XXX

Outside Iduna
 
Barefoot, with her hospital gown blowing open behind her, Buffy felt like a caged animal just freed. Buoyant. And light. She happily let Rachel and Pipa lead her escape, but would’ve preferred a quicker pace. The three were barely jogging as it was, around a never-ending curve.
 
“What is this? Is this building a–?”
 
“Circle,” Pipa answered in a hushed tone. “Yeah, Buffy. I think we were at the three o’clock exit, so we shouldn’t have too far to go.”
 
“Where’s the truck?”
 
“Just in front of the main exit,” Rachel whispered. “Actually…” Rachel pressed the speaker button on her wrist, stumbling on the path distractedly. “Stevie? Sally? You there?”
 
“Yeah,” echoed Stevie’s disembodied voice. “We’re here. By the truck. Where are you?”
 
“We’re outside, headed towards the front entrance from a side exit. We’ve got Buffy.”
 
“No way! Is she alright?” Sonny.
 
Buffy flinched. That may have been the first time she’d ever heard Sonny express anything like concern for her. But more importantly, Sonny had been with Spike.
 
“I’m fine,” Buffy yelled, grimacing apologetically, when she was met with admonishing eyes. She moved closer to Rachel’s wrist and lowered her voice. “But where are Gina and Spike, Sonny? Weren’t they with you?”
 
Silence.
 
Buffy persisted. “Sonny?”
 
“They’ve both been shot, Buffy. By that Shaggy bastard we’d kidnapped–”
 
“Wait. What? Shot? Kidnapped?! How many times? Were they–?”
 
“Later,” Pipa insisted. “Let’s get to the truck and we can talk there.”
 
Buffy frowned. “Then what the hell are we waiting for?”
 
She was a bird on the wind.
 
“Buffy!” she could hear Pipa whispering too loudly in the distance, but Buffy knew the young blond wasn’t upset with her.
 
Spotting the truck up ahead, Buffy resisted the urge to shout Sonny’s name, and was relieved to find Sally opening the truck’s side door. 
 
Buffy quickly cast her eyes over the girls, and only Sonny looked to be injured. The brunette was curled up in a fetal position on the back seat. “Sonny, what–?

“Shot in the fucking knee cap by that bastard.”
 
“You mean Shaggy, or, Reynolds, or whatever the hell his name is? The guy who took me?”
 
Sonny nodded. 
 
Buffy bit down on her bottom lip – a small and silent self-punishment. It was one thing when the younger Slayers put themselves in danger to protect the weak. That she could accept. But she absolutely hated the idea of them getting hurt to protect her.
 
“Gina got one in the foot,” Sonny continued. “But she was good enough to go on. Spike…”
 
Buffy steeled herself for what might come next.
 
“He took a mace to the skull of that dickhead, which was the sickest thing I’ve ever seen, I gotta tell you. But not before he got a chest full of bullets.”
 
Buffy shut her eyes.  She knew bullets wouldn’t kill him of course, but she hadn’t forgotten what Reynolds had said about Spike earlier that day: I highly doubt your dead lover will be walking again for some time.
 
“Sonny, look–“
 
“Sally! Stevie!” Rachel exclaimed breathlessly as she approached the open doors of the truck. “Can you believe it? We got Bu–” Rachel stopped short when she found Buffy crouching over the injured girl in the backseat. Pipa stepped into the truck behind her.
 
“Sonny, are you–“
 
“She’s been shot,” Buffy stated bluntly, a new solemnity in her voice. It silenced the newcomers, so she took the opportunity to address the gathered Slayers. “Thank you.”
 
The girls stilled.
 
“You risked your lives today for me.”
 
“Buffy–“
 
“Please, Pipa. You deserve to know how grateful I am that you would all brave storming this…this place, just to rescue me.”
 
“You’d do the same for us,” Sonny muttered, almost inaudibly.
 
Buffy looked back at her, lost for words.
 
“Well technically, Sally and me didn’t risk anything,” Stevie blurted.
 
“Guys...” Pipa.
 
“What? All we did was take a cruise on Spike’s hog.”
 
“Yeah,” Sally conceded. “I never did get our part in the plan.”
 
“You were our backup!” Pipa exclaimed. “Our second string! We’re just lucky we didn’t need it in the end.”
 
“Any word from Spike and Gina?” Sonny asked.
 
That helped Buffy find her voice again. “Pipa, we’ve got to make contact with them inside.”
 
Pipa shook her head apologetically. “We can’t risk it, Buffy. We don’t know where they are, or who might have them.”
 
“Well, we’re never going to know if we don’t call them or get our asses back in there!”
 
“Buffy, you’re not going back in.” Rachel commanded.
 
Buffy shot daggers at the normally shy Slayer.
 
Pipa stepped forward. “Look Buffy, Mel and Tori are our eyes in there. They’ll find Spike and Gina when the coast is clear. They’ll be able to spot them on the security cameras. When Mel and Tori have them, they’ll make contact with us.”
 
“But–”
 
“Just trust us, Buffy.” Rachel pleaded.
 
“Trust Spike, you mean.”
 
Buffy looked at Stevie.
 
Stevie shrugged. “This was his crazy plan after all.”
 
Silence.
 
A sickening dread crept into Buffy’s stomach at the thought. That was the problem, she concluded silently. Spike’s plans never did go well in the end.
 
For him, anyway.
 
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
 
Inside Iduna
 
“Spike?”
 
He started to tremble now, and not from his meal. “What the hell have I done?”
 
Gina groaned. “Man, forget that, already. I counted ten bullets hitting the ground, which is some crazy shit. How do you feel?”
 
Stretching even taller, he turned around.
 
And Gina’s mouth fell open.
 
“Like a new man.”
 
With a thump, Gina’s hands slid from her lap to hit the floor, and every muscle in her face went slack.
 
“What?” he asked nervously.
 
She shook her head in slow motion.
 
“No….” he dragged out. “What the hell is it?” He patted his face and body with open palms. “Do I look different or something?” He could hear her heartbeat pounding furiously behind her breasts.
 
She gave him an awkward half-smile.
 
He took a step towards her, and she recoiled.
 
“What the–? Jesus Christ, Slayer! What the hell is it? Am I–?“
 
“Beautiful,” she mumbled before quickly looking down.
 
He blinked. “What?” It was a rhetorical question.
 
“You heard me.” She kept her head down.
 
He put a gentle, more exploratory hand to his jaw. “Yeah, but what do you mean by that?”
 
“You look…”
 
He waited expectantly.
 
“I don’t know.”
 
He tensed his jaw, exhaling forcefully through his nose.
 
She met his eyes again, still bashful. “Alive, maybe?”
 
No.
 
He wasn’t that. He was anything but that. There were only three heartbeats in that bloody room, and her dainty morals hadn’t let him drain the two ponces behind the door.
 
“Try again, ducks. I’m as dead as I ever was.”  But that wasn’t exactly true. Because he felt altogether different.
 
“You look…”
 
He crossed his arms in front him.
 
“Powerful?”
 
He nodded at that. Clenching his fists, he could feel the power in the bloody pulp of his fingertips.
 
“New.”
 
He narrowed his eyes, and struggled to interpret what that might mean.
 
And then her face brightened suddenly with recognition, and she smiled a little more. “Young.”
 
He put his hands to his hips. “What now?”
 
“You look younger. Like… rejuvenated or something. Like you, but… you know, a younger version of you, maybe?”
 
Pause.
 
“Hm.”
 
“And fierce, man. And…” She ducked her head again. “Beautiful.”
 
He considered this for a moment. He did feel rejuvenated. Healed. Whole. And…yeah, even young – like a fledge. But paradoxically strong – like an old Master. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Gina askance. “Think she’ll notice?”
 
She looked at him like he was an idiot.
 
He pursed his lips in annoyance. “Right. Only one way to find out then, I guess. Let’s get the hell out of here and go get her.”
 
With inhuman speed, he bent down, swooped Gina into his arms, and was out the door and down the corridor before she’d processed what had happened.
 
“Whoa! What the hell you doin’, man?”
 
He stopped abruptly. “What?”
 
“I’m not an invalid, you know. I’m a Slayer for fuck’s sake. I can walk.”
 
“Not fast enough, kitten. Not right now anyway, with that toe. And spare me the girl power speech, will you? I wrote the bloody book.”
 
Gina rolled her eyes. “But how the hell are you–?”
 
“Gina!”
 
“Fuck!” Startled by the voice from her wrist, Gina almost jumped from his arms. “Mel?” she answered in a more hushed tone. “Where are you?”
 
“Tori and me are in the watchtower. We were waiting to spot you guys before trying to make contact. You alright?”
 
She looked at Spike. “We’ll live. What about the others? You see any of them? You find Buffy?”
 
Spike squeezed the six-foot girl in his arms unconsciously.
 
“Ow!” Gina.
 
He relaxed his grip, sheepishly.
 
“Yes and yes,” Mel answered.
 
Silence.
 
“Ow!”
 
He’d inadvertently dropped her.
 
She frowned at him from the floor. “Is Buffy alright, Mel?”
 
The words had been in his throat too, but he couldn’t get them out, leaving Gina to ask the question.
 
“It’s Buffy, the Girl Wonder, we’re talkin’ about here, Gina. What do you think?”
 
Gina looked up at him, grinning widely, and a wave of relief threatened to drown him in feeling. Too overcome to smile back, he dropped his head to his chest, like an old Jack-in-a-Box on a spring.
 
“And the others?” Gina asked.
 
“Everybody’s out, Gina. And the guards are all down for the count. It’s now or never. So get your asses out of there and we’ll meet you at the truck. We’ll take the front exit, but you’re closest to the side exit that Buffy used. Just head in the direction you were going. There are two guards down at the door. They shouldn’t wake up for a while yet.”
 
“Got it, sis. See you on the outside, Mel. And be quick about it.”
 
“What do you think we’ve been doing this whole time, doofus? We’re halfway down the stairs already! You hurry up!”
 
Gina laughed out loud, and the warmth and freedom of it was like a balm to his frazzled nerves.
 
“Well?” she asked.
 
He slowly raised his head.
 
“Let’s go see Buffy, you beautiful bitch,” she teased with a wink, opening her arms to be scooped back up.
 
But that was the problem, he decided, as he scooped her back up, forcing a tight and insecure smile.
 
That meant she’d see him. 
 
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
 
“Pipa, it’s Mel.”
 
Buffy had just finished tending to Sonny’s knee and stood up abruptly.
 
Pipa spoke into her wrist. “Have you found them?”
 
“Yeah. Spike was carrying Gina, but she looked alright. Big baby.”
 
Cheers and hollers broke out amongst the girls.
 
“And Spike?” Buffy shouted at high frequency, making Pipa involuntarily grimace.
 
“He’s fine,” Mel replied. “I mean, he was carrying a six foot Slayer, so he can’t be that bad.”
 
“But where are they?” Buffy urged.
 
“On their way out now, by the side exit. We’re headed to you guys first, out the front.”
 
“Right. See you soon, Mel. And be careful!” Pipa pleaded. “Okay guys, we–“
 
But Buffy was already at the side door, on watch for Spike and Gina, and eyeing the horizon with trepidation. “Dawn is coming.”
 
“He’ll make it, Buffy,” Sonny declared, now sitting upright, her knee in a makeshift splint. “Don’t worry.”
 
“Maybe we should drive the truck to the side–“
 
“Buffy!” Tori shouted from the front entrance.
 
Tori leapt into the truck, Mel close behind, and quickly embraced the older Slayer.  “We did it, Buffy! We got you!”
 
Buffy squeezed Tori by the arms. “Thank you. Both of you.” She opened her arms to Mel, who seemed just as eager to embrace her – a first for the Indies.
 
“You don’t look half bad for a lab rat,” Mel teased.
 
Buffy’s arms were still streaked with dried blood, and her surgical scars were dressed with bandages, but she had to admit, Mel was right. She’d escaped from the ordeal better than Sonny or Gina had. And far better than Spike.
 
“Yeah well…“ The sight of a blond in the distance, barely visible over Mel’s shoulders, stole her voice.
 
Mel and Tori turned to follow her eyes, and began motioning frantically for the stragglers to hurry.
 
For a moment, it looked as if Spike had stopped.
 
Silently, Buffy parted Mel and Tori with her hands and stood at the front of the group at the side door. A chill ran down her back as the desert wind picked up her hair and billowed her gown. 
 
But she wasn’t cold.
 
“Why isn’t he moving?” Pipa whispered nervously.
 
Buffy took a single barefoot step towards the edge of the doorway in pursuit…
 
And he started to move.
 
First slowly, then at a brisk walk…
 
Her heart seemed to beat in time with his advance. She dragged her other foot to meet the first on the edge.
 
And then he was running.
 
Every muscle in her legs was taut with anticipation. She poked out one foot to step down from the truck –
 
Only to freeze at the sight of a flailing Gina in front of her. He’d covered the remaining distance in a hair’s breadth of a second.
 
“For fuck’s sake, Spike!” Gina exclaimed, as she wriggled in his arms. “Give a girl a head spin, why don’t you?”
 
“Gina!” Pipa collected the agitated girl from his arms and deposited her into the truck beside Sonny – the rest of the Slayers gathering noisily around her.
 
Gina was barely out of his arms before Buffy had dived into them. Burying her face into his neck, she locked her arms behind his head and wrapped bare legs around his waist.
 
His arms closed around her like a vice.
 
“Oh, Spike.”
 
The vice squeezed tighter still.
 
“You guys!” she could hear Stevie shouting from the truck.  “Let’s get the hell out of–  Whoa!“
 
But Buffy was too lost in the embrace to register Stevie’s concern.
 
“What?” Tori asked with agitated annoyance. “Stevie, what’s going–  Oh dear.”
 
Quickly shifting her chin to his shoulder, Buffy scanned the building perimeter for any possible signs of trouble, relieved to find none. Reluctantly, she loosened her grip to turn her head towards the girls. “Guys, what’s–“
 
It was only then that she saw his face.
 
She blinked.
 
That only brought the image into sharper focus.
 
Unthinkingly, she pushed away from him, and was startled by how quickly he’d disentangled himself. She could feel the girls pulling her up from the floor of the truck the next moment, but kept her eyes on the stranger in front of her.
 
No.
 
Not a stranger. She’d seen that face before – just for a moment, and almost a lifetime ago. It made the world stop spinning on its axis then, as it did now.
 
He was beautiful. Almost blindingly radiant. And–
 
“What the hell happened to you?” Stevie shouted. The exclamations of the other Slayers followed suit, and soon the whole group were crowded at the open truck door, but for Gina.
 
He didn’t answer – he just kept watery eyes fixed on Buffy.
 
“Save it, y’all.” Gina yelled. “Ain’t got time for that.”
 
“But what–“
 
“Chill out, people!”
 
Gina hobbled towards the group. “Forget him. We need to get the hell out of here.”
 
A chorus of protestations still followed.
 
“Sally,” Gina shouted.
 
“What?” she answered, seemingly startled.
 
Gina lowered her voice. “Give the man his keys.”
 
“What?”
 
“To his bike. We need to get out of here. Then you can drive us back to the station.”
 
“Right,” Sally muttered.
 
Spike deftly caught the keys flying towards his chest without shifting his gaze from her face. Only then did she notice that his shirt was ridden with holes.
 
“Spike, man,” Gina continued. “Meet us at the station. You take the rear and–“
 
“No.” Buffy flinched from the harshness of her own voice and softened her tone. Never looking away from his face, she continued. “Dawn is coming. It’s not–”
 
“I’ll be–“
 
“No.” It was like her mouth was disconnected from her body. She was barking like a general, but felt helpless to do anything but stare.
 
He swallowed, then looked away for the first time, at nothing in particular. “Can tell when the sun’ll come up, pet, “ he mumbled quietly. “I’ve got time.”
 
He walked away without further explanation.
 
Unthinkingly, she put a hand to the doorway to jump down to follow him.
 
“No.” His tone was just as harsh. And he kept his back turned.
 
“We’re in the desert, love. You’re not dressed for the bike.”
 
His tone shook her back to something approaching normal consciousness. “Spike, are you kid–“
 
“I’ll see you soon, Buffy.”
 
And Gina closed the truck door in front of her.
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
“Floor it Sal!” Gina shouted.
 
Sally complied, making a sharp three-point turn away from the entrance, and forcing Buffy to hold on to the back of the front passenger’s seat. She was still facing the side door that had closed in front of her, as the truck moved dangerously fast down the driveway, before stopping abruptly.
 
“Who’s got the swipe card?” Pipa asked anxiously.
 
“On it!” Mel shouted.
 
In a matter of seconds, the truck was moving again, picking up speed down the open road that blurred past Buffy’s window.
 
The girls erupted into cheers.
 
“Oh, yeah!” Mel hollered.
 
“Slayer power, ladies!” Tori shouted. “Who’s got it? Huh?”
 
“Woop woop!” Stevie exclaimed.
 
“We did it, you guys!” Pipa added. “Buffy, we did it!”
 
Shaken to attention, Buffy finally turned towards her rescuers and offered a genuine smile. “You guys are kinda awesome, you know that?”
 
Yet more cheers pierced the confines of the truck.
 
“To be honest, I wasn’t so sure we could do it, Buffy,” Rachel admitted, still grinning.
 
“What? Break into a high-security bioengineering facility with only a few hours planning in the dead of night?” Stevie replied. “Please.”
 
“Yeah,” Gina chimed in. “We just kicked major Dragvlok ass, homegirl. What’s a few limp security dicks gonna do that we can’t handle?”
 
Sonny high-fived Gina.  
 
“How did you do it exactly?” Buffy asked.
 
“What?” Gina asked. “Break you out?”
 
“No. That part isn’t too hard to figure out. But this truck. How did you get it? And how did you guys know about Reynol–, I mean, Shaggy?”
 
“Max,” Mel answered.
 
Sonny nodded once in agreement. “I called him,” she said quietly.
 
Buffy smiled sympathetically.
 
“We didn’t want him involved to the degree that he was though.”
 
Mel continued. “Max and me drove here first, in his patrol car, to do a little recon. The plan–“
 
“I still can’t believe that part worked,” Rachel interrupted.
 
Mel rolled her eyes. “The plan was to try and get the driver of the truck that hit Spike to come with us to the police station for questioning. There were witnesses to the hit and run, you know.”
 
That shifted Buffy’s attention. “Was Spike hurt badly?”
 
Mel blinked. Then shrugged.
 
“Yeah.” Gina declared, looking intently at Buffy. “Real bad.”
 
Buffy’s chest tightened painfully, before the real meaning of Gina’s words became clear. Whatever had happened to Spike inside Iduna, Gina knew about, and was prepared to defend.
 
Sonny chimed back in. “We didn’t expect to get this guy Shaggy though, that Spike said had been tailing you.”
 
Buffy pursed her lips in thought. “I suppose he didn’t want to risk sending the real truck driver to a police interrogation. This Shaggy guy, he can handle himself. He’s an ex-Watcher, you know.”
 
“What?” More than one girl exclaimed.
 
“Was.” Gina emphasized. “Spike took care of his ass.”
 
“Um. Guys?” Sally shouted from the driver’s seat.
 
“Yeah?” Pipa asked anxiously, hastening to a side window to look ahead and behind. “What’s wrong? Are we being followed?”
 
“No,” Sally assured her. “I was just wondering when we were gonna discuss the real question before the court here.”
 
“What?” Pipa.
 
“What the hell happened to Spike?!” she screeched.
 
Buffy tensed instantly, and was surprised to find six Slayers studying her for an answer. But Buffy looked at Gina, which redirected everyone else’s attention.
 
“Well, Gina?” Pipa.
 
“Don’t look at me, Pip.”
 
“But–“
 
“Whatever happened to Spike in that place is between him and his maker.”
 
“Oh my god!” Pipa cried. “You mean Drusilla was in there?!”
 
Gina glared.
 
Pipa gulped. “Oh. Right. Figure of speech. Got it.”
 
“Not good enough,” Tori injected. “You know something, Gina. You went in with him, and you came out with him. As a matter of fact, you were with him the whole freakin’ time.”
 
Gina was unperturbed. “So?”
 
Stevie huffed. “So you’re not gonna tell us what the hell happened to him?”
 
Gina shrugged. “What’s it look like happened?”
 
Silence.
 
Rachel scrunched up her face in confusion. Tori and Mel stared at each other as if the other had the answer. Pipa focused on one spot in concentration. And Sonny suddenly looked away guiltily as if she’d just figured out what might have happened after all.
 
“It doesn’t matter.”
 
Eight pair of eyes widened at Buffy.
 
“He survived.” Buffy replied calmly. “We all did. That’s all that matters.” With that, Buffy looked askance again at Gina, who let her poker face relax into a smile.
 
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
Near The Pump and Plug Station, Sierra Madre, 5 a.m. 
 
Spike liked his feelings like his whiskey. Neat and clear. He hated when he didn’t know what the fuck he was feeling. The only feeling that he wanted to be having was joy. He’d tolerate some relief mixed in with that. And desire of course. Always desire.
 
But not this.
 
He roared with abandon over the antiquated engine. He was sick of the guilt and the shame. Sick of the fear that he’d fucked up again, and royally. It was like no matter what he did in his unlife – for however a noble a reason – he was never going to live up to her. Not even forty years later.
 
And how could he?
 
She was a fucking hero. A pale goddess of good intentions and bravery and bleeding generosity. Not to mention self-sacrifice. She could be a right bitch too, but so could he. And in all fairness, he’d seen very little of that Buffy this time around.
 
His thoughts unwittingly returned to their reunion at Iduna and the embrace. He couldn’t help but warm at the image and the feeling of her diving into his arms –  wrapping bare limbs around him like some golden starfish. Like he was her home. Her refuge. Where she’d go to feel safe.
 
And in a second Spike’s good emotions shifted sharply to bitterness. Why the fuck had he drank her blood? She’d already made it out of the fucking place. He hadn’t known that, of course. But the fact of the matter was, in the end, there’d been no reason for he and Gina to have worried. Everybody had made it out. They were all just waiting for them to join them. And what did he do?
 
Helped himself to a bloody Buffy buffet on the way out.
 
And then there was that. Whatever she was now was something altogether new. That was for bloody sure. Angelus had bragged about what it had been like to drink from her, but his descriptions didn’t begin to compare to what Spike had just experienced, and from a fucking canister no less. No. Angelus had drunk from a mere teenaged Slayer. Spike had drunk from the only true immortal in existence. 
 
Had anyone else tasted her?
 
He wasn’t sure. Certainly not when Sunnydale had still been standing. Except…
 
Bloody hell.  He’d tasted her.
 
It had been a mere drop or two. But it had been enough to shake the hold of the First on him when he’d had her restrained by two vamps in a basement and was going in for the kill. One lick of a graze on her shoulder and he was himself again. Not only that. He was repentant, and prepared to die at her hand to be rid of the First and the guilt of his countless crimes.
 
Interesting.
 
But the power of her blood and the changes it affected in him were secondary now as far as he was concerned. It meant nothing if they couldn’t come back from this. His body might be healed to perfection now, but his heart felt heavy and sick. And he was tired –to the bone. This rollercoaster ride of emotion with her had to bloody end this time around. He just didn’t have the stomach for it anymore.
 
Desperate for a fag, Spike sped ahead of the truck towards the abandoned fuel station. He’d been taking the rear until they’d cleared the compound, but The Pump and Plug was in sight in the distance, and they’d obviously escaped in the clear.
 
He slowed the bike as he approached the station, and wasn’t surprised to find Max awake again. The cop had been pacing the asphalt until he heard Spike’s approach.
 
He had zero interest in talking to Max, since he had no intention of explaining to the bloke what the hell had happened to him inside that place. He wasn’t even sure if the guy knew he was a vampire.
 
So he parked the bike on the other side of the station away from the cop and pointed to the advancing truck before lighting a fag.
 
Nodding, Max hustled towards the truck and waited anxiously for the girls to pour out.
 
Stevie was the first to jump out from the back.
 
“Where’s Sonny?” Max asked.
 
“She’s coming.” Stevie calmly replied.
 
Spike could hear the cop exhale his relief. 
 
Tori and Mel jumped out next, followed by Rachel.
 
“And Buffy?” he asked, attempting to peer beyond the Slayers rapidly pouring out from the back.
 
“Her too.”
 
“Sonny! Buffy!” Not willing to wait, Max climbed into the back.
 
Gina and Pipa jumped out next, before Max appeared with Sonny in his arms in a protective cradle.
 
“I’m fine, Max. Really.”
 
“You’ve been shot, Sonny!”
 
“So have you, before.”
 
“I’m a cop, Sonny.”
 
“Yeah, well.”
 
“I know, I know.” He sighed. “You’re a Slayer.”
 
“Never forget it.”
 
The cop pressed a firm kiss to the top of Sonny’s head, his eyes shut to hide his tears. Spike knew that trick.
 
Sally turned off the ignition and hopped out of the front seat to join the chattering Slayers who were gathering around Max.
 
That left Buffy.
 
Stepping away from the bike, Spike took a few steps towards the back of the truck, peering his head around to catch a glimpse of what might be keeping her. There was no sight of her in the back.
 
For a split second he was seized with an ice-cold terror, before he caught sight of a blond head still deep in the truck.
 
She was staring at him through the truck’s side window.
 
His stomach flipped.
 
She slid open the side door facing him and hopped down.
 
He didn’t move.
 
“Where’s Buffy?” Max.
 
The girls spotted Buffy on his side of the truck, and collected around her, Max close behind.
 
Max was quick to pull Buffy into an embrace, but smart enough not to linger too long. She disengaged first.
 
“Buffy, are you alright?” The cop’s hands were all over her. “What are all these bandages from? What happened to you in there?”
 
Buffy stood tall, facing the group like the leader she was. “I’m fine, Max. They’ll be plenty of time to debrief properly once we’re safe. For now, though, let’s figure out what we’re going to do with this truck and get out of here.”
 
“We’ve already got that planned,” Pipa offered. “Max’s car can fit four passengers normally, but eight if we’re creative. That leaves one Slayer on the bike with Spike. We were going to lose the license plate and torch the truck here.”
 
Buffy nodded. “Okay. Then you guys get going in the patrol car, and Spike and I will follow.”
 
“Buffy, don’t be ridiculous.” Max quickly pulled off his coat to put around her hospital gown. “You can’t go riding on a motorcycle in the desert cold and half naked. You may not be seriously injured, but you’ve obviously been through something. You were kidnapped for goodness sake. I’m taking you and Sonny, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
 
Buffy glanced at Spike quickly. “Max, I’m–“
 
“I’ll ride with Spike.” Gina hurried.
 
“But Gina, you’re inj–“
 
“I’m straight, Pip. It’s just a toe.” Not waiting around for any further objections, Gina hopped towards Spike.
 
Flicking his cigarette into a bush, Spike silently seated himself on the bike and started the engine. He could feel Buffy’s eyes on him as he waited for Gina to take her seat behind him.
 
“We’ll meet you guys at Slayer Central,” Gina shouted over the engine. “Dawn is coming, so we gotta move!”
 
From his peripheral vision, as he slowly drove the bike out of the station, Spike could see Stevie unscrewing the license plate, as the others prepared to set the truck alight.
 
Everyone was in a flurry of activity but for Buffy, who stood planted in the same spot. Watching him. 
 
He flicked on his headlights and sped off.
 
He fucking hated mixed feelings. But Gina was right. Sunrise was getting dangerously close, and they had to move. As he picked up speed on the open road, he tried to focus on the fact that whatever had gone wrong that night, at least two things had gone right. Buffy was safe, and a plan had finally gone his way.
 
To a point, anyway.
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
“Ow, Stevie!” Rachel.
 
“What?” Stevie grumbled.
 
“Your butt is bony!”
 
“Whatever.”
 
“Can’t you shift your tailbone over–“
 
“Ow!” Tori. “Move over Stevie! I haven’t got enough room as it is!”
 
“Goodness grief!” Sonny shouted from the front. “You guys sound like a bunch of junkyard cats back there.”
 
“Well, not all of us are related to the driver and get a front row fucking seat,” Mel threw back.
 
Sonny twisted back in her seat. “Yeah, and not all of us got shot in the fucking knee cap either, Mel. Besides, it’s cramped up here too.” Sonny turned back and winced loudly.
 
“Are you okay?” Buffy asked, from her perch on Pipa’s lap in the back.
 
“I’ll live.”
 
“That’s not good enough, Sonny,” Max complained. “We need to get you to a hospital. Buffy too.”
 
“Uh, try again, Max.” Sonny retorted.
 
“Jesus, Sonny. You’re not criminals. You don’t have to hide from the health authorities, you know.”
 
“Um, technically, we are criminals,” Stevie answered with amusement. “I’m no cop, but I’m pretty sure we broke a shit ton of laws tonight.”
 
Max sighed, gripping and ungripping the steering wheel nervously. “Yeah.”
 
“You broke some, too,” Tori chimed in.
 
“Yeah, I know!” Max shot back. Sighing again, he lowered his voice. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just…”
 
“It’s alright, Max,” Sonny assured him.
 
“No. It’s not alright, Sonny. They’re right, you know. You did break laws. I broke laws. And yes, we had our reasons, but…”
 
“What?” Rachel.
 
“There has to be a limit. We can’t just break laws when we feel like it or when we don’t have faith in the system, or then where would we be? It’s a recipe for anarchy.”
 
“Slayers are anarchists, you know,” Buffy rejoined. “At least that’s what they used to call us.”
 
He didn’t reply.
 
“Look, Max,” Buffy added. “Usually, we operate outside of your system, not against it. We fight forces that your authorities either can’t fight or don’t know exist. We don’t interfere with the affairs of humans unless they interfere with ours.”
 
“I’d call tonight a big fucking interference,” Stevie grumbled.
 
“I know this, Buffy,” Max stated calmly. “You and Sonny think I don’t know these things… that I don’t understand your world.”
 
“Max, you don’t–“
 
“You’re wrong, Sonny. I do. I get it. I just–“
 
“Don’t like it,” Sonny finished for him.
 
A few moments passed in silence before Max sighed with resignation. “But I am proud of you.”
 
Sonny looked skeptically at her big brother.
 
He gently pushed a fist into her jaw in a mock punch. “You’ve got to be the toughest Colletti ever born, you know that?”
 
A smile flickered across Sonny’s face – fleeting – but detectable.
 
“But I’m still concerned about the ramifications of all this. I mean… I don’t even want to know what kind of damage you girls caused in there.”
 
“Better for you that you don’t,” Mel retorted.
 
“Exactly. Don’t tell me. But whatever you’ve done, it’s sure to come back to haunt us all.”
 
“Not you ,” Sonny insisted. “We’ll keep you out of this as much as we possibly can.”
 
“That may not be up to you, Sonny.”
 
“Well I can attest to their kidnapping me,” Buffy said. “And they know that. And they won’t have an answer for that.”
 
“That’s right,” Pipa offered.
 
“Iduna’s got too much blood on its hands to try to throw the book at us now, Max,” Buffy continued. “And like you guys said. There were witnesses to the hit and run on Spike too.”
 
“Yeah…” Max drew out. “Um… About that. You know, I didn’t see him too well from a distance, and in the dark and all that… but… is it just me, or did that Spike fellow look a little…?”
 
“Different,” finished a chorus of girls.
 
Buffy didn’t say a word.
 
*   *   *   *   *   *
 
“Hello?”
 
“Hey Niblet.”
 
“Oh, thank god. Spike. What–?”
 
“We’ve got her. And she’s fine.”
 
He heard a single sob over the rumbling of the engine.
 
“What is it?” Xander. “Oh god, Dawnie, please–“
 
“She’s fine, Xander,” Spike heard her whisper in the background.
 
“Listen, Niblet. Me and Gina are only two minutes away on the bike and Buffy and the others are in the cop’s car behind us.”
 
“How?”
 
“Just–. Look, I’m telling you now so you can have that bloody door open for me when I get there. The sun is threatening to rise any minute now, so I need to get in there quick.”
 
“Okay. No problem. Is anyone injured?”
 
“Yeah. Gina and Sonny. Not badly, but they’ll need a doctor or Milo tonight.”
 
“Milo?”
 
“I want Precious!” Gina shouted over the engine.
 
“Precious?” Dawn echoed in confusion.
 
“Just get a doctor in, Dawn. Work your magic.”
 
“I’m on it.”
 
True to his word, Spike parked the bike outside the doors of Slayer Central two minutes later and raced Gina through its open doors, seating her gently on the circular sofa in the large common room.
 
Dawn was on the phone, her back turned, and Xander rushed to the aid of the injured Slayer.
 
“Gina, what happened to... Spike!” Xander instantly forgot the injured Slayer. “Holy transformation, Batman!”
 
Spike tensed his jaw.
 
“Just see to the Slayer, Harris, alright?”
 
“Hon!”
 
Distracted, Dawn looked over at Spike as she continued her phone call, then promptly hung up.
 
“Oh.”
 
“Oh?” Xander echoed. “This gets an ‘Oh’?”
 
“Um.”
 
“Nuh uh. This is not an ‘oh’ or an ‘um’, hon. This is a holy-crap-what-the-hell-have-you-done-with-Rory-event!”
 
“Xander, calm down.” Dawn slowly made her way to the sofa and wrapped her arms around Spike’s middle in a hug. He accepted it gratefully, and if it wasn’t the best feeling in the world, to be accepted without question from her, he didn’t know what was.
 
“We’re hugging it now?”
 
“Xander!” She admonished.
 
“Okay, let’s think here.” Xander shook a finger in the air as he walked in circles. “Clearly, they must have snatched Spike at some point and performed some sort of…” He shook one hand frantically. “Experiment of some sort…”
 
“Leave it, Harris.”
 
“Nuh uh.” Xander was smiling, clearly amused by the puzzle. “I’m gonna figure this one out, buster, with or without your help.”
 
Dawn offered a look of apology. “Well, I can see you’re… um… alright. Gina?” Dawn knelt down beside the injured girl.
 
“Just a bullet in the toe. I haven’t gotten around to taking my boot off to investigate it.”
 
Dawn patted her thigh. “Well, let’s do that now.”
 
“Nah. I’mma wait for my shaman. He’ll sort me out.”
 
“Oh. Well, I’ve actually called in a Council doctor. You know, the one who looked after you guys after the Dragvlok attack. He’ll be an hour or so. I can get you some painkillers now though.”
 
“Please,” she moaned.
 
Spike smirked. “What happened to, ‘I’m a Slayer for fuck’s sake, man!’”
 
Dawn arched a brow, and Spiked rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at what had to have been the worst impression of the Slayer ever attempted.
 
Gina couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
 
“A tonic, perhaps?” Xander proposed.
 
Gina frowned with distaste. “No thanks.”
 
“No. You know. Some sort of vampire regeneration tonic or something, one that could–“
 
Spike tipped his head back, exasperated. “For christsake, Harris.”
 
The rest of the Slayers couldn’t have arrived sooner. Max led the group inside with Sonny in his arms, and laid her gingerly on the sofa beside Gina.
 
Buffy followed close behind, and Dawn made a beeline to her sister to embrace her.
 
“Oh, thank god, Buffy!”
 
Buffy squeezed her sister fiercely.
 
“Ow.”
 
“Sorry, Dawnie.”
 
Dawn held on for a full minute though, as the other Slayers poured in, most of them collapsing onto the sofa, while Stevie and Sally headed straight for the kitchen.
 
Releasing her sister, Dawn held Buffy’s face in her hands. “You look remarkably well for all you’ve been through, you know.”
 
Buffy shrugged. “Well I was on my back most of the time.”
 
Dawn looked down at Buffy’s arms, streaked with blood, and then to her bandaged leg.
 
“I’m so sorry, Buffy.”
 
Buffy offered a crooked smile. “Well, they may not even use whatever they took, now that the doctor is dead. And if someone else picks up the research…”
 
“Dead?” Max stood up from Sonny’s side. “You mean you killed someone?”
 
Buffy frowned.
 
“Does it matter?” Spike challenged.
 
Max looked sharply at Spike, now in the light. “What the–?”
 
“My words exactly,” Sally muttered.
 
“What in the world happened to you?” Max exclaimed.
 
Spike walked away.
 
Max looked to the other Slayers. “What’s going on here?”
 
“Toth!” Xander.
 
Everyone looked at the elder Scoobie.
 
“You know. Toth. That demon that split me in two.” He pointed to Spike.” He’s the good half of Spike, see. You know, the…” He waved his hand up and down at Spike’s body. “The beautiful man part.”
 
Spike shifted on his feet and caught Gina covering her mouth in amusement.
 
“That means the ugly demon part of Spike is out terrorizing the streets somewhere!”
 
“Demon?” Max cried. “You mean this guy’s not human?”
 
Silence.
 
“Oops.” Xander quickly took a seat.
 
“I think I’ll go get some medical supplies,” Pipa mumbled as she scurried out of the room.
 
“Bring me some Percoset, Pip!”
 
“Got it!” she hollered back.
 
But Max wouldn’t be silenced. “So what? You’re a vampire or something?”
 
Spike looked at Buffy, who was looking sympathetically at Max.
 
“This is all nuts. I mean. This place… this world.” He put a hand to his brow. “And is no one even remotely interested in going to the hospital?”
 
Silence.
 
Max blew out a breath. “Right. Well. There it is, then, I guess.”
 
“Buff!” Xander exclaimed, diffusing the tension. “Queen of Buffonia! Where’s my hug?” Standing up, Xander opened his arms wide and gathered Buffy into a hug. “So you beat the bad guys, huh? Should we sing and dance?”
 
She shrugged. “I didn’t really. The doctor responsible for it all got shot by her own guard. And the guy that actually kidnapped me got a mace in the head, or so I hear.”
 
“Mace, huh.” Xander cast his one eye on Spike. “Well, I’ll give you that, Rory. You’re a vamp of his word.”
 
“So he is a vampire!”
 
Xander smacked his own forehead with the heel of his palm, then skulked over to his wife. “You know, hon, I think I’m getting too old for all this keeping of secrets. I mean, I can’t remember who knows what anymore.”
 
Dawn looped one arm through his and gave him a supportive pat on the chest.
 
“Yes, well for all of our sakes,” Max responded, “I pray to god the people you didn’t kill tonight decide to keep this secret.”
 
“They will,” Sonny insisted. “It’s like Buffy said, Max. They’re implicated too.”
 
“Yeah, man,” Gina added. “It’s over. Relax already.”
 
Max chuckled bitterly.
 
“Well, I’d say this one’s for the record books, Buff,” Xander quipped, already back to form. “That was the quickest kidnapping and rescue I’ve ever seen in my long and sordid Scooby life. It was all a bit anticlimactic in the end, don’t ya think?”
 
Buffy huffed. “Anticlimactic? There were biopsies! And… and afro machines!”
 
“There were what now?”
 
Buffy looked pointedly at Spike, who quickly ducked his head as his stomach threatened to revolt.
 
Fuck. She’d figured it out.
 
“Well, whatever there was, Buff.” Xander placed a heavy paw on her shoulder and grinned. “What did we say the other night? No weapon forged can kill thee!” 
 
She smiled slightly. “Well we can thank the Slayers for that tonight. They got it done.”
 
“And Spike,” Gina asserted, washing down a Percoset from Pipa.
 
Buffy nodded. “And Sp–”
 
“I’m sleepy,” Tori announced with an exaggerated yawn.
 
“Here, here.” Mel raised a hand in the air. “First dibs on the bathroom, T.”
 
“Hey!”
 
“You snooze you lose,” Mel joked, as she jogged up the staircase. “Great job, team!” she shouted down behind her.
 
Gina sucked her teeth. “Fuckin’ Indies.”
 
“Hey!” Pipa chastised. “They’re coming along. Not so long ago they wouldn’t have stuck around after the fight at all.”
 
“I guess.”
 
“And they helped us big time, rescuing Buffy and everything.”
 
“Yeah, so did Spike,” Gina retorted. “Did they thank him for his trouble?”
 
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist on my account, love,” he said quietly. But the spot in Spike’s heart for Gina grew twofold just then.
 
“Well, I think you’ve all done an amazing job tonight and deserve a good night’s sleep,” Dawn decreed, sounding eerily like Joyce. “The Council doctor is coming soon for anyone with injuries. He might still be an hour or so though, so maybe you guys should rest upstairs until he gets here.”
 
“I’m not hopping up all those stairs,” Gina grumbled. She snapped her fingers. “Yo! Where’s my valet?”
 
Spike pursed his lips and met the Slayer in two easy strides, looking down at her sternly.
 
“Take that back.”
 
“Nope.”
 
He growled.
 
She cackled.
 
“Fine, kitten. Seeing as you can’t handle a stubbed toe and all.”
 
“Try anotha’ one, brotha. I got your number.”
 
He furrowed his brow. “What the hell does that even mean, Gina?”
 
“Just pick me up, grandpa.”
 
Spike narrowed his eyes, but was thoroughly amused by the distraction she was offering him from his grief. He scooped up the six-foot Slayer like she was a ragdoll.
 
“Here. Let me help you up, Sonny,” he heard Max whisper.
 
“Max, you don’t–”
 
“I insist.”
 
Spike caught the eye of the cop who stared back at him coldly. Whatever. Spike was too bloody old to get into a pissing contest with a thirty-year old human. And anyway, he’d win.
 
As Spike walked past the gathered girls, Stevie stepped in his path –
a bucket of ice cream in her hand and a spoon in her mouth. “You know he’s taken, Gina, right?” she garbled.
 
Spike tensed.
 
“Shut up, Stevie.”
 
Stevie laughed instead, and Spike hastened to the stairs, taking them three at a time. “Which room, pet?”
 
Gina pointed and Spike kicked open the door, dropping her unceremoniously on the indicated bed with a poof.
 
“Bastard.”
 
“Baby.”
 
He turned to leave the room.
 
“Spike.”
 
He looked back.
 
“You’re the shit, you know that, right?”
 
He furrowed his brow.  “Is that a good thing?”
 
She grinned. “Yeah, man. A very good thing.”
 
He smirked, though he was grinning like an idiot inside. As he left the room, he heard Buffy speaking to Dawn downstairs.
 
“Well, I guess we should be going.”
 
His heart sank.
 
So it was like that, then. She was going back with her sister.
 
“We’ll need a ride though, Dawn. The sun’s up now, so Spike and I can’t take the bike.”
 
Wait. What?
 
“Excuse me,” Max said harshly.
 
Only then did Spike register that he was blocking the door. Stepping aside, he let Max carry Sonny inside, then descended the stairs.
 
Buffy looked up to him on the stairwell, her face unreadable. “Are you ready?”
 
He gulped. “Yeah.” It was more of a croak than a reply.
 
“Alright then,” Dawn replied. “Pipa, don’t worry about paying the doctor or anything. His name is Dr. Stevenson. He’ll come, do his job, and go. You alright to wait up for him?”
 
“We’ll wait with her,” Stevie replied for her and Sally.
 
“Me too,” Rachel echoed.
 
“Okay.” Dawn grabbed her purse and coat. “You guys take care of each other.”
 
Buffy stepped over to the girls still lounging on the sofa. “Thank you. Again. So much. It means a lot that you came for me.”
 
Pipa smiled. “You’re our leader, Buffy.”
 
No one protested this time.
 
“Well I’m beat, Summers clan,” Xander announced. “Let’s get the heck outta here already. We’ve only got a short car ride to discuss the matter of Bizarro-Spike, you know.”
 
“Not now, dear.”
 
“Dawnie! The guy looks like–“
 
“Maybe if you play nice, Spike will show you his Comptel 5, sweetie.”
 
Xander brightened.
 
“Not likely,” Spike grumbled.
 
“See? He might look like a different beast, hon, but–“
 
“Maybe we can talk about getting a Comptel 5 of our own then?” Dawn attempted.
 
Xander stopped in his tracks, his eyes doubling in size. Placing a meaty arm around his wife’s shoulders, he pulled her close and smiled mischievously. “Now there’s a conversation I’d be happy to have, Mrs. Harris.”
 
 
*     *     *     *     *