CHAPTER TEN
 
 
While Giles devoted the following morning to phone calls with the Council, exchanging information about the commandos and their organization in Sunnydale, Buffy used his computer to do some online furniture shopping. She’d given Giles as much information about what had gone on in the labs as she could remember, leaving it to him to share whatever he felt he could without having to explain his sources.
 
She found some relatively inexpensive bedroom and living room furniture as well as a nice rug and ordered them using Giles’s credit card. After providing the information about where to deliver them, she checked the Sunnydale page to see what, if anything, it said about the explosion at the college.  All she saw was a cryptic headline indicating there had been some slight damage done to the school’s “science labs” but nothing about the Initiative or Lowell House. She closed it up with a sigh.
 
“I suppose the story about all those escaping demons is going to be ‘gangs on PCP’,” she muttered as Giles hung up the phone.
 
“I presume it will. However, we know better, don’t we?”
 
“We do. But unless the Council can come up with a way to shut the Initiative down—”
 
“I believe that to be in the works even as we speak,” Giles said. “I suspect there will be visitors from the US Army here shortly, and a subsequent loss of a certain fraternity at the university.”
 
“Well…. good.” She gave Giles a small grin.  “Does that mean Spike and I can take the rest of the year off?  After we take care of the Gentlemen and the demons that want to open the hellmouth.  Speaking of which, did you look them up yet? The Gentlemen, I mean.”
 
“Rather nasty pieces of work, but I presume you know how to prevent them from almost succeeding?”
 
“I think so. I know where they were storing the hearts in my time, so if I just wait there for everyone to lose their voices, I can smash the box and start screaming before they have a chance to kill anybody.”
 
“Where was William the Bloody during this time?”
 
Buffy frowned. “I don’t really know… Oh, yeah. He was staying at Xander’s because you wanted privacy for you and whats-her-name—”
 
“Olivia.”
 
“Olivia. Right.  Anyway, he was staying at Xander’s already. I guess he just stayed there. I remember he went with us to fight the hellmouth-opening-wannabes—” 
 
“Vahrall demons,” Giles put in. “I believe that is what you were dealing with.”
 
“Yeah, them.   But Spike was wearing Xander’s clothes, so Riley and his men didn’t recognize him as their escaped chippee. That’s when he found out he could hurt demons. He was so excited!”  She caught Giles looking at her with wide eyes.  “Um… I guess you had to be there… But that’s when he started helping us… a little bit.”
 
“A little bit?”
 
“Well…” Buffy squirmed and made a face. “Mostly he just wanted to fight and kill things, and since he couldn’t hurt humans, he settled for demons and vamps.  And hanging out with me was his best shot at finding them.”
 
“Is this when he began to develop… affection… for you?”
 
Buffy snorted. “He likes to say so, but he just means he wanted to—you know what? I have no idea. You should probably ask him that question. I was all about my new boyfriend and his cool job. I really wasn’t paying much attention to Spike, to be honest. He couldn’t hurt anybody, and sometimes he was helpful – if we paid him – and he and Riley already couldn’t stand each other, so….”
 
“I don’t understand why he didn’t leave here and go somewhere where he might have had that chip removed.”
 
“Neither do I, but he didn’t. He stayed here and hung around enough that we all got used to him. He just became somebody we knew … who happened to live in a crypt.”
 
Giles shook his head and sat down at his desk. Taking out a pen and pulling a notebook closer, he said, “In addition to the Gentlemen, the Vahrall demons, and Ethan, what else you can think of that I should probably know about for the rest of this year?”
 
Buffy frowned. “Honestly? I think that might be about it. I mean, once Riley figured out that Maggie really did try to kill me, and then Adam killed her…. it was all pretty much Adam from then on. I think Spike tried to get Adam to take his chip out, but he didn’t do it. Adam was creating more cyborgs made up from demons, humans and mechanical parts. He was going to make Riley one, and me, but we got away.”  Buffy shook herself.  “Anyway, if Adam blowing up is what set off all those alarms, it shouldn’t be a problem now. That’s what I meant about Spike and I taking the rest of the year off. We can rest up for Glory.’
 
“I believe you may be overlooking another potential problem.”  He stared at her until she got his meaning.
 
“Oh no. No. I think Willow’s going to be… I mean, she was pretty cheerful last night and she told me she was glad I made her fix the spell—”
 
“The spell is still in place,” he reminded her. “She was not willing to give it up.”
 
“Well… yeah. But she made it so she can’t accidentally make all men poopheads or anything like that.”
 
“That sounds suspiciously like something that could have happened….”
 
Buffy cleared her throat and gave him a weak smile. “Well, yeah. It could have. But it didn’t because she made it so she can only use the spell to save the world or one of us—”
 
“No, she did not. She was quite clear that it had to be something important. Important, I would presume, to her. There’s no way to know what that may be should she become angry with one of us again.”
 
“Boy, you and Spike sure know how to spoil a good solution,” Buffy grumbled. “Let’s see how it goes for awhile. It would really be nice to have that power available when we need it next year. But if it looks like it might be too dangerous….”
 
“There will be little we can do about it,” Giles said. “Short of bringing in magical reinforcements from the Council. And if we take the power from her by force….”
 
“She’ll never trust any of us again. I know. We can’t do much about it, but Tara might be able to. She was a really good influence on Willow for a long time.”
 
“Not good enough to prevent her from pulling you back to life.”
 
“No. She couldn’t talk her out of that—but I think she tried. Willow told them I was in hell. She really did think she was doing something good. She just had to do some bad stuff to do it….” Buffy shook herself. “And it won’t matter this time, because I’m not going to die and if I do, Spike won’t let her resurrect me. So no dark magic, no… other stuff that was bad.”
 
Buffy got up and wandered around the apartment.  “I was really only kidding about Spike and me taking the year off – but we need to figure out how to stop some of those other things I guess.  Ethan Rayne, for instance.” She pointed her finger at Giles. “You don’t go out for drinks with him. Don’t eat or drink anything he’s been near.” She stopped and grinned. “Unless you want to be a Fyral demon for a night. And run around Sunnydale with Spike scaring people.  I promise not to stab you this time.”
 
“Very funny. And no.”  He shook his head. “I can try to avoid eating or drinking anything Ethan may have been able to put a spell on, but there’s no guarantee he won’t find another way to create havoc.”
 
“No, but we know where to find him this time, so —crap. That’s not going to work.”
 
Giles stared at her inquiringly.
 
“In our time, I was dating Riley and we just turned Ethan over to the Initiative. We won’t be able to do that this time.”
 
“Then I will just have to convince him it is in his own best interest to leave Sunnydale and not return….” Giles suddenly looked much more like the Ripper than he had in a long time.
 
“Ooookaaayyyy. Then I’ll just point you to where he is and let you handle it.”
 
“Does this happen soon?”
 
“Um…. I don’t think so?  It’s hard to remember when things happened, or even that they did if they weren’t world-ending.  I guess I should tell you about Faith, just in case….”
 
“Faith?”
 
“Yeah, she comes out of the coma at some point and she has this crystal that the Mayor left for her that lets her change bodies with me.  It was a whole big body swapping thing. The police arrested me when I was in her body, but then the Council’s slayer-catching guys took over and I had to get away from them and convince you guys that I was me…. But I know to watch out for it this time. I won’t touch the crystal, and I’ll have Spike with me for when I have to fight her…. And maybe I can warn Mom….” 
 
She flopped into the easy chair and glared at Giles. “This is going to be trickier than I thought, isn’t it? When Faith went to jail, she kind of did it on her own because something made her feel bad or something – I dunno. We haven’t talked about it a lot, but something about being me for a while gave her a different outlook on things. Eventually…. Maybe that won’t happen if she doesn’t have that experience….”
 
“And we still have no idea what all this changing of potential dangers is going to do to your timeline.  I really do suspect that it won’t change who you and Spike are… but I cannot guarantee that for you. Your journey to this place in your life has been a result of every experience you’ve had – of everything that has happened to you. And to Spike.”
 
Buffy slumped back in her chair and closed her eyes. “So, what are you saying? I should just cancel the furniture because any second I’m going to disappear and be Spike-hating me again?”
 
Giles shook his head, staring at her with sympathy. “I truly have no idea. And I am continuing to research things, but this is not ‘normal’ time travel – if such a thing can even be said to exist. You are not visiting an earlier time in which you and Spike are having all the experiences that led you to where you were when you agreed to return. You have replaced yourselves. You have changed things simply by existing in this time. You are not merely observers of events, you are a part of them. Even if you could make yourselves adhere exactly to what you can remember of events from your timeline, your very presence has already changed something very basic about it.”
 
“Awesome,” Buffy groaned then brightened. “Then it might not matter what we do. We’re already screwed, so we might as well fix as many things as we can while we can.”
 
“And that may be what the Powers have in mind by sending you back so soon rather than waiting until you’re actually needed to prevent the major event that permitted the First Evil to rise.  As we’ve already seen, you appear to be able to change some things, but you may or may not be able to prevent them entirely. Willow’s spell did not occur exactly when or how it did in your time, but she did do it. It is now up to us to hope we can guide her in a safer path than perhaps she followed in your time.”
 
Buffy frowned. “Well, it was bringing me back that sent her looking into dark magic – at least that’s what she told me when we talked about it a little bit last year. And then she kind of got into it more when she de-ratted Amy—”
 
“Excuse me?”
 
“Um… probably not something she shared with you? She accidentally made a girl we went to high school with – you remember the witch that tried to kill me? Well, Amy was her daughter and, totally by accident I think, Willow turned her into a rat, and she hasn’t been able to figure out how to change her back… although she might be able to now if she uses her safe word….” At seeing Giles’s frown, Buffy added, “But she probably shouldn’t do that, should she? Cause it’s not world-ending or anything, and Amy was a really bad influence on her when she finally got de-ratted, and I’m just not going to mention it to Willow….”
 
Giles sighed heavily. “Can you see why having this much power might be a bad thing for an inexperienced witch like Willow? “
 
“I get it, Giles. I really do.  Trust me, nobody wants Willow to not be able to use those magics any more than I do.  But she went to the dark magic before Amy started influencing her. It was her own idea. And nobody really knew what she had to do to be able to work that spell to bring me back. All we know is that it was bad stuff and it changed her.”
 
“I have some idea,” Giles muttered.
 
“Really? From your Ripper days?” Buffy sat up alertly.
 
“I’d rather not discuss it. I’d also rather Willow never learned the possible consequences of that kind of dabbling…”
 
“Well, given how bad she kicked my ass, and yours, I might add… I’d rather she didn’t learn it either.”
 
Giles frowned at her. “Has this anything to do with Spike’s comment about her ending the world? And if neither one of us could stop her, what did?”
 
“Xander.” Buffy waited for his reaction. When she got the appropriate disbelieving stare she nodded. “Believe it or not. He talked her down somehow.”
 
“Dear Lord….”
 
“Ya know what? You really ought to come up another catch phrase. Like… I dunno. Something else British but that I haven’t heard a gazillion times already?”
 
“I don’t suppose Spike would be willing to share ‘bloody hell’….” he mused, half-seriously.
 
“Nope. He’s got dibs on that one. You’ll have to come up with something else.”
 
“I’ll see what I can do. God forbid you become bored with my response to your increasingly shocking revelations.”
 
Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. “Or, we could just keep it all to ourselves and let you run around Sunnydale snorting and babbling in demon language.”
 
“Quite. I apologize for my sarcasm.” He reached for his notepad. “Shall we try to see what needs adding to this list? We have, in addition to the Gentlemen and the Vahrall demons, Ethan, and Faith emerging from her coma. Do we have any idea when that occurs?”
 
Buffy shook her head. “Not really. I mean, it’s after that other stuff, and after I’d been dating Riley for a while, I guess, but I can’t even remember when that happened. I mean, right now, we’re just flirting with the idea of dating. At least I am—was—but he might be more….Gah!”
 
“Given his attempt to capture you, I would suggest that he may no longer be interested in a romantic relationship.”
 
“Probably not, but you never know. Depends on what he learned about slayers and how much of it he believes. If he sounds reasonable, I might bring him to meet you. If he doesn’t….”
 
“If he doesn’t, I believe you may have to view him as one of the unexpected hazards of this time in your life here.”
 
“I suppose so. Turns out he and Spike already don’t like each other… which, in Spike’s case is based on history, but Riley had no reason not to take Spike at face value.  Of course, now that he’s seen how strong Spike really is… and watched him fight…. This is starting to suck. Adam or no Adam.”
 
“Which, I might add, we are not really sure about yet. All we know is that something happened in their labs that set off the alarms.”
 
“You don’t think Willow’s spell worked?”
 
“I suspect it did. But I would be much happier to learn the true situation just in case.”
 
“Well, let’s hope Riley comes around then,” Buffy said. “Cause right now, he’s our best shot at—”
 
Giles went to his ringing phone and picked it up. “Yes? Rupert Giles here.  Oh, Joyce. How are you?  How was your trip? Yes, yes she is fine. In fact she is right here. One moment, please.” He put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Your mother heard about the explosion and was worried about you. Have you not spoken to her recently?”
 
Buffy shook her head, ignoring his disapproving frown, and took the receiver from him.
 
“Hi, Mom. No, I'm fine. Willow and I were just getting ready to have lunch when the alarms went off, so we…. Yes, I guess I should have. I’m just not used to thinking about—Right. I was planning to come over this afternoon to get something from my room. I’ll just wait for you to get home, Okay?”
 
She handed the phone back with a sigh.
 
“I’m going to go see Mom. I think I’m going to have to tell her about us. I don’t want her freaking out if Spike shows up to protect her from something like the Gentlemen’s minions. And it’ll be a lot easier on her if she understands that I’m not her college freshman daughter anymore, but a grown woman who’s had to take on a lot of—” She stopped and shuddered. “I hope I can handle this without having to tell her she’s going to die next year.”
 
“I strongly suggest you do not make that part of your conversation. Not now, anyway. Perhaps never. If you can prevent it from happening, she never needs to know; and if you cannot prevent it, I don’t think she would be well-served by knowing it’s coming, do you?  If I understood you correctly, it was quite sudden?”
 
“Yes. It was. No pain, no worry, just poof – gone.” Buffy sighed. “Okay, I'm off to talk to her. I’ll check in tonight. Maybe Riley will be willing to talk to me by then.”