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Chapter 31
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The flight had been remarkably smooth if nearly silent. As they soared over the Western Rocky Mountains, however, turbulence was the order of the day. They were all heartily glad that their last meal had long settled or the situation could have proven dire.

"Ow! Ow! Owie!" The plantive cry was muffled yet still audible to all. It seemed to come from one of the overhead storage bins. The private jet had four of these areas that were so useful for the storage of blankets and pillows.

"Fe fi fo fum … I smell the blood of a boy that’s dumb." Xander knew just who had made those three exclamations. "Andrew, don’t you think you’d be more comfortable down here and not bent up in a stuffy carry-on stash? It’s not like we’re gonna toss you out of the plane, after all."

"Mr. Giles might." The watcher-in-training whined from inside the bin. "I was supposed to stay at headquarters to answer calls, but it’s not fair for me not to be here." In spite of his word choice, Andrew didn’t sound like a petulant child.

Robin Wood opened the bin and helped Andrew extricate himself from the blanket he had wrapped himself in to hide. Wood and Xander helped the boy out and prevented him from falling head first to the cabin floor.

"Andrew, you’ve got to learn to obey orders, man. This isn’t some vacation that Mom and Dad decided you had to stay home from. Technically only Spike, here, needs to be along for this ride." Xander nodded his head in the direction of the visibly amused vampire. "We’re here as back-up muscle and that’s not exactly your talent."

"It’s not that." Andrew took a deep breath and stood up straight as he began to explain his actions. "It’s my fault that Eduardo got close enough to take Buffy. This is my mess; I caused it and should be there to help fix it. You guys don’t know what it’s like. Every day I remember what I did and come up with all kinds of ways I should have acted without putting Buffy in danger. I used to get really depressed when we didn’t know what he’d done with her, if she was alive and all. Now we know, and I can help undo what I did. Please, guys, don’t shut me out?"

Spike tilted his head and stared at the boy before speaking. "Lad’s got a point. Gonna weigh on him if he’s not part of this. Won’t matter how much we tell him it’s not just his fault. He’s gotta try to be part of it. Like he said once before, redemption’s hard, and I DO get that. Bit late to send him back anyway."

"Thank you, Spike! You won’t be sorry. I can be useful. Just watch! None of you’ll regret it." Andrew went to hug his uncomfortable champion.

"Well, see that we don’t, yeah?" Spike answered and backed away from his one man fan club.

~~~

The group decided to set up headquarters in the same small town that offered the hotel of Eagle’s song fame. It didn’t seem to be a good plan to announce their arrival by actually using that exact hotel, or any other, for that matter.


Andrew proved himself of use from the start. He and Caridad went into town looking for some property that could be rented. They posed as a young couple thinking of setting up a small business with room above to live in. The rest of the group laid low, out of sight. They waited for word that a place had been found that could avoid detection by the senior partners.

Andrew found the perfect place and, thanks to Caridad and her command of the language and natural flirtatious nature, got it at a good price. They rented a small storefront to serve the need for a training room and sleeping quarters. A small
apartment on the second floor provided for cooking and bathing necessities for the group. Giles and Willow set up a communications center in the bedroom of the apartment, while the small parlor would serve for meetings and communal eating. Their new headquarters weren’t quite as spacious as the old room behind the Magic Box but served the purpose well enough.

Spike was taking on a minimum of four opponents each time he sparred to try to keep it matched in the way they anticipated it might be in the other dimension. The routine was for Spike to prepare for multiple adversaries in battle. Any fewer combatants he might actually face in the other reality would only make the job easier for the vampire.

Spike was feeling the way he imagined Olympic athletes felt when preparing for their moment of glory. "Bugger that," muttered Spike, "the last bit of jewelry I wanted to prove myself a champion didn’t turn out so good for this vamp. Think I’ll skip the whole medal wearin’ analogy this go-round."

~~~

The young slayers were having a late snack in the parlor and trading rumors and fantasies about Buffy’s colorful history with vampires. Happily, the vampires in question were downstairs beating each other to a pulp.

Giles was beginning to think bringing all these girls along wasn’t the best idea he had ever had. It was rather like being thrust into a girls’ slumber party. The giggles and whispered gossip were enough to make Ripper want to pay the lot of them a visit. Even Dawn regressed to a chatty teen in the company of the slayers.

"Come on, Dawn, tell us! I heard that he was really romantic and mushy." Naomi had not been in Sunnydale when the First had been the Enemy du Jour. Stories had been told throughout the slayer school in London of Spike’s love for Buffy and his dying as her champion. As with all third-hand reports, there had been plenty of embellishment as the story was passed from girl to girl.

"Actually, he was wacky and scary when he came back from Africa. I mean right after Spike got his soul, the First started to screw with his mind. He was killing again and didn’t even know it. Spike was a regular Manchurian Vampire for a while. Then he was captured by the First and beaten worse than even Glory had done. Nothing romantic there, believe me! Later we were all too busy trying to stay alive for much
romance." Dawn tried to sidestep discussing her sister’s messed-up love life.

"Actually, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife," offered Andrew. This instantly made him the center of all interest to the group of wide-eyed girls. "It was plain for everyone to see that the Slayer of Vampyres was yearning for the chance to take the Noble Vampire away for some private moments. The Slayer tenderly cared for her battered secret love. Most of her free time was spent at his side, sharing the cares of the day and escaping the trials of the moment. Both our heroes were too dedicated to the mission to do more than gently touch each other and gaze longingly, though. Alas, when the enemy was defeated, the brave yet sun-challenged hero sacrificed his very existence so his lady love could live freely and find happiness without him. As fate would have it, the pair were cruelly kept apart by circumstances after the hero was rewarded with his return to life, or unlife, again." Andrew was warming up to the topic the more attention given to him by the lovestruck girls. "The tragic heroine, so successful in battle yet challenged in matters of the heart, never knew her soulmate was back. He nobly refused to interfere with the life she had built on the ashes of his sacrifice."

"I heard he sent Buffy out of the Hellmouth at the last minute. He said something like, ‘cor blimey, luv, I’m just an old vampire and you’re a beautiful young woman with your whole life ahead of you. You must live.’ And then he kissed her and sent her away while he died." TaLisha sighed at the imagery.

"Oh, for heaven sakes!" Giles got up and crossed the room to the table. "I wish you would all stop this annoying treacle at once! As for those last words in the Hellmouth, I must say that as much as Spike does massacre the Queen’s English and as vulgar as his speech generally is, I have never heard him utter a single ‘cor’, much less ‘blimey’, in all the years I have known him! Have you not listened to anyone speak since you’ve been in London? Have none of you listened to SPIKE speak for that matter? No, from what I was told, Spike quite sensibly suggested that Buffy needed to get out of the collapsing Hellmouth while he completed his mission."

"Not quite as simple as that from where I stood," Faith joined in. "Buffy tried to get him to take off the necklace and book out of there. Things were happening wicked fast and everything was falling down around us. They held hands and flamed up while I was yelling at B to get her ass in gear. You could see the look on her face though…man, she was torn."

Dawn continued the story. "She finally told Spike that she loved him, but he said she didn’t and made her leave him there to finish closing the Hellmouth. I never knew that until months later when I heard her crying one night. She hated thinking that Spike died not knowing that she really meant it when she said the ‘I love you’. Butthead should have believed her; it’s not like she says it easily or anything."

No one had seen the vampire under discussion and his sire come into the room. Angel, however, was the one to speak. "She actually said the words?"

"Yeah. Right there at the end." Spike admitted.

"You never told me she said the words! Damn, she really does care about you. Dawn’s right, I was the only one she ever said those words to without choking. I can’t believe you didn’t rip the necklace off and run out of there with Buffy if she actually said the words." Angel stared at Spike in amazement.

"Knew she’d stay if I didn’t make her leave. Wasn’t her time; it was mine. Didn’t go to all that trouble just to watch her burn up and get buried under her hometown. Anyone want to explain to me why my last brush with the eternal’s under discussion here?" Spike asked the girls. He had missed all but the last part of the conversation, much to Andrew’s relief.

"Oh, just girls and their idea of high romance, that’s all," Nina laughed lightly and placed a sweet kiss on Angel’s cheek. "Not every girl gets lucky enough to have her very own vampire, you know. So they speculate. Relax, Ernie, I didn’t start with any of my stories, not yet anyway. I think they might love the story about that first date and your removable parts though…" Nina giggled as Angel, looking aghast, pulled her from the room.

"Removable parts? What parts were removable?" Andrew was beside himself with curiosity.

Spike was grateful to have the attention of the hormonally charged girls shift away from him for the moment. He was really starting to like Wolf Girl more and more!

"Yes, well, I suggest we all turn in and get some much needed sleep. Spike, the blood is warmed and ready, so you can recoup from tonight’s practice battles. Are you certain you want to enter the dimension tomorrow? No one will object if you wish to prepare further." Giles looked directly at the battle-weary vampire in front of him.

"No. Tired of waitin’. Want to get on with this. Get Buffy back with her little sis where she belongs. Don’t know just what I’ll be facin’, but all these mock battles can’t get her back, only the real thing. Time to do what we came for." Spike headed for the kitchenette and drank the healing blood. He was never very patient to begin with and when it came to Buffy, even less so. Time to face whatever it was going to take to rescue the woman he would always love.

Dawn had been watching Spike, noting how tired and worried he looked. She had just retold what she knew of that last battle in Sunnydale, the one where they had
lost Spike while winning the war. It was so wonderful having him back in her life and now he was going to go off and play the hero again. Dawn couldn’t stand the thought that she might lose him again.

"I’m not doing this again! I like to believe that I learn from my mistakes." Dawn had a look of determination on her face as she made the announcement, apropos of nothing.

"What’s that, Bit?" Spike asked, since the only thing certain was that Dawn’s words had been directed at him.

"In Sunnydale, before you closed the Hellmouth, I held it in, kept it up." Spike still looked completely puzzled as Dawn continued. "I was so mad at you for leaving the summer before. Yeah, I was pissed at what went down between you and Buffy, but I was really mad that you left me without even a note good-bye. It was like I didn’t matter at all. I was just Buffy’s little sis that you pretended to care about to get to her. You finally came back all crazy and I wanted to make you hurt, too. I was really nasty to you all that time, even that day when we headed for the High School and the last battle. I thought there’d be time later, after…you know. But there
wasn’t an after. Well, there was, but I didn’t know about it. Then when I did see you again, I found out that I almost lost you again in that alley in L.A. I’ve learned, Spike.

"You’re getting ready to go in and fight these three Super Big Bad’s all by yourself. I won’t let you go in there without making sure we’re all clear. I won’t wait to say stuff for some ‘later’ that might not come. Being bratty to you, especially after it was clear that Buffy wasn’t all freaked by you being around her, was wrong. Trying to hurt you when you were already obviously hurting was wrong. That was the worst thing I’ve ever done and I won’t let myself do that again."

Spike tilted his head slightly, then gently tucked some whisps of Dawn’s hair behind her ear. "Bit, that’s all ancient history. Hell, that’s older than I am! It also isn’t the worst thing you’ve ever done."

"What do you mean? I can’t think of anything meaner I ever did to anyone." Dawn was happy Spike didn’t seem to hold any bad feelings for her turning her back on
him in the months between his ensouling and the end of Sunnydale. Still, the way he had said it made her sure that he had something to spill out of the worm can that was their collective past.

"Not just you, Bit, the whole lot of you Sunnydale crew," Spike began.

"Now, Spike, I find it quite unfair for you to hold everyone responsible for my decision to eliminate you that way. Only Robin and I were involved, surely you know that." Giles had been listening to the conversation and felt a prick of conscience at the reminder of those troubled times.

"Not talkin’ ‘bout that. I get THAT. Didn’t like it much but could see your way of thinkin’ even back then. Told you that. Would’ve staked myself if I thought I’d be a threat to Buffy back then. Thought about it after the First said its piece about it ‘not bein’ my time yet.’

"No, I’m talkin’ ‘bout all of you tossin’ the Slayer out when you didn’t like the way she was leadin’. I mean here she was openin’ her house to every potential slayer on the planet you could dump on her, feedin’ ‘em, sharin’ with ‘em, trainin’ ‘em and most of all, protectin’ ‘em. You lot seemed to forget that last bit. Protectin’ ‘em. The First was out there plannin’ to do away with the whole slayer line, Buffy included. The town was crawlin’ with Bringers and those bleedin’ cave-vamps, all out lookin’ for anyone slayer-like to off. So all of you decide that’s the right time to toss Buffy out on the street? Where was HER protection? Who was gonna make sure she was okay?

"None of you seemed to get it, how vulnerable she was. You just turned her out of her own house while the town was occupied by the enemy and elected yourself a new leader. The least you could’ve done was let her stay safe in her own home, the home she was payin’ the bleedin’ mortgage on. That was the worst thing any of you ever did. I hope you all managed to apologize to her after for countin’ her life so cheap then."

"I never wanted to be in charge. I was against tossin’ B out, but we had a mutiny on our hands there. She was cool about it, all things considered. Told me not to be afraid to lead the girls. Look, loverboy, we were all tense. No one wanted B hurt. I made sure we kept an eye on her, watched her back and all." Faith still felt guilty about the coup d’etat that had left her a reluctant general.

"You already made your position clear on that decision when you beat up on Faith afterwards," Robin stood up for his lady.

"She started it. Wanted to beat on more than just the Cowgirl at the time. Back down, Black Beauty, your rider’s safe enough from me now. Still think the lot of you owe Buffy for that bit of betrayal." Spike was angry all over again at the memory of how vulnerable and lost they had left his Slayer.

Faith flushed at the reference to her come-ons to Spike, both in Buffy’s body and hinted at in the basement when she had arrived to join the battle against the First Evil. "Hey, Bleach Boy, let’s just tone it down. No point in getting all pissy the night before the battle. We’re all on the same side here. You’re right, it was wicked dangerous to let B leave like that. Lots of bad choices went down about that time, we were all doin’ the stupid. What say we close the book on that whole deal, at least until B’s back here to put in her own two cents?"

Dawn had started to cry quietly during the discussion. "I’m the one. I told her to leave. I think she would have stayed, maybe even fought for her plan, if I hadn’t said what I did. I was scared. I was so afraid she was going to go back to the vineyard and get killed. I guess I hoped she’d be out of the battle and safe or something. I never even thought about how dangerous it was out there. I’m a bad sister."

"Hey, Bit, none of that!" Spike felt ashamed for making his Niblet cry. It was all old history, after all. "Buffy never held it against you. I’m sure she knew you weren’t wanting her to get hurt. Don’t listen to me. When have I ever made any sense, eh? I’m just the lovesick vamp, right? Don’t cry, sweeting, you break my heart when you cry."

Dawn went into Spike’s outstretched arms and let out all the emotion she had been holding in for what seemed like years. He held her close and whispered nonsense into her hair as the rest of the group headed downstairs, leaving them alone.

"I’m sorry, Bit. Should cut out my tongue, I should. Never meant to hurt you. I’m a bad, rude man. Don’t cry. I’ll get big sis out and home and she can kick my ass for upsettin’ you in front of everybody, okay?"

Dawn sniffled and ran her hands through her tear wet hair. "No, you were right, Spike. Don’t apologize. That was the worst thing any of us did. You bring her home and we’ll finally get that chance to make it up to her, okay? We’ll all get a chance to fix our screw-ups. I know she wants another chance to talk to you, too. We can all jump out of the Nile together and grow up, start fresh. But Spike, you have to come back, too, you know. I can’t lose you again. Neither can Buffy. Besides, who else has the guts to call us all on our stupidity? We’ve all missed you, Spike."

"Yeah, well, your loss was Angel’s gain. Musta been a reason for my being sent back to him. Course, I had lots of stupidity to point out to that merry group, too," Spike teased. "My lot in life, I suppose, pointin’ out the error in ways to the lesser folk."

Dawn playfully tapped his arm and walked with Spike towards the stairs. "So…tell me about those removable parts Nina hinted at!"