Chapter 2

Buffy was woken up the next day by the most annoying alarm clock in the world, a lawnmower under her window. She covered her head with her pillow, but somehow it only made the noise louder. She whimpered in frustration when she finally gave up and got out of bed.

She pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants and was tying her hair back into a ponytail when she walked downstairs. She saw Dawn sprawled out across the couch on her stomach with a magazine in front of her and the television blaring MTV. "Comfortable?"

Dawn jumped up and smirked when she saw Buffy. "Well, look at who's finally dragged herself out of bed."

Buffy winced when the lawnmower passed near a window. "What time is it?"

"Almost one in the afternoon, miss lazy pants."

"And who's making that awful racket?"

Dawn threw her leg over the couch arm and lay back down. "Xander. He had today off and decided to do some work over here."

"Aww," Buffy said as she went to the window and saw Xander as he passed by. She took one look at him and grinned. "Anya was right, he does look good when he's sweaty."

"What?" Dawn shouted as she twisted like a pretzel to stare at her sister.

Buffy almost jumped out of her skin, which promptly turned bright red. "I said, uh… Isn't it your job to mow the grass?" Buffy asked as she put her hands on her hips and did the best impression she could of her mother.

Dawn didn't buy it for a minute. "Uh huh," she said and rolled back to the television. "Anya'll kick your ass if she ever heard you talking like that."

"Language! And she would not!"

Dawn rolled her eyes and picked up her book again. "I think you better go back to bed. Whatever you've got has eaten your brain."

"My brain is fine, thank you," Buffy muttered. "But I could use some air." With that she walked outside.

"Just keep your eyes in your head," Dawn shouted after her.

Buffy just shook her head as she watched Xander go around the corner of the house and a perfectly rotten idea flashed through her brain. "Oh, that would be so bad. And fun," she added and quietly stalked Xander into the backyard. She followed him for a few seconds before she tapped him on the shoulder and watched him jump two feet straight up. He spun around ready to lash out when he spotted her. "Buffy! Don't sneak up on people over a Hellmouth!"

"But it's so fun," Buffy smirked.

Xander crossed his arms and tried his best to look angry. "Yeah, yeah. Here I am, trying to do my girlfriend a favor and what thanks do I get?"

"What kind of thanks do you want?" She asked as innocent as a lamb, but there was nothing innocent in her smile. She was just about to pull him down for a kiss when she froze and looked back at the house. "Damn it," she muttered and let her arms fall.

Xander sighed. "I know. I hate sneaking around too. How do you feel today?" He asked as he looked her over.

"Better. It's a good thing you came over or I probably would've slept the day away."

"You just woke up?" When she nodded he turned and glared at the house. "Dawn said you were awake and hiding in you're room."

"She did?" Why that lying little," Buffy began, then she got a jumbled flash of Dawn asking her something, then ducking a pillow to the head. "Well, I guess I was up for a while." Then she looked around at her fresh cut lawn. "You know you don't have to do this."

He shrugged. "Well, I felt guilty leaving you here alone last night."

"Aw," Buffy repeated herself and this time she did hug him. "It wasn't your fault I was sick."

"I know, but still," he said and pushed the lawnmower to the front yard and shoved it into the garage. "It's nice to be an occasionally handy man."

"Always handy," Buffy corrected as she followed him.

"Besides I didn't want to listen to Dawn whine about doing it again."

"Don't let her fool you with her sad Bambi eyes. Cutting grass builds character." Buffy looked over the front yard, which was cut in nice straight lines. Usually it looked like some strange racecourse because Dawn missed as much as she cut. "But you do it much better - What the hell is that creepy little thing doing in my yard?"

"What?"

"That!" Buffy said and pointed to the yard gnome that was sitting next to the only real tree she had on her yard. "Did Willow put that there when I was dead? Cause if I had known, I would have crawled out of the grave sooner to kick her –"

"Deep breath, Buffy," Xander said as he walked over to the tree. "I think this is one demon I can handle," he said as he bent over and grabbed the gnome. Unfortunately when he picked it up the slick plastic slipped out of his sweaty hands and the gnome hit the ground head first with a crash.

"Somebody's in trouble," Buffy said with a wry grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Xander muttered as he knelt down to fiddle with the pieces, but they wouldn't fit together again. Finally he just sighed and let the little plastic chunks fall to the ground. "I think Humpty's dead." He said as he picked up the gnome by the feet and stood up. The gnome flipped over and a small black video camera fell out of the hole that used to be the top of its head. "What the hell?"

Buffy bent over and picked up the camera. Then she turned and realized it had the perfect view of her house. "Someone's been spying on us."

"Spike?" Xander asked as he looked at the camera, but Buffy could tell from the look on his face that he didn't really believe it.

"No. He hasn't been stalker man since he hooked up with Tara. Besides, I think this is a bit beyond him."

"The Trio of Dorkness," Xander said. "They so need a girl."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, but she didn't really hear him. She just looked at the antenna. "I wonder if Willow could trace this back to their base."

Xander wiped the dirt of his hands. "You better ask her. I think that I'm in the doghouse."

"What? Why?"

"She's fighting with Anya again."

"But I thought they had gotten over their problems."

"They did," Xander said and looked down at the ground. "I think she's jealous of the time you're spending with us."

Buffy looked up to where Willow's room would be. "I didn't… She's been so busy with Amy, and both of them have been trying to cut down on magic. I didn't want to make that harder."

"I know. I'm sure she'll be back to her old perky self in a few days. I just don't want to be in the line of fire until then."

Buffy pocketed the camera. "All right, I'll go see if she's busy."

"Good. I better get back to work. Grass waits for no man. Besides I have to go shopping later."

Buffy glanced at the house to make sure no one was watching, then leaned forward to give Xander a quick kiss. "I'll see you at the store later?"

"If you do that again, you will," Xander answered with a lopsided grin.

"We do have to make up for last night," Buffy said as she turned and walked away with a little extra swish in her walk as a preview of things to come.

"Willow?" Buffy asked as she ducked into the kitchen.

"Buffy!" Willow said happily as she looked up from the mixing bowl in front of her. "I was starting to worry."

"Don't. Haven't met a bug yet that can beat the slayer," Buffy grinned as she walked over and sat put the camera down on the counter next to her. Willow glanced at it, but it didn't seem to sink in. "Whatcha making?"

"Chocolate chip cookies."

"Guilt food?"

"Maybe a little," Willow said as she went back to stirring. "I was a total witch last night to Xander and Anya. And not the good kind either."

Buffy jumped up on the stool and swiped a bit of cookie dough off the side of the bowl with her finger. "Xander said. Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe I had a little of what you had?"

"If that was true you'd be making a completely different kind of cookies."

"Eww," Willow said and made a face. Buffy went for another swipe of cookie dough, but Willow slapped her finger away with the spoon. "Like that's going to make you feel any better."

"Seems to help so far," Buffy said and tried again, but stopped when Willow wagged the spoon at her. "Spoilsport."

"Darn tootin," Willow said and started stirring again.

"So what happened last night?"

"I don't know," Willow said as she blew at a strand of hair off her forehead. "When you ran off I was going to check on you, but Anya stood up too and it just got all weird."

"Like how?" Buffy asked as eyed the dough and bided her time.

"It was like when we used to fight and make Xander choose sides, but only worse. Now you're over there with them so much, and when you are here all you talk about is them. It's… It just feels like - Like she's replacing me." Willow stirred harder and harder as she talked. At the end she stirred so hard that she bent the spoon. "Damn," Willow said as she stared at the hinge in the spoon and tried not to cry.

"No one can replace you," Buffy said as she reached over and took the spoon and bent it back to normal. She handed it back and licked the stray batter off her fingers.

"Promise?"

"Promise," Buffy said and leaned over the table and pulled the red head to her in a hug. "You're my best friend, Will. Nothing's gonna change that. I'll tell you what, how about tomorrow night you, me and Xander go to the Bronze. Original Scoobies only just to catch up."

"Sounds like fun." Willow was grinning and sniffing when she finally pulled away. "I'd better get these cookies done before Xander goes."

Buffy grinned. "Like Xander would pass up free cookies. Are you making enough for Anya too?"

Willow frowned for a moment, but the crease melted. "Yeah. I even have a special container to put them into so they actually make it home. So, where'd you get the camera?" Willow asked as she started scooping out little bits of dough and putting it on the cookie sheet.

"In the front yard. I think it's a gift from our friendly neighborhood geeks."

"Can you finish this while I take a look see?" Willow asked. Buffy's face lit up and Willow hit her with the resolve face. "And I expect most of that dough to actually make it to cookies, young lady."

"Slayers honor."

Willow stared at the camera for a few minutes, then left and came back with her computer. Buffy had just finished the last pan when Willow finally got the camera hooked up to her laptop. "It looks like you were right. The camera's broadcasting its picture over the wireless web."

"What's powering them?"

"That's easy. They hooked it into the house's power line."

"So do you think you can trace it back to their base?"

Willow smiled and looked so happy that Buffy worried there might be a drool issue. "Try to out geek the geeks? Piece of cake. Or cookie," Willow said and reached over to grab one of the still cooling cookies. Buffy whacked her hand with the spoon. "Hey!"

"Payback." Willow stuck out her tongue and went back to work. "How long do you think it'll take?"

Willow shrugged. "I don't know, but probably by tonight."

"Then I'm going to take these out to Xander, then go see if Anya needs any help at the shop," Buffy said and slid most of the cookies into a bin, but she left a half dozen on a plate that she set in front of Willow. "Unless you want me to stay?"

Willow didn't look up from the computer screen. "Fine. I'll call if I find anything," she said as she worked, only pausing long enough to grab a cookie.

Buffy walked out with the package. Dawn was sound asleep on the couch and Xander's car was gone so she just left for the Magic Box. Of course when she got there she had to spend two hours convincing Anya that she was fine, but the cookies helped. Xander walked into the store after closing time and, like so often that week, one thing lead to another.

Later, when they were all dressed but still basking in the afterglow, Buffy was lying next to Anya on the table and tracing lazy pattern on the ex-demon's bare back. "I told you I felt better," Buffy murmured.

"I'm a believer," Anya all but purred. "What about you, Xander?"

"I think I could use a bit more convincing," Xander said as he kissed Buffy on the back of the neck. Then he leaned back. "Do we have anymore of Willow's cookies?"

"No," Buffy said. "Someone ate them all."

Anya shrugged. "I was hungry. Not all of us slept till one."

"Ah well. Just have to get my sugar rush somewhere else then," Xander said and went back to nibbling Buffy's neck.

Buffy giggled and leaned back for more. It was at exactly that moment the phone choose that moment to start ringing. Buffy sighed and slid off the table. "I'll get it, but if it's a telemarketer I'm going to be a very grumpy Buffy."

"That wouldn't be good. She might kick us out of bed, Ahn." Xander said as he reached over and ran his fingers down Anya's side.

"She wouldn't dare."

That dealt with the cloud nicely. Buffy almost sounded perky when she picked up the phone. "Magic Box, Buffy Summers speaking. How can I help you?"

"Buffy," Willow said, her voice absolutely calm. "I broke their signal. They're at 1445 Bolivar Street."

"That's great, Will," Buffy said as she wrote down the address. Then Willow's complete lack of emotion sank in. "Is there something else?"

Willow didn't answer for the longest time. When she did her voice sounded even flatter. "Yeah. They had camera's everywhere. In front of Spike's crypt, Xander's work site, school - and the Magic Box."

"What!" Buffy shouted as she covered herself even though she was dressed, and looked around the store. Anya and Xander heard her tone and sat up. "Willow…" She began, but the line was dead. Buffy just stood there with the dead phone pressed against her ear until Xander came over and took it from her.

"Hello?" He said and hung up when he didn't hear an answer. "Buffy, what's wrong?"

"They were watching us," Buffy said, still in shock.

"What?" Anya asked and glanced over at the covered windows. "How?"

"They had camera's here too?" Xander asked in horror as he started looking around at the shelves.

"Those pimple face little bastards were watching us," Buffy growled as she stormed over to the nearest shelf and started tearing through the merchandise.

"Who was watching? And what cameras?" Anya asked in complete confusion as she watched Buffy and Xander tear apart her clean and well-organized store. "I just straightened that up…" She whimpered when Buffy swiped through a shelf of almost rare and certainly not made in Taiwan ceremonial pots.

"Warren and his bunch," Xander said. "They had a camera hidden in front of Buffy's house."

"Those perverts had one everywhere we go," Buffy added. "Everything we do." She hugged herself and shivered.

Anya was still confused, especially about why they had to destroy the store to find one camera, but she tried to be helpful. "We'll find them. It'll be all right."

Buffy nodded as she went behind the counter and started pulling out weapons. "It sure will be."

"Aha!" Xander shouted as he held up a plastic human skull that had been sitting on a shelf and had a perfect view of the shop. "Here it is," he said and tapped the glass lens that was hidden inside an eye socket.

"Hey!" Anya said as she stormed over and grabbed it out of Xander's hands. "I know that skull. A skinny blond kid brought it back." She paused and thought back, trying to remember what the kid had looked like, but only one thing stood out in her mind. "I think he was gay."

"The skull?" Xander asked and glanced over at Buffy who had finally stopped going through her weapons and was walking over with her Slayer face on.

"No, the boy."

"Give it to me." Buffy said. Anya nodded and handed the skull over. Buffy held the skull up to her face and grinned in a way that would have made Faith proud. "I don't know if you dweebs have wired these things for sound, but I hope you enjoyed the show cause you're so dead." With that she crushed the skull between her hands and let the shattered bits of skull and camera drop between her fingers. Then she picked up her ax and went to the door. When she realized she was alone she turned and spat out, "Come on, let's go." Xander and Anya exchanged worried glances then grabbed weapons and followed her out.

The door that bounced down the stairs and finally crashed into the floor broke the quiet of the basement. "Knock, knock," Buffy said as she followed the broken door down. She was holding onto the handle of her axe so tightly that her knuckles were white and she had murder in her eyes. Xander was right behind her, his sword down by his side and a rather worried look on his face as he watched Buffy. Anya brought up the rear and almost poked Xander in the back with her sword in her rush to get down the stairs. But it was all for nothing. No one was home. "Damn. I hate wasting a good entrance."

Anya looked around the basement. There were books and clothes scattered everywhere and papers spilled on the floor. "I think they got your message."

"Grab everything. They must've left something important behind," Buffy ordered and the three of them spread out.

They worked quietly as they dug they dug through the garbage that was left behind. Then Xander shouted, "Oh my God!"

"What?" Buffy asked. When he didn't answer she ran up to him with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "Did you find out where they went?"

"Better. They have the original Boba Fett!" Xander said with all the joy of a kid a Christmas as he turned and showed Buffy the small Star Wars figure.

Buffy sighed. "Focus, Xander."

Xander grinned as he looked over the shelve full of action figures. "Forget focus. This is booty," he said as he found emptied out a trash bag of clothes and started stuffing the toys inside.

Buffy shook her head and went back to work, but with was a ghost of a smile now. They spent a half hour searching the house and found four books, a handful of papers and a couple of data cd's that looked like they were important. Then they turned to the computer.

"Maybe we should call Willow," Anya said.

"Yeah. She'll go nuts when she sees this setup," Xander added as he ran his hand over the top of the computer.

"We can't," Buffy said as she straightened a stool that one of the trio had knocked over in their rush to get out and sat down.

"What, why not?" Anya asked with a frown. "Is she too high and mighty to help now?"

"No," Buffy said as she pushed her hair back but didn't say anything else.

Xander saw the look on Buffy's face and went pale. "She saw us, didn't she?"

Buffy nodded and said in a small voice, "I think so. I don't know how much she saw, but…" She started typing, more to relieve the tension that in the hopes of finding anything. As it was she stopped every three seconds to wish she had paid more attention in computer class.

"Then she'll just have to get over it," Anya said. "I mean, this isn't any of her business."

Xander sighed as he sat down on the other stool. "She shouldn't have found out like this, Ahn. She's our friend."

"Some friend," Anya muttered and turned away.

"I think I found something," Buffy said and tried not to sound too shocked.

"What?" Xander asked, glad for the interruption, as he turned to the screen.

Buffy pushed one last button and the screen flashed as the security system started to play back. At first the screen just flashed to different cameras. They saw Xander cutting the grass, Willow walking up the driveway hand in hand with Amy, Tara crossing the graveyard to Spike's crypt, then it flashed to the Magic Box. Buffy hit a button to lock onto that file. At first it was just Anya and Buffy dealing with customers. Buffy hit another button and the screen blurred into fast-forward.

Xander walked in and the three of them buzzed around on the screen like humming birds on speed as they cleaned up the shop. Then Buffy slammed her finger down on the button again when she saw Xander walk up behind Anya and start kissing her neck.

The tape slowed down to normal speed and Buffy hugged her knees as she watched the encounter again. "They saw it all."

"We'll get them, Buffy," Xander promised as his fingers dug into the table.

"Yeah, we can get Olaf's hammer and…" Anya's voice died down as she watched the monitor. The three of them twisted their heads to the left at the same moment and their eyes went as wide. "Wow."

"It's a good thing Slayers are extra flexible," Xander added and swallowed hard.

"So that's what that looked like," Buffy finished in wonder. She chewed on her lip for a moment, then hit another button and videotape ejected. She grabbed the tape and shoved it into her bag. "I think we'll keep this."

"Oh yeah," Xander said in awe. Then he shook his head and stood up as straight as he could. "I think we've got everything. We better go see if Willow'll talk to us and help us sort this stuff out." Buffy nodded and the two of them turned to walk to the door. Then they realized Anya was still staring at the blank screen, a smile on her face and a glazed look in her eyes.

Buffy waved her hand in front of Anya's eyes, but she didn't move. "She broke again," Buffy said with a pout. "I think that might be a new power."

"You just don't know the magic word," Xander said as he bent down and kissed Anya hard enough to bruise. Anya wrapped her arms around Xander and tried to pull him closer. Finally Xander pulled away with a goofy grin. "See, works just as well for a poor slob as for Prince Charming."

"That was most pleasant," Anya said as she ran her hands over the front of her thighs. "Can we do that again?"

"The kiss?" Buffy asked and tried not to sound jealous.

"No. Well, yes, that too. But I meant what was on the tape." Anya reached over and ran her fingers over Buffy's sides. "That was highly enjoyable."

"Only after we beat the hell out of Warren," Buffy answered.

"Damn, evil's always getting in the way of my orgasms," Anya muttered as she pulled her hands back. "You two have to get your priorities in order," She added with a stamp of her foot. Buffy and Xander just shared a look as they took Anya by the arms and pulled her out of the basement.