SECTION 2 - HOUSE OF FIRE

Building a house of fire, baby
Buildin' it with our love
We are buildin' a house of fire
every time we touch
We are building this house
together, baby
Standing on solid ground
We are building a house of fire
that you can't tear down

(Alice Cooper, Album - Trash)



Chapter 2.03
Monday, May 13th, 2002

Wesley didn't think about what he was doing. He simply drew the shorter piece of paper from Gunn's hand and handed him both his own longer piece and the pouch that contained the orbs.

Before the other man could say anything either in thanks, or as Wesley suspected would be more likely, in protest, he turned and headed for where Tara was preparing the necessary components for one of the other location spells.

"You might need what's in the pouch," he told the younger man, deliberately not looking back so that Gunn wouldn't need to meet his gaze. "Any of the Sunnydale crowd will be able to tell you what they do. I've got plenty I can be getting on with here." He gestured in the vague direction of the stack of books they had removed from Holliday's shop, in addition to the one the demon had intimated would be useful.

"I've got to make a start on checking through Holliday's inventory tomorrow, so it's not as if I couldn't do with an early night."

"Look. I ain't-."

"You aren't going to be able to help those kids if you stay here. You're simply better qualified for dealing with them than I. I suggest you don't keep the others waiting."

Only when he heard the door open and close once more did Wes finally let his shoulders relax. He gave Tara a soft smile. "How can I help?" he asked.

 

---

 

Spike and Buffy turned as Angel approached, the vampire's arm still casually draped around the slayer's shoulders. "Who's drivin' an' which car?"

"I am, and it's the convertible," answered Angel in a tone that brooked no argument.

Spike merely shrugged and turned his attention to Buffy once more, scooping her into his arms and depositing her gently on the car's backseat before she had time to realise what he was up to. Then, when she shifted over in the seat to make room, he rested his butt on the body of the car just behind the rear seat, swinging his legs over and in before dropping down into place.

The relatively sedate nature of his entry into the vehicle told Buffy that he was suffering more from his wounds than he would say. Leaning in towards him, she slid her arm under his before clasping his hand and letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"You really thought you were in a fit state to take on a slayer?" she asked.

"Yeah, well. I was kind of expecting some sixteen year old. and I didn't remember the number of times between now and then that you happened to kick my butt."

The pair were distracted as Willow climbed into the front passenger seat of the car.

"Hey," Buffy called from the back. "Have I got cooties or something?"

"No, but I kinda figured that Wes would be taking his car so that we had space to bring people back."

"Good point," The blonde conceded. "What're we going to do with them all when we get back to town anyway? Are we going to have to take them all back to their families?"

"Yeah, right, pet. 'Cause it's been all over the telly that they've disappeared. They picked 'em up off the streets. They don't have any family or they ran away from it," Spike told her. "Looks like the Hyperion Hotel is about to become the Hyperion Hostel."

Angel scowled at the thought of further invasions of his privacy. Somehow this was Spike's fault. He hadn't worked out exactly how, but deep down he just knew it.

Spike's next words drew him from his contemplation. "Looks like the watcher decided not to come, after all." The rest of the group looked over to see Gunn emerging from the Hotel's back door. He walked over to the convertible and vaulted into the remaining seat in the back.

"Let's go," he told Angel, who merely waited bemused as Willow let out a heavy sigh. "Am I the only one who wasn't going to leave these people sitting at the airport or wherever we're actually driving to?" she asked.

"Where are we going?" Spike posed his own question.

"David's place. The charter company's based at the airstrip at Long Beach, so it's quicker for him to come to us, and David's got plenty of space for him to land."

"I was kind of looking for something that would tell me whether we were going to be going anywhere near where the DeSoto is," the blond replied. "That said, I guess if this guy's as well off as all that, he won't mind putting up a few kids for a while so we don't really need another car, do we? So I guess we can just go ," he added pointedly. "Unless you really , really want to bring them all home and wuv them and wook after them like widdle, stway puppies so they can be company for junior, that is?"

Gunn sat forward to look past Buffy in the blond vampire's direction. "Is he always like that?" he asked no one in particular, as Angel finally pulled away.

"Only when he can't eat people," Willow answered and then seemed to consider her response further. "So, yeah, pretty much."

 

---

 

As the car made its way from downtown LA through the more affluent suburbs, Spike began to absently search through his coat pockets. A packet of cigarettes was pulled from one pocket, soon followed by his lighter. He lit up a cigarette, no mean feat in itself given the speed of the open top vehicle, but this seemed only to delay his search slightly rather than be the object of it. By the time he'd gone through all his coat pockets twice, his patience was obviously at an end.

"Balls!" he swore under his breath.

"What's up?" Buffy asked.

"Phone's missing. Wasn't really something I'd have had four years back so I didn't twig before."

"So are you just annoyed that it's missing, or did you actually want to call someone?"

"Both. I'd kind of like it if Bit wasn't waitin' with a stake when we get back."

Buffy rummaged in her purse, pulling out one of three phones that still remained there after her Sunday morning shopping spree. "Lucky I've got some spares. I think I might've gone overboard when we wanted to make sure everyone could stay in touch. She's staying with Marie, so don't bother calling Revello."

Buffy passed the phone over and Spike started flicking through the phone book until he found the number he wanted.

"Hey, Bit." Spike began in typically laid back style.

"So you remember who I am, do you? Only took you three hours."

"Sorry, pet. Once your sis got me patched up a bit we ended up crashing for a couple of hours."

"That's a new name for it," Dawn responded, but her tone was more teasing than caustic, even if it still had a slight edge. "Are you okay? That whole bathtub thing had us kind of worried."

"Bathtub thing?" Spike queried.

"Get Buffy to tell you. And bear in mind it's not just your ass on the line any more. Now, answer the question. Are you okay?"

"I'm a bit banged up, but nothin' that won't be all healed by the time the wedding rolls around. We still on for dinner with your young man tomorrow night?"

"As far as I know. You going to make it back?"

"Wouldn't miss it, pet," Spike assured her.

"Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it."

Spike sighed at her sceptical tone. "If we can, we'll be there to pick you up from school tomorrow. Okay, Bite-Size?"

"I guess I can wait that long."

"D'you want to talk to your big sis?" Spike asked.

"Why would I want to do that?" the teenager asked, reluctant to seem overly attached to her sister.

"Maybe to give her a hard time, too?"

"Yeah, put her on, why don't you?"

Spike passed the handset over to his fiancée.

"Hey, Dawnie," Buffy greeted her sister.

"I guess you haven't told him about your bloodbath, then?" Dawn accused.

"There hasn't exactly been a lot of time to talk. We'll get round to it sooner or later, when we get some privacy. We've got quite a bit we need to discuss."

"Yeah, right. Spike says you'll be back home tomorrow."

"I don't see why not. We've got some bits and pieces to do, but we should be finished later on tonight. We'll try to call tomorrow before you go to school. Okay?"

"Okay. Stay safe."

"We'll do our best. Bye."

"Bye. Talk to you tomorrow."

Buffy cut the connection and passed the phone back to Spike. "You might as well keep one," she told him. "You paid for them."

Out of curiosity, Spike dialled the number for his own cell phone. It rang for what seemed like minutes before he was connected to his voicemail service. He terminated the call and put the phone away in his pocket.

 

---

 

"Hey, come on up." The disembodied voice coming from the speaker at the gate was unmistakably that of David Nabbit.

The high, black gates swung open and the convertible glided majestically through and coasted up the drive.

Even as they pulled up in front of the large house, the multi-millionaire was waiting on his doorstep to greet them. "Hey there. The chopper isn't here yet. It should be about another half an hour maybe forty minutes."

"I thought you said it would only be a fifteen minute flight," Angel responded, obviously anxious to get things rolling as soon as possible.

"It is. But then Doug's dad and the other pilot have to get to the strip and do the pre-flight checks. So do you guys want a coffee or a drink or something while you're waiting?"

"I'll have a drink," Spike was quick to respond, receiving a poke in his ribs for his trouble. "Wha'? Might as well. No point standing round doing nothing." Buffy gave an exasperated sigh that was belied by her amused smile as she watched her fiancé's retreating back as he scrambled from the car. The slayer followed suit, taking his hand again as he turned to help her out.

"You drink more than you should," Buffy told him.

"'S that right, love? Well, if you want me to drink less, you'll just have to keep me and my mouth occupied with other things." His voice was partly gently mocking and wholly seductive. He leant in for a gentle but prolonged kiss by way of demonstration. The other three got out of the car and had followed David into the house before he raised his head once more. His hand came up to caress her face, his thumb gently brushing her cheekbone as she melted into his touch.

"Pig." Buffy mouthed the insult under her breath, knowing he was more than capable of hearing it.

"Love you, too, pet." His response came as a dryly amused whisper.

As they followed the others into the house, Spike could hear Willow apologising on their behalf. "Em, you'll have to excuse Spike and Buffy. It's their one-week engagement anniversary, and they've only just got Spike back. They're not normally all kissy-face. Except when they are."

"I'm sure the guy's seen people kiss before, Red. He might even have done it himself a few times. He doesn't need a diagram." Spike overrode Willow's apology with all the finesse of a bulldozer. "Why don't you do the introductions, Angelus, and then the nice man can get back to offering alcohol."

Angel gave a long-suffering sigh. It didn't matter how much Spike changed, in some ways he was determinedly the same.

"David, this is Spike, Buffy and Willow. They're visiting from Sunnydale. This is Gunn. I don't think you guys have met, but he's been working with us for quite a while."

"So you guys are all demon hunters, too?" David asked.

"Ya could say that," Buffy told him.

Spike snorted. "And you could also say the North Pole's a bit chilly, and it'd be about the same level of understatement."

"Buffy is the slayer. It's kind of this whole demon-killing destiny," Angel provided for the mystified millionaire.

 

---

 

Spike was finishing off his second single malt when he heard the sound of the helicopter arriving. He sat his empty glass down on the end table near his chair and strode to watch through the room's french windows as the machine landed. Buffy came to stand next to him, a diet coke can still in her hand.

"I've never been in a helicopter before. Have you?" she asked.

"A couple of times. 'S just another way of getting from A to B when all's said and done."

"What if I get airsick?"

"You won't, but if you do, I'll look after you."

"What if Willow gets sick?" she teased.

"Then, she can look after herself. Or more likely magic herself better," Spike added in what sounded to Buffy like a slightly disapproving tone.

"Shouldn't we go wait outside?"

"Nah, let him stop the rotors first. Those things make quite a draught."

However, David chose this moment to walk past them and throw wide the doors until metal clips on their outer edge latched into clips set into the walls on either side of the doorway, to hold them securely open. The others began to spill out onto the lawn at the rear of the house. Buffy tugged on Spike's arm, pulling him outside.

"If we're going to get your hair all mussed up anyway, we might as well get a better view," she told him.

He let himself be pulled out into the gardens, but as he watched her smiling face, he knew views didn't come any better.

 

---

 

It took a good ten minutes for the helicopter to land, for Spike to discuss with the two pilots where roughly they were headed and for all the passengers to get belted in safely. By the time they took to the air, it was a little after quarter past eleven. With about an hour of flying time to get them into the right general area and then a bit longer for Spike to pinpoint where they were going, it was going to be at least half past twelve before they reached the cabin.