Chapter Two
Surprises Abound

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It probably could have gone either way, and in the old days it definitely would have gone badly. But, as all would soon see, times had indeed changed.

It was Spike who set the tone of their meeting with a beaming smile and over-exuberant greetings. The broad smile alone was enough to throw the Scoobies off, but when strong arms embraced each member in a brief welcoming hug… Well, suffice it to say that Xander and Giles weren’t the only ones who were too startled to react negatively. And then it didn’t matter what anyone else would have said, because Spike was suddenly talking a mile a minute and sounding a bit like Dawn on the telephone. Of course, he didn’t need to breathe, so it made quite a difference. Only Dawn seemed to be able to follow his train of thought at first, but the others quickly caught on that he was concerned that Glory had somehow sent them through the portal. And was she after them? And if not, then how in the world did they get here? By the time anyone thought to open their mouths and answer any of those questions, he had moved on to checking Dawn out carefully for injuries before turning back to the others with a questioning and concerned look. And that was just too much for Xander to take. He opened his mouth to say something, he wasn’t sure what, but all that came out was a deep belly laugh.

Within moments he was on the ground holding his stomach and laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks. In between gasping breaths, he managed to get a few words out… “Sorry…just too funny…worried about us…and the long hair… and brown no less…and the cape…like some kind of medieval superhero…an undead Robin Hood!!” And he collapsed again howling in laughter. It might have come out insulting and things could have easily turned sour there, but Xander was honestly amused and Spike seemed to pick up on that quickly enough. A sly smile stole over his face as he leaned down next to Xander and said that would make him Little John then, huh? Xander’s grin belied the tongue that quickly shot out in a very childish gesture, but he grasped Spike’s offered hand to help him up and the two men smiled genially at each other.

By then the rest of the group was smiling, because really, with the pony tale and the cape, not to mention the quiver of arrows lying on the ground, Spike did resemble Robin Hood more than a bit. When Xander was again upright, Spike looked over at the people he had never thought to see again, rubbed the back of his neck and offered a shy smile as he vocalized his thoughts. “You might not believe it, but you guys are really a sight for sore eyes…ALL of you. I mean that in all sincerity. I’ve got a tone of questions for you guys and I’m sure you have plenty for me, but there’s something I need to tend to first.” He paused and pointed back a few feet to the felled creature lying on the ground. “You lot see those trolls back there? Well, I need to search for any kind of valuables before the sun comes up.”

At those words, Dawn began to glance around looking for cover for Spike. Seeing that, he smiled again and laughed aloud. “No, pet, no worries. I need to beat the sun because that noxious beast will turn to stone when the light of day hits it – dead or alive, and it’s a bitch to find anything on them afterward. The sun isn’t a worry for me here.” And he grinned at his most favorite Scoobie as he began walking back toward the troll. Exchanging questioning looks, the whole group was quick to follow, wanting to hear more and totally fascinated by this never-before-seen side of Spike. Only Dawn had ever caught glimpses of this, and even then they were guarded. The man before them seemed, well, he seemed surprisingly happy!

As Spike knelt down Buffy joined him by the first creature, while Xander and Giles headed for the second one. As Xander began to roll the beast over, Giles didn’t hesitate to ask Spike if they needed to be wary of anything or if they could freely search its pockets. After a few cautions to beware of booby traps in troll pockets, Xander and Giles were soon armed with sticks and poking and prodding freely. After they lost two sticks in that manner, they all had more appreciation for the fact that Giles had already grasped… They were out of their element here, while Spike seemed to have a fair handle on what was going on.

Spike began to tell them about the trolls while they worked. “Nasty buggers, these trolls are. These two have been terrorizing a village not far from here. ‘m right fond of those folks and sort of a self-appointed protector, but I wasn’t in the area when they showed up. By the time I got word and made it back here, these bastards had caused a lot of havoc – wrecked the perimeter defense walls, ransacked the village, and made off with three of the children.” His voice tightened as he talked about the kids. The villagers found the bodies of little Jack and Hammy easily enough, but Rosie was still missing when I got back. I wasn’t in time to save her though. Bloody sons of bitches anyway!” A vicious snarl accompanied that bit, but it was a sentiment they could all share in. No one messed with kids and got away with it. No one!

There was silence for a few minutes and then Tara asked what she could do to help, and the other girls quickly chimed in. Spike directed them to look for a nearby cave or other small-concealed area that could be used to store the stolen wares. With warnings to not stray alone, Willow took Dawn and Tara took Anya to begin their search. It only took a few minutes before Tara called out to say they’d found something. Finished with the bodies and willing to let them lie there as stone logs, Spike wiped his hands and stood up. As he turned to inspect what Giles and Xander had found, he was surprised when the Slayer staggered under the weight of the sword she had chosen to take for her own. Reaching out his hand to steady her, he frowned as he inspected the weapon and found it to be normal, a bit heavy but not overly so. Not voicing his thoughts, he offered Buffy his sword and took the troll’s instead. Buffy accepted and was pleased by the feel of his weapon, so much so that she didn’t notice the preoccupied look on his face as they met up with Giles and Xander.

Giles had found a few minor magical items, a key ring, and some more weapons including a small troll knife that made a fine sword for him. Xander’s finds included an impressive two-headed axe and a tinderbox. Pleased with their finds, but confused by what his senses were telling him, Spike decided to find out for sure. A yelled “Catch, mate.” was followed by a quick toss of the sword he’d taken from Buffy. Xander looked surprised, but raised his free hand and grab the sword with a sure hand. No one looked more surprised by this than Xander, and he leaned the axe against his leg and rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the sword in perplexed amazement. Wondering himself now what was going on, Giles followed Spike’s line of vision and realized that he was fixed on Xander rubbing his neck. He had been looking up waiting on Spike a few minutes ago and had seen Buffy struggle with that same sword, and Giles leapt to the conclusion that Spike had already reached. Their eyes met and in a moment of British solidarity, they both shrugged.

“Only one way to find out for sure, mate.” Spike said as the girls returned from their earlier forays. Questioning looks went unanswered as Spike asked Buffy to attack him. “Huh? Why do you want me to do that?” The Slayer was beyond confused, but when her Watcher and her vampire (that’s right, he was hers and she didn’t really care at the moment if anyone knew that or not) both implored her to play along, she shrugged and leapt. Only to find herself pinned to the ground in a flash, unable to break Spike’s hold on her, no matter how she strained. Buffy was concerned about this, but not overly so as Spike had obviously been working on some new moves and he was always a good opponent. But when he asked her if she could sense him, and when she realized that she couldn’t, the panic started to set in. Then Spike repeated the same sequence of events with Xander and the confusion returned with overwhelming force.

Xander wasn’t as coordinated as either Spike or Buffy when it came to hand-to-hand, but he was surprisingly holding his own with Spike. When Spike lowered his sword, Xander did the same, panting and grinning – confused but pleased. Until Spike asked him why he was rubbing his neck again. Only when Xander replied that it ‘kept tingling’ did he start to have an inkling of what was going on. Giles threw up his hands with the realization that for all intents and purposes, Xander was now his Slayer. Xander really didn’t want to smile because Buffy looked like she might cry at any moment, but he couldn’t believe his luck. He was always the weak one, always in the way, and suddenly he had power and ability. How was that even possible?

Several sets of questioning eyes turned to Spike and he sighed as he realized how complicated things were about to get. He was wondering where to start when the rays of the rising sun suddenly backlighted him. Realizing immediately what the gasps were for, Spike shook his head and laughed aloud. It was going to be complicated, but it looked like it might be fun too.

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After helping the shaken Slayer to her feet, Spike suggested they head toward the cave Tara and Anya found and he would explain things as best he could while they walked. It surprised him all over again as the others crowded around him on the way. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention with any of the Scoobies in a good way, well other than Dawn that was, and it was a bit unnerving. Never mind that he had made lots of friends in the intervening years. Those people weren’t the Scoobies and this lot had never accepted him like this before. It was enough to make a man feel a bit loopy.

“Where to start, where to start? Well, you all obviously guessed that I ended up here when I came through the portal. And I’ll tell you all about my adventures in a bit. For now though, let me tell you that landing in a sunlit field in the middle of the day is not fun when you’re a vampire. It’s downright terrifying. Of course, when you run as fast as you can toward the only available shelter and get half way there before realizing that you’re not on flames… Well, then the experience becomes less scary and a bit more astounding. Aside from feeling a bit of a fool, it was the most amazing thing to suddenly be able to stand in the sun and feel the heat and not have to fear for your existence.” Lost in the memories of that first time, Spike missed the smiles as not a few of them imagined how wondrous that must have been for the vampire. “I don’t know exactly where we are in relation to Earth or if we’re even in the same dimension, but this place is known as Middle-Earth and it seems to have an effect on shall we say other-worldly visitors. You already know the sun doesn’t affect me. There aren’t exactly a lot of religious artifacts to be found, and I haven’t tested out the beheading bit, but I’ve taken enough arrows over the years to know that wood to the heart doesn’t seem to be a problem either. I’m stronger here than I was on Earth. I still need blood to survive, and oh yeah, the chip doesn’t work, but the demon is more…I don’t know that you’d call it tame, but I guess disciplined about how things are is the best way to put it. And he’s fine with things.”

He couldn’t help but catch the various shocked reactions. It was Giles question that topped the others though, when he asked about the reference to ‘over the years’ instead of the chip. That prioritizing both pleased and surprised Spike no end. As they stopped outside the cave and Spike began trying the keys, he blew them all away when he calmly said, “Well, you know I ended up here when I went through the portal, but what you didn’t know was that sixty years have passed since I last saw any of you lot.” Complete silence greeted that statement as they all tried to comprehend what he was saying. “Don’t get me wrong. I tried to get home, especially at first, even while I was trying to fit in as best I could here. But when ten years have passed, and you still haven’t made any progress toward finding another portal or way out, you tend to stop looking as hard…particularly when you’ve made friends and are accepted here.”

It was that last statement that kept any of them from speaking right away. It was no secret that the only ones who had ever openly accepted Spike out of their group were Joyce (before her death) and Dawn. The others felt a slight sense of shame, and Xander even felt a bit of envy that Spike had been able to start over and obviously done well for himself judging by what they’d seen so far. As the lock clicked and the door swung open, Spike glanced around and noted the long faces. “Oh, come on, you lot. There was even animosity on both sides for a long time before I went through that portal, and while it would have been nice to have been given more of a chance to change by you all… Well, I can’t say that I ever really asked for that, now did I? No hard feelings on my part. I’m just saying that when I came here, I had a choice to make. I didn’t have the restrictions of the chip or even the normal problems with sunlight and such. I could have resumed my old lifestyle if I’d wanted to do so, but I didn’t. For reasons I’ll not get into just yet, I chose a different path and I’ve been happy with those choices over the years. There’s evil and good here just like back on Earth. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of evil around, but I don’t fight on that side anymore. Hadn’t for a long time before coming here. Was just able to accept that about myself and embrace it here. And I had help, too, friends that I can’t wait for you lot to meet.” A shift to vampiric features to see better in the cave, and a wryly muttered “If we don’t get a move on though, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.” had everyone back on track.

Spike made quick work of bringing out the contents of the cave and the others started sorting things. There were three trunks full of gold and other valuables that none of them – save Anya – had ever seen the like of, and Anya was quick to inform them of the market value of gold these days. There were several stores of food – most inedible – but they took the goat cheese and bread along with some skeins of water. There were some clothes – quite obviously and distastefully from former victims – and those they were loathe to touch. Spike’s admission that they were only a half-day’s walk or so from the village had them convinced that they could safely leave the cloaks behind. There was one box they found in particular that had Spike very pleased that it was intact. When the others understood that it was the seed stores for the village to replant in the spring, they fully understood his sentiment. By the time all was said and done, they had quite a load to transport back to the village, and the Scoobies were not looking as forward to the trek as before.

Assuming they would have to carry the trunks back with them, Xander began to (proudly) grab one of the larger trunks and heft it on his shoulder, but stopped when Spike whistled and a beautiful black horse came around the hillside with a cart behind her. The horse clearly knew Spike well, as evidenced by her excited whinny. A few soft words spoken to her in an unknown language and a carrot produced from a pocket of the vampire’s cloak had her still long enough for them to load the trunks on to the cart. Before they had taken the first step though, they were all surprised one more time as a snow-white falcon suddenly bore down on them. The screeching cry drew their attention and the girls ducked their heads, but Spike raised his arm calmly and the falcon landed securely on his wrist. “Are you sure you’re not Robin Hood? He talked to the animals too, didn’t he?” was the confused rejoinder from Xander and it drew another grin from Spike. He took a moment to whip out a something, scribble a note, attach it to the falcon’s leg and send him on his way before grabbing the horse’s reigns and starting them on their journey. As they walked off, Spike asked “Okay, who has a question?” which gained a few ‘Are you crazy?’ looks and a few more laughs.

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TBC

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