Disclaimer: I blame Kennedy on Joss.

Author’s note: Some Dialogue from “Get it Done” and “Story Teller.” Beta’d by the wonderful Bloodytearsoflife. Thanks to everyone still reading! Your reviews make me happy!
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Chapter 41:Talking, just talking

“Is everyone here?” asked Liz, coming into the room, shovel in hand.

Buffy looked around her and at everyone assembled in the living room of Liz’s house. Anya, Giles, Dawn, Willow, potentials, Xander, Spike, all waiting for Liz to say something appropriate to the situation of finding another dead potential.

“All accounted for,” responded the potential Buffy didn‘t like, named Kennedy.

“Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe?” asked Liz.

She was met with silence.

“Let me,” Liz started. “Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her and Annabelle. I'm the slayer. The one with the power. And the First has me using that power to dig our graves.’ Liz threw down the shovel in anger. “I've been carrying you... all of you ...too far, too long. Ride's over.”

The Kennedy potential stood up, furious. “You're out of line!”

“No, she's not,” responded Willow.

“You're gonna let her talk to you like that? Willow, she's not even the most powerful one in this room. With you here, she's not close,” said Kennedy.

“You're new here, and you're wrong. Because I use the power that I have. The rest of you are just waiting for me,” continued Liz.

“Well, yeah, but only because you kinda told us to. You're our leader, Liz, as in "follow the,"“ added Xander.

“Well, from now on, I'm your leader as in "do what I say."“

“Ja wohl! But let's not try to forget, we're also your friends,” continued Xander with a gentle smile.

“I'm not,” piped up Anya.

“Then why are you here? Palling around with Buffy and Spike, and eating Andrew’s funnel cake. What is it that you do?” asked Liz.

“I provide much-needed... sarcasm,” explained Anya.

Xander raised his hand. “Um, that would kinda be my job, actually.”

“She’s my friend,” said Buffy seriously, giving Liz a look that meant business.

“You're here because you're scared,” directed Liz at Anya, ignoring Buffy‘s look.

“Same goes for everyone in this room,” added Xander.

“Fine. Anya, all of you, be as scared as you'd like, just be useful while you're at it,” ordered Liz.

“Come on, Liz. You know everyone here's doing everything they can,” interjected Willow.

“Uh and for the record, I’m not scared,” said Buffy.

“Me neither,” piped up Anya showing vengeance demon solidarity.

Liz ignored them though. “The First isn't impressed. It already knows us. It knows what we can do, and it's laughing. You want to surprise the enemy? Surprise yourselves. Force yourself to do what can't be done, or else we are not an army... we're just a bunch of girls waiting to be picked off and buried.”

From his spot in the crowd, Spike stood up and walked towards the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Liz.

“Out. Since I'm neither a girl, nor waiting. All this speechifying doesn't really apply to me, does it?” He reached out for Buffy’s hand.

Buffy stood and stepped towards him, taking his hand.

“I like the speech,” noted Buffy. “Very general like, please continue after I leave.”

And with that they left the house. Out on the porch, she stopped Spike and licked his ear. “She gets that from me, you know. I doubt she writes poetry at all.”
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Buffy and Spike returned to the house to find chaos in the living room. Robin, Xander, Willow, Kennedy and Anya were fighting off a demon.

“Willow! Use your magic. Send him back!” barked Kennedy.

“Um, trying. Redi...”

The demon backhanded Willow, sending her tumbling to the other side of the room. Buffy rolled her eyes as everyone either cowered before the demon or was useless against it.

“Weapons,” demanded Kennedy.

Dawn handed Kennedy a sword, taking one for herself as well. The demon punched Kennedy just as Spike leapt onto the demon’s back.

“Get out of here... all of you. Unless you want to end up all dead and useless,” said Spike, his voice heavy as he tried to keep the demon away from the girls.

“What are you gonna do?” asked Kennedy from the couch.

“What I do best,” he quipped.

Unfortunately it was at that moment that the demon threw Spike through the ceiling.

Buffy saw red. She walked up into the path of the demon and backhanded him across the face, sending him through the french doors of the living room.

“You don’t touch my mate!“ shouted Buffy at the demon. He stalked towards her menacingly. Buffy repelled it without difficulty several times, then she reached out and snapped its neck and ripped the head clean off.

“Whoa, she’s scary,” said Xander, when he could finally speak coherently.

Willow sat up from where she’d been thrown.

“Are you injured?” Dawn asked Kennedy.

“Just hurt. Don't make a case out of it,” sniped Kennedy. She turned to Willow and Xander to ask if they were ok too.

“I think we'll live,” noted Xander.

Anya looked up at the ceiling. “Except maybe Spike, except he‘s already dead, so that hardly counts.”

“Is getting thrown through the ceiling what he does best?” asked Kennedy.

Buffy dropped the head of the demon as Dawn offered to go check on Spike and walked over to Kennedy.

“You know what?” asked Buffy jovially. “I don’t like you, at all. So how about you keep your snide comments to yourself. Okay?” Kennedy looked at Buffy with fear for a moment before looking at Willow for back up.

Willow shook her head indicating that she wasn’t getting into it with Buffy. Kennedy was on her own.

“I liked the white witch at lot better, step down with this one, hmm, Willow?” noted Buffy stepping away from Kennedy.

“We’ve gotta get Liz back. Looks like it's spell'o'clock,” noted Xander.

“Which spell? I mean, didn't you see that thing? And you expect to reopen the portal without sending Willow off the deep end?” asked Anya.

“Thanks for your support,” noted Willow with a glare.

“Well, it's true. We're going to have to find another way,” observed Anya.

Willow shook her head. “There isn't, and Liz knew it. I've got to get her back.”

“We don't even know where she went,” said Kennedy glaring at Anya and cutting right to the heart of the matter.

If Buffy knew where Liz was, what dimension, then hop, skip and a jump either she or Anya could retrieve her.

“What are you?“ asked Robin finally piping up.

“A slayer,“ muttered Buffy looking him in the eye. Then, turning her back towards Robin, she headed up the stairs after Dawn.

“Oh, she’s a vengeance demon too,“ Buffy heard Kennedy say bitterly.

Crap!
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Buffy petted Spike’s hair as he reclined on their bed in the basement. Going through a ceiling took a lot out of anyone really.

“I think I might have granted Robin Wood’s wish, when he was a child. I just wish I remembered what it was,” said Buffy softly.

The basement door opened and Anya stuck her head in for a moment. “Wish granted,” she chimed.

Suddenly, Buffy knew exactly which wish it was. Her eyes went wide and she looked down at Spike.

“Bloody buggering hell,” she muttered.

“What?” he asked sitting up. “What wish was it?”

“He wanted the mission over. His mother was a slayer. The wish, New York...”

“New York...Niki Wood? His mum?” asked Spike concerned.

“Shit,” muttered Buffy.
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When Liz returned to her dimension, the world somewhat returned to normal. Somewhat. Kennedy refused to be in the same room with Buffy. Buffy was fine with that. More than fine. Kennedy was vile. Kennedy was in the Miranda and Felicity Travers category of vile.

Huh, maybe they are related? Everyone seems to be related to everyone else around here.

What she had told Liz was true. Buffy wasn’t scared of the First. Not by half. There were two beings that featured most prominently in her nightmares that were much more scary. The Immortal and Drusilla.

She expected everyday to be confronted by the Immortal as she walked down the streets of Sunnydale. Fear of having Liz and Dawn found out was above all things the most prominent in her mind.

Drusilla on the other hand, she wasn’t dead; she wasn’t a vampire either. But she lived and so she was still an obstacle. Buffy just hoped that Angelus kept her on a short leash.

Buffy walked up into the kitchen for juice and into the chaos that was the morning routine of 1630 Revello Drive, Spike following behind for blood before turning in for the day.

“Look at this place. Damn girls dorm’s what it is,” he muttered as he lit up right in the middle of the kitchen.

“That’s nice. Second-hand stinkiness,” countered Dawn, wrinkling up her nose.

Then Liz entered, moving her way around through the crowd, pouring herself some cereal and finding the milk.

“It’s a full house. I think it’s a good time to do some introductions, don’t you, gentle viewers?” said Andrew looking into his video camera.

“I’m Amanda and I grew up right here...” started a potential.

Buffy snorted into her juice.

“Not you, sweetheart. Let’s start from the top,” continued Andrew. Andrew pointed the camera at Liz. “You’ve already met Liz. She’s beautiful, with a lion’s heart and the face of an angel. She’s never afraid because she knows her side will always win.”

Buffy watched as the camera was now pointed at Spike, sipping his morning blood.

“Liz and Spike have some kind of history. You can feel the heat between them although, technically as a vampire, he’s room-temperature.”

Buffy cleared her throat.

“Uh, yes, which brings us to Buffy,” continued Andrew, pointing the camera at her.

Buffy rolled her eyes.

“Buffy, amour of Spike, and practically Liz’s twin, but not. Her mysterious past is only more complicated than that of her best friend, Anya.” Andrew panned the camera around to face Anya. “A feisty waif with a fiery temper and a vulnerable heart that she hides even from herself. And this lovely girl. ... I don’t remember her name. Back to reality.”

“Oh, for god’s sake. Is he doing that again? Can’t we make him stop?” asked Liz annoyed.

“I don’t know…” started a potential. “If we save the world, it will be kind of nice to have a record of it.”

“And if we don’t save the world, then… nothing matters.” continued another potential.

“Hmm… that’s catchy, Amanda. Let’s make that our slogan..“ piped up Kennedy.

“Yeah, it is kind of strange how you keep saving the world and there’s not any proof,” observed Xander.

“Yeah, you know, for future generations,” added Anya.

“And it does help the girls with training, you know, viewing the tapes,” offered Willow.

“Come on, no one else thinks this is idiotic?” asked Liz.

Buffy raised her hand only to be ignored by most of the room.

“Or is it important? I mean, Liz, I don’t get why this is bothering you so much,” continued Xander.

“Because it’s a waste of time. Come on, someone has to agree with me on this. Spike?” asked Liz, looking for support.

“Long as he’s not pointing that thing at me, seems like a fine way to keep the boy busy,” Spike said as he gulped down his last sip of blood.

Spike put his glass in the sink and grabbed Buffy’s hand before retreating into the basement.

Buffy could hear the wonderful tones of Liz’s voice preparing for a speech. She was thankful that she was escaping that torture.

Spike settled down on the bed, and put his hands behind his head looking at his mate.

“Are you happy here?” asked Buffy looking down at him.

“I suppose so. Close to the Bit, blood in the fridge, got me friends around. Got you,” he said waggling his eyebrows. “Are you not happy?”

Buffy looked down at the floor for a moment before she started to pace. “I feel all itchy. I haven’t granted a wish in at least a week. I haven’t felt this way since I was cooped up before Christopher’s birth. It’s like I’m being kept from what I was meant to do!”

Spike chuckled. “Ya, I felt like that when this chip got put in my noggin. It gets better, if that’s any help.”

“Not really.”

“Maybe...” he started, serious like. “Maybe it’s not what you were meant to do. Slaying is what you were meant to do.”

Buffy looked sharply at her mate.

“I hate when you make sense. But I was a slayer for only a couple of years. I’ve been a vengeance demon much longer than that. It’s hard to change. Change is bad,” she pouted.

Spike sat up and pulled his mate towards him. Putting her hands in his, she stepped towards the bed and sat down beside him.

“I’m still not taking off the amulet,” she noted quietly. “She can’t make me.”
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tbc...