Chapter 7: Plans
Pleasant Glade Cemetary, Sunnydale...
“So let me get this straight…” Gunn said as he walked through the graveyard. “Spike is Angel’s Grandchilde…Angel and Buffy used to be an item…but now Buffy and Spike are going out…and now Buffy is pregnant with Spike’s child…Spike who is a vampire.”
“Well….yes.” Giles said as they continued walking.
Back at the Magic Box they had decided to pit the girls against the boys, and take turns patrolling and researching. Tonight it was the boy’s turn to patrol. So Giles, Wesley, Jonathan, Xander, Angel, Connor and Gunn were all patrolling the graveyards together.
“How the hell did that happen?” Gunn asked.
Xander was grinning like a fool. He put a brotherly arm around Gunn’s shoulder as they walked, “Gunn, my man, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much—“ Xander was cut off when Gunn shoved him away good-naturedly.
“Man, get off. You *know* that’s not what I meant.” Gunn glared at the boy.
“Yes Xander, do shut up.” Giles sighed in exasperation. Jonathan was sniggering.
“It was the prophecy?” Wesley said, more of a statement than a question.
“Well, yes….and no,” Giles replied, “Willow and Tara gave Spike the Amulet of Bytanor…it’s a magical talisman for vampires. It allowed him to walk in the sunlight and he was able to see his reflection. But it seems there was another feature we were…um, unaware of.”
“Interesting,” Wesley said, “The prophecy never mentioned the Amulet.”
“Yes, because every prophecy we’ve ever read gives specifics.” Xander rolled his eyes, “Usually they say something vague like ‘Ultimate cosmic happiness, and then death’.”
Suddenly they heard a vampire snarl and jump out from behind a tomb, lunging at Connor.
“Speaking of death.” Connor grinned and started to fight the vampire with vigor.
Angel leaned back against a mausoleum to watch and grinned proudly. “That’s my boy.”
* * *
Council Headquaters, Quentin Trevor's office...
“Professor Broody, I am growing impatient with all these excuses.” Quentin practically growled at the balding white-haired professor.
Professor Broody adjusted his thick glasses nervously and shuffled the aged texts in his hands. “All of our Witches and Wizards on the Council so far haven’t been able to crack the magic encryption. It’s far too strong. Not only was Nigel Hawthorne a great Seer, he was an adept Wizard as well, a fact that he had hid from the council.” Professor Broody said with a hint of admiration in his voice.
Quentin however, looked less than pleased. “I don’t care what it takes, JUST TRANSLATE THE BLOODY PROPHECY!!”
* * *
Summers residence...
Buffy sat in her room, silently fingering Spike’s Amulet of Bytanor.
Dawn stood in the hallway and softly knocked on Buffy’s door. “Can I come in?”
“Of course Dawnie.” Buffy replied quietly. Dawn came in and sat on the bed next to her sister.
“You gonna be okay?” Dawn asked.
“I don’t know.” Buffy sighed and glanced at her sister. “Don’t you have homework or something?”
“Geez, rude much? You could have just said ‘Go away’.” Dawn teased.
There was a moment of silence, and Dawn looked down at the floor. “We’re going to get him back….right?” Dawn asked hopefully.
Buffy glanced down at the amulet and started to finger it again. “They’re working on it.”
* * *
Back at the Magic Box...
Tonight’s ‘Research group’ consisted of Willow, Tara, Anya, Fred and Cordelia. They were busy scouring the books while the ‘Patrol group’ was out patrolling. So when the bell above the door jingled announcing visitors, the girls all glanced up from their’ texts to see Giles walk in first, Jonathan next, Xander, Connor, Wesley, Gunn and then Angel.
“Oh Goddess, Giles, what happened to your head?” Willow gasped when she saw the Watcher had a gash on his forehead. Anya calmly went to the back room and fetched the first aid kit, passing it off to Tara.
“Was it a Vampire?” Tara asked as she pulled out the alcohol pads and motioning Giles to sit in the chair next to Willow.
“No,” Giles said, casting Jonathan a sour look as he sat down, “Jonathan decided to ask me more inane questions about Vampires…I decided it would be less painful to bash my head against the wall repetitively.” Giles winced as Tara dabbed the cut with the pad.
“I just wanted to know why their clothes turn to dust when they are killed. The clothes aren’t evil, so why do they turn to dust along with the demon? I tried to ask Mr. Tall-dark-and-broody over there, but after awhile he just started to growl at me.” Jonathan said, but everyone rolled there eyes and ignored him. Angel glared at the boy and Connor only looked slightly amused.
“How did patrol go?” Cordelia asked the group.
“Staked three, sliced and diced five.” Gunn replied.
“And in English that would mean…?” Willow prompted.
“Three vamps and five demons.” Gunn gave her a ‘duh’ look.
“Oh, right. Gotcha.” Willow replied while silently sniggering at Giles and Wesley simultaneously picking up their Watcher’s journals and recording the night’s events. They even took off their glasses and pinched their noses at the same time. It was cute really…in a Watcher-y kind of way.
“So any luck with research then?” Giles asked as he finished up his notes.
Willow instantly perked up and motioned to her laptop. “I’ve been hacker-girl,” She replied with an overzealous grin, “Hacked myself right into the Watcher’s database.”
“Really?” Wesley asked interestedly, adjusting his glasses.
“No way!” Jonathan exclaimed and walked over to look for himself.
“They have a database?” Giles furrowed his eyebrows and squinted at the screen.
“Way to go Wills!” Xander acted as her own personal cheering section.
“I’m impressed.” Gunn said.
“Neat.” Angel shrugged.
“What’s a database?” Connor asked. Everyone turned to him with raised eyebrows. “What? I grew up in a hell dimension.” Connor shrugged.
“Um, guys? The point.” Willow directed their attention back to her
“Oh, yes, did you find anything useful?” Giles asked.
“Boy did I ever.” Willow grinned as she held up the blue-prints for the Council Headquarters.
“Good lord Willow! How on earth did you get that?” Giles nearly fell out of his chair in shock.
“Well, actually, it wasn’t all me... See I hacked into the database to find out what construction company built the place. I couldn’t access the records from the computer or anything, but that’s where Nigel came in. Once we knew where to find it…”
::A simple summoning spell and it came right to us.:: Nigel chimed in proudly.
“Summoning Spell?” Giles actually *did* fall out of his chair.
::I may be an inanimate object, but I assure you, I’m quite capable of these things. Just took a bit out of me is all.:: Nigel admitted. Giles glanced at all the girl’s faces as if to confirm this was actually true.
“Well….um….good. Good.” Giles stammered and straightened his glasses. “Right then, good show everybody. We’ll erm…pick this up tomorrow, say noon?” Everyone made various sounds of agreement. “Angel I trust you remember the sewer route?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here.” Angel said, “We made arrangements to stay in the same hotel as last time, so you know where to find us if you need us.”
“Well then. I say we call it a night.” Giles said and everyone gathered up their items and headed for the door. Anya locked up the shop behind them just as the sun began to tint the sky pink.
* * *
The next day Giles was quite tardy for the Scooby meeting, which was entirely unlike him. The large group was waiting in the training room because Anya had thrown a fit that the group’s presence in the shop would scare customers away.
So they sat making small talk as they waited for the designated Watcher of the group to arrive.
Xander was having a grand ol’ time taunting Angel with some juicy tidbits of information Spike had told him, while Jonathan listened in with great interest.
Surprisingly enough Wesley and Tara found something to talk about and were conversing on the fringes of the group.
Gunn and Fred were discretely necking.
Willow was happily informing Buffy of her and Nigel’s triumph in thieving the blue-prints of the Watcher’s Headquarters, and Nigel was unusually silent, only penning his comments when he had something to say. Willow suspected it was because he used up a great deal of energy on the summoning spell.
Cordelia was studiously avoiding Angel for reasons that no one but Angel knew. And despite his attempts to talk to her, she’d hiss at him “Now’s NOT the time!” before stomping off in a huff to avoid him some more.
Connor was standing around looking bored while Angel attempted to talk to him to get Xander to go away…but Xander wouldn’t take the hint and kept asking him “Is it true you tried on Druscilla’s dresses once?”, which interestingly enough peeked Connor’s interests, while Jonathan would snigger some more. So instead of taunting Angel, Xander gleefully started sharing the annoyingly embarrassing stories with Connor.
Angel was going to kill his Grandchilde when he got home.
At last Giles came into the training room looking a bit breathless, but cheery nonetheless. “Ah, good, I see everyone has arrived.”
“Yeah…on time.” Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and gave Giles a pointed look.
Giles grinned despite himself. He was glad that Buffy seemed to be doing better today than yesterday.
“Yeah G-man, some of us gotta get back to work.” Xander said, then quickly amended, “Not that I miss it or anything.”
“Sorry for keeping all of you, but I have good news.” Giles grinned, choosing to ignore Xander’s nickname for him, although he did cast the boy a weary glance. “I didn’t want to say anything yesterday because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off, but I just got off the phone a short while ago…” Giles paused as he took off his glasses, squinted at them and started polishing them with his handkerchief, “it turns out—“
“GOD, is the long winded speech thing part of the Watcher training? Get to the punch line already!” Cordelia said impatiently. Wesley raised an eyebrow and nervously fiddled with his own glasses.
“Er…yes, well…” Giles stammered as he put his glasses back on, “Right then, the uh, point is, I called in a favor from an old friend at the Council. She’s a Watcher…but I assure you we can trust her. She is going to help us find out where Spike is.”
“She?” Willow said teasingly.
Giles rolled his eyes, “Yes Willow, she happens to be a female.”
“Who?” Buffy asked.
“Well I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. She’s doing this for me at a very high personal risk. I don’t know what she’ll find…perhaps nothing at all. But I just wanted you all to know where we stand.” Giles turned to Buffy and spoke softly to her, “It will probably be awhile before I hear back from her, so don’t get your hopes up just yet. These things take time…and delicacy. We must be overcautious so that the Council doesn’t get wind of what we are doing.”
“No running in, guns a-blazing. Check.” Buffy weakly joked. Giles cracked a grin despite himself.
“I don’t think you’d be very intimidating in the state you are in anyhow.”
Buffy quickly glanced down at her slightly swollen stomach and sighed. “Well at least there’s nothing scarier than a hormonal pissed off pregnant Slayer.”
* * *
Later in the day...
“YOU STARTED THE MEETING WITHOUT ME?!?!?” Dawn shrieked in outrage as she slammed her backpack on the research table.
“You were at school!” Buffy defended herself.
“You guys couldn’t have waited like, three hours? Great.” Dawn replied peevishly as she yanked open her school bag, pulled out her books and slammed them on the table, sending a box of supplies crashing to the floor.
“Oh perfect!!” Dawn shouted in frustration at her clumsiness.
“HEY!! Watch the merchandise!!” Anya left a potential customer in the dust as she ran over to the box of fallen goods. “You better hope nothing broke missy! This was a new shipment of ancient magical artifacts! Do you know how much a Luctian Tryacite crystal costs?! Or, or a Novaskocian fertility statue?” Anya ranted as she dug through the box, checking for any nicks, scratches, gouges or broken pieces. Dawn winced as she thought about paying off Anya for the rest of her life, so she helped remove the items from the thankfully well-padded box. She lifted out a very heavy wooden statue, squinting at its ugly face.
“What is this?” Dawn asked as she examined it for damage.
“Oh that’s the Novaskocian fertility statue. Isn’t it cute?” Anya glanced at it as she continued checking the box’s contents.
“Yeah…cute.” Dawn made a ‘yuk’ face as she examined it.
“You might want to put that down, it *is* a fertility statue after all.” Anya said offhandedly as she picked up a tangle of amulets.
Dawn yelped and put it down quickly.
“Here, check these for damage.” Anya said as she passed Dawn the tangled talismans. “I’ve got to get back to the people willing to buy things.” Anya quickly returned to the customers.
“So, have a bad day at school?” Buffy asked as she sat down and helped Dawn sort out the talismans.
“No, not really.” Dawn muttered as she untangled the chains of five amulets.
“So what’s with the bad and moody?” Buffy queried.
“It’s nothing.” Dawn said a little too quickly.
“Come on Dawn, you never talk to me anymore. I always had to get my information from Spike.”
Dawn sighed and set down the tangle of chains. “So you’re gonna play the guilt card on me hu?”
“Works, doesn’t it?”
Dawn gave her sister a weak smile. “Fine. It’s nothing really, you’re gonna think I’m stupid.”
“Try me.” Buffy reassured her as she sat back to listen.
“Hey! I don’t see enough damage control over there.” Anya shook a finger in their direction as she rang up a sale for a customer.
Buffy and Dawn rolled their eyes and took up their tasks again. They were silent for a few minutes.
“So you were saying?” Buffy prompted.
“Not letting me out of this, are you?” Dawn sighed.
“Nope. Confess.”
Dawn sighed heavily and muttered, “Connorhasn'taskedmeoutyet.”
“Hu?” Buffy said, trying to figure out Dawn’s run-on sentence in her head. “I know I heard Connor’s name somewhere in there, but that’s about it.”
“He hasn’t asked me out on a date yet.” Dawn said miserably.
“Oh.” Buffy said kinda dazed, but then the real problem hit her, “Ohh!!”
“I mean, we’ve talked a lot…which is really a feat in its self ‘cause he doesn’t really talk all that much, but now that he’s here he hasn’t asked me out or anything.” Dawn pouted.
“Have you dropped any hints?” Buffy asked.
“I’ve dropped Anvils!” Dawn yanked a little too hard on one of the chains, almost breaking it. She grimaced and started taking more care, not knowing the monetary value of these things.
“Well…he *did* grow up in a hell dimension…I kinda doubt they had anything like dating there. Maybe he’s like Spike in that department. He doesn’t really know about that kind of stuff.”
“You think?” Dawn replied hopefully.
“I’ll talk to Angel about it, see if he can give Connor a few pointers.” Then Buffy grimaced, “On second thought, I’ll ask Cordelia.”
* * *
Sunnydale Inn, room 108...
“No, no, and NO!!” Cordelia shouted as she slammed the now empty hotel dresser drawers and threw her clothes into her bag.
“Cordy!” Angel exclaimed in frustration.
“Angel, if you want to stick around and play Buffy’s hero, that’s fine, but I’m going back to L.A. to run Angel Investigations!” She snapped at him as she zipped up her suitcase.
“That’s not how it is Cordelia and you know it.”
“Do I?” She glared at him as she made her way into the bathroom to steal the free toiletries, leaving him speechless. When she stomped back into the room with her hands full of the little soaps and lotions she glared at Angel. “You’re still here?”
“Yes, and I will be until you talk to me.” Angel said stubbornly.
“I’ve already said everything I want to say to you.” Cordelia said just as stubbornly as she dumped the toiletries in her second bag and zipped it up, heaving one bag on her shoulder and the other in her hand.
“No, I don’t think you have.” Angel stood in front of the door when she moved to go through it.
“Move Angel!”
“No.” Angel crossed his arms over his chest.
“Move before I kick your sorry ass away from the door!” Cordelia hissed as she set down her bags.
“Right, like you c—Ow!!“ Angel was cut off by her stomping on his foot, punching him in the nose and throwing him bodily across the room, leaving the doorway open.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Angel growled at her as he stood up.
“YOU! You are what’s wrong with me you big oaf!!” Cordelia stalked over to him angrily, getting in his face, “Just when I figure out I love you, you go and decide to run back to Sunnydale to save Buffy! Well I’m sick of playing second fiddle to her! First Xander and now you!! I’ve had it!!” Cordelia shouted at the top of her lungs and turned to stomp out of the room, but Angel suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, smashing his lips on hers. Cordelia struggled at first because she was angry, but then she slowly started kissing him back. After making out for nearly five minutes, Cordelia pulled back and glared at him.
“You just had to ruin my dramatic exit.” Cordelia said breathlessly.
“Sorry, the fact that you said you loved me kinda caught my attention.”
“Oh damn, I did say that, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.” Angel said and they frantically started kissing again.
* * *
Beneath the Watcher's Headquarters...
“Hey…” Someone was gently prodding Spike in the side. “Are you ok?” The female voice asked.
Spike reluctantly swam back to consciousness and wearily cracked open his eyes. Didn’t help though, it was still too dark to see.
“W-what?” Spike croaked out. His mouth was horribly parched.
“Here.” The female said as he felt a bowl of blood being pressed to his lips. He drank quickly, learning here that eating fast meant gaining every drop. But surprisingly there was more blood in the bowl than normal. Lots more in fact.
“Drink it slowly, you don’t want to choke.” The girl said.
Spike realized as he drank the blood that it didn’t have any drugs in it either. When he finished the last drops he asked, “Who are you?”
“A friend. I don’t have much time, so listen carefully. I can help you escape.”
“You know who I am, don’t you? What I am?” Spike said even as his brain was screaming Shut up you bloody fool!
He just had to know why though.
“Yes, William. I know what you are. The question is, do you?” The girl asked, but before he could answer she continued. “I am here to help. Do you want it or not?”
Spike nodded, but then realized it was too dark for her to see. “Yeah.”
“Good. Now you must listen closely, timing is everything…”
* * *
Sunnydale Inn, room 108...
Buffy knocked on Cordelia’s hotel room. “Cordelia?”
There was no answer, but Buffy thought she heard something breaking in the room. She knocked louder. “Cordelia?” This time she heard Cordelia’s muffled yelp and more banging around inside. Buffy tried the doorknob and found it was unlocked, so she pushed the door open and walked in, “Cordelia wh—OH MY GOD!”
“Buffy!” Cordelia yelped and quickly covered herself with the closest pillow while a very naked Angel hid behind her.
“Angel?” Buffy asked while trying not to look at them, “What’s going on?”
“Well…um…you see….uh…” Angel stammered and the two girls simultaneously rolled their eyes.
“Never mind, don’t answer that.” Buffy started to giggle.
“I’m glad you find this amusing.” Cordelia muttered, obviously embarrassed as she adjusted her pillow self-consciously.
“Oh, no really…this is just…the last thing I thought I’d see…” Buffy gasped out in between hysterical laughter.
“Did you come here for a reason, or just to laugh at us?” Cordelia asked tight-lipped.
“Oh, no. I had a favor I wanted to ask you…but you’re um… a bit occupied I see.” Buffy tried to contain her giggles, but then her face went deathly serious. “Hey wait a minute! Angel what the HELL do you think you’re doing?!” Buffy shrieked at him.
“Hu?” Angel replied stupidly.
“Buffy, get over it.” Cordelia told her, “You two broke up years ago, besides, you and Spike, remember?!” Cordelia gestured to Buffy’s swollen stomach.
“Uh, hello! I know that. I am way over Angel, trust me!” Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Hey! Still in the room here!” Angel raised his hand.
“No offense.” Buffy flashed Angel a tight-lipped smile, and then turned back to Cordelia, “That’s not what I’m talking about. If you two could cool down your hormones for two seconds and think about this, you’ll remember that doing this is a very bad idea! I am *so* not wanting to deal with Angelus right now.”
That turned Cordelia pale. “Crap. She’s right.” Cordy muttered to Angel.
“Oh God…I didn’t even think.” Angel admitted.
“You know what, I’ll be outside while you guys… get dressed.” Buffy turned tail and fled out of the hotel room, closing the door behind her. Several minutes later Cordelia opened the door and invited Buffy back in.
“So, um, you wanted to ask a favor?” Cordelia asked a bit uncomfortably as she sat on the bed and Buffy sat in a chair. Angel was in the bathroom, doing only God knows what.
“Uh, yeah. Dawn was all upset today because Connor hasn’t asked her out. I told her, you know, that Connor grew up in a hell dimension and probably doesn’t even know what a date is, so—“
“You were wondering if I’d talk to him?” Cordelia surmised.
“Well, yeah. Tell him about all that girl-boy stuff.”
“Hey, I could do that.” Angel said as he came out of the bathroom.
“No!” Both Cordelia and Buffy yelped. Angel frowned.
“Er, this is more of a girl thing, Angel. You know, I can give him some pointers on what girls like and stuff.” Cordelia rushed to re-assure him.
“Oh…well, ok. You want me to go get him?” Angel asked.
“Please.” Cordelia smiled a little too brightly at him, but Angel didn’t seem to notice as he turned and left Cordelia’s Hotel room.
“Damn that Vampire hearing.” Cordelia muttered.
“I heard that!” Angel called out from the other end of the hallway.
* * *
Later in the day at the Summer's Residence...
“They were doing what?!” Dawn’s jaw hit the floor.
“Shhh!!” Buffy warned her sister
“Oh my God, did you see him? I mean like all of him?”
“Okay, eww, and I am *so* not having this conversation with you.”
“Oh come on Buffy, loosen up. I have to learn about these things some how. Besides, if you’re not gonna tell me I just might have to find out for myself.” Dawn replied casually.
“WHAT?! You wouldn’t dare!” Buffy nearly fainted in exasperation.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t. But it was funny to see your face go all red like that.” Dawn giggled.
“Oh you are *so* grounded.” Buffy glared at her sister.
“Oh come on, it was funny. I would so never do that.” Dawn wrinkled up her nose in disgust.
Just then the phone rang and Dawn picked it up. “Hello? …Oh hi Connor. Yeah….uh hu…Really? Yes, I’d love to! That’d be great. Sure. Ok, see you then. Bye!” Dawn hung up and turned to Buffy. “HE ASKED ME OUT!”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night. We’re gonna go see a movie and get some ice-cream.” Dawn squealed in excitement.
“Not if you’re grounded.” Buffy reminded her.
“Oh God, no, Buffy please. You can’t be serious! I was just kidding! I’d never do that!” Dawn pleaded.
“I know, I’m kidding. It was just way too funny to see your face get all red like that.” Buffy giggled at her turn-about.
“Oh you are so dead!” Dawn laughed and pounced on her sister, tickling her mercilessly.
“No!! No!! Not the ribs!!” Buffy squealed as she tickled Dawn back, and soon they were in a vicious tickle-to-the-death battle.