Love and the Initiative

Part 14

      "Buffy, are you okay?" Riley asked his girlfriend as he helped her slowly
rise to her feet.  Buffy held her head with one hand, while the other
gripped Riley’s arm.
      "What happened?" She groaned.
      "Hostiles 13 and 17 escaped.  Did you see them?"  Buffy looked over at him,
accusation in her eyes.
      "You had Angel and Willow the whole time and you never said anything.
Why?" She asked him.  Riley flinched from the harshness of her tone.
      "I couldn’t. I was under orders.  They were taken last week while I was
with you.  I didn’t even know about it until the next day," he explained.
      "And the part about consorts?"  Riley refused to meet Buffy’s gaze, knowing
that she wouldn’t like the answer.
      "She has allowed him to feed from her," Professor Walsh said, coming from
behind Riley.  Buffy looked at the woman.  "At least twice.  Once from her
wrist, the other after they made love."  Buffy paled at the information.
"Angel and Willow.  That’s not possible.  He would never do that to me.  And
what about his soul?’
      "No," Buffy denied, "she would never do that to me.  Willow knows how much
Angel meant to me.  How much he still means to me."  Walsh looked at Buffy,
compassion in her eyes at the blonde’s distress.
      "I’m sorry, but I have the whole thing on tape if that is what you need for
proof," Walsh told her.  "I know this must be difficult for you, but I need
to know where your loyalties are.  Do you want to help us or are you going
to protect the hostiles and their consorts."
      Buffy looked down at her hands, her head clearing up.  Her thoughts were
going a mile a minute.  She was remembering all those times when she picked
up the phone in her dorm, only to have the caller hang up.  How Willow
refused to let her see the phone bill.  The occasional trip out of town.
"She’s been seeing Angel. She was still talking to him.  And all that time
she acting so upset over Oz leaving and the entire time she’s been with my
boyfriend.  That lying little tramp.’  Buffy stared straight at Walsh, all
hurt and pain completely gone from her eyes.  In their place was a coldness
as she spoke.
      "What do you want me to do?"
      "First, do you know of any place that they might have gone for help?  To
hide out?"
      "They would probably head to one of three places," Buffy supplied.  "There
is Angel’s apartment that he’s had since he’s been in town.  Then there is
an old mansion over on Crawford street that he stayed in last year."
      "What’s the third?" Walsh inquired, pleased with the fact that Buffy was so
willing to turn against her former friends.  ‘Yes she will go far with the
Initiative.  Very far indeed.’
      "Giles," Buffy replied simply.  "That’s the most likely place.  Angel and
Willow would probably figure that he would help them."
      "Will he?"
      "I don’t think so, just because Spike is with him," Buffy reasoned.  "Plus,
Giles still has some personal issues regarding Angel, so I don’t think he
would be to happy to hear about the changes in Angel and Willow’s
relationship."
      "Then I would suggest that be the first place we go to," Walsh stated.
"Buffy, take Riley, Graham and Forrest with you.  Report back to me with
your findings.  We will go check out the other two locations."  Buffy and
the others nodded at Walsh, quickly grabbing their weapons and leaving the
bunker.

      Giles was startled from his research by the insistent pounding at the door.
  He put down the cup of tea in his hand and went over to answer it,
surprised to see Buffy, Riley and some commandos at the door.
      "B..B..Buffy what is going on here?" Giles was startled as Buffy pushed her
way inside, the others following her.  Buffy looked around the townhouse,
checking every room making sure that it was indeed empty.  Giles grew
angrier by the minute at the invasion.  While he was used to the members of
the scooby gang just dropping in, he did not like the idea of this
particular form of invasion.  "Buffy, what exactly are you looking for?"
      "Have you talked to Willow or Angel today?" Buffy asked as she reentered
the living room.  Riley signaled for the other men to wait outside and keep
an eye out in case the others showed up.
      "No, nor did I plan to," Giles answered.  "Isn’t Willow still away on her
trip?"
      "Well, apparently she never left," Buffy sighed as she sat on the couch.
"Her and Angel were captured last week by the Initiative."
      "And the Initiative being those men that just invaded my home?"  Buffy
nodded.  Giles turned to Riley, "You knew about this?"
      "Yes," Riley said, refusing to back down this time.  Now that he knew that
Buffy accepted his role in Willow’s disappearance, he was sure that her
Watcher would understand.  "She and Hostile 13 were taken when they were
spotted on campus together.  When it was discovered that she was his
consort, it was determined that she would be held to see if anything was
done to her to make her be with him."
      "Consort?"
      "Yeah, ain’t that a bitch," Buffy spat as Giles sat on the chair.
"Apparently the entire time that little miss Willow was mooning over Oz, her
and Angel have been together.  They even did it while they were being held
by them.  I can’t believe I actually felt sorry for her when Oz left.  What
an idiot I am." Giles looked on in disbelief at his former Slayer.  He
couldn’t believe that Buffy actually thought that Willow and Angel had been
together the entire time.  Giles knew that the two of them had stayed in
contact.  It had come in handy a few times when something had come up that
either Giles or Angel had needed help with.  Giles even knew about Angel’s
soul being permanent.  If the two of them had found love with each other, he
was happy for them.  He just wished that Buffy would feel the same way
considering she had also moved on.
      "What do you mean, Willow and Angel did it?" Buffy, Riley and Giles all
turned and saw Xander standing in the doorway.
      "Oh Xander, I’m so sorry," Buffy ran over to the boy.  "I found Anya.  She
was with Spike."
      There was something in the way the Buffy said "with Spike" that made Xander
pause.  "What do you mean, With Spike?"
      "As in, they were together.  I found them with Angel and Willow."
      "Where is she now?"
      "We don’t know," Riley said, coming over to the boy.  "They escaped from
the compound and have not been found yet.  We had assumed that they might
have come here, looking for help."
      "Buffy, do they know that you are involved with the people that held them?"
Giles asked.
      "Yeah, I tried to stop them, but somehow, the implant that is supposed to
render them unable to hurt a human malfunctioned and they got by me," Buffy
informed him.
      "Well, then, what are we waiting for," Xander told them.  "Let’s go find
and kill us some vamps."  Buffy looked in surprise at Xander.  "Spike took
my girlfriend and Angel is risking his soul with my best friend.  I’ll be
damned if I just sit by and do nothing."
      "Let’s go then, "Riley said, pleased at this turn of events.
      "Giles, you’ll let us know if you hear from them, right," Buffy said over
her shoulder, not even waiting for a reply.  Giles watched in sadness as two
of the young people that he had come to care about left his home, intent on
finding their former friends and killing them.  Or capturing them and
returning them to the Initiative.  Giles mourned the lose of the friendships
between the people.  Than Giles did something he knew he shouldn’t, but also
knew he had to.  He reached over to his phone and dialed a number in that he
had only used once, instead always relying on Willow to do the talking.  He
knew that he would only get the answering machine, but he wasn’t willing to
wait for them to arrive.
      "Angel Investigation, we help the hopeless.  Sorry we can’t take your call
right now, but we are busy with a client, so please leave your name, number
and problem and we will get back to you."  *BEEP*
      "Angel, this is Giles.  I heard what happened to you and the others.  Buffy
just left.  If you are still in Sunnydale, get out now.  I am leaving in a
few minutes and coming to Los Angeles.  Don’t worry, Buffy doesn’t have your
address, at least not from me.  She knows that Willow has been in contact
with you and is not happy.  And Xander is with her.  They are both working
for the Initiative now.  I have that cell phone that Buffy insisted I get so
call me if you get this message and are not going to be at the office.  Be
safe." After he hung up the phone, Giles dialed Buffy’s dorm room so that if
they checked to see his last call, they wouldn’t be able to trace it back to
Angel.
      Giles quickly packed some clothes and other items he felt he might need,
depending on how long of a stay he would be having at Angel’s.  He hoped
that the vampire and hacker were okay.  He also wondered about Anya’s
involvement with Spike.  He knew that Anya hadn’t believed that Willow would
just leave and he had no idea that Spike was back in town.  Could Spike have
actually been helping Anya search for Willow.  Is that why the two of them
were together?  Giles let his questions go through his mind, knowing that
the answers would have to wait until he met up with the others.  He turned
off the lights of his house, shutting the door behind him.  He looked
around, making sure that there was no one about.  He locked the door up
tight, having  a strange feeling that he wouldn’t be returning to Sunnydale
again under pleasant circumstances, if at all.  Whatever was about to
happen, it was going to be something that had nothing to do with hellmouths
and demons, at least not in the strictest sense.  It was going to be a war.
One started by humans who had no regard for the lives that they threatened.
One that he wasn’t sure that he wanted them to win.  Giles placed his bags
in his car and pulled out of his driveway, leaving his home, Sunnydale and
the slayer behind.
 

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