Rating: PG
Pairing: None this part
Summary: Willow, Drusilla, and Angelus have made it back to LA and get a little surprise visit. Meanwhile the Scoobies get a little visit of their own.
Spoilers: Series begins just after ‘Lover’s Walk’, now a couple of years have passed, and we’re part way through season six.
Disclaimer: I did not build the Buffyverse that would be Joss, it is merely my playground.
Distribution: If you want it, fine by me, just drop me a line first.
Special Thanks: Kat for checking over my ramblings, Aden for always being happy to see me, and all the super cool people who send me feedback!
Feedback: Pretty please with sugar on top!
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The trio had
been back in Los Angelus for about three weeks, laying low at Angelus’
insistence until they knew if the police were after Willow. So far, she
had found no indication that the crime had been connected to her in the
police database, but she was so close to being home, that she didn’t want
to be hasty and blow things now. They mostly spent their time in seclusion,
Willow and Angelus spending a great deal of time reading, Drusilla playing
with her dollies and having tea parties. Of course every night Angelus
and Dru would go out to hunt, leaving Willow behind, but she didn’t mind.
The redhead loved this time best of all.
She loved the
old hotel and all the little noises it made when no one else was there.
She had even secretly fixed up one of the rooms on the top floor as a place
for doing magic. The redheaded hacker had acquired a multitude of spell
books while she was overseas. A few of the more valuable ones she brought
back with her, but the majority she had to wait for, while they were shipped
to her. In fact, a large trunk of books arrived just that day, and she
was busy unpacking them, when she heard a noise coming from downstairs.
Willow sighed in frustration, wanting to finish her task, but knowing it
would be easier to go down now than to listen to Dru and Angelus calling
all over the hotel for her. However, as she came down the stairs in no
particular rush, she was stopped short by the sight before her.
“Cordelia,” Willow
breathed in surprise.
“Oh my god, Willow!”
Cordelia cried out with her own shock, “What are you doing here!?”
“I live here,”
the redhead replied a bit defensively.
“Does that mean
Angel is back from wherever the hell he went?”
“Yeah, he’s around.
What are ‘you’ doing here?”
“Oh, well…” Cordelia
looked at the ground sheepishly for a moment, “…after Angel sort of freaked
out with the whole Darla thing and fired us, Wesley, Gunn and I started
our own business. But then Gunn died fighting a Gachblas demon, and Wes
moved back to take care of his father, don’t even get me started on the
freaky issues between those two, and so that just left little ol’ me, visions
girl, with no job, and no way to pay the rent. So I figured since Angel
had been gone for months, and this place was just sitting empty…”
“You thought
you’d just move right in,” Willow finished for her.
“Umm, yeah?”
“Well, I’m sure
‘Angel’ will be happy to see you. He should be back any time now,” Willow
said with a smile, motioning Cordelia over to the couch.
“Great! So, have
you been here long? I mean, I thought your parents had you locked away
somewhere, what with the whole crazy thing, and all.”
Yep, that was
Cordelia, as subtle as a train wreck.
“Cordy, I wasn’t
crazy. Vampires and stuff are real, remember? I wasn’t making it up,” Willow
replied tersely, trying to stay calm until Angelus got home and could kill
the stupid bitch.
“Well, yeah,
I know that. But you of all people should know better than to go spouting
off about all that to the normals. Plus, there was that whole thing between
you and Spike, and can I just take a moment to say, ewww. What was that
all about? I mean if that’s not crazy, then I don’t know what is.”
Willow flinched
at the mention of her old lover. It had never gotten easier hearing his
name; each time was like a fresh stab of pain in her heart. It had taken
months to get Drusilla to not mention him in her presence, and now here
her childhood nemesis was rambling on about him. ‘Screw it,’ she thought,
‘I’ll kill her myself.’ Just then the front door swung open and in strolled
Angelus, with Drusilla following close at his heels.
Cordelia gasped
at the pair of them, immediately realizing the implications of the two
of them being together. She was in big trouble.
“Angelus?” the
seer asked weakly.
“Cordelia!” Angelus
boomed with a cheerful voice, “Look, Dru baby, we have company over for
dinner!”
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The Scoobies
were assembled at the Summer’s residence for the latest creature feature.
Normally the gang would be over at the Magic Box, but there had been an
unfortunate incident there earlier in the week while Dawn was helping with
the inventory. She had accidentally knocked over a small rack of spell
ingredients, breaking several of the vials. The somewhat volatile substances
within combined to create a blue fog that turned the hair and skin of all
those who came in contact with it blue as well. Luckily the color faded
after a few days, but it was taking a bit longer to air out the shop. And
so, here they were in Buffy’s living room, the whole group gathered around
pretending to listen to Giles go on about some leprechaun type creature.
“I thought leprechauns
were supposed to be good. You know, like making rainbows and giving you
gold and stuff,” Dawn said in confusion, interrupting the frustrated watcher.
“Oh well, that
just goes to show how little most humans know about anything supernatural,”
Anya said matter of factly, “See real leprechauns use bursts of color to
stun their victims. Then, they eat them. I’m not sure where the whole gold
thing got started, but they are native to Ireland.”
“The point is,”
Giles interjected, “if we do indeed have leprechauns here in Sunnydale,
then we should step up patrols, not to mention research. As Anya already
pointed out, these creatures can be extremely dangerous, and tend to live
in packs, which means there could be quite a lot of them around. So, Buffy,
I want you and Spike to check all the cemeteries, Oz and Xander, take the
north side of town, Amy and I will take the south side. Anya, Dawn and
Tara, I want you to go over the books again and see if you can learn anything
more about these creatures.”
As Giles finished
delegating tasks, everyone gave little mumbled groans at their assignments,
and readied themselves to get started when they heard a knock at the door.
“Huh, that’s
weird. Everyone I know is already here,” Buffy said as she moved to answer
it.
But before she had the chance, Dawn bounded across the room with a loud,
“I’ll get it!” The bouncy teen lost some of her enthusiasm though when
she opened the door to reveal two uniformed officers and a tall man in
a trench coat. “Um, Buffy, it’s the cops.”
Suddenly everyone went very still. The police being at your door was
never a good thing. Buffy and Giles both went to the door, standing guard
somewhat, reluctant to let them in.
“Miss Summers? Buffy Summers?”
“That’s right,” Buffy replied, her tension obvious.
“Hi, my name is Detective Mike Addison, and I was hoping I could ask
you a few questions about a Miss Willow Rosenberg?”
If the room had been silent before, you could have heard a pin drop
in there now. Everyone’s tension had multiplied tenfold, especially Spike
who had been waiting for some kind of news about his redheaded witch literally
for years.
Buffy showed the men in, the detective casually looked around the living
room in a manner that seemed nonchalant, but if you asked him days later
he would still be able to describe all the occupants and their surroundings
with surprising detail. The two uniformed officers stood with their hands
clasped behind their backs, standing guard in case things got out of hand.
“I hope I’m not interrupting a study session,” he said, noticing several
large texts lying around.
“Oh, yeah, you know us college students; it’s all about the studying.
Right guys?” the slayer prompted and was answered by several less than
enthusiastic voices agreeing with her.
“So, you said you were here about Willow?” Spike asked, wanting to cut
to the chase and find out what was happening with his lost love.
“And you are?” the detective asked, eyeing the dangerous looking man,
suspiciously.
“Name’s Spike. Now what’s the word on Willow?” he was losing all patience
with Mr. Trench Coat. He had been trying for what seemed like an eternity
to learn the truth about what happened to the girl, but despite all his
efforts, he could never turn up any answers. Spike came back to Sunnydale,
convinced that the Scoobies had to know where she was, but after all this
time he’d come to the conclusion that they were just as clueless as he
was. However, that opinion was about to change.
“Spike, huh? Interesting name. Would I be right in assuming that you
all are acquainted with Miss Rosenberg?” He asked and glanced around to
see a room full of bobbing heads, “Well then, you all might just be able
to make my job a little easier. To start with, let me ask, when was the
last time any of you spoke with Miss Rosenberg?”
Several eyes turned to look at Xander, who stared down at the ground
rather than at the expression of hurt in Dawn’s eyes over him keeping such
a major secret from her.
“I spoke to her, but it was months ago. Almost a year.”
Spike jumped to his feet, not even trying to control his rage, “You
spoke to her, and you didn’t tell me! How could you! After all I’ve done
to help you stupid gits!” Xander sprung to his feet as well, his own rage
just as hot.
“Why on earth would I tell you anything about her after what you did!?
It was your fault they put her in that place to begin with!”
“What place!? What are you talking about!?”
Spike moved up to scream directly in Xander’s face, but only for a moment.
The uniformed policemen, sensing that duty was calling, stepped in and
each taking hold of Spike dragged him back to the other side of the room.
“So, I take it not everyone here has a full history on where Miss Rosenberg
has been the last few years. No matter, what I need to know is if any of
you have spoken to her recently?” the detective asked, and glanced around
to see nothing but empty faces. “I see. Well, so much for making my job
easier.”
“What is this all about?” Giles asked the picture of self control.
“And you are?”
“Rupert Giles.”
“Well, Mr. Giles, I am conducting a murder investigation, and Miss Rosenberg
is wanted for questioning.”
“You can’t seriously be implying that Willow is a suspect? She couldn’t
harm a fly!” So much for self control.
“At this time we just want to speak with her, but don’t fool yourselves
about this girl being harmless. I have spoken to several former employees
of the psychiatric hospital where she was being held, and they all informed
me that she was prone to fits of violence.”
“That’s where’s she’s been!? Locked away in some nuthouse!? How could
you!? All of you! She was your friend, and you just left her in there to
rot!?” Spike redoubled his efforts to get away, but his struggles against
the police only succeeded in setting off his chip. He collapsed to the
floor, howling in pain. The officers glanced at one another, silently deciding
not to risk it, and put handcuffs on the obviously dangerous man.
“We didn’t just leave her there, dead boy! We tried to get her out,
but there was nothing we could do.” Xander yelled in their defense, the
whole time not even believing his own words. He still couldn’t forgive
himself for not finding a way to get Willow out of that place.
“Look everyone just calm down. Xander, sit down and be quiet until we
can get to the bottom of this. And Spike if you want to vent your anger
at someone for not telling you the truth of Willow’s whereabouts, that
someone should be me. I instructed the others not to say anything to you,
for obvious reasons. Now, if everyone can just control themselves, I’m
interested in hearing exactly who the good detective thinks Willow has
killed.” Giles stated, taking back control of the room.
“The victim’s name was John Lemkee. He used to work at Marion when Miss
Rosenberg was there. We found his body a few weeks ago in an alley in Council
Bluffs, Iowa.”
“And why do you think Willow was responsible?”
“Let’s just say they have a history,” the detective replied, unwilling
to give out any more information unless it would benefit his investigation
in some way.
“John?” Xander asked softly, “Not the bastard that raped her?”
The detective started to answer, but was interrupted by a howl of rage
and pain, from the general direction of the floor where Spike was being
pinned down in handcuffs by one of the officers. He had failed Willow in
so many ways, but he had never imagined anything like this happening to
her. He simply assumed that she didn’t love him anymore and had left to
start her life over. Now, hearing the truth, he knew that no amount of
penance on his part would ever make up for him not finding her, not trying
harder to get her back. He felt cool tears stinging his eyes. Normally
the blonde vamp would be too ashamed to let these people see him cry, but
at that moment, he was too overwhelmed by all he had just learned to even
care who saw. He wept openly.
All eyes had turned to Spike as they watched him bawling, face down
on the rug. Of the group, only Xander, Buffy, and Giles had known all the
details of where Willow was and what had been happening to her. They did
try to convince her parents to have her released on several occasions,
but at the time when Willow was admitted she had been so deranged from
the bloodlust brought on by drinking from vampire, that it was impossible
to convince Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg that their daughter wasn’t insane.
Xander suggested several times that the group of them try to break her
out, but Giles would hear none of it. For them to ‘rescue’ her, would be
seen as kidnapping in the eyes of the law. Willow was a minor at the time,
and her parents were well within their rights to get her the help they
thought she needed. Besides, Giles had assured them once the bloodlust
subsided; Willow would again be in control of her mind and would surely
be released. No one imagined she would be kept so long or that such horrible
things could happen to her in a health facility. Xander had written to
her every week, trying to keep Willow’s hopes up, but his friend rarely
responded to his letters.
He only learned of the rape when he had gone once again to plead with
her parents for her release. Willow had stopped writing to him altogether,
and Xander feared she finally just gave up all hopes of freedom. Ira and
Sheila tried to pacify the boy by explaining that they were professionals,
and their daughter was not well enough to leave Marion. They told him Willow
was so desperate for attention that she had even gone so far as to accuse
one of the staff of molesting her. Whether or not her parents believed
her, he had.
Xander tried again to convince Giles and Buffy to help him get Willow
out, but the ex-librarian still refused, insisting that if her allegations
were true, they would be dealt with through the proper channels, and that
it wasn’t their place to get involved. This decision, and Buffy’s agreement
with her watcher, had essentially driven a wedge between the three, until
only the slaying still tied them together. Xander decided to go on his
own to help Willow, but before he had the chance, the police paid him a
visit, informing him that his oldest friend was missing, and possibly dead.
They wanted to know if he had seen her, but of course his answer was no.
He failed her, but if given the chance to help her now, he wouldn’t fail
her again.
Looking at Spike and hearing the desperate, anguished sobbing that was
coming from him; Xander wondered briefly if he previously misjudged the
blonde vampire. He still hated him, and blamed him for putting Willow in
this mess in the first place, but deep down he had to admit that Spike
truly did care about the redheaded hacker.
They were all looking at Spike with guilty expressions, especially Giles.
If he followed Xander’s suggestions from the beginning, perhaps none of
this would have happened. He had been a fool to trust that her family and
her doctors would do the right thing and release her. This was all his
fault. He should have done something to save her, but he didn’t and now
he would never forgive himself.
Buffy was feeling the guilt too as she looked at Spike. Willow was her
best friend once, she should have done something. At the time though, she
was feeling hurt over the attention Angel had been giving the little redhead.
Then Spike came back into their lives, and quickly became infatuated with
Buffy. He claimed it was love, and when the slayer first returned from
the grave, she allowed herself to believe it. But looking at him now and
hearing the pain of his cries, she knew he never truly loved her. There
was only room for one woman in his undead heart, and that was Willow. Despite
how adamantly she had insisted that they stop seeing each other, just knowing
how fiercely he loved someone else, made jealousy well up inside her.
The attention of the group was brought back to the detective when he
cleared his throat loudly.
“Perhaps this would be easier if I questioned you all individually down
at the station. However, since you seem to be cooperating, I’d prefer to
keep this simple, without all the headache and paperwork of an official
interrogation. So, I’ll try to be brief and say that I cannot confirm or
deny whether the victim is the same man Miss Rosenberg accused of raping
her. But let’s just say that the amount of disfigurement of the body indicates
a crime of passion.”
“And do you have any proof that it was Willow?” Giles asked, taking
off his glasses and cleaning them furiously.
“We did have two very good pieces of evidence, but before they could
be analyzed, someone broke into the lab, stole them, and killed one of
our officers,” Detective Addison replied coldly.
“I see. So you have ‘no’ actual proof it was Willow,” Giles stated calmly.
“Not yet, but I will. I know it was her. Just as I know she was somehow
responsible for the death of four guards when she disappeared from the
psychiatric hospital in Sioux City, as well as a string of other mysterious
deaths throughout the area shortly after that.”
“Well, Detective, as you can plainly see, we have no idea of her whereabouts.
So, unless you have anymore questions, we really should be getting back
to our…um…studying,” Giles said dismissively.
“I may have no more questions at this time, but I’ll leave my card so
you can contact me in case any of you do hear from her,” he said, setting
the small piece of paper on the banister, “I urge all of you to call me
immediately if you have any news. Believe me, after all I’ve seen, there’s
no doubt in my mind that this girl is a cold blooded killer.”
At this, Detective Addison motioned for the uniformed officers to uncuff
Spike. They looked disappointed, but did as they were instructed, heading
for the door, leaving the vampire still sobbing softly on the floor.
“Remember what I said, she’s dangerous,” the detective stated half over
his shoulder, and then they were gone, unconcerned with the aftermath they
left behind them.
Almost immediately after they had left, Spike jumped to his feet, causing all of them to lurch back somewhat in alarm. Spike however, simply headed for the door, without a single word, and without looking at any of them. He knew full well at that moment that if he didn’t get out of there he would beat the lot of them so severely that the chip would finally liquefy his brain. He needed air, he needed to think. Unfortunately the more thoughts rattled around his brain, the angrier he became. He was wrong, he didn’t need to think, he needed to kill something, and he veered off toward the nearest cemetery to do just that.