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Chapter 21
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"You know, it sounds so much like only one person can go in there to get Buffy out. But from what Illyria says, I don’t see how Spike can kill all three of these Partners. I mean did you see the bashing Illyria just gave to both Angel AND Spike during that sparring session? My girl didn’t even break a sweat and they got tossed around like Raggedy Ann and Andy." Xander shook his head, remembering the practice
session that was mostly about seeing how long the two vampires could remain standing as Illyria flung them about.

Willow and Xander were going over the notes taken from the information Illyria had given them. They were looking at the series of couplets that seemed to indicate that Spike and Spike alone would be the one to battle the three uberdemons.

"Good thing Spike seems to love a good, mismatched fight. Also has plenty of experience getting the stuffing knocked out of him. I mean let’s see,
not counting Buffy, just in the time we’ve known him there’s been lots of whuppin’s. There was Glory, whatever left the mess he was in physically when he was all soul getting, the ubervamp the First Evil sicced on him, that replacement demon when we used the shadow casters, those demons in the alley in L.A… I’m pretty sure there’d be lots more if I thought about it. Then he’s been training with Illyria since
she got here in our world. He’s like this energizer Bunny, he just doesn’t stop." Willow was trying to see the positive side in Spike being the chosen champion.

"True, but except for those alley demons, he only had to face them one at a time. There are three of these, and we don’t even know if it’s all at once. I mean we can
only hope that their egos are so big they’ll want to tag team instead of group attack, but it just sounds too much like a no-win situation for the guy. Don’t
ever say anything, but I’m starting to like him. Don’t really want to see him get trashed and then dusty in a permanent way." The concern showed on Xander’s face.

"I’ve been thinkin’ … he may have to go in alone, but that doesn’t mean we, I mean I, can’t give him some special kinds of weapons and protections. I think what I need to research is how to use a bit of magic to give Spike what he needs to annihilate these guys. I think I’ll go lure Dawn into some serious magic research. Let me take one of these." She picked up a copy of the report of Illyria’s revelations. "I’ll talk more to Illyria about possible defenses, too. If you see your girlfriend, send her into the library, okay?"

"She’s not my girlfriend. But I think I’m both turned on by the idea and scared poopless. Yup, poopless Xander here. I left Anya at the altar because I was afraid I’d be a jerk like my dad and hurt her. I wouldn’t have that luxury with her goddessness. She’d pull out my spine if I didn’t take the trash out fast enough! It would keep me accountable though, no turning into my dad allowed. Do you think I have a shot with Illyria, Will?"

"I think she already likes you or she wouldn’t have decided to have you around. Besides, Cy, you’re a demon magnet, remember? How can she resist the pull? She just has to figure out how that human body operates and emotions, she needs to get a grip on them. It may take a while; but I know you, bubba, you’re a really patient guy. Of course, when her hormones kick in you may want to run for shelter, or
at least put on that puffy suit you used to wear." Willow smiled at the picture that put in her head.

Dawn and Andrew popped in at that point. "Hey, guys, here are the lyrics from that song," Andrew said in greeting. "What’s ‘Tiffany-twisted’ mean? That, like, makes no sense. You know I can’t get this song out of my head now, that is SO unfair."

Willow looked over the lyrics and mused, "Hum…’stabbed it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast’ huh? I wonder if that’s some kind of message that you can’t kill these guys with normal metals? Or…or…maybe you can’t kill them
by stabbing? I feel like I’m grabbing at straws here! If Lilah was right and the Senior Partners were angry about the song, maybe there’s more information here than just the address to the portal."

Andrew raised his hand as if in school and offered, "Want me to get on that? I mean I was already going to try to figure out what this Tiffany-twisted thing’s
all about. Maybe they mean jewelry? Did you ever see ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ with the beauteous yet fragile Audrey Hepburn? She was forced into a doomed marriage of tragedy with Barnaby Jones … you know, Buddy Ebsen. She fell in love with the handsome writer George Peppard, even though she really wanted to marry this rich guy from South America. She was always looking at the fancy jewels at Tiffany’s, see
she …"

"Will you shut him up or shall I?" Angel had come into the room as Andrew began his Roger Ebert imitation. Angel was out of sorts and quite happy to think of hitting someone. Andrew was such an easy target!

Andrew tried to hide behind Xander. "Meep! I’ll just go and see if anyone in our
cipher division can find a hidden message in these, okay?" He backed out of the room and sprinted down the hallway towards the various research divisions of the new Council.

Willow scowled at Angel. "Andrew means well, Angel. He loves Buffy too. She’s sort of the mother/sister/role-model that he has a mad crush on. Did that sound as sick and twisted to everyone else as it did to me? Andrew just falls in love with power and authority of any kind, really. Maybe he’ll stumble onto something useful. It wouldn’t be the first time he did that."

"The way I hear it, he’s a big part of the reason the Immortal got his hooks in Buffy in the first place. I don’t know why you didn’t get rid of him as soon as
you found that out." Angel was outraged when he had heard the way Buffy had been set up using her own inner circle.

Spike limped in shortly behind Angel and had heard much of the conversation. "They’re not like us, Angel. This lot are all about forgiveness and second
chances…least when it comes to humans, that is. Ain’t that right, Red?"

Willow suspected that Spike had his feelings hurt that her walk on the dark side had made barely a ripple on the smooth rivers of friendship with the Scoobies, while he had struggled for acceptance for years without making headway. "It is possible that we’ve had a kind of double standard in the past, Spike, but we’ve been trying to learn from our mistakes. Growing up seems to involve a lot of embracing that grey area. It’s kinda murky and scary. We fought it as long as possible, but maturity wound up happening in spite of ourselves." She smiled at Spike and tried to show in
her expression that he WAS forgiven and considered one of the team.

"Good thing, too, ‘cause by the time maturity did hit, we all pretty much needed forgiving. We made some colossal screw ups, right, Will?" Xander felt sorry for Andrew when all was said and done. He remembered more than one time when his own immaturity had put Buffy in danger, even from himself. He still couldn't go near the Hyena areas of any zoo he visited, maybe never would.

"Well, I did try to destroy the entire world. That’s pretty big in anybody’s book. My kill count would have topped both you guys easily if Xander hadn’t stopped me." Willow looked at Spike and Angel as she said this. She hadn’t really thought
about it before, but it was humbling to realize the truth of what she had just said. "I had a soul, too, so that’s not the important thing. Suddenly I feel kinda sick and more than a little dirty."

Spike felt bad for opening old wounds in the witch. He had always sorta liked her and didn’t really want to hurt the girl or remind her of her spectacular failure at expressing grief. "No need to get all maudlin, Red. You’re makin’ a splendid comeback handlin’ the dark in ya’. Gotta take it one choice at a time, luv, that’s all. You’ve been doin’ fine."

Willow wished she’d had time to talk to Spike that year after her return from the brink of disaster. No doubt his insights would have helped her heal and learn much faster. ‘Okay, I should have MADE time. We all just kept away from him when he came back all crazy and soul having. Well, Buffy didn’t, but the rest of us did’, she thought with no small regret. The more she was getting to know Spike, the more she liked him and realized that, in many ways, he was not so different with the soul as he was before getting his soul back." Maybe when they had Buffy back safely, she’d seek him out for some much delayed soul baring. Tara would have liked that, she had always tried to get Willow to see the good in Spike.

"So what was Jar-Jar Binks going on about anyway? Heard m’ sire threaten him before the boy went off to change his trousers. He come up with anything useful?" Spike knew that Andrew had stumbled onto useful information more than once since he began to associate with the Slayer and her group.

"He was just being Andrew, you know, sidetracked by Hollywood The whole world is one big movie to him. Some things don’t change, or at least they haven’t yet. He was trying to see if there might be anything useful in the lyrics of ‘Hotel California’, got hung up on the Tiffany-twisted line and … bam … landed the whole conversation in the middle of an Audrey Hepburn movie. Angel doesn’t exactly have patience with youthful exuberance," Xander explained.

"Like you said, some things don’t change," Spike replied, looking at Angel.

"Hey, I taught you well enough that you survived over a century. You were even able to keep Dru safe and sound, thanks to me toughening you up. You would’ve been dust that first week if I hadn’t," Angel said defensively.

"You may have a point, but that wasn’t your motive and we both know it. Back off the boy, he’s not some fledge you can take and mold. The Watcher’s doin’ the job just fine without any help from you." Spike had no idea why he felt so fiercely protective of Andrew. There were parts of the awkward boy that reminded him
of William, and of Xander, too, he had to admit. That thought made Spike more than a little uncomfortable to acknowledge even to himself.

"Ok, guys, how about we divide up the research between Willow, Xander and me. I think Angel and Spike will be too busy training with Illyria for the big fight."
Dawn had grown weary of all the old business that seemed to have floated to the surface lately. All she wanted was to get Buffy back. There would be plenty
of time then for could’ves, should’ves, and would’ves. She had her share of those too, if she were honest with herself. The timing wasn’t right though. "Priorities, people!"

"Bit’s right, as usual lately. Right scary, too, her bein’ the level headed one. Makes me twitchy." Spike pretended to shy away from Dawn making a cross with
the index fingers of his hands as if to ward off a vampire.

"Watch out, you dope, you’re liable to set yourself on fire! Didn’t anyone tell you not to play with crosses? Angel, seems you failed after all." Xander was smiling widely at the wonderful opportunity to insult both vampires in a single quip.

Willow laughed lightly and then agreed with Dawn, "Okay, Dawnie’s right. Andrew’s on the song lyrics, I’m working on weapons and charms for the fight itself. Xander, how about you dig into all the myths you can find about the different gods the Partners pretended to be. There might be battles recorded that they nearly lost
and we can use the information to see what nearly worked and what didn’t. Dawnie, why don’t you look at Giles’ translations of those scroll prophecies to see if there are any more hints there. Angel, you and Spike should go get some dinner, then get back in there with Illyria. Think Rocky I and train, train, train. Goddess, now I’m starting to think like Andrew!! When Giles gets back, we’ll see if we need to redistribute the workload. I think we need to be prepared before we make any moves to take them on. I think we’ll only get one shot at this."



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A/N
There is a Hotel California in Baja Californiz, Mexico. They tried to claim the song was written about it after a visit made by Don Henley in the 60's...that was only an Urban legend, sadly enough. In legal papers, Mr. Henley denies ever having been to, or aware of the existance of this hotel. Sigh....it's a cool looking place though and has the story online if you google it.

Thanks to lyrics online via google:

*lyrics for Hotel California (Don Henley, writer)
for anyone interested*


"Hotel California"
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Bends (yes, spelled that way)
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls
friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since
nineteen sixty-nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They’re livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our
own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave!