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I Would Still Have Loved You by slaymesoftly
 
Chapter Fifteen
 
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Okay, so, I've been trying to get the SS fic finished (99% done) and neglecting this one, but I'm worried people will lose interest and forget about it if I let it go too long between updates. So, operating on that assumption, I'm posting the very recently completed Ch. 15 today. Ch. 16 consists, at the moment, of one paragraph of dialogue... So it's going to be a while before it goes anywhere. I really dislike not being several chapters ahead before posting something, in case I make a big booboo of some sort, or totally go off the plot rails. But, it it what it is. If anyone spots something inconsistent, or confusing, please let me know. I'm currently searching the whole fic up to this point to make sure I'm not writing something impossible or unlikely here at the beginning of Ch. 16. Which I suspect I am... And may well have done already in this chapter. The curse of working #1 without a beta, and #2 on two stories at the same time and bouncing back and forth between them. It's a bit much for my aging brain. :)

Anyway, warning made, here is the next chapter of IWSHLY:

 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
 
They awoke once just before dawn, made slow, sleepy love and dozed off again. When Buffy woke up the next time, it was late morning and she knew she had to get going.  Leaving Spike to sleep like the vampire he was, she ran into the tunnels, candle in hand, peed quickly, and dashed back to the crypt, vowing to make adding a real toilet to Spike’s list of things to fix.
 
She dressed and went up the ladder, adding ‘fix ladder’ to the list, and checked her phone to see that she’d just missed a call from Giles.
 
“Hey, Giles. I’m here, I was just too far away to hear that I had a message.”
 
“Good morning, Buffy. I have news from the Council. It seems the new military officers will be arriving around noon and they will have with them a young man from the British Army. That young man is also the son of a high-ranking Council member and well-versed on what has been going on.  He will be expecting you to meet them at the entrance to the campus nearest Lowell House at 1:00.”
 
“Okay… I guess… Is Lowell House still there?”
 
“I understand parts of it are. I believe Willow has more information for you.” He hesitated.  “Both Willow and Spike are expected to be with you when you meet with the Army group.”
 
“I can understand Spike… if the Council is really watching us, they know he was saying he was involved in the experiments there, but why Willow?”
 
“I’m not clear on that at all… however the Council works very closely with a coven of powerful witches who may have detected traces of Willow’s spell.”
 
“They can tell she did a spell from all the way over there?”
 
“My Will Be Done is a very powerful spell. It’s certainly possible traces of it could be felt. It’s also possible that a local practitioner of magic detected it and alerted the coven. I truly do not know.”  He sounded quite disgruntled, making Buffy smile to herself.  “Apparently I am no longer to be privy to anything not directly related to my non-duties here.”
 
“Okay, Giles. I’ll keep you in the loop, once I know what the loop is…. Let me get something to eat and call Willow.”
 
“What do you plan to do about Spike? He can hardly join you in mid-day.”
 
Rather than get into an argument about her having given Spike the Gem of Amara, Buffy just mumbled something about sewers and tunnels and manholes before she hung up.
 
 
 
She was just finishing a quick breakfast of cereal and peanutbuttered  toast when Spike stuck his head above the floor.
 
“Morning, love,” he said, smiling at her. “Do we have a plan?”
 
“Apparently the Council does,” she responded, somewhat unhappily.  “We’re supposed to meet the new Army guys at 1:00.”
 
We?”
 
“Yes. Don’t ask me why the Council expects a vampire to be able to do that, but they want Willow too, so maybe we can explain why you aren’t there.”
 
“I can be there, Buffy. The soldiers won’t suspect what I am if they see me in the sunlight.”
 
They won’t, but I’m guessing the Council kid knows about you.”
 
“Ah, hence your comments about understanding why they would be looking for me. And what is a ‘Council kid’?”
 
“The son of some Council muckity muck is in the Army – England’s army – and he’s going to be with them for some reason.”
 
“No doubt to see what nefarious things I’m up to,” he snorted. “How do you want to play this?”
 
She smiled at his willingness to let her take the lead. “I can’t decide. If he hasn’t told them you’re a vampire, which I doubt, then you could just walk over with me.  But then he’ll wonder why you aren’t on fire…. I dunno. I guess the safest thing is for us to go separately. I can tell him you used the tunnels and… crap. We’re supposed to meet them outside. That won’t work.”
 
“You can call me once you’re indoors somewhere – I’m guessing they’ll want to see what’s left of the labs – and I can meet you there.”
 
“That might work. Okay. I’m going to go get Willow and I’ll call you when I know what’s going on.”
 
“All right, love. Be careful.”
“You too.  See you later.”
 
XXXXXXX
 
 
Walking up to the agreed-upon site, Buffy gave the small group of men a non-committal smile.
 
“Are you the reinforcements?” she asked, glancing around the group and trying to identify which one had the watcher contacts.
 
“In a manner of speaking,” said the one with the most medals on his uniform. “I am Colonel George. Are you Miss Summers?”
 
“I am. But please call me Buffy.” She gave him a more genuine smile. “So what’s the plan? Do you know what’s been going on here?”
 
“We know a good bit about it – mostly through your… employer.  Our purpose is to identify the personnel responsible for what seems to have been a gross violation of the mission and separate them from the members of our organization who were only following orders.”
 
Buffy nodded. “I don’t think any of the soldiers really knew what Mag—Professor Walsh was doing with the cyborg. But you might want to talk to the lab guys. Some of them had to be helping her.”
 
A tall slender man, not wearing an American Army or any other uniform, looked around then back at Buffy. “Is Mr. Pratt going to be joining us… later?”
 
Buffy cocked her head at him, recognizing from his accent that he must be the liaison from the UK.  She nodded and pointed at the sky. “He said he’d meet us inside. After I call him and tell him it’s time.”
 
The man smiled his understanding. “Please do call him and suggest he join us when and how he can.” He held out his hand. “I am Winston… Smyth. A liaison from the British Special Forces, as you’ve no doubt concluded.”
 
“Yeah. I figured that out. Why do want Spike?” Buffy demanded, ignoring the way the army men were frowning at the hard to understand conversation. “And Willow?”
 
“I understood he has personal knowledge of this facility… deep personal knowledge.” He looked into Buffy’s eyes with an expression that said he knew much more than he should.
 
With a frown, Buffy remembered that to this Council, Spike was William the Bloody, Slayer of Slayers. They had no idea he’d been a captive of the Initiative. Nor that he should have a chip preventing him from being dangerous. The Council should have no idea that he might be a more important member of Buffy’s entourage than expected. Nor that he had been faking when he showed up at Giles’s door saying he could no longer hunt. Giles had not had time to let the Council know about Spike before he found out about their true identities. So how would this Mr. Smyth expect Spike to know about the labs? And why wasn’t he more surprised to find him helping Buffy?
 
“Um…” She stepped closer to him and dropped her voice to a whisper. “He does have some knowledge, but the soldiers in there aren’t going to know about it. They think he’s a guy who hangs out with me and helps me sometimes.”
 
“They don’t know he’s a vampire?”  The young man’s eyes grew wide. “How will you keep that from them?”
 
“You’ll see,” she said, stepping away and hitting the button to call Spike. When he answered on the second ring, she said, “Why don’t you come now. Meet us in front of Lowell House.”
 
“Slayer?”
 
“You need to be not a vampire today.”
 
“I’ll do my best, love, but….”
 
“Hurry up. I’ll wait outside for you.” She ended the call and smiled at the bewildered man. “He’s on his way.”
 
“If I understood that correctly, he is going to meet us outside? Now?” He rolled an eye up to the sunny sky.
 
“Yep. Let’s go. I said we’d be in front of the frat house which is the easiest way to get into the Initiative. Unless the explosion set fire to the house?”
 
 
 
 Buffy led the way across campus to Lowell House’s spot at the far end of the section for fraternities. Looking at it with more knowledgeable eyes, she could see that it was situated close to the woods and with a good line of sight all the way around it. Knowing what she did about how well-protected it was, she had no trouble locating a few of the cameras and other sensors hidden around the building.
 
As they approached the house, now surrounded by yellow tape warning students away from the structure, she could see Riley and several of his men waiting on the porch. Behind them, the frat house looked almost normal – if you didn’t think about the scorch marks on the siding, and the missing piece of roof where a fire had burned through.
 
“Is it going to be safe to go in?” Colonel George asked after exchanging salutes with Riley and introducing himself.
 
“Yes. It’s very safe. I know it looks bad from out here, but it’s really a very well-built and reinforced structure. Even the elevator still works.”
 
“Elevator?”
 
“The areas you’re interested in are several levels below us.”  Before the older man could ask, Riley added, “Except for the damage in the lab areas, everything else is pretty much okay. And the radiation levels are safe for short term visits.”
 
The colonel glanced at Buffy who was watching Spike and Willow making their way towards the group. “I’m assuming you know what he’s talking about?” he asked.
 
Buffy nodded. “I do. But Riley will be much more familiar with the lab and… containment… areas. So he’ll be your best guide.”
 
“Considering that you shouldn’t know anything about anything down there,” Riley said as he watched Spike approach, “I’d like to think I know more about it. Why are you here, Buffy?  And why are they here?” He pointed at Spike and Willow.
 
“They are here at my request,” Winston said as he introduced himself once again as a liaison with British Special Forces.  “Miss Rosenburg and I need to have a conversation. However, Mr­­­–Spike, is free to accompany you if you feel he could be of assistance.”
 
“Mr. Spike is free to decide for himself he wants to assist anybody,” Spike growled.
 
“There’s no reason Spike should know anything about our facility,” Riley said stiffly.
 
“Quite right,” Winston said smoothly. “Then we will just all wait for you out here and you can send for any of us you may need to question.”
 
Colonel George, having been give explicit instructions that the young Brit was to treated with great courtesy and deference, nodded his head in agreement. “That’s fine. If these are the people you needed to interview, by all means do so. If we require their… services…” His expression showed how unlikely that was. “We will send for them.”
 
As the military men followed Riley into the building, Buffy and Spike exchanged looks, seeing that they were thinking exactly the same thing.
 
“You know too much,” Buffy said. “What’s going on?”
 
“That is very astute of you… and William… However, at the moment, I would like to speak with Miss Rosenburg before I explain myself to you.”
 
“Sounds like ‘British Special Forces’ is code for Council of Wankers, pet.”
 
“Sure does,” Buffy agreed. “Why do you want to talk to Willow?”
 
“Yes. Why me?”  Willow seemed to be doing her best to look confused and unsure of herself, but the dangerous look in her eye made Buffy take a deep breath.
 
“If we might?” Winston gestured at the steps of the porch, waiting until Willow had sat down, arms tightly crossed in front of her. When she seemed to be as settled as she could get, he smiled and said, “You are obviously a very powerful witch. Your connection to the power source here is quite strong.”
 
“And you know that because….” Willow narrowed her eyes at him.
 
“Because, as your friends have so cleverly discovered, I am here representing the Council of Watchers. My job, in addition to meeting Miss Summers and her… and William the Bloody, is to meet with you and assess your willingness to accept an offer of training in the magical arts and spell casting from our coven in the UK.”
 
“What makes you think I need training? I’m a damn good spell caster.” She waved her hand at the building behind them.  “I did that that,” she said proudly. “I made a monster blow up before he could kill a whole bunch of people and make more monsters.”
 
“You did. You’ve indicated a very useful ability to positively affect the lives of those around you. It is quite impressive. However, magic can be used effectively to assist those who fight against evil without it being based on your own assessment of when and if it is important to use it.”
 
“Meaning you don’t trust me to make good decisions?” Willow’s eyes narrowed even more as she glared at the man with the deceptively gentle voice and hard eyes.  “Do I need to bring out the fishy word to magic you back to where you came from?”
 
“Willow!”
 
“Easy, Red. The poor bloke is just trying to help you.”
 
“I don’t need that kind of help!” The glare she turned on Spike was a reminder that this Willow had no history of fighting beside him to soften her opinion of him. “And you need to remember I can make the chip fry your brain in a heartbeat, Mr. ‘William the Bloody’!”
 
Buffy and Spike exchanged looks, but before Spike could snarl a response, Winston held out a restraining hand. “Please,” he said. “Allow me.”  He turned back to Willow.
 
“And there you have proof of how much in need of training you are. You have allowed your temper to cause you to make threats against both one of your friends and allies, and a complete stranger. Neither of whom deserved that level of retaliation.”
 
“I. Do. Not. Need. Training.  I have a genius I.Q. and a gift.”  She drew herself up, her hair standing away from her head and crackling with electricity. “He isn’t my friend. I don’t care how long Buffy’s known him, or how many souls he has – to me he’s just a neutered vampire with no value to the world.  And you, you’re just some Council flunky sent here to poke his nose into our business.”
 
She whirled on Buffy. “I thought you trusted me? That we agreed I would use a safe word so I don’t accidentally cause… any of those things you say I caused in your time.”
 
Buffy shot a quick look at Winston to see if he’d picked up on “in your time”, but he was just watching Willow with a speculative look on his face.
 
“Willow… I do trust you. I didn’t ask the Council to send anyone to talk to you. I know you want to do the right thing. But you get hurt and mad, and then you… you do stuff. And now, we won’t know what to expect. We could have dealt with a repeat of what happened… before… because we would’ve known it was only temporary and you didn’t mean to do any of it to us… But now, we won’t have any idea if something is happening because you said it should, or because it’s just a result of… of… the different circumstances,” she finished lamely with another look at Winston.
 
Willow looked at Winston also to see that he was exchanging glances with Spike. He spoke quietly, asking, “Am I correct that you will you be all right if this goes badly?”
 
Spike hesitated, then nodded. “Think so.”
 
“Good.”  Winston’s demeanor changed and he faced Willow again, suddenly seeming much older and more sure of himself. “Miss Rosenburg, I really wish you would consider my offer. Your ability to channel the available power in Sunnydale is quite impressive, but your inability to control your temper makes you a danger, not just to your friends, but to the world. Please consider the source of that power and ask yourself if you really want to risk being influenced by a Hellmouth.”
 
Without waiting for Willow’s response, he turned to Buffy. “I’d hoped not to have to do this, but I believe you should know… I came here from the same place you did… just a few months later.”  His gaze shifted to a still-furious Willow, then back to Buffy. “We all appreciate what you and Mr. Pratt are here to do, but we also know who was ultimately responsible for the situation. I’m hoping to be able to take that particular danger out of the equation, leaving you and Mr­–”
 
 “Spike,” he interrupted.
 
“–Spike to deal only with Glorificus herself.”
 
“Hellmouth?” Buffy was gaping at him.  “What are you talking about?”
 
“I’m speaking of the source of the magic Ms. Rosenburgh is channeling.” He paused to address Willow again. “Did you not know what you were calling upon?”
 
Willow glared at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The only power I called upon was my own! What else is there?”
 
“There’s earth magic,” Spike said. “That’d be my guess is what most good witches use. Not like I’ve had a lot of experience with good witches, but….”
 
“But if you met one, you’d call her Glinda. Isn’t that right,?” Willow challenged him to deny it, but after a quick glare at Buffy, he nodded.
 
“I probably would. If and when I met one. I’ve only known one, but she was something very special. Not as powerful as you are, but she never threatened to let the chip fry my brain.”
 
“She liked you,” Buffy said.
 
“Liked her too. But even if we hadn’t liked each other – and had more than a bit in common – she’d never have done anything like that…. or even talked about it,” he added, as Willow tried to deny that she would have followed up on her threat.
 
“Well, I don’t like you. I don’t even hardly know you, and if you didn’t have that chip, you would have killed me last month. So if I were you, I’d just take a hike or keep your mouth shut.”
 
 
 
 
 
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