CHAPTER 7: Between the Cracks and Hollows

CHAPTER RATING: T

CHAPTER PAIRING: Giles/Drusilla, Spike/Buffy

TIMELINE/SPOILERS: Post-TV Series AU; takes place immediately after my story "A Midwest Monster of the Highest Grade"

DISCLAIMERS: All BtVS characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. I'm just fixing their mistakes!

CHAPTER CREDITS: n/a

CHAPTER NOTES: n/a

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For weeks now, Giles had been waiting for this call. He hadn't been sure what he'd do once he got it, but the need to fend off Drusilla hadn't crossed his mind. She was adamant about being included in this conversation, as though her unlife depended upon it.

"Have I caught you at a bad time?" Madame Polina asked, hearing the commotion on the other end. There was a rustling and hushed voices…and was that a growl just then?

Giles tugged the phone away from the vampire. "Ah, no, no…just a bit of excitement." He waved Drusilla away while she batted at his hand, a flurry of fingers.

"Well, I have the girl here with me, but she's not well. I'm not sure how much help she'll be to you right now."

Drusilla bumped her head against the Watcher's, trying to listen in.

"Why didn't you tell me she'd bring the other one?"

"What other one?"

The vampire stirred next to Giles, beginning to grin. There was a delicious blast of fear that had just drifted off of him. Her fingernails pricked his skin lightly in anticipation.

"The one she calls Tara."

Horror surged in him at that moment. Not this. Not again.

"Really, Rupert. If you're going to get me caught in the middle of this maelstrom, I at least expect to be warned of one who walks between realms."

The squeal of delight from Drusilla could have been from that news or from the grip Giles now had on her hair. Either way, it heralded the coming of Ripper…which is who the vampire had been trying to coax out from the start.

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This tenderness was new territory for Buffy, but she was determined not to fuck it up.

Spike rested atop her, his face cradled in the crook of her neck. He was breathing softly (always for her), and his fingers rubbed small circles in the skin above her heart.

Buffy, for her part, held him close, paying attention to every feeling. Everything about him had always been intentional, and she scolded herself now for picking and choosing which of his actions she had noticed.

No, stop dwelling on that. We agreed to let it go.

Spike's voice broke the silence then. "When did you know that I was…'back'?"

Buffy steeled herself, and she knew Spike felt it because he stopped caressing her skin. His hand spread out where it was, protectively.

"About a month ago," she replied in an almost inaudible tone. She didn't know which was worse-that it had taken so long for her to find out he was "alive" or that it had taken so long for her to be reunited with him once she found out.

Buffy thought she heard Spike's breath hitch, but she wasn't sure. His lips went to her neck, and he kissed her softly.

"Giles knew, and he never told me," she continued.

"Angel knew, and he never told you," Spike added, his teeth wanting to erase his grand-sire's marks from her skin.

"If I had known that you still wanted me…" they both admitted to the other, followed by mutual grasping of arms, shoulders, whatever was close.

"How did you find out? About me?" Spike asked then. Who else out there knew about him?

Buffy took a shallow breath, not sure how this news would be taken considering the response she got from Giles. "Drusilla."

Now it was Spike's turn to be stilled. "Dru?"

She nodded against him.

When he clutched her tight, a barrage of questions burst forth: When? Where? How? What happened? Where did she go? He thought back all those months, to all the strange happenings to him and to the Cleveland Hellmouth. Maybe Dru really was responsible for all of that?

Spike sighed. "It's got to be a trap. Some sort of trickery. That's…" He tried to put into words what his thoughts were saying to him. "She's a master of it, luv. Got over a century of practice. I should know. It's all Angel left her." Spike could figure out what had happened: Dru's visions must have told her where he was, and when Angel discovered that, the bastard would have commanded Dru to lead Buffy to him. A clever ruse. Of course Buffy would have fallen for it; what choice would she have had?

"But…this was different. It was… reluctant." Buffy turned her head so that she could look into his eyes. "It hurt her to tell me. I could see it in her face and feel it when she…connected with me, or whatever it was. I felt how he used her, how she didn't want to give you up, how…" She almost didn't want to continue with the way Spike's countenance had changed, so full of feeling and tenderness.

"Go on, then," he said gently, half afraid of what he would discover, and half wanting to know that this wasn't a trick.

So, Buffy began her tale, filling in all of the details that she omitted from Giles. When Spike heard her repeat to him each of those moments that she couldn't or wouldn't have possibly known, he began to feel his stalwart hold on denial chipping away. Oh, his poor Slayer and his poor Dark Princess. He wasn't sure if he was still allowed to pray, but he did it anyway…that he could protect them both, them all…Buffy, Dru, Tara, Willow, Dawn...

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Giles stuffed clothes into a suitcase haphazardly, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. He had to protect them, and Ripper knew what to do. He and Drusilla were going to the Hellmouth. Perhaps with their combined powers, he, Polina, and Dru could get Willow back under control. The fear in him over what Tara was (zombie? ghost? something trapped between dimensions?) encouraged him to move faster. They had to leave NOW.

Drusilla, however, was taking her time, rummaging through the little wooden chest on his dresser. She plucked out stones and talismans, hmmm-ing and ahhh-ing when she came across ones she hadn't expected him to have or know about. Once Giles had his back turned to gather something from his wardrobe, she slipped them into a narrow pocket in the suitcase. These ones might prove useful on the Hellmouth.

"Oi!" Ripper spat when Giles noticed Dru just standing there. Doesn't this bird know we've got to fly the coop? On with it!

She smiled at him with a grin that twisted slightly.

When he finally realized that she wasn't getting the clue, he grabbed the few dresses he had for her and stuffed them into the suitcase as well.

"We'll think up paperwork on the way there," he grumbled as he tugged her out of the flat and into the foggy London evening.

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