Dawn of Destruction

By:  Morrigan & Blacknblue2



A/N:  Blacknblue2 says:  I hope you all hold tight - the ride's getting bumpier.  Thank you for being such wonderful readers, and for all the terrific reviews!

Morrigan says:  *Nods in total agreement*  You guys have been fantastic!  I hope you all continue to enjoy our story as much as we enjoy writing it!


Disclaimer:  All characters are property of Joss Whedon and ME...  But with strategically planned portals, we could free them all from their dusty cells and have them all to ourselves!

---

It had been over an hour since the commandos had left.

The discovery of the new portal, although disturbing, had given the men an opportunity to try out the spell within a shorter time frame.  There was nothing for Buffy and the rest of the gang to do now, but wait for answers.

Buffy wasn't very good at waiting.

She worked out her problems with her fists.  And, just sitting at home and staring at the phone was threatening to drive her insane.  So, secure in the fact that there were plenty of other people who could do the waiting thing, she decided that it was time to patrol.  After all, the demons of Sunnydale weren't going to sit around until this thing got here; why should she?

Shrugging on her jacket, she stood up and addressed the group.  "I'm going out for a while.  I'll be back in a couple of hours to see what the guys found out."

---

On most nights, Spike would have jumped up and followed Buffy out on patrol, but this night was different.  He had a little something playing on his mind that just wouldn't go away.  So, Spike opted for watching a movie with Dawn, instead.

About five minutes in, Spike turned to Dawn, and said, "Love you like a sister, Nibblet.  You know that, right?"

"Yes, Spike," she answered, rolling her eyes, not turning away from the movie.

A few minutes later he turned to her again, and said, "Said I'd protect you forever, an' I meant it."

"I appreciate that, Spike," she answered, still not turning from the movie.

A few more minutes passed before he turned to her again.  "Y'know, Bit, sometimes people don't see things quite the way --"

"Spike!"  Dawn interrupted, finally turning to look at him.  "He's like, 25!"

Spike opened his mouth to speak again, but Dawn wasn't finished.

"He's like 25, and he's in South America!  He probably has a wife and kids anyway!  I think you can probably relax."

"I just worry 'bout you is all," he explained.  "Pretty, young thing, like yourself...  You've no idea yet, just how low men can be.  Not all the nasties in the world are demons, Bit."

"Well, I know this much, Spike," she countered, smirking in response to his over-protective concern.  "Someone would have to be pretty stupid to try and take advantage of a girl who has you looking after her!"

She scooted over then, placing her bowl of popcorn in his hands and leaning her head on his shoulder.  "I don't need to worry about cute guys," she said.  "My best friend does all the worrying for me.  Can we finish the movie now?"

Quickly hiding his definitely un-Big Baddish reaction to Dawn's words, Spike just put his arm around her and turned back to the movie.

---

After she had worked out some of her restlessness, Buffy came home, and after a quick shower, sat down on the other side of Spike, leaning against him to watch the end of the movie.  Being so late at night, Buffy and Dawn quickly fell asleep, and their even breathing eventually lulled Spike to sleep, as well.

The sound of gentle footsteps woke Spike, and he quickly looked up to see Xander carefully covering them with a blanket.  Spike opened his mouth to say something, but Xander shot him a look that clearly said, "Don't talk about this.  We will *never* talk about this."  Spike nodded to Xander, then closed his eyes again, and drifted back to sleep.

All three were startled awake when the phone rang.  Buffy was slightly disoriented from waking up on the couch, but quickly gathered her bearings, and moved to answer the phone.  From the light showing around the edges of the curtains, they could tell it was early morning, and probably the military men calling.

"I've got it!"  Anya called out, rushing into the kitchen from outside, and picking up the receiver.

"Yes...  It's about time you guys called. We were much with the restless anticipation...  Well, alright...  Let me see if I can find her for you."  Covering the mouthpiece of the phone, Anya hollered Willow's name, rousing the few remaining sleepers in the house, and causing the three people in the living room to jump, once more.

After a few minutes, Willow appeared from upstairs, wearing her fuzzy slippers and a big nightshirt with the word, *Sleepyhead* written across the front.  She grumbled a not-so-sincere, "Thank you," as she took the receiver from Anya's hand.

Turning to Buffy, Spike, and Dawn, Anya said, matter of factly, "The portals are protected by magic.  They glowed green...  I'm not really sure of the shade, since Jason didn't say, but I'll bet it was puce."

"I think you're probably right," said Dawn, nodding seriously.

Anya face broke into a brilliant smile, and she turned to go into the kitchen.  "I'm making blueberry pancakes!"  She called, "who wants some?"

"Me!"  Answered Dawn, excitedly, a smug grin crossing her face.

"Puce?" asked Spike.

"Blueberry pancakes," answered Dawn.

Before Spike could tell Dawn how proud he was of her manipulation, Willow broke in.  "The portal glowed green," she said, "which means that it is a protection spell, and most likely a barrier spell.  I told Jason a spell to see if they can discover where the portals go without compromising the barrier spell.

"But why don't you want to compromise the barrier spell?"  Asked Xander, walking down from upstairs.  "I thought the whole point of the mojo was to find out where this sucker leads."

"Of course," answered Willow, "but you don't just want to jump through a portal without knowing where it leads.  And if you take down the barrier spell, anyone could go through.  It's just a bad idea to try something like that before we know where these things lead."

"Alright, Wills," Xander answered, with a small chuckle, "I get it.  No portal jumping for me."

Resigned to play the waiting game, once more, the gang passed the time with a vigorous effort to carry on as they normally would on a day where they had all gathered together.

Games were played, food prepared and eaten, and movies were watched.  Buffy even folded a load of laundry, which she felt earned her at least one big brownie point, since she usually had taken to leaving them in a pile on the dryer, as of late.

They were in the middle of watching the original Dracula - laughing and pointing out the ridiculous campiness of it, amidst other jokes including Buffy suddenly appearing wearing a scarf and Spike trading in his duster for a leather cape and trying desperately to put people under his thrall so that he could suck their *Blud,* - when the phone rang.  A shrill sound which silenced all of them immediately.

A strange cloud of dread hung over them as the phone continued to ring.  None of them offered immediately to answer it, as though by some strange stroke of clairvoyance, they all knew what they would hear would not be good.

At last, Giles stood up and walked to the phone and answered it, standing quietly as he looked into the apprehensive faces staring back at him from the living room.

"I see," he said somberly, nodding as he continued to listen to the speaker on the other end.  "Yes...  We'll do that...  I'm so sorry...  Thank you...  Goodbye."

Giles hung up the phone and removed his glasses, wiping them with the hem of his shirt, before putting them back on and addressing the group.

"That was uh...  That was Riley, actually.  He... he called to tell us that we still don't know where the portal leads...  And, Jason won't be able to help us find out."  He paused again for a moment as though trying to find the right words, then said, "There seems to have been some sort of... accident."

He shook his head sadly, as he concluded, "Richard and his team are dead."