A.N. Sorry for the long wait. It sucks when a muse goes into hiding. I've managed to coax her out though. Lately I've been watching many episodes that feature Spike and/or Angelus. Gotta love those two bad vamps. Also just a reminder, Buffy and Spike have never slept together, they have a brother/sister type relationship.

Previously:

"If it'll make you feel better we can call Spike." Buffy told her.

"Spike? Are you kidding me? Billy Idol will probably want to kill us and take Liz as a Drusilla knock-off." Cordy snorted.

Liz leaned forward in her chair. "Who's Spike?"

Chapter 21

May 1, 2000

It was a little after midnight when Buffy left with everyone to save Sunnydale and essentially the world. Before leaving Buffy went behind the front desk in the lobby and called Spike, the guy that she had suggested protect them while the other superhuman people were gone.

While Buffy did that, Cordelia told her little about Spike saying she didn't know him all that well except that he was evil and killed many people in his long unlife. Not only that he tried to mainly kill Buffy though. While he didn't actively try to kill the rest of the original Scooby gang as much as he could have that didn't mean if he caught one of them that they wouldn't be his next meal.

Then Cordy told her about Drusilla, Spike's sire and absolute love of his undead existence. He had kidnapped Willow and by default Xander to do a spell for him to get Drusilla back who had left him for a Chaos demon. Which in turn took Cordelia to one of the darkest moments in her life.

Since they weren't extremely close Cordelia left out the details of why it was the darkest moment in her life but with the glare she sent to Xander she had a feeling it had something to do with him. At that point in the story Buffy said that he had changed, he still didn't have a soul but he wasn't a bad guy anymore…even if he would deny it.

Buffy gave Liz a quick overview herself of Spike, since she had never mentioned Spike in her explanations about Slayers and vampires and destiny. At the time the name of the vampire that had helped her hadn't been important to the story she told.

Basically yes, Spike was a killer, he'd killed two Slayers in his past but over the last three years he'd changed a little and became a valuable member of the team and her friend. He's one of the only people she would trust to watch over the others staying there.

Angelus couldn't stop laughing at his Grand Childe's change. There always was a soft side to the bleached wonder. Granted he could rip the throat out of tiny puppy in a heartbeat without a drop of remorse but he still liked to write poetry about bunnies and flowers. It made him sick.

In order to make it to Sunnydale in time the group had to leave right then. Spike wouldn't be in LA for another two hours, an hour and a half if he pushed it, but Buffy didn't think they'd be attack during that window of time.

When Liz questioned why Buffy told her that since they already sent demons to attack it would be unlikely that they would attack so soon after. Especially after getting their asses handed to them. If anything the creatures would wait and regroup for a while before trying again.

Although worried Liz nodded, it made sense but that didn't stop the concern of being unprotected. After the others left, Scoobies and company reluctant that Angelus was going with them, Liz sat on the stairs and stared around her.

Demons everywhere lying on the floor dead. "Do they expect us to clean this up?" She asked the three who were left in the hotel.

"Sure thing Pudding Pop." Lorne sat next to her. "We're not the grand and powerful fighters, we're the cleanup crew."

"That sucks." She grumbled dropping her head in her hands.

Fred picked up a green arm that had been loped off during the fight. "Where are we supposed to put all these—pieces?"

"We have an incinerator in the basement." Cordy said nonchalantly. When she realized no one had spoken she looked at them. "What? Do you know how many bodies we'd have to bury if we didn't have some way to dispose of them?"

Shrugging Liz stood up; her head felt a lot better from using her powers earlier. Within an hour and a half the lobby was cleared of all demon pieces and bodies. Next they'd clean the floor; green demon blood had a way of staining the floor if it wasn't mopped up quickly.

Fred, Cordelia and Lorne got to work on cleaning the blood while Liz went into the kitchen and made them coffee, tea, and for Lorne a sea breeze. He taught her how to make it a few days ago, even since then she'd been his designated drinker maker.

As she boiled the water for her tea her thoughts drifted to her parents. She should really call them tomorrow. Liz hadn't spoken to them in over a week. They'd be worried about her if she didn't let them know how she was soon.

Yesterday she had talked to Alex on the phone. He was doing well; the others however were another story. Alex mentioned that Max and Tess had a pregnancy scare, she had gotten dizzy and passed out and because she and Max had recently slept together that was a logical jump. It however turned out to be something else, some kind of device that incapacitated both Tess and Isabel.

Once they figured out who was behind the attack they took care of it and everything was all right again. Maria and Michael were on the rocks, Alex only had Maria's version which was Michael had been pulling away from her. He had seen them fight on more than one occasion and it was only a matter of time before they broke up for good.

Then Alex had been presumed dead; there had been an accident with his car, when the police got there his car had been engulfed in flames. When the fire had been put out there wasn't anything left and after searching the area Valenti had assumed he had perished in the fire.

Thankfully that wasn't the case. He had been in the car yes, but a woman had pulled him out before the car burned. Her name was Serena. Alex had been nursed back to health and when he woke up he couldn't stop staring at the woman who saved him.

Eventually everything was cleared up with the police and Alex was declared to be alive again. That was when Liz told him that Future Max had said that a woman named Serena would be a friend of hers one day. While it was unlikely it was the same Serena Future Max had been talking about it was quite a coincidence.

Since then she hadn't spoken to Alex, after she called her parents she'd call him again. See how that last week had been treating him.

The teapot whistled and Liz took the boiling water off the stove and poured it in three cups. One was coffee for Cordelia, since she hated tea; the other two were for her and Fred they would be having the tea.

Finishing up she placed the cups and the sea breeze on the tray. Carefully she picked it up and made her down the hall and back to the lobby. "All right coffee, tea, and alcohol are ready." She announced.

"Thank God I'm thirsty." Cordy exclaimed. She dropped the sponge with a loud thump and stood up taking the coffee from the tray. "Thanks Liz."

"Not a problem." She set the tray on the counter of the front desk.

Outside a car door slammed and footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. In a moment the front doors opened and there stood the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. And this was a man, not some boy trying to pretend to be a man, but an honest to God man.

He was decked out in black jeans, a blood red over shirt, black T-shirt, and a long leather coat that almost touched the floor. His hair was bleached blonde and his cheekbones; oh Lordy how hot was that? Liz swallowed hard and stared at him.

"And now we enter a worse place." Cordelia sneered at the guy in the entryway. "Not only are we cleaning demon blood from the floor but now Spike is here."

Spike's attention instantly was drawn to the woman behind Cordelia. Long brown hair, sparkling mahogany eyes, sweet little body, yea, he might enjoy this assignment. "The last place I'd want to be is here, you better watch your mouth or I'll leave you here for the big Beastie to do what he wants with you."

Liz finally found her voice. "You're Spike?" She swallowed hard. Oh boy. She felt a tingling in her gut and it had nothing to do with him being a vampire.

"The one and only Big Bad."

TBC