As always, many thanks to my beta, the_bronze. She is the guiding light in my literary blizzard.
Joyce hung onto her fiancée as all the color drained from his face. With every passing sentence, she could feel the breath flowing out of him until she made sure he was seated in the chair. Quite a few moments passed in silence as the entire room turned towards Giles while he silently processed all the information with his pointer fingers pressed tightly to his lips.
"The council is now in tatters and you need my assistance to repair it?"
"We need you to lead it", Zabuto replied simply.
"And you think I would take on this task while a very immediate and powerful threat is breathing down our necks and, by what information you can gather, is headed this way?"
"The Council must be rebuilt and we have Mr. Wyndam-Price here for your Slayers."
"Ah yes, Wesley is it? He seems quite young and may be unprepared for the stresses of the field."
"I feel the need to defend myself, so pardon me for being blunt but I was top of the class in all my classes." Wesley was polite in words but the tone was as cold as stone. "And as far as field time …" He lifted his neck to show the stitches "I do believe I've had a crash course."
"These women are my family and you expect me to leave them all?"
"Of course not," Zabuto interjected. "Your fiancée and her youngest daughter are expected to accompany you."
"I think I have a say in that", Joyce quickly jumped into the fray with a fire that made Spike grin a little. "I am not leaving one of my girls and two people I consider family in the lurch when something like this is going down!"
Spike's attention turned to Buffy who looked lost in thought, leaning against the archway to the dining room. She still seemed to be piecing it all together. Spike tried to read her face as everyone else around them devolved into a bit of a back and forth argument about the task at hand. He tensed as he saw a look of stern decision cross Buffy's face, her body going rigid and her arms crossing.
"Everyone who isn't family, out now. We need to talk privately. We'll call you back when we're done." The steel in Buffy's voice made even the most senior watcher understand the depth of the words and he quickly pulled both Wesley and Weatherby silently towards the front door with little resistance.
Spike and Faith went to follow suit but were stopped from passing, by Buffy, with her arm. She looked at them for a moment with a bit of indecision, nodded at her own thoughts and looked at them both.
"I stand by my mother's statement." She relaxed a bit at the sound of the door closing. "You have as much right to be here as any of us."
Everyone stayed silent for a moment as the weight of what Buffy had said was apparent to them all. Both Spike and Faith knew that now wasn't the time for hugs all around so they both nodded and sat down at the table.
Buffy let out a large breath and looked directly at Giles.
"You have to go and you have to take my mother and Dawn with you."
"But Buffy! You don't understand the gravity of the matter at hand!"
"No Giles. I completely understand what is happening and I need you to protect them. Spike, Faith and I are equipped to deal with this. We know the cost that may need to be paid and even though none of us volunteered for it, we are willing to do what needs to be done for the greater good. My mother and sister on the other hand are innocent bystanders so I need to get them as far away from ground zero as possible. Besides that, Faith and I are Slayers but were not the first ones and we aren't going to be the last. The work that you can do as head of the council is bigger than what either of us can do."
"Why does everyone think Dawn and I are just flies on the wall here?!" Joyce shot up in her seat and Buffy wrapped her arms around her, almost immediately, and the steel in her voice made way for choking tears.
"Please mom, I need you and Dawn safe. I don't know what I would do if I lost either of you and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I knew that I had this opportunity to keep you safe and didn't take it."
Joyce had a frog in her throat as she looked into her eldest daughter's eyes and saw the fear and concern that flowed through them. She looked towards Dawn, who sprinted towards them both and wrapped Buffy in a hug.
"But I'm going to miss you, you dork", Dawn sputtered out between tears.
"I'll call every day, Dawnie. Maybe even twice." Buffy deepened the hug.
"You better."
Buffy looked up from her sister's shoulder to see her mother's hand join with Giles'. They looked at each other and then towards Buffy as both nodded.
She had died and come back.
She had to kill the man she loved.
But no sacrifice had ever hurt as much as this one...
Even through the metallic tang that permeated his mouth and nose, Oz could tell that they had returned to Sunnydale and were situated in the old mansion that had been the bane of their existence last year. He cringed at the thought of who was once held in the manacles and cage that he was now situated in. He was keeping his anger in check during the day but he knew the beast within was raging.
The old vampire had taken a shine to making himself the bane of Oz's existence and even told him that he could sense the beast and yearned to reign him in as his new lap dog. He would sit silently seething as the old bastard gleefully told him about the other Willow. How savagely sadistic she had been to earn a place in his fold, her unquenchable lust for the other Xander never being sated no matter how carnal and violent that had gotten.
He told him about feeling the first death with such sorrow and the sting of the second being lessened and even turned to joy when he heard about Oz's Willow who was so full of life and humanity it sickened him.
Every once in a while, Oz would snap and try to grab him through the cage. Nest would laugh and then backhand him with such force that the crimson flood would once again emerge from his nose and mouth. Oz would lick at the flow issuing forth from his ripped cheek and fantasize that one day the bat-faced motherfucker would pay.
Angel thought that he had finally been in the blissful peace of death when the stake had pierced his heart. He had died with the Slayer's name passing through his dusty lips and the rest was supposed to be oblivion. But it wasn't.
He had come to live in the cave. The shivering empty mess he had been in for the last few years, with Nest raging beside him. He wept for the loss of the comfort of death and then the man had come. The man who exuded pure evil from every pore in his body. He was a man but something much more twisted and tainted by the black evil that sludged its way through his dark veins.
They had picked up the dark-haired girl and the wolf shortly after. They were the ones he was supposed to fight with against the beasts but he had never gotten the chance. He resolved that his previous life had been wasted so he would try not to let this new one be squandered. But he was so weak and so tired.
He had tried to save the dark-haired girl from Caleb but he had proved too powerful in the hotel. He watched, helplessly, as the girl had been robbed of a little piece of her soul. His stomach turned as the demon inside him had relished at the sight of it. All he could do was make eye contact with the girl to convey to her that she wasn't alone. She didn't even turn away, after the dark man had left and he had to make a meal out of one of the rats that were scurrying in the walls. She didn't look upon him with disgust but pity and compassion and he wished that he could have found the words that night to see if she was ok.
The night they had reached Sunnydale, Caleb had thrown them both into one of the rules. When Nest had warned him to tie them up, he had laughed and told him not to worry because they were no threat to the greatness that now dwell inside him. They were left alone in silence for what seemed like hours and again he wept and shook at the thought of this being his eternity. He was shocked when he felt the girl's fingers playing across his face.
"So you're back are you? There's not a shred of Angelus that would ever cry."
His eyes shot open at the sound of that name. This girl knew him somehow.
"You don't remember any of it, do you?", the girl asked.
He looked at her with such confusion.
"I'm Cordelia. Do you remember me, Angel?"
"I've never met you before. I don't think I'm the man you think I am?"
"No." Cordelia looked into his eyes and placed her palm against his cheek. "No, you're not."
"I'm sorry about your friends."
Cordelia shed a tear at the words and her voice cracked in reply.
"It's Sunnydale. You get used to pain."
Angel shivered and he fought again, collapsing into unconsciousness.
Cordelia slapped his face, trying to revive him until their eyes made contact again. She looked at him for a few moments as if mulling something over in her mind.
"When was the last time you ate…besides the rat?"
He tried to turn away from her, ashamed that she had seen him at his most vulnerable.
"Drink from me, Angel."
His head snapped back into place and looked at her wide-eyed.
"You can't be serious. I'm a monster and I'm starving. I could drain you, I could kill you and I won't do it."
"I'm telling you to do it and right now, I'm pretty sure that death isn't that far off a drop from the point I'm at right now."
"Are you sure?"
"Jeez, will you just do it already before I regret my damn decision?"
She didn't even flinch, as his face shifted and she exposed her neck to him.
In the century and a half that he had gorged himself on human blood, Angelus had made sure every victim had died in agony under his fangs. He loved to tear and gulp at the spewing fountain of blood that would gush into his mouth.
For the first time in a hundred years, Angel drank from a living breathing human and made sure that the savagery, that marked every previous feed, was forgotten. He eased his fangs gently, just piercing skin and made sure Cordelia was in a completely euphoric state.
He was still starving and pulled away when her hand pushed his head deeper into her neck. She pressed herself against him and her breathing was ragged, almost sensuous in tone, as he wrenched himself free of her grasp.
His unneeded gasps matched hers as they both sat in silence, looking at the canopy of the bed eventually subsiding into silence.
She quickly pulled up the neckline on her shirt as the door creaked open. Both of their eyes snapped shut hoping it would dissuade any of Caleb's urges if they were asleep.
He could hear the breath catch in Cordelia's throat as the floorboards creaked towards the direction of her side of the bed.
He heard the jingling of a belt buckle when Angel spoke up, shifting into demon face.
"Touch her again and I'll use every last ounce of my strength on you. I'll be dust but you'll be a eunuch."
That's the thing about bad people, even himself when the demon took over. If confronted head on, they always showed themselves as cowards.
"I had my fun anyway, hopefully you gobble up the useless whore", Caleb said fidgeting with his belt and making his way quickly out the door.
He sat in silence, listening to Cordy cry before her hand crept into his.
"Thank you."
For the first time in a century, his chin didn't feel like it was attached to his chest as he replied.
"It's what I do."
It had been a few days since the explosion but the makeshift headquarters was hospitable. They had recovered a portion of the books (they took the time because some of them were irreplaceable) but their library was in the same shambles that the whole order seemed to be. Anyone on vacation was recalled and numerous meetings had taken place on the new grounds, the content of which were a hall and a smattering of small cottages. They had quite a bit of land to build on, when the time came but none of them were concerned with anything but the need to rebuild the leadership.
Even now with the few handfuls of people they had left, the old guard and the new guard were butting heads. It seemed the decision to retrieve Rupert Giles had ruffled a lot of feathers and there were quite a few more puffed out, blustering chest at the notion that he would head the new council. But the new guard, which remained outweighed the old guard so the elders were left to lick their wounds when the edict came down.
"We're all here, Sam. You said you've made headway in America", one of the senior members spoke as they all crowded around the conference room with the loud speaker sitting in the middle of the broad table.
"Mr. Giles has gracefully accepted the position as head of the council. Given there are certain concessions."
The divide was no clearer then in that moment when a portion at the table seemed flabbergasted while others could not hide their grins.
"Concessions?", one of them questioned.
"Thank you very much for the faith you have placed in me, ladies and gentleman. I have dedicated my life to the mission and find it a great honor that you would put enough stock in me for the offer. "
"There's not a better man for the job", one of the younger members shouted.
"I am at a loss for words." Giles paused, "I respect the traditions and the philosophies, that the Council hold dear but that being said, in order to survive and thrive, I do believe some updates are in order."
Giles paused for a moment to hear any concerns and hearing a few intakes of breath, but no outright objection. He continued.
"We have always been taught that the Potentials must be found, segregated and taught the ways of the Slayer. I have found through personal experience that friends and family are an asset and not a hindrance and are a valuable part of a Slayer's arsenal. It is we, as Watchers, who should integrate ourselves into the lives of our Slayers and while should we should exercise caution on who becomes informed of our existence, the family of the Slayer should be made aware forthwith of their predestined calling."
Buffy giggled silently, at this moment of levity in her day, as her mother shot her a look and patted Giles on the shoulder for integrating her input into the earlier conversation.
"Also concerning the Slayers themselves, the Tento di Cruciamentum will be discontinued in practice, effective immediately. For of all of you who think that I am spitting in the face of tradition, it is nothing but an outdated, archaic exercise in cruelty. They should not have to endure facing down a vampire without their powers to prove they should still be a Slayer. Thee fact they have survived to the age of 18 is more than adequate proof enough for that mantle."
Faith and Buffy looked at each other, confused and looked towards Wesley but despite his hard exterior, the newly minted watcher could not hide the fact that he was shocked by the revisions being made by the new head of the council. Even more shocked that they made sense when a week ago he would have had him up on charges of heresy.
"And concerning demons." Giles paused, taking the moment to make eye contact with Spike, "I've learned that a person who lives in the land of black and white can sometimes be blind to life's grays. I've learned that friends can sometimes turn into enemies but by the same token enemies can become friends if we're willing to take off the blinders. I've worked alongside someone I was raised all my life to see nothing but a demon. Only worthy of death but through my conversations with them ,I've learned that demons can care, have families and even love. Sometimes, even more deeply than we humans do."
His eyes remained on Spike the entire time he spoke and the look on the man's face spoke of a respect beyond words. Spike swallowed down hard and bowed his head in a sign he hoped conveyed his friendship.
"Now this vampire does seem an exception to the rule but there are a plethora of demon races that are not evil but just trying to make their way in the world as we do. The Slayer is the boogey man to these peaceful people but the information they can gather and the resources they can provide to our cause, are invaluable. I'm making it a top priority to make a catalog of as many demon races as we can find and gather information at the source rather than hearsay or legend. We need to live in harmony and accord with these pacifist races. In order to survive we must adapt."
Giles grinned as he heard not all, but a few of the council members murmur with excitement. They wanted him for the Council and they would get him but he would damn well be the change he wanted to see in the world.
"We can mull over this information and much much more when I touch down in the homeland. I look forward to speaking with you all and thank you for your efforts to gather. Have a good day."
He waited until he heard the click before he disconnected.
Zabuto was just shaking his head, Wesley was still a bit taken back and Weatherby looked furious but was reserved enough to attempt to hide it.
"I think that went rather well." Giles grinned.
Giles had to fight tooth and nail but he was given a few days to get his affairs in order.
Dawn was happy to have a few days off from school but became fearful after Spike explained what boarding school was. She was livid until Giles assured her that the council would look into private tutors, given the circumstances. Dawn took this as a request that she might consider being a watcher, something which she jumped upon. Giles was quite taken with the fact that she was so eager at such an early age and both of them together took up the task of convincing Joyce.
"You better watch it; you might have to listen to me one day", Dawn said proudly, sticking out her tongue.
Buffy gave Dawn her best "As-If" look.
Spike spent extra time with Dawn. He'd take her out for ice cream and to the movies. Though the vampire would never admit how much he'd miss the girl, his shows of affection were noticed by all parties.
Joyce decided to ship all the contents of the gallery to England and after some discussion with Buffy, it was decided that both Faith and Spike would be allowed to move into Revello Drive as the gallery (and their apartment) were put up for sale.
Wesley was able to secure an apartment a short distance away.
There were many tearful goodbyes on all parts as the shuttle came to carry Giles, Joyce and Dawn onto the new chapter of their lives. Joyce was babbling about not seeing Buffy off to college, while Faith and Dawn exchanged I love you's in the form of gentle punches in the arm.
Spike pulled Dawn aside as the final checks were being made and Buffy and Faith were listening to Giles' final instructions.
Spike looked at Dawn and Dawn looked at Spike. He tried to talk but the words couldn't come to him as she sat there with tears in her eyes.
"Gimmie your hand, Bit."
Dawn stretched out her palm, as Spike crouched before her. He pulled his skull ring off of his finger, placed it in her palm and closed her hand around it.
"Now hush up and just listen, Bit. I was a monster for many years and a ponce a few years before that. I never thought for one second that I would amount to much in life or unlife. But then a little girl told me a fairy tale on her mother's porch. This little girl saw something in me that I never saw in myself in either of my lives and when I thought I'd shrugged it off, she was there in her darkest hour to remind me of the faith she had in me. I may not survive this next round but I want you to know that every step I took in the right direction was because of what you said to me. You made this monster a man, you made that man a hero and I will run through Heaven and Hell to show the universe your trust was never misplaced. Even with the pond between us, Bit, always remember that I love you without question because you were the beauty that tamed this savage beast."
Dawn slammed into Spike, so hard, that he almost fell. Everyone was startled by her sudden jump, and her hug would have cut off his oxygen if he had any need to breathe.
But Spike didn't want it to end...