Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Since I have already stolen Drogyn and hopefully given him a better death than Joss did; you won’t be all that surprised that I am playing with the Angel timeline. I’m just borrowing one more character. But I promise to give him back in the same condition I got him in.
 
Dialog taken from “No Place Like Home” by Doug Petrie. Dialog taken from Triangle, written by Jane Espenson
 
Many thanks to my beta No_Promises. The wonderful banner is by 3hours.

---

---

Both men were knocked out by the pain. Riley from the effects of the wish and Spike from the pain of the stake in his heart.

Spike recovered first, “Bollocks that soddin’ hurt!” Spike stilled for a minute trying to figure out why he wasn’t dust. Running his hand down his chest he encountered the stake. Touching it gently he carefully wrapped his hand around it and yanked. Another scream pierced the silence of the crypt. “Soddin’ thing’s plastic!” Getting slowly to his feet he walked over to still unconscious Riley Finn. “Wanker.”

The crypt door slamming open for a second time made Spike whirl around stake still in his hand.
“Spike!” Buffy screamed thinking Spike had injured Riley she dove towards the vampire knocking him down and making both of them yell in pain. I gotta remember to stop doing that!

“What the hell did you do that for?!” Spike moaned placing a hand over the wound in his chest.

“I was stopping you from killing Riley!”

“Have you gone completely barmy slayer? I still have this damn chip in my head and that tosser isn’t worth the headache.”

“Then why is he unconscious on the floor of your crypt with you standing over him holding a stake?”

“He came here and staked me with that.” Spike tossed the stake to Buffy. As she caught it she realized that there was something wrong with it.

“This isn’t wood.”

“Buy the lady a Kewpie doll. It’s plastic Slayer, not something you pick up at the local store. And it won’t kill vamps just make ‘em wish they were dead. Guess Captain Cardboard forgot about the wish. Came in here hell bent talking about me messing up his mission and blowin’ his cover then he jammed that in my chest. Knocked us both out.”

Unsure why she was doing it Buffy made her way over to Spike. She gently lifted his shirt to see the gaping wound in his chest. “Do you have any blood here? That looks bad.”

“Got some in the fridge.” Spike watched as Buffy rose and went to the fridge and got him a container of blood. “So what’s with the personal service slayer?”

“I need to tell you something but we need to get Riley out of here first and check this place for cameras.” Buffy began to drag Riley towards the door as Spike finished off the container of blood.

“Hold up there pet. Let me get the Desoto we can put ‘im in the back and drop him off at his place.”

Buffy looked at him quizzically. “Why the sudden concern for Riley?”

“Personally none. If it was up to me I’d drag him outta here and leave him for some random vamp to eat. But I don’t feel like getting blamed for his death so let’s get the big hulking soldier back to his flat, he’s stinking up the place.” Spike grabbed Riley by the upper arms as Buffy grabbed his feet. The two super beings lifted the bulky man and Spike gave a grunt of pain as the wound on his chest pulled. They quickly deposited him in the back seat of the car and Spike drove as Buffy gave him directions.

When they pulled up in front of Riley’s apartment the two got out and managed to get the still unconscious Riley out of the car. A shadow detached itself from the side of the building and approached them. “Graham? What are you doing here?” Buffy asked when she recognized Riley’s friend from the Initiative.

“Hi, Buffy. What happened to Riley?”

“Long story. Let’s just say he got into a fight with a demon and got knocked out. Okay?” Buffy elbowed Spike when the vampire snorted at her words. “Are you back in town for a reason?”

“Yeah, Riley screwed up and our bosses want him to come back to base and explain what happened. He’s in a lot of trouble this time. He’s been taking orders from a colonel who’s off the res and never bothered to check that the orders were legit. The higher ups wanted written reports after the Initiative was shut down he went beyond the original orders.”

“I thought that was all done with! You guys were supposed to go away and stop the demon experiments!”

“They did! But they thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on things around here just in case. But the colonel who was in charge had other ideas. The pentagon sent me to get him; they’ve decided to shut everything down. I don’t know how but somehow somebody with some serious pull got all the surveillance pulled from here. I don’t think his military career is going to survive the fallout. I’m trying to get him assigned to a squad in South America fighting the cartels; hopefully I can convince the higher ups to give him one more chance.”

“Let me help you get him inside then I really have to go.”

“What’s going on with you two? I thought things were okay between you. I talked to Riley just yesterday and he said everything was going great.” Graham asked as he and Buffy carried Riley into his apartment.

“We broke up tonight and he went off and got into a fight he knew he couldn’t win.” With a grunt Buffy let go of Riley’s legs as her and Graham placed him on the couch. “Graham I really have to go my mom is sick and I need to go check on her.”

“Sure Buffy I understand. We’ll be leaving in the morning. Do you want me to have him come by before we leave?”

“No... I… it ended badly Graham. I really don’t want to see him again.”

“Okay. I hope your mother feels better soon. If you ever need anything give me a call okay?” Graham wrote down a number he could be reached at and handed it to Buffy.

Buffy waved as she left the apartment and got back into the car with Spike.

“So what did you need to tell me slayer.”

“It needs to wait until we can find a place to talk that no one bugged.”

“Car’s clean. I checked while you were carrying the git upstairs.”

“Alright start driving.” Buffy waited a beat before speaking again. “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Spike was speechless. The slayer apologized to me? “’S alright slayer.”

“No it’s not. There’s just a lot of stuff going on. But you were right, you were helping and none of us said thank you. So thank you Spike.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ve got some other stuff to tell you. Everyone but my mom and Dawn know this.” Buffy took a deep breath before continuing. “I know what that Kallie person is looking for and I know where it is.”

“So we just have to keep it away from her right?”

“Sorta. The key is human”

“What? What the hell kind of idiocy is that?” Spike’s shock was clear.

“Yeah well some monks decided they needed to hide the key so they sent it to me. They made the key human and sent her to me to protect.” Buffy watched as the wheels in Spike’s brain turned.

“Glinda? She’s the newest of your bunch. But that doesn’t make sense she’s been ‘ere for a while now.”

“No it’s not Tara although that Kallie person might think it’s her. I never thought of it that way. We’ll have to keep her safe too. No, Dawn is the key. Those monks sent her here a few months ago. She didn’t exist before that; they changed all of our memories so no one could tell.”

“Bite Size is a key? I remember her following you around. Sneaking downstairs that night I came for the spell for Dru.”

“They gave all of us memories of Dawn. Listen there is a meeting at the Magic Box at 9am tomorrow. But if you tell anyone about Dawn the migraine will be worth it to dust you.”

“Why are you tellin’ me this Slayer?” Spike was suspicious of this sudden sharing of information.

“You’ve been helping us lately and Giles thought you should know. He thinks you might be the only person besides me that might stand a chance against her.”  

 “Hey! I like the Bit, god only knows what the Council of Wankers would do if they got a hold of ‘er.” “Does soldier boy know? Should we be worried about him and his buddies coming round?”

“No I never told him. I only told Giles and the gang tonight after you left.”

“Spike watch out!!” Buffy suddenly screamed as a woman ran out in front of the car.

Spike swerved and slammed on the brakes. Throwing the car in park he got out to check the woman for injuries. “Are you blind you daft bint?!”

“You will bow down before Kaledena. She offers peace and harmony to all those who follow her. She knows best for all. Those who resist shall be dealt with.” The strange woman spoke to Buffy and Spike.

“Sorry honey. I like making my own choices.” Buffy crossed her arms studying the woman. There was something off about her and not just what she was saying.

“Kaledena knows best for all. She can lead us to a utopia. With no discord towards our fellow man, just peace and harmony.”

Spike noticed others, humans, coming out from behind the buildings making their way to where the trio stood. “Think it’s time to go, pet.” Placing a hand on Buffy’s arm he began leading her back to the car.

The woman Buffy and Spike had been talking to suddenly stood perfectly still closing her eyes. When she opened them again her voice had changed as well as the color of her eyes. They had gone from a light green to a deep dark brown. “Grab her. I want her alive I want to know what the battle brand told her.”

“Gotta run, luv.” Spike didn’t wait for anything else; grabbing Buffy he dragged her to the car. Quickly opening the driver’s side door he tossed her in. Jumping in right after her Spike put the car in gear and floored the accelerator leaving skid marks on the pavement.

A quick look in the mirror showed that some of the strangely behaving people had managed to get into a few cars and were following them. “Hold on. We’ve got a tail. I’m gonna try to lose ‘em.” A series of sharp turns and speeding down the streets of Sunnydale eventually lost the group following them. “Spike were they human?”

“That they were.”

“What am I going to do I can’t slay humans!”

“I think we need to talk to the watcher before those blokes from Merry Ole England come in the morning.” Spike replied as he turned the car towards Giles’ apartment.