge. The Slayer’s sister, Dawn had promised him protection…but he didn’t know how long the Slayer would protect him from his ‘friends’. And then there was Doc…

             “Earth to Jonathan!” Warren waved his hand in front of Jonathan’s face.

             “Ahh! Dude, don’t do that!” Jonathan swatted away his hand.

             “Stop spacing out like a spaz. Lets do this.” Warren said, leading the trio out of their area of protection. Jonathan followed reluctantly, carrying the spell book and trying to think of a way to stop this.

             “Buffy…I don’t see Spike or Doc anymore.” Dawn shouted to her sister.

             “What?” Buffy turned to where she last saw the two fighting. “Where did they go?”

             “TARA!!” Willow’s scream caught Buffy and Dawn’s attention.

             “Wills?” Buffy shouted as she grabbed Dawn’s hand and ran to where Willow’s scream came from. “Giles, Angel, cover for me!” She shouted to them as she ran past. They both stepped forward and started fighting the demons that were surging out of the Hell-mouth.

             “Willow?”

             “He has her! Doc has Tara and I couldn’t stop it!” Willow cried. Buffy saw the gash on Willow’s forehead that suggested she put up a fight.

             “Its not your fault, you tried. I’ll get her back, okay? I need you to finish Tara’s spell to close the Hell-mouth.”

             “But I can’t! She made me promise. I can’t…”

             “Willow you’ve been off magic for months now…just don’t start abusing it. I need you to finish the spell…if we don’t seal off the Hell-mouth…” Buffy trailed off, glancing at the carnage that was still taking place all around them. She took Willow by the shoulders as if to instill her trust in her long time friend. “You can do this….Willow, please.”

             Willow glanced around at the mayhem that was taking place and swallowed hard.

             “I’ll get her back Wills…I swear I will.” Buffy echoed Spike’s promise to her in the Alley.

             Willow looked into Buffy’s eyes and nodded. “I’ll do it.” She said, confidently. Buffy nodded great-fully.

             “Dawn, stay with Willow.” Buffy instructed and then fought her way through the growing numbers of demons blocking her way to the Hell-mouth entrance.

             “Things just got really bad…didn’t they?” Dawn asked Willow.

             Willow blinked back tears. Dawn decided that her silence was answer enough.

             “Start the ritual, boy!”  Doc commanded Jonathan.

             Jonathan swallowed, terrified. Doc had his arm around a blonde girl’s neck, the blade of his knife dangerously close to the girl’s throat.

             “What do you need her for?” Jonathan asked.

             “Insurance.” Doc answered.

             “Insurance?” Jonathan asked.

             “YES! Now start reading!!” Doc shouted and the three nerds jumped. Doc had never raised his voice or showed anything other than passive emotions, and now he seemed really jumpy. The demons had stopped coming out of the Hell-mouth, almost as if they knew something big was about to happen.

             “Uh, o-okay.” Jonathan said, taking a deep breath. He really didn’t want to do this.

             (In a demonic language)

             “Etheos, ramalos cht actura rtuo omenus. Cht ytukka srelo pcutia…”

             “STOP!!” Buffy shouted. Jonathan looked up from the text, a relieved look on his face.

             “Finish it, boy!” Doc commanded him. “Don’t take another step Slayer.” Doc said, pressing the blade closer to Tara’s throat.

             “Don’t worry about me Buffy! Don’t let them complete the ritual!” Tara told her.

             “Oh, the brave little Martyr…” Doc chuckled, then whispered in her ear: “I do believe you’re bluffing…but I’ll enjoy cutting you into little pieces anyway.”

             “Let her go.” Buffy demanded.

            “Well now, wouldn’t that just take all of the drama out of it.” Doc chuckled. He looked over at Jonathan and shouted: “Finish it, boy!”

             “…Archrd cht Etheos srulte octu.” Jonathan read the last of the page. When nothing happened he was relieved, but curious. “Now what?”

             “Now it’s time for the sacrifices.” Doc smiled. Before anyone could stop him he shoved Warren into the enlarged crack.

             “WARREN!” Andrew shouted in shock.

             “Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon.” Doc smiled, grabbed Andrew and pushed in the Hell-mouth as well. Both Warren and Andrew’s screams could be heard fading as they fell down the unknown depth. The ground rumbled beneath their feet.

             “You never said anything about this!” Jonathan threw the book across the room. “I’m not finishing it!”

             “You honestly thought I needed you for anything other than for a sacrifice? I can do the spell on my own, boy!”  Doc grabbed him by the throat and held him over the Hell-mouth. “In fact, the spell is complete once I throw you’re worthless body into the Gates of Hell.” Doc said.

             “Discete!”(Latin for “Separate”) Tara shouted, and she and Jonathan went flying about ten feet out of Doc’s grasp.

             “A witch!” Doc practically growled. Jonathan quickly stood and put a much distance between himself and Doc as humanly possible in the cramped remains of the library… Which wasn’t very far.

             “You got bigger problems than that, mate.” Spike said from behind him. Doc turned to face him, only to get the business end of Giles’ dropped mace to the side of the head. Doc hit the floor, hard. “Namely, me.” Spike smirked dangerously.

             Spike sauntered over to where Doc had landed, a gleam in his eyes that could only be described as malice.

             When Doc moved to stand up, Spike cracked his skull with the mace again.

             “That’s for the nibblet, you prick.” Spike took another swing, but this time Doc caught it just inches from his head.

             “Looks like I’ll get to cut out your heart after all.” Doc smiled coldly, turned his body revealing the knife in his hand and thrust it into Spike’s chest savagely.

             “NOO!!!” Buffy leapt forward and kicked Doc as hard as she could, sending him crashing into a wall.

             Spike winced and clenched his jaw as he pulled the long blade out of his chest, falling to his knees in pain.

             “Bloody fucking hell!” He growled in pain. “That bloody bastard is going to die.”

             “You’re in no shape to fight.” Buffy protested.

             “I don’t give a fuck, that tosser is going to die painfully and slowly!!” Spike said, pressing his hand to the knife wound.

             The others had finished off the last of the demons that hadn’t escaped the fight, and joined Buffy.

             “Buffy is right Spike, you’re far too injured.” Giles said.

             Spike ignored him and stood on unsteady legs. “Out of my way Watcher.” Spike growled.

             “Spike.” Angel growled back in a warning voice, standing in his way.

             “MOVE!” Spike shoved Angel out of the way, yelping in pain from his wound, but he ignored it.

             He stalked angrily to Doc, whom was just recovering from his unscheduled flight into the wall.

             “Back for more, boy?” Doc sneered.

             “We haven’t even begun, mate.” Spike glared.

             Doc suddenly opened his mouth and his tongue latched onto Jonathan, yanking Jonathan to him. Doc held onto the boy’s throat, and quicker than Spike anticipated, jumped over to the Hell-mouth.

             “You’re right…we haven’t.” Doc said patronizingly.

             Willow prayed under her breath as she resumed the ritual to close the Hell-mouth. She had taken several long minutes to work up the nerve to use powerful magic again and it wasn’t until she saw things going very badly with Doc that she gritted her teeth and worked diligently on it.

             “Willow?” Dawn asked hesitantly. “Can I help?”

             “I-I don’t think so Dawnie…” Willow said, not wanting to get the girl involved in magic more than she already was.

             “Please…I have to do something.” Dawn pleaded.

             Willow thought hard for a moment. She looked up to see what appeared to be an injured Spike in a confrontation with Doc, whom was standing over the Hell-mouth with Jonathan. Willow noticed Doc pulled something out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Spike teasingly. Her eyes widened in recognition.

             “Yeah Dawnie…there is something you can do…”

             “You get to choose, boy…” Doc said as he pulled the amulet of Bytanor out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Spike so he could see.

             “The boy’s life, or your amulet. Either way, one of them is going into the hell-mouth.” Doc held both dangerously over the gaping pit. Jonathan was struggling helplessly against Doc’s grip. Spike glanced at both, calculating.

             “Ah… he is conflicted.” Doc smirked.

            “The boy, you wanker.” Spike gritted his teeth in anger. Doc raised his eyebrows in what looked like surprise.

            “Oh dear. What a disappointment. A real demon would have chosen the amulet… no matter.” Doc shrugged indifferently and let go of both Jonathan and the amulet.

            Spike dove for the boy, knocking him away from the Hell-mouth as the amulet dropped into the darkness of the Hell-mouth.

            Suddenly the amulet floated back out of the hole and flew across the room into Dawn’s waiting hands.

            “Hey, and you guys didn’t want me to learn magic.” Dawn smirked patronizingly, holding the amulet in triumph.

            Spike smirked at Doc’s bewildered look.

             “Game over, mate.” Spike said with a snarl and dove over the Hell-mouth, knocking Doc to the ground. Spike shouted in pain when Doc seized the opportunity to shove his hand into Spike’s chest wound.

             Against Jonathan’s internal voice that screamed for him to run as far away as possible (Mexico was sounding rather tempting), he grabbed a large scrap piece of wood and knocked Doc over the head with it. Spike had chosen him over the amulet, even if Doc cheated in the end anyway.

            Doc reeled back; releasing Spike’s chest wound, and nearly filleted Jonathan with his knife that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. Jonathan was suddenly grabbed from behind and pushed away by Buffy.

             “Do we really need weapons for this?” Buffy raised an eyebrow at Doc’s ever-present blade.

             “Hey! That’s our line Slayer.” Spike growled weakly.

             “Shut up honey.”

             “I bloody well will no-…did you just call me ‘honey’?” Spike grinned goofily and everyone rolled their eyes, although Doc’s was more in annoyance and disgust.

             “Do I get to call you a pet name?” Spike asked absently, already trying to think of one.

             “Spike shut up!” Buffy said.

             “Oh now it’s just ‘Spike’. You know, I’m sittin’ here with a bloody hole in my chest, you think you could be a little nicer.”

             “Spike, I’m trying to advert the apocalypse here.”

             “Oh, right.”

             “Less talk, more dying.”  Doc said, lunging at Buffy. She dodged, swung at him with her sword and then spin-kicked him in the back, knocking him off balance. He recovered quickly and she scissor kicked him, sending him reeling once again. He swung at her, but she dropped into a false fall, drop kicking him on the way down and then sweep kicking him behind the knees. Doc fell on his back hard, smacking the back of his head on the concrete floor. Doc’s knife fell out of his hand and slid next to Spike. Spike looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

             “…I implore thee, terminus!” Willow concluded the Spell. A loud popping noise and a bright flash of light startled the occupants of the Library. Everyone stopped what they were doing shook their heads to try and stop the ringing in their ears, then glanced at where Willow was performing the spell. She shyly popped her head out from behind the metal door.

             “Um…sorry?” Willow winced apologetically.

             “No!!” Doc shouted, realizing the Hell-mouth was closed.

             “Check mate.” Spike said in a deep and angered voice as he grabbed Doc from behind and slit his throat quickly. “Send my regards to you’re Hell God, you prick” Spike whispered in his ear as Doc dropped to the floor.

            Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the death of Doc.

             “Lend me your sword, luv.”

             Buffy wordlessly handed Spike the blade. Giles, realizing what Spike was doing, stepped forward to stop him, but Lorne held him back.

             “Leave him be. He needs to face his failure…he needs to make amends in his mind for it.” Lorne told Giles.

             Giles looked at the tortured look on the Vamp’s face, and immediately understood. If someone had murdered Buffy… He would have exacted the same revenge…only he would have done it while they were still alive.

             Angel came to his own understanding of the depths of Spike’s heart. For centuries he had trained Spike, turning him into the evilest thing he could become…in the end, Spike still kept his human heart. All of that time…Angel never saw whom Spike really was. He was able to truly love, an extremely rare thing for Vampires. He was almost disappointed in Buffy when he found out she was having an affair with his Grandchilde… now he realized they were truly in love. More so than he and Buffy had been. Angel started to brood.

             “Come on… I doubt any of us want to see this. Specially you, little one.” Lorne said to Dawn and the others. They all filed out, giving Spike last glances as they left the library. Seconds later as they walked down the halls aimlessly, Spike’s swearing and the sounds of the sword blade hitting bone and flesh carried throughout corridor.

Chapter 5 (Epilogue): Fish Face

             After the apocalypse, it was so late at night everyone went home and collapsed into their beds, planning on having a “Demon sweep” and then an “Apocalypse party” the next night.

            So the entire gang was out on patrol as planned, hunting down the escapee demons from the fight in the Library. Connor was using his acute sense of smell to track down the demons. It didn’t take long for the group to get into a scuffle with large reptile looking demons.

             “Is it just me, or do these Demons look a lot like Dinosaurs?” Xander commented as he sidestepped getting his arm torn off by a demon that looked a lot like a Raptor.

             “That’s because they are. Dinosaurs are related to Demons.” Anya commented, sitting atop a tombstone five feet away. She had out her wedding planner and occasionally asked Xander a question. The last one was about his tux sizes, or “would he prefer the traditional pant and tunic made from living flesh?” Everyone had curled up their’ noses at that thought, trying not to imagine how that was even possible.

             “They are?” Willow asked. Buffy, Willow, Tara, Dawn, Lorne and Cordelia were also sitting next to Anya, watching the men fight off the demons.

            It was their’ turn, after all. Buffy had begrudgingly let Spike fight, but only if he used the crossbow instead of his fists.

            The only reason Lorne was sitting it out was because he and Anya had started talking Wedding dresses, and Lorne had even offered to host the Reception at Caritas.

             “Oh yes. Humans think that Dinosaurs were killed off by some large asteroid or something, but that’s not true. They were all just sucked into Hell.”

             “Do tell?” Giles asked, looking for all-the world like a librarian again.

             “How do you know all this?” Dawn asked skeptically.

             “Demonology 101.” Anya shrugged indifferently.

             “DUCK!” Spike shouted. The girls all simultaneously ducked immediately, but Lorne was too slow. A stray Raptor looking demon had snuck up behind the group, and before anyone could stop it, it ripped off Lorne’s head.

             “NO!” Buffy shouted. She pulled Doc’s knife out of her waistband and stabbed the Raptor in the chest. It let go of Lorne’s head and fell over dead.

             “Oh my God! Lorne!” Buffy said, her voice shaking.

             “He’ll be okay.” Angel sighed.

             “How can you say that?! Your friend just died!” Willow started crying. Spike walked over to where Lorne’s head lay in the grass and looked down at him sadly.

             “He was a good bloke.”

             “Aw, you love me. You really love me.” Lorne said, opening his eyes.

             “AHH!!” Spike jumped back, nearly stumbling over a tombstone. “Bloody Hell!!” Spike swore in pain as he aggravated his wound.

             “Lorne?!” Buffy approached his head hesitantly.

             “Yeah sweetie, I’m still me…just slightly shorter.” Lorne chuckled. “You mind bringing me to my body again?”

             “Oh eww.” Dawn said.

             “It’s not like I’m diseased or anything, sheesh!” Lorne scoffed.

             “Bloody hell man! Nearly gave me a bloody coronary…” Spike swore at Lorne. “You know… if it were possible.” He added at everyone’s skeptical looks.

             “Don’t worry, he likes to do that.” Angel grumbled and stalked over to Lorne’s head, walking it back to his body. Angel placed Lorne’s head in his body’s hands, and Lorne re-attached his head onto his shoulders.

             “Oh yes, I just love getting my head torn off constantly.” Lorne glared at Angel. “At least *they* said more than “hmm” and “yeah”.” Lorne huffed.

             The Scooby gang was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and disgust. He felt very much like a roadside accident. It’s gross, but you can’t help but look.

             “Neat party trick. What else can you do Kermit?” Spike asked with raised eyebrows.

             Lorne smiled charmingly. “I can sing!” and then he proudly belted out “I will survive”.

             Which resulted in another group of Demons attacking them seconds later. The boys just grinned.

             “Your turn ladies.” Spike smiled cheerfully as he sat back against a tombstone and focused on Buffy fighting. He always did love to watch her fight. He used to be involved in “back room bets” against other demons when he needed money after the Initiative plugged the chip in his head. He always bet on the Slayer. Hey! Speaking of bets…

             “Whelp, you owe me twenty!”

             “Wha?”

             “Our bet. I bet on the Hell-mouth, you bet common vandals. Pay up.” Spike stuck out his palm expectantly. Xander purposely sneezed into Spike’s palm.

             “Nasty.” Spike said, wiping the snot off on Xander’s shirt.

             “Sorry, vamp dust.” Xander said, making a big show of waiving his hand about his face as if to clear the air.

             Exhausted, the group re-convened at Buffy’s house for the “Apocalypse party”.

             “I am the bearer of all alcoholic beverages.” Xander crowed proudly as he carried in the large bag. The rest of the group followed after him, also carrying paper bags that contained party snacks.

             “Harris, you’re starting to become my favorite bloke every time you say that.” Spike grinned. Xander set down the bag and Spike immediately started rummaging through it.

             “You know, every time I see them being nice to each other, I swear I’m in an alternate dimension or something…” Cordelia commented.

             “No kidding. I thought Xander hated all Vampires.” Angel said.

             “Only poofy prancing wankers like yourself, peaches.” Spike smirked at him.

             “Alright boys, that’s enough.” Buffy said dryly. “And why do you keep calling him peaches?” She added curiously.

             “You should know luv…” Spike started, but Angel cut him off.

             “SPIKE!!!”

             “Okay, stop it guys!” Buffy shouted.

             “Yes quite. We’re all getting tired of your snipping at each other. This is supposed to be a party.” Giles added.

             “Actually, I find their bickering quite amusing.” Anya, ever the truthful one added.

             “Thanks, doll. Feel free to insult peaches any time. It’s more fun that way.” Spike grinned mischievously and ducked out of the room quickly.

             “Spike!!” Angel called after him.

             Anya smiled enthusiastically, and for the rest of the night, called him “Peaches”, to Angel’s dismay.

             Well after midnight, Dawn and Connor had been sent to bed (in separate ones, of course) and the rest of the adults had stayed up playing drinking games. Lorne insisted on only drinking sea-breezes, but Spike, already having a few bottles of tequila in him, called that drink “a sissy prancing nancy-boy drink” and shoved a shot of tequila in front of Lorne. After much protests Lorne finally relented, and ended up getting just as drunk as the rest of them.

             Spike and Angel were sitting at the dinning room table drinking and having a “man-to-man” talk.

             “Y’ know peaches… I really ‘ated ya when ya disappeared on Dru ‘an me.” Spike slurred drunkenly, pouring another shot of tequila for both.

             “Sorry m’boy. ‘Couldn’t be helped.” Angel said, his Irish accent returning in his inebriated state.

             “But I ‘ated ya even more when you turned inta Angelus.” Spike added, and everyone that had witnessed that event nodded solemnly.

             “’nd I’m pissed tha’ you left th’ Slayer all broken ‘earted when ya fled t’ L.A.” Spike slammed back a shot. “Tha’ was a real chick’n shit thing t’ do, man.”

             “Shut up. ‘Least I didn’ call ‘er “Slutty the vampire layer”, if’n I remember correctly.” Angel retorted.

             “Yea, well, tha’ was before I realize I love ‘er, mate.”

             “Oh yea, I fergot’ to tell ya…” Angel said.

             “Wha’ peaches?”

             “Break the lass’s heart an’ I’ll rip out yer spinal cord.” Angel said, dead serious. Spike suddenly busted up laughing.

             “What?!” Angel glared.

             Still laughing, Spike barely managed to spit out “ Remember tha’ time ‘n London, not long after I was turn’d…” Spike raised his eyebrows expectantly, and watched the look of remembrance wash over Angel’s face.

             “Oh yea! I nearly forgot ‘bout that…”

             “Ugh, this ‘s what we get for hangin’ out with Vamps.” Buffy curled up her nose in a way that Spike thought was absolutely adorable.

             “Oh come on luv, it ain’t that bad.” Spike shrugged.

             “Vamp male bonding? Right.” Buffy said disbelievingly.

             “Male bondage? Oh, that sounds like fun.” Anya commented, and everyone grimaced.

             “It could be worse…Angel could be all evil again.” Willow added.

             “Yeah, if ya ever see peaches wear’n leather pants, tha’s yer first clue.” Spike said tapping the side of his head and pointing to Cordelia, and Lorne.

             “Hey!” Angel glared at Spike.

             “Wha? M’ I givin’ away yer best kept secret?” Spike chuckled.

             “Oh my God.” Buffy started laughing hysterically. “I totally forgot ‘bout th’ leather pants!” She said before dissolving into a fit of laughter.

             Lorne mouthed silently to Cordy “Leather pants?” She just shook her head at him with a ‘don’t go there’ look.

             “Wha’ is it with you all an’ callin’ me Evil all th’ time?” Angel glared. “I don’ always go evil ya know.”

             “Right, mate. Jus’ be sure to stay un-happy, alright?” Spike patted him on the back.

             Angel suddenly got a look on his face that looked suspicious. Xander had gotten up to get more chips and the boy had his back to Angel. Using a vamp’s stealth (as much as a drunken one had, anyway) he snuck up behind Xander and used Spikes ‘pretending to vamp out behind Joyce’ look over the boy’s shoulder. When Xander saw him, he shrieked like a girl and potato chips went flying everywhere.

             Everyone dissolved into drunken fits of laughter, except for Xander, who only glared at Angel.

             When Spike caught his breath, he said in shock: “Angel made a funny!”

             “No, that’s still his normal brooding face.”  Anya looked at Angel critically.

             “Ya s'inks at's funny!” Buffy said, still laughing. “You shu’d see th’ face ‘e makes when ‘e shums!" Buffy slurred and started making a fish face impression.

             “Eww! That’s way too much information, even for me.” Anya cringed.

             Spike looked at Buffy’s impression of ‘fish-face/climax Angel’ thoughtfully.

             “Ya know, I think ‘e made th’ same face that time I accident’ly shot ‘im in th’ balls with that crossbow..." He paused thoughtfully, “ ’Cept ‘e also crossed his eyes..." Spike crossed his eyes and did the Fish face impression, cringing his right eye more than the other for effect.

             Buffy laughed and nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! Tha’z it izactly!”

             Xander raised a crossbow and took aim.  “Cool, let’s see if we c’n make ‘im do the same face on command...”
 

Many, many drinks later:
 

             “D’d some one spike th’ drinks?” Buffy furrowed her brows as she peered into her empty glass as if it would tell her the answer. She poured herself another but the second she put it to her lips, Xander took it away from her.

             “Sounds like yer plenty ‘Spiked’ Buffster.”

             Buffy looked up, shocked.

             “How’d you know that? It was jus’ a quickie in th’ upstairs bathroom! Who told you ‘bout me gettin’ “Spiked?”

             Spike snickered and stood behind Buffy making “the Fish face”, sending them all into a fit of laughter again.

             “’An you know what's funny?... The vampire slayer got staked by the vampire!!!" Buffy busted up laughing in a drunken stupor. Oblivious to Giles’ and Angel’s horror-filled faces, she continued. She dramatically threw herself at Spike.

             “I said, “Ohhh...Stake me, you fool!”  An’ he staked me again an’ again!!! Multiple times! Ain’t that right honey??”

             Spike nodded cheerfully and held up three fingers, making sure everyone could count them.

             “Somebody please stake me…now.” Angel muttered, and Xander rose enthusiastically, a stake having appeared in his hand miraculously.

             “KIDDING!” Angel hastily added.

            Xander pouted.

             The party was winding down. Willow and Tara had passed out on the sofa, and Giles had crashed in the sofa chair long before. Buffy was sitting on Spike’s lap and they were making kiss-ey faces at each other. Angel, Xander, Anya, Lorne, and Cordelia continued to exchange stories and drink.

             The conversation had lulled after the tale of the trip to Pylea, and Xander and Anya’s recount of Willow’s botched forget Spell, and then the First Evil attacking Spike.

            Out of boredom, Xander found himself humming “God Save the Queen.”

             Lorne suddenly turned to him, having read his soul.

             “So *that’s* why he calls Angel ‘Peaches’!” Lorne said triumphantly. Then his face fell. “Eww!”