Little Bitty Puzzle PiecesBy PJzallday
Reunion
"Tell me again why we're doin' this," Gunn said to Wes, as the pair leaned on their elbows against the front desk of the Hyperion watching Fred greet another small group of young women.
Wes cleared his throat, but remained otherwise still. "It's a favour for Buffy," he replied plainly, having had this conversation several times in the past few days. "She needed a place to gather Slayers in order to teach them how to effectively use their power."
Gunn raised a finger to make a point. "But-"
Without taking his eyes off the group of women, Wes continued in monotone, "There are going to be several hundred Slayers. She needed a large space-" He broke off suddenly and, squinting thoughtfully, he remarked with a complete change of inflection, "and...um... a lot of bathrooms."
After peering over at the glum looking men, the group of girls burst into giggles.
"Several hundred, huh?" Gunn moaned.
***
"Yo B," Faith hollered across the crowded baggage claim area of Terminal Seven.Buffy waved acknowledgement of the other Slayer before turning to the group with which she'd traveled. "OK, look. We have to stick together. The sooner we get out of here the better. Grab your bags. I'll be right back." Briskly Buffy moved through the crowd to where her former rival was waiting. "Faith."
"How was your trip?"
Buffy shrugged a shoulder. "Fine."
With a nod to the group of young women collecting their luggage, Faith grumbled, "Can't believe we're doin' this again."
"Well at least this time we've got lots of bathrooms."
"Ah, B..." Faith hesitated. "That's not all we've got."
"Huh?"
"Well, you know how Wes said he had to check with that hotel guest they got staying?" she began awkwardly. "You know, um... 'cause he's kinda jumpy around Slayers."
"Wes didn't mention that part," Buffy remarked. "What do you mean? Has this guy had some bad experiences with Slayers?" She was surprised to think he'd even met any.
Faith chuckled then cleared her throat. "Um... ye-ah... Some bad experiences," she repeated trying to contain her grin.
Annoyed, Buffy asked, "What's going on?"
***
When Spike came down the stairs to find a lobby full of girls and women of just about every imaginable shape, size and hair colour, he seriously considered turning around and locking himself in his room indefinitely — or better still, climbing out the window and never looking back. But Buffy would be there soon. "Should reconsider that window idea," he mumbled, his apprehension about seeing her again verging on terror."Spike!" an enthusiastic voice called.
Searching the group, he caught sight of several waving hands. With a deep breath, he continued down the stairs and shuffled through the crowd to the small group of familiar faces. "Ladies," he greeted, trying to maintain a low-key.
"Faith told us you were here; I just couldn't believe it," squealed Vi.
The others grinned and nodded.
"Yeah man," said Rona. "We totally thought you were dead."
Uncertain as to what exactly Faith had told these Slayers, Spike remarked with a slight tone of sarcasm, "Yeah, well... I guess we all got lucky, eh?"
The girls laughed and patted Spike and each other on the back. They introduced him to some of their more recently discovered colleagues and recounted stories of the Hellmouth and of their training with Spike.
***
In front of the Hyperion Hotel, a small group of Slayers climbed out of a taxi-van. The women and youngest girls quickly made their way to the entrance, but the two teens lagged behind."I still don't get what we're doing here," grumbled the tough little brunette.
"Geez Carrie... do you ever do anything besides bitch?" asked her friend, slinging a pack over her shoulder.
"Do you always have to do what Watcher-man says, Steph? Don't you ever do anything fun?"
"Well, yeah. Every now and again I kick your ass," Stephanie noted with a grin. "And you know why?"
"'cause you're bigger than me?"
"No, 'cause I actually train."
"Well, I got better things to do with my time," Carrie scoffed as she began to wander down the street.
Stephanie grabbed her arm. "Better things? You call beating people up and stealing better? You gotta stop this Carrie. Before you really hurt someone. Before you get caught," the girl ranted. "We're supposed to be keeping a low profile. We're supposed to be fighting demons."
"Yeah yeah."
"Look. We're not here on vacation. We're here 'cause there's some kinda big world crisis. Don't you wanna be a part of something important?"
Carrie shrugged apathetically.
Stephanie huffed and shook her head. Pulling Carrie by the arm, she headed for the Hotel. "I said I was bringing you, so you're going."
***
"Spike..." Buffy gasped. "Spike's at the Hotel?""Yeah."
"But... How? I don't..." She shook her head, finding what Faith had just told her impossible to believe. "How? When? I..."
"Wanna try and finish one of those questions, B?" Faith asked as she leaned against a pillar and crossed her arms, smirking.
"Are you sure it's him? I mean, he could be-"
"The First?" Faith finished. "Nope. Looks like he's the real deal. Guess the gang weren't sure at first; that's why they didn't wanna tell you right away," she explained, pushing off the pillar and nodding to the cluster of travelers who were beginning to look impatient, waiting for their leader. As the pair wandered toward the others, Faith continued, "They did some kinda test at Wolfram and Hart, and Wes is pretty much convinced Spike's some sorta prophecy guy."
"What?" Buffy was stunned.
"Hey, I dunno. You'll have to ask him."
As the group made its way to the rented shuttle, Buffy continued to try to grasp the astounding news. "When did he get there? How long has he been in L.A.?" What she really wanted to know, but was afraid to say aloud was, "Did he ask about me?"
"He's been at the Hotel a week er two," Faith supposed.
"A week or two!?" snapped Buffy, both surprised and hurt. "Why didn't anybody tell me? Why didn't-"
"Buffy," her former adversary took an uncharacteristically serious and sympathetic tone. "It wasn't just Fred and Wes and them that didn't know who Spike was; he didn't know either."
"I don't understand."
"He had some kinda amnesia," Faith explained. "Wes thinks it might have somethin' to do with the Shanshu thing."
Completely confused, Buffy held her head, tangling her fingers in her hair. "Huh? What about his shoes?"
"Huh?" Faith stopped then corrected, "Oh! No, not shoes. Shan-shu is another prophecy. Somethin' about a vampire with a soul savin' the world and becoming human."
"What?!" Buffy went pale; her eyes wide with shock.
"Oh yeah... Did I forget to mention that part?" Faith grinned apologetically. "Yeah... So, I guess he's been alive — like actually alive — for months. I dunno many details. Sorry. Guess I shouldda asked more questions, huh?" She shrugged. "It was just so... weird, ya know?"
Buffy could only imagine. She bit her lip and tried to stop her head from spinning as she gazed without really seeing through the windshield of the shuttle. With each passing block, her heart-rate seemed to accelerate and increasingly heavy tears stung her eyes. Closing her lids, Buffy sent those tears cascading down her cheeks. Her palms pressed together as if in prayer, she pulled her hands to her lips. She didn't know what to think; didn't know how to feel; didn't know what she'd do when she saw him again.
***
As the crowd of Slayers continued to swell, Spike's chest felt increasingly heavy. He was having trouble breathing and could feel the panicked sweat bead up on his forehead. With a hard swallow, Spike managed to mumble, "Was...ah... good to see you again. S'cuse me." As he lurched around to return to the stairs and his room, he noticed two more familiar figures on the landing just before they disappeared into the group below. His eyes fixed on that part of the room, Spike nudged his way through the crowd trying to find them."You!" he bellowed as he grabbed the little thief he'd encountered weeks earlier then again just before Christmas. "Where did you get that sweater!?"
"What's it to you?" Carrie sneered.
It was Jude's sweater; Spike knew it. It had to be! Clutching the arms of the girl he was sure had beaten his dear gentle Jude to death, Spike was enraged. As she shrugged him off, he drew back a fist and cracked the teen across the jaw. Sometime between the moment he thrust forward his balled hand and the instant his knuckles struck the girl's face, he was hit by an intense jolt of pain. Clutching his head, he winced, "Bloody he-" Then he looked up to see Buffy standing just inside the Hotel doors. "-ell- Oh."