*Author's Note: Two updates in one day! I am amazing! Hope you enjoy. Thanks for the reviews. Here's a little more action for you.

~*~

Buffy took a deep breath outside the door of the abandoned house. Looking at the two men flanking her, she smiled a nervous smile and turned forward once more. With all the fury of a pissed of Slayer she lifted one boot and delivered a powerful kick to the door. It flew off its hinges with a loud crack to reveal three very startled Watchers.

“Hear you got something of mine,” Buffy quipped. Suppressing a shudder as the memory of the last time she was in this particular building came crashing back to her, she stepped into the room. Two tweed clad men stood off to her right, while a third was straight ahead, framing the doorway that led deeper into the house.

Moving with all the Slayer speed she could muster, she shot forward gripping the Watcher before he could even take a step.

“Hiya. I’m Buffy. Where’s Giles?” she asked with false cheeriness.

But the Watcher didn’t hear her, his eyes riveted on the vampire with the very large gun standing in the doorway. Spike grinned then, yellow eyes sparkling with delight, as he pointed the tranquilizer at the two men in the corner. With barely a pause he shot once, then twice, and both Watchers went down in a heap.

“Oh, that’s Spike,” Buffy said conversationally. “He’s pretty house broken.” The two watched as he loaded another round and pointed it at the stricken watcher. She shrugged. “Well, mostly, anyway.”

The Watcher still had not said a word, and Buffy was getting impatient. Twisting his arm behind his back so he dropped to his knees, she leaned over him. “Now, I’ll ask again, or I’ll let Spike play with you for a bit, ‘k? Where. Is. Giles?”
Buffy looked on as the Watcher blinked back tears. “He’s in the back. Wi – with Travers.”

“Thanks.” Releasing his arm, Buffy heard the third shot fired and Spike reload the tranquilizer. Without a look behind her, she moved through the doorway stake in hand.

The room was dimmer then the front room, only a tiny table lamp illuminating the small space. In the middle of the room, tied to a rickety chair, was her Watcher.

“Oh, Buffy, thank god!” Giles groaned.

Buffy’s hand came to her mouth as she gasped. Giles looked horrible. His lip was cut and dried blood trickled from the wound. There was a large gash on his forehead as well, and his left eye was almost swollen shut. Suddenly she couldn’t stand it anymore. Dropping to her knees in front of the chair, she tore the ropes off of him, not even bothering to unknot them. “First my mother, now you…” she muttered. “I am so done with this fucking council.”

Xander was next to her a second later, helping Giles to his feet. Embracing his Slayer, Giles mumbled through his split lip, “Buffy, I am so sorry they did this. I had no idea...”

Before Buffy could respond, a sudden motion and the sound of clapping brought her back to the present. Pushing Giles into Xander’s arms a bit too roughly she spun to face Travers, stake in her hand.

“Tsk, tsk, Miss Summers. The vampire is behind you. He’s the one you should be slaying.”

“Really, Quentin? Because Spike hasn’t tried to kidnap one of my friends in at least a year and a half. I’d say he one upped you there.” Twirling the stake menacingly she motioned toward the chair Giles had just vacated. “Sit.”

A smug smile on his face, Quentin shook a finger in her direction. “I don’t believe you give the orders, Miss Summers.”

“Oh, is that right?” With a shrug, she turned as if to leave. “Shoot him, Spike.”

Grinning at the Slayer, Spike took aim. “Gladly, pet.”

~*~

Willow yawned sleepily. She had been sitting there for almost 45 minutes, and the strain of keeping the spell up was starting to get to her. Still, she *had* to keep concentrating. She didn’t know how long it would take those soldiers to find Buffy if they realized she wasn’t here, but she figured that *she* might be in some trouble if all of a sudden the three apparitions just vanished leaving her sitting alone at a table talking to herself.

Leaning on her hands she closed her eyes, and put all her effort into concentrating on the “conversation” that Spike, Buffy and Xander were having in front of her.

She was jerked to wakefulness however when she heard a voice across from her.

“Hey, guys. How’s the celebration going?” Riley asked.

Willow’s eyes widened comically and her mouth dropped open. “Good! Good,” she said. “How’s your night going?” It took a great deal of concentration to speak to Riley and *stop* the images from speaking.

“Oh, you know. A club’s a club.” Turning to the image of Buffy, he smiled. “It occurred to me that I never said congratulations. So I was wondering if I could buy the special couple a drink.”

Concentrating on Buffy, Willow projected the words she wanted the image to speak. “Thanks, Riley. But drinks and Buffy are unmixy things. Thanks though.”

Now shifting her glance to the Spike image, Willow tried to think British thoughts. “Yeah, thanks mate. I’d appreciate a pint, but I’m driving. Gotta keep my little peach safe, right?”

Willow was sweating now, as she made the Spike image put it’s arm around the Buffy image and the Buffy image stare lovingly into the Spike image’s eyes.

Riley’s smile faded, and it occurred to Willow that maybe he liked Buffy a lot more then any of them had thought. As far as she knew they hadn’t even been on a date, yet.

“So, what do you do? Spike is it? Buffy said you two work together.” Riley asked conversationally.

*She said, what?* Willow thought frantically. *Spike, what does Spike do?*

“Oh, a little of this a little of that. I’m a- a poet!” Willow spoke through the Spike image. “I mean,” she continued a little less loudly *think British,* “I’m aspirin’ to be a writer. Dabble in a bit o’ poetry here and there.”

Riley nodded thoughtfully, the picture of interested. “Buffy, you’re a poet too?”

“Uh, no…” the Spike image started, before Willow realized that she had to speak for Buffy.

“I’m his… editor.” She made the image shrug. “You know, I butcher the English language only ‘cuz I love it so much.”

“That’s wonderful, then.” With a look at his watch, Riley turned toward the group. “Well, I guess I should be going,” Riley said, finally. “Congrats again.”

As Willow watched him walked away, she groaned. *Hurry up guys.*

~*~

Spike growled low in his throat as he aimed the tranquilizer gun. A click and the dart was screaming toward its target.

But Spike watched wide eyed as the dart seemed to bounce harmlessly off of Travers.

“Uh, Slayer. We might have a bit of a situation here…”