Disclaimer: I blame Kennedy on Joss.

Author’s note: Some Dialogue taken from ‘Empty Places’, ‘Touched’ and ‘End of Days’. Thanks and huggles to Bloodytearsoflife for betaing!
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Chapter 47: Better than Cookies

“I've gotten us this far,” Liz interjected.

“But not without a price,” Xander added in quietly.

“I need cola...continue without me,” Anya said, wandering into the kitchen.

“Look, I'm willing to talk strategy, okay? I'll hear suggestions on how to break this down, but this is the plan. We have to be together on this or we will fail again,” noted Liz.

“We are clearly demonstrating that we are not together on this!” Giles nearly yelled.

“For the love of Anyanka, would you stop shouting!” Buffy yelled into the room, effectively shutting up all dissenters.

Anya walked in with her cola. “You yelled?”

“I wish Spike were here,” muttered Dawn.

Xander leapt forward and covered Anya’s mouth before she could grant the wish.

“Maybe we should hold off on this until Spike comes back. With the stuff he’s learned from the monastery. He might have news,” suggested Dawn, softly.

“I like that idea,” noted Buffy. “He should be back before sunrise.”

“If it’s a girl Caleb has...” trailed off Liz.

“Then, she’s already dead, Liz. There are always casualties in war,” offered Buffy.
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It was only a few hours later that Spike and Andrew stomped into the house. The tension from the earlier face off hadn’t dissipated much. Several potentials were passing the time with a movie, while Faith and Robin seemed to have disappeared. Liz was pouting in the kitchen and Buffy was talking animatedly but quietly with Anya.

The stomping of Spike’s Doc Martins drew her attention from her conversation with Anya. Buffy looked up at her mate with a smile and stepped towards him, her arms reaching out for him.

“When this is all over, I want a very long vacation at home,” she started, resting her head against his chest.

“Home, Arashamahar, home?” he asked.

“No,” she answered softly. “England, home,” she corrected, sharing a soft smile with him. “What did you find out?”

“There’s something at the vineyard. I think it’s a weapon or an arsenal of weapons. Maybe mystical, for the Slayer alone. What happened here tonight?” he asked.

“Oh they all tried to gang up on Liz,” noted Anya. “Even Giles. I’m not speaking to Xander right now.”

“How is Liz taking it?” asked Spike concerned.

“Like she’s lost all her friends. Dawn’s been trying to cheer her up, but that’s not going too well,” explained Buffy.

“She needs a vacation. We all need vacations. I know this great spot in....”Anya trailed off as everyone stared at her. “Right, apocalypse. No vacation.”

“No vacation Anya,” said Buffy sadly. “But maybe it’s time I pulled my weight around here.”

“Love?” questioned Spike.

“I’m going. By myself. The Preacher man will be expecting a large frontal assault. And I’m not mortal. He can’t...well he can, but there are so few ways to kill a vengeance demon.”

“What if they ask where you went?” asked Anya.

“Stall them. I’ll be back before sunset. Hopefully sooner,” Buffy said, holding Spike tighter.

“Love, are you sure about this?” Spike asked softly, knowing full well that she had made up her mind.

She nodded against his chest. “This is something I feel I need to do. I love you.”

Spike planted a kiss on the top of her head and stepped away from her.

“Let them discuss, let them bicker and badger, but don’t let them do anything that sends the rest of those girls into the vineyard,” ordered Buffy in an almost slayer like tone.

And with that she headed outside.
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Buffy stomped to the vineyard not caring if Bringers were spying on her. She was mad and she wanted to vent her frustrations on something or possibly someone. The Bringer guarding the entrance to the cellar was good enough. Throwing the body down the steps into the cellar, Buffy jumped down and stared the Preacher man down.

“Hey. I heard you had something that belongs to the Slayer,” she noted, cocking her head to the side as if curious.

“Well, if it ain’t the prodigal Slayer,” Caleb started.

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. “Where’s it at? I’m going to find it sooner or later.” Buffy surveyed the room, her eyes not finding anything of note.

Caleb began to saunter over to her position, confidence and arrogance exuding his entire being.

“No, you’re not. I lay one hand on you and you’re just a dead little girl,” he taunted.

“But she’s not a little girl,” came a voice from the darkness.

Both Caleb and Buffy turned towards the voice and Buffy watched as Liz’s form walked out from the shadows.

“Are you?” came the voice of Liz. “You’re supposed to be one of mine. A demon. Vengeance demon. Isn’t that right?” asked the First Evil, crinkling Liz’s nose.

Suddenly the First’s appearance changed. Blond hair turned to brown, green eyes to blue. Buffy gasped as she saw the form of her baby sister, dead now for over a century, looking back at her.

“I know you feel me inside of you,” said Danielle. “The evil. You fight it all the time. Why don’t you just give in? “

The First’s appearance changed again, and Buffy felt a tear roll down her cheek as she saw her son looked back at her.

“Mum, take Papa and get out of this town. You just got him back, don’t waste this time you have with him,” explained Christopher.

Buffy sniffed once and nodded. Straightening her shoulders, she looked back at Caleb. “Just got a few things to do before then, Christopher. Lay a hand on me, if you can,” she directed at Caleb.

It wasn’t hard to make Caleb lose his cool. Years of practice from all those times she’d been attacked but didn’t really want to get her hands dirty. Humans were predictable. She ducked and dove out of the preacher’s reach.

“You whore,” he swore at her as he lunged at her once again.

“First of all? I’ve been faithful to one man for over a century. Secondly, you really should watch your language. If someone didn’t know you, they might think you were a woman hating prick.”

Caleb picked up a wine barrel and lifted it above his head, about to bash it down on Buffy’s head. In an instant Buffy saw that empty spot were the barrel had been now revealed a trap door. As he threw the barrel, Buffy jumped up, using the cross beams of the cellar to aid her escape and threw herself towards the trapdoor, sliding down into the crawlspace as more barrels came down upon the little door in the floor.

She landed indelicately, infinitely glad that no one was there to see the clumsy way she landed. Looking up and dusting herself off, her eyes caught the thing she had come for. The weapon, shiny, pointy, and sharp was sticking out of a block of stone.

She stepped towards it and smiled. This was it. She could feel its power and she wanted it, knew that she should have it. Buffy raised her hand and grasped the handle. It felt perfect for her hand. Tightening her grip she wondered just how Excalibur like this was going to feel as she pulled it from the rock.

She pulled.

Nothing happened.

The weapon was stuck in the rock. Buffy pouted. She could hear the sounds of Bringers moving the barrels away from the trap door and she knew that she didn’t have much time. She tried again, pulling harder on the weapon. Still nothing. She stamped her foot in frustration.

She didn’t understand. This was supposed to be for the slayer. Why couldn’t she pry it from the stone? She was a slayer after all.

Then a thought occurred to her. She wasn’t quite a slayer. Her fingers travelled to the pendant that she wore around her neck and touched the stone delicately. It was a hunch, she just hoped it worked.

She lifted the pendant over her head and set it down on the ground beside her. With a deep breath and making sure to keep an eye on her pendant (she so did not want that thing to get lost) she gripped the weapon and gave a tug.

The shiny axe thing came free.

Buffy stooped down, grabbed her pendant, slid it over her head, and took off into the cavern. It was time to get out of there.
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Buffy banged down the weapon on the dining room table, in front of Giles, Liz, and Faith and smiled.

“This is it. This is what Caleb had.”

Giles stood up from the table and reached out towards the weapon. Buffy glared at the watcher, who flinched back at her gaze.

“It’s a Slayer weapon,” noted Buffy looking at Liz.

Tentatively Liz reached out for the weapon and gripped the handle. Slowly the defeated girl’s attitude changed. As the smile crept over her face, Liz lifted the weapon from its place on the table.

“Where’s Caleb now?” asked Giles watching as his slayer expertly swung the weapon around.

“Probably getting a talking to from the First Evil,” noted Buffy. “I didn’t stick around to tell him I’d taken the toy.”

Liz handed the weapon off to Faith and sat down again next to Willow.

“It feels powerful,” observed Liz.

“Ya, I feel it,” said Faith, handing off the weapon to Giles.

“This is really quite ingenious,” noted Giles, taking a few practice swings with the scythe himself, ignoring the glare that Buffy was giving him again.

“Do you feel something when you hold it?” asked Willow of Buffy.

“Not much, but it’s strong. And I knew it belonged to me. Or a slayer. I just knew it,” responded the vengeance demon.

Buffy didn’t want to mention the fact that she had had to remove her pendant. That little tid bit she didn’t want to disclose.

“In addition to being ancient, it’s clearly mystical,” interjected Giles finally setting down the scythe.

“Ya, I figured that one out when I King Arthured it out of the stone,” responded Buffy, setting her hands on her hips.

“So maybe it’s like some kind of traditional Slayer weapon,” suggested Willow.

“I don’t imagine how something like this could exist without my having heard of it,” protested Giles.

“Well the good guys aren’t traditionally known for their great communication skills,” noted Buffy with some spite, looking at the watcher.

Giles looked back from her stare and looked sympathetically at Liz.

“Right,” noted Giles with a nod of his head. “Any chance that it might be something other than a tool for killing things?”

“Well, the First’s guys clearly wanted it out of that stone. It’s not just a tool. It’s important,” responded Buffy.

“We need to find out whatever we can. Who made it? When? Why? Does it have a name? I don’t know…a credit report? Just find out fast,” ordered Liz.

“We’ll start working immediately,” agreed Giles.

“Ya, don’t worry, Liz. We’ll find out everything there is to know,” added Willow as she walked up to her laptop and turned it on.

“Good,” started Liz. “’Cause right now, that thing’s all we’ve got going for us.” Liz stood up from the table and moved around the table towards Buffy. “Thanks, Buffy,” said Liz with a small smile.

“What are grandmothers for? I don’t bake cookies or knit.”

Liz nodded. “Finding a mystical slayer weapon, definitely better than cookies.”
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tbc…