It Happened One Night
By: GoldenBuffy


Summary: Amanda was able to gain access to the Council’s most prized books through deception. Willow couldn’t understand why Buffy would stand her up and not meet up at her home like she requested. And Slayer and vampire made up.

Disclaimer: Nope, I don’t own Buffy or Spike, or anyone else in the Buffyverse. All belongs to Joss, mastermind and ruler of all things angst-y.

Author’s Notes: As always, praise should be lavished on my wonderful beta, Just-Sue. She helps me so much in making my words make sense! I know it seems like forever between updates and to all my readers out there who have stuck with me, THANK YOU so very much! I means a lot. And I hope this chapter and future ones are worth the wait, and you find them enjoyable! That makes me even more happy.

Author’s Notes 2: I forget to put this in all my chapters. But I remember this time. Any mistakes and oversights are all mine!


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Chapter Seventeen: Herr Said What?



The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.
Frank Herbert


There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.
Richard Feynman


A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi


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He kicked himself the whole drive over. After spending some quiet, and much needed, alone time with Anya the previous evening, Xander had drifted off into a blissful slumber, awaking to an irritated fiancée.


The blonde was beside herself, quickly explaining as she moved around the room in a frenzy to get dressed, that the power had gone out sometime during the night - resulting in their alarm clock failing to wake them promptly at seven a.m. Well, waking Anya promptly at seven; it was Sunday, and like most normal humans Xander had the day off. But Anya, well, she wasn’t your typical human, and she never took a day off. Everyday was a day to earn more money.


She stared him in the face. “Do you hear that, Xander? Do you.” He graced her with a queer expression, straining to hear, but failing. Apparently that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. “That’s the sound of money slipping through my fingers, being spent at some other store!”


Climbing out of bed Xander engulfed the ex-demon in a tight hug, reassuring her that other people’s hard earned money wasn’t being wasted away at other department stores, that they were happily waiting for her to open the Magic Box. That seemed to soothe her a bit, though she knew he was only trying to make her feel better.


Extracting herself, Anya finished getting dressed, pressed a kiss to Xander’s brow, and then was out the door.


Reaching over to the red flashing clock Xander reset it to its correct time of ten thirty in the morning, before shuffling off to the bathroom. Ten minutes late he emerged, showered and dressed.


Picking up the phone his punched in the number to check his voicemail. There was one, from Willow. She sounded upset, giving him a brief rundown on the happenings at the Bronze, and how no one could find Buffy. She finished off the call begging him to please call her ASAP!


Xander hung up the phone, grabbed his car keys and, headed for the door. He just hoped he wasn’t too late. He idly wondered if Buffy had returned home. Why didn’t he call Willow or Buffy’s house before jumping in the car? Oh, right! He was overly worried about a petite blonde who had the strength of thirty men. Xander snorted in amusement.


Parking in front of the house he spotted Willow as she was headed up the steps.


“Willow,” he shouted as he exited the vehicle. “What’s up? I just got your message.”


Folding her arms over her chest, she raised a disbelieving brow at him.


“Hey, the power went out last night. Plus I was exhausted, must have slept through the ringing of you calling.” Xander paused to catch his breath. “Did we find Buffy yet?”


Willow pouted, head dropping with a heavy sigh. “Yes and no. Yes, she did come home last night. She even called me; we were supposed to meet up this morning. But she’s gone… again.”


“Gone! What do you mean gone? You mean poof like I’m invisible gone or I’m running away gone?”


“Well, I’m pretty sure Buffy hasn’t been hit with an invisibility ray and I don’t foresee her running way. Besides, Joyce saw her leave this morning.”


As if one cue the girl in question came jogging down the street, a small smile on her face, which quickly turned into a frown upon finding her friends camped out on her front porch.


“Ummm, was there a Scooby meeting I didn’t know about?” Buffy asked, quite perplexed.


Both friends scrunched up their noses at the soggy mess that was the slayer.


“Happy hour in the a.m. isn’t the best way to start the day, Buffster. Plus, I’m positive that alcohol and unborn babies are highly unmixy.”


Buffy snickered before playfully slapping Xander on the arm. “It’s not how it smells, you big doof. Me and Spike got into a beer fight.”


Willow reached over and wiped off a dab of red sauce on the blonde’s forehead.


Buffy blushed. “Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot to duck as a hot wing came flying towards me.”


“Just why did you and Spike get into a no holds barred food fight? No, better yet, was he the reason you were a no show this morning?” Willow couldn’t mask the hurt that colored her voice. She’d been stood up by her best friend for a vampire. How rude!


“Oh, god, Wills, I’m so sorry. I forgot. It’s just, with last night. It was… I left things on a not so high note and I needed to smooth things over with Spike. You understand, right?”


Willow was about to reply when Xander burst in. “What do you mean not so high note? What did fang face do last night? And why are you the one making with the nice?”


“Can we not have this discussion out here. I’m soggy and smell of non-alcoholic beer. I just want a nice hot shower then we can talk, ‘kay?”


All in agreement they went inside 1630 Revello Driver.


++++


“So Drusilla kidnaps you, chains you up, and you not only leave her to terrorize for another day but you go on damage control with Spike.” Xander asked, flabbergasted.


“Yup, pretty much,” Buffy replied nonchalantly, but a challenge rested in her eyes, daring her friend to second guess her judgment of the previous night’s events. And hadn’t she just mentioned the part about running out of the crypt while the ho bag fought Harmony?


They all sat in silence, the brunette and the redhead absorbing what the slayer had just told them. The air was thick as Buffy and Xander stared each other down, neither wanting to be the first to look away. Willow knew Xander was getting ready to explode and, wanted nothing more than to defuse the situation, she suddenly sat up on the couch.


“I’m sure feeling parched. More than parched, really, more like the Sahara. I’m thirsty. Who’s thirsty? Let’s all get a drink. Xan, would you mind getting us some drinks?” She finished her request with a cheesy grin.


If Xander was onto her little ploy to stop a fight he didn’t let on, simply rose with a nod of the head and headed for the kitchen.


Once gone, Buffy released the breath she’d been holding. “I swear, Wills, if he doesn’t quite with the male posturing and over protectiveness there will be no Buffy/Xander friendship.”


“I don’t think we should be moving to idle threats just yet. Besides, this is Xander. You know, overly goofy, jelly doughnut loving, all around fun guy.” Willow sighed, placing her hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “It’s just hard… it’s a lot for him to swallow, you know? You can’t expect him to just wake up and be all support-o guy with the Spike acceptance and baby having. Though he’s got the baby loving part covered.”


Buffy nodded. “I guess you’re right. It’s just… complicated. My hormones are all out of whack and add conflicting emotions to the mix. Xander so isn’t helping.”


Willow frowned. “There’s conflict of emotions? Why are they conflicting? I thought there were no more conflictions!”


‘Damn my big mouth!” Buffy thought as she looked down at her hands. She had left a few details out of her story for her friends, the main one being Spike’s declaration of love for her. She entertained the thought of lying her way out of this one but decided against it. Lying never got you far and in the long run the truth would eventually come out. Buffy began to chew nervously on her bottom lip.

“I might have forgotten to tell you about a not too important piece of information from last night. Well, it is kinda important, but not that important not… ugh. The whole emotions conflicting with each other would make a whole lot more sense if you knew what happened.”


“So why not enlighten me, Buffy.” Willow looked on, eager to get to the bottom of the slayer’s babbling.


Buffy mentally groaned, but was almost a hundred percent certain that Willow could handle what she was about to reveal. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been down this road before with a vampire and budding feelings.


“Turns out there is a method to Dru’s madness… sometimes. She orchestrated the whole kidnapping for a reason.” Buffy paused, she just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t bring herself to confess. Confessions were never really any good. In fact confessions where highly overrated in Buffy’s book. The less there were the better off her life tended to be. They always seemed to lead to badness, which by this point in her life the blonde was quite sure was a side effect of living on the Hellmouth.


With an encouraging face and a supportive nod Willow pressed the girl to continue. Buffy rolled her eyes. “Spike sort of loves me. Well, he’s kinda in love with me.”


Willow just stared, mouth hanging open. That was not the confession she was waiting to hear. She didn’t know what she was waiting to hear, but getting the 411 that Spike was in love with Buffy was so not what she expected. And where was Xander with that drink? She certainly could use it now!


“Well?” Buffy probed. Her friend hadn’t said anything. It was kind of hard to silence Willow, but she had. This definitely was not of the good.


“Yeah, so not what I expected.” Willow arched a brow. “You said he’s kinda in love with you. He either is or he isn’t. So I’m guessing he is, which is way wigsome. But look… I’m not wigging out. Hey, Spike loves Buffy, I get that.” Willow smiled a little too enthusiastically.


Buffy smiled too, relieved to get that off her chest. So Willow’s head hadn’t exploded and she was taking it far better than she’d guessed, though if she smiled any wider Buffy was sure she’s bust her cheeks. “Yeah, big surprise for me too. Never saw that one coming. I suspected maybe he might have had a crush, or sick perverse obsessive thing, but love… who knew.”


“Do you… I mean… do you love Spike?” She had to ask. She saw the way both blonds had grown closer over the past few months, and especially the way Buffy had reacted those few days when she and Spike were apart.


Buffy’s brow knitted in concentration. “Truth? There’s a warm fuzzy feeling there, but I’m not sure. I mean… I think I might… over time.”


Internal Buffy scoffed in reply. “In time! Puh-lease, you’re already there.” Buffy shot back with a mental “Shut up! So not listening.”


“Oh, well, I can see that happening.” Buffy regarded Willow for a moment, temporarily thrown off by the voice in her head. What was she replying to? Oh, yeah, Buffy having the warm and fuzzy for Spike. Check.


The witch found that she really didn’t have a problem with that. As strange as it may be. The redhead decided right then and there that she would support Buffy if she decided that Spike did, in fact, make her happy. Everyone deserved to be happy.


She gave the slayer’s hand a supportive squeeze accompanied with a warm smile, relaxing Buffy. And in turn she returned the gesture.


Swallowing Buffy eyed the doorway leading to the hallway. “Hey, what’s keeping Xander? We’re dying out here. Bring on the drinks!”


++++


(five minutes earlier)



The brunette walked into the kitchen heading straight for the fridge. He knew Willow’s game plan, saw right through it. “Ever the peacemaker,” he greeted the large appliance, smiling then opening the door.


He couldn’t fault the girl though. He and Buffy has been friends for years, adverted an apocalypse or two during their time together, blew up their old high school, and dusted a few vamps. And he really needed to get over the fact that his friend had become involved with another vampire. Even if the said involvement was only a one night stand. That was the only time he could curse Riley for abandoning Buffy. It led to Spike and Buffy bumping uglies. If Riley was still here then there would have been no Spike and Buffy bumping.


Hey, Buffy would never look at him as a Don Juan, he could accept that, meaning he could accept that she slept with Spike. Xander snorted, it wasn’t as if a great relationship would come of it. Plus, he had more important things to focus on, like his wedding to Anya.


Xander halted his internal monologue and frowned. This was Spike he was talking about; stubborn, persistent, undead pain in the ass. It was quite obvious to anyone who wanted to see – or not wanting to see – that he had some kind of feelings towards Buffy. ‘Cause sleeping with someone you profess to hate just wasn’t cutting it. Plus, he was all gung-ho on the slayage front. Again, not something an evil dead thing would volunteer to do.


But then again, Buffy would never go for a soulless vampire no matter how well muscled and compact he was. Xander cleared his throat; it wasn’t as if he ogled at Spike. He just happened to notice when Anya had pointed it out one day during a Scooby meeting.


Shaking off his unpleasant thoughts, he reached for a handful of cheesy goodness to settle his nerves, before heading back to the living room.


That’s when Xander over heard (so wasn’t eavesdropping) Willow and Buffy’s conversation. They were speaking in hushed tones so any unwanted interlopers couldn’t hear, so he was only able to make out a few words here and there.


Xander knew from previous experience that Buffy and Willow were sharing something personal and he was about to make his presence known when “Spike” and “in love” filtered to him.


“Hold the phone. Spike’s in love with Buffy! No… well, ewww! That’s just wrong.” His face twisted up as if he had sucked on a lemon. He wished he brought the bag of cheese puffs with him to settle his stomach.


Internal gross out over, Xander straightened to hear more, and almost dropped the three bottles of juice he was holding. Buffy admitted that she had the warm and fuzzy for Dead Boy Junior - which was way bad! Xander was ready to storm in there and start rattling off all the reasons why this was bad, wrong, sick, twisted and way wigsome, but decided against it. There was no way in hell Buffy would ever, ever fall anywhere in love with Spike. Thoroughly convincing himself, Xander pasted on a fake smile when he heard Buffy call for him.


“Sorry it took so long. Got distracted by some cheese puffs,” he admitted bashfully before handing out the drinks.


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She was finally home, her excitement palatable. It had been a few days since her looting of the Watcher’s Journal from the Council’s vault. There had been a close call when she went to return the original to its place underground, but Amanda had adverted disaster. Now she couldn’t wait to open her copy and get some research done.


She hadn’t had the time before now since she was swamped with work, not only hers but two fellow Watchers as well. They had gotten married and she was designated to keep their assignments up to par while they were away on honeymoon.


Closing her apartment door, and not even bothering to change out of her work attire, she made her way to the small study in back. The middle bookshelf contained a false back, just the place to hide something of value and not have to worry about someone finding it. Reaching inside she found what she was looking for and headed over to her desk. Setting down she opened up her word program before lightly running her hand over the leather bound book. Hopefully the answers to her questions lay within. Amanda opened the cover.


January 20th, 1923


I have received word from the Council today that the new slayer is here, in Germany. I must set out immediately and find her, she has no formal training, and I have much ground to cover.


I should be happy, but I find myself hesitant. Many a watcher trains, studies, practices and dreams of this day. Silently waiting for the next poor girl to die at the hands of some horrible demon so that they can fill the role they were born to do. Watch, teach, and mentor. But I wonder if I truly am ready. But now is not the time to question myself, I am thirty six, a good and sound age to fill my calling. My train shall arrive in Munich in an hour. I have my work set out for me, for I am only armed with a brief description of my ward and, hopefully, a correct address.”


January 23ed, 1932


I arrived safely and as soon as I was able I set off in search of the girl. It didn’t take me long and I was directed to the correct house. A nice size, welcoming and easy to find, once I knew where I was going. I’m not familiar with Munich, but the people are friendly and very helpful. For that I am grateful.


Upon finding the house I spotted my charge. She stands about 5 feet and 6 inches, blue eyes, unruly brown hair, and a small frame. I find it fascinating that these young girls can possesses such power and strength.


I have yet to see her in action, I think this is because she avoids places were demonic activity is heavy. I decided to introduce myself. She took my appearance in stride even after I informed her of her calling and who she is. She did go pale, before, and to my surprise, cursing me. But after a small demonstration of her abilities, she was a believer.


We walked to her home where her father invited me in. Needless to say, her parents were not thrilled to discover their child is a slayer, and that it is her duty to kill creatures which only resided in “normal” peoples nightmares. I did not, however, have to convince them of these creatures since, sadly, their son was recently killed by a Shur’ikn demon. I sent a report of the incident to England as well.


After explaining to them that the Council would be supplementing their income for as long as their daughter was alive, I then informed them that I would return in two nights time to take my ward with me. This would give them enough time for farewells and for the slayer to pack her belongings.


Once settled in our new Council safe house we can get down to formal training. This I am concerned about since she is not too keen on authority, and her mother had to convince her that leaving with me was indeed the right thing to do.


Also, an important note, and I think relevant. The difficulty encountered in discovering the slayer’s identity was due to her being adopted, but her parents have no knowledge regarding her birth mother. All details were handled by a local convent. I must find a way to have access to those records, if any exist.”


Amanda made little notes. It was quite mundane besides the fact that the slayer was adopted and couldn’t be tracked by the Council. She yawned, rubbing at her eyes as she flipped through a few pages, trying to find a name to this mysterious Chosen One. The phone ringing drew her from her hunt. Sighing, she closed the journal and answered on the third ring. It was Oxford, Quentin Travers’ assistant. He was calling to inform her that the watchers away on honeymoon had decided to extend their stay and, that she was expected to continue doing their work.


Slamming the phone down, she picked the book up and placed it back in its hiding spot. She had a feeling that she wouldn’t be seeing it again for at least another two weeks.


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The sigh over the line was unsettling, but Wesley could understand. Giles wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery as soon as possible. For all they knew Buffy’s pregnancy could be the herald to an impending apocalypse.


“Is there anyway that she could send the journal here?”


“No, to risky. We don’t know if they even suspect anything. No need to tip our hand.”


Giles nodded his head as if his fellow ex-watcher could see, removed his glasses, and gave them a vigorous rub before returning them to his face. “Yes, yes, you’re quite right. We need to proceed with caution.”


Wesley perked up as he held the phone tighter in his grasp. “There are two piece of information worth mentioning.”


Giles pressed his ear closer, making sure he wouldn’t miss a word.


“Lichtermann’s ward, she was adopted. That left the Council with no way of finding her. She was never formally trained until her watcher found her. He made note of the circumstance surrounding her birth and sent it to London. She also had an aversion to authority.”


“Did they ever find the birth mother?” Giles questioned as he wrote this information down.


“To my knowledge, no. But Amanda only made it that far in her reading. Thought, I find it odd for them to banish her name and image from history because she was a bastard child.”


“No, neither do I. But she does share one thing with Buffy. No formal training. I think it’s safe to say that she wasn’t versed fully in the Slayer Handbook, wasn’t fed it from early childhood. Making her somewhat as Buffy was when I first met her. Could it be possible that she became so unruly that the Council had her disposed of?”


There was a pause on the other end, both men taking in a deep breath. They knew to what lengths the Council would go to keep their slayer in line. An image of Faith popped into the elder watcher’s head and he shuddered. Did this previous slayer suffer a similar fate?


“Quite possible. I wouldn’t speculate just yet, not until we know more. Hopefully my sister will get back to us soon.”


“Yes, I hope so.” With that Giles terminated the call.


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