Part 4: Lucky Ones
Bang!
“OWW!!”
She loved that. That perfect popping sound as her fist slammed into the man’s face and broke his nose. It was music to her ears. How sick is that?
Willy drew his hands up over his now bleeding nose, his eyes almost completely squeezed shut as he tried to stop the blood flow. Buffy drew back her fist beside her head, keeping it raised up enough to strike at her given will. Spike smiled his approval of her methods, before she proceeded on.
“What’s going on, Willy?” she said coolly.
“I swear on my mother’s grave I don’t know, Slayer,” the bartender whined through his hands. “Well, I would swear on her grave if she were dead.”
“Wrong answer, mate,” Spike told him as Buffy drew back her fist to hit him again.
“Okay! Okay!” the rat like man said, waving his arms in front of her to stop the punch before she could throw it. His whole face was now covered in blood. She didn’t realize she had hit him that hard. “Some guy’s been goin’ around askin’ a lot of questions about you guys and the other white hats.”
“Who?” Buffy demanded.
Willy took a step back, thinking that perhaps she wouldn’t be able to reach him. “I haven’t a clue.”
Spike’s hand shot out, wrapped around the man’s collar, and jerked him back hard into the counter with a satisfying thud. The vampire was in full game face now as he held the seedy barkeep that looked as if he might wet himself close and growled, “Who, Willy?”
“Alright! Some blond guy!” Willy screamed in fear, knowing that Buffy would probably never kill him intentionally, but Spike would have no problem with it.
Spike slightly relaxed his grip on Willy’s collar as he slipped back into his human form. He really was too easy to get information out of sometimes.
“Did you get a name?” Buffy bit at the bartender.
“Um…Eric, I think. But that’s all I know, I swear.”
The bleach blond studied the man in his grip for a long time before letting him go. Willy stumbled away from the side of the bar Spike stood on, inadvertently taking him closer to Buffy again. He glanced over at the smaller blond, only to find her fist slamming into his face one last time for good measure.
“Oww!” he screamed again, covering his already bloody nose once more.
“Thanks, Willy,” she smirked before the two headed back into the thundering night.
**********
Willow gave a deep sigh as she placed the book back on the shelf and rejoined the fellow Wicca at the pizza box covered table. Dawn couldn’t help but smile when the red head curled up next to Tara, smiled, and began to read her book with her. It was good to see Willow smile; she so rarely did it anymore.
The teen glanced around the room, surveying what the other adults were doing. Giles, of course, was slumped over his book, deep in research mode for any clues he thought might prove useful later on. Apparently not knowing what they were looking for wouldn’t stop the Watcher.
Xander was leaning back in one of the table’s chairs, looking full and content with his own book opened in his lap. To be truthful, he had that glazed look in his eyes, like he wasn’t really reading what was in front of him, but wanted to look like he was. Dawn actually half expected to hear a faint snore from the carpenter, even if his eyes weren’t open at the time.
Anya was fluttering around the shop, getting ready for closing time, which was fast approaching. The ex-demon had made a rather large sale earlier that day and had been content for the rest of the afternoon, which the rest of the group was thankful for because at least then they wouldn’t have to listen to her complain.
Connor and Angel had disappeared soon after sunset to do a quick patrol. The girl understood the vampire probably needed to beat something up as bad as her sister did. Dawn could honestly say she felt sorry for any baddies that ran across those two tonight.
At the moment, Cordelia was playing with the two baby girls who had both started to get fussy when the storm that was threatening to pound on them blew in off the coast. Jessie was sitting quietly, still clutching her demon doll, and watching Dylan bounce around in front of Cordy, giggling wildly as the seer would tickle her whenever she caught her. It was distracting, yes, but at least the toddler wasn’t running around the store anymore.
The rain finally started to beat down heavily on the roof, causing everyone in the shop to look up towards the ceiling. Even the groggy Xander said, “Here comes the rain.”
“I hope Buffy and Spike get back okay,” Tara thought aloud before turning back to the book before her.
“Ah, the Buffster will be fine,” Xander reassured her, getting up from the chair for a good stretch. “As for Spike…let the vamp drown for all I care.”
“Xander!” Tara and Dawn snapped in unison.
“What? I’m just saying…”
“I’m sure they’re both fine,” Giles put in, trying to stop the fight before it started. “All though, it will probably be awhile before either they or Angel and Connor will be able to return.”
“Oh, drat, we have to put a hold on the awkward, uncomfortable silence? I just don’t know how I will ever go on,” Xander said sarcastically as he walked over and scooped Jessie up in his arms.
Cordelia rolled her eyes before picking Dylan up to face her old boyfriend. “Gee, aren’t we Mr. Sarcastic tonight?”
“Xaner sartatick,” Dylan agreed with a grin.
“Great, now not only do I get to be ‘Whelp’ but I’m ‘sartatick’ too,” he said giving Cordy a pointed look.
“Not my fault the kid learns quickly,” the seer answered, with a sarcastic grin like she had in high school.
Great, the two hadn’t even said two words to each other all day, and, now that they do, their fighting worse the Buffy and Spike, Dawn thought with a sigh. At least they were both holding children so they wouldn’t hurt each other.
The rest of the group groaned as Xander continued, “Is that the great Queen C I see coming out of you, Cordy? I thought you finally outgrew that.”
“Guys!” Dawn pleaded, hoping that would make them stop. It didn’t.
“I did. But apparently you didn’t outgrow being a complete as-“
A loud clap of thunder cut her off before sending the whole shop into darkness, except for the small flashes of light from the window. Jessie began to cry from being scared by the nose and clung onto her father for safety. Xander began to sway with the child, trying his best to calm her down, as the other Scoobies sprang into action.
“Alright, everyone,” Giles said in his take charge tone like he was talking to a bunch of kids again. “Just stay calm and look for some candles.”
“In-cendo!” Willow said, forming a little ball of white light in her cupped palm.
“Or we could do that,” the Watcher said dryly as all eyes turned to the red head.
“You finally figured out that sunshine trick?” Xander asked hopefully when Jessie’s cries lessened.
Willow shrugged. “Na, think of this as more of a magical flashlight trick.”
“Hey, either works for me,” he said as those with free hands began to gather up the candles from around the shop and set them on the table.
Dawn headed back for the storage room where she knew Giles kept a lot more of the candles, when a cool wind blew in from the back training room. She glanced inside the large dark room, when another flash of lighting struck outside, showing her that the alley door was opened. That was odd. She could have sworn Spike had shut it when they left.
“Hey, guys,” the teen called, turning back to the adults. “Who left the back door-oomph?!”
Someone pushed Dawn hard from behind, knocking the teenager to the ground. As she pushed herself up on her elbows, a woman’s voice from behind her exclaimed, “Exstinguo!”
Willow’s ball of light went out with the word, along with the few candles that they had already lit. Dawn felt someone carefully step over her, then heard their footsteps as they ran across the room towards the group. She could barely make out the form that moved so gracefully through the darkness that was heading straight for a confused Giles.
“Look out!” she screamed, causing Giles to turn just as the person knocked him to the ground forcefully, before the mystery person disappeared into the shadows again.
The teen’s eyes darted around the room, looking desperately for a moving shadow. But the whole room was eerily still, except for Anya trying to help Giles get to his feet again. Jessie was crying yet again, allowing Dawn to know where she and Xander were, even if she couldn’t see them, and the teen could hear both Tara and Willow murmuring.
“Silentium!” the woman voice said again, causing all noise in the room to stop.
Dawn watched as Tara and Willow’s shadows started to interact with one another, trying to figure out what had happened to their voices. Even Jessie’s cries had stopped, and Dawn couldn’t force her own voice to come out. It was like someone had hit a mute button for the world.
Something crashed into Willow, knocking the girl forcefully into the table that she had been standing by. There was a loud crash as the books they had been researching fell to the ground, and several of the chairs around the table were knocked over.
‘Willow!’ Dawn mouthed, but couldn’t say.
Cordy was clutching Dylan to her as she backed into the middle of the room shop, trying to find a safe place from the invisible attacker. The shadow moved at her, and the seer looked as if she were trying to scream, when the bell over the front door rang out and a soaked vampire and his son came inside. Angel was in full game face, knowing something had been wrong outside, as he charged in and tackled the shadow to the ground.
The vampire growled loudly over him when the woman yelled, “Separate!”
The two went flying in opposite directions, Angel back into Connor, and the shadow man crashing into the play area under the loft. As father and son got back to their feet with the others, the shadow disappeared back into the training room, and out the alleyway door.
“Is everyone okay?” Angel asked, looking around for anyone to give him an answer, but only silence greeted him. “Well?”
**********
Buffy cursed to herself as she ducked into the crypt, soon followed by the pervious owner. That storm had caught them off guard, and now they were still half way across town from the Magic Box and didn’t look as if they would make it there anytime soon. At least they were near Spike’s old crypt, and Clem was always bugging them to drop by anytime they wanted. Looks like he was going to get that visit tonight.
“Clem!” she called into the dark crypt as Spike went to lighting the candles. “Clem, you home?!”
“I think he’s in San Francisco this week, love,” the vampire informed her once he was satisfied with the amount of light. At her confusion, he explained, “Went to some sci-fi/horror convention. Says it’s the only time he can go out and meet regular people without them freakin’ out because he looks different.”
“I get it, blend in with the guys who wear those freaky masks and all that special effect makeup,” she said, nodding her head to show she understood. “Kind of smart.”
“Yeah,” Spike grinned. “He wins their best amateur makeup effect every year.”
“I bet he does,” she said flopping down on the couch that the demon had drug up into the crypt.
The slayer began to mentally scold herself for not getting that cell phone like Dawn had suggested a few weeks ago. She so wanted to call and make sure that Dylan was alright, but instead she would have to wait until the storm died down so they could leave. Judging by the amount of nervous energy that Spike was displaying, he felt pretty much the same way she did about being stuck there.
“Might as well sit down,” she said after getting slightly dizzy from watching him. “I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere for awhile.”
“I just hate bein’ stuck in this bloody place,” he growled, sitting next to her.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Buffy agreed, leaning back a little further on the couch. “But unless you have an ark handy, we’re pretty much stuck here.”
A loud blast of thunder rang through the air, causing the slayer to jump from surprise. Her nerves had already been shot to hell from the day she had had, and now she was jumping at thunder like some scared little kid? Could things get any better?
“Ah-choo!” she sneezed. Well, she was the one that asked.
Her small body trembled as the cold winter air seeped in from outside. Spike raised an eyebrow when he noticed her movements.
“Cold, love?”
“Just a bit,” she answered, rubbing her still wet arms. Even with the jacket on, she had gotten soaked, and he didn’t look much better. With a sigh, the bleach blond stood up and held out his hand for her.
“Come on, then. I think I left some clothes downstairs. Might not fit right, but at least they’re dry.”
Buffy couldn’t help but sneer a little at the thought at wearing his clothes, but he was right. Dry Buffy in Spike’s clothes was a lot better then sick Buffy in her own outfit. Reluctantly, she took his hand and followed him down to the lower level.
The slayer never remembered coming down here before and was actually kind of amazed at how much room was there. She couldn’t help but wonder exactly how Spike was able to dig a lot of this out. No, wait. On second thought, she didn’t want to know because it probably involved calling in favors that were better left under the table.
As he went off in search of the left over clothes, she walked over to the large, four posts bed and looked at it. The white sheets were nicely cleaned and made up, and looked rather inviting. Yeah, that would be nice, to curl up into the bed and take a long nap, maybe with a certain someone’s arms around her, after having worn her out from-
Whoa! Wait a minute! Where’d that come from? Well, she knew where that had come from, but she was so not going to deal with that right at that moment. They had more important things to worry about then her sex life, or the lack thereof.
“There you go, pet,” Spike said, handing her a royal blue, button up shirt. “Gonna be big, but at least it’s not wet.”
“Wow,” she said sounding rather impressed as she held out the shirt to inspect it. “I didn’t think you owned anything that wasn’t red or black.”
“Well, you know me, always like to keep you guessin’,” he said with a cocky grin, sliding his leather jacket off before pealing off his soaked black t-shirt. Buffy blushed slightly from the sight of him shirtless and what she had just been thinking about, and spun on her heels to face the other direction. She was doing her best to concentrate on the blue shirt in her hands when she heard him laugh. “What’s the matter, slayer? S’not like it’s anythin’ you ‘aven’t seen before.”
“Yeah, well, um,” she stuttered, glancing over her shoulder to see him watching her, the red shirt still unbuttoned as he held his arms crossed and waited for her answer. Her face became even and she said with her back to him, “Just turn around so I can change.”
Buffy felt him come closer to her as she played with the shirt he had given her.
“You want me to turn around while you change?” he asked lowly when he was standing directly behind her. Spike grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him again. He stepped forward to where there was barely an inch between the two, and then ducked his face so close to hers so that their lips were nearly touching. “Make me,” he purred.
Buffy swallowed hard at the close contact, and fought to stand on her fast weakening knees. She wanted to kiss him so bad; she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and just forget everything that was going on. But she wouldn’t. Now was not the time, she told herself.
“I will,” the petit blonde told him as coldly as she could, but her voice sounded weak even to her.
When he didn’t move, she tried to go around him, but he still held onto her wrist. She had walked just far enough away to where he was going to have to let her go, she heard him mutter, “Oh, bugger it.”
He jerked her back to him by the arm, and caused her to crash against him.
“Spi-“
He cut her off by crushing his lips to hers. She held her mouth tight for a moment, surprised by what he had done, but then began to relax it and allowed him to deepen the kiss. Spike let go of her wrist in favor of holding her by the waist, which allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck. Buffy finally broke the kiss when she needed air.
“Buffy-“
“Spike, for once in your life, just shut up,” the slayer said before pressing her lips to his again.
**********
The old car pulled into the run down motel, the windshield wipers keeping the steady beat with the song on the radio before Eric killed the engine. The young man looked beaten and worn, as he slumped back in the driver’s seat and glanced over at Marie, who was watching the sleeping child in the back.
“Do you think they saw you?” she asked, keeping her voice down not to disturb Van.
“No. They just saw a shadow move,” he told her, making himself more comfortable. “I don’t even think the vampire knows what I look like. Tore a hole in my shirt, though. It was brand new, too.”
“I hope he didn’t see you,” she sighed. “That could really make things more difficult.”
“Don’t worry about it so much, we got what we needed.”
He reached into his pocket, pulled a clear little baggie filled with the hair that she had requested, and handed it to her. She looked at it for a long moment, then stuffed it into her own pocket.
“I better go call the boss and let him know we’re ready to go,” she said, popping open the passenger side door and charging for their hotel room.
“Daddy?” the little voice said from the back seat. Eric looked up into the review mirror and watched his son sit up, rub his eyes, and then yawn widely. “We back?”
“Yeah, buddy, we are. You ready for bed?”
“Not sleepy,” he said, yawing once more.
Eric couldn’t help but smile at the tired little guy. The kid looked like he was about to fall asleep sitting up, yet he was still insisting that he wasn’t tired.
“Come on, big guy,” his father said getting the umbrella out. “Let’s get you to bed.
**********
Buffy was asleep next to him, curled up in his arms with a contented little smile on her face. Cor, she was beautiful, especially now when she had that nice glow to her. He so didn’t want to wake her, but the storm was dying down and they really needed to get back soon. He just wished they had a little longer.
But time was something that they never had. There was always something waiting for them to tend to, or someone waiting for them to save. But, it was still raining; he could let her sleep for just a little longer.
Nudging his head into the back of her neck, he whispered to her sleeping form, “I love you.”
He never saw her eyes open ever so slightly, nor did he notice that the contented smile widened.
**********
TBC
Hey, people. Sorry it took so long to get this section out, blame it on school and stuff. Well, I was planning on having the next part out fairly soon after posting this, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to at least late Sunday or Monday. So, please r & r, because that’s the only payment I get for this. Thanks.
*********
Part 5: No Evil
Buffy walked a bit more quickly as they approached the Magic Box, her mind going over everything that had happened that night. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t keep herself from smiling. She just felt too good. They’re all in danger and she was on cloud nine. Yeah, she’s a great friend.
It was just that he said he loved her. Granted she wished he would have told her to her face, but she knew. Something told her she had known for awhile, or at least suspected. But to hear it, that was just…amazing. Okay, Buffy, you’re starting to sound like a lovesick teenager.
Wait a minute. Did she just say lovesick?
Buffy reached for the door of the Magic Box when she felt him pull her other arm. She turned around just in time for him to step to her and brush his lips against hers. Those soft kisses, she liked those the most.
“Spike,” the small blonde said, breaking the kiss, “we can’t. Not here.”
“What? Scared we’ll give old Rupes a heart attack?” he grinned at her wickedly.
“Well, yeah, there’s that. And also the fact that your grandsire who already hates you and is my ex boyfriend happens to be waiting for us on the other side of the door.” She shifted her weight onto one foot and crossed her arms. “Do you really want me to have to explain to Dylan that you’re a big pile of dust because you couldn’t keep your lips to yourself?”
“Yeah, but what a way to go,” he purred, kissing her once more.
Buffy felt her resolve dissolving quickly. He was such a good kisser. If they were back at that the crypt - wait. Why had they left the crypt again? It seemed important. More important than this? It had to be if they left. Oh, that’s right. Big, nasty evil afoot. Spike was the big, nasty evil once. Maybe if he was good, she’ll let him be again. Okay, Summers, that’s it. Remember, resolve. Resolve!!
She broke the kiss once more, surprised at how tight her lungs felt from the lack of oxygen. Had they really been kissing that long? Huh. She couldn’t ever remember that happening before.
“We better get inside,” she told him weakly. “You know, before they send out a search party.”
“Yeah, we should,” he said, nodding his head, but neither one of them moved. To be honest, she didn’t know if she could right at the moment.
“Um, it might actually require us, you know, moving,” Buffy said.
“That might help,” he agreed.
The slayer swallowed hard, forcing herself not to kiss him again before reluctantly turning back to the door. After taking several deep breaths in hope that her face would no longer be ‘flushed,’ Buffy opened the door and stepped inside. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at her. For a split second, Buffy wondered if maybe she had ‘I Just Slept With Spike’ tattooed across her forehead or something.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” she asked nervously as Spike joined her.
“They were attacked tonight after we left,” Connor told her simply as he looked up from the book he and Dawn were sharing.
She felt Spike tense next to her before she exclaimed, “What?! Oh, God. Is everyone alright? Where’s Dylan?!”
“Cordy’s got her,” Angel told her from his post beside the counter where Giles was writing.
The slayer spotted the seer and then snatched the toddler away from her. Holding her close, Buffy kissed the child on the head as Spike demanded, “Who came after them? What happened?!”
“And why is my baby doing a scene from a silent movie?” Buffy asked, watching curiously as Dylan opened her mouth, look as if she were trying to speak, then repeating the process.
Spike looked at his child just as confused as her mother, then turned back to Angel.
“Me and Connor caught the tail end of the show,” Angel told them. “All we know is that they lost their voices because of some kind of spell. They’re trying to fix it now, and Giles is writing down everything that happened for us.”
Buffy raised her eyebrow as she looked around at her silent friends, and then at the two mute babies. Jessie sat in her father’s lap, looking to him for answers for what happened. Dylan was fascinated by the fact that, no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t make a sound come out of her mouth. It didn’t appear to scare her, but that stubborn streak she had inherited from both of her parents had taken over, and she was now determined to not give up until she could speak again.
Tara and Willow had found a reversal spell and now they, along with Cordy and Anya, were working to brew the foul smelling stuff that was supposed to give them their voices back.
Xander was trying to keep little Jessie distracted by making her demon doll wags its arms and legs all over the place, as well as make goofy faces to make her smile. Of course, most of the time Jessie just looked at him like he was insane, but it was kind of cute nonetheless.
Giles was at the counter, writing feverishly on a piece of paper what had happened as Angel, Connor, Spike, and Buffy watched. The two vampires were doing a good job of avoiding eye contact, opting instead to watch the middle aged man’s hand move rapidly to finish his sentence. When he was done, he tore it out for them to read, and both Angel and Spike made a move for the paper. Angel reached it first, much to Spike’s annoyance.
Angel began to read aloud. “The power to the shop went out around seven o’clock while we were still researching, and soon after the storm blew up. When we went in search of some other means of light, someone came in through the back way, and attacked us, though no one was hurt. He had someone with him, a woman, who cast a spell to first put out the candle we had lit, and then to take away our voices. Whoever he was, he was about to attack Cordelia and Dylan when Angel and Connor came back and scared him away.”
“Bloody hell, Watcher. A simple ‘We were attacked. A witch took away our voices’ would have worked,” Spike grumbled, earning him an icy glare from Giles.
Buffy tighten her grip on Dylan after hearing she had been in direct line of danger. She knew she should have been there. Now there were two of them, and one of them is a witch? Great, that is just what they didn’t need.
Dylan stopped her efforts for speech for a moment, noticing her mother’s worried look. The child then laid her head on Buffy’s shoulder and snuggled up close to her neck. A kind smile rose to the slayer’s lips at the toddler’s actions to make her feel better, and she reworded them with a kiss on the forehead.
“So, there’s two of ‘em now?” Spike continued on, having not noticed what his daughter and her mother were doing.
“Looks that way,” Angel sighed, handing the piece of paper over to him to read. “Shouldn’t be too hard to take care of. I scared him off pretty easily.”
“Ick!” a voice rang out from the center of the room.
Everyone turned to find Willow standing there, a cup of that awful stuff they had been brewing in hand, making faces. When she saw all eyes where on her, she said, “It’s ready.”
Tara drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before taking the cup and drinking from it. She made a bitter face as she pushed it away quickly like that would make the taste disappear faster. “Giles?” she said, holding it out for the Watcher next.
Buffy had always seen Giles try and act as dignified as he could, no matter the situation. So the slayer couldn’t help but laugh whenever her Watcher took the cup, took a sip, and nearly spit the stuff out before sputtering “Good Lord, that’s awful!”
Seeing that the potion was working, Xander marched up to Giles and held out his free hand to take the glass from the older man.
“No, wait, leave that one,” Spike spoke up. “I like him better without the voice.”
Xander glared at the bleach blond, but Angel added, “As much as it pains me, I agree with Spike on that one.”
Buffy blinked as she watched the two vampires exchange a small grin at Xander’s aggravation, before he grabbed the cup from Giles and swallowed quickly.
“Geeze, Willow,” he said when his voice returned to him. “That taste like my old gym socks.”
“Oh, drat, you figured out the secret ingredient,” Willow played, fixing a bottle with the stuff in it for Dylan and Jessie while the cup was continued to be passed around. The red head finished and handed it first over to Buffy. “Here, try and get her to take just a little.”
“Think it’ll probably be easier to use the cup, Red,” Spike said and Buffy nodded in agreement before handing the bottle to Xander.
Once the cup had been passed around to all the others, it took both Buffy and Spike to force young Dylan to drink from it. Anya and Xander did not fare much better with Jessie, but when she started to cry from being forced to drink, their task was done. It wasn’t until Dylan exclaimed, “Yuckie!” that Buffy and Spike’s was.
“Now that that’s out of the way, what do we do now?” Connor asked, leaning against the staircase that Dawn was sitting on. “This guy’s obviously pretty brave if he’s willing to attack the group like he did tonight.”
“At least no one got hurt,” Buffy sighed, holding Dylan close. Spike reached over and pushed down the soft curls of the little girls blond hair and gave her mother a reassuring look. He wouldn’t let Dylan be in danger again if he could help it.
“Yeah, right,” Dawn whined, rubbing the back of her head. “He ripped out a thing of my hair when he pushed me down.”
“I think you’ll survive that,” her sister said, rolling her eyes at the teen.
“Don’t feel bad, Dawnie,” Willow said with a grin before reaching up and touching her own head. “He got me too.”
“So, did you guys get any clues while you were at Willy’s?” Xander asked as he sat down again with Jessie.
“Got a possible name,” Buffy told him. “Eric.”
“Eric? Well, doesn’t that just strike fear into your heart,” her friend said sarcastically.
“Anything else?” Giles put in, ignoring Xander now all together.
“Nothing really,” Spike continued for her.
“Actually, we do have something else,” Angel spoke up. When all eyes turned to him, he held up a small piece of deep blue cloth.
“A dish rag?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No,” his grandsire hissed. “I got it off the guy who attacked us tonight.”
“So?” Xander said.
“So, we can do a location spell with it, you dork,” Cordelia said, catching onto what Angel had in mind a lot faster than the others.
Buffy watched as her ex nodded in agreement and then handed it over to Willow. “Can you find him with just that?”
“Sure, no problem. Just give us a minute,” she told him, heading back into the center with Tara.
**********
Eric slowly pulled the door close to the attached bedroom that he and Van were sharing leaving the little boy sleeping quietly. Marie had been busy setting up her room for the spell she was about to perform, and now the whole place smelled like incense. He just hoped the manager wouldn’t charge them extra for stinking up the room.
The black-haired woman hung up the phone and sighed as she looked at her brother-in-law. “Boss says he’ll be here soon, and that he hopes everything will be done by the time he gets here.”
Eric nodded his head understandingly. “You ready to do this?”
Marie sighed deeply as she looked over at the small circle that held the ingredients she needed. He knew she wasn’t as powerful a witch as her sister had been, but she still had more than most.
“As I’ll ever be, I guess,” she said with a slight shrug. “I just wish, you know, that it was Katie doing this instead of me.”
“Hey,” he said taking her by the shoulders and giving her a smile. “You’ll do great. Just remember what she taught you and there’s nothing that she’ll be able to do about it. Everything will be great. I promise.”
“I hope you’re right,” Marie said solemnly. The young witch drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “Boss wants you to meet him at some club in town. The Bronze, I think. He said that it would be closed tonight, so no one should be around. You go, and I’ll do the spell.”
“You sure you can do this without any of my help?” he asked, raising his eyebrow slightly.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just promise me when this is over, we’re going to take a nice, long vacation with no demons or vampires or slayers within a hundred mile radius.”
He laughed lightly at her. “Deal.” Eric took her hands into his, then gave her a small peck on the cheek. “I’ll be back in couple of hours. Keep an eye on Van.”
“Don’t I always?” she asked with a smirk that he returned.
He then let go of her hands, grabbed his coat off the twin bed, and headed back into the still, wet night.
**********
“Got him,” Willow exclaimed happily with a large smile. She turned in her seat to face the group that stood behind her and Tara. “Looks like he’s heading for the Bronze.”
“The Bronze?” Buffy repeated with a raised eyebrow. “I thought they were renovating that place until after New Years.”
“They are,” Xander agreed. “We got the contract the other day. It’s going be closed until at least the tenth.”
“Well, someone didn’t tell him that,” Willow said with a shrug. “He’s making a straight line for it.”
“Who cares why he’s goin’ there,” Spike groaned. “Let’s just go kill him and be done with it.”
Buffy glared at him for his choice of words. They were not there to kill anyone, not yet anyway. First things first, they needed to know what this guy was up to, then they would decide if he needed to be slayed.
“Well, who’s all going on this little mission,” Cordy asked. “I mean, I would think that less is best for the whole stealthy thing.”
“Agreed,” Angel said, nodding his head. “Me and Connor can go check him out, see what he’s up too.”
“How about not,” Buffy bit back, as if he were insane. “I think it goes more like Angel, Connor, and Buffy need to go check it out.”
“Don’t forget me, love,” Spike put in. “If this really is the guy you and the poppet have been dreamin’ about, I’m sure as hell goin’ with you.”
“We don’t need you,” Angel sneered coldly at his grandchilde.
The bleach blonde returned with his trademark smirk. “Don’t matter, Peaches. Where the slayer goes, I go.”
Angel’s eyes narrowed on the younger vampire, and Buffy quickly moved herself between them to keep a fight from breaking out. God, how did they ever get along with each other for twenty years when they can’t even do it now for twenty minutes? And they both have souls for heaven sakes!
“Okay, we’re all going out,” she agreed, looking between the two to make sure that the other would be coming and to leave it at that. The slayer then turned back to Dawn. “Could you take Dylan home? I’d feel better if she was with Mom.”
“Sure,” the teen agreed, taking her niece from her sister.
“I’ll go with her,” Willow volunteered. “You know, in case Magic Girl shows up or something.”
Buffy smiled her thanks to the witch, then turned back to the rest of the group. “The rest of you keep up the research until we get back.”
**********
The back alley of the Bronze, now there was a familiar place.
This had been the place where he had first officially met her all those years ago, when she was still an innocent girl and he was revered, respected, and feared even by those in the vampire community. That had been the night he had wanted her, but not in the same way he does now. He wanted her blood on his hands, to taste her life drain away between his lips. Now, five years later, he was hiding once again in the shadows of the alley, but this time it was to try and save her life instead of taking it away.
She hid there in the shadows with him on this night, crouching down low behind a pile of old wooden boxes, watching and waiting for this mysterious figure to arrive. Peaches had taken point outside the alley, using all the knowledge he had gained from living on the streets like a rat for ninety years to blend in with his surroundings. As for Peaches Junior, Spike wasn’t quite sure where the boy had disappeared to, but had taken their only firing weapon, a crossbow, with him.
So that left him and her here, watching and waiting alone in the cold December night. Her hair was still slightly damp from the shower that they had been caught in earlier, but the clothes that she had changed back into were nearly completely dry, except for those tight little pair of jeans of hers. Not that he minded getting a good look at the denim material shaping itself to her body. No, he really enjoyed that actually.
“Would you stop looking at me like that,” she said in a loud whisper, her eyes still locked on the alley entrance.
“Like what, pet?” he grinned, sounding as innocent as possible, to force her to explain.
Buffy turned her gaze to him. “Like I’m some villager that you want to ravage.”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “Aleady did that tonight, remember, love. Course, if you fancy another go…”
She made a show of rolling her eyes at him, which just caused him to laugh even harder. “You’re such a pig,” the blonde said, turning her gaze back towards the entrance way.
As the cold night became silent again, his mirth began to die as he continued to watch her. He had expected her to say a bit more on the subject then ‘You’re such a pig.’ After all, it wasn’t ever day one gets to sleep with the person they love, that wasn’t spell induced.
“Buffy,” he said more softly and seriously, causing the slayer to look back over to him from the tone. “We do need to talk about what happened tonight.”
“Yeah, I know. We need to talk about a lot of things,” she agreed. “Kind of want to catch this Eric guy first, though.”
An older model Taurus headlights cut through the dark as the car pulled into a parking space out front. Both the slayer and vampire straightened up a bit, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
“Looks like you’re goin’ to get your wish,” Spike said, eyeing the blond-haired man who got out of the car.
The young man wasn’t the type of person who stood out in a crowd; much like Spike had always prided himself on doing. No, this guy would blend into the background and was never the one that would be questioned for any sort of evil activity. In fact, he looked more like the guy who lived down the street and would let you borrow his lawn mower or invite you over for a Sunday afternoon barbeque nothing like a predator. But those were the type that always made the best hunters; the best and most dangerous.
He came around to the front of his car, looked around for a moment, then sighed before sitting on the hood. Nervously, he rubbed his hands together as he continued to apparently wait for someone. The guy would scream easy meal to any vamp, and Spike couldn’t help but wonder why they were all getting so worked up over him.
Buffy glanced over to the vampire at her side and nodded. He took the signal, and, while she went up one side of the alley through the shadows, he took the other. Spike crept halfway up through the dark alley when the man on the Taurus suddenly straightened up, and his body became ridged. He was aware that there was someone else there and slowly began to scan his surroundings for the hidden party. The man scanned right over where the slayer would have been and slowly came towards Spike, who had pressed himself as far as he could into the shadows. But that was not enough, for the man’s eyes stopped dead on him.
Crap.
Spike watched as the man scurried to get off the hood of his car before running into Peaches, who had snuck up behind him and placed himself to where he couldn’t inside the car. The young man’s eyes widened in surprise as the older vampire crossed his arms and said, “Going somewhere?”
He vamped out for good measure, causing the boy in front of him to jump back a little. Still got the touch, Spike saw.
The blond-haired man turned to run the other way, only to find Spike standing there, also in game face. Quickly, the younger vampire seized the man by the throat, and slammed him onto the hood of his car. Buffy jogged up to stand beside him, all the while the guy struggled in Spike’s grip. Connor made his presence known as well, coming out from a nearby shadowy area, the crossbow still raised up in case he needed to use it.
“Who are you?” Spike hissed.
“I-“
“Who?!”
“Eric!” he cried out. “Eric Davidson.”
“Who sent you?” Buffy demanded.
“I did,” a new voice answered.
The slayer spun on her feet, recognizing the voice. Her mouth hung slightly opened as she fixed her gaze on her old friend and fellow Scooby.
“Oz?”
**********
Part 6: Lying with the Lion
The tea kettle screamed as the hot steam was pushed through the small opening, telling Joyce that it was ready. Quickly, she fixed the three cups of tea to each of the person’s liking; she had learned long ago how each of the Scoobies took their tea. Dawn would want two lumps of sugar, while Willow, like Joyce herself, would want just a tab of honey. When they were prepared, she picked the tray up and headed back into the living room where the girls were waiting.
Dylan was asleep in her play pen, her little arm draped over her stuffed dog while her mouth hung open. She looked a lot like Buffy had at that age, and Joyce had to shake the feeling of déjà vu she got from the sight.
In the few minutes that Joyce had been gone, Dawn had spread out on the couch and had also fallen asleep. Her mother shook her head as she set the tray on the coffee table, and handed the steaming cup to the witch who looked as if she were fighting sleep off as well.
“Thank you,” she said, savoring the smell of the liquid before consuming it. The red head seemed to perk up from the beverage.
“So, were you able to find out what’s going on?” Joyce asked, taking her seat with her own drink.
“Not much,” Willow shrugged. “Hopefully Buffy and the others will come back with more information.”
From the play pen, Dylan began to whimper in her sleep and cuddle close to her stuffed animal. Her grandmother knew another one of those bad dreams was attacking the child, so Joyce placed her cup of tea on the coffee table and bent over to try and sooth the child with her touch.
“What’s the matter with her?” Willow asked cautiously as she watched the two.
“A bad dream, I think,” the middle-aged woman answered, the child not calming any. When she still had no luck in calming her, Joyce sighed. She couldn’t wait until Buffy and Spike got back, Dylan always calmed for them. Dylan looked as if she were about to start crying, and Joyce ran her hand over the side of her head. “Shhh, baby. It’ll be okay. I promise.”
**********
Buffy backed away from the car and unconsciously moved closer to her old friend. She couldn’t believe it. Oz? Oz was the one that sent this Eric guy after them? But Oz wouldn’t ever hurt them, not intentionally. That was about like believing Xander or Willow would. But, still…
“Oz?” the slayer asked, her voice sounding horse.
The fellow Scooby came closer to the group around the car. Spike’s grip on Eric loosened from his surprise of seeing ‘Red’s mongrel’ being the one behind all this distracting him from the young man he held. Eric scrambled away from the vampire, choosing instead to head over in Oz’s direction for a small sense of safety. At the same time, Connor gripped a little tighter on the crossbow, but Angel held up his hand to tell him it was all right.
“Sorry about all the sneakiness,” the werewolf apologized, digging his hands a little deeper into his pockets. “But we couldn’t let ourselves be seen.”
“Oz, what’s going on? Why are you here? Why is he here?” Buffy asked, eyeing the blond-haired man that stood nearby before turning her attention back to her old friend.
The red-headed young man sighed deeply before telling her, “There’s something bad in your group, Buffy. A demon.”
“We know we got demons, Wolf Boy,” Spike snarled. “Me and Peaches here are two of ‘em.”
“Not that kind of demon,” Oz answered with a shake of his head. “This one’s a lot sneakier than you two can ever hope to be.”
Buffy swallowed hard. This cannot be good. Oz was the quiet contemplator of the group. Yet, in the past five minutes, he had said more then he had in the whole two and half years that Buffy knew him. If Oz is chatty, then it must really be bad.
Eric looked to his ‘boss’ before taking up the story himself.
“See, this demon is an infection, a parasite. It feeds off negative emotion, so it creates as much as possible in the host. It is, however, extremely intelligent, and knows when it’s in danger. That’s why we had to be so covert with you. I am sorry about that. But if it knew we were trying to kill it, it would have done something rather rash.” He sighed deeply. “The thing is the person infected doesn’t even know it. And, once we’re able to get rid of it, she won’t remember what happened.”
“She?” Angel caught.
Oz pressed his lips together, forming a hard straight line. “Buffy, these parasite demons only live in one place, the Shadow World.”
The slayer blinked once, then took off for home.
**********
“Or, maybe she’s afraid,” Willow offered approaching the woman and child.
“Afraid of what, dear?”
Joyce felt some invisible force wrap its arms around her before throwing her across the room. She crashed hard into the bookshelf, with all the trinkets and pictures and books falling onto her limp body on the floor.
She was barely holding onto consciousness when she head Willow say coldly, “Me.”
Forcing herself to stay awake, Joyce watched as Willow walked over to the pen, picked the child up, and said, “Come to your Auntie Willow.”
**********
Buffy’s legs pumped feverishly under her body as she tore towards her home, Spike, Angel and Connor right on her heels. How could she have been so stupid?! She knew something was up with Willow. They all did. But it was Willow! Her best friend would never hurt them. Would she?
Sharp pains jabbed at Buffy’s legs as she rounded the corner and head up her street. She hadn’t run this fast since she went to catch Riley, and that had turned out so well. No. She wouldn’t let herself think that. Oz had to be wrong. Willow would never hurt them. He just had to be wrong!
The slayer charged up the front stair and burst through the door, nearly tearing it from its hinges. The house felt charged as she skidded to a stop in the living room doorway and saw her sister fast asleep on the couch. Maybe they had been wrong after all.
“Dawn?” she called in a small voice.
A small moan answered her, but it had not come from her sister. Buffy jerked her head towards its origin, and gasped when she saw her mother lying on the floor, the old bookshelf broken and lying on top of her. The two vampires came to a halt behind her, surveyed the damage, then Angel pushed passed her to see if her mother was alright. Funny, Buffy felt like her feet were glued to the ground as she watched him check Joyce over.
He looked up at the slayer, and said, “She’s alive.”
“Niblet’s okay,” Spike said, kneeling next to her sister. When had he moved from Buffy’s side? “Just can’t wake her up.”
The slayer blinked as she looked at the two. There was someone else she needed to check on, someone that the stress was somehow making her forget about. There’s Dawn, on the couch, Spike kneeling beside her, next to an empty play pen. Dylan’s play pen. Oh, God-
“Dylan,” Buffy squeaked out before turning around and charging up the stairs for her room. If she wasn’t downstairs with her mother, then they must have put her to bed already. She wasn’t gone, she had to be here. She just had to be!
A soft sound greeted Buffy at the top of the stairs. It floated into the hallway from her opened bedroom door. Someone was humming gently from inside. Slowly, she went to the door and pushed it open. There was no one inside, but the humming continued from the crib.
Time seemed to slow down as she wandered towards the sound, praying that perhaps she would look over and find her daughter sitting there. Praying that, maybe, right before she looked over, she’d wake up and find this whole night had been a nightmare. Instead, she found the baby monitor was lying gently on Dylan’s pillow, making the noise. Buffy didn’t know why, but she found herself reaching over and picking the monitor up, her fingers turning white as she clung onto it.
“Wow, Buffy,” Willow said when the pretty song she had been humming stopped. “She really is a cutie. But, then, I guess with you as her Mommy and Spike as her Daddy that should be expected. She’s going to break a lot of hearts someday. Or she will, if you do as I say. And you might as well not look for me, Spike. I can see you, but you can’t see me.”
Buffy turned and saw the bleach blond was standing there in the door way, his eyes looking past her into the darkness outside. She hadn’t even heard him come up.
“I want the Key, Buffy,” Willow continued, her voice having become harder than she had ever heard it before. “You have it. I want it. Just give a shout when you’re ready. I’ll be listening.”
A faint murmuring came over the monitor. “Looks like my sleeping spell doesn’t last as long on her as it will the others. All well, maybe a song will keep her quiet.
“Hush little baby, don’t you cry,
Buffy can make it all alright.
But if your mommy keeps the Key,
We’re going to see what’s inside of thee.”
Spike snatched the monitor out of Buffy’s grip and smashed it into a million pieces on the floor.
The Key? She wants the Key? She wants to trade Dylan for Dawn?!
The air around her was fast becoming thin, and those heavy legs that had been plaguing her all night suddenly felt like they were becoming jello. Her body began to collapse to the floor when she felt Spike catch her and pull her up to him.
“We’ll get her back, love,” he told her. “I swear we will.”
She just wished she could believe him.
**********
Part 7: Close to Home
Giles sat at the table, cup of coffee in one hand and a large book in the other. The others had gradually drifted off to sleep, leaving him alone to do the research and wait for Buffy and the others to return. He had tried on several occasions to rouse them, but all seemed to be in a rather deep sleep. Must have been exhaustion; he knew he had been feeling the initial effects of it earlier in the evening. Less than an hour ago, he could hardly keep his eyes opened, but a strong cup of coffee had cured that and now he felt refreshed and ready to go. Amazing what a little caffeine will do.
Well, at least he didn’t have to listen to Xander and Cordelia bicker any more.
Anya, who had fallen asleep curled up in one of the chairs, snorted loudly as she shifted her body, causing a small pad she had been writing on to fall to the ground. Giles smiled wearily at the girl. She really could be cute, when she wasn’t awake anyway. He placed the book he was reading on the counter next to his coffee, and went to retrieve the item that Anya had lost in her sleep.
“Will that be cash or charge?” the ex-vengeance demon murmured in her sleep as the Watcher bent down and picked up the pad. Even in her sleep, the girl was trying to sell something. That just confirmed that he had hired the right person to work in his shop, not that he’d ever had any doubt.
Giles scanned over the paper and found that the young woman had been compiling a list of all the items that Tara and Willow had used that night, along with the prices at the side. Indeed, he hadn’t realized that the two witches had accumulated such a large total in debt. Perhaps he should listen to Anya and rethink the whole ‘not charging of his friends’ concept.
Why, the ingredients alone to the potion that gave them their voices back had cost him well over two hundred dollars. They had used two bags of teal wing, half a jar of Hattiesburg deer root, a bottle of black water mist, a teaspoon of yellow quartet dust-Wait a minute. Black water mist?
“That can’t be right,” Giles said to himself as he headed to the shelf where he kept it.
He inspected the shelf where the bottle was located and indeed found it to be missing. That was odd. Black water mist was used for nothing else except for a new age sleeping agent. It was very effective, usually giving the person a full eight hours of sleep if taken correctly. The only down side to it was that just the littlest bit of caffeine would counter act the effect. So, why on earth would Willow and Tara need it?
A juvenile giggle tore him from his thoughts. “No, Ahn. You play the naughty bank teller this time,” Xander muttered as he smiled in his sleep.
Giles’ eyes widened as he looked around the room. They were all asleep except for him. Anya, Cordelia, Jessie, Xander, Tara. If Tara’s asleep, that means she must have not known the water was in the potion, which meant…
“Oh, dear Lord. Willow,” he said to himself as he hurried over to the phone.
He jerked up the phone and found the line was dead, confirming his suspicions even more. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had to warn Joyce! He had to find Buffy!! Grabbing his coat off the rack, Giles headed into the rainy night, praying it was not too late.
**********
Angel and Connor looked up when they heard someone charging down the stairs. Spike looked as if he were ready to kill the next person he saw as he headed out the door and into the night. Angel had guessed what Willow had done, and, by the way his grandchilde stalked out of there, he figured he had been right.
“Shit,” the elder vampire muttered, getting up off the floor next to Joyce, leaving her with a confused Connor. Angel was barely out the door when he yelled, “Spike! Wait!”
“Go away, Peaches,” the bleach blond warned in a dangerous tone as he stormed across the lawn. “I don’t have time to deal with you right now.”
Angel ran after him and grabbed him by the shoulder. “I said stop!”
He expected the punch and the growl that came with it. Angel took the hit, then came back around in full game face with his own punch. Before he knew it, the two Master vampires were on the ground, trying their best to beat each other to a pulp. Probably to some of the Summers’ more curious neighbors, they looked like a pair of school-age boys engaged in a fist fight over some girl. He just hoped that none of them called the cops.
Angel managed to get on top of his grandchile, and hit him hard across the face.
“For once in your life, listen to me, William,” he bit through his clutched teeth. The use of his given name seemed to stop the younger vampire momentarily, but Angel could clearly see the heat behind his yellow eyes. “Going off half cocked isn’t going to help anyone.” Spike struggled to get up, but his grandsire slammed him back to the ground. “It won’t! Trust me. I know.”
“You know,” Spike sneered. “What you did finally got you Connor back!”
“No. Not Connor. It got me Steven.” Angel slipped out of his game face and stood up, letting the younger vampire up. Spike’s demonic features also melted away before the older vampire continued, “I love my son, I really do, and when he was taken I tried to do the exact same thing you are. But you can’t go off and face her alone.”
“Why the bloody hell not?!”
“Because you and I both know how powerful Willow really is! And that…thing inside of her has control over it. Do you really think that she’ll even bat an eye if it came to killing you? To killing Dylan because of you?” His voice became low. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, William. Not even you, and especially not Buffy! But you know if you go after Willow right now she would kill you, both of you! Is that what you want?!”
He watched as Spike’s body became tight from anger. “I have to do something, Angel!”
The older vampire drew in an unneeded breath. He knew exactly how Spike felt and suddenly felt himself identifying with poor Lorne that night he had tried to get Connor back. There was nothing he could say that would stop the father in his quest, except maybe…
Angel bit down on his tongue as he forced himself to say, “Then go be with Buffy.”
Spike blinked at that. “What?”
“Look, she lost her daughter tonight, too. Since you’re the…father, she’s going to need you to be there for her.”
The bleached blond growled lowly to himself, knowing that Angel had found the one thing that would make him stay put for the time being. “So, what are we supposed to do? Sit back and wait for Red to show up again?”
“No. We get the others and come up with a plan,” Angel told him. He turned and headed back into the house. “Until then, I suggest you go be with the mother of your child.”
**********
Marie sat Indian style in the middle of the circle, the tiny black pot in front of her smoking as she prepared to perform the spell. In just a few more minutes, the witches’ powers would be bound, and then maybe she could get a much deserved rest from all this. She flipped the old book a couple of pages, and began to read and follow the instructions.
“Child from light, cannot be dead.
The darkness within, has been fed.”
The black-haired woman took the maple root, crumbled it up, and let it fall slowly into the smoking pot.
“Her spirit is strong, her flesh is weak.
A demon control, through her it does speak.”
The pot gave out a large pillar of smoke as she reached over and picked up the small clump of red hair Eric had collected for her. She held it over the pot, and readied to drop it after she spoke the last of the spell.
“Bind her magic, so she may do no harm,
So that the demon cannot be-“
The door to her hotel room slammed open, causing Marie to stumble back from surprise. Her hand smeared the circle as she backed away, ruining the spell. The figure was floating at least a foot off the ground, the tips of her toes barely dragging the ground. She came inside.
“Nu uh,” Willow said in a singy type voice. “Little girls shouldn’t be playing with magic like that.”
Marie gave a panicked looked towards the door that separated her room from Eric and Van’s, praying that the little boy didn’t come to see what was happening. The black-haired woman scrambled to her feet only to be knocked back hard against the wall by an invisible force. The sheetrock cracked from the impact as she slid down to the ground, groaning in pain.
“Did you really think you could get rid of me so easily?” Willow asked, lowering herself to the ground, then slowly walking towards the woman. “That you could simply chant a few words and *poof* I’d be gone? You gypsies really are stupid, you know that right?”
The shorter red head reached down and lifted the woman up off the floor by her collar, holding her up a little higher than her head so Willow had to look up at her. Willow cocked her head to the side as she studied the woman she held. “You know, you really are a pretty thing.”
Marie’s eyes flared. “Abi!”
The more powerful witch flew back, dropping Marie back to the ground. She moaned in pain from the contact as Willow began to chuckle, pushing herself away from the wall she had crashed into and wiping away the blood that trickled down from the side of her mouth. “Oh, looks like puppy wants to play.”
Marie scrambled for the still opened door in hopes of fleeing, but the plywood slammed shut in her face.
“Uh huh,” Willow said. “Puppy needs to know who her mistress is.”
The red head shot her attention to the mirror above the dresser, shattering it with a thought. But the broken pieces didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, the larger ones flew across the room at the black-haired girl standing at the door. She did her best to dodge them, but one very large piece cut straight through the palm of her hand, nailing it to the wall.
Marie yelped in pain as several other shards cut her, but she mainly concentrated on the one that held her in place. Her other trembling hand reached up to try and pull it out of the wall, but just touching the bloody reflecting glass sent pain through her. She was crying softly to herself when she heard the other woman walking towards her.
Willow bent down and picked up a long sliver of the mirror, playing with its sharp edges with the tip of her finger. Slowly, she lifted her now black eyes up to the young gypsy, an insane little smile playing on her lips.
“Now, puppy, let’s play.”
**********
Okay, it’s kinda short like the last chapter, sorry. The next chapter is longer, promise. And, once again, please review. I love hearing from you guys and knowing what you think.