My note: I don't own the characters or concepts. I'm posting this for a friend.

The Crazy Plan

Prologue

Buffy Summers wandered. She'd been wandering for some time now. Half an hour? An hour? More probably. She didn't really notice, didn't really care.

All around her, the town was falling apart. People were packing up, leaving, getting out while they still could.

Something big was gonna go down. They could all feel it, everyone of them, and most of the time, they had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Buffy watched one family hastily pack everything they could into their old station wagon, before speeding off into the darkness. An entire lifetime, packed up in one car... She hoped they make it; she wasn't sure she would.

Her friends' words echoed in her ears.

"Maybe it ends OK the way you wanna play it, but maybe it doesn't," Faith said, an edge to her voice. "And right now, I don't think I want you playin' the odds."

Of all people, she thought Faith would understand. This was what they did, what they'd always done.

Then when her friends weighed in? It felt like the ground was crumbling out from under her.

"There is something there," Buffy insisted.

"Maybe," Giles admitted. "But we can't be sure of that. This is a hell of a lot to ask."

"Too much," Wood agreed.

For seven years, she'd been the slayer, the one girl, more or less. For seven years, she'd protected them, even from themselves. Now, that wasn't good enough.

"Why are you always standing up for her?" Kennedy demanded, frustrated.

"I'm not," Willow said softly, her voice sad.

"What do you mean, you're not?" Buffy asked, confused.

Buffy shook her head, trying to get rid of that feeling of hurt, of betrayal.

"I'm trying to see your point here, Buff..." Xander started. "But I guess it must be a little bit to my left... 'cause I just don't."

Buffy stopped. She could still hear the desperation in her own voice.

"Wait. Guys..." she pleaded. "I can't watch you just throw away everything that -- I know I'm right about this. I just need a little -- I can't stay here and watch her lead you into some disaster."

"Then you can't stay here," Dawn said. "Buffy, I love you, but you were right. We have to be together on this. You can't be a part of it. So I need you to leave. I'm sorry, but this is my house, too."

Now, she just felt tired and alone, abandoned. Even her own sister didn't believe in her.

Thrusting her hands deep into her pockets, Buffy started moving again. She'd have to find somewhere to bed down for the night.

She picked a house at random, made her way up the drive, to the front door. It was too easy to force the door. She stepped inside.

And got a gun pointed at her head by a nervous-looking home owner. "Don't move!" He ordered, inching closer, the gun wavering slightly. "Get out of my house."

"Hey," Buffy said quietly. She snatched the gun easily from his unsuspecting hands. "I thought the place would be empty. I was looking for a place to crash. You know, you really should leave."

"You can't just kick me out of my own house," the guy said incredulously.

"Why not? It's what all the cool kids are doing nowadays," Buffy said, feeling numb. She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not your house. It's not your town. Not anymore."

Buffy made her way to the guy's kitchen, to the fridge. She opened it up, poking around inside. "Got any Tab?"

But the guy had already gone. She was alone again. Always alone. She made her way to the bedroom. Lying down on the bed, Buffy waited for sleep to come.

"We're back!" Andrew announced cheerfully as they entered the Summers residence. The kitchen went quiet as Spike followed Andrew in.

He looked around. The whole gang was here, minus Buffy.

"Spike," Giles said. The distaste in his voice was obvious. Spike ignored it.

"Hey," Spike said.

"Hi, everybody," Andrew said. "I missed you guys a lot. Sorry we took so long getting back from our mission but we had to wait out the sun and, well, I think our mission went very well. We rode on Spike's hog, which was very cool, and played some amusing games and, oh, we got some information. But do you know what? I really need to urinate."

Spike watched him go for a moment. "He's a breath of fresh air, isn't he? Thank god I don't breathe," Spike said. "So I think we got a lead. Where's Buffy?"

Nobody would meet his eyes. Finally, Dawn spoke up. "She's not here right now."

"When's she get back?"

Again, nobody would look him in the eyes. There was tension in the air. It was unmistakable. He'd have to be really dense to miss it.

"While you were gone, we all got together and talked out some disagreements that we were having," Willow started, obviously nervous. "And eventually, after much discussion, Buffy decided that it would be best for all of us if she took a little time off. A little breather."

Right. That sounded about as believable as the whelp being the one who saw everything.

"Uh-huh. I see," said Spike. "Been practising that little speech long, have you? So Buffy took some time off right in the middle of the apocalypse and it was her decision?"

"Well, we all decided," Xander said.

Spike looked around at the room's occupants. "Oh, yeah, you all decided," he said, disgusted. "You sad, sad, ungrateful traitors. Who do you think you are?"

"We're her friends. We just want--"

He wasn't about to let her rationalise this, let her blame everything on the slayer. No, he had a pretty clear picture of things. "Oh, that's ballsy of you," Spike interrupted. "You're her friends and you betray her like this?"

"You don't understand," the bleeding Watcher said.

"You know, I think I do, Rupert," Spike said, fixing him with a look. "You used to be the big man, didn't you? The teacher, all full of wisdom. Now she's surpassed you and you can't handle it." He looked around at all of them, disgusted. They had the good grace, at least, to look ashamed. "She has saved your lives again and again. She has died for you. And this is how you thank her?"

Faith stepped up.

"Hey, why don't you take it down a notch or two?" Faith demanded, all tough-girl. "The time for speech-giving is over, bad boy."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Faith said. "Save your lack of breath."

"All right."

He punched Faith in the face. It was easy. She wasn't Buffy. She wasn't as tough. She was nothing, just another slayer, and Spike had already killed two.

Faith stumbled back a few steps.

"You're pretty sweet on her, aren't you?" Faith asked. She kicked him. He stumbled back. "I think it's cute -- the way she's got you whipped."

She kicked him again. She was sloppy. All power and no finesse. He was about to show her just how good she wasn't, he was about to start taking things seriously, when the bleeding Watcher interrupted.

"Enough!"

Spike couldn't resist getting one last dig in. "Finally got what you wanted, didn't you?" He sneered. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," Faith said quietly.

There was no point in continuing this. There wasn't anything here, just a bunch of ingrates. Spike took one last look around, then turned and left, the kitchen door slamming behind him.