Well, here is chapter Seven for your enjoyment...

Now, there is a movie reference in this chapter, spot it (which shouldn't be too hard), and name the movie, and you get cookies :P

CHAPTER SEVEN: Trouble and Travel

The game room/bar was generally a good place to go, if you wanted to be alone, and block out the noises from the rest of the mansion. Also if you just wanted to sit back, relax, enjoy a drink or two, and play a card game, or pool. It was sort of like a substitute for The Bronze. Today however, it did little to block out noises, and it wasn't a good place for being alone. Torrie, Gisselle, Dawn, and Anne sat at one of the small round tables, playing a game of poker, betting on silly little things, like nail polish, or pieces of jewelry, even a bit of cash here and there. Buffy was at the bar, with Giles, and Oz, having a beer, while Xander, as always, took on the role of bartender that evening. Spike, and Vi were engaged in a game of pool, in which they were currently tied. Robin, Faith, and Alicia sat at another of the tables, talking battle tactics. So that was the problem with being alone. The noise problem was emenating from the second floor, where Willow and Kennedy were having a rather heated argument. They'd already been at it for an hour, and just when it seemed that they were quieting down, the argument got louder. At first, Kennedy had been the most vocal, now it was Willow.

It had started, when Kennedy had made some passing remark about Oz, and had set Willow off. It had been tense between them, until finally, Kennedy had just let it all out. Now it seemed, it was the witch's turn, and she was making use of it.

Oz sighed, taking a swig of beer, "I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have come."

"If you're blaming yourself, don't," said Giles, "Kennedy has been jealous from the day you arrived. I caught her watching you and Willow like a hawk when you were outside... I stopped her from going out and starting a fight then... It seems a week in your company has simply been too much for her to not say something."

"I'll simplify that," said Buffy, taking her second mug of beer from Xander, "Kennedy finds the easiest thing to complain, or fight about, and uses it. Should have seen her when she was a potential... She was always getting on my nerves with that attitude of hers."

Before any reply could be made, a door slammed on the second floor, followed by loud stomping, and seconds later, the sound of the front door slamming, and the slight tinkling of breaking glass. Xander sighed, and shook his head, "That will be the third time this month I've had to replace glass on that damn door..."

Moments later, Willow stormed into the room, a nervous-looking Summer following in her wake. The latter waved frantically to Giles, whom sighed, and left the room, much to Summer's relief. She had no desire to be in a room with an angry Willow. The aforementioned witch slumped down into a chair, at the last table in the room, groaning in frustration. All eyes were on her for several moments, before she realized she was being watched. As soon as she looked up, everyone quickly turned back to what they'd been doing, trying to look as though nothing was wrong, If Wil wanted to tell them what happened, she would. Though it wasn't likely going to be while there were so many present.

The girls, once finished with the poker game -which Anne won, as she always did-, were the first to leave. Faith and Robin were next, saying they needed to get plenty of sleep, so they could be up early the next morning to go apartment hunting, as Robin had finally won Faith over in the matter of moving out of the mansion with him. Alicia followed them, as she was on even less friendly terms with a few of the remaining people than she had been several days before, which might have been due to her severely getting her ass kicked by a demon on her first night patrolling. Oz and Xander both left at the same time, Oz because he'd been trying to get some reaction from Willow, and got none, and Xander because he was having trouble keeping his eye open, and went into yawning fits every thirty seconds or so. Buffy finally left, for much the same reasons as Xander. Vi finally left, after losing a third game of pool, leaving Spike and Willow as the last ones in the room.

"Care for a game, Red?" Spike asked, though he didn't really expect an answer, Willow hadn't made so much as a noise since she'd come in.

Willow shrugged, "Why not?" She got up from her chair as Spike prepared everything.

They played in silence for a long while, before Willow spoke again, "I don't know what I should do... " She really couldn't believe she was about to say what she was thinking of saying, to Spike of all people, "I still love Oz... I always will... But, I'm with Kennedy, and I do care about her, but not as much as I care for Oz, or Tara... Part of my mind says screw Kennedy, and tell Oz... But the other tells me I'm with Kennedy, and I can't just dump her 'cause my old boyfriend's back..."

Spike paused for a moment, before making his shot. Then he chuckled, in a sort of 'this-is-a-stupid-thing-to-worry-about' way, "What it is with you bints, an' not listenin' t' your bloody heart?" He leaned on his pool cue and studied her for a moment, "Look Red, if you love th' furry bloke, tell 'im. Trust me, it'll be better for th' both o' you in th' end. If th' part o' you that's not over Oz tells you t' tell that rude bint t' hit th' road, then do it." He watched as she took her shot, and then prepared for his, "Women an' their crazy notions on wha' t' do 'bout love... Near bad as Buffy was..." the Vampire muttered to himself, as he and Willow continued their game in silence.

Willow however was processing his words. She almost wanted to agree with his logic... Okay, more than almost. But would that really solve things? As she'd said, she did care for Kennedy, and didn't want to hurt her... But she couldn't deny that during the last several days, she'd felt an extreme desire to just go to Oz and get it all out... Nor could she deny, as much as it pained her, that Kennedy had gotten annoying in the past few days, with her jealous glares, and snide remarks... The final straw had come earlier, when she had muttered, rather quickly, something about cheating, and Oz. Willow didn't exactly remember what it was her girlfriend had said, but she'd heard enough of it to know what she was implying.

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The group of vampires was thirty or so in numbers. They had several fyarl demons with them as well, as they were the easiest to control. It wouldn't be long now, before they set their plans in motion... They were just waiting for the go-ahead from their employer, and several more of their brethren to join them. Thirty may have been more working together than they were used to, but they were sure it would take more than that to fight a house full of Slayers. How they were supposed to get into the house, they weren't quite sure, but it had something to do with their employer's newfound body. It would likely be explained later. Or they hoped, anyway.

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It was a quick fight. The slayers and the Scoobies made short work of the ten or so vamps that had shown up on the doorstep. At Faith's suggestion, they left one alive, for questioning. With her buddies dust, she seemed to be quite ready to talk. Or, she did for a moment anyway, then she seemed to develop a case of selective amnesia, saying she remembered nothing about the person who'd sent her and her gang there. A short round of kick-the-vamp jogged her memory quite well, in Buffy's opinion. Though not well enough.

"Alright, alright!" the rather sleazy looking vampiress coughed, blood spraying from her mouth with every word, after her chest and lungs met the pointy end of Kally's sword, "It was a woman in London... I don't know her name."

"Gonna have to do better than that," said Buffy, nodding to Anne, who was looking eager to get some blows in. The petite girl slammed her fist into the vamp's stomach, making the demon groan, and cough up all the more blood. There was a mutter of disgust from Michelle, whose shoes were now covered in it. "How about an address, or a description... Hell, demon type works, too. Start talking before I let all these girls have a go at you."

The vampire's eyes widened at the thought of being beaten by so many slayers. She started talking so fast it was hard to understand her, "Okay, okay! She's in the clock tower... Big Ben... That's where I met her... She told me to get my gang together, and attack here... I don't know why..."

"I think that's enough info, B," said Faith, "Can we stake her now?"

"What? But I told you what you wanted to know!" The vampire whined, her tone grating on Buffy's nerves, "I won't attack any of you I-" the only noise she made after that was a scream as she turned into dust.

"That was for having about the most annoying voice in the country," said a very, very annoyed Kennedy. She had been itching to kill something since her fight with Willow the night before. Now she'd gotten her wish, and she still didn't feel any better. She hadn't said even two words to Wil since their argument, and she firmly believed that she was in the right of it, and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to apologize. Both Buffy and Faith crossed their arms, and raised their eyebrows at Kennedy, who shrugged, as if suddenly staking a vamp they were getting information from was an every day activity. Nevermind the fact that Faith had wanted to stake her anyway.

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Vamps dusted, and information gathered, they were back in command central. The library. Xander had his feet up on the table, and was leaning his chair back a bit to far for comfort. "Oh!" he gasped as the chair began to tip back way to far, "Gravity works." he said it so plainly, that it was hard to believe any second he was going to- Thud! The chair fell backwards, taking Xander with it, and leaving him in an undignified heap on the floor, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room. Looking rather embarrassed, Xander clambered to his feet and picked his chair up, and sat back down.

"Maybe you should have listened when Batty said that, Xand," said Jory, chuckling. "Next thing we know you'll be bouncing off walls saying 'I know where I am, I know where I am!' "

Xander threw a glare at the girl, Giles gave both of them a confused look, as if they were from another planet, a look shared by Spike. Everyone else knew what they were on about. After a few moments, Giles shook his head, and spoke, "Right, well, straight to business... I suppose it's obvious someone's going to have to go to London and find out if this vampire was lying?"

"You think?" Alicia stated, sarcastically, earning glares from all around. Why doesn't B just kick her out already? Faith was wondering boredly. All she is is trouble. Her attention returned to Giles, as he continued to speak, as though the brat hadn't just interrupted him. "It could very well be a trap to get most of us out of here. Or the trap could be just sending a few of us to London to get ambushed."

"Giles, enough with the trap theories," Buffy cut him off, knowing when he got started on traps and ambushes, it would be forever before he stopped, "We just need to figure out who's going, and when. I already have an answer for that first one. Spike, Faith, Robin, and I will go. The rest of you, stay here. No patrolling alone until we return, and even then you don't go out unless Rona, Vi, Michelle or Kennedy is with you, understood?" she scanned the faces of all her girls. All nodded, including Alicia.

"No need to worry about me!" Summer piped up, "I think I'll stay in anyway... Help Dawn with her watcher studies." This earned a groan from Dawn who knew that when Summer had extra time to teach a subject, she used it.

Buffy nodded in approval. That would keep Dawn busy at least. She looked at Willow, "Wil, you make sure you put extra protection spells on the house. If they are waiting for some of us to leave, then you can at least get a heads up that something's coming." Willow nodded, though her eyes were glued on Oz, and vice versa.

"Faith, Robin, we'll leave tomorrow. Be ready." She didn't have to tell Spike to be ready. He would be up and about the same time as she was. Which would hopefully be early enough that they could get to London before the sun rose to far. For now, from the look on Giles' face, it was research time. Oh well. That would at least make sure they could all sleep. Being bored to tears had that effect. They all gathered books from the various stacks that ran from one end of the table to the other. What they were looking for, no one was quite sure, but anything that suddenly struck them as important was good. Willow was the first to leave the room, armful of books in tow, saying that she'd do better reading alone. And maybe she would. After all, Kennedy had been shooting her death glares all evening, and Oz had been making what Buffy had once described as "moon eyes" at her. It was probably very distracting.

Spike was next. A heavy silence had filled the room as everyone concentrated on their books. Buffy was about to say she found something on the First, when Spike suddenly slammed the book he'd been reading shut. Without a word, he got up, and strode out of the room, heading for the stairs. Confused, Buffy cocked her head to the side for a moment, before shaking her head, and reciting something she'd read.

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Willow sat on her bed, feeling slightly dazed, after her conversation with Spike, Sure, it wasn't the first time he'd brought that topic up with her. He'd been asking her often, since they'd moved there. Come to think of it, he'd even asked the night Angel had left the house in Weedpatch. It was kind of strange, really... Okay, well maybe not. He loved Buffy, and wanted her to be happy... It was only natural that he would want to bec-

"Willow?" said a male voice from the other side of her bedroom door. Oz.

"Come in," she answered, opening the door with a wave of her hand. Oz stepped in, and the door shut of its own accord. "Anything you needed?" the witch asked the werewolf.

Oz shook his head, "I just got the feeling you had something to say. Wolf senses."

"Oh- uh, well, I did... But... I'm not sure if I even can," her breathing sped up, and she tried to force herself to slow down, "I mean... It's been a long time since we, you know... broke up... and this kinda has to do with that, a-and I don't know if... if I can even say this...Ha, I'm hyperventilating again..."

"Wil, just calm down, and breathe," Oz told her, remaining firmly in place, "You've been fine the past several days, so just talk." He was trying to keep the hopeful note out of his voice. This, combined with the way she'd been looking at him all night...No, no... bad wolf, bad wolf... she's with Kennedy... and as much as I really dislike Ken...

Willow nodded, and took a deep breath, "Alright, here goes... and if you don't mind I'll just blurt it out, before I lose my nerve... I still love you, Oz... " She had said it... she couldn't believe she'd said it. "I-I understand if you, you know, just leave... But I had to get that off my chest, and soon... But, if you don't leave... think we could just work this out slowly..."

"You don't even have to ask," said Oz, softly. Of course things would have to work out slowly... There was the matter of of Kennedy, and the fact there was some unknown big bad after them (typical, really), and the last few days had been the only time they'd spent together in years. It would be stupid to go fast with things... If anything worked out. It was possible they wouldn't.

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"Buffy, love," Spike said, hesitantly, as they lay in bed, Buffy's head resting on his bare chest.

"Yeah?" she replied, wondering if he was going to tell her what he'd left the library so fast for.

"Do you ever think about what's goin' t' happen in another, say, ten years?"

Lord, here we go... Buffy thought, knowing what was coming, "Yes actually... I think we'll have rebuilt the watcher's council, like we've talked about doing, we'll have found a majority of the new slayers," she decided to mess with him a little bit after that, "I think Andrew and Dawn will have stopped dancing around, and one of them will have asked the other out."

Spike took in a sharp, unnecessary breath at that. The way he acted with Dawn, you'd have thought he was her father, and the subject of boyfriends was one he very much tried to steer her away from. The fact that Buffy had mentioned Andrew only made it worse. Whelp number 2 was almost as much of an annoyance as the original Whelp was... Or maybe even more annoying. He hadn't decided yet. "He better not even think about it..." the vampire growled, making Buffy chuckle.

"In all seriousness," the Slayer continued, "I think I'll still be in love with you, like I am now..."

"But what if there was a way t'-..." Spike let the sentence trail off, "Nevermind... We'll discuss it after this whole thing with th' First is over with, pet..."

Buffy waited a moment, to see if he was going to continue anyway, but he didn't. More than a little confused, she decided she'd worry about it later. Right now she had to try to sleep, as much as was possible.

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"So, you reckon we can finish moving when we get back?" Robin was asking Faith, as he drove. It was four am in the morning, and the four people currently in the black suburban were all very tired. The two in the back seat were proof of this, as they were dead to the world. Literally, in one case. Robin was left driving, as Faith had been too tired to do so, when they'd left the mansion, and while Buffy had, at that point, been the most awake of the four, she had reminded Robin that she, and driving were unmixy things to begin with, add little sleep and nightmares, and you had a fatal wreck waiting to happen.

"I hope so..." Faith replied, yawning, "I don't think I can take much longer living with all those girls. I don't see how B can stand it. "

"She's just not the loner type, like you are, Faith," the man said, a hint of fondness leaking into his voice. He knew Faith hated for him to go all "lovey-dovey" on her, so he had to keep it in small doses. When in small doses, she usually didn't mind. She didn't seem to mind now either, but then, that may have been because she was tired.

The fact that she was a loner was a true one. It was a surprise that she'd even agreed to move into an apartment in Salisbury with him, after all, she'd made it clear that she wasn't exactly commitment-girl. She reminded him often in fact, though she was still with him, so it was probably more to comfort herself than to remind him that she could be gone at any time. Why she had such a problem with commitment, or rather, the idea that she was capable of it, he had no idea. She'd never told him why, and he didn't press the matter. Truth be told, he didn't want to chase her away. He couldn't say for sure, but he was pretty sure he was falling for the spunky, wild, rebellious slayer. And he couldn't help but think, maybe she was falling for him too, even if she didn't know it yet.

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Kennedy sat at the bar, half-empty bottle of whiskey in one hand. She'd been listening to Willow's conversation with Oz, and frankly, it hadn't come as a surprise. It still hurt though. No doubt she'd be getting the boot the next day. She looked at the clock, and realized that it was nearly eight am. Okay, so she'd be getting the boot later that day. She hadn't even realized she'd been up that late, just trying to cool down. She hadn't started the drinking until a while before. Above her, she heard the thudding of feet as many of the mansion's occupants made their way down the stairs to get breakfast, and coffee, and then it would be on to their daily training. Not for Kennedy. Not today. She felt she had earned a good day's pout. Maybe she'd go out and patrol that night, but not for long, and not with a group of brats. She preferred to work solo anyway.

She took another swig of the whiskey when she heard Willow's voice, and laughter. Followed by Oz's voice. From what she could gather, they were reminiscing about a conversation they'd had in highschool dealing with french monkeys.

That earned another gulp of the liquor.

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Both Spike and Robin were waiting rather impatiently for Buffy to get out of the shower. Faith was already done with her's, and was currently trying to dry her hair. Robin and Spike, however, had yet to shower, and Buffy was taking far too long. They were in a rather nice hotel, so there was little danger of the hot water running out, but still. There was the faint sound of singing coming from the bathroom, and Spike smiled slightly. Buffy had the habit of singing in the shower when she was in a good mood. With his better-than-normal hearing, he was able to hear her clearly.

I don't like to turn the radio on

Just to find I missed my favorite song

And I don't like to be the last with the news

But I do love you, but I do love you

Love everything about the way you're loving me

The way you lay your head

Upon my shoulder when you sleep

And I love to kiss you in the rain

I love everything you do, oh I do

Spike shook his head... she was full of songs like that; overly romantic, far too upbeat, and repetitive in some cases (the incident when she had gotten "hey Mickey" stuck in her head, and had sung it for two days straight came to mind). Spike would pass on all that any day. Give him punk rock, and metal any day, preferably from the 80's if possible, since he loved the Ramones. As for newer music, that german band, Rammstein, was a good one. He particularly liked the song "Engel". The chorus being his favorite bit about it.

"Erst wenn die Wolken schlafengehn. kann man uns am Himmel sehn. wir haben Angst und sind allein. Gott weiss ich will kein Engel sein!"

The translation being, "Just as the clouds have gone to sleep, Angels can be seen in heaven's keep. Alone in fear they question why. God damn, not an Angel when I die!"

"Du Hast" was another good one. One he had argued many times with Anne about, as she said the translation was "you have" not "you hate". She hadn't wanted to listen to him when he told her it was all a matter of what part of Germany you were from and going by where the band was from the proper translation was "You Hate". She had dropped the topic after that, saying he knew nothing about languages, and that it was pointless to argue with a numbskull like him. Spike had simply chuckled at her, and let it slide. He had built up a surprising amount of tolerance to the younger slayers, and was able to shrug off most insults that ruder ones had thrown at him when they had first come to live in the mansion. Had this been going on back when Buffy was in college, and he'd still been dead set and determined to get the chip out of his head, he'd have taken every opprotunity he could to annoy them, or, if he'd been successful back then, in getting the chip out, he'd have gone back to enjoy a slayer buffet.

It made him cringe, now, to think that he'd have gone for Corrine first. Partly because the idea of hurting any of the girls brought painful old memories from his pre-soul days back to haunt him, and partly because, even though he wasn't likely to admit it, he'd grown attatched to the little slayer, energizer bunny-like, and annoying as she could be sometimes. She was too young to fully comprehend what he was, so she didn't give him the occasional looks of distrust some of the others did. Not to mention, she was a spunky kid. When he'd gotten up that morning, for some reason, she'd been up and wandering the halls. Why on earth she was up at three-thirty in the morning, he had no clue, but she was. She'd hugged him when she realized he was getting ready to go somewhere, and told him to be careful and not let the "big bad uglies" eat him, and had skipped off too give Buffy the same treatment before heading back to bed.

Spike shook his head at the memory. Cory was certainly an odd child, and strangely mature for being only six.

Finally, the bathroom door opened, and Buffy stepped out, wrapped in a towel, "Sorry about that," she said, with an apologetic smile, "I lost track of time."

"'Bout bloody time, pet," Spike growled, "I was beginnin' t' think you'd be in there till the sun went down."

"I could make that thought come true if you don't shut up," Buffy retorted, taking one step backwards into the bathroom, and smirking at Spike and Robin's identical looks of annoyance. The only difference being Robin's eyes didn't flash yellow for a moment like Spike's did. She stuck her tongue out at both of them, and left them to bicker about whose turn it was for the shower.

By the time nightfall rolled around, they were ready to go demon hunting. Faith was in a particularly desperate mode of "must kill something now".

So it was off into the city streets with them, to see if they couldn't locate the demon responsible for so much annoyance. Or at least an agent of it, since they were all fairly sure The First was behind it all.

Despite that fact, they could still have some fun kicking some demon ass.

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annnnd, now you need to hit the review button... Please? -bats eyelashes-