Life Eternal

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Feedback: Like it lots.

Summary: 7 years after the end of Angel, The First Evil has joined forces with Wolfram and Hart to take over our realm. The Scoobies and what's left of the AI team need any and all help they can get to defeat this new threat, especially since Buffy has been missing for the past three years. This story will be Spuffy eventually, but there is another woman in Spike's life up until then.

This story is probably going to be pretty dark and depressive so be warned.
Thank you, Kyra

Chapter 1 Reunions

The dark club was packed tight with humans and demons alike, over the loud speakers a DJ was mixing The Misfits with a heavy dance beat while scantily clad dancers moved sensuously in cages scattered throughout the main room.

Three figures made their way carefully around the edge of the dance floor each scanning the room, searching for someone.

"They choose to live in this place?" The female shouted to the large man next to her, so she could be heard over the pounding music. With the flashing colored lights it was hard to tell whether the blue on her skin and in her hair was natural or a result of the lighting.

"They own this place, from what I understand, they live above it." He answered her, his eyes never stopped their movement around the room. Occasionally, they would flash a glowing amber color, as he peered into the dark corners he couldn’t see with his regular senses.

A large scaled demon with three eyes and long fangs swayed drunkenly into the group. He growled at them menacingly, but even though it wasn’t their fault they quickly backed away not wanting to draw attention to themselves until they found who they had come here to see.

"This place is right up his alley, loud obnoxious music and drunken, violent demons." The last member of their group, muttered. He was the only full human of the three, but it was obvious to anyone who noticed them that he knew his way around a dangerous situation.

Actually anyone sober enough to pay attention knew to stay away from the three as the made their way deeper into the night club. Vibes were pretty important in a place like this and these three gave off the a very dangerous vibe to anyone who came near them.

“From everything we’ve heard, this is the hottest demon night spot in three realms. They have some of the biggest names come in from different realities to hang out here.” The large man started to explain, but just then he spotted one of the ones they were looking for headed to the bar in the back. "There’s one of them." He told the others, pointing at the tall, thin, green skinned demon wearing a day glow orange suit and ordering drinks at the bar.

They made their way through the crowd quickly and over to the bar. They stood behind the demon and waited for him to turn around and notice them.

"The people at table 12 need two bottles of champagne, a strawberry margarita and two pints of human, B negative. And don't be stingy, these guys are major VIP’s." After he finished his order he turned around and blinked when he saw who was standing before him. All the good cheer left his face only to be replaced with anger and suspicion.

"Angel." He whispered.

Angel gave him a small smile. "Hello Lorne, you're looking well. Nice place you have here." Thankfully they had a few moments in between songs so Angel didn’t have to scream to be heard.

Lorne licked his lips looking around nervously, before recovering himself, ever the Host, he regained his equilibrium. "Thanks, Angel-cakes. I'd say you look well too, but that would be a waste since we know you never change." He lost his smile again for a split second as he glanced at the woman standing next to Angel. "Illyria, still blue I see. Ever think about updating your color?"

Illyria tilted her head to the side regarding Lorne seriously. "Why should I care what color this shell is?"

Lorne just shook his head and turned to the third member of the party. "And who is this? I don't believe I've met this tall, dark and mysterious pirate."

The man reached out his hand. "Xander Harris, but don't let the patch fool you, I haven't plundered any ships lately." Lorne shook his hand.

"Ohh, a nice firm grip and quick witted. I like that." He went to laugh before stopping abruptly. "Wait a minute. Xander Harris? As in Xander Harris, friend of Buffy Summers? World renowned demon hunter, Xander Harris?"

"That would be me, but I don’t know how world renowned I am."

The bartender by now had finished Lorne's order and tapped him on the shoulder to let him know it was ready.

"Oh thank the Powers." Lorne exclaimed before he could stop himself as he turned to grab the tray. He turned back with his drink order in hand. "Well it was great seeing you Angel-pie. I would love to sit and catch up, but a Host's duties are never finished. Feel free to have a drink on the house. If you'll excuse me I have a table of VIP's waiting."

Lorne moved around them while he was talking. He nodded once at Xander. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Harris. Please refrain from killing any of my clients, tonight we have a strict no violence policy in effect here. Illyria, always a pleasure." He didn't even look back at her, in his rush to get away from them.

Lorne was hoping against hope they would just let him walk away and then leave. He didn’t know why there were here, but he was certain it wasn’t just a stop in for a drink.

"Uh, Lorne." Angel's voice called after him. Internally he cursed, but outwardly he showed no signs of hearing only quickened his pace slightly.

When he reached the VIP area he breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't come after him so he could only assume they must have decided to leave him alone. He quickly dropped off the drinks and schmoozed the clients for a few minutes, after making sure they were happy and occupied he left them and ducked out a small door that led outside to the back alley. Looking around to make sure he was alone, he walked over to a window sill and pulled a cigarette from the pack his partner hid there.

After lighting the cigarette and taking a deep drag he began to calm down. He debated about going upstairs and filling his partner in on their "guests" before deciding against it. Tonight was supposed to be a very important night for him and his lady and something like this would definitely kill the mood.

"Are those as bad for your kind as they are for humans?" Illyria's voice asked him. Lorne let out a yell and jumped.

"I did not mean to startle you, but we were not finished speaking with you when you ran away."

"I did not run away." Lorne said. "I have no reason to run from anyone in my own club."

"Fine, you did not actually run away from us. You walked briskly away from us hoping we would not follow you." Illyria amended her previous observation. She turned her head and addressed the two men standing behind her. "I thought you said it was not necessary to not be literal all the time."

"We'll work on the timing of that later." Xander told her as he and Angel approached them.

"Look, whatever you guys are selling, we're not interested." Lorne was visibly upset at this point. "And if he finds out you're hear, you'll be thrown out on your ears. So why don't you just save yourselves the trouble and leave now?"

When the three of they didn't move, just continued to stare at him, Lorne's agitation went up another notch. "Why can't you just leave us alone? We're out of the save the world business."

Angel sighed. "Its not that simple, Lorne." He told him.

"Yes it is!!" Lorne yelled. "You turn around and you walk away and you forget you ever found us. We don't want any part of any of it!!"

Angel went to speak again, but Xander spoke before he could.

"Look, I understand how you feel, believe me, I do. However, we're in a lot of trouble here and if we don't pull together, none of us are going to be here soon, because there won't be a free world anymore. We need the all the allies we can get and we need the best fighters we can find."

"We need you, Lorne." Angel added. "And we need Spike."

"Why? Why do you need us?"

"Wolfram and Hart has joined up with the First Evil. Together they want to enslave this plane of existence and use the energy they harness from here to destroy the rest of the realms in the universe." Illyria informed him succinctly.

Lorne just laughed in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? And what chance do you think we have against them combined?"

"We stand a better chance facing them together than spread out around the world worrying about our own petty differences." Xander told him.

Lorne was silent as he thought over what they had told him.

"Sing for me." Lorne told Xander. Having already been briefed on Lorne's gifts Xander immediately sang a very off key version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. He didn't even get to the 'merrily, merrily' part before Lorne told him to stop.

Lorne looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. "Ok then, I guess you're telling the truth. We better go talk to Spike. I have to warn you, we're going to be interrupting something very special for him. I hope you guys know he won’t be very happy to see you and he’s not going to be happy about this."

"None of us are." Angel told him dryly.

Lorne opened the door to go back into the club, but before he stepped inside he looked back at Angel. "I lied before. It really isn't great to see you, Angel."

No one said anything as they followed him back into the club.

Chapter 2

Soft music played over the stereo upstairs in Spike's apartment. The living room was aglow in soft candlelight. Dishes and food lay scattered on the kitchen table, the remains of a romantic dinner now forgotten.

Spike sat on the floor in front of the couch, shirtless with a cigarette in one hand. He looked down lovingly at the woman with her head in his lap as he played with her short spiky hair.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked her softly.

Her almond eyes stared into his unblinkingly.

"More than anything." She answered with no hesitation and then she studied him. "What about you?"

He answered automatically. "Of course it is." He tried to ignore the hazel eyes and blonde hair that he could see in his mind's eye, but they still captured his attention. He refused to even acknowledge the pain and loss he felt when they flashed at him.

Because he was so caught up in ignoring the woman from his past who was only in his head, he didn't notice the hurt look on the face of the woman with him. He never saw the way her eyes dulled as she watched him get lost in his memories of someone else.

"I bought something special to wear for this occasion. You stay right here, I'm going to get changed." The happy carefree voice she affected along with the kiss she placed on his lips as she stood up brought Spike back from his thoughts.

“I can’t wait to see what you bought.” He told her with a leer. She winked at him before darting into their bedroom.

Spike had met Raven a few weeks after he and Lorne had opened the club. When the tiny Asian girl had come in looking for a job, with her knee-high, blue velvet Doc Martins, her short leather skirt, tight white T-shirt with 'The Ramones" printed across it, and spiked black hair tipped in bright blue, Lorne had assumed she wanted to work as a dancer or a waitress. When she explained that she was there about the bouncer position, Lorne didn't know what to say.

Spike, who had been interviewing bartenders near by, overheard the conversation and had sauntered over to laugh directly in her face. She took his taunting and in response challenged him to a fight.

The two sparred for about 15 minutes and Spike learned quickly that what the girl didn't have in strength, she made up for in skill. She had been trained in several different forms of martial arts and her speed made it difficult for Spike to really get an edge on her.

After taking great pleasure in pinning Spike to the floor, she let him up and explained that she was from a small town in Japan that was built over a Hellmouth. The Japanese people being very insular, had not wanted to contact the Watcher's Council for help, so they trained their own fighters to protect the people. Raven had come from a long line of these warriors and had devoted her entire life to protecting the village. Then Buffy and Willow had cast the spell activating all the potential Slayers and suddenly the Japanese people had Slayers of their own to protect them. Leaving Raven without a job or purpose.

Spike agreed to hire her on a trial basis. He amended that after her first night on the job when he watched her diffuse a potentially dangerous situation easily. The capable way she handled herself along with the cheeky comments she threw out at their troublesome clientele endeared her to him right away. Spike told himself it had nothing to do with the fact she reminded him of Buffy when he had first met her.

Six months after he hired her, Raven moved in with him.

Spike knew he was lucky to have found this amazing woman. She was perfect for him; Raven could be equally at home in a mosh pit at a concert or dressed up at the opera, she loved punk music almost as much as she loved a good brawl, she was educated and had exquisite taste in art and literature. In fact one of their favorite activities was to stay up all night and debate the merits of different poets and authors.

The best part was she loved him. She truly loved him totally and completely, never hesitating to say it or show it. Even with all she had been through protecting her town from demons and vampires she never judged him because he was a vampire. The fact that he was a vampire rarely even came up between them.

Spike asked her once, in the beginning of their relationship how she could be so open-minded after all she had seen. She had simply told him, that unlike the Watcher's Council, her teachers understood that you had to deal with every living creature as an individual. That was the only allusion she ever made about Buffy.

Spike had never told her about Buffy, he never talked about Buffy at all to anyone. He talked about Drusilla from time, but talking about Drusilla didn’t bring up the pain the thoughts of Buffy did. It wasn’t that Spike was trying to keep his past relationship with Buffy a secret, he was just afraid of the emotions speaking of her would bring up. He was certain he had done the right thing years ago by not tracking her down, but he never really got over the desire to go to her. Now Spike believed if he just shut her out of his mind he would be free from the pull of her.

He was sure Lorne and Clem, who worked for them bartending, had told her the whole sordid story by now, but she had never pushed him to talk about it.

For the past five years Spike had lived happily with Raven, he thought they had everything. The perfect relationship and the perfect life, well perfect for a souled vampire and an ex protector of a Hellmouth.

Then one night not long ago, after a late night poker game Clem asked when Spike was going to take the plunge and make Raven his mate.

Spike hadn't known what to say. He had never even thought about asking her. Deep inside he knew it was because some part of him still held out hope that he and Buffy would find their way back to each other again. Spike spent the next few days thinking long and hard about what he wanted, before finally deciding that it was time to shut the door on the past and the dreams of the Slayer that still captivated his imagination.

Spike had been so nervous when he finally asked Raven, but he shouldn't have worried. The happiness in her eyes and the "yes" that came out of her mouth before he could finish asking her made his heart swell with love for her.

Spike knew this was something Buffy would never have consented to. He knew she would never have allowed herself to be so open and vulnerable with anyone, least of all him. Raven was the perfect match for him in every way.

That's why Spike couldn't understand why the dreams of Buffy had been occurring almost constantly since he had proposed to Raven last week. Dreaming of Buffy was nothing new to him. It seemed he had dreamed of nothing but her since he had realized his feelings for her all those years ago, but this was different. These dreams seemed real to him, each time she would appear to him crying uncontrollably, she would tell him how sorry she was and beg him to stop hurting her. Several times now he had woken up in a panic, looking around frantically for her, not realizing that it had only been a dream. Each time he had been surprised to see Raven's short dark hair next to him instead of Buffy's honeyed locks.

Spike put out his cigarette determinedly. It was just the past trying to hold onto him, knowing he was finally ready to move on. Tonight he was going to make Raven his mate. Tonight he was going to leave his past behind...

Spike's head shot up and whipped towards the door. He was in vamp face and growling when Raven reentered the room moments later dressed in a blue satin corset.

"So what do you think?" She asked seductively. When she saw where his attention was focused she immediately grabbed a sword off the wall behind her and stood behind Spike defensively, uncaring of her state of undress.

A knock sounded at the door, but neither one of them moved. After a moment there was another knock this time it was followed by Lorne's voice.

"Uh, Spike!" He called nervously. "Hey partner, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there are some people here who need to talk to you."

Raven watched as Spike visibly tensed even more.

"What's going on?” She asked him, but before he could answer there was a loud pounding on the door.

"Damn it, Spike, open the door." A male voice Raven didn't recognize yelled through the door. "We know you're in there and we're not leaving until we talk to you." He followed this up with more pounding.

Spike snarled and stalked over to the door and threw it open.

"What in the hell do you want, Peaches?" Spike focused on Angel and didn't notice the other people standing behind him.

"It's the Apocalypse, Spike. We've received information on what they are planning and its pretty bad. If we don't stop them now..." Angel spoke quickly.

"Oh please." Spike interrupted. "Haven't we done this before? The first time I burned to a crisp and got trapped inside a piece of jewelry that belonged on Liz Taylor and the second time I was almost flattened by a dragon. Fight your own battles, I'm out of the save the world business." Spike went to slam the door on Angel, but before he could Xander shoved his foot in the way.

"Just hear us out Spike." Xander spoke out. Spike's eyes grew huge as he recognized Xander almost immediately. He seemed taller and leaner, but it was still unmistakably Harris. Spike scanned the hallway for any other Scoobies or Buffy. He was relieved Illyria and Lorne were the only others present.

"Look Spike, I know we never got along. Mainly because you were a soulless killer who threatened to kill my friends and I on numerous occasions and once kidnapped me; but even after you started helping us I never cut you any slack. Now I've come halfway around the world to find you to ask for your help. That's how serious this situation is." Xander spoke quickly and earnestly trying to make Spike see the sincerity of his words.

Spike considered the man before him. "All right. I'm not jumping on this train of yours, but I will hear you out." He glanced behind him at Raven still standing there in her lingerie wielding her sword. "Better go get dressed, luv, we've got company." He said resigned.

Fifteen minutes later after Raven was more appropriately dress and the introductions were made Angel began explaining the situation.


"The Watcher's Council assumed since they had so many Slayers now it would be inevitable that they would start turning the tide on the Apocalypse. Unfortunately they didn't take into account that just because the girls were Slayers they weren't necessarily battle ready. They lost almost half of the new Slayers in the first two years, but by the time they realized and corrected their mistake several of the Hellmouths and demonic hotspots around the world had become extremely dangerous. They had to concentrate most of their efforts in pushing back the forces that had gathered there.

Only recently did they find out that this was all a ruse to distract them. Giles received word from one of his contacts that Wolfram and Hart has been amassing an army in a distant country in Asia with almost no contact to the outside world. They have also joined forces with The First Evil."

"Bloody Hell!" Spike exclaimed. "That's quite the recipe for trouble there."

"Oh don't worry it gets much worse." Xander said cryptically. Spike just stared at him in disbelief.

"Giles also received word that another coffin has gone missing from the Deep Well." Angel continued.

Spike gave a mirthless chuckle. "Old boyfriend of yours coming for a visit Blue?" He commented to Illyria.

"His name cannot even be pronounced in your language. The closest translation is 'Thunder Dragon'. He was the first of my kind to be imprisoned in the Deep Well. It was the only time we all banded together, but we knew if we didn't he would have only grown more powerful and destroyed us all. Even with all of us combined we almost failed to overthrow him."

"Sounds lovely." Spike commented. "So Wolfram and Hart, with the help of the First Evil, plan to resurrect this Thunder Dragon and use him to take over the world. Even the evil plots are old hat. What makes them think it will work this time? Blue hasn't exactly set the world on its ear."

"You are a fool!! Even a fraction of his power would be greater than mine was at full strength." Illyria snapped at Spike. "It also seems he was smart enough to not choose a human to be his vessel."

"What do you mean? His vessel?" Raven spoke for the first time.

"There's a prophecy that says they're going to use a warrior of stone to call him into."

"What the bloody hell does that mean?" Spike asked irritated.

"Well, we have our best people working on that." Xander said apologetically.

"Oh really. Who's that? Andrew?" Spike asked.

"Dawn and Willow are helping out too." Xander said defensively.

"Just wonderful." Spike muttered. "Well," he said standing up. "I heard you out and I'm still not interested. I'm sure your army of Slayers together with..." He paused. He couldn't say her name, if he said the name out loud it would just make her real again. Tonight he was letting go of the past. “the veteran Slayers you'll do just fine."

Angel and Xander exchanged glances. Then Angel looked Spike directly in the eyes. "We don't know have any veteran Slayers left." He said gently.

Spike fell back into his seat. He didn't even notice the hand Raven laid on his shoulder.

What did Angel mean? Buffy couldn't be dead. He would know if she were dead, he would feel it. She couldn't be dead again.

"Faith was killed 3 years ago in a rescue mission." Spike waited for him to continue, waiting for him to tell him where his Slayer was. His Slayer, Buffy. She would always be his Slayer, even if he made Raven his mate, in his mind Buffy would always be his Slayer.

Spike just knew Angel was waiting for Spike to ask. He was going to make him say her name out loud for the first time in years. Spike swallowed thickly.

"And Buffy?" His voice came out as a whisper.

"We don't know." Xander answered him. "We lost track of her shortly after Faith died."

"Lost track of her? What does that mean? What aren't you telling me?" Spike felt sick inside.

Angel shook his head. "She wasn't the same Buffy either of us knew, Spike. She was..." Again Angel hesitated.

"She didn't want anything to do with us." Xander picked up the story. "She left the Council right after Faith's death and told us to leave her alone. Willow was able to track her for a while. Just so we could know she was safe, but then we lost her in the Congo and we haven't been able to find her yet."

"Do you think she's dead?" Spike addressed Xander. Harris seemed more capable of speaking of this than the Soul King.

Only this time it was Angel who answered. "We're fairly certain she's not." Spike could hear regret in his voice.

Spike was about to stand up and demand answers from them when Raven suddenly spoke up. "I think we should help them." She said. Spike looked at her in shock.

"What do you me 'we'? This isn't your responsibility." Spike told her.

"Of course it’s my responsibility, just like watching over the Hellmouth was my responsibility." Raven insisted.

"Not that we don't appreciate any help that we can get," Xander began. "But this is a pretty dangerous situation we're talking about here."

Raven smiled at him. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, she took Spike down the first time they met." Lorne interjected. He had been keeping himself occupied with fixing himself drink after drink while the others talked and this was the first comment he offered to the conversation.

Xander laughed. "What is it with you and women who beat you up?" He asked.

Spike was seriously considering breaking his neck when Raven spoke again. "So where exactly is it that they are raising this army?"

"Bhutan. The land of the Thunder Dragon."

"That makes sense." She said. "Are you gathering in Kathmandu then?"

"We don’t know yet, right now we're meeting at the Watcher's Council in England in three days time." Angel explained. "We have some more people we want to try and track down. We'll form a more definite battle plan from there. We want to be on the ground in Bhutan by the end of next week though."

"That doesn't give us much time to find someone to look after the club." Lorne told Spike.

Spike shook his head and stood up. "Are you two both daft?" He addressed Raven and Lorne. "I haven't agreed to go anywhere."

Spike started pacing, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened in the last hour. Everything that was trying to rip his nice, quiet, happy life apart. Apocalyptic Battle. Harris in his apartment, being nice. Faith dead. Buffy missing, possibly dead.

Buffy couldn't be dead. His mind asserted again. He would know. He thought back to the dreams he'd been having for the last week. Was she hurt somewhere trying to reach out to him? He almost shivered at that thought.

Raven and the others sat and watched Spike pace and mutter to himself. Finally Raven turned to the others. "I think we need some time alone to talk about this."

"Actually we have a plane we need to catch." Xander said smoothly. "Whatever you decide thank you for at least hearing us out." He addressed Raven. She nodded at him, but her eyes were focused on Spike. Angel looked like he wanted to add in more, but Xander just shook his head and turned to walk out the door.

Spike didn't even look up as everyone filed out. Angel turned and looked back just before he walked out. "We'll leave the details with Lorne." He offered, but there was no response so he just closed the door and left.

After they had gone Raven watched Spike pace. "I know why you don't want to go." She told him.

"Because I don't feel like rushing to my death again, only to have it mean nothing, because there is just another apocalypse around the corner." Spike said snidely.

"No. You're afraid of Buffy."

Spike froze mid step. She had said Buffy's name. Raven had said Buffy's name. Buffy, his Slayer.

Raven continued unwilling to let him avoid this again. "You've tried to shut her out, but she's always with you." Her words unknowingly echoed Drusilla's from so many years ago. Spike shut his eyes, but he couldn't shut out her voice. "From what I understand she treated you horribly and she never could let herself love you. Yet, you carry her memory inside of you like a shrine. Do you think I haven't heard you saying her name in your sleep? Do you think I don't know who you go to when you disappear inside your head?"

Spike opened his eyes and looked at her. He could see the pain and hurt on her face. He had thought he had been so careful.

"Raven, I'm so sorry..." He began.

"No. There's nothing to be sorry for. I know you love me and I love you, but you also love her and I can't compete with a ghost. We need to do this. You need to face your past and put it to rest so we can move on with our lives together."

Spike nodded his head. What else could he do at this point? He was defeated.

"Let's go to England then."

Chapter III:

A few days later found Spike, Raven & Lorne in London at the Watcher's Council waiting in a large conference room for Giles and the Scoobies to make an appearance. Spike had yet to sit down and had been pacing the floor continuously since they had arrived while the other two watched him dubiously.

"They make us drop everything at moments notice for their emergency then they keep us waiting here until its convenient for them." He growled for the third time in twenty minutes.

"Yeah, but the cheese tray they left out is delectable." Lorne told him. Spike stopped pacing for a moment and shot him a death glare. "What?!? I'm just saying..."


"Calm down, Spike. Working yourself up this much before we've even seen anyone isn't doing any good." Raven tried to soothe him.

"If they don't show up in the next five minutes we're out of here. Apocalypse be damned."

"I think that's the whole point of an Apocalypse." Lorne muttered. Spike just shot him another glare.

Several minutes later the door finally opened and Xander walked in looking sheepish. "I'm sorry we kept you waiting. Giles, Illyria and Angel got stuck in a meeting and I got tied up."

"No problem, Whelp. We love that we flew half way around the world to be ignored." Spike snarked at him.

Xander looked slightly embarrassed, but he met Spike's gaze levelly. "You need to know there has been some concerns from some of our people about you being here. Some of our team members aren't happy about it. I've tried to explain that we need your help, but they don't want to hear it."

Spike snorted. "So Rupert still wants me dead, eh?" He stood up and motioned for Raven and Lorne to get up as well. "If you think I'm going to stick around and wait for the Watcher to try and kill me again..."

"Its not Giles you have to worry about Spike." A bitter voice interrupted him. Spike turned and saw Dawn entering the room, the hatred on her face plain for anyone to see, focused directly on him. Willow and Andrew followed closely behind her.

"Nibblet?" Spike asked surprised.

"I told you before you don't get to call me that anymore!!" She marched up to him and stuck her finger in his face; her face was twisted with fury. "And let's just be clear, I was against them finding you. I told them to leave you under whatever rock you crawled beneath. I don't think you'll be helpful at all to us and you'll probably just wind up destroying someone else I care about!"

Spike opened and closed his mouth several times, but didn't know what to say to the angry young woman in front of him. He tried to figure out what he did that made her despise him so. Was she still mad about the attempted rape of Buffy in the bathroom?

Raven positioned herself next to Spike trying to draw Dawn's attention away from him for a moment.

"Excuse me." The petite girl said. "I can see you are very upset with Spike, but this situation will be easier on all of us if you try to calm down. Maybe we can talk through some of these issues you have with Spike. We have an Apocalypse to worry about, we don’t need to be fighting amongst ourselves."

"Who the hell are you?" Dawn demanded. She then looked over at Xander. "Who the hell is she?" She asked again.

"Dawn, this is Raven." Xander spoke carefully as if that could hold back the young woman's rage. "She's Spike's..."

Dawn didn't let him finish. "You brought your latest skank with you?!? Here?"

"Dawn!!" Willow exclaimed.

"That's enough, Dawn." Xander snapped. He walked around the table and grabbed her arm. "We told you this was necessary."

"NO. It’s not." Dawn wrenched free of his grasp as she looked at them all wildly. "After what he did to Buffy, how can you consider working with him?" She glared at Raven. "Are you a Slayer too? Are you the replacement for the Slayer he killed in China?" She sneered at her. No one noticed Giles, Angel and Illyria enter the room.

"All right, that's it, Dawnie, let's go." Xander grabbed her arm again prepared to drag her from the room if necessary.

Raven's voice stopped him. "First of all, I'm not a Slayer, but I did spend a good portion of my life guarding a Hellmouth. Second, I'm Japanese, not Chinese. And third," Raven's voice lowered and she sounded deadly now. "I'm no one's replacement."

Dawn gave her a tight smile before looking into Spike's eyes. "Don't bet on it."

"Dawn that will be enough." Giles snapped, alerting the rest of the room to his presence for the first time. "I don't care what your personal feelings for Spike and his companion are, we have more important things to worry about right now."

"Do you even care about what happened to Buffy? How can you let him in here after that?"

"What happened to Buffy wasn't Spike's fault, Dawn." Angel said, his voice sounded flat.

"He wasn't anymore to blame than the rest of us." Willow told her gently.

"Including you." Xander added.

Dawn's face crumbled and tears started pouring down her face. She turned and quickly ran out of the room.

"I'll go make sure she's ok." Andrew said. He turned back at the doorway. "Its nice to see you again, Spike." He said with a small smile, and then left without another word.

An oppressive silence filled the room; everyone was lost in their own thoughts and memories for a few moments, before Giles broke the silence.

"I suggest we get down to business, we have a lot to go over and ..."

"No." Spike's voice was firm. "You want our help, then you give me answers first."

"Answers?" Giles asked almost innocently.

"Yeah, answers." Spike nodded. "Why does the Bit blame me for what happened to Buffy and what exactly did happen to Buffy? Why does Angel look ill every time her name is brought up? And why does Red and the Whelp look like they are going to cry every time I mention her?"


Giles sighed heavily. "All right." He sat down and everyone else followed his lead. Spike watched Giles carefully as he seemed to collect his thoughts. The past decade had not been kind to the older man. Dark circles haunted his eyes and deep wrinkles creased his face. More than that, there was the defeated look in his eyes, as if he had already seen the end of the world and they had lost. Spike waited for him to begin, so he was surprised when it was Xander who began the tale.

"It started about five years ago we really hadn't seen too much of Buffy since Angel showed up after the battle in LA." Xander told him. "She never really got over your death in the Hellmouth, and then, when she found out that you had come back and didn't tell her, well..."

"She took it pretty hard. Actually she took it worse than hard, she was devastated." Willow picked up the story. "You know Buffy, though. She wouldn't talk about it and she wouldn't show how much it hurt her."

Xander sighed. "She threw Andrew out of their apartment and told him if he ever came near her again she would kill him for not telling her you were back. She also shut us out after that, she shut everyone out, even Dawn. Honestly, we probably let her, we were too caught up with everything that was going on in our own lives." He and Willow exchange a guilty look before Xander went on.

"Dawn said Buffy seemed to give up on any kind of normal life after the battle in Los Angeles. She broke things off with the Immortal. She became almost completely nocturnal, she would sleep all day and hunt or patrol all night. She found a demon bar that held fights every weekend and signed up to participate.
Dawn never really got to see too much of her either, she was busy with school and trying to have a normal life. Dawn worried about her sister, but she couldn’t get through to her. Then one morning Dawn was getting ready for school when Buffy came home covered in blood. Dawn saw her come in and asked what happened, but Buffy wouldn't answer her, she walked right past her looking dazed and locked herself in her room."

"Xander and I were both here working when Dawn called begging us to come to Italy. We left immediately." Willow said quietly. "When we got there, Dawnie was beyond freaked. Buffy still hadn't come out of her room and she was terrified her sister was lying there dead. We knocked on Buffy's door and called in to her that we were there. Nothing happened for a few minutes so we knocked again. Then the door flew open and out came Buffy still covered in blood, her clothes were soaked with it. She grabbed me by the shoulders and started yelling at me. She wanted to know what I had done to her." Willow's voice broke slightly and Spike could see tears in her eyes. "I didn't know what she was talking about. That's when we saw the knife in her hands." Willow looked over at Xander as the tears began to fall down her face, and Xander took over again.

"She raised up the knife and stabbed herself in the chest with it." Xander said.

"Oh my god." Raven breathed. "She killed herself!!" She looked at Spike to see him sitting there stunned.

"No. She didn't die. She couldn't die." Xander said.

"What do you mean she couldn't die?" Spike asked.

"My resurrection spell did more than resurrect her. It made her immortal." Willow whispered.

"Bloody Hell." Spike exclaimed

"We finally managed to calm Buffy down and get her cleaned up, but she was still upset. She kept telling us she was hurting Dawn more by being around her and living like she was, but she couldn't stop. Hunting and patrolling were the only things that didn't make her feel completely alone." Xander went on.

"She said all the men she loved left her because she was such a horrible person. She couldn't be a normal person and she didn't know what to do anymore. Now that she was immortal, she was terrified it was going to be like this forever."

"Willow and Xander called me at this point." Giles jumped in. "Since patrolling and hunting had become her main comfort I thought that sending her out into the world to work specific hot spots of demon activity would be ideal. I believe you have heard already that we had lost control of some of the Hellmouths by sending inexperienced Slayers in. I thought Buffy could get to see the world and meet different people as well as indulge in the violence that seemed to become the focus of her life. I didn't know what else to do with her." Giles took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "I felt like it was my fault for taking her childhood away and making her into this. I was her Watcher, if I had done a better job then none of this would have ever happened to her."

Spike looked at Angel. "Where were you while all this was going on?"



Angel gave him a thin smile. "When Buffy found out I knew you were back I got the same treatment Andrew got. She told me she would never forgive me for keeping the two of you apart. Of course we all thought you died after the battle in LA."

"So she doesn't know I'm still here?" Spike asked.

"No, she was told, but we'll get to that." Giles said quietly.

"So she feels alone, rejected and you lot send her out into the world to fight Big Bads? Let me guess, that’s when you lost her?"

"It actually gets much worse." Xander said dully.

"How can it get much worse?" Spike demanded, his anger starting to get out of hand.

"Buffy was on assignment in Brazil when she was kidnapped by a Master Vampire and its minions. She had been reporting in infrequently, so it took us a couple of weeks before we knew something was amiss." Giles continued, he ignored Spike’s snort of disbelief. "I had received a report from Brazil about vampires that seemed to have super strength attacking small towns. We tried to contact Buffy, but when we couldn't reach her, I sent two younger Slayers in to investigate both the attacks and Buffy’s disappearance. Both girls were killed within 24 hours, but not before one managed to get a report out.” Giles sat his glasses on the table and took a deep breath to gather himself for what was coming next.

“Her report stated that Buffy had been kidnapped and the vampires responsible had planned on turning her. Unfortunately, you can't properly turn an Immortal. They can’t die. The vampire responsible had her chained to a wall where she was used by the whole nest, they tortured her, raped her, beat her and drained her repeatedly. At some point, maybe the first time or maybe after repeated attempts, a demon did enter her body, but by then she was catatonic from her mistreatment." Giles looked at Spike who just stared at him wide eyed. "You know how powerful Slayer blood is. So I'm sure you can imagine what a daily diet of it did to the nest. We sent Faith, Xander and Willow down to try and rescue Buffy with a full dozen younger Slayers."

Willow had gotten her tears under control and picked up the story again. "I lost Faith during the battle and I don't know exactly what happened, but by the time I reached Buffy she was standing over Faith in game face with blood around her mouth. Faith's throat had been ripped out. There were several minions also lying on the ground with their throats ripped out as well. I don't know if they got Faith and then Buffy took care of them or if Buffy got free and killed Faith and the minions in her rage.
I put a sleeping spell on her and we got her out of there and brought her back here to recuperate."

Willow took a deep breath. "She never came fully back. Every time she was awake the Slayer part of her and the demon part of her would be fighting inside of her for control. There was also the emotional and mental damage from the torture and abuse she under went. After weeks with no progress and I finally decided to try and go inside her head, like I did after Glory took Dawn. I tried to show her how to partition her mind and gain control over the factions fighting inside of her. Not long after that, she managed to break my sleep spell and get out, she left a note scribbled on a sheet of paper that we should let her go and not try to find her. Xander went out to try and find her and I tried to track her with magic. We were able to follow her for a while, but then we lost her in Africa a little over three years ago.”

"Tell me you killed the vamp responsible for this." Spike growled at them. "Tell me you tortured the son of a bitch and then dusted him." No on spoke. "Well, did you make him pay for this?" He demanded.

"Spike, it was Dru." Angel told him.

"No." Spike shook his head. When no one denied Angel's words Spike slammed his hand down on the table and yelled. "NO!!" The tears that up until now were pooled in his eyes brimmed over and ran down his face, but he didn't notice. Raven tried to reach out to comfort him, but he stood up and turned away from everyone at the table.

"She thought if she turned Buffy we would go back to her. She wanted to get her family back. That's how Buffy found out you were still alive. Drusilla knew, of course, you weren't gone. She would have sensed it." Angel explained

Everyone was so caught up in the drama unfolding before them that none of them noticed Illyria stand up and begin to walk towards on of the walls curiously. She stared at it intently almost as if she could see through it.

Spike turned back to the group sitting down. "You should have told me. I could have helped. I could have..." He felt nauseous, the room around him seemed to swim and turn. Drusilla, his sire, and the woman he loved for over one hundred years was responsible for destroying the light of his life. Because of him.

"What?" Xander asked him. "What could you have done? She thought you abandoned her. When we tried to get Angel in to see her, thinking that might help, she went completely ballistic and almost killed him before Willow could put her back under. She was like a wild animal."

"We think that's why we can't find her. We think she lost all semblance of herself and she's probably somewhere in the Congo living no better than an animal." Giles told him. Spike sat back down defeated.

"So you've just given up on her?" He asked. His voice sounded hollow even to him. His mind couldn’t fully process this. Buffy was driven insane by the same woman who made him, out of revenge for him falling in love with her. It was his fault that she was turned into the one thing she never wanted to be.

"No." Giles said forcefully. "Even now I have put out word with all of my contacts that we are looking for her or any information on her. I even contacted Riley who has become quite high up in the American military."

Behind Giles, Illyria began to tap on the wall in front of her. Everyone turned around to see what she was doing.

"Illyria, if you don't mind, now isn't the time for...well whatever it is you are doing." Giles told her irritated.

"There is something here. I can sense it." Illyria told him.


Giles peered at the wall she was poking at. "There is nothing there but an empty wall and an ugly picture, now please come sit down."

Illyria didn't move just continued to stare at the wall. "Illyria, please, we still have a lot to go over regarding our plan of attack."

Illyria didn't even acknowledge him. "I know you are there. You may as well show yourself." She addressed the wall.

Giles looked at Angel pleadingly.

"Illyria. Sit down. There is nothing there." Angel told her sternly. Illyria turned to Angel angrily.

"I tell you something is here." Just then, out of the shadow on the wall, a man appeared.

"She is right. There is someone here." He said.

Everyone immediately stood and got into defensive position, but he just faded back into the shadow of the wall. A few seconds later he reappeared across the room, again out of the shadows.

"If you will all relax I will explain my presence here and then you can decide if I am a threat or not." He told them.

"I would say showing up at this meeting uninvited makes you a threat." Xander said. He had a gun pulled and was holding it towards the man.

"Your bullets won't have any effect on me." He told Xander, and then he looked at Giles. "My name is Ian Thorpe." He introduced himself. He was British by the sound of his accent. He appeared to be a handsome young man in his early 20's with short dirty blonde hair. He wasn't a large or intimidating but one look in his eyes showed the cold determination of a viperous man.


Lorne gasped in recognition. "You're the leader of Ian's Rogues."

"That's right, I am." Ian nodded.

Spike looked questioningly at Lorne.

"They are a mercenary group; bounty Hunters, guns for hire. They will take any job with no moral issues as long as you have the money to pay for their services."

"That is also correct." Ian agreed.

"What are you doing here?" Giles asked.

"I'm here because you have shown interest in one of my associates and I came to offer my team for the mission you are about to undertake." Ian said.

"I don't think we would be interested in hiring mercenaries." Giles said coldly. "If you would let yourself out the same way you snuck in."

"So you haven't been looking for Miss Buffy Summers?" Ian asked innocently.

Spike was out of his chair and grabbing for Ian's throat before anyone could stop him. Before he reached the man, however, Ian melted back into the wall only to appear across the room again out of another shadow.

"I'm sorry. Did I hit a nerve?" He asked with an amused smile.

"What do you know about Buffy?" Xander asked.

"I know she has been working with me for the past 3 years, since about the time you lost her."

"I don't believe you." Giles said. "Buffy wouldn't work for someone who puts monetary gain above what's right."

"You are free to believe what you want, but here are the facts; we know that you have been searching for her for several years now, but up until now we had no reason to contact you, we also know about the mission you are planning into Bhutan to stop the combined forces of the First Evil and Wolfram and Hart, we also know about the plan to resurrect the Thunder Dragon."

"You seem to know an awful lot about what's going on here." Willow said angrily.

"We have our ways." Ian smiled at her. "You won't get far into Bhutan with the Vampires unless you have a way for them to travel during the day. Most of the country is undeveloped with no shelter for them during the day. I also know that the team you have here won't be enough to stop the force you are going up against."

"What exactly are you proposing?" Giles asked him.

"You could choose to hire my team and we would ensure you successfully complete your mission."

"Hire you?" Angel asked disbelieving.

"Now I know you are lying, mate. Buffy would never charge her friends to help them save the world. That's what she does." Spike told him.

"No, that's what she did. And as you have just heard, all that ever got her was pain and torment. Things are different now. We'll need 2.5 million dollars to begin with and another 5 million dollars upon successful completion."

"That's preposterous." Giles spluttered.

"That is non-negotiable. Take it or leave it."

"I don't think..."

"Here is the address of a residence in Katmandu." He put a piece of paper on the large table. "If you decide to accept our offer you can arrive here in three days time. So you know that Buffy is really a part of our team and agrees with the fact that you should pay for our services you can hand the money directly to her and your witch can use her magic at that time to verify she isn't under some sort of spell. Do not try to contact us again if you choose to refuse our help and don't try to perform any other sort of magic compulsion on her at that time because we have measures in place to make sure you won't succeed."

No one said anything else. "I'll leave you now. I'm sure Illyria will be able to confirm when I leave the building." With that he melted back into the shadows leaving the people at the table to look at each other in confusion.

"I told you there was something here." Illyria said triumphantly.


Chapter IV: Spike Remembers...


After Ian left, the conference room erupted into chaos.

"You can't seriously be considering his offer." Angel was saying to Giles.

"I don't think Buffy would work with someone like that." Willow insisted to no one in particular.

"We don't know who or what Buffy would work with anymore, this may be our only shot at finding her." Xander answered her.

"Well, if it is Buffy, then why hasn't she shown up on my locator spells?" Willow countered.

"The next time I tell you something is there you should listen before disregarding my senses." Illyria told the bickering group.

Spike said nothing. He sat there and stared off into space, lost in his thoughts. He tried to wrap his head around the fact that Drusilla had destroyed the woman he loved or had loved. What was she now? How much of what had occurred had happened because he hadn’t been there? No wonder Dawn hated him so much, right now he hated himself. All he had to do was let her know he was alive, just a simple call or even let Andrew tell her, but no, he had been too afraid.

Next to him, Raven sat, wondering what she could do to ease the pain she saw on his face. She also wondered how she was going to be able to keep him after everything they had just been told.

"I don't know yet what we are going to do regarding Mr. Thorpe. He was right when he said it was going to be difficult to transport Spike and Angel across Bhutan. If they have a way to do that and it will get us in contact with Buffy it may be worth it." Giles said considering.

"I wasn't aware we had seven million dollars to spend on this operation." Angel said dryly.

Giles looked embarrassed. "We don't, however, I doubt Buffy would actually make us pay that."

"Yeah, but that Ian guy said if we don't have the initial down payment of 2.5 million they wouldn't even consider helping us." Xander added in.

"Plus, if what I've heard of these guys is true, these aren't the people you want to owe money too." Lorne told them. "They have a reputation for being ruthless when it comes to collecting, whether for a client or for themselves."

Giles sighed. "I don't know what to do then. Willow, if you could work with Lorne, Dawn and Andrew, I want as much information on Ian Thorpe and his Rogues as you can find. I especially want any information that corroborates his story that Buffy is working with them."

"Got it Giles." Willow said as she began to gather up her notes and papers.

"Why is it so hard to travel to Bhutan? Don't they like visitors?" Xander asked.

"Bhutan prides itself on its isolation from the rest of the world. The only airline allowed to fly into the country is Druk air, the Royal Airline of Bhutan and they only have two planes. There is only one airport, which is in Thimpu far away from our destination. From Thimpu, we will have to travel by land east to Tongsa Dzong. Our reports indicate their fortress is located north of there, deep in the Himalayas, in the wildlife sanctuary Jigme Dorji. However, the road ends in Tongsa Dzong and I don't believe there are any towns or settlements after that. Also travelers are strictly forbidden to venture farther North than Tongsa Dzong without a guide. So you can see that transporting two vampires that far without having them come in contact with the sun will prove to be most difficult."

"I take it they are not a friend of technology." Xander remarked.

"The country is primarily Buddhist and the prime minister was once quoted as saying he would rather have his country have negative profit than have unhappy people. They have even gone so far as to decentralize their government based on the people's whishes. They believe in living the same way their ancestors did 2,000 years ago." Willow told him.

"Sounds like the perfect place to raise an army of ultimate evil." Lorne muttered.

"The green dude is right." Xander agreed. "How can we possibly get through to the evil fortress? Is there another way in?"

"We could go in from the North through China, but instead of 50 miles through the steep mountains of the Himalayas you are looking at 150 miles through the Himalayas." Giles told him.

"So we're going to have to use Mr. Ian Thorpe to even get into the country." Xander said.

"I want to find out more information before we rely on him." Giles said. "I'll put a call into Riley and see if he has anything he can share. The rest of you have tasks to work on."

"What about us, Watcher?" Spike asked him warily. He had pulled his attention back to the conversation at hand when Giles mentioned Riley's name.

"I would imagine you are both exhausted both from your travel and the revelations of the day. We have several guest suites here. I would recommend you go and try to get some rest while you can."

Spike nodded absently.

"Xander, would you show them to one of the suites?" Giles asked.

"Sure thing, G-man." Giles rolled his eyes and sighed at Xander's insistence to give up the hated nickname.

"If its ok with you guys, I'll go with Willow and give her the names of some contacts I have that might have information on the Rogues." Lorne told Spike and Raven as they stood up to leave. "I'll catch up with you two later." Spike didn't even seem to hear him, but Raven bid him goodbye.

Spike turned to Giles before they left the room. "If you hear anything else..."

"I'll let you know immediately. Xander will show you my office if you think of anything else that may help feel free to stop by later. Lord knows, we don't sleep much around here."

"I may just do that." Spike and Raven left the room.

"Spike." Giles called after him. Spike stopped, but didn't turn around as Giles followed him out into the hall. "I wanted to thank you for coming to help us. I'm sorry you had to find out about all of this like that." Spike looked at him silently. "Also there is a bottle of scotch in every suite, in case you find it hard to get to sleep. It usually helps me."

Spike gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Watcher." It didn't escape his attention that Giles was going out of his way to be nice to him. A far cry from the man who once tried to have him killed. Spike wondered what it was that actually changed the Watcher's opinion of him. Was it when he burned up to save the world or when he didn't come after Buffy when he was brought back?

Giles went back into the conference room to plan some more with Illyria and the others while Xander led Spike and Rave to their suite.



Later that evening, Spike sat alone in the living room of the suite in the dark, the bottle of scotch was three quarters gone. Raven had been asleep for hours and it was now well past midnight. Spike tried to get some rest knowing that they were going to need to be at top performance for the next few weeks, but images of Buffy kept coming to him. He knew there was no way he would be able to shut out the memories tonight. Every time he shut his eyes he saw her cold green gaze looking down at him accusingly.

He poured another glass of scotch and finally gave in to the memories floating at the edge of his consciousness. It was the memory of their last night together.


May 2002, the evening before the final battle with the First.

Spike sat in the basement studying the amulet Buffy had given him. She had finished going over her master plan with the Scoobies and the Slayers in Training, now all there was to do was wait until morning to enact their plan.

Even the gaudiness of the jewelry could not diminish the feeling inside of him from her calling him a champion. She had sent Angel away and had chosen him to stand by her in this. She had chosen him to be with her in what could possibly be her last stand.

He had told her he wasn't going to think about what it all meant, when she told him that she felt close to him. He told her they should just leave it and he had meant it at the time, but now he wanted to know why she had sent Angel away. He wanted to know if she just wanted her true love out of the way of the battle or if there was more to it than that. He tried to push down these thoughts, he knew that the last thing they needed was for him to be distracted by daydreams of the impossible. They had a war to fight.

Buffy said that maybe after the war, they could try to figure it all out, but he had told her they shouldn't. Now he wanted to find out if she really wanted to try to make it work between them. Did she think they had a chance?

He heard footsteps approaching the basement door and knew immediately it was Buffy coming down. He had been hoping she was going to come down and stay with him again tonight, but didn’t want to ask or seem too eager. He stood up as she came down the stairs and stood across the basement from him. Neither one of them spoke as they stared at each other from across the room. Spike couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked even in the midst of all the planning and chaos around them. He bit his tongue to keep from asking her all the questions running around in his mind, she had enough to worry about without having to deal with his doubts and fears.

Buffy approached him slowly until she stood within arms reach. He could see worry and fear in her eyes concerning the battle tomorrow. He knew she couldn't show any kind of doubt to her troops or the others and it meant something that she trusted him enough to see that she wasn't made out of stone like they thought. He knew she felt every death that happened this year more deeply than they knew.

Spike reached out and placed his hands on her waist, but he didn't pull her towards him. He just waited to see what she wanted from him.

Buffy slowly raised one hand and lightly traced over his lips with one fingertip. The other hand she brought to rest on his chest. He stared into her eyes, willing himself to remain calm and not misread what was very possibly and innocent gesture.

When she had slept in his arms the past two nights he had known that she didn't want anything physical from him aside from his presence next to her. Not that it stopped his body from reacting to her closeness, but he would never assume to instigate anything with her again. Not after what had happened last year.

Now she stood before him running her hands over his body like she wanted to memorize every curve, leaving a trail of fire across his skin in her wake. Even through the cotton T-shirt he wore he could feel the heat of her soaking into his cold body, making him feel almost alive.

Still he remained frozen, he resisted again the urge to pull her against him and crush his lips to hers. This was the first time she caressed him lightly like this and he wanted to cherish her soft touch before it ended

Her finger still traced lightly over his lips, he parted them slightly and ran his tongue against her finger before he could stop himself. The flavor of her skin almost made him swoon with pleasure and he was happy to see her eyes cloud with desire as he tickled her finger with his tongue. She ran the hand on his chest downward across his abdomen and began to pull his T-shirt up out of his pants. Her eyes never left his as she did this, reassuring him without having to be told of his fears.

She took her other hand away from his mouth and used both hands to raise his shirt over his head. He almost couldn't stand it when he felt both of her hands running across the skin of his chest and abdomen tracing every muscle and curve they found. He ran his own hands up and under her shirt pleased when she arched towards him to ensure he had plenty of room to access wherever he wanted. He let out a moan when he began to smell the perfume of her arousal in the air as his hands neared her breasts.

He barely brushed against them, continuing on to lift her shirt up and over her head. He slid her bra straps down over her shoulders on the way back down, and then undid the clasp in the front. He quickly moved his hands to catch the soft globes and they were released from her bra. Buffy's breathing quickened as he ran his fingers over her nipples enjoying the way they hardened under his touch and she pressed herself even further into his hands wanting more contact. Her hands began unfastening his jeans, but she seemed to be having a difficult time due to the shaking that seemed to occupy her.

She leaned up and brushed her lips across his as she finally managed to undo the button on his pants and pull down his zipper. When he felt her hands pulling them down over his hips and then grasping his straining erection he finally gave in and pulled her tight against him, entangling his fingers in her hair. He ran his tongue across her lips before she captured it between them and used her own tongue to run across his sensuously. The feeling of her tongue moving against his and her hands stroking his length almost drove him over the edge prematurely, but she seemed to sense this and broke off the kiss before it could go too far.

She pulled his pants the rest of the way down his body until he could easily step out of them. Once he was naked before her, she pushed him gently until he fell backwards and was sitting on the cot. She stood before him, topless, enjoying the feeling of power she got from his lust filled gaze that eyed her hungrily. Confident she had his undivided attention, she reached up and let loose the rest of her hair that had been pulled up behind her head. Knowing how much he loved her hair she shook it out around her face before looking up at him innocently. The look in her eyes combined with the sight of her before him with no top made him growl deep in his chest. Her eyes lit up with delight at the obvious excitement from him. She kicked off her shoes and slowly undid her own pants and slipped them down over her hips. She stood before him in nothing but her underwear, but they soon followed her pants as she slipped them off and threw them at him playfully.

Spike caught them easily, but didn't pay them any mind, his attention was focused on the beautiful siren before him. He was afraid to blink for fear that she would disappear like so many of the dreams he had of her in the past year.

Completely naked now Buffy moved towards him with a slight predatory look in her eyes. There was no doubt in his mind now what she wanted from him. Even if he couldn't read it in her eyes there was no mistaking the aroma of her arousal that now permeated the air so thick he could almost taste it when he inhaled.

Instead of increasing his desire at this point though, for some reason Spike was struck with sudden fear. Everything between them had been going so well he was afraid if they brought the physical aspect back to their relationship he would lose the ground he had fought so hard to gain this year. What if after they slept together again she went back to kicking him and running away? He didn't want to lose their newfound closeness not even for this. He tried to calm himself and chase away these worries. Now wasn't the time for this. She hadn't come here to coddle him; she had come to him for something else. She wanted comfort and that was it. Just a little more cold comfort and he should just accommodate her and leave feelings and doubts out of it.

Those thoughts only made his fears grow and a solid pain in his chest started form. He didn’t want to just be her little comfort toy, but he couldn’t push her away, he couldn’t say no to her.

Buffy stopped moving as soon as she saw the emotions struggling within his eyes. "Spike." She said softly, speaking for the first time since coming down into the basement. He lowered his head at the sound of her voice and couldn't look up at her now, he was too caught up in his fears and doubts. He didn’t want her to see all the pain in his eyes, he couldn’t let her know how afraid he was of losing her again.

Unwilling to let him shut her out, Buffy walked over to him quickly and straddled his lap. She used one finger under his chin to raise his eyes to her, she felt her heart ache with all the pain and confusion she could see in his gaze. "I want to be here with you tonight. No matter what happens tomorrow I want to have one perfect night with you to hold on to. You are the one I chose to be here with me tonight, no one else, but you."


Even though he was slightly distracted by the feeling of her silky warm skin against his body Spike managed to answer her. "I'd hardly call this perfect, luv." He said sadly gesturing to the basement they were in.

Buffy leaned forward and kissed him. "It doesn't matter where we are. As long as we're together we can make it perfect for us."

Spike could see the sincerity in her eyes along with the desire and a warm tender emotion that he couldn't begin to hope to give a name to. All his doubts and worries left in the face of her conviction and his desire returned with triple force.

“Buffy.” He whispered her name before pulling her back down for another kiss and felt the warmth from her begin to seep into him. When she pulled back to catch her breath her eyes were glassy and her breasts were heaving as she tried to pull in air.

"Spike, please. I need you inside me. It's been too long." She whispered. Spike didn't trust his own voice after hearing the need in hers, all he could manage was a shaky nod. That was all she needed. She raised herself up slightly and reached in between them to grab his rock hard length. She ran the head back and forth against her wet slit a few times to make sure it was nice and lubricated, but she didn't need to worry since her arousal was now dripping down her thighs onto his lap. He couldn't help the strangled moan that escaped at her actions.

She positioned him at her entrance, wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and rested her forehead against his so she was gazing directly into his deep blue eyes as she began to sink slowly down onto him.

It took all of Spike's strength not to push his hips up and plunge inside her, the slow torture of her sinking down onto him driving him mad. He couldn't help the feelings of wonder and amazement he was sure were plain on his face as her wet heat slowly surrounded him. Only instead of turning away from him and his emotions like she used to do, this time Buffy watched everything closely and he could see similar feelings in her own eyes. Knowing that she was really here with him had him struggling not to come even before she had fully settled herself down on him.

They were both panting by the time he was fully seated inside of her, since he didn't need the oxygen to breathe she was in essence breathing through him making the experience even more intimate. The world around them disappeared until the only thing that actually seemed real to him was her. There was nothing else but her.

Neither one of them moved, they just enjoyed the feeling of being together like this. It was like coming home for both of them. Then Buffy gave him an evil little smirk and bit her lip as if she were concentrating on something. That's when he felt it and he began to moan he name loudly. She was flexing her interior muscles causing them to ripple over his cock and it was like nothing he ever felt before. She was whimpering in pleasure herself as she worked him over thoroughly while making sure that he stayed buried deep inside her.

His own whimpers joined hers as he could feel the pleasure start to build in his loins. He grabbed her hips and held on tightly as the overwhelming sensations rocked through him. He felt the familiar tightening and knew he couldn't hold out much longer, but then the feelings extended outward, up through his abdomen and farther up into his chest. His entire body began to shake as it tried to deal with the onslaught of pleasure and emotions that he had never experienced before. He bit his lip in an effort to keep from calling out his love for her, not wanting to ruin this moment with her rejection of him.

He pulled her hips tighter against him wanting to get farther inside her. She began to rock her hips slightly adding even more to the already overwhelming sensations. The movement combined with her grasping muscles managed to push him over the edge as the pleasure became too much for him. He yelled out her name with a strangled sob and heard her call his name out in answer as he erupted inside of her. Her muscles clenched tightly milking him, prolonging his orgasm until he thought he was going to die from pleasure. He thought he must have passed out because he was no longer aware of his body, only the waves of pleasure crashing through his soul as he got lost in the warm green eyes above him that he could almost believe were filled with love.

When Spike finally came back to himself the first thing he noticed was that they were both still trembling. Next, he noticed the tears that were running down her face.


"I didn't hurt you did I?" He whispered, horrified. Buffy giggled at him softly shaking her head and wiping at his face which had tears running down it as well.

"No you didn't hurt me. That was just...my god, that was so intense." She giggled again as she laid her head back down on his shoulder. "I never knew that it could be like that."

"You have such a wonderful laugh." He told her. When she made a confused noise he continued. "I think that's the first time you've ever giggle around me." He confessed.

She lifted her head back up. "Really? Well starting tomorrow there will definitely be more giggling. And more laughing. And more happiness. Especially around you. We deserve it."

"Oh we do, do we?" He asked her teasingly.

"Yep. And you know what else there will be?" She asked him.

He kissed her shoulder and up her neck. "More wonderful sex."

She giggled again and it was music to his ears. "No silly. Well actually, yes there will be, but there will also be dating."

"Dating?!?" He asked her slightly alarmed.

"Yeah." She nodded slowly. "You." She pointed at him. "Me." She pointed to herself. "Dating."

Spike looked truly frightened. "I don't really know much about dating, pet."

"Well you are going to get lots of practice because you and me, we are SO dating."

It wasn't a declaration of undying love, and honestly, given the time and the circumstances he wouldn't believe it even if she had offered it, but it was something and it gave him something concrete to hope for. He held her tight against him and felt her arms tight around him, both of them trying to hold onto each other and this small moment in time they had together.

The rest of the night passed like a dream for him, yet he knew he wasn't asleep because he remembered every second of it. They lay on that cot and talked and cuddled and made love for the rest of the night. It was everything he had ever hoped for the year before. He kept his promise to himself he didn't declare his love for her again. He wanted to wait until they were out from the shadow of this threat, and ‘dating’ as she told him, before he made the grand guesture again. Only this time there weren’t going to be any chains involved.

Of course there weren’t any dates for him to declare his love, there were no more opportunities to make her laugh or to hear her giggle. The next day he burnt up in the Hellmouth and when he was resurrected at Wolfram and Hart he couldn't call her on account of not having a physical body.

After that...

After that he was just plain scared. She had given him more than he ever hoped to get and on top of that she gave him hope. He thought it was better to live with the dream of her love than face the reality of her rejection.

He never even considered the possibility she meant what she told him in the Hellmouth. The idea that she loved him, even after what he had seen in her eyes the night before was too outlandish, too preposterous to even entertain. Of course she only told him that because she thought he was dying. She never loved him, she couldn’t.

But why did they keep talking about how upset she was over his death? How upset could she have been when she was snuggling with the Immortal less than a year after his death? He didn’t understand any of it. Once upon a time he would swear that he knew her better than anyone else, he could tell what she was thinking just by looking in her eyes. Now he wasn’t sure of anything.

Was Xander right in telling him there was nothing he could have done for her? Were the dreams he kept having with her in them actually some sort of projection by her? Did they come about from some sort of connection because she was now part of his vampire family? Was she part of his vampire family? Was she even a real vampire? Did she need blood to survive? How could she be turned yet still alive?

"Spike?" Raven's voice startled him from his thoughts, he turned his bloodshot eyes up towards her. "What are you doing still up? Have you gotten any sleep?"

"No, not yet. I have a lot on my mind. What are you doing up?"

"Must be the jet lag. I just woke up and then you weren't there." Raven walked over and sat down in his lap. "Is there anything I can do?" She asked him. Spike pulled back from her and removed her arms from around his neck.

"I don't think so, luv. I'm thinking I might go see how the Watcher's research is going. See if he's come to any decisions yet."

"Spike, its almost three thirty in the morning, I doubt Mr. Giles is still up, regardless of what he said."

"You don't know Rupert like I do. He won't be getting any sleep any time soon, not with everything that's going on." He told her as he extricated himself from her grasp and stood up. "Why don't you try to get some more sleep?" He suggested.

She just looked at him sadly. "I though I might call Master Otagi and see if they have any extra warriors they could send to help us. It's a little after noon in Kyoto so now would be the ideal time."

Spike had walked into their bedroom and really didn't hear what she was saying. He came out with his boots on and kissed her forehead lightly. "I won't be long, try and get some more sleep then." He said distractedly before walking out the door.

"I love you." Raven said to the now closed door.

She could feel the tears burning behind her eyes and fought to keep them from falling. She had been so certain that coming here had been the right thing to do. She had thought once Spike faced his past with Buffy he would remember all the pain she caused him. Raven believed once he recalled how Buffy could never accept all of him he would realize how good they were together by comparison and how much he loved her.

She hadn't counted on what the past few years had done to Buffy. Her heart went out to the Slayer; no one should have to go through all the pain and suffering she had to deal with. However, Raven was more afraid of Buffy than ever now. She knew how long Spike had stayed with Drusilla and cared for her, even when it was apparent he would never be first in Drusilla’s affections. Raven didn't want that to happen again. What if Buffy was damaged like that? Would he leave her to care for Buffy?

Raven truly loved Spike and she wanted him to be happy more than anything. If everything worked out and he and Buffy were truly meant to be together then she would be more than willing to step aside for them. She just didn't see how that could be possible given their past relationship and what Buffy had been through since then.

More than anything Raven really wished she hadn't convinced him to come here in the first place. Maybe she should have just trusted that after they were mated he wouldn't have these thoughts of Buffy anymore.

Feeling alone and uncertain Raven picked up the phone to call her master hoping he could advise her.



Chapter V

It wasn't until he got into the hallway that Spike realized how drunk he must be. The narrow hallway seemed endless and the small printed wallpaper with the deep red background made him quite nauseous. So, either he was drunk, or the horrid floral wallpaper that lined the narrow passageway caused his dizziness.

He also realized he had no idea how to get to Giles' office from here. He hadn't paid any attention to Harris when he had been explaining where to find everything as he led them to their rooms.

Spike wandered down the hall making different turns trying to navigate his way to something familiar. After about 30 minutes of wandering and not seeming to get anywhere he realized he was well and truly lost. He didn't even know how to get back to his suite from here. He tried sniffing the air to see if anything seemed familiar, but there were too many scents in the air to distinguish one from the other. He had been turning in circles for several minutes trying to get his bearings when he heard voices and footsteps coming from farther down the hall.

Spike took off at a run not wanting to lose this chance of finding a way out of this maze. He turned a corner blindly and wound up running headlong into Xander.

"Whoa." Xander tried to steady himself so they both didn't end up on the floor. "Where's the fire, Evil Dead?"

Spike was embarrassed by the way he had lost his cool over the fact that he was lost in the Watcher's Council. "I've been wandering around this bloody place trying to find Rupert's office for almost an hour." He practically muttered.

"Aaaah." Xander said knowingly. "Another victim of the wallpaper, huh?"

Spike looked at him in surprise. "I've been a victim to this god awful stuff before, too. I once accidentally wandered into Rhona's bedroom by mistake. Not something I ever want to happen again." Xander turned and began walking back the way he came. Spike followed after him. "In my defense, though, it was right after Giles took me to a "real" English pub for the first time and I only have the use of one eye."

Spike tried to take more notice of his surroundings this time as he followed behind Xander.

"I take it the Watcher's still up then?" Spike asked. Xander shot him a look that clearly said 'Well, Duh'.

"He's been waiting for a call back from Riley on Mr. Ian and his Rogues. Illyria, Dawn and Will are in there with him.”

The wallpaper finally ended as the hallway opened up into a larger hallway. Dark wood walls lined this area, with large portraits hanging every so many feet.

"Ok, Giles' office is the third door on your left. I'll be back in a few, I've been sent on a donut run."

Spike had to laugh at that. "Some things don't change." He said and Xander laughed along with him.

They both stopped abruptly when they remembered how much HAD changed. Not the least of which was the two of them laughing together.

"Harris, what made you change your tune about me?"

"Well it would be sad if I didn't get any wiser as I got older, right?" The other man joked. "Besides its kind of hard to hate the person who saved me from the deranged preacher."

Spike didn't have anything to say to that, but the look that passed between the two spoke volumes and Spike knew the two had come to an understanding.

"I better get moving. Illyria tends to get cranky when she doesn't get her sugar fix." Xander turned and walked away. "Try not to get lost this time." He called back behind him.

Spike headed to the door Xander had indicated, but before he got close enough to turn the knob the door opened up from the other side and Dawn walked out shutting the door behind her. She stopped short when she noticed him in front of her.

Her eyes flashed with their earlier fire before it immediately went out and she looked down sullenly. "I was out of line earlier with SOME of the things I said and for that I apologize. She said stiffly, she never raised her eyes to look at him while she spoke. Spike noticed the emphasis on the word 'some'.

"Look, Dawn, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you and your sister. I thought I was doing the right thing by staying away. I would never want to hurt either one of you. I care about you both too much for that..."

Dawn gave a short bitter laugh and shook her head.

"What?" Spike asked her.

"Are you still telling yourself that lie?" She asked derisively. She finally raised her eyes to meet his and he could clearly see the hurt and bitterness behind her anger.

"You never cared about me," She continued. "You just used me to get to my sister."

"How can you say that?" Spike demanded.

"How can you pretend otherwise?" She demanded back sharply. "When I had a crush on you and used to show up at your crypt you just pumped me for information on Buffy. The only reason you agreed to protect me was to impress Buffy. And then after she died you only stayed because you promised Buffy you would.
You really didn't take care of me then either, for your information, I felt like I was taking care of you all the time, because you were so broken up over the fact that Buffy was gone. And after they brought her back you never came to see me or check on me, you were too wrapped up with her." Spike saw the unshed tears shining in her eyes. "I remember waiting for you to come by so you could sign my cast after Willow broke my arm, but you never came."

"Dawn..." Spike began, but she cut him off before he could get any further.

"Just answer this question for me. In all the years since you left us did you ever think about me or what I was doing?"

Spike couldn't tell her he had because he had tried to shut out all thoughts and memories of Sunnydale and the people there once he decided not to contact Buffy.

His silence deflated her anger. "And maybe you shouldn't have. I mean we didn't exactly finish up on good terms at the end. But please don't stand there and claim that you cared about me, because your actions say differently."

"Dawn, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..."

"Save it. Actually I'm used to it by now. Ask Xander sometime how he got to be the famous demon hunter he is today, it’s all thanks to me.”

Spike wondered what she meant by that, but he didn't have time to ask because just then Willow opened the door. "Oh!!!" She exclaimed when she saw the two of them standing there. "Is everything out here ok?" She asked looking nervously from one to the other.

"It’s about as good as its going to get." Dawn answered her cryptically.

"Ok." Willow said slowly. "I was coming to find you, they are getting Riley on the phone now."

Dawn didn't say anything else, just pushed past Willow to go back into Giles' office. Spike stared after her wishing he could do something to take away all the pain she was holding inside of her. He felt like such an ass. Dawn was right, he never tried to see her after Buffy came back, it wasn't because he didn't care about her, he was just too caught up in his own things. He didn't even realize how bad things had gotten for her, even after the whole stealing thing. Then, when she made that wish on Buffy’s birthday, he had been too concerned with Buffy’s date, to really worry about Dawn.

"If it makes you feel any better she treats the rest of us the same and we've been with her for the past 7 years."

Spike tried to get over his maudlin worries about Dawn. He was going to turn into Angel if he kept brooding over things he couldn't change instead of trying to figure out how to make things better now.

"So, how have you been, Red?" He asked as he entered Giles' office.

Willow shrugged. "Same old, same old. Working to save the world, again. Still trying to keep my powers under control. It’s kind of hard not to get a Goddess complex when you have the powers of one." She joked with him.

Spike admired Giles' large office. Books lined the shelves covering every available wall space. Across the room sat a large mahogany desk with a large leather chair that Giles sat in. On the other side of the desk six chairs were placed facing him. Dawn occupied one of the chairs and she had pulled it up as close as she could get to the phone sitting on the desk. Illyria sat perched on top of the desk; she was looking at Dawn angrily.

"I have told you before not to stand so close to me." Illyria was saying to Dawn. "The acrimonious emotions that come from you give this shell heartburn."

"Bite it, you blue freak." Dawn snapped. Giles glared at both of them and they quieted down.

"I'm sure with Blue there's enough of a Goddess complex around here." Spike commented to Willow.

Willow gave him a knowing grin.

"Are you still seeing the young Slayer?" Spike asked her as they made their way across the room. Giles looked up and nodded in greeting to them. On the speakerphone elevator music could be heard signaling the fact that they were on hold.

"No, the novelty on that ended right after the apocalyptic threat. I'm still trying to find someone as wonderful as Tara."

"I don't know that that's possible. Glinda was definitely a one of a kind."

Their conversation was interrupted by the music coming to an abrupt halt and a nasally sounding voice. "Sir, I'll now connect you to Major Finn."

There were several clicks then Riley's voice came over the phone. "Giles, sorry I kept you waiting. What can I do for you?"

"Good evening Riley. I was hoping you might have some information on some individuals for us." Giles answered.

"I'll see what I can do. Who are these people?"

"We don't know that they are all people. A man named Ian Thorpe came to see us today. He offered his mercenary group to help us. Have you ever heard of him? I believe he and his compatriots go by the name 'the Rogues'."

There was a long pause. "Riley? Are you still there?" Giles finally asked him.

"I'm here." Riley answered. "Look Giles, Thorpe just doesn't offer his services, there has to be more to it than that."

"Well, there was the price tag of seven and a half million dollars."

"He's giving you a deal then, usually he charges an even ten million." Riley said dryly.

"So, you are familiar with them then." Giles stated.

"I'm familiar enough with them to know that you don't want their help. I've worked with Thorpe before. They aren't the kind of people you are used to dealing with."

"What makes you say that?"

"They do a good job, don't get me wrong. They will complete the mission objective, but the means they use to do it, they have very relaxed morals, human life means nothing to them. I've even heard that they have used children in getting their missions accomplished. Not even our most seasoned veterans are comfortable around them.”

"Well that says something doesn't it?" Spike asked smartly.

There was another pause on Riley's end.

"Giles, is that who I think it is?"

"Ah, Finn I didn't know you missed me." Spike grinned.

"I didn't, but then again I haven't really tried to kill you lately either." Riley answered him.

"I see your wit hasn't improved over the years. Must be a curse of a government job." Spike laughed.

"We have more important things to go over right now. If you two could put this pissing contest on hold for a more appropriate time." Giles told them both.

"Pissing contest?" Illyria asked. "What is a pissing contest? How does that work?”

"That’s a conversation for another time." Willow shushed her before she could ask anymore.

"Look Giles, I don't know why you would even consider using Thorpe. I'm sure you don't have the money and..."

"He claims that Buffy is a member of his team." Giles interrupted him.

"That Son of a Bitch!!!" Riley swore.

"Do you think he's telling the truth, Riley?" Dawn asked anxiously.

"I knew they had a Slayer working with them, but I never actually met her. It makes sense though, based on some of the reports I've received." Riley sighed loudly. "All right, Giles if you are going to do this I will e-mail Willow all the information I have on Ian Thorpe and the Rogues, but you have to remember all of this information is classified. I also have to insist that if you are planning on hiring them you let me send over one of our special ops teams to help you in case they get out of hand."

"Thank you, Riley. Any help is appreciated right now."

"It’s no problem." They could hear typing on a keyboard across the phone. "Ok, I've sent the files to Willow."

Willow took her laptop off of the desk, sat down and proceeded to begin typing. "Got them. I'm downloading them now."

"Great. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually yes, Riley. You were right; we can't afford to hire Ian. I was wondering if there was any way the US government would be able to help with that."

"Giles, I would love to be able to help you, but since the end of the last war, the American public is very strict about what money comes to the armed forces. I couldn't begin to get access to that kind of cash."

"Gee you would think the American public didn't trust you. Think it has anything to do with all those countries you invaded needlessly?" Spike couldn't resist getting that dig in.

"We were spreading freedom around the globe." Riley snapped at him.

"Is that what you call picking a fight with North Korea, Syria, and Iran after you were getting your arses whipped in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"You have no idea what you were talking about. They were severe threats to the American way of life and to the countries around them. We did what we had to do to ensure peace." Riley was yelling now.

"You did what you had to do to ensure you had control over the oil fields in the Middle East!" Spike yelled back.

"GUYS ENOUGH!!!" Willow yelled before the argument could get completely out of hand. "Focus please. We all know that you two don't agree on anything. So talking politics right now-NOT HELPING!!!"

"Sorry, Red."

"Sorry, Willow."

"Riley," Dawn spoke up. "This may be my only chance to find my sister, isn't there anything you can do?" She pleaded with him.

"I'm sorry Dawn, my hands are tied on this one."

"I'll get you your money, Watcher." Spike spoke up suddenly. As much as he wanted to see Buffy, Spike also knew he had to do this for Dawn.

Dawn looked up at him surprised.

"Thank you, Spike." Giles was also surprised. " I wasn't aware you had access to that type of money."

"How do you have access to that much money, Spike?" Riley asked suspiciously.

"I own the most exclusive demon club in this realm, Finn. We tend to turn quite a good profit."

Right about that time the door flew open and Xander entered. "I come bearing donuts." He called into the room. Lorne, Raven and Angel followed him.

"I come bearing information." Lorne called. "And a severe need of a shower after some of the dives we've been in."

Spike noticed the withdrawn look on Raven's face as she entered the room and he was suddenly wracked with guilt. She looked so sad and he knew it was because he had been so caught up with Buffy since they arrived he had been shutting her out and ignoring her. When she got close enough he wrapped his arms around her, pleased to see some of the sadness leave her eyes.

"Hey Xander." Riley greeted him.

"Major Finn. I didn't know you would be here or I would have picked up those chocolate donuts you like so much."

Riley laughed. "Thanks for the thought."

"So, how's Sam and the little one?" Xander asked as he opened the box of donuts he sat on the desk. Illyria immediately started pawing through the box. Xander smacked her hand away lightly.

"Sam's fine. Although, she's complaining that she's bored having to stay home with the baby all the time."

"You dare..." Illyria began.

Xander held up another bag. "Yours aren't in there. I got you your own bag." He explained to her.

Illyria looked from Xander to the bag in his hand. She reached out and gently took it from him. "You've done well. You would have made an excellent slave in my time."

With that she took her donuts and sat down in a chair halfway across the room to enjoy them.

"And you’re welcome" Xander called to her, shaking his head.

"I have some things I need to finish up here before I can go home tonight so I need to get going. I'll send the men I promised you by tomorrow." Riley told them.

"We need to meet Thorpe in three days time in Katmandu. I'll have Willow e-mail the address to you they can just meet us there."

"Good night everyone."

"Good night Riley, and thank you again for all your help." Giles said.

"Tell Sam I said 'hi'." Dawn called.

"Later man." Xander added.

"Take care Riley, thank you for the information. I think it will help." Willow said.

"It's been a blast as always Major Cardboard."

There was a click as Riley disconnected from them.

"So you've decided to hire the Rogues then?" Angel asked Giles.

"Yes, I believe we have."

"And how are we going to pay them?" Angel asked.

"Spike offered to pay them." Giles told him.

Raven and Lorne both looked at Spike in shock.

"He did?" Lorne asked alarmed. "And where are you going to get that kind of money?"

"We have the down payment in our bank account." Spike told him.

"And the rest?" Lorne persisted.

"We'll call in all the blokes that owe us." Spike told him.

"Partner, can I talk to you a minute?" Lorne pulled Spike across the room and began talking at a frantic whisper.

Raven wanted to follow and find out what was going on, but she needed to speak to Giles first.

"Mr. Giles, I contacted my Master, Otagi in Japan this evening. He is sending two Hogoshas to meet us in Katmandu."

"You are a Hogosha." Giles asked surprised. "I had no idea. The Watcher's Council has been curious about the Hogoshas for a long time now, but no one has ever been able to meet one."

"I was a Hogosha for ten years before all the Slayers were activated."

"So you were a traditional Hogosha then?" Giles asked.

"What's a Hogosha?" Dawn asked, eyeing Raven up warily.

"Hogosha means protector or guardian in Japanese. It was also the name of a group sworn to protect the Japanese people from demonic threats. They were the ones who guarded the Hellmouth in Kyoto. Before all the Slayers were activated they were just regular girls who trained from birth for their duty. They are reputed to be some of the best fighters in the world.”

"You guarded a Hellmouth for 10 years with no Slayer skills?" Xander asked impressed.

Raven nodded, her cheeks were slightly pink over the attention she was receiving.

"Do you know if your master is sending traditional Hogoshas or Slayers?" Giles asked her.

"I am not sure." Raven answered her.

"Giles, you better come look at this." Willow said. "We may want to rethink Riley's offer of sending us men, they may have ulterior motives."

Raven used the distraction to walk over to where Lorne and Spike were still involved in a heated discussion.

"...then we'll sell the bloody club. I don't care. I am not going to let this opportunity pass." Spike was telling Lorne.

"That's great. We'll just sell the club. What are we going to do then if the world doesn't end?" Lorne demanded.

"I don't know. But this is something I have to do."

Lorne looked over at Raven now. "I really hope he knows what he's doing. I don't believe he's thinking clearly." He told her sadly before walking away.

"What was that all about?" She asked Spike.

He gave her a weak smile. "Nothing to worry about, luv." He told her kissing her lightly. "What's say we try and get some more shut eye? I imagine tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Raven didn't let him see the fear in her eyes when he pulled her close.




Copy of e-mail sent from Riley Finn after getting of the phone with Rupert Giles in England:

From: MajRFinn@usa.army.gov
To: DRumsfeld@usa..gov

Mr. Vice President,

I need to requisition the use of 3 members of the Tiger Force for a mission of utmost importance. Objectives and mission parameters as follows:

Primary Objective: Support and aid the Watcher's Council in their effort to prevent an attempted apocalypse originating in the country of Bhutan as the First Evil and Wolfram & Hart try to resurrect an Old One named the Thunder Dragon.

Secondary Objectives:

-Recapture Hostile 8320 aka Simon currently working with Ian Thorpe and the Rogues.

-Neutralize Hostile 17 aka William the Bloody aka Spike

-Determine the level of contamination Buffy Summers aka The Slayer has undergone, if deemed a threat, neutralize her as well.

-Gather as much Intel on both the Rogues and the members from the Watcher's Council for later consideration on how they should be handled.

Mission set to commence in three days time, need immediate approval.

Major Finn


Response:

From: DRumsfeld@usa.gov
To: MajRFinn@usa.army.gov

Major Finn,

Request Granted. Slight changes to objectives per President Cheney. See below.

Primary Objective:
Support and aid the Watcher's Council in their effort to prevent an attempted apocalypse originating in the country of Bhutan. Try to allow resurrection to occur than capture the Thunder Dragon to ensure the safety of this country.

Secondary Objectives:
-Neutralize Hostile 17, Angelus, and Buffy Summers.

-Apprehend the former Old One named Illyria for further study.

-Apprehend Dawn Summers aka The Key for further study.

-Recapture Hostile 8320 aka Simon currently working with Ian Thorpe and the Rogues.

-Gather as much Intel on both the Rogues and the members from the Watcher's Council for later consideration on how they should be handled.

D. Rumsfeld
Vice President
United States of America