Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.


SECTION 6 - GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun

Hey now, hey now
What's a matta with ya?
Girls just wanna have fun now
Come on

(Cyndi Lauper, Album - 12 deadly Cyns... and then some)




Chapter 6.14
Wednesday, May 15th, 2002

Willow stopped the tape as soon as the army delegation arrived, unsure as to how events would play out.

"Sure. Come on in," Spike answered, ambling deceptively slowly toward the two men, one arm held just enough behind his back to mask the tranquilliser pistol he held in his hand. When he had blocked the soldiers' line of fire on everyone else in the car, he stopped. "Just leave those outside." He gestured at the guns the pair held.

When the soldiers hesitated, Spike continued. "What are you going to do? Shoot me? You've already tried that once tonight. Okay, so you were actually using something that might have been a bit more effective at that point. I guess you just keep underestimating Red here." Spike threw the soldiers a deliberate red herring, taking a chance that they had yet to pick up on the orbs' usefulness.

"Her little barrier didn't last so long. Maybe if we shot you now you'd bleed just as easy as you did back when I put a stake through your heart." Riley countered.

"And maybe if you try, I'll slam you head first into the wall and go through all your pockets to see if you happened to bring along your little plastic toy and try it on you. And for the record, I suspect Tabitha's little spell lasted precisely as long as she wanted it to." Spike raised an eyebrow in Willow's direction and the witch looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"The fact remains you tried to double-cross us," Riley argued.

"And you sent us to Burbank." Angel stepped up behind the other vampire. "I don't suppose you were ever intending the train to get that far."

"I kinda hoped we might catch up with it first." Riley admitted. "But I wasn't the one putting up magical barriers in the way of supposed allies."

"Yeah, well "supposed allies" just about sums you up doesn't it. Do you know yet which side you're on? Are you here to make sure Dawn gets what she needs to get better or are you here to rescue the little woman from the big bad demons?" Spike asked.

Riley's mouth opened and closed, but the fact of the matter was that he still really didn't know.

Spike grasped the door. "Make up your mind, guys. The bugs are getting in. None of your people have been hurt... much, but you're not bringing those weapons in here. And since the ones you really want to hurt are me and Angel, the whole guns thing isn't really going to do more than piss us off.

Besides, you really should meet your wife's houseguest."

"Don't believe him, Riley. They've been beating me. He said it was punishment for what you did to him the last time you were in Sunnydale."

"Oh, my little poison viper, he doesn't have to believe me. He only has to believe you.

Roll the tape, Red."

".May 2002, mobile lab 01.

Subject has the outward appearance of a typical teenage girl. Various samples have been taken for DNA and other tests including possible future comparison with the subject's supposed sister."

"Stop it.

Where are these samples?" Spike still stood almost at the door with his back to the woman.

"Riley, don't let them hurt me," Sam cried out as Angel turned back to face her.

"Finn, your wife stands condemned from her own mouth. You know that Dawn's no more demon than you are. But all she is to that bitch is a science experiment. Same as the poor drunken sot she had locked away in a cage that's not even big enough for him to lie down in.

An' I don't care what differences we might have, you still have feelings for Buffy. Don't bother tryin' to deny it. It's written 'cross yer face clear as day. You want her to be next on this bloody table? Just put down the sodding guns. Much as I hate to admit it, we need you guys to clear up this mess. I don't think a citizen's arrest is gonna stick. This is goin' to need your guys' own special brand of illegal incarceration. 'Cause, so help me, if you don't see that she is going to be locked away for the rest of her natural life, then I am going to have to take whatever other steps are necessary to ensure she doesn't threaten my family ever again."

Unexpectedly, it was Graham who spoke up on Spike's behalf. "Ri, man. Just do it. If she's yellin' that loud, they can't have hurt her too bad. And he's right. Bullets aren't going to help. You saw the girl. If that was your sister, how would you feel? All they're trying to do is find out what happened and how to help her. And if they are beating Sam for information then you've got a better chance of stopping them from in there, than out here."

All of a sudden the fight seemed to go out of the towering soldier. "Sure," he answered in a soft voice. Calling two of his squad by name, he had them collect all the guns and remain outside whilst the others moved into the increasingly crowded car.

"Okay, samples. Where? Or do we just pull the place apart until we find them?"

"Fridge."

Gunn opened up the small refrigerator he had discovered earlier in the search. With a sweep of his arm he gathered all the vials and petri dishes to his chest, carrying them over to where Spike had left the garbage sack on the desk. He shoved everything including the bloody swabs back into the bag. "I suggest we take this with us when we leave."

"Okay. Red, fast-forward a bit! We want to check what she says about that stuff she gave her."

"Riley, it's a set up. You know he's The Doctor. He's set this all up. and you believe him rather than your own wife."

"Lady, do you want me to get Red to cast a truth spell on you? Maybe we can find out why you married the big lunk-head in the first place?"

All of a sudden all Sam's protests stilled.

"Ho-kay." In the expectant hush, the whirr of the cassette wheels seemed like the roar of a jet engine, the clunk of the stop mechanism like the sound of twisting metal. Then, Sam's voice was clearly heard by all in the room.

".ation shows that the subject was created virgo intacta. Timing of the examination was such that we were unable to determine if the subject is truly fertile, but all indications are that her body functions completely replicate those of a normal human."

After the word "intacta" all hell broke loose, so that only Spike, Angel, Connor and Lorne heard the remainder of the statement. The entire LA chapter of demons-are-us leapt to intercept Spike in his homicidal rush at the woman handcuffed to the table. It looked like something out of Saturday morning wrestling, as Spike brushed off the attacking rugby scrum as if it were no barrier at all. His eyes glowed with a golden fire and it looked like nothing could bar his way, except the most powerful Scooby of them all.

"Thicken."

For the first time since he had carried the orbs Spike met a true physical challenge and he exerted all his will and anger to fight his way through the tar-like air, which seemed to surround him.

In return, Willow exerted all her willpower to keep him from exacting his unthinking revenge. The battle only took seconds, but the drain on Willow's power was incredible. Coupled with her earlier magic usage, it was the proverbial straw. The Wiccan collapsed unconscious to the floor of the car, a thin trail of blood dripping from her nose.

Spike stumbled forward as the magical barrier impeding his progress was removed and when he looked up after righting himself he was stunned by what he saw.

Sam was bent backwards over the examination table. Riley loomed above her, his hand at her throat, holding her pinned in place. Her eyes stretched wide in fear as she looked up into her husband's face.

"What the hell did you do to her? She's just a kid. That's all. Just Buffy's occasionally bratty, kid sister. How on earth could you think it's okay to treat people like that?"

The surprise was enough to make Spike drop back to his human face, his anger turning icy and hard instead of hot and fiery. "Tell the man why you think it's okay to rape little girls!" he instructed the woman in a cold dark voice devoid of all his usual humour.

Sam had to struggle to reply, gasping for air as her husband's hand pressed down on her throat. "Not rape. Standard gynaecological exam."

The look of disgust seemed etched into Riley's features. "Well, I bet it sure felt like rape to her," the country boy responded.

If anyone had been watching Spike, really watching him they might have spotted the instant he came to his decision. The flicker of emotion that showed on his features as anger gave way to vengeance.

He strode the few remaining steps to the table and with a carefully controlled fist, delivered a punch designed to be just enough to keep the woman unconscious for half an hour or so.

He looked into his former rival's eyes and for once the two of them were in perfect agreement. Spike tossed Riley the key for the handcuffs. "Take her away. She disgusts me."

From where she sat on the floor, Fred opened her mouth as if to protest. "But-."

Angel's hand brushed against her arm, and he gave his head the smallest of shakes.

Riley undid the cuff that was attached to the examination table and manoeuvred his wife into a fireman's lift.

Spike cleared his throat noisily and held out his hand. "Leave the handcuffs."

As the other soldiers gathered together to leave, Spike gripped Graham, the apparent voice of reason within the group, by the elbow, speaking in hushed tones. He pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into the other man's hands.

As his men made to leave, Riley stooped to pick up Willow from her position on the floor. Spike intervened, taking the Dictaphone from her hand and putting it in his pocket before he scooped the Wiccan up into his own arms.

"That's evidence, you know?" Riley commented as he fell into step alongside the vampire.

"I know. And it's also up to Bit whether she wants all that put on public record. If she wants it used to make sure that bitch you married gets everything that's coming to her, fine, but if she wants it burned it'll be on fire the minute she says so. Considering the other potential charges against her and the fact we all know this will never see an open court room, I don't think evidence is going to make that much difference."

Spike slid the witch's supine form into the back of the humvee that Sam wasn't in. "You should really take that old dosser back with you as well and get him checked out. There's no knowing what she's done to him, or how long it's been since he's eaten. Just do Red a favour and put him in the other truck. Oh, and if your blokes haven't found him already apparently the train driver's tied up somewhere. All the rest have gone sleepy-bye, so I don't know whether you'll just get him to drive the thing back with them on board, but give us a chance to get our kit together first."

"Where do you want me to take her?"

"Home. I'll ring Tinkerbell, let her know you're coming."

"What about you?"

"Hospital. It's time I went to see my girls."

As the vampire walked back to join the LA crowd in the train car, Riley actually found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, he'd been a little bit wrong about the blond vampire. If he could be so wrong about those closest to him, then it was just possible.

 

---

 

"So.?" Graham left the question hanging. How do you ask someone if they're going to be okay after their whole life turns upside down?

"So what?" Riley asked his friend.

"So, what happens now, I guess?"

The taller man shrugged. "I guess that depends on whether Buffy was right about the pull the kid's dad has with The Pentagon. I suppose we wait and see."

"And Sam?"

"My guess? They'll send her and anyone else they think was in on it to Nevada for "debriefing". After that? Who knows."

"And you?"

"I guess it depends whether the brass think I'm corrupt or stupid. Either way my career's for shit. The covert op whose wife is abducting people and he doesn't have a clue? And if Buffy's right the list goes way beyond that, but who the hell do you believe? A neutered HST with an axe to grind?"

"Ri, man." Graham paused as he realised the significance of what he'd seen earlier. "He hit her. Either he's had the chip removed or Sam is something other than human."

"After tonight, I might give you fifty-fifty on that," Riley responded in a self-pitying tone. He shook his head. "If Spike had the chip out, there would be a trail of bloody bodies right round town. Maybe he was just so angry it didn't register." He sat for a while staring sightlessly through the windshield of the humvee, considering the possibility that an unchipped Spike could live peaceably. "Nah. There's no way that he's got the chip out."

 

---

 

"So, what'd ya tell him?" Fred pounced as Spike got back into the train.

"Who?"

"The guy you gave the venom to. That's who."

"Oh, nothing much. Just told him that was what she'd used and that we'd cleaned them out of the antivenin, so he might want to get whoever did it to make some more."

"So you didn't tell him that you'd dosed her?"

Spike gave an evil grin. "Figure they'll work that bit out when she comes to. Didn't tell him they probably need to find a Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik demon before they can make any more, neither."

At this Angel gave his grandchilde a long-suffering look.

"Wha'? It's not like they don't know where to find us. If there's any left after Dawn's better, they can have it an' welcome. Provided they ask nice, of course."