Chapter Four—The One With the Dragon in It

Giles grabbed his arm, forcing him to move back before the dragon-like creature took a bite out of him. He could hear Faith yelling at him from a distance, but all he could see were the dragon's eyes, firey and potentially deadly.

"No," he could hear Virginia cry off in the distance.

A small hand crept into his own. Looking down, he saw that the young child had taken a position directly beside him. She now was in the line of fire, literally.

"What a beautiful dragon," the little girl uttered, looking on with amazement.

Only the dragon wasn't attacking like it should. Wesley could feel all around him the anguish and anxiety at the fact that he and the little girl were now on their own. If the dragon did attack, Wesley would have to protect the girl.

By the actions of the dragon though, he didn't think he'd have to protect anyone. The little girl giggled as the dragon settled down in front of them. The eyes of the beast calmed somewhat, sparkling in the sunlight. Its breath was still rancid, but it looked as if they had dodged a bullet on this one.

"I think he might need our help," Isabella announced suddenly.

She moved forward until Wesley had the forethought to grab her hand once more.

"I don't think getting closer is a good idea," he explained to her.

She didn't seem frightened by the creature in the least. Everyone else was frightened and ready to fight. Isabella was ready to make new friends.

"He truly doesn't want to hurt us. They want to hurt his family. Can we help him?"

His family? This creature has a family? How on earth did Isabella know this?

Cordy moved to the front and crouched down in front of Isabella. "Can you talk to him, sweetie?"

Wesley's eyes widened when he figured that the girl did know how to communicate with the dragon. Why else had it stopped the attack?

"Why is there a dragon in the park?"

The voice was familiar, but Wesley didn't want to take his eyes off the dragon. They had gotten into a staring match that Wesley did not want to lose.

"Thank god you're here," he heard Virginia answer.

"Daddy," Isabella squealed. "See the dragon we found? It's neat."

"Your name isn't Trevor," Angel insisted.

"Gunn, when I give you a code name, you're not supposed to give it away," the mysterious man explained, all the while Wesley was still staring at the dragon.

He wished someone would figure out how to tell the dragon that they really were not a threat when finally Isabella skipped up to it. Wesley lunged, but missed her by inches. Everyone held their collective breaths while she spoke with the beast. She could have possibly been a snack for it, but all it did was grunt and groan, turning its head slightly as it eyeballed Wesley some more.

The girl turned and waved to Wesley to come nearer. Not wanting to ignore her pleas and making sure that the dragon would not be spooked by his approach, Wesley slowly walked up to Isabella's position directly in front of it.

"You're not going to hurt him, are you? He's afraid you will."

"No, I will not. Can you tell him that?"

There wasn't any special language that Isabella had to speak in, she just told him in English. But she could decipher his answer back. Amazing.

"He's a little scared of you is all. Says you look kinda funny to him."

The creature could sense that there was something off with him too? Smart dragon. He needed to know though who sent the dragon their way, to at least in the end intimidate them.

"We want to help you, if you can tell us who sent you on this errand."

The dragon grunted some more, Isabella shaking her head along with the tones.

"Can you help him? It's making him sad."

"Yes, we will," Wesley explained, getting a little exasperated at the exchange. "If you tell us who is threatening your family, then we can help stop it."

"He told me to tell you it's some guy with spikey hair."

"Shit," he heard Faith say right behind him. She wasn't more than three feet behind him. Everyone else had spread out, ready to do battle with a dragon that apparently didn't want to hurt a flea.

"Spikey hair? What kind of case do you guys have now?"

Then Wesley remembered the voice. "Your name isn't Trevor, David."

"It's my middle name. Isabella, I think you need to let the adults handle this now."

Wesley wanted to tell David Nabbitt that indeed Isabella would have to handle this since he didn't speak dragon, but the girl was working up to a temper tantrum at having been told to not help her new friend.

"No. I want to help him. Leave me alone."

Tears were forming in her eyes, making the dragon a little agitated.

"She'll be fine, David. Just give us a few more minutes."

Wesley held out his hand to Isabella to take it. The roar off in the distance wouldn't have been significant if it hadn't been so quiet in the park since everyone else had fled. On the other side of the park, at least a dozen vehicles were approaching quickly. Either the government found out and sent a task force, or someone else had tracked their movements. Wesley voted for the latter.

"We need to move now," Giles announced, dialing his phone again.

The dragon then turned to see the commotion coming directly for him. Wesley could possibly handle a slightly agitated creature, but not a full one pissed off one.

"I think it's pissed off," Spike told everyone, saying the obvious.

Hands tugged at Wesley's sleeve roughly. The dragon was between them and the new arrivals. Smoke bombs dropped all around them. It looked as though the new bad guys were attempting to smoke them out, but Giles had Dawn open the portal really close to their position. Wesley didn't think they'd make it through until the dragon laid down some fire power, literally. It wasn't until he was on the other side that he realized that indeed the dragon had been the last thing through before it closed off on the other side.

"You brought a dragon through the portal?" Fred exclaimed as Dawn closed it down quickly.

The dragon was still itching for a fight, but Isabella had it calmed in no time at all.

How could a five year old girl tame a dragon? Why did Cordy and Angel believe that this girl was the new slayer?

Wesley watched as David hugged Virginia, assuring her that nothing else would happen. He wished he had David's positive outlook.

"We found a dragon," Faith smirked up at him.

As absurd as Faith's statement was, that indeed was a dragon in the field by Giles's cottage. The creature should have taken their heads off or at least shot red hot flames their way. Instead it had helped save them from what looked to be black ops, possibly from his father.

Wesley watched as Fred crouched down and spoke to the little girl. Isabella grinned and pointed to the dragon, gesturing wildly like she was telling Fred the story over again.

"Gunn doesn't know," he heard Cordy whisper into his ear.

In the chaos of the moment, Wesley realized that with the impending doom of their situation, they had never explained to Gunn that Fred was alive. Fred turned their way, stroking the girl's hair softly. Wesley had really never seen Gunn cry until that point.

"Y'all are just full of surprises. Please tell me that's not Illyria?"

Fred smiled his way and ran into his arms. Spike frowned at the two friends hugging, then turned away. Wesley felt a little envy and regret too, just as Spike did now. Someone was happy with the circumstances. Wesley was not.

"We should talk," Virginia said as she made her way up to him.

"Yes, we should indeed," Wesley answered as he took Faith's hand in his.

"Alone."

Faith didn't like Virginia's insistence, but Wesley agreed to tell her everything after the one-on-one. Everyone else was either distracted by the dragon or distracted by hellos, so he and Virginia made their way to the cottage for some privacy.

"OK, who goes first," Virginia said as the door closed them off from the excitement.

"I'm sure that David could have afforded security for you and your daughter back in the States."

That much was obvious. David still was a very rich man. Virginia looked down at the floor. Something else was wrong. That much was clear.

"He could. And he did, for a while. Isabella has been having strange dreams. It scares me. She's always been different. She once told me that she could talk to a horse. Did you know that? I didn't believe her at first."

"Cordy and Angel were concerned about her."

Virginia eyed him warily. "They don't know Isabella."

"Vision, shared by the both of them now. Angel's human. It's a long story."

"I was wondering why he didn't look so pale in addition to walking in the sun."

"I don't even know where to start, Virginia," Wesley sighed. "You and David?"

Virginia smiled a little. "He's so sweet. He understands so much more than I ever thought someone would."

There's always a but in these kinds of conversations, Wesley thought. He'd gotten almost the same answer from Virginia right before she broke up with him. She told him he was sweet and understanding, but that she didn't love him enough. She couldn't handle what he did for a living. She certainly could live with what David was doing, earning millions.

Faith wanted to go in there and knock some heads together. Standing outside was totally not her style. Her asshole of a boyfriend decided that he didn't need her help. No backup from her? She didn't know this Virginia chick. Angel and Cordy seemed to know her and Trevor or David or whatever the geek's name was. Gunn was too busy with Fred to notice anyone else.

The dragon had settled itself on the ground while Willow and Giles kept an eye on it. Faith was glad that she didn't have to fight a dragon because the thing had the advantage of instant fire in addition to being really big.

Twisting her hands back and forth, Faith bounced up and down on her toes, hoping that the curly redhead and Wes got their business done fast.

"Little surreal, isn't it?"

Crap, the geek whose name she still didn't know had walked up to her and wanted to talk. Talking was never her strong suit. Hitting, definitely.

"Story of my life," she mumbled back, hoping he'd get the hint and leave her the hell alone.

"How do you know Wesley? From what I remember he was the biggest geek in the world, well, next to me that is."

Faith glared the man's way, but he wasn't getting the hint.

"I know that he and Virginia were once an item."

So that's what the little guy was worried about. Wes and Virginia were an item? Shit, what else was she missing about his past? How many women were going to come out of the woodwork? Fred, Lilah, this Virginia, hell, maybe even Cordelia. Faith filed that away in her brain to ask later. The man sure got around. People called her a slut. Not that Wes was a male version of a slut. He had relationships. With every freaking woman he met.

Faith's fist had a mind of its own. David ducked, but it wasn't meant for him. Her aggression always got the better of her, even in good times. Jealousy never came about since she was always one and done. Instead of her feeble fist bouncing off the wood shingles, it penetrated the wood, splintering it in all directions. Shit, it should have hurt like hell, but it didn't. Blood dripped down her sleeve, onto the porch.

The collective gasps behind her were muted, almost like background noise. In her ears, she could hear her blood pumping, her heart beating, her nervous system gearing up for one world of hurt from the fist. Nothing happened though. She wanted to cry out in pain.

Faith's other fist reared back, only to be caught just before it hit.

"Explanations? That would be lovely."

Virginia had taken up a defensive stance. Wesley would either have to yell to get her to open up or possibly threaten her.

"You see, you weren't there. David was. I just didn't want…"

"Want what? To bother me. Is Isabella…"

"No. No, wait. I'm not entirely sure."

Wesley's eyes widened at that. Virginia had seemed quite faithful while they were together. Now she was telling him something he could not believe.

"It all happened so fast. One minute we were together, the next minute not. There were a few drunken nights."

So she really did not know exactly who Isabella's father was. Wesley could do the math, but now there was significant doubt cast that he was truly that girl's father. He had hoped that it was true, if just a little.

"David pulled me out of it a few months later. I don't know what I'd do without him."

"Does he know?"

"Of course he knows Isabella isn't his biological child."

Cordy and Angel's vision must have been wrong. Or their interpretation was wrong. Isabella had something special about her, but not what they thought. Their way of finding Buffy and saving her just changed dramatically.

The pounding noise on the front of the cottage brought Wesley's attention back to the here and now. Virginia's head turned to the noise also. He hoped that a fight hadn't broken out between any of his so-called friends or possibly Faith. He hadn't even considered her feelings and thoughts in this matter. All he had wanted to do was confront Virginia and get the truth. Even she didn't know that.

The crack in the wall clued him in that whatever had happened outside wasn't natural. Swinging the door open, he noticed several people running for the porch. Faith stood not ten feet from him, blood dripping down her hand and arm. Her motion with the other arm caught his eye. Whatever had happened, she was aiming to repeat it again. Wesley caught the other fist on its trajectory, before damage could be done to it.

By catching it, he ended up slammed into the front of the cottage. Dazed by the action, he slumped against the wood and stone. Faith stood over him, breathing heavily, eyes glazed over. Her head reared back, almost like she'd been shocked or possibly injured. Her knees gave way, crumbling her body to the ground before he could recover and catch her.

A little girl. Fred was amazed that the little girl in front of her had so much power. Couldn't the rest of them see it? The dragon was subdued. The little girl had seen to that.

"He's still sad," the little girl said as she put her hand in Fred's.

Fred crouched down to her level, wanting to understand what had just happened. Everyone had come through the portal that Dawn had made, like someone was on their tails. The dragon was the biggest surprise, or so she thought. Didn't everyone else see the aura surrounding the girl?

"Can I ask you something? How do you know?"

The girl turned to her, eyes glowing dark blue. "Because he's my friend."

Not the answer she was looking for.

"Please don't tell me you're Illyria?"

Fred had totally not expected to see Gunn in all the mess of people roaming around right then. It had taken a few weeks just to get used to the fact that she wasn't dead anymore. No one had pushed her to come out of her shell for a few weeks, until Spike told her one day that if she didn't come out of her hidey-hole, he was going to throw her into the pond, head first.

Fred looked up at her former boyfriend. She was glad that there was no weird aura surrounding him like it did the girl. He was just Gunn, with the addition of a cane, a few more visible scars, and not much hair. He didn't look much different, other than more lines on his face. They briefly hugged, then backed up a few paces so both could assess what in hell was going on. Fred went back to her position with the little girl, almost like she was using her as a shield against her feelings surfacing.

"Thank goodness no. It's me."

She thought that maybe he'd throw his arms around her, squeeze the stuffings out of her or something to welcome her back to the land of the living. Nope, he just stared at her like he saw a ghost. Guilt must be eating a big hole in his stomach right about then, she thought. Since he was partially responsible for Illyria in the first place.

"How?"

Even Cordy couldn't answer that one. They tried to hash it out one afternoon while no one could hear. Better safe than sorry that the Powers knew they weren't telling secrets. The only thing Cordy could come up with was Fred was in the line of fire when Cordy came back. Really thin theory they both had agreed.

"We don't know. It just happened."

Fred slowly stood up, not taking her hand out of the girl's smaller one. Gunn caught a curl in his fingers, twirling it like he did so long ago, when they were happy together. Had that been so long ago? Her heart ached when she realized it had been. How she ached for Lindsey to be there for her, her knight in shining armor? How she longed for Angel to protect her from the bad guys once again? And for Wesley to step up and figure out with that big old brain of his what in hell was happening to everyone? Fred realized right then that no one was going to save her, only herself. Just like she had saved herself on Pylea.

Her hand grew warm, way too warm, so she dropped the girl's hand. That aura she had sensed had turned from a warm blue to a dangerous red in an instant.

"Whoa, whoa. This is not right," Doyle sighed as he watched the whole scene play out.

He had no control anymore on what happened. The visions weren't working out like he wanted, Cordy wasn't playing well with others and Angel did what he did best, sulk. Xander had taken to working behind his back with his two little henchwomen, Lindsey was nowhere to be found and Lilah was working on his last nerve. Cordy could fix all this and more before lunch. Doyle could not work his way out of a paper sack.

Something, or possibly someone was working hard against him. All the players, minus Lindsey, could never exert this much influence over the people below. He didn't know what in hell the other man was up to at the moment. His inquiries had been taken under advisement, but no one had gotten back to him. They hadn't sent Lindsey back to hell, that he knew. He couldn't trust anyone, that he knew too.

Everyone was working against him. Was this how Cordy felt every single damn day she was here? Was that why she'd gotten so worn down? No, she had him to rely on, to help her through the hard times. He had no one. Oh, how he missed her so. At least she was with Angel, the bastard. If he couldn't have her, well, Angel could.

Doyle punched the air in disgust. Angel did have her. He didn't. Nor would he ever. He and Cordy had been friends, best friends while they were together. Nothing else. No matter what had happened between the two of them. It was always about Angel in the end.

Picking up the old style phone on his desk, Doyle dialed zero. He had never seen Cordy dial for help. She handled just about everything, except becoming alive again. The voice on the other end asked a few questions, answered a few of his, then hung up. It was done. The higher ups had the info, would look into it and get back to him. It would be a big black mark in his file that he couldn't handle one simple thing.

Progress. She liked the sound of that. Being chained to the floor certainly hadn't been on her agenda for the day. The chain gave, if just for a moment, until Mark regained control. She'd have broken out of it if whatever had happened had just lasted a few more moments. Then what? Her strength still hadn't come back.

Buffy hated being in a position of weakness. Being held prisoner by your former boyfriend, who has now turned into evil bad guy of the week was so last week. Been there, done that, had the scars to prove it, thank you ever so much Angel. Where in hell was Angel? Giles? Willow? Were they going to leave her here to rot?

She'd have to take matters in her own hands and escape. The link slid off, so she could get free, sort of. Carrying around a heavy chain while trying to escape was not in the cards. She had to do something though. He'd notice eventually about her escape attempt. She had protested, pleaded, snarked, everything she could think of to make him let her go, if just for an instant.

Now he howled, at everything and everyone. Whatever had happened had sapped him of energy. His minions ran all over the place, trying to please him. Buffy just watched from a distance, hoping that he had forgotten about her.

"This is your fault," he exploded as he approached her.

Finally. Except this was not what she wanted, just yet. She needed her strength back at full. Those chains had to come off for her to fight.

"Hey. How did I do anything? Prisoner here."

Before he could retort or possibly use violence, another one of his minions whispered in his ear. She'd take the distraction where she could get it. He walked away without a goodbye, almost like she didn't exist. Good for her. Her arm was still smarting from him kicking the crap out of it.

As one of the minions unchained her to take her back to her cell, Buffy held the two pieces together as best she could. Rounding the corner, the minion turned to unlock the door to her cell. Instead of pushing her inside, he got a face full of chain. Didn't take much to take the jerk down. He fell with a thump. Searching him, she found what she was wanted. The keys to her freedom.

Unlocking the chain, she dragged the minion into the room, chained him up and covered him with a blanket. Not the best job in the world, but advantage goes to Buffy, she thought. Chaos in the evil guy's lair meant another distraction for her to escape. The jacket the guy had on was too large for her, but from a distance, it could help her in getting out of there.

She still wasn't at super strength, but she'd take what she'd been handed. Anything was better than sticking around with sicko Mark and his band of scary minions. Where did he find these guys? Minions R Us? Peeking around a corner, Buffy tiptoed slowly until getting past a group that had gathered. This was way too easy, she thought. Mark had played his cards well until now. Was he letting her escape or just getting sloppy?

An advantage was an advantage.

Author notes: Wow, did that chapter not want to happen. Sorry I've been AWOL, but the words are not flowing right now. This took me a while to type. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels right now. So I need to regroup and make sure I get to the finish line and where I need to be with these characters. I threw in Doyle because he so was not getting the love. I just want to hug him. He sure does need someone on his side. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for the comments. Keep me on my toes, folks. I do need it!