Title: Weathered

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Starts at the end of “Into the Woods”. No, Riley doesn’t stay, but it does have the Watchers Council, an evil scientist, a globe trotting couple, and one really angry hell god.

Spoilers: A little of “Into the Woods”, but that’s about it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; Joss, UPN, and the WB own everything. Please don’t sue me.

AN: This is the first part of a series because the story is so long, so bare with me here. And this is also a challenge respondents issued by Jinxanna. Let me know what you think of it.

******

She walked slowly back down the path that lead into town, the events of the night playing over and over in her mind. If she had just been a minute-a minute!-sooner, she would be coming home with Riley. Chances are they would be fighting about him almost leaving her, but at least he would be here, with her.

How could he leave her like that? When her world was crumbling around her, he decided now is the best time to end their relationship? How could he do this? How could he lay this at her doorstep? How could he make her feel so...alone?

The cool winter wind blew down on her, making her pull her jacket even tighter around her little body.

She was alone and would always be alone no matter what she did. Slayers were destine to be alone. Her father left her alone, Angel left her alone, Parker left her alone, and now Riley left her alone. They all left her, so why even try for another time?

A scream interrupted Buffy’s thought. Her body jerked around quickly at the sound, and, before she knew it, she was running to help. This is just what she needed. There was nothing like a good, old fashion slaying to get the anger out.

She came upon a demon that was now towering over a middle age woman that lay on the ground. The dark green monster sounded as if he were chuckling to himself as he started to go after the woman in the power suit.

Buffy charged forward, wrapped her arms around the creatures waist, and through him to the side. The thing rolled across the ground, then leapt to its feet to face her. The creature began to sniff the air, and Buffy saw that it didn’t have any eyes. That just made thing all the more easy.

When it caught her sent, it reared back, and showed its teeth like a dog.

“Slayer,” it hissed.

“Slayee,” she answered with one of her better, old lines.

Buffy watched as the creature stalked around her, ready to pounce at any moment. Yeah, that’s just what she wanted. The creature finally stopped, turned towards her, and...

She jumped in shock as she felt something pierce through the skin in her neck. It wasn’t a bite, she could tell that, but it felt as if someone had taken a pin and jammed into her. She jerked away quickly, but the damage had already been done. Instinctively, she placed her hand over the wound and turned to see what had caused it.

The power suit woman stood there holding a needle. An evil smile was on her face as she studied the shocked Slayer.

“Very good, Jonah,” she called to the demon that had snuck away in the dark.

Buffys’ eyes narrowed in on the woman. They had set her up and she had walked right into it. Oh, they picked the wrong night to mess with her.

The tiny blonde took a step towards her, but suddenly felt very dizzy. She put her hand up to her head to try and steady herself, but it had completely engulfed her now. Her whole body wobbled for a moment before she felt herself hit the ground and then darkness.

*****

The place was hot, smelly, and made Willy’s look like club paradise. Yet this was where he found himself, playing pool for money, buying drinks, and doing his best to keep a low profile. In his short time that he helped the Slayer, he had made quiet a reputation for himself, and not a particularly good one among his fellow demons. Not that he really cared about his fellow demons thoughts or options on him. Not with everything else that was going on.

The Starkin demon he was playing grumbled as he took a sip of his beer and lined up the shot in his head. This was the money shot. The one that determined who got the five hundred dollars that sat on the table’s edge. He knew the demon would try and mess up his shot, or at least one of his little buddies that sat off to the side would, but they just didn’t realize what kind of trouble they’d be asking for if they tried something. After the crap he went through with the Slayer, they would be a piece of cake.

“Eight ball, corner pocket,” he called as he bent down and hit the little white ball against the black. It rolled slowly across the table and fell into the hole.

Spike sat up with a satisfied smile on his face as he looked over at the demon, grabbed the money off the side, and said, “Nice doin’ business with you, mate.”

“You cheated,” he demanded as the bleach blond started to walk away. “Don’t know how, but I know you did.”

“Now, then, just because you suck at this game doesn’t mean you can go around accusin’ me of cheatin’,” Spike said over his shoulder. “It’s not polite.”

He could smell the demon coming up behind him. The dumb creature was going try and catch him off guard and take the money. Well, he’d just see about that.

Spike took the pool stick that was still in his hand, and jammed the brunt end into the creatures’ stomach as his friends came in to attack. When he doubled over, the vampire took the stick and used as a sort of bat, smashing it against his two friends’ heads before it actually broke. When he had a sharp end, he took the demon he had played and slammed his face against the pool table. His little friends stopped their advance as they saw him reading to kill him.

“That’s enough!” a woman said from the bar.

Kate, the bartender, was a middle age woman who reminded Spike a lot of Joyce. She had a set on her, more then most guys he had meet over the years, and she was proving it now when she had a shot gun pointed at them. Even though she knew it wouldn’t kill Spike, it would just hurt like hell, and it could do some major damage to the demon trio that was attacking him. In fact, he was pretty sure that it could kill them.

“If you want to kill each other, that’s fine. But you do it outside.”

One of the friends began to laugh as he looked at the graying woman and her weapon.

“Don’t worry guys. Bar tenders always threaten, but they never do anything about it.”

Spike’s eyes widen as he hit the deck. He had been around Kate long enough to know she wasn’t the bluffing type.

The woman cocked the gun, pointed it at the friend who had said it, and fired. He had a surprised look on his face as the bullet spread, but was mainly focused in on his on his stomach. A few of the shrapnel caught his friends, but the vampire had managed to avoid it. The body fell to the ground as she took aim at the other two.

“Still think I’m bluffing?”

The two remaining demons held up their hands as they slowly backed to the door and left. When it shut with a loud thud, Kate lowered the gun and turned to Spike.

“Keep making trouble and I’ll have to use this on you.”

“Don’t worry, love. I was only tryin’ to protect what’s mine.”

“Yeah, well, since you were fightin’ ‘em, you can drag the body out back.”

Spike smiled at her as she went back to wiping down the counter, and making sure no one else in the bar was making any sort of trouble.

The metal back door slammed shut as he drug the body into the alley. The bar was in the dock district, which was good for getting rid of bodies. All he had to do was roll him off the edge of concert slab and out into the ocean, and he could go back to what he was doing. With as heavy as this guy was, he wouldn’t even have to weigh down the body. It would sink on its own.

The body splashed when it hit the water, and Spike stood there for just a moment to make sure that it disappeared into the murky depths. When the mans bright green shirt disappeared, he smiled to himself and headed back to the bar.

He found another man standing under the yellow light at the back door. He straiten up as soon as the vampire approached. Great, must be another one of he demons friends looking for a little pay back. Don’t these guys ever give up?

“Are you Spike? Also known as William the Bloody?” the man asked in a very proper tone that Spike almost thought that it was the Watcher standing there.

“Sometimes,” he answered coolly as he crossed his arms. “Who’s askin’?”

The man never took his eyes off the peroxide blond. He simply raised his hand and, with two fingers, gestured towards him.

Spike heard the gun just about the dart hit him. He growled in pain for a moment, before turning to see who did it, only to find darkness. His yellow eyes turned back to the man who had ordered the shot, but the man didn’t move. He was unafraid of the vampire, which fell into darkness before he even really knew what happened.

*****

Joyce pulled her robe tightly around herself as she headed to the door. Whoever was calling this early in the morning would just have to settle for a woman wearing no make up, messed up hair, and a bath robe. She hated to be seen like this, but it was more then obvious that this person wasn’t going to give up that easily.

“Who is it, Mom?” Dawn asked from the top of the stairs. She was rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands and that was soon followed by a deep yawn.

“I don’t know, Honey,” she answered as she reached the door.

When Joyce opened it, the cold, wet morning air hit her hard, and almost took her breath away. The sun that was peeking over the neighbors’ house and blinded her for a moment, but then her eyes adjusted to see the shadow in front of her change to a large man. A large police officer.

Joyce rolled her eyes. Considering that Dawn was standing right behind her, it must be Buffy and her slaying has gotten her in trouble again.

“What happened now?” she asked in an unconcerned voice as she looked at the officer.

His face remained even as he said, “Are you Mrs. Joyce Summers? The mother of Buffy Anne Summers?”

“Yes,” she answered, still rather unconcerned.

The man drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Mrs. Summers, there was a fight last night involving your daughter and an unknown second party at Oceanview Cliff. The details are still pretty sketchy, but witnesses said that your daughter and the second party were engaged in a pretty violent physical fight. They say that the second party kicked you daughter pretty hard, and that she stumbled to far back.”

Joyce felt her face starting to drain of color. No. He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Summers,” he said lowly as he held up a torn, wet brown jacket.

She took the jacket from him and held it for a moment. It was the one that she had given Buffy on her last birthday. For a moment, she thought it might not be hers, maybe it belonged to someone else that just looked like Buffy, but the tag said other wise. Written in big red letters in marker were the letters B.A.S.

*****

She wasn’t sure how long she had been there, a month, maybe two, but she was sure that she had to get out of there soon. The way they were studying her - her strength, her endurance, her intelligence, and all of her personal and private habits - she knew they were preparing to do something to her, something bad, and she had no intentions of becoming someone weird science project.

They drugged her whenever they handled her. First it was in her food, a fact that she caught onto quickly. She stopped eating for about a week and was so weak by the end that she couldn’t fight them off when they took her to the infirmary. They were smart and kept her strapped down to the bed as they force feed her drugged food.

That had actually been the first time she had gotten to see any of the compound besides her room. The place was built like a hospital, with corridors that all blended together and nurses - or guard- stations on every corner.

In her hospital room, there was a large window that they usually kept shut. Buffy only got to look out once when her nurse opened it for a moment to see something. The compound was in the middle of a heavily wooded area and off in the distance was a beach. Good. Then maybe she wasn’t to far from home.

She stayed in the hospital room for nearly two weeks. Thanks to the window, she was able to count the days. However, she didn’t know how long she was out, so it could have been a couple more days then that.

The little blonde was actually well by the end of the first week, but they took the opportunity to study her biology while she was there. Buffy had never been fond of doctors or hospitals before, and, when they were finished, she really hated them.

Once they were finished, they took her back to her regular room where she had remained since. There was nothing really wrong with it, besides the fact that it was actually a cell. It was about a twelve by ten, with a double bed, a closet filled with clothes, and her own bathroom. The bathroom was well stocked, with her favorite shampoos, body soaps, and toothpaste, and there were always new bottles at the end of ever so many days. That was how she kept track of time here.

After the hospital, she had not seen a soul. She knew there were there. After all, someone was leaving her a tray of food every day, refurnishing her bathroom, and washing her clothes. The thing was, they would do this only after they drugged her and made sure that she was out.

She knew what they were trying to do, to break her in isolation, but it wasn’t going to work. It would take a whole lot more then this to make her crack.

They’ve now given her a goal to work for. Kicking all there asses whenever she got out of there, and she would. She always did.

*****

He laid flat on his back, staring up at the light that was built into the ceiling. Two bleeding months had gone by and he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the people who were keeping him. They were watching him, he knew that. And they feed him everyday, but he had no idea what they wanted.

At first he was hesitant about drinking the blood that they dropped from him, but he got so hungry that he didn’t care if they experimented on him at one point. When they didn’t drug him, he had eaten the blood on a regular basis, though he hated been ‘feed’. Made him feel like some sort of blasted animal.

“I must be in hell,” he thought aloud.

His voice had been the only one he had heard in all his time there. When he woke up in the tiny white room, he thought that maybe Solider Boy and his friends started up their experiments again, so he called to the person who should be in the next cell, only to find it empty. Thus, after calling for a long while, he found himself completely alone with no one to talk to or bother but himself.

What he wouldn’t give to have someone to fight with. Hey, at this point, he’d even take the Whelp, but he really wanted the Slayer, his slayer.

When he wasn’t dreaming about ripping the wankers who kept him here throats out, he was dreaming about her. The way her hair smelled, the way she moved when she was beating the crap out of him, even the taste of her kiss that he remembered from when Red had put that spell on them. If he had only known how much he would crave that taste later on, he wouldn’t have been so quick to push her away when he had her.

Yeah, she was what he wanted right then. He not only wanted to see her, but he wanted a good dance that only she could give him. True, he couldn’t really fight back, but that night outside the Bronze had proven they could find ways around that. It might not be as good as a real fight to the death, but it was still better then half the battles he had been a part of during the past couple of months.

A blaring signal went off over head as a small hole opened in the ceiling and bag of blood dropped to the floor beside him. What? Did the wankers just steal the idea from Solider Boy and his friends? They could have at least tried to be a little original.

Spike reached over and grabbed the bag off the floor. He looked at it for a moment, then sighed.

“Could at least give a bloke a mug or something,” he called up to the ceiling.

In response, the hole that had dropped it slammed its door firmly shut.

“Figures,” he said to himself before he tore into the bag and drank it greedily.

*****

The woman looked down into the micro scope, adjusting the lens to get a better view of the blood test before her. The person that the blood came from had given them a chance to do something that they never dreamed possible, but now it was looking more and more likely. And then there was that prophecy they had found. It was exciting to think that maybe they would have something to do with saving the world.

She reached over and jotted something on the paper beside the scope, giving the pretense that she was actually working, before she looked up at the clock on the wall. Not much longer now, that is, if everything went to plan.

They had done everything they could to make it a controlled environment, but, when it came to dealing with slayers and vampires, nothing was ever to controlled. They kept her so weak for so long, they weren’t sure if they would be able to carry this out or not. But she had gotten better, and her test all came back good and clean.

She was the prefect subject for this. They just had to wait for the prefect time to carry it out. Now was that time. They had to wait almost a month after the tests were finished, but the time had finally come. Now she felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to see if Santa had brought them anything good. Only thing was, if this worked, they would still have to wait awhile for the gift to arrive, but it would be worth it.

“Dr. Lang,” a voice called to her.

The middle age Asian woman turned on the black stool to face her co-worker.

“It’s time,” he said evenly.

Lang did her best to hide her excitement, but she felt the tips of her lips curl up ever so slightly. To keep the appearance of total professionalism, she stood up, straitens her white coat, and forced the smile down.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” she told him as she reached over and picked up the clip board that held the paper she had been working on. “I just have to enter this into the computer.”

Didn’t want to seem too eager, she thought.

The man stood there for a moment, then lowered his head a bit before saying, “Yes, Ma’am.”

When he shut the door, Lang turned and looked at the clock one last time, before flipping a few pages on the board and jotting down what the clock said. She held up the pen, clicked the bottom of it, and then placed the board on the table. The good doctor would let one of the underlings put the information in the computer. She couldn’t miss this.

The short woman then headed for the door as she said to herself, “Show time.”

*****

Buffy knew what happened the moment she woke up. That taste in her mouth said it all. They had started to drug her food again.

“Oh, come on, Guys,” she called up with her eyes still closed. “I thought we’ve moved past this.”

“Slayer?” a familiar voice said from nearby.

Buffy’s eyes shot open as she stared strait up at the dark ceiling. No. It couldn’t be.

She sat up in bed and looked out into the darkness of her room. The bathroom door had been left open, and the light was caste across the floor, which caught the figure that lay on the ground. Spike groaned slightly as he forced himself up onto his knees and then reached for his head.

Buffy slid out of her bed and walked over towards her old enemy. At first, she thought it a mere hallucination brought on by the drug. In fact, that was how she was going to treat him as she reached him. He looked up with those deep blue eyes. They looked as if he were trying to decide whether or not she was real either.

Against her better judgment, she held out her hand to him to help him up. She was sure that once they didn’t touch, he would disappear. Then maybe she could have a hallucination about someone she actually liked. He looked at it for a moment and then took it.

Buffy jumped when the cold skin touched hers. He was really there! Spike seemed just as surprise to feel her warm skin against his cold. It was dark, but Buffy would almost swear that he seemed glade to see her.

Instantly, she tried to think of how he must be responsible for all this. Some way, somehow, he had to be part of this. He just had to be.

But then she looked up at this bleached blond hair that he had always been so careful to keep completely white. It was now about an inch longer, and his dark roots were showing through. Unless he started to go for a new look, he wasn’t in on this, a part of her was telling her. Not that she was really listening to it.

“What are you doing here?” she bit at him.

“Baking a bloody cake, Slayer,” he said sarcastically.

She glared at him. Now really wasn’t the time for that.

“Haven’t the foggiest,” he told her in an honest tone. “I just woke up and found myself here. You?”

“Same,” she sighed. “Course, that was about two months ago.”

“Two months?” he said surprised. “I can see them not lookin’ for me, but the Scoobies leavin’ you here for that long...Hard to believe that.”

“What? You’ve been here that long too?”

“Yeah,” he said going and leaning against the wall. “Course, my room isn’t near as nice as yours. Ain’t that always the way.”

“Well, if you want it, you can have it. Just get me out of here first.”

“Don’t worry so much, Slayer. I’m sure Captain Cardboard has the National Guard out lookin’ for you right now.”

Buffy winced at the nickname.

In her two months there, she had a lot of time to think, especially considering the lack of other options. Her and Riley’s relationship had occupied many of them. Now that she thought about, Xander had been right. She did treat him as the transition guy, but, maybe, that was because that was just what he was.

It didn’t mean that she did love him, she did in her own way, but he wasn’t the long haul guy. After all, he had left her right when she really needed him because she didn’t love him the way that he wanted. Whether she liked to think of it or not, if he left because of something like that instead of working it out like a normal couple, he would have left her eventually anyway. At least she wasn’t in to deep when he did.

“Or maybe the Slayerettes,” Spike continued after she remained silent about her old boyfriend.

He was either ignoring her reaction to his mention of Riley, or had just decided to play cool about it. One could never tell when it came to the annoying, not-as-evil-as-he-use-to-be, handsome vampire.

Handsome?! Since when has Spike ever been anything more then repulsive at best?! Ugh, Buffy. You’ve been locked up in this room way, way, way to long.

“You’re awful quiet over there, love,” he said when she still remained silent. “What? Wonderin’ if Major Mistake is lettin’ some girlie girl suck on him?”

She knew he meant about Riley letting female vampires suck his blood, but everything Spike said always seemed to have some sort of sexual undertone to it. This was just a little bit closer to the surface then most.

“Yeah, I bet that’s what it is,” he went on. “We’re bein’ held her against our bloody will, and she’s worried about her sex toy.”

“He’s not my sex toy,” she bit at him coldly.

“What? Tired of him already?”

“You know, you’re lucky I don’t have a stake,” she told him.

Spike pushed away from the wall and walked towards her.

“Why? You don’t have the stones to do anythin’.”

Her eyes narrowed in on him.

“You know what. I don’t need a stake,” she said before she slugged him.

*****

Chen sat at the desk, watching the monitor that was being feed an image from the Slayers room. Lang was standing behind the man, studying the interaction between the two mortal enemies.

They had done nothing it seemed but fight since they woke up. Not exactly what she had planed. In fact, it wasn’t even close.

Now the vampire had now antagonized her enough to make her hit him.

“Should we gas them before they hurt each other?” Chen asked as he turned to the woman in charge.

She watched them for a moment. The way they fought, it was almost like watching someone dance across the stage. They moved with each other, knowing the others intentions before the person even realized it. She had studied vampire/slayer relationship for years, and gotten to see more then four different slayers in battle. Never, in all that time, did she ever see one like this.

“No,” she told him. “Let them continue.”

He gave her a worried look and then turned back to the monitors.

*****

Buffy rolled across the floor and jumped to her feet as he came back after her. She kicked up at his head, but he dodged. She came with a round house, which knocked him to the side with her.

“Come on, Slayer,” he said as they straiten back up. “I know you can do better then that.”

He causally through three punches at her head like he had outside of the Bronze that night she asked him about the other slayers, and she dodged them just as easily.

“Oh, I intend to,” she said as she swung at his head. He dropped to the ground, and then tried to kick her feet out from under her. She jumped in the air to avoid it. “It’s my job to beat the crap out of you after all.”

She caught his punch before it hit her and through him over her shoulder like she had learned in high school. Looking down at him, she said, “Not that you would know what having a job is like.”

He made a face as he kicked his legs up and leapt to his feet. “I have a job,” he said as they started their fight again.

She laughed as she through a punch at him. “Hustling at that run down bar on ninth isn’t my idea of a job. Didn’t think I knew about that, did you?”

“Do you really think I care? Besides, a bloke’s got to pay for his blood somehow,” he said as he caught her fist in his hand. “Might as well be from the winnin’s at a pool table.”

She through another punch with her free hand, and he caught that one as well. He stepped to her to where their bodies were pressed against one another, and he had both her arms locked behind her back. She tried to break free, but the way he held her she couldn’t.

“Speaking of winnin’,” he said with an evil smile. “How are you goin’ to do it now, pet?”

She looked at him for a moment, going over every move that Giles had ever taught her. Only problem was, she was coming up empty, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to lose. So she did the only thing she could think of. She crushed her lips against his, and began to kiss him deeply. It had surprised him alright, not to mention herself.

Why had she chosen this as her means to win? What even made her think that this was something she could use?! Why was she still kissing him?

She only pulled away when she needed air, and the two looked at each other in complete shock. This was disgusting, wrong, evil, did she mention disgusting? Then why couldn’t she fight the urge to kiss him again? And why was he kissing her back?

When he let go of her arms, she placed her free hands around the back of his neck as if she were forcing him to hold the kiss. Then she jumped up and wrapped her leg around him. He responded to by placing one arm under her to hold her up, and the other around her back to keep her from falling away from him.

She felt him move forward a little, and then she fell backwards onto the bed. He was the one to break the kiss this time, and he just looked at her for a moment. Those deep blue eyes seemed to be searching for something, though she wasn’t quiet sure just what. She just smiled for a moment before she pressed her lips against his again.

She had been alone in the room for way to long, she told her. Way, way, way to long.

*****

Chen sat at the desk watching the monitors closely. Man, he had the absolute best job in the world. Where else could you watch something like this and it be considered a scientific experiment?

“It’s not scrambled porn, Chen,” Lang said from behind him. “So stop watching it as if it were. You’ll give yourself a nosebleed if you don’t.”

After he had started to make her scream, Lang had ordered the volume turned off, much to Chen’s displeasure. The last thing she needed around here was for the others doctors involve to think that she was doing just what she accused Chen of doing. This was scientific, and she would gladly argue with anyone who disagreed.

“I guess they weren’t kidding whenever they told us that that potion would increase their libido activity,” she said more to herself then to him.

“You mean make them into a pair of lust bunnies?” Chen said flatly.

He always did have a way of putting things in the crudest terms.

“Yes. I guess you can put it that way. All thought, when the boss calls, I wouldn’t say that to him.”

“Not like I talk to the man anyway,” he said going back to watch the monitors.

Chen’s eyes widen for a moment as he watched the events a little longer, then turned back to the doctor.

“You know, she’ll kill him once the spell or whatever wears off.”

“That’s why he won’t be there when it does,” Lang told him calmly. “The spell has another good two hours before it’ll be over with, so we’ll give them another hour and a half, then gas them. By the time they wake up, it’ll be over and done with.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” he asked. “I mean, just this one night?”

“One time is all it takes,” she told him. “We’ve studied her; know what we needed to know. Besides, if at first you don’t succeed...”

“Dr. Lang,” a new doctor called from the doorway. “Call for you. I think it’s the main office.”

“I’ll take it in my office,” she told him heading for the door. She stopped and then said over her shoulder, “And, Chen. Stop drooling.”

He made a mocking face at her as she left, then turned back tot he monitors.

Man, he loved his job.

*****

Joyce reached into her daughters’ closet and pulled out another one of her blouses. She held it for a long moment, just looking at it.

A few months ago, she would have seen Buffy prancing around in it, and she would silently sigh inwardly about how awful she actually thought it looked. It was part of the mother code, to think that their daughters close are hideous. But now, what she wouldn’t give to see her daughter in it.

She brought the shirt up to her face and took a deep breath. It still smelled like her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost see her.

Joyce began to sob to herself when she thought of her beautiful daughter. So young, so full of life. She wasn’t supposed to die now.

“Mom,” Dawn said in a small voice from the doorway.

She looked up at her youngest daughter, quickly wiping away the tears. Dawn looked nothing like her other daughter. In fact, she favored her ex-husbands mother more then anybody, a woman who had died years before Dawn was even born.

But she hadn’t been born, she had been created. This was a fact that the girl was still oblivious to, and Joyce planned to keep it that way. Only she, Rupert, and Buffy had known, and none of them would tell, ever.

But just because Buffy was gone, didn’t mean that this Glory woman had stopped looking. In the past couple of months, she had become even more determined to find her daughter. That was what brought her up there that afternoon.

“Mom, why are you packing Buffy’s things?”

Joyce gave her daughter a weary smile.

“Sit down, Dawn,” she said patting her hand against the patch of carpet next to her.

The fourteen-year-old walked over to where her mother sat and plopped down next to her.

“You’ve noticed how things around here haven’t gotten worse since Buffy...left, right? Well, I’ve decided that it’s just to bad right now. So, we are heading to Aunt Julies for awhile.”

“Aunt Julies?! You mean all the way up in Seattle?!” the girl exclaimed. “For how long? Are we moving there?”

“No, we’re not moving,” she smiled faintly. “We just need to get away for awhile. Let things cool off around here. We’ll be back, I promise.”

Dawn leaned her head against her mothers shoulder.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re packing some of Buffy’s things.”

“Because, honey,” she said weakly. “I need to take a little something of her with us.”

*****

She could feel him, his cool skin against her hot, touching her, loving her. Her logical side was screaming at her, demanding that she stop the action right at that moment, but she was far past the point of caring. She was just giving in to what she wanted. Living in the moment, as Parker once told her. Regrets and horror was sure to follow when logic took over again, but right now it meant nothing. All that matter right then, was them.

Buffy woke up from the memory with a quick jerk of breath.

She had been right; logic did take back over the next morning, when she found herself alone in bed. At first, she had tried to convince herself that she had simply dreamed the whole thing, that her mind had played a trick on her into thinking that somebody was there. But she could smell him on her. No matter how many showers she took, she didn’t seem to be able to wash the sent away.

Furious didn’t come close to what she felt when she became good old Buffy again. She was beyond angry with him for taking advantage of her like that, for giving in and doing that with her. But what she should have expected from a soulless demon whose purpose seems to be to make her life miserable.

The real person she was angry at was herself. She had aloud it to happen. In fact, she had been the one to instigate the whole action. And then, she didn’t exactly fight any when it was going on. Well, not the right kind of fighting anyway.

To vent her anger, she had taken the mattress off that accursed bed, set it up against one of the walls, and proceeded to knock the snot out of it. She did this every day and it did seem to help. So she went on to finding other work outs that she could do while trapped there. She would run back and forth from one side of her cell to the other, do what little gymnastics she could in the limited space, and also shadow fight. All this helped with her anger, not to mention kept her in shape for whenever she got a hold of these people or Spike.

A while after that night happened, she was darting from one end of the room to the other, and began to think about home.

Did they have any idea what happened to her? Were they looking for her? Were Giles and her Mom able to keep Glory from finding out about Dawn? Was her Mom getting any better?

The questions were wreaking havoc with her mind and she suddenly felt dizzy. These guys hadn’t drugged her because she hadn’t eaten yet that day, and that always made her feel sleepy anyway. Buffy reached out to steady herself on the wall, but the world would stop spinning. The next thing she knew, the floor was rushing up at her before blackness took her.

That was when she woke up here, back in the hospital room. At the time, she had surprised them as they were trying to do something to her. Though they had her strapped down, she was still almost able to set herself free. While seven of them held her down, a nurse came in and gave her something to calm her down. It didn’t take her long before she was out again.

Now she was alone in the room. The first thing she tried when she regained consciousness was to pull on her arms, only to find herself still strapped to the bed. Normally, she would have been able to break them with no problem, but the drugs were still making her feel rather groggy. So, the slayer just laid back and looked out the window that they had left opened this time.

It was a bright blue day outside without a cloud in sight. Off in the distance, the clear ocean water was pounding against the white sandy beach, as wind blew across the top of the trees. Now that she was actually looking, Buffy realized that it wasn’t a forest at all, but a jungle. She recognized the canopy top from pitchers she had seen in her high school geography book.

Sitting up slightly in bed, she said to herself, “Where am I?”

“In the South Seas,” a woman answered from the doorway.

Buffy jerked her head over to find a middle age Asian woman standing there. She was holding a clip board, as she crossed over and stood beside the window.

“About fifty miles off the coast of China, give or take a mile or two,” she went on before turning and looking at Buffy. “My name is Lang, by the way.”

“You name is dead meat when I get a hold of you,” she bit back at her, still pulling on the straps.

Lang gave her a faint smile.

“What are you planning, Ms Summers? To break free and escape?”

“Thought occurred to me, yeah.”

“And where would you go? We’re on an island, remember. An island that we control through and through. There is no where for you to run, no where to hide, and no way off without our knowing,” she said calmly. “Now I’ve come here to offer you a choice. We can either continue on with our current arrangement, which I think is not very healthy for you, or you decided to corporate with us and we make life very good for you.”

“And why would I want to corporate with the people who kidnapped me, leave me alone for months, put Spike in my room only to take him away before I could stake his sorry ass, and drug me whenever they feel like it? Seems the last thing I would want to do would be to get along with you people.”

Lang let out a breath and looked down at the clip board in her hand.

“If I were you, Ms Summers, I would seriously consider my offer.”

“And why is that?”

Lang walked over and sat down on the bed. Man, this really was a brave woman!

“Because, Buffy,” she said gently. “You’re pregnant.”

*****

Quinton Travers sat at his desk as Giles entered the man’s office.

He couldn’t remember the last time he was here, maybe it was when they told him he was getting his own slayer, but the place hadn’t changed a bit. It was still dark, with dark wood paneling; bookshelves covered with leather bound first additions, and evil looking little statues that were used as stoppers on either end of the line of books.

Travers seemed to be rather involved with whatever he was doing, and only looked up at Giles after the man got up and fixed him a drink. He never was one to like to share his liquor, and the middle age man knew it would get his attention. Travers quickly finished what he was doing as Giles took his seat again.

“Well, Mr. Giles, what can I do for you?”

“I’ve come to find out why a new slayer hasn’t been called since-” his voice became soft as he thought of a good word that wouldn’t hurt so bad to say, “the incident. It’s been over six months, and things on the Hellmouth have gotten worse.”

“I’ve had my people look into that,” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “Apparently, Ms. Summers successor was called with Kendra, which in turn means that a new Chosen One will not be called for her second death. I’m afraid the only slayer now is Ms. Faith, and will be until her death.”

“And she’s in jail,” Giles added more for himself then Travers.

“A very unfortunate situation that we are now trying to fix.”

Giles frowned at the tone. Their definition of ‘fixing’ the situation probably meant that poor Faith would end up dead.

“Don’t look so worried, Rupert,” Travers said with a slight laugh. “Ms. Faith will be fine. I have my men working with the California courts to try and overturn her conviction and set her free.”

“Oh, so she only winds up dead if the courts say that she has to stay,” he added dryly.

“None of that, Mr. Giles,” Quinton warned. “You have to have little faith in us. You use to before.”

“That was a long time ago,” he answered as he stood. He placed the glass still filled with the brown liquid on the desk “Very long ago.”

“Mr. Travers,” a voice called over the intercom. “There’s call for you on line two.”

“Thank you, Lindsey,” he said before turning back to Giles. “If there is nothing more, Rupert.”

“No, there’s not,” Giles said as he took his coat off the rack, headed for the door, and wondered why he had come there in the first place.

*****

***********

She didn’t like Lang. Then, she didn’t like anyone here, but especially Lang. The woman looked at her as if she were caring the Second Coming, and there was no telling what she had plan for the baby once it was born. That scared her more then anything.

A cool breeze blew off the ocean as Buffy sat on the ground. Her feet were dug down deep in the sand, as she looked up and down the beach. She was trying to see if there was any possible way she could get out of there, but, thus far, Lang had been right. No one got on or off the island without there knowledge. Even if she did get out of there, she wouldn’t have any idea where she was going.

Buffy looked down at her stomach. She was barely starting to show, but she looked fat in the bathing suit. Gently, she placed her hand over the small bulge that had started to form and sighed. She had to get off.

“Ms. Summers,” a man called from down the beach.

Buffy turned to see the other doctor, Chen, standing there with his hand shading his squinting eyes. He was a good bit younger than Lang, maybe only a couple of years older than Buffy herself. The little blonde couldn’t help but wonder how he got mixed up in all this.

“What is it, Chen?” she asked as she squinted up at his form.

“Dr. Lang was just wondering how much longer you were planning on staying out here,” he told her.

“Not much longer,” she said turning her attention back to the ocean.

“Well, when you’re ready, she’d like to see you in her office,” Chen said as started back towards the main compound. Buffy managed to push herself up off the sand, and headed after the young man.

Lang had kept her word about making her life more comfortable if she corporate. She had nearly complete access to whole island, the doctors tried to be nice when they spoke to her, and they had even moved her to a apartment type cell.

They said it wasn’t a cell, just her room, but when one is unable to leave on their own free will, it’s a cell, no matter what they call it.

It took a moment for Buffy’s eyes to readjust to the artificial light in the main building. Her skin suddenly felt hot when the air conditioning hit her, and she finally noticed how red it looked. Lang was going to have a cow that she got sunburned, but it would be gone by tomorrow. Besides, she doubted that it would hurt the baby in any way.

Buffy reached the last office in this hall and hesitated for a moment. It was her office. The office she had spent way too much time in the past few months. The office she always seemed to find herself standing right outside of.

Lang had left the door slightly ajar that day, and Buffy could hear speaking on the phone to someone. The Slayer leaned up against the wall, and began to ease drop just like she use to do when her mother was on the phone with someone and didn’t want her to know it.

“She seems to be doing rather well, Sir,” Lang said confidently. “It’s almost been a full two weeks since her last escape attempt.”

I wouldn’t exactly call me looking for a boat at the dock an escape attempt, she thought to herself. Not with fifty guards watching me, at least.

“What do you mean?....No, she hasn’t tried to hurt the child, as I suspected....No, you said you didn’t know if she would try something or not. I am the one that stated that she would care for the child and be protective of it. If it were up to you and the others, I would still have her strapped down to a bed somewhere, completely drugged out of her mind. It’s healthier this way. For both of them....True, you might know her past, but I know her personality. She wouldn’t dream of hurting her baby, no matter who the father is.”

Unconsciously, Buffy reached down and placed her hand over her stomach. If Lang wanted to see protective, just let her try and do something to her baby.

“What about him?....Yes, Sir, we are still treating him as a hostile....I understand....No. To be completely honest, if it were at all possible, I wouldn’t have told her,” she laughed. “It’s just going to be harder to take the child from her when it’s time.”

What?! If she thought she was laying a hand on her child-!

“Yes, Sir....I understand. Goodbye,” she said hanging the phone up.

Buffy jumped to her feet and started to walk away. She couldn’t stand to look at the woman right at that moment, let alone speak with her. Plus she had to figure a way off this rock and soon. Sure, it was a top priority to begin with, but now she understood that she had to do it right now before they tried anything.

Then there was the fact that soon she wouldn’t be able to travel that well, and she needed to get as far away from them before that happened. But in order to do that, she would need help. Help she didn’t really want, but desperately needed. Help that could only come from one person, the only other person she did not want to see more than Lang herself. She was going to need Spike’s help.

*****

Lang let out a sigh after she hung up the phone on her boss. Though he was a very proper man, he gave her the creeps. Something about him just made her feel uneasy, like he would do anything to get what he wanted. She would just have to remember to stay on his good side.

The woman reached down and typed a command into her computer. Her schedule for the day came up, and she frowned as she read over it. That was just wonderful.

She left her office and headed down the hall to the lab that her partner was working in. Chen looked up at her for a moment, then went back to typing something on his computer.

“I need you to do something for me,” she told him.

“Don’t you always?” he asked.

“I was supposed to examine the vampire tonight, but my assistant double booked me and I am expected at a board meeting on the main land. Could you please take my appointment?”

“With the vampire or the other blood suckers?”

Lang rolled her eyes. Why did she even bother sometimes?

“The vampire, Chen. Because, in case you haven’t noticed, you don’t have the best people skills out there. If I let you go to the board meeting, you probably have all of our jobs by morning, then where would we be?”

“I don’t know,” he said as he finally stopped what he was doing. “I mean, at least you don’t have to worry about the board members attacking you.”

“He’ll be unconscious, Chen. And it’ll only take a moment to make sure he hasn’t injured himself or any such thing.”

The young man thought it over, then smiled at her.

“Do I get paid extra for this? It being your job and all.”

Lang drew in a breath to try and keep her anger down. His job was to be her underling, and all he did was aggravate her.

“No. Just do it because I said.”

“Not good enough,” he answered as he leaned back in his chair. Then an idea struck him. “Tell you what. I’ll do this if you let me get a copy of the tape.”

“Tape?” she asked before understanding what he meant. It was vile, disgusting, unprofessional, and, most of all, do able. “Deal.”

Chen smiled to himself as he leaned forward and placed his hands back on the keyboard.

“Nice doing business with you, doc.”

“Just keep it to yourself,” she warned. “And, if anyone asks how you got it, I will deny all knowledge and let you deal with the mess.”

“Fine by me. See you later, Lang.”

The woman turned and walked out of the office.

“Troll,” she muttered to herself before heading back to her office to wait for Ms Summers.

*****

The car speed along the dark, deserted high way, the little red body cut through the night in a blur, as the automobiles three occupants kept checking over their shoulders.

“Faster, Xander!” Anya cried.

“I’m going as fast as we can, Ahn!” he yelled back.

The young mans eyes checked the speedometer for the millionth time, and it read the same, 114 mph. That was the top speed of Giles little red convertible, but he wished it was more. Like worp speed faster.

Willow sat in the passenger seat, flipping through the pages of the old book she had found at Giles apartment. They didn’t have much time left, and he hoped that his oldest friend would find whatever spell it was she was looking for. She would! She had to.

“I found it!” she exclaimed happily as if she were reading his thoughts.

“Great, Will. Now we just have to get Giles back here and-”

“Xander! Look out!!” Anya screamed from the backseat.

Xander turned his attention back to the high way just in time to see the headlights catch a woman who was standing directly in front of them. His eyes widen as he griped the stirring wheel.

“OH-” he didn’t even finish the swear when the two objects collided.

Anya and Willow were both screaming as the car went into a spin. He could feel it lifting up, but he couldn’t let the car flip. If it did, they would all be killed. His mind raced as he remembered what his drivers ed teacher said about turning into a spin. He did just that as he prayed that they would stop. An eternity later, it did.

The car had stopped to where they were facing the way they had just came. Though the front of the car was bent in from the collision, and one of the headlights were out, he could see the body of the woman lying in the road face down.

Oh, God, had he killed someone?

“Are you guys alright?” Willow asked as she looked from friend to friend.

“I think so,” Anya said from the back seat. “But I don’t think we should let Xander drive anymore.”

At seeing his face, Willow looked out the window. She put her hand up over her mouth, and then laid it gently on his shoulder.

“Xander,” she said in a low weak voice.

“It’s okay, Will,” he lied.

He’d have to feel guilty about this later, right now they had to get away. Xander pressed down the accelerator, only to have the car groan at him.

“Oh, no,” he said to himself as he fiddled with the gear shift. “Don’t do this to me.”

“Xander?” Anya said leaning forward.

“Come on you stupid piece of junk,” he said to the car, ignoring his girlfriend. Still, nothing but a groan.

“Xander,” she said a bit more forcefully.

He continued to try and make the damage convertible move until she grabbed his head and forced him to look up. The woman’s body began to move, and she forced herself up into a standing position. She walked into the light and Xander felt his heart sink.

“That was no very nice,” Glory said crossing her arms. “Now you’ve ruined my favorite dress.”

“Out of the car,” he said as the group did just that.

They scrambled in the dark and he could hear her calling, “You know, I just want my key. If you just let me have it, they we can forget everything.”

He glanced back towards the road where she had been standing, only to find it empty. When he looked forward again, she was waiting for them. He slid to a stop just short of her, and she reached out and grabbed him by the shirt. She lifted him off the ground and smiled.

“Or not.”

“Let him go!” Anya screamed as she leapt towards her.

Glory raised her hand and sent the ex demon flying back.

“Anya!” he cried as she slid to a stop.

The woman clutched onto his shirt and pulled the brown hair man close to her face.

“Now, be a good boy and tell me where my key is,” she said to him calmly.

Willow said something that he didn’t understand, but Glory suddenly dropped him and went flying away from him. It only took a moment for the creature to regain her bearings. Now her anger was directed from the boy who had hit her with the car to the witch who had thrown her. The woman got to her feet and started to walk in even steps towards the red head.

“Was I talking to you?!” she demanded.

“From this plan, I cast you back into the dark that you came. For it to hold you forever, and never your power to hurt again,” Willow said as she read from the book.

“What?” Glory said.

“Open, oh door between heave and hell. Take back this angel that fell.”

Xander could feel energy building around him. Little stabs of electricity snapped at his exposed skin, as they became viable in blue lighting bolts.

Willow kept her eyes dead locked on Glory, but he and Anya were watching the firework display that the red head was creating. One of the bolts hit Glory, then another, and another. The woman at first seem to view them as nothing more than a nescient, but, the more they hit her, the more pain they seemed to cause her. She jumped as one course through her, and then turned her attention back to the witch.

“You better stop this, you little...”

Her words trailed off as a blue glow began to surround everything. Slowly, she turned to see what was causing it, and found that the little bolts had started to come together and swirl. Willow was doing it, Xander had no doubt of that, as she held her hand out and concentrated on what she had created.

“Into the dark, I caste you now. Into the shadow world, where no goodness is aloud!”

The wind began to blow hard, covering the group in dirt from the desert around them. Xander put his head down for a moment to try and keep the dust out of his eyes, but he had to see if this works. Squinting, he looked back up at the two women that stood near him.

Whatever power Willow had tapped into seemed to be protecting the girl as she stood as firm as a rock. Glory, however, was fighting as she continued to push away from the portal and towards Willow.

“That’s not my home!” she exclaimed. “I need the key to go home, and I’m not leaving without my key!”

She was a step in front of Willow when she belted out the last part of the spell.

“Leave this realm and all that dwell here. From you, they’ll have nothing to fear!”

Glory’s feet slid a little on the ground, it would just be a manner of time before she would be sucked in.

“Well, if I’m going to the shadow world,” she said with stern face as her arm shot out and grabbed Willow by the wrist. “Then you’re coming with me.”

Glory leapt into the air, and, the power that had been holding Willow, let go.

“WILLOW!!” Xander felt himself scream, but couldn’t hear it from the wind.

The two women flew in the air towards the blue light. The book Willow had used to cast the spell slipped from her hands just as the two bodies were swallowed by the light. A bright flash exploded and blinded Xander for a moment. When he looked again, everything had become still and quiet.

“Willow,” he said lowly as he scrambled to his feet and raced towards where the women had been a moment ago.

The young man eyes raced over the scenery that was now starting to glow with yellow as the morning light began to break over head. There was nothing, but the book. He reached down, picked it up, and just stared at it for a long moment.

Then, he yelled in vain for his lost friend, “Willow!”

*****

around the counter, opened the cash register, and began to count the money inside.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he walked over to her.

“Counting,” she said flipping through the bills. “Money makes it better.”

Xander smiled slightly. That was the closet the woman had come to actually saying that she missed Willow or felt bad for what happened to her.

He watched her for a long while as she counted. He hadn’t known Anya as long as Will or Buffy. In fact, the only reason he had meet her in the first place was because she had come to take vengeance out against him. Many people wouldn’t think this would the basis for a good relationship, and, at first, he had whole heartedly agreed.

What he and Anya were supposed to have was nothing but a physical relationship with no emotional attachments. So why did he feel like if something happened to her, he would absolutely die?

Somewhere along the way, though he didn’t know when or how, he had fallen in love with the ex demon. She was honest, happy, a bit clueless at times, not to mention selfish, but she tried. And he loved her more then anything.

“Marry me,” he heard himself blurt out.

The young woman stopped what she was doing and looked up at the man that was leaning on the counter.

“What?”

For a moment, Xander panicked.

What had made him just say that?! Why would he just say that? After loosing Willow just a few days ago, he’s here asking Anya to marry him? How tacky is that?

“I shouldn’t have asked like this,” he said ducking his head away. “I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Did you mean it? Or do you just happy sex?” she asked ignoring his last statement.

He thought about it for a moment.

Did he really mean it? Did he really want to spend the rest of his life with this woman? Did he want her to have his children? Did he want to fight with her about what college they would go to? Did he want share grandchildren with her? Did he want go bold and fat with her? The question all echoed the same answer.

“Yeah, I meant it,” he said lowly. “I want to marry you.”

A large smile crossed her face.

“Then yes. I will marry you.”

*****

Lang moved through the charred remains of the lab, cursing to herself under her breath. She had given Chen one simple assignment to examine the vampire, and this is what happens. How could he have been so stupid? She was going to kill him when they found him.

The cell-phone at her side rang, and the woman swallowed hard. That would be her boss, and he would be furious at this new development. Slowly, she reached down and answered the little black phone.

“Lang.”

“Dr. Lang,” a man said in a very proper tone. “I just received the most interesting fax that you can perhaps shed some light on.”

The doctor panicked for a moment. She had heard about the things he had done to people who had failed him before.

“Sir-”

“Quiet,” he bit at her. “Now, could you please tell me how you could aloud the two most important prisoners I’ve ever allowed you to have to escape off a supposal inescapable island?”

Lang bit the bottom of her lip.

“I assigned Chen to examine the vampire and-”

“You weren’t with him? Did I not tell you to always be there when dealing with either the Slayer or the vampire?”

“Yes, Sir. I just became to confident I suppose.”

“Go on,” he said evenly.

“He wasn’t out, and was making his own escape attempt when Ms Summers came in and began to help him. They took out two guards, and disappeared with Chen after setting fire to his lab.”

The phone was silent for a moment. Lang could just see him sitting there, deciding what her punishment should be.

“When Dr Chen is found, I want him taken care of, is that understood,” he finally said.

“Yes, Sir.”

“I will send our men out to locate the two missing persons. They shouldn’t have gotten that far. Consider your self fortunate, Dr. But the next time you mess something like this up so bad, the Council will be forced to use more drastic measures.”

“I understand, Sir,” she said once more before she hung up the phone on her boss, Quinton Travers.

*****

***********

She stood outside the train station, casually checking her watch every couple minutes and then resuming her search for the missing half of her party. The station was crowded, and, from somewhere nearby, the smell of cooking noodles was making her sick to her stomach. Okay, so the kid obviously didn’t like Chinese.

The crowd was putting her one edge as well. Chen had made it very clear that Lang and her lackeys wouldn’t give up so easy on finding them, not that she thought they would. After all, they went through all this trouble already. Why give up now just because Mommy and Daddy don’t want to play?

Mommy and Daddy? In a million years, she would have never thought that would be her and....him. How did that happen anyway? Angel had been very clear on the whole ‘no kiddies’ rule. Well, she never was one to follow the rules now was she? Just another barrier broken by dear Buffy Summers.

He had taken the news a lot better then she thought he would. Instead of going over the deep end like she had expected, he had laughed in her face.

“Okay, good one, Slayer,” he said on the verge of tears. “Now who really got you in trouble? It was Captain Cardboard, right?”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed in on him as the anger began to build inside of her.

“Spike, I know this might be a bit advance for you, but let’s do some simple math. I am three months pregnant. We were on the island for six months. Unless you think I’m a candidate for immaculate conception-”

“But, I can’t have kids.”

“That’s what I thought. But tell that to the little sure to be slayerette growing inside of me.”

He looked at her blankly for a moment, the wind from the ocean blowing over the motor boat they had snatched. The information seemed to be slowly sinking into his thick skull. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again, and then closed again. To her, he looked like a fish out of water, gasping for air in their water free environment.

“Well, if I knew getting knock up would shut you up, I should have tried it a long time ago,” she more to herself then to him.

The statement bleed through more of her fears about this then she really wanted it to. She could tell he was reading her, like he always seemed able to do whenever she didn’t want anyone to know what she was thinking or going through. How he managed to look directly past all her barriers, she still did know. Of course, it wouldn’t take a genius to know she was scared out of her mind. Scared of being caught, scared of what they would do to her and her child, scared of actually having the child and having to raise it. Anyway she went, she was terrified.

He sighed as he continued to look at her.

“Don’t worry, Love. We’ll make it through this. We always do.”

That had happened last night right before they arrived on China’s main land. She and Spike didn’t exactly fit in with all the short, dark hair dark eye people, and had decided to lay low in a cheep hotel they had found for the day. When night rolled around again, he had told her to meet him at the train station in the middle of the busy little town, and he would take care of the arrangements. She had been waiting for nearly an hour and was getting antsy.

All day she had been fighting the urge to call her mother or Giles or anyone she knew to tell them she was alright. It was too dangerous; she knew that even before Spike had warned her against it. These guys had caught them in Sunnydale, which meant that they probably would have immediately put tabs on the Scoobies and her family the instant that the news broke that they were gone. They would just have to wait until the heat was off then try to make it home.

She looked down at her watch yet again, and, when she looked up, she found a familiar man standing before her. Buffy jumped before she realized it was just Spike. He was different, though. His once prized shock white hair was cut away to just a dirty blond color. So that was his natural hair color. It was amazingly close to hers, when she didn’t high light it that is.

He smirked when he saw he had scared her, but he didn’t press the matter. Not tonight.

“Here,” he said handing her a black wallet like billfold with a ticket sticking out of it.

She opened and found a phony passport staring back up at her.

“Where’d you get this?”

“Used the good doctors cash and bought these off a guy I know that has been hiddin’ out here in China for the past hundred years. Did a pretty good job on ‘em.”

She studied it for a moment. There were already a couple of stamps on it, making it seem as if she had been a couple of places before here. The color picture was something that was lacking, but it did look like one some DMV reject had taken it.

“Can this guy be trusted?”

Spike shrugged.

“No. That’s why he’s havin’ to hide out. But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him.”

“And why is that?”

He smirked, and she didn’t need any more information. Outwardly, she groaned, inwardly, she rejoiced. No demon means no leaks. No leaks means she could get away a lot easier. She hated that he did it because he did help them, but she would just chalk it up to another dead demon.

“Come on, Love,” he said turning away. “We’re on the nine o’clock.”

******

Li’s life was never exciting. Nothing he ever did or said would ever make into the news, and chances are there would only be a few people to morn his passing if something should happen to him. He worked as a ticket agent for Petes sake, whatever that meant.

He bowed at a pair of school girls who had just purchased a ticket for the train to Hong Kong, and prepared for the next person in line.

“How may I help you, Sir,” he said respectfully.

The large man reached into his black over coat and pulled out a photo. On it was a pretty young blond girl smiling brightly at the photographer.

“Have you seen this woman?” he asked in Chinese, but lacked the accent that of a person who spoke it often.

Li studied it for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Sir. She has not passed through here.”

The man frowned as he placed it back in his pocket, and pulled out another photo. This one was a young man, with high cheek bones and deep blue eyes. Though the photo was fuzzy, he could still make out what he looked like pretty well.

“And him?”

It took Li a moment.

“Yes. I think I remember seeing him earlier.”

“Did he buy a ticket?”

“I’m sorry, Sir. I cannot give out that information.”

The man eyed him for a moment, before taking the photo back, and retrieving a black bill fold. He pulled out a large sum of money, and slid it towards Li. Everything told Li that he shouldn’t tell this man, but that was a lot money. He could buy his girlfriend that ring she has been wanting, and pay off his bills with still some left over. Biting on his bottom lip, he reached out and took it.

“Yes, Sir. He bought a ticket heading out of China I believe.”

“Good. I’ll take three tickets on the same train.”

*****

She laid her head back against the seat, staring out into the blackness. Nearly every light in the compartment was off, except for a few overly productive members who were working hard on computers, and the woman who sat across from her who was reading a book. She was wiped, and would like to try sleeping like so many other people in the compartment had already managed to do, but the child inside of her was kicking and doing somersaults, thus causing no rest for her. So, she had taken to staring out the window in hopes that it’d stop in a little while and she could sleep.

She felt him sit down next to her, then present a cup of dark liquid for her. For a long moment, she just looked at it before taking it. To her surprise, he had gotten her a Diet Coke. She didn’t even know that he knew she liked that.

“Thanks,” she said wearily glancing him and then back out the window.

Buffy had caught the grin that had appeared on his face from the simple word, and it took awhile to realize why. That had been the first time she had ever thanked him for anything. Well, there’s a first time for everything, she guessed. Her child was proof of that.

Outside, they came across a clearing where she could see a large lake glowing with moonlight and outlining the snow capped mountains that rested behind it. She bet that during the day it was really something to see.

“You didn’t say China was such a pretty country,” she told him as she continued to look.

He shrugged. “Well, if you like this, wait until we get to Prague.”

She shifted in her seat again to face him. “Prague?”

“Yeah. I should still have an account in the bank out there. It should be enough to at least get us back to the States. All though I can’t promise that it’s enough to make it to California. You may have to settle for New York.”

“Right now, New York sounds kinda good. Hot dogs, apple pies, and people who don’t look at me like I’m some sort of foreign devil.”

He chuckled lowly to himself as he leaned back in his own chair. “That’s such a stigma, love. I thought you were better then that.”

She thought a moment. “Yeah. So did I. Guess it must be the hormones or something.”

That had gotten his attention again. He hadn’t said a word about the kid since she told him the night before. She had just thought it was because he was still having to adjust to the idea, she knew she had to when she found out. But she found herself wanting him to say anything about it. If it was good, which she really didn’t expect, she thought that maybe she would feel better knowing that maybe she’d actually get through this. If it were bad, she beat him to a bloody pulp, then they’d go from there.

Buffy grunted slightly when the kid landed a kick square into her ribs. She made a face as she placed her hand over her stomach and shifted in her seat to try and make the kid move. That was when she noticed him looking at her oddly.

“I think Junior here decided to practice his round houses,” she explained, “unfortunately, it’s right against my ribs.”

“Hasn’t even been born yet and all ready it’s makin’ your life hell,” he said.

“Guess that proves that its your kid then,” she smirked sarcastically.

He smiled as he shook his head. “Yeah, guess it does.”

The kid punched her hard, then kicked again. It hadn’t been this active in a long time. In fact, she could never remember it doing anything like this before. Finally, she just couldn’t stand it any more.

“Move,” she told him as she pushed past him into the aisle.

“You alright, pet?”

“Yeah, just need to move,” she said as she let herself stretch out. “Where’d you get the Coke?”

“Two cars up. Go down the stairs to the lower level, there’s a little bar set up there.”

“Good. And, Spike.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t call me pet.”

“Whatever you say....love.”

*****

Spike watched as she walked away from him and sighed. Things had gone from weird to Twilight Zone in less then forty eight hours, and he had no idea how to deal with any of it. Forty eight hours ago, he was sitting in his cell, and had finally decided that he had enough of these Area 51 rejects and was going to make a break for it. Twenty four hours ago, he had executed his plan, and got some surprise help from the Slayer. Twenty hours ago she had told him something he would have never dreamed of hearing from any woman lips, let alone from her, she was pregnant, and it was his. Logic had said that she must be lying, but that look of disgust and desperation for him to believe her had said other wise. Two hours ago, he had bought two tickets to New Delhi. And two minutes ago, they had had the first conversation without any hint of screaming or threat of violence. Yeah, this was defiantly the Twilight Zone.

How in the world did all this come about? How could it come about? He was a vampire, he couldn’t have kids. At least, that was what he had always thought. Of course, he had never been with anyone where it was a possibility to find out. Until now and guess what.

Oh, won’t the Watcher be so happy when a kid that looks like him comes running up to him with his arms open calling him Grandpa Giles. The look on his face would be priceless. He’d have to remember to bring a camera for that one and for the Whelp when he finds out. That is, if he doesn’t find himself on the pointy end of stake the second the words come out of her mouth about Juniors’ father.

Junior. That’s what she had called the child a few minutes before. He wondered if that meant that she knew she was having a boy. Wouldn’t that be something? A little boy with light blond hair, his deep blue eyes, and Buffy’s nose. When the kid hit his teenage years, he’d have to beat the ladies off with stick, he would. After all, it would be his son.

His son. Two words that he would have never put together. He’d given up on that a hundred and twenty years ago when he crossed over, and, to be truthful, he never gave it another thought. When you’re immortal, leaving someone behind that’s a part of you just doesn’t seem that important anymore. After all, you’re not going anywhere, at least for a very, very, very long time. But now, he did have something, someone, and it was the strangest sensation he had ever had in his whole life and un. He felt everything, happy, nervous, excited, dread, worry, and they were all amplified a hundred fold. He wondered if they Slayer felt like that.

Sure she did. She was his mother after all. He chuckled again to himself. Him and the Slayer. Who’d ever thought?

When she had told him that the kid was kicking her, he was tempted to ask her if he could feel. He was curious, and besides, wasn’t that normal for a father to want to feel his kid kicking inside of its mother? He didn’t though. She probably would have hit him or something.

Spike closed his eyes, holding onto the glass of scotch he had bought a couple of minutes before, as the thoughts all swirled in his head. He’d been thinking about her and the kid all day. He wondered if she knew that, or cared.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he slowly began to recognize another feeling he hadn’t had in a long while. There was a demon nearby, he could tell. Three of them, in fact, and closing fast.

He jumped out of his seat, nearly spilling the scotch on himself as he looked around, trying to decide which way they were heading from. The car behind them, and they would be there soon. Well, he’d just have to be somewhere else.

******

Buffy was coming up the stairs, carrying a fresh coke, when he ran into her. Her eyes widen in surprise as he hurried down, and started to motion for her to go back down with him.

“Down,” he said as he basically turned her around and pushed her down the stairs.

“Spike? What’s going on?”

“Demons, love,” he told her as he pushed her into the smoking section of the car, which was, thankfully, empty. “Three of ‘em.”

“Three? That’s not so bad. We can handle three.”

“I can handle three. You just stay out of the way.”

“What?! I’m the Slayer. That’s my job, not yours!”

He turned to her, giving her the iciest stare he could muster.

“And you’ve got yourself in the family way, which means no slayin’ for you for awhile.”

She crossed her arms, returning the stare.

“The family way? Who are you? Grandpa Moses?”

“Slayer-!”

“There!”

The two turned to see three large men standing in the doorway, all dressed in black leather and looking as if they are ready for a fight. Both of them instinctively fell back into fighting stance, though Spike growled slightly when he saw she was preparing to fight as well. She rolled her eyes at the sound.

She pointed her finger at the three in the door, “Fight now,” then she waved the finger between herself and Spike, “fight later.”

He didn’t have time to protest with her. Right now, they did have more pressing matters to deal with.

Two of the demons flanked out as the obvious lead stood between them and the way out.

“Don’t hurt them,” he told the other two. “They want them both back in one piece.”

“Oh, here that, Spike. They don’t want to hurt us.”

“Real worried there, love.”

The two that had flanked out approached them slowly, and Buffy watched as hers shifted on his feet with a murderous look on his face. She could hear Spike and his already fighting, but this one wasn’t doing anything. He looked at her for a long time, and finally she grew tired of it.

“Well, you going to fight, or just stand there all night.”

He stepped forward and through a right cross at her, which ducked easily buy dropping down. On her way back up, she landed a punch to the stomach, knocking the creatures’ breath out. As he lay doubled over, she grabbed the back of his shirt and through him into wall with a loud thud. She could hear a crack from his neck breaking upon impact.

She glanced over at Spike and saw him holding his own against the other demon, but she was already tired of this and wanted it over. Buffy began to approach them when she felt someone grab her from behind. It was the leader of the group, and he held her close to him with her arms locked behind her back.

“You’re all we really need,” he whispered into her ear before turning to the other demon and yelling, “Finish him off.”

That was when she spotted the stake in the demons hand. She gritted her teeth together. There was absolutely no way she was going to do this alone. She didn’t care if it was Spike, she was not going to raise a child alone. She had seen her mother do that, and she wouldn’t be able to take it.

Buffy drew her head forward, then smashed it back into the guys face. He let out a yelp in surprise as she broke his nose, and loosens his grip just long enough for her to get away. She spun around to face him, and smashed her fist in his face before he could even react.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spike gain control of the guys arm that held the stake, and caused the demon to slam the stick into his own chest. He let out a small groan as he sank to the ground, and finally died. The bleach blond then came to help her.

Buffy hit the demon with a hard left hook, sending his head hard and fast to the right, where it meet Spike’s right cross. The demon sank to his knees, and Spike maneuvered behind him and snapped his neck to where his head was all the way around his body.

“Well, that was fun,” she said sarcastically as she sank down into one of the bench seats. Though it wasn’t much of a fight, it still took a lot out of her. Then she noticed that the baby had settled down, and wasn’t even moving at all now the demons were gone. That was weird.

“Yeah, real fun,” Spike said as he rolled the last demon they kill over and went through his pockets.

“What is it about you and robbing dead people?”

“I’m not robbin’ them, love,” he told her when he finally found what he was looking for. “I’m searchin’ for information. If I happen to find some cash, lucky me.”

She rolled her eyes as he opened up the paper he had found. He read over it quickly, then sighed.

“Just what I thought,” he said handing it over to her.

Buffy read over it quickly and frowned.

“Didn’t take Lang long to get the word out, did it.”

“We didn’t think it would,” he told her as she stood up and shoved the piece of paper into her pocket.

“So what now? I’m guessing they know we’re on this train.”

He shrugged. “Get off at the next stop, I suppose. There’s a lot of people in China. We’ll use that to our advantage.”

“Yeah, how? We don’t look like any of them.”

“Doesn’t matter. People are people. Come on. Let’s get out of here before someone decided to come down for a smoke.”

******

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