Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Mercedes and Audrey.
CHAPTER 35-THE PLAN BEGINS
Gwen's Loft
"Is that Gwen's robe," Dawn asked with an unsure frown as she looked up from her quart of ice cream, one with a name that she couldn't pronounce, nearly dropping the spoon when Mercedes softly padded into the kitchen, her hair still dripping wet from a shower and apparently wearing only a bathrobe.
"Isn't that Gwen's ice cream," Mercedes shot back, though a bit more playfully than Dawn initially took it, before she took a moment to stretch, knowing full well that her bathrobe was probably falling fully open at that moment.
"Huh…well uh, urk…hey…I'm trying to eat here ya know," Dawn started to reply with a slight stutter to her words before she got an eyeful, more than she had ever wanted, of a wet and naked Mercedes, before she turned away.
"So…hey speaking of which do you think that this stuck up bitch of a landlady has any blood on hand," Mercedes shrugged back with a slightly somber pout before she relented and frowned as she slowly folded her bathrobe closed and then tied it shut.
"What for, wait I," Dawn pondered at first with a slightly unsure and frumpy expression before she screwed her face up in disgust and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, adding a bit of a loud groan nearly dropping her spoon.
"To eat silly, of course if you've changed your mind and would be willing to let me have a nibble," Mercedes cracked at first as she walked to the refrigerator and then began to casually rummage around through it.
"Mercedes," Dawn exclaimed loudly as she tried to first shake the idea itself out of her head and then when that failed to send such a venomous glare towards the vampiress that she wouldn't even think of putting that plan into action anytime in the next century.
"Well it was just a suggestion, don't take everything so personal, you'll live a lot longer," Mercedes laughed back out of the refrigerator as she passed over a store bought steak, complete with a little bit of blood seeping out, and instead settled on a bottle of beer, ripping the top off with her bare hands before taking a quick swig.
"Aren't you supposed to be hibernating or something," Dawn questioned passionately, at that moment wanting nothing more than for Mercedes to leave her alone.
"That's bears honey," Mercedes started to say with an amused and slightly confused smirk that began to curl up the edges of her lips.
"I know…grr…whatever, I'm going to find Willow," Dawn angrily grumped with a tired sigh before she hopped off of her stool and hurried out of the kitchen, glaring at Mercedes as she went.
"Some people just don't know how to take a joke," Mercedes softly replied with an almost bored expression on her face, allowing the bathrobe to fall back down off of her shoulders, only casting a quick glance at Dawn's retreating form through the tops of her eyelids.
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The Necromancer's House
"Buzz off slim," Spike snapped out sharply under his breath with a clear tone of disdain in his words as he stared straight ahead at a spider entombing an unfortunate fly in its web.
"And they wonder why you're called the problem child," Wesley remarked with an amused smirk curling up one corner of his lips as he fumbled around in one of his pockets for a few moments before producing a pack of cigarettes and handing them to Spike.
"Heh, everybody's a bleedin comedian," Spike tried to pout out softly in his usual sarcastic tone of voice, though even through the dim light Wesley could see a faint look of appreciation briefly cross the vampires face.
"Yeah that's our Wes alright, begging for a place on Comedy Central," Angel supplied with a less than genuine tone accompanied by a tired and worn out look to him, as he looked fully ready to break something at a moments notice out of frustration.
"This is not a joking matter, our time is running out, unless you two want to end up a couple of crispy critters," Gwen snapped out loud, interrupting the small bit of revelry, as Faith walked forward a few steps looking a little lost in thought.
"What if Faith and I were to," Wesley started to suggest, with a serious look of intense concentration on his face, before Gwen again cut him off.
"Won't work slim," Gwen interjected, using a slightly different tactic in the hopes of easing the tension just a bit, as she stepped in between the two and glared at both.
"Why not, it sounded good to me," Faith asked with a both honest and defensive tone to her words as she reappeared in Gwen's field of vision by Wesley's shoulder.
"Because you look like a convict, I wonder why," Gwen said, pointing out something that was blatantly obvious in her mind, as she leaned forward a little bit and tried to further punctuate her point by grinning as she finished speaking.
"Stuck up rich," Faith angrily muttered mostly under her breath as she balled her hands up into fists and took a couple of strong steps back towards Gwen before Angel got to her first. He stepped in front of Wesley and positioned himself in between the two women, knowing that this wasn't the time for a fight.
"Easy Faith, now is not the time," Angel cautioned strongly with a deep and needless deep breath in an attempt to calm his already frayed nerves.
"Anyway, I cannot be seen here during any part of this, otherwise he'll know that we're here for the stone, we can't let that happen," Gwen declared with a very determined scowl as she stepped back into the shadows, hoping that she hadn't already been noticed.
"Okay then here's what we're going to do, Wesley and Faith will go to the door posing as a married couple whose car has broke down and they need to use the phone, then while Wesley is calling no one in particular Faith will subdue the guards around her," Angel offered with a guarded but hopeful half shrug of his shoulders before looking up and focusing all of his attention on Faith and Wesley. Wesley stayed serious but Faith looked a little flushed at the idea of playing a woman married to Wesley.
"Leaving me to get the rest…but that still doesn't help us out very much, it doesn't help us get you or Spike into the house to help search for the stone, we no longer have all night to look for it," Wesley pointed out through a slight cough, earning a concerned look and a hand on his shoulder from Faith, before he slid both hands into his pockets to keep the others from noticing that they were shaking slightly.
"Then we'll help make it a little easier on you," Spike let slip out with an oddly cocky half grin on his lips as he took a step forward towards the house.
"Meaning," Angel glowered with a serious scowl darkening his features before Spike waived him off with a relaxed shrug.
"Well…what would make this night even better would be a little spot of violence," Spike drawled back with a definitive nod of his head, looking fully ready for and excited about the possibility of having to fight.
"Is that all you ever think about," Gwen began to suggest with a clear expression of disdain etched onto her face before Spike smirked, stopping her.
"Hardly, at the moment I'm thinking about a certain slayer in the shower," Spike quipped with a sly grin that was just beginning to curl up one side of his lips.
"Leave it to you Spike to drag it all down," Angel spat out in impatience while sending a venomous glare towards his protégé that it would be best for him not to say anymore.
"Hey," Faith softly grouched under her breath with a slightly none to soft elbow to Wesley's side, though the scowl on her face was more for show than revealing her actual feelings on the subject.
"Only you Faith…only you," Wesley painfully whispered back with a slight wince before he felt Faith step in a bit closer to him and her hand came to rest softly on the small of his back, concern evident in her gaze.
"He'll be fine once we get this over with…I know I will," Gwen added with an irritated scowl before Wesley reluctantly nodded his head in agreement while beginning to fish around in his pockets for a set of car keys.
"You two figured things out yet," Spike questioned with an oddly serious half smirk as he started to walk away from the group, looking for somewhere to launch the attack from.
"Hell no, I prefer to do things on the fly, but don't worry your pretty little head about us, we'll hold up our end of the bargain…just try not to drop the ball okay, we're only going to get one shot at this, come on Wes," Faith interrupted with her usual confidant tone as she cast a quick glance in Spike's general direction before she took Wesley by the hand and the two hurried off, as fast as he could manage safely, towards the house.
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"It's a little late…don't you think Buffy," Giles commented softly, using his best librarian voice that he dredged up from his early years in Sunnydale, as he slowly took off his glasses with one hand while using the other to as softly as possible pull the cord on the small lamp that was sitting in the middle of the small table.
"Giles…ah…uh, what are you doing up this late, it's almost dawn…heh," Buffy clumsily answered as she walked past Giles and headed for the kitchen, hoping that she would get lucky and he would let it pass.
"Wondering where my slayer had run off to as this hour, the Immortal called several times you know, I did my best to pacify him but he's no fool Buffy, I believe that he knows that I was simply blowing smoke," Giles called out after her as initially he stayed firmly rooted in his seat, intent on making her come back and talk to him, but soon he gave up, shut the small lamp off, and stood up.
"Please…it's way to early in the morning for you to even think of finishing that sentence, I was out," Buffy shrugged back with a grossed out expression as she fumbled around for the light switch for a few moments before she found it.
"Looking for Willow and Dawn," Xander questioned from the darkness before he softly padded into the kitchen, yawning deeply as Giles followed Buffy far enough to stop and stand in the opposite doorway.
"Um…well actually…yeah, that's it, I was out looking for Willow and Dawn, but I obviously didn't find them," Buffy stuttered and stammered through what she knew full well to be a horrible lie, silently hiding the embarrassed and shameful blush creeping up onto her cheeks by opening up the refrigerator door and ducking behind it.
"How hard did you look Buffy, Vi's been scouring the internet all day trying to find any trace of Willow, check with all of her friends that we know of, see if any of them has heard from her," Xander questioned, his voice full of disbelief, as he reached up and gently tried to rub a little bit more sleep out of his eye.
"Did she have any luck," Buffy asked back, with a quick smile towards Giles before her face fell instantly as he didn't seem impressed by her enthusiasm.
"Unfortunately no…but then you would have known that already because Vi said that she tried to call you on your cell phone hours ago," Xander frowned as he sluggishly pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Huh…really, I had it with me all night and…oops, guess I must have turned it off, silly me," Buffy tried to laugh off in her reply with a half shrug of her shoulders as she slowly pulled her cell phone from her pocket and checked it.
"Where were you really Buffy…and don't lie again, please," Andrew demanded, oddly taking the initiative and sounding important for once, before his normal temperament returned and he looked away.
"I…okay, I met with Robin Wood," Buffy started to try to come up with a lie that she would have to come up with on the spot, before she let out a shaky breath and decided to just come clean.
"Mr. Wood," Andrew gasped in shock as he nearly dropped the glass that he had just taken out of the cupboard.
"Buffy," Xander grouched out unhappily as clear disappointment colored his tone, before he dropped his head into his hands and ruffled up his hair with both hands.
"I know okay," Buffy groaned back in reply with a bit of pleading in her words as she grabbed a jug of milk out of the refrigerator and shut the door.
"Why didn't you tell us you were going to meet with him, do you know what," Giles half snapped with an irritated twitching of his lips before he walked strongly across the room and made a point of taking the jug of milk from Buffy.
"Yes Giles I know, I know that we can't trust him anymore," Buffy agreed softly with an eager smile and nodding of her head before she slid past Giles and took the glass from Andrew.
"Then why did you even meet with him," Xander said speaking up with a none to impressed and frustrated look to him as he glared over at Andrew with his one good eye, silently telling the former geek that he wanted a glass to.
"I met with him because if he's in town then there's something big going on, and I'd rather know about it before it lands on our doorstep," Buffy said softly, doing her best to try and explain her reasons to the others, reasons that as she spoke she became less sure of herself.
"I can understand not wanting things to keep hitting us unprepared, however I don't think that going off by yourself to have a friendly little chat with someone like Robin Wood is," Giles began to reply, not looking happy to be having to tell Buffy something all over again, before Buffy stepped in.
"Friendly chat…a friendly chat, please Giles…my meeting with him was definitely not a friendly chat," Buffy interjected ruefully, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration while Xander and Andrew shared a combined groan.
"Okay, then how would you describe it," Xander said in the hope of keeping things from getting anymore heated between Buffy and Giles, avoiding another shouting match, which if the former carpenter got right down to it would have to admit that they started the day that Buffy started seeing the Immortal.
"An exchange of ideas," Buffy stumbled through her response, flashing Giles one of her trademark innocent smiles.
"Throw any punches," Andrew squeaked out, with a highly interested gleam in his eyes, before he instantly went silent after seeing the look on Giles' face.
"Unfortunately," Buffy shrugged back, completely at ease, as she hoped that her simple answer would remain just that and not become another topic for them all to argue about.
"Learn anything helpful…or did he just stonewall you again," Xander asked as he took the glasses from everyone, and after taking the jug of milk from Giles, set about pouring everyone a glass of milk.
"He wouldn't tell me everything, but now I'm sure that something's going to go down here…something big, and soon," Buffy reluctantly said before she gave Xander a quick smile in thanks and picked up her glass.
"And you're worried that we're on the wrong side of it, Buffy…we went through this with Angel and Wolfram and Hart in Los Angeles," Giles countered heavily as he pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze never once leaving Buffy's tired face.
"Yeah…look how well that turned out," Andrew grumped mostly under his breath as he looked away, suddenly shocked at how loud his words had been.
"What's that supposed to mean," Xander demanded almost immediately, after waiting a few seconds for the sudden shock of it all to subside a little.
"Huh…oh uh, nothing," Andrew laughed back at first before silencing himself by taking a rather large drink of milk.
"Right, Andrew…is there something that you want to tell us," Buffy wondered aloud with a curious and concerned furrowing of her brows as she turned to look over at the former geek.
"No…nothing, really," Andrew tried to lie through his teeth, hoping they would all believe him, before he stood up slowly and started to edge back towards the door.
"Well if that were true then why do you look like you just wet the bed," Xander joked loudly with a rather sarcastic edge to his words before Andrew surprisingly cut him off.
"Wet the…heh…I never, that's really funny, yeah and…eek," Andrew began to mumble and stumble through his response, edging ever closer to the door, before he threw in the towel and bolted for the front door.
"Oh my," Giles sputtered back in total shock and surprise, being barely able to hold onto the jug of milk and his glass.
"Geek on the lam," Buffy exclaimed loudly as she slammed her glass of milk down onto the table hard enough to crack both, before she vaulted up and over them and after Andrew.
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"Got any ideas about what name we should use," Faith asked softly with an oddly very uneasy deep breath and shrug of her shoulders as she reached up and fumbled with her hair, finally putting it back behind her ears.
"We could use Price, it's close enough to my real last name so that it wouldn't really be lying…much," Wesley offered with an uneasy pursing of his lips as he momentarily wondered about whether or not he should try to dress himself up a bit, dust his pants off or fix his hair. He was just about to make a decision when Faith spoke.
"Or Le Hane," Faith oddly remarked up in argument before she slackened her pace and looked away, making it a point not to look at Wesley.
"Le Hane, Faith why," Wesley started to ask with a nervous and slightly unsure tone to his words as turned around to fully face her.
"Because…it's…well it's…it's my last name, my real last name," Faith anxiously stuttered back, earning an odd raising of his eyebrow from Wesley, before her resolve stiffened and she calmed down.
"I know…but why bring it up now," Wesley asked, still a bit unsure at what she was getting at, as he took a step back towards her but then stopped when she spoke.
"You know…wait, I probably told you already," Faith impatiently snapped back, more out of frustration than from any actual anger directed towards Wesley. Almost instantly she regretted her words, curling her toes up in her shoes.
"Yes…that uh, that must have been it, listen…I know that you may want to but if I double over in pain and fall to the floor do not, whatever you do…do not, I repeat do not come to my aid," Wesley interjected with a very stern and deadly serious look in his eyes as he ignored Faith's impatience and laid a hand on her shoulder, leaving it there long enough so that he was sure to make her look him in the eye.
"But…yeah, okay, I understand…but what if," Faith forcefully muttered, her gaze never once leaving Wesley's face, before she laid a hand gently on his side.
"Something actually bad happens to me like a punctured lung…if that happens then I'm afraid that all hope is lost," Wesley solemnly said back to her before he leaned in close and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, one that she prolonged while pulling them both into the darkness underneath a nearby tree.
END OF CHAPTER 35