Rating: PG13
Pairing: W/S
Disclaimer: I don't own the BtVS and AtS crews. They belong to Joss and whomever else may be taking responsibility for their sometimes unsavory actions.
Distribution: A Witch's Love, Near Her Always, Willow's Little Secret, and any others who have been given permission to have my other fanfics. All others please ask first.
Summary: Next installment of the FNVC series. What happens when movie night centers on sci-fi? The first parts of the series may be found at http://witchslove.thaiandjen.com under W/Spike fics. This is a fluff series. Don't expect more than that and you shouldn't be disappointed.
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~*~Part One~*~
Friday night.
Sunnydale.
One group of humans, vampires, a witch, a Slayer and a former vengeance demon.
'And yet nothing about this strikes me as odd anymore.' Willow smirked, balancing two bowls of popcorn in her hands as she made her way from the kitchen to the living room. Buffy and Riley had gotten the pillows from the bedroom and had made a rather cozy looking 'nest' for themselves on the floor, Xander and Anya were sharing a chair, with her sitting mostly in his lap. Cordelia and Angel were sharing the leather loveseat that matched the couch where her own mate was waiting.
"What movies are we watching tonight, anyway?" Cordelia asked, smothering a giggle as Angel's hand, discreetly behind her body, tickled her in a sensitive spot. She was of the firm opinion that movie nights were a bad, bad thing - mostly because all the nights she had participated in ended with something really odd happening. Sure - odd things always happened in Sunnydale. But this stuff usually transcended all of that.
"It's a sci-fi marathon, ladies and gentlemen." Xander grinned, gesturing at the tapes on the coffee table. "We have 'Independence Day', 'Men in Black' and that all time classic, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'."
"Alright - who let Xander choose the movies?" Angel asked, groaning in mock-pain. He pulled Cordelia closer to him, breathing in the sweet scent of her body.
"He won a bet with Spike." Willow smirked. "So this week we put up with his silly movies. Next week - chick flicks." She gave Cordelia and Buffy a conspiratorial wink.
"Maybe we'll just tape some episode of 'A Baby Story' from TLC for us all to watch." The Slayer grinned. "That would be very chick-like."
"'A Baby Story'?" Angel asked quietly, his eyes moving from Xander to Spike to Riley. He wasn't familiar with this show. "Is this something I should be worried about?"
"Be afraid, Sire." Spike stage whispered, his eyes wide with feigned horror. "Be very afraid."
The entire group broke into laughter at the blond vampire's antics, even Angel who had no idea why he should be afraid of some show about babies. Maybe he could have Cordelia explain it to him later.
"Well - despite that rather viscious threat," Xander chuckled. "We're still going to watch my 'silly movies'." He stood up, grabbing the first DVD case from the coffee table and opening it.
Willow watched the disc slide into the player, her mouth twisting up into a smile. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Xan. You will suffer. Horribly."
Anya's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What is wrong with the baby story show?" She turned to Xander. "Do you dislike seeing children come into this world?"
"It's not that, An." Xander grimaced. "It's where they come from and all the blood and goo that makes it unpleasant."
"I once cursed a man to give birth to a child for expressing the exact same views you are right now."
The young man blanched, the imagined pain of giving birth making him wince. And where would the kid come out of? A few rather unpleasant possibilities ran through his mind and suddenly he didn't feel so good anymore. "Lucky me that you don't have your powers anymore, huh?" He joked weakly.
"I still know people." She smirked, patting the seat next to her innocently. Not having her powers was one thing - being able to still scare the hell out of her own boyfriend was something altogether different. Thankfully the smile on her face was at least partially hidden by the dim lighting of the room and the starting of the movie.
Like during most good movies, time seemed to not exist as they began to watch the movies Xander had chosen for his own peculiar method of torture that evening. 'Not that this isn't a great movie.' Willow thought, laying her head on Spike's shoulder as the space demons blew up the White House in 'Independence Day'. 'It's just that Xander made me watch it a hundred times when it first came out on video.'
There were only so many times a woman could watch Will Smith save the universe, after all. She stretched, closing her eyes for 'just a moment' to give them some relief from the blinding brightness of the television in the darkness. Unfortunately, she was much more tired than she had thought, and being in Spike's embrace didn't make it any easier to stay awake. She fell asleep, the sounds of the movie not disturbing her in the least. She would probably have slept all the way to the end of that movie, and the next, and maybe even straight to morning if everything had stayed the way it was at that moment. The television in the background, the quiet sound of Xander munching on his third bowl of popcorn for the evening - even Spike's little snorts of derision were something she could ignore as sleep as she was.
But the big explosion certainly woke her up.
She sat up, blinking her tired eyes in shock and looking at the television as though it was the reason for the noise. One look at the expressions on her friends' faces told her that what had startled her from her sleep definitely hadn't been anything from the movie they were watching. Already sirens could be heard outside, coming close and then moving away as they made their way to their target.
Xander was the first to stand. He made his way to the large window the living room boasted, pushing back the thick, dark, vampire-proof curtains to look outside. "Guys - come look at this."
One by one the group made their way to the window, crowding each other to look out over the city at what Xander had seen. In the distance, not too far off, smoke rose from the air in a thick billowing cloud right in the heart of the forest.
"Wanna go check it out?" Buffy offered, her eyes dancing with eagerness.
~*~Part Two~*~
"Pet, I really wish you'd stay here. The sun will be up soon - Peaches and I can't leave the house."
Willow nodded, listening patiently to her lover's reasoning on why she shouldn't go with Buffy and the others to see what had happened in the woods. The entire basis for the argument seemed to center around the fact that he couldn't come along to protect her. "I'll be fine, Spike. Remember - I was doing things like this before we met. I can take care of myself."
"I know. Its just -"
The red head laughed gently at the look on Spike's face. She reached up caressing his cheek. "You love me and don't want me to get hurt? Don't worry. I'll be with Buffy - and Riley, too. What could go wrong?"
"Ouch - that phrase is the kiss of death in Sunnydale, Wills." Xander joked. "Did you have to say that before we went tromping through the woods in the pre-dawn light?"
"Bah - pure superstition." Willow smirked. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss Spike on the lips, smiling as he melted in her arms, his mouth opening to deepen the kiss until she felt like she was drowning in his mouth.
"Be careful out there, Delia." Angel was whispering to his mate at the same moment, holding her in his arms.
"Of course, Angel. Its not like I'm going to go running up to trouble and slap it in the face. It usually finds -me-, you know."
"And somehow, this isn't comforting." The dark-haired vampire sighed, giving her a brief kiss and then pushing her towards her waiting friends.
"C'mon, Wills."
Willow looked over at Xander, sticking her tongue out at him. "Okay, okay. Just givin' my man some lovin' before we go investigating strange explosions at four in the morning." She stepped away from her lover, running her hand down the front of his shirt and giving him a wink. "Be back soon, baby."
The group leaving the house consisted of one Slayer, one witch, one former vengeance demon, a Seer, a former commando, and Xander. Willow laughed softly. Of their entire group - Xander was the only normal human being. It was almost as if she expected him to grow horns or turn into something furry at any moment and shock the hell out of them simply because they had all become too used to him being, well, normal. There wasn't much talking as they made their way down the street and then into the woods. She could see the muscles in Riley's back through the white t-shirt he was wearing and they looked tense. Maybe it was his former military training and maybe he just was that uptight about walking through the woods in the dark.
She wasn't about to ask him, though.
In silence they slipped through the trees, making their way slowly through the woods. The sun was beginning to rise in the east, spreading its bright rays out across the night and slowly bleeding the sky from midnight blue to pinkish gray. They followed the sounds of sirens and workers, knowing that where they found those things they would also find the reason behind the explosion. Smoke hung heavy in the air, thickening considerably as they made their way towards the site of whatever had happened. Willow had to stop at one point to rest, her breath coming in short gasps.
"Hope we're almost there." She coughed. Her throat was burning from the constant smoke in the air. How were the rest of her friends managing to hold up under this? One look at them told her everything she needed to know. They weren't holding up well, either - each and every one of them looked tired and drawn, their eyes red and watery. If they didn't get to what had happened soon they just might fall over from smoke inhalation - and that was assuming things were any better at the source than they were in the outlying areas.
She took another deep breath, filtering the air by pulling her shirt up enough to cover her mouth and nose. The air still stank of burning wood and debris, but at least it didn't hurt quite as much. "Ok - let's get this over with. This really sucks."
"You're telling me." Cordelia muttered, stepping over a fallen tree branch. "Do you know how long it's going to take to get this smell out of my hair? It's worse than a barbeque."
"Or out of my clothes?" Anya whined. She stumbled, falling against Xander, her arms convulsing wildly around him, trying to steady herself.
"Watch where you step, An." The young man grinned, helping his girlfriend right herself. He grabbed hold of her hand, leading her with care around any of the stumbling blocks in the forest floor that he saw.
And they trudged on.
~*~*~
Angel was pacing.
Spike was trying to ignore it, and failing miserably. "Sit down, you ponce. You're getting on my last bloody nerve."
The dark haired vampire smirked but gave in, settling into one of the leather chairs near the sofa. He picked up the remote control from the coffee table, flipping the television past the blue screen channel that he considered the 'dvd' channel since it always happened when the dvd player was on. The first few channels were nothing but early morning programming - the type of things that only desperate insomniacs would ever admit to watching.
The third channel, however, proved to be far more interesting. He stopped, recognizing the diner that was on the air, though the state of confusion in said building was something he wasn't clear on. He turned up the volume on the television, leaning forward in the chair, his arms resting on his knees.
"This is Nancy Reyes with a late breaking update from Sunnydale's most popular diner - the All Night Express. The diner appears to have been taken over by a gang of mask-wearing alien-emulating teens. They refuse to speak with police, however have taken no hostages and, at this moment, seem content to simply deplete the diner's supply of maple syrup. We will keep you posted as updates to this breaking story become available. Back to your normally scheduled programming."
Spike turned to Angel, his eyebrows raised. "Whaddya bet those weren't 'teens in masks'?"
Angel snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. Everytime he thought he had gotten used to the obliviousness of the citizens of Sunnydale he was confronted with something like this and forced to face it all over again. People here really were that clueless. "I believe that about as much as I believe that all those attacks at the high school were always 'gangs on PCP'."
The blond haired vampire nodded, chuckling softly. He had led one of those raids on the high school, back in the days before he'd met Willow and 'settled down' to lead a slightly less-than normal life for a vampire. "So - what are we gonna do about it, mate?"
The thing was - there wasn't much that they -could- do about it. The sun was already creeping over the horizon and Sunnydale just didn't have an adequate enough sewer system to allow them to get to the diner without getting burned down to two piles of ashes. Angel sighed, leaning back into his chair and shaking his head in frustration.
"Nothing we can do except wait for the others to get back and then send them to the diner to investigate."
"You mean send the chits back out into danger again?" Spike didn't like the sound of this plan at all and he could tell, by the look on his Sire's face, that the older vampire didn't like it either.
Angel looked at the window, already conveniently curtained against the coming sunlight. "Really not much choice, Spike - not much choice at all."
~*~Part Three~*~
When the Scoobies finally made it to the sight of the 'explosion' they felt as though the wind had been knocked out of them - and that wasn't even because of the smoke. Sitting in the middle of a newly cleared out section of the forest was a, well, spaceship. There certainly was no other way to describe it. It looked just like the ones on television, maybe a little more realistic, but certainly identifiable as something from another planet. The exterior of the ship was a brilliant, almost molten-looking, silver color that seemed to be moving in places, like the ship itself was alive.
"Wow."
Willow glanced over at Xander, giving him a small smile. "You can say that again."
"Something tells me maybe we aren't ready for this type of thing." Cordelia murmured, turning to look at the others in the group. "I mean - demons are one thing. Aliens? That's something completely different."
"Scared?" Anya taunted, smiling sweetly when the full brunt of Cordelia's glare was brought to bear on her.
"Not for a second, demon girl."
Xander looked between his ex-girlfriend and his current girlfriend, holding his breath. If it came down to a fair fight, Cordelia would win, hands down. But then there would be the whole retribution thing Anya would get someone to deal out on her. And that would be a very bad thing. He didn't want to see either of them get hurt.
"C'mon guys. We're all tired. Just let it go."
'Thank god for Willow.' Xander sighed, watching as the two women slowly broke eye contact, each one moving away from the other. He sighed. "Can we get on with this? Wills is right - we're all tired. I want to get some sleep sometime tonight.err. this morning, that is."
Riley nodded. "It appears like someone has already beat us to the 'exploring' part, though." He pointed through a break in the trees to the soldiers patrolling around the spaceship. "We're not going to be able to get by them."
Willow arched an eyebrow. "I would have thought by now you would have learned to never say never, Riley." She stepped forward, her eyes trained on the soldiers she could see, and prayed that there were no others. The last thing they all needed was to be thrown in jail tonight. She breathed out, the words of the spell she needed floating through her mind like a sweet dream. That's what she wanted, after all. Sweet dreams for the soldiers.
"All fall down." The witch whispered, her lips widening into a smile as one by one the soldiers fell where they stood, fast asleep. "We need to be quick, guys. This won't hold them long."
"Or the firefighters could come by and see them sleeping and sound an alarm or something." Buffy pointed out. The fire, apparently started by the crashing ship, was somewhere to the north of them, having burned its way away from the ship already.
This sounded like a very real concern to the group. They made their way quickly into the 'clearing', picking their way through fallen trees and cracked branches. One by one they walked around the ship, but no one could see a way in. The small, clear window-like structure in what they could only assume was the front of the ship showed no signs of 'life' or 'intelligence'.
Though the same thing could be said about the soldiers laying on the ground.
"I give up." Willow said finally, her face set in lines of tiredness and confusion. "I can't see anything through the little window - and I also don't see any doors." She shrugged. "I don't think there's anything inside of it personally."
"Well - if that's the case, what was flying it?"
They looked at each other, one by one, trying to decipher this mystery.
"Let's go home and think about it after some sleep." Riley suggested. "I'm sure it will make more sense then. I hope."
"Gonna agree with Soldier Boy on this one." Xander chimed in, smothering a yawn.
"Fine." Buffy sighed. "But we'll come back here later today and search for more clues? I keep thinking we must be missing something."
They nodded their assent, tired and dirty and ready to get some rest.
~*~*~
"There were aliens at the diner."
"Who, what? Huh?"
"So glib, even at this time of day, pet?"
Willow turned a scorching look on her mate, growling under her breath.
"Wow with the growl, Wills. Though I must say it means you've been hanging out with Junior too much."
The red head rolled her eyes at Xander, turning to look at the person who had initially spoken to her. "There were aliens at the diner, Angel?"
The dark haired vampire nodded. "It was on the news as a 'gang' attack. But they were clearly aliens."
"And they eat maple syrup." Spike added. He stepped up to his witch, putting an arm around her shoulders. She sagged under the weight and he looked at her in alarm. Her eyes were red with tired circles around them, and she was covered in a thin layer of soot. "All right.that's it. You, you, you and you - go home. Peaches and the Cheerleader can stay here. We'll deal with this later today."
"Sleep now?" Willow asked, yawning. She held her hand up to her mouth, the grime from the walk through the woods getting onto her lips. She grimaced in distaste. "Want shower first, please."
"Whatever you want, luv." He made a shooing motion towards the front door, giving Buffy and Riley, and then Xander and Anya, pointed looks. "Go on. We'll call when we get up later. Not like we're going to be able to figure out a single bloody thing with everyone half asleep."
"This is me agreeing with Junior. Good night, morning, whatever. See you later." Xander gave a small wave and led himself and Anya from the apartment, thankful that his own abode wasn't too terribly far away. He didn't trust his ability to walk very far at all at this point.
"'Night guys." Willow called out, waiting until Buffy and Riley had exited to shut the door. She slid the chain lock into place and sat down on the edge of the couch. "You shower first, Delia."
"No, Wills, its your hours."
" S'ok," The witch mumbled, her eyes slowly closing as she leaned backwards. Before her head even hit the leather back of the couch she was asleep.
~*~Part Four~*~
“I am –so- not speaking to you.”
“Buffy, c’mon. I did the right thing. You’ll thank me later.”
Willow and Spike looked at each other as the Slayer and her boy toy made their way into the apartment. They were, quite obviously, having a fight. One that Riley was sure to loose by the look on Buffy’s face. The Slayer’s arms were crossed, her face red and angry, while Riley looked downright shame-faced.
“What’s wrong, Buff?” The red haired witch asked finally, setting aside the book she had been reading. It was almost time for everyone to be convening for their next meeting on what to do about the spaceship and the syrup-loving aliens. Buffy and Riley were, for once, the first to arrive; though the normally happy couple was far from it at the moment.
The blonde turned her attention from Riley, the anger fading to annoyance at whatever was currently going on. “Well, when I get up from my nap Riley here tells me that he’s called and gotten us some ‘help’.” She said the word like it was something vile.
From the glare her friend was giving the ex-soldier, Willow somehow doubted she was going to like the ‘help’ they were going to be receiving. She shot Riley her own glare before turning back to Buffy. “Who did he call?”
“Graham and some other annoying secret government people!” Buffy threw her hands up in exasperation. “As if we can’t take care of what goes on here all by ourselves. Now Mr. Smarty Pants calls in the army.” She rolled her eyes, tempted to beat the living Hell out of her boyfriend right then and there. This was her city and she’d be damned if she couldn’t protect it without help from some outside government run, good-for-nothing, agency!
”They’re not the army.” Riley muttered. He shut up quickly, the look Buffy gave him telling him that it didn’t matter which branch of the government they were with. It was all the same to her and she was furious with him for calling any of them.
“So we’re gonna have icky soldier men wandering the Hellmouth. Again?” Willow frowned at Riley, her own eyes flashing with anger. “Just what we needed, thanks Ri.”
“Hey! I was just trying to help.”
“I think we could have all lived a long time without seeing any more soldiers in our town.” Willow’s voice was cold. Had Riley forgotten about what his own people had done during their time in Sunnydale? Had he forgotten the entrapments? The experiments? Hell, one of his own friends, Forrest, had died because of their little games. Hadn’t that been enough? Why did he have to go and invite them back here. “We don’t even know if those aliens are hostile and now you’re going to have Graham and his little buddies wandering around trying to trap them, right?”
“That was the plan.” He sounded unsure of himself now.
“So – they’re going to trap potentially friendly and sentient creatures and then –what-?”
“Probably put a bloody chip in their head.” Spike muttered, giving the former soldier a glare of his own. “What’s with you military types? Always calling in the bloody commandos. Shoot first, ask questions later. Who gives a rat’s arse whether the blokes are civilized or not, right?”
Willow winced. Her mate’s voice sounded so harsh, so accusing. It was due in part to Riley and his team that Spike had a chip in his head. True, if it weren’t for them she would have been killed or turned that night Spike had broken into her dorm room. That was beside the point. It was the complete and utter fault of that top secret government office that her lover was incapable of being the demon he truly was. And he hated them for it.
Passionately.
Riley couldn’t find anything to say faced with the accusations flying around the room. What they were saying was true. Graham and company would come in, capture the aliens and confiscate the ship. The creatures would be taken to some secret facility somewhere in the Midwest and then experimented upon until the government was sure it had found out all about them. And then?
Then they’d be killed.
He groaned, sitting on the arm of the couch and hiding his head in his hands. “Sorry, guys. I just thought we could use some help with this. You have to admit, it’s different from the run of the mill vampire or demon problems. I thought – “
“Good thing we don’t keep you around for the thinking then, huh, Soldier Boy?” Spike sneered, standing from the couch. He could hear his Sire and the Cheerleader up and moving in the bedroom. They weren’t having sex, he’d be able to smell their passion if they were, so it was okay to go barging in on them to let them know about this latest twist in events. He felt his stomach churn with anxiety. The last thing he had ever wanted was to come face to face with a commando squad again. And now the Slayer’s stupid git of a boyfriend had –invited- them to come visit.
At this rate he would replace the Moron as the stupidest member of the group.
~*~Part Five~*~
"This day just can't get any worse." Willow muttered, staring down at the newspaper Xander had brought in with him. Her eyes scanned over the front page, noting that all of the articles had to do with the newest visitors to Sunnydale. She frowned at one of the smaller captions.
'Store Robbed of All Batteries'
"Batteries?" She murmured, confusion spreading across her pretty features. "What do they want with batteries?"
"Who cares what the buggers want with the batteries, pet." Spike snorted. "Let's just get the little gits back on their ship and off to wherever they need to be so that the soldier boys don't have to be here any longer than they have to be."
The red head nodded absently, her eyes roaming over the page. These certainly didn't appear to be the normal type of space aliens she had seen on television. 'Like television always portrays things the way they really are.' She smirked. How often had she gotten into debates with people over the lack of realism in movies like 'The Craft' and 'Wizard of Oz'?
"So - what's our plan."
Everyone turned to stare at Riley, equal amount of displeasure on their faces. Except for Spike and Angel, they seemed to be carrying the full brunt of the animosity towards the ex-soldier.
"Well - since you've already called in the bloody cavalry I say we get back to the ship before they take over."
"Junior's right." Xander nodded, heaving himself off of the couch. His body was still screaming for more sleep but that would have to wait. Once the aliens were safely back in outerspace, or at least out of Sunnydale he'd be able to catch up on some of the lost sleep.
"I agree with Spike for once, too." Cordelia sighed. She squeezed Angel's hand and stood, pulling the vampire to his feet. "Let's get on with this so that we can all go back to our normally scheduled lives."
"Normally scheduled." Anya snickered. "As opposed to normal which none of us will ever, ever have."
"You can say that again." Willow frowned, following her friends out the door of her apartment. She heard the lock click as Spike closed the door and felt his hand on her back, rubbing at the tension that had gathered there.
She was not looking forward to parading through the woods again.
~*~*~
Cordelia frowned, peering out over the clearing from her shaky position behind a tree. All it would take would be one of those little soldier boys looking this way and they'd see her. And then, of course, all Hell would break loose. She stepped carefully back from the tree and turned back to her friends.
"They're already here." She whispered, shaking her head in irritation. "All gung-ho trying to get the ship open from what I saw." Her mouth twisted into a disdainful sneer. "Stupid little boys in their camoflage, running around with guns. I swear. They are like little kids."
"Stupid, immature little kids." Buffy nodded.
"Hey!" Riley exclaimed softly, giving his girlfriend a look. "I used to be one of them!"
"Yeah," The Slayer smiled humorlessly, her eyes dark with irritation she just hadn't managed to shake. "And you're still acting like a little boy. Guess that just means that leaving their little group didn't change that part of you."
Riley frowned but kept his mouth shut. It wouldn't do to upset Buffy even more than he already had. Not with her temper so volatile. She was under a lot of stress and yeah, maybe he shouldn't have called Graham. The woods were thick with soldiers. It was nothing short of amazing that they hadn't been caught already.
"So - getting close to the ship again is out of the question." Angel sighed. "What now?"
"Find the little guys and make them spill their secrets?" Xander prompted. "They have to be here for a reason."
"Maple syrup and batteries." Willow chuckled. "Not much to go on so far. How do we plan on catching these things?"
They looked at each other, each one with blank eyes and a thoughtful look on their face. How were they supposed to catch the aliens when there was no telling why they were on Earth. It could be just one colossal accident for all they knew. Vampires, werewolves, even psychotic demonic mayors - those were things they could deal with. But aliens? That was something new entirely.
"Why couldn't it have just been, I dunno, another praying mantis woman or something?" Xander muttered, leaning against a tree. He shut his eyes, fighting back the headache that was lurking just at the back of his head.
"I know." Anya said.
"Glad to see you agreeing with me on that, An."
"No, no, no." She shook her head impatiently. "I know how to find them."
All eyes were on her, wide and curious. She looked from one to another, smiling as though she had the answer to world hunger. "It's simple, really. We know they like maple syrup and batteries. Now we just set them up."
"What - you want us to fake a shipment of maple syrup covered batteries?" Riley snorted, drawing more annoyed glares from his friends.
He flinched when Anya turned her eyes to him, their happiness fading to more than just annoyance. This boy was asking for some serious vengeance. After all of this was over she'd have to be sure to call in a few favors, make him realize the serious error of his ways. She forced a sweet smile to her lips, keeping her eyes cold.
"Well. Why not?
~*~Part Six~*~
Night one of operation Syrupy Batteries was a bust.
The group, minus a very irritated Riley, drove around town in a truck labeled with a large battery on it, stopping every now and then to give the aliens a chance to catch up if they were following.
They weren’t.
Buffy sighed, leaning up against the truck at their latest stop.
“Guys, I’m starting to think this might not work.”
Willow chuckled.
“Yeah, Buff. But think of the humor value of it later when we tell our kids. The night the Scoobies drove around with a truck full of batteries and maple syrup.”
“Yeah,” Xander smirked. “It’ll be one of those stories that start with the good old, ‘When I was your age’ bit.”
Anya raised an eyebrow. “We will not be telling our kids what we did in our youth! Then they’ll want to do something even wilder and crazier than we did. And how would they ever top us?”
That gave everyone, Angel and Spike included, something to stop and think about. The vampires stopped for another reason, though. Their loves would never be parents. Not unless there was some sort of spell for it, which, come to think of it, was entirely possible.
“So – are we calling this a night?” Cordelia asked hopefully. Midnight had come and gone nearly forty-five minutes before. They were all tired and she was getting just a little bit cranky.
“Yeah.” Willow sighed. She had really hoped this would work. Namely just to get Graham and his fellow commandos out of Sunnydale.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the Scoobies.”
“Speak of the Devil.” The witch muttered, earning herself a look from her mate. She gave him a bright smile and then turned to glare at Graham. Why was she not shocked to see that Riley was right behind him, following along like a little puppy?
“Catching up on old times, Ri?” Buffy growled. If looks could kill, the former commando would certainly have dropped over dead at that moment. The blonde’s eyes were so cold, so furious, that she wondered at the fact that he didn’t instantly burst into flame or melt under the gaze.
“Well, you see – “ Riley stammered. He hadn’t actually meant to run into his friends while he was out walking with Graham. In fact, he had been praying not to. He was already in deep enough trouble with his girlfriend without her seeing him be all chummy with the supposed enemy.
“Riley was just telling me about your brilliant plan to catch the hostiles.” Graham smirked.
“I really don’t like him.” Anya whispered to Xander, none-too-soft. She saw Graham’s brown eyes turn to her, an uncaring expression on his face, and she graced him one of her own, trademarked, equally uncaring smiles.
“So – how is operation Clueless going?”
“You know. I don’t like you either.” Buffy said, making no effort to whisper. She wanted him to hear her. She’d be thrilled if she could just get him to take a swing at her, because then she’d have all the excuse she needed to shove his sneer right where the sun didn’t shine.
“I’m hurt, really.” Again the condescending tone.
Spike and Angel stepped forward as one, coming to stand in front of the humans they called their friends.
“Oh, look.” Graham laughed outright. By now Riley was looking positively uncomfortable, more so than when he had originally walked up to them. Graham certainly had changed since he’d left town. He was colder now and seemed to enjoy being rude. “It’s the Chipped Wonder. What’re you going to do, blondie? Glare me to death?”
“No.” Spike growled through clenched teeth. “I’m going to let –him-,” He stopped and pointed to Angel. “Beat you to death if you don’t continue along your bloody way and leave us alone.”
“Yeah, really.” Willow frowned. “We didn’t ask for you to come to town in the first place. So why don’t you run off and do whatever little things that gun-toting bullies like you do and then get out of Sunnydale? You’re not welcome.”
“Funny.” The commando retorted, his face getting pink with anger. “I think I was invited. Someone wanted me here.”
“Well that same someone really should’ve asked for our opinion before he shot off his mouth.” Xander stated quietly, his glare meant solely for Riley. “Because then he would have seen that he was the –only- one that wanted you to come ‘help’” He held his fingers up in the air, making the little quote marks for ‘help’.
“Well. We’re here now. And unless you all want to end up in a military jail, I would suggest you don’t do anything to hinder our investigation. This is a government matter now.”
And with that he stalked off, leaving the others staring at his back. Their anger was running high and that’s the only reason Buffy did what she did next.
“Go with him, Riley.”
“What? But –“
“You heard me.” She repeated, deathly quiet. “Go with him. You’re not wanted around us right now.”
He looked like a puppy that had been kicked. His heart hurt, the words being spoken by his girlfriend painfully cold.
But he did deserve it.
“We’ll talk later?” He asked hopefully.
Buffy looked down from the back of the van, helping the others get in as Spike and Angel climbed into the front. Her eyes were a little sad now when she looked at him.
“Maybe, Ri. But right now, I just don’t know.”
The van started and they were off, leaving Riley standing in the middle of the street, watching as some of the only good friends he had ever had drove away.
~*~Part Seven~*~
It took them two more days to realize they were missing the most obvious solution of them all. Two whole days during which time Riley and Buffy parted company and then decided to get back together. She felt sorry for him, she would explain to her friends later; and he really did seem sorry for what he had done.
In the end, it was Riley that came up with the idea to find the aliens. And he did it with his normal knack for saying the right thing without any thought to back it up.
"Too bad you can't just do a spell and find them."
Willow's head shot up, opening her mouth to say something snide to Riley and then biting it back at the last moment when she realized he had hit upon something that might actually work out. She could find the aliens with a spell. Why hadn't she thought of that sooner? Now Riley had come up with a good idea and she had one less reason to despise him.
Oh well, she still had plenty of others.
"You know. That's a good idea." She grinned. "Good job solider-boy."
Riley grimaced at the nickname he had only recently acquired from the red head. It was one thing to hear the vampires, Spike and Angel, speak about him like that; it was something entirely different to hear the once amiable Willow do it. He sighed, hanging his head. This was what he deserved, after all. He should have waited and seen what his friends could do before he called Graham.
Graham - his former friend. The man had grown so cold and callous in the last year and a half. He hardly knew him anymore.
'Hardly *want* to know him anymore.' Riley thought bitterly. He had nearly lost Buffy, someone he considered precious in his life, just by associating with Graham. The hours during which he had sat in his apartment, waiting for her to call him, were the longest of his life and he had determined that he never wanted to be without her.
And if that meant writing Graham off, then so be it. Not like Graham was being the best friend lately, either. He had been nothing but rude and condescending since coming to town and, as far as Riley could tell, those potentially harmless aliens were going to end up on the wrong end of a dissection table if the government caught her.
"I can do it." Willow announced to the rest of the room after a moment's thought, breaking Riley out of his perpetually depressed internal thoughts. "I'll need to get some supplies from the magic shop, but I should be able to do a locating spell tonight."
"Good!" Buffy said firmly, rubbing absently at her boyfriend's back. It was an action borne more out of habit than wanting to do anything to comfort his raw emotions. She could care less how he felt at that moment. Maybe later, after the alien situation was over, she could try to make him feel better for everything that happened. Not yet, though. He needed to learn for good that they were a team; and team players didn't run off and call in their big bad army buddies whenever there was danger. "If we can find them before Graham and the wackos do I'll be happy."
Everyone nodded, their thoughts traveling along the same path as the slayer's. If the aliens were friendly they would be able to help them out, find somewhere for them to hide or try to get them back home again. If they were unfriendly they would get rid of them. But no one wanted to see Graham and his commandos take them in for dissection. No creature deserved that.
"Anya and I will go with you." Xander offered, hopping up from the couch. He pulled his girlfriend to her feet, giving Riley one last glare before following Willow out of the apartment. He would be happy when all of this was over so that they could go back to at least the semi-normal lifestyle of the Hellmouth. No more war meetings in Willow's apartment until early in the morning. No more traipsing through the woods in the dark. And, best of all, a break from Riley.
He stared fixedly at Willow's back as they walked down the sidewalk towards the magic shop. It was only a few blocks from her apartment, something she had been very happy of when her and Spike had initially moved in together. He concentrated on the light blue cardigan she was wearing, trying to squelch the outright hostile feelings that he was having for Buffy's boyfriend. It wasn't Riley's fault that he was an utter moron, after all.
Right?
"You're growling." Anya whispered, giving Xander a look. "And while it is a turn-on, I'd like you to stop while we walk down the street."
Xander blinked once, twice, and slowly forced himself to calm down. A blush crept over him as Anya's words hit their mark. So growling was a turn on? He'd have to file that away for later.
Later, when this was all over.
Later, when he didn't have to be near Riley anymore.
Oh yeah, he was definitely looking forward to a Riley break.
~*~Part Eight ~*~
The locating spell went well and within a few hours of the suggestion the Scoobies were on their way to the location it had located. On the outskirts of town. In the middle of the woods opposite from where the ship had first landed.
"We're being followed."
"What?" Buffy snapped, turning in her seat to look out the back window. She tried to make it as nonchalant as possible, but when she saw who was doing the actual following she found it hard to stay collected. "That snake. Dirty, rotten, evil, despicable."
"Oh. Its Graham?" Willow drawled without turning around. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the road beneath the car. A crease of concentration appeared between her eyes as she pushed out with her willpower and then -
"Woo! Pothole!" Buffy cheered, watching the little military-looking jeep bounce around for a moment. It was after them again in less than a minute.
"Just gimme a sec." Willow muttered. She squeezed Spike's hand, drawing strength from the simple fact that he was there with her. She licked her lips, a breath coming between clenched teeth. "There!"
Behind them there was a loud pop and then a bang. Buffy began to laugh as the jeep pulled to the side of the road, smoke already pouring from beneath its hood.
"Damn, Wills. You're good." The blonde smirked, settling back into her seat. She gave Riley a discreet glare before forcing her face back to a mask of calmness. Sure, it was his fault that Graham was there in the first place, but he the former commando was genuinely sorry and she had forgiven him. Was just hard to get it through her own head that she had forgiven him sometimes; the urge to glare and rant was too strong.
Xander glanced in his rearview mirror, smirking at the sight that was rapidly fading from his view.
"They should be lucky that Red wasn't in a really bad mood." Spike snickered. "Otherwise she could have made the whole blasted car blow up. Him in it."
"Now, Spike." Angel admonished. "We don't wish harm on the soldier boy."
The whole car was silent.
"Was a joke!" The older vampire protested when Cordelia turned to glare at him, elbowing him sharply in his side.
"No jokes about soldier men." She growled, kissing his cheek. "Not until after they are far, far away. Then we can joke on them all you want."
"Or do some vengeance." Anya muttered darkly.
"Hey. No doing of the vengeance." Xander laughed nervously.
"But they deserve it." She protested.
Any further arguments were cut off, though, as they came upon the site that had been marked by Willow's locating spell.
"Well, damn," Xander murmured, looking at the building that was in front of them. It certainly hadn't be there a few days ago. This part of town was deserted. Not a single building or residence.
"I'll second that." Buffy whispered.
~*~*~
They made their way slowly to the entrance of the building, looking around cautiously for any signs of the aliens. There were none. The door swung open easily with a turn of the knob, Buffy taking the lead.
The halls were empty and each room they came upon was just as deserted as the next.
"This way." Riley hissed. "I think I hear something in there."
Buffy stepped forward, putting her ear to a set of double doors and listening. Sure enough, there were sounds of movement and some sort of odd chattering. She took a deep breath and then kicked, knocking the doors off the hinges.
"Not a nice way to make a first impression." Willow murmured.
The aliens had frozen in mid-movement when the doors to their sanctuary had been blown in. Each one was caught in varying states of eating and talking, their wide violet colored eyes staring at the intruders warily.
"OK." Buffy shouted, stepping through the door. "Who's in charge here?"
The aliens looked at each other, clearly not understanding who this large creature was or what she was saying to them. Just when it looked as though things were at a language barrier impasse, one of the aliens moved forward. He was taller than the others, thought still small by human standards. His skin was a dim bronze color, and his eyes were golden.
"I am in charge." His English was thick with an accent that was clearly not of this world.
"Nice to meet you, then." Buffy replied cordially. "We need you guys to go home before these icky government soldier men try to capture you."
"Yeah." Willow nodded. Leave it to Buffy to jump right to the chase, cutting past any type of small talk or conversation.
"We would love to return to our home world." The leader spoke. "But those men have surrounded our ship. It should be recharged now, but while they are there we dare not approach."
"Is that all you need?" Spike spoke up. "For the commando pansies to leave the area long enough for you to get on the ship?"
The leader nodded. "That is so, dead one."
"Dead one?" The bleached blonde vampire snickered. "Quite an observant little fella, aren't you?"
"I think I can come up with a spell to deal with the commandos long enough for them to get on." Willow thought out loud, a plan already forming in her head. She would create a distraction, some construct impersonations of the aliens not too far from the ship. When everyone went running the real aliens would be able to enter their vessel and leave. "You guys just gotta move quick, k? I won't be able to fool them for long."
The lead alien nodded slowly.
"Pack up then and let's get going." Riley ordered. "I think we can fit you all in the car."
And then Angel asked the one thing everyone had been wondering the entire time.
"Where'd this building come from?"
~*~*~
Willow collapsed onto her bed, her eyes shutting before her head even hit the pillow. She could hear Spike still moving around out in the living room, no doubt getting Angel and Cordelia settled in. They'd be leaving tomorrow night. She'd have her apartment back to herself for the first time in days. It seemed like a sweet dream that was still too far away to fully realize.
"Going to sleep, pet?"
She nodded, feeling the bed creak as Spike joined her. His strong, cool arms encircled her, bringing her close to his body.
"Aliens gone. Soliders gone. Xander never aloud to chose movie night again. Night, night." She mumbled, sleep coming quickly.
"Good night, Red." Spike whispered, kissing her forehead. Her breathing had already settled into a steady, even rhythm.
"Sleep tight."
~*~The End~*~