A/N - Sorry for the wait. Things just got out of hand. And I goty such bad writer's block I couldn't even sit at the computer to write. Luckily after some advice and taking the time to take it I was able to start writing again. I'm sorry for putting you through the wait. Thank you for your continued interest.

A/N 2 – This first part is a quick recap of the story so far. If you don't need or want one, skip down to the chapter title.


Recap: Drusilla goes against her Sire's rules of no longer siring her own childe due to all the vampires she sires turning out wrong. Turning whom she is sure will be her Dark Knight she turns young Lord William DeWinters. Again something does not go right and the soul refusing to leave the body remained even after the demon took up residence. Slipping away before Dru could return for him William finds out something has happened to him and by luck of chance happened upon the one group of people who could help him. Deciding to fight for the council against others of his kind.

Spending the years working with Slayers he has become attached to those he works with. Doing what he can to help extend the survival time of the slayers including the imprisonment of one of The Scourge of Europe known as Angelus. Years later, when living in New York, with an unusual case of a Slayer who had a child. The council acted in what both the Slayer named Nicki and William saw an act of betrayal he left the council along with their slayer. They would spend years running from the Watcher's Council as well as raising Nicki's son Robin. In that time William would become Spike.

After the tragic death of Nicki at the councils hands Spike is lost to the light. Having sent Robin away to College He drowned himself in liquor and violence allowing his demon to stalk free. Un till a representative of the Powers That Be paid him a visit. Agreeing to see an old Watcher friend he came to know the current Slayer. He felt sorry for the girl who went without being trained until after she became active and was trying desperately to adjust. Meeting with his old friend renewed his need to help fight the darkness even if he still he wanted no part of the Watcher's council and did want to risk getting close to another Slayer.

Setting himself up in the Hellmouth he was surprised when The Slayer he left behind had moved there and no matter how much he tries to resist their paths just was meant to cross. So he helps out while keeping his emotional distance from the Slayer. Unfortunately that did not include her friend Willow. Someone William found it just too easy to identify with. Now after all the resistance it looks like he just maybe becoming part of the group who named themselves The Scoobys. Although he will never admit it.

Unfortunaly after a clash with the head of his line had some far reaching repercussions leading to the slaughter of the gypsy clan; Kalderas. Leaving only Janna of the clan alive. Going by the name Jenny Calendar to the rest of the world she came home just as Spike arrived too late to save the family. Fortunately although Darla got her hands on the crystal that imprisoned Angelus, she was unable to get her hands on the Clan's journal which held copies of the Clans most powerful spells including on the way to extract Angelus from the crystal. Unfortunately it is encoded in an old language only known to a few key clan members. Regrettably Jenny was not one of them.

Bringing Jenny and the journal back with him they race to find a way to decipher the contents of the journal hoping to find a way to stop Darla before she releases one of the most deadly vampires in existence back on to the world.

We now continue…


Enemy Strikes!

Spike walked into the graveyard. He was, as usual, on the hunt for baddies. This was his time to reflect. His latest adventure came in the form of a demon hunting down Rupert and his friends, starring another appearance from Ethan. Bloody bastard slipped away yet again in the aftermath. What he would give to get his hands on the slimy git! Setting up the slayer to take his place! Luckily, Red tracked Spike down to help out that night.

Spike smirked as he lit a cigarette. His demon had been strutting around since the fight with Eyghon. Eyghon may have been all bad when taking over humans, but had nothing to bring when faced with another demon. Still, his demon has been a bit cocky since the confrontation.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed. "'ello? Red, hey… Ready to go home? … You guys have been clocking some late hours… No problem. I'm not too far away I should be there soon."

Willow had been helping Giles and Jenny with the translation since the whole Eyghon thing. It seems Jenny wasn't too comfortable with Rupert since she'd played host to Eyghon. Not that anyone could blame her. Spike was sure that after some time, they'd be right back to their old flirting selves. But till then, they were using Red as some sort of buffer.

"Wait till I see what?… Really, you did? … Okay, part of that made sense. I understand the language part, but the computer mumbo… "

Usually Buffy or Xander hung around to walk Willow home unless they ran into the late side of the night. Then, Spike or Oz took over that privilege. Right now, Oz was out of town on a gig along with Pike, who had been the one to set it up, at some really popular club in LA that Pike had happened to used to work on the owner's bike. So that left Spike with pick up duty. He really didn't mind. Spike liked having Willow around. William had someone to talk to that understood a lot of his literary ramblings, and both the demon and William felt the protectiveness and duty of an older brother towards the girl.

"Explain on the way, just be ready to go. Can only stand watching those two make cow eyes at each other for so long before it gets irritating…. Yeah, you should get a med-"

A scream cut through the other side.

"RED?! What's happening!"

There was no response, though he heard shuffling and a crash. Spike wasted no time running towards the school where they were researching tonight, the phone still gripped in his hand.

Spike burst through the library doors in full game face to find the place trashed. The fear was so thick in the room that it slapped him in the face, but it was the next scent to hit him that kicked him into gear. Blood. A couple of the bookcases had fallen over, one straight through the railing to down below where the table was turned on its side. The first body he saw was Giles. Unconscious on the floor upstairs near one of the fallen cases, Spike's one comfort was the pulse he heard coming from the man, strong and regular. Still, he hurried over to the librarian, reaching him just as he began to stir. A moan from the office had Spike spinning around. At the sight of Jenny struggling to stand, he shoved his cell that had still been gripped in his hand into his pocket to help her up, directing her to one of the chairs. Before she even sat down, Spike asked, "Where's Red?"

Jenny looked around slightly dazed. "Red?"

"Willow!" Spike explained, voice getting louder and more harsh in desperation. "Where is Willow!"

Jenny held her hand to the cut on her head while looking around again. "Sh-she was standing over by the table, packing her book bag…" The gypsy lifted her free, shaking hand and pointed towards where the upturned table was blocking the area where the bookcase had crashed down from view.

Spike rushed over to the table, quickly pulling it out of the way. As soon as he had done so, he saw it. An arm sticking out from under the heavy case. The books scattered everywhere didn't register in his brain, though the overwhelming stench of blood did. Spike grabbed the bookcase and flung it off the girl like it was a plastic chair. He looked down at her crumpled body, blood running over very bruised skin, and tears clouded his vision as he listened closely, praying to anyone listening for her to be alive. Finally, he heard it. It was faint and a bit slow, but her heart was pumping. Though her breathing was severely shallow. She had very little time.

"Bloody hell…" Spike looked over his shoulder to see that Giles had regained consciousness and was standing by Jenny, looking over at him and Willow.

"Is she…" Giles swallowed hard, unable to complete the question they all knew he was asking.

Spike shook his head. "But she doesn't have much time…" He pulled out his cell and dialled 911, shouting into the speaker when it answered. "We need an ambulance at the Sunnydale High School Library NOW!" Not bothering to answer the startled attendant's questions, he hung up and started to clear books away from Willow, careful not to jostle the girl.

"What do we tell them? Why was a student here so late?" Giles wondered out loud.

Spike growled. "Don't bloody care! She needs medical attention! We don't have the equipment to bloody well move her without causing more damage! She has at least 2 broken ribs and her right leg is broken in at least three places. I don't know about her spine… If I move her wrong without the proper braces… and they'll have the equipment needed to keep her alive, otherwise I doubt she would survive the trip to the hospital."

Spike clenched his hands into tight fists. He wanted nothing more then to scoop her up and run her to the hospital, but he knew with the extent of her injuries and taking in the knowledge that they had no idea what internal damage they were dealing with. No, the ambulance was her best chance for survival. And right now, that was the only thing Spike cared about. The rest be damned!

It seemed like hours when in actuality only minutes had passed before the sirens could be heard. All at once, there was a rush of movement as two paramedics and a couple cops burst into the scene. Spike completely ignored the cops, opting instead to stick close to Willow. He answered the questions one paramedic rapidly fired at him the best he could. He really knew nothing other than what he'd seen on his way in and couldn't think straight enough to remember if Willow had ever told him if she was allergic to any sort of meds. Luckily, he was able to answer her blood type. After all, they were surrounded by it and he was a vampire. The paramedics wasted no time getting the neck and shoulder brace on her before transferring her quickly and smoothly onto a back board to keep her spine straight as they lifted her onto the gurney. They placed a mask with a large bag attached to it over her mouth before wheeling her out.

Spike didn't hesitate to follow. She was rushed into the back of the ambulance. She just came to a stop as they quickly started to work on her. One of them closed up the doors cutting Spike's view of what was happening while telling Spike that they were working to keep her stable and which hospital they were rushing her to. All too soon, the ambulance was pulling away, leaving Spike standing there only a moment before taking off towards the hospital. He completely ignored the shouts of one of the cops for him to not leave the scene. It only took a second to flash the man a pair of yellow eyes and a growl for him to back off with his hands up. As far as Spike was concerned, let Rupert and the gypsy answer questions. His first concern was Willow.

She was already in surgery by the time he arrived. That was all he could get at the moment, so he called Buffy, knowing failing to do so would leave him with one brassed off Slayer. Right now, he had enough to deal with at the moment. Still having yet to get an update by the time Buffy was there with Xander in tow, he could answer few of their probing questions. Rupert and Jenny had also been brought in via a second ambulance and had been checked out and released a few hours later. Spike was about to tell them what happened when a doctor appeared about Willow. Evidently, Spike had been right about the broken ribs and leg. She also had a cracked skull and some internal bruising. The biggest problem was one of her broken ribs had scraped her lung, causing it to bleed. That had been part of the first update. Hours had passed and still they waited for further word.

The sun was coming up, but Spike didn't leave, giving a glare and low growl to anyone who even suggested it. Finally, they saw the doctor emerge from beyond the emergency doors again.

The entire group stood as he began to speak. "We've been able to stabilize the blood loss. The bones have been realigned and braced. There was some swelling of the brain but it has gone down. It still is slightly swollen but it's looking to still be going down. We can't estimate the damage doen until she is awake."

"And when will that be?" Giles inquired.

The doctor shook his head softly. "There is no way to tell. But right now the rest is good, giving her body time to heal. We are hoping with the reduction of swelling she will be responsive in the next few days. But like I said, we can't be sure until that happens."

The doctor went on to give them a description of what to expect. They weren't allowed to see Willow just yet, as she was still in the critical ward and would be till there was a little more progress with the swelling and she was less dependent on machines to breathe. With that the doctor left, one of the nurses instantly taking his place to ask about some holes in the patient information. Giles took over, informing the nurse the girl's parents were out of town but he'd asked for such information long ago. Handing him the clipboard, he immediately started to fill in the paperwork.

By this time, Spike was sitting alone in one of the waiting chairs, barely aware of what was going on around him. He should have been there! What the hell had they been thinking researching in the school library? A place any buggering fool could waltz into at any time? They should have known better! HE should have known better! He'd been alive for how long? Been battling the forces of darkness?! He should know by now that these bastards would take any advantage they were given! If she died… Spike swallowed the lump in his throat, trying like damn to hold back the flood of tears that waited to be spilled. Suddenly, he was up and making his way towards the stairs. He planned on going to the basement and look for a sewer entrance.

On his way by, Giles motioned him over. With the clearing of his throat, the librarian said, "Since her parents are unreachable right now, they are allowing one of us to look in on her. I think it should be you..." Spike looked surprised, so Giles continued, "I was talking with the nurse. She had been here when Willow was brought in and from what she heard from the EMT, had they been minutes later she would not have made it…" Giles guilty eyes looked down, wishing he had his glasses to clean. Unfortunately, they had been broken in the scuffle and his backups were at home.

Spike knew then that Giles was regretting his words from earlier. Spike felt bad knowing the man did care just as much about Willow as he did. "It's okay, Rupert. You'd just got your head knocked around and weren't thinking straight. Besides, it's not like I stuck around to help sort out the mess. Just dumped it on you and gypsy girl's laps."

Giles nodded, relaxing a bit but still part of the guilt remained. But that was his to deal with. After a breath he continued. "Room 379. Go look in on Willow. I don't think any of us will be able to relax until one of us sees she is ok with their own eyes."

Spike nodded. Without further word he made his way to the room. The lighting was dim, but he could still make out her small shape perfectly. She looked so small and pale. Her hair was scattered around her, with tubes going up her nose and an IV in her arm. There was a Velcro sleeve attached to her upper arm and a white clip-like monitor on the index finger of her right hand.

Her heartbeat was much stronger than before, even if it was still a little slow. Her leg was in a cast and slightly elevated. She also had her ribs wrapped. She looked so broken. Spike stretched out a hand but stopped just before reaching her, almost afraid she would crumble under his touch. The moment was broken when he felt a droplet hit the back of his hand. He reached up and found his cheeks soaked from tears. At that moment, a nurse popped her head in and told him his time was up. He nodded, careful to keep his face turned away so she didn't see him crying. After she closed the door, he ran his hands over his face in an effort to rub away all evidence of his crying. He took a deep breath and walked out to report to the others.

He had just got out to the waiting room when Oz and Pike both burst in. Buffy must have called them when he had called her and they must have came straight here from the gig. Pike stopped to say hi to the others, but Oz walked straight over to him.

"Is she okay?" he demanded. Spike didn't know how to answer, not that it mattered. Oz seemed to read the answer from his face, swearing softly under his breath as he closed his eyes briefly. Then he looked up pleadingly at Spike. "Can I see her?"

By that time Giles had approached and thankfully took over. "The doctors won't allow anyone else in there tonight. As it was, they were generous enough to let Spike in. Technically only her parents should be allowed in."

"Why did they let Spike in then?" Xander asked.

Giles reached for his glasses, then remembering they weren't there, aborted the move and ran his hand through his hair nervously instead. "I, uh, may have given the impression Spike was family…"

Spike raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He never would have thought the Watcher willing to do something like that for him of all people.

"I'm more family to her then anyone here," Xander grumbled, glaring at the vampire.

Regaining his authority Giles pushed on, "Be that as it may, if it were not for Spike here she might not have made it at all. Now the best thing we can do now is go home get some rest so we will be ready when we can see her. I will try to contact her parents. They should be informed. I'm sure they will return quickly."

Xander shook his head. "Don't count on it," he said to himself. Spike seemed to be the only one that heard him but before he could ask any questions, Xander's attention had turned to the Slayer.

"Xan, we're taking off. You want a ride home?" Xander nodded. Buffy then turned to Spike. "You going to be okay getting home? I'm sure mom might have a blanket in the back for emergencies..."

Spike shook his head. "Thanks for the thought … I'm sure there's a sewer entrance in the basement."

Buffy crinkled her nose at the thought of travelling by sewer. "Okay." She went to leave but then turned around again and gave Spike a quick hug.

Caught off guard, Spike could only stand there dumbly as the hug was over before he could react. "Slayer?"

Buffy blushed a little. "I just wanted to, you know, thank you. For Willow and all. You kept it together and was able to get her here in time to save her life."

Spike relaxed and nodded. "It's nothing you wouldn't have done yourself Slayer. Like it or not, Red has long ago earned my respect, and if she…" Spike cut off there and looked away, trying to hide his upset emotions.

"But she won't and that's thanks to you," Buffy repeated. Giving him a thankful smile, she then went to join Pike and Xander on their way out.


A few evenings later, they met back at the library to assess the damage. Half the notes were gone, along with the disk for the interpretation program Jenny and Willow had been working on. The biggest blow was the journal. They got the journal.

Sure, they still had the original program on Willow's laptop, but without the journal the program was useless. Or so they thought. Jenny was looking over the laptop to see if it suffered any damage when the bookcase had fallen and had came across a file labeled Jenny's Journal. Jenny clicked it to reveal that Willow had scanned the journal and kept a copy on her laptop. "Oh, Willow, I could hug you!" Jenny exclaimed as she looked over the scanned pages. She'd wondered how Willow was able to put in all that extra work time when Jenny had the journal with her. Jenny actually thought it was rather smart of the girl. As it was, when they had started Jenny had already told Willow she had free access to the journal since Jenny trusted the girl like a sister.

She hurriedly shared her findings with the others. They decided to try out the program, as who knows how long they had until their enemies did the same. After selecting what part of the document they wanted to translate, it would take the computer a little while to do the actual full translation. As they waited as the program ran, Willow was not far from any of their thoughts. While the others had to wait till Willow was out of critical care to see her, that did not stop Spike. He went down every evening after visiting hours to watch over her from the shadows. As it was, tonight he was already edgy to leave. But he was also curious to find out what they had to do to stop Angelus from making his Sunnydale début. Finally, the laptop let out a sound indicating the program was finished running. They all watched Jenny as she read over the results.

Jenny got pale. "Oh…" She pushed away from the laptop and stepped back, putting some distance between her and the words on the screen.

Giles looked concerned and walked over and read what she just had. Soon he was pulling off his glasses and cleaning them. "Good lord," he exclaimed, looking over at Jenny. Walking over to her, he reached out as if to touch her but thought better of it and stopped before he made contact. "Are you all right? We'll think of something to..."

"What is it?" Xander cut in as he walked over to the laptop. Reading over the ritual himself, he commented, "Blood of the wronged? Who…"

"My family," Jenny answered. "The reason we were the keepers of the crystal was simple. The gypsy girl that Angelus killed, the one who was to become a Slayer? She was from my family."

Neither Spike nor Giles looked surprised. Spike had been there and Jenny had already told the story to Giles. The others, on the other hand, were working out what that meant when Jenny just spelled it out for them. "My family was who was wronged, so it's my family's blood that must be used. And since the attack… I'm the last…" She turned away and bit her lip to keep from bursting into tears. Not so much because her life was now on the line, but with reading those words and realizing exactly what they meant, it also drove home something she'd been avoiding thinking about since this whole mess began. She was the last of her family line. Her only remaining family died that night. Now, she was alone.

Buffy spoke up now. "What do we do? She's going to be their main target."

"True, but maybe we could make finding her little more difficult," Pike suggested. "I know a place. She could hide out there. Trust me, no one would find her."

All the sudden everyone was talking at once, making plans. Spike had yet to say anything. Instead he looked over at Jenny, who had moved over to a chair and was sitting quite still, looking very small. This was the first time he saw the woman look so lost. Even when they first met, she had a bravado surrounding her that screamed strength of character. But now… Spike let out a sharp whistle to quiet the room, then looked pointedly at Giles. "Maybe you should get gypsy girl home and then maybe ask her what she wants to do? It is her life after all."

Giles looked surprised and then a bit guilty. "Ah, yes, of course." He turned to the others. "Let's meet tomorrow morning and we will discuss this then."

Everyone agreed to meet at the Slayer's house as her mom was out of town. Then Giles went to drive Jenny home and the others dispersed for the night. Spike headed straight for the hospital.


So it was decided. Jenny would go into hiding for now. At least until they got not only the crystal back, but the journal as well. There were other spells in there and it was just too powerful to be left in the hands of the enemy. They would then look to destroy the crystal for good. Spike and Buffy both agreed they waited long enough. It was time to bring the fight to Darla.

As for Jenny, she was being escorted by Pike and Oz. Giles had wanted to go, but they needed him here, researching on a way to safely destroy the crystal so that hopefully, by the time Buffy and Spike got their hands on it, they would be ready to destroy it immediately.

The day had been spent doing a quick pack job, so that the trio could be well on their way out of town before nightfall. That evening when Spike arrived to see Willow, he was greeted with an empty room. Panicking, he accosted the first nurse he could find and demanded to know where she was.

The nurse looked ready to chew Spike out for being here after visiting hours, but as Spike's eyes flashed gold, she suddenly got very cooperative. "Miss Rosenberg woke up this morning. After being examined she was released to the regular patient care rooms. Her parents were contacted." The nurse informed him of this as she read the computer screen. "Her new room is on the third floor, area C, room 475. But you will have to wait until tomorrow to see her."

Spike walked away without another word. He heard the nurse sigh in defeat as they both knew there was no way in hell he was going to wait. When he reached the room labeled 475, he quietly opened the door. Her leg was still in a cast, but the tubes and IV were gone. All that remained hooked up to her were a few monitors. She seemed to be peacefully dosing when her eyes opened up. After taking a moment to focus her eyes on the person in the room, she smiled. "Hi, Spike."

In an instant, he was by her side, holding her hand "How are you, Red?"

"Like I had a bookcase dropped on me," she joked, laughing lightly.

"Not funny, Red. If your heart hadn't already stopped beating, it wouldn't have been much longer when I found you." He tried to look disgruntled, but the happiness he had seeing her awake shone through his eyes.

"Sorry," she apologized, growing solemn. "How is everyone? Did Giles and Miss Calendar get out okay?"

"They're fine, Red." He decided the news of the journal and Jenny could wait for now. The girl had just woken up for bleeding sake. They spent some time talking, but all too soon, Willow started to slip off to sleep. So he just watched over her. Just before the morning rounds, he slipped out . After making it back home via the sewer system, he went about calling Buffy, Giles and even Xander, only because he knew Red would want to see him. He let them know the good news. Then he got some shut eye, knowing he would need it. Tonight, he and the Slayer were going hunting.


A/N - As you can see we are starting to move away from the tv show, I hope you enjoy where I take you… Please Review….