Buffy was restless. She had way too much on her mind to sleep. She thought
about her confusing life and the lives of her friends. She tossed and
turned for about an hour before she finally admitted defeat and got dressed
again. 'Slayage' she thought. 'A little exercise and then I'll be ready for
bed. Must be a Slayer thing-I have to stop at least one bad guy before I
can sleep.' She silently slipped downstairs and grabbed her coat. Nothing
was moving in the vicinity of the couch, so a sleeping Spike was
unanimously voted Dawnsitter while she was out patrolling. She went
outside and quietly shut the door.
She headed for one of Sunnydale's newer cemeteries. It was close to Giles' place and had its fair share of demonic action. Boring. No activity. Not even a stray animal was roaming around. She didn't want to go to the Magic Box; Anya was probably still there and might be sleeping on one of the mats from the training room. She'd seemed pretty determined to get the place put back in order before she left. Buffy thought for a while longer. She'd sneak back into the hospital and see how Willow was doing and let her know what they'd found out about Amy and Rack. She changed direction and headed toward her destination.
Sneaking into the hospital wasn't difficult. She went to Willow's room. There was somebody else in the bed. She went out to the desk at the nurse's station. One bored looking nurse was writing something in a chart. She could hear two more in a back room, talking about some movie they had both seen. "Excuse me?"
The nurse looked up, startled. "It's past visiting hours, you're not supposed to be here."
"Uh, I work late shift. I just came up to see my friend. Is she still in room 219? Willow Rosenberg? Beaten up."
"She's not here. Poor thing, such a sweet girl, it's a shame. I think she went home, let me check. Yes, she signed herself out tonight."
"Do you know, did she leave with her...friend?"
"No idea. I wasn't on shift yet."
"Thanks." Buffy turned and left. She knew where Willow's parents lived, that was probably her best bet. When she got to the Rosenberg's house, she went around to the side. She didn't want to wake everyone, just Willow. She went to the window and opened it. Willow had shown her long ago which one she left unlocked 'for Scooby emergencies'. Buffy scrambled in the window, leaned over the bed and softly whispered "Willow?" Pain exploded in her head, then everything went dark.
"Buffy? I'm so sorry. You scared me and I had a defense spell all ready to go. Are you okay? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Not so loud, please. I think my head is going to explode."
"Oh, I'll get you some aspirin. I'm a little edgy. Sorry. I'll be right back." Willow returned quickly with some aspirin and a glass of water. Buffy took them and handed the glass back to Willow. "Do you want to sit down? I mean, the floor is okay, but I have a nice comfy chair right here. Or if your head hurts too much you can use my bed. I mean, not in a girlfriendy way but because you need to be...I mean, not that you're not pretty, but I know you don't think about me in that way. I'm not reading your mind or anything to find this out. I don't KNOW, know. Just I know...I'm all babbly, aren't I?"
"Like the proverbial brook." Smiling hurt. "Quite a spell you have there. I came to tell you everything I know about Rack."
"Xander already told me. He said you and Dawn were staying at Giles' with no phone and that the police were after you. He wanted to give me the news about Amy in person."
"Wills, are you okay staying here alone? I mean, did Xander get to the part about Rack calling minds he'd been in?"
"I'm not alone. Tara is sleeping on the couch. My mom thinks she's a counselor or something. I still haven't told them about us. I didn't think now was the time, with us not exactly an us at the moment." Willow shrugged and looked away, eyes bright with unshed tears. "I know I screwed up. Tara can barely stand to be around me, you're mad at me, Dawn hates me..." Her voice trailed off.
Buffy reached around and hugged her. "We don't hate you. We just have to figure out how to fix your mistake. If you're feeling up to it, I need you to be research girl today. Find out all you can on portal demons and how to slay them. Rack's gonna pay for everything he's done."
"Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"Not that I'm criticizing or anything, I know I don't have the right, but where's Dawn? I mean, she isn't alone, is she?"
"No, Spike is staying on the couch at Giles'. Rack burned him pretty bad and since he got hurt helping me and I could use the extra firepower-I thought I'd just let him stay there-after all I could use a Dawnsitter and he's a good fighter and Dawn likes him and I do too-in a someone to beat up- NOT a boyfriend sort of way. I mean..."
Willow looked confused. "Buffy, you're as babbly as I was a minute ago. How's your head? I'm worried about a concussion." She looked closely at Buffy. "You look okay. But you're talking like I do when I get nervous because I have a big secret I shouldn't tell. You don't know something else about Rack you're not telling me? He's not after Tara or something?"
"No, nothing like that. My head's fine. Super slayer healing, remember? Nope, no secrets. I've never been secret girl, remember? I couldn't even keep my slayer secret identity a secret. Nope, no secrets here. Gotta go. Talk to you later. Hope you feel better. Tell Tara 'hi' for me."
She went out the window and into the night.
When she made it back to her temporary home, Spike was standing on the doorstep.
"Waiting up for me?" she asked dryly.
"Nah, just had some thinking to do. Now that you're back, I'm gonna go get a pack of smokes. I didn't want to leave Nibblet alone in a strange house."
"Spike?"
"Yeah?" he rasped.
"Do you have another credit card? Or do you want me to stay awake until you get back?"
He looked down and mumbled "no need to stay awake on my account. I can get in. I'll try to be quiet when I get back." He turned and walked away.
She went to bed and fell almost instantly asleep.
Dawn's alarm was insistent. Buffy listened to it for a while, then it registered that Dawn hadn't turned it off. She got up, threw her robe on, and went into Dawn's room. Dawn was on her cot with two pillows over her head. Buffy walked over, pulled the pillows off Dawn's head after a brief struggle, and tossed them across the room. Dawn crawled out of her sleeping bag, glaring. "You're closer. Why didn't you turn it off?" she muttered. She walked over to the alarm clock and turned it off.
"I wasn't closer when I was in bed. In another room." Buffy replied. "Why did you have pillows over your head, anyway? Planning on being late to school?"
"No. Didn't want to hear any noises from across the hall."
"I told you we weren't..."
"Whatever." Dawn put on her robe, grabbed her other clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. From behind the closed bathroom door came a muffled "maybe you should. You'd be less grouchy."
Buffy got some clothes and went downstairs. She knew she'd have to wait for the bathroom, but she wanted to sit for a few minutes and think. She looked around. Spike's stuff was still where he had left it, but Spike wasn't in the living room. She wandered through the condo, looking for him. No Spike. No note. She made Dawn a leftover pizza lunch and started to make a grocery list. 'Okay, food AND money to buy it with. Great. Everything else going on in my life and I need to get a job.'
Dawn was out of the shower by this time. "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Cheese pizza. I can warm it up, if you want."
"Cold. Any Mountain Dew left?"
"For breakfast?"
"It has orange juice in it. Read the label." Dawn looked around. "Hey, where's Spike? Did you two have a fight last night?"
"No. Strangely enough, we actually managed to talk without fighting. Or mostly he talked and I listened. I have no idea where he is. After I do laundry and see about some groceries I'll stop by his crypt and see if he's there. He went out for some cigarettes last night after I got home from patrol and that's the last time I saw him. Hey, Willow is out of the hospital. She's staying at her parent's house. Later tonight maybe we'll stop and visit. Oh, and whatever you do, don't mention that Tara is anything more than a friend to her parents. They don't know."
They ate breakfast in silence.
"Ready? I'm going to have another key made for you today, too. When you get off school, go straight to the Magic Box and start your homework. I'm going to run a lot of errands and don't know when I'll get back. Got your books?" Dawn raised her backpack. "I'll see you tonight. Remember, straight to the Magic Box." Dawn left.
Buffy headed for the shower.
Once clean and dressed, she headed for the laundry room. 'Well, one nice thing; I only have one load of clothes. Permanently until I get enough money to buy some more.' In Buffy's opinion, housework was best done when still not awake. Nothing like a no-brainer with lots of moving around to allow you to snooze with your eyes open. She'd learned how to do it basically in her sleep the first couple of years as a Slayer-before her mom knew her big secret. As long as no cooking or dangerous chemicals were involved, no problemo.
Buffy looked around. Everything was clean, folded, washed, or put away neatly. Time to wake up and start thinking. A couple of duplicate keys were a good idea. She'd start by getting them. Maybe inspiration would strike at the hardware store. They should know a lot about electricity, right? She grabbed her coat and the small stash of money Spike had loaned her. Keys, electricity ideas, some groceries, information about Rack, and find out where Spike went. Sounded like a pretty long 'to do' list, hopefully it wouldn't take all day.
The hardware guys were pretty helpful. When she mentioned the fire, they made the second duplicate key for free. They thought she was fishing for information about an electrical fire, so they gave her an older book they were 'just going to throw away' about home wiring. She wasn't sure if it would help, but Xander worked in construction and he should be able to make sense of it. She headed for the grocery store next.
She took her small stash of groceries home and put them away. She tried out both new keys to make sure they worked. She was glad she had left two slaying bags at Giles'. Partially emptied out they made a decent temporary purse. She brought the book along so she didn't have to make a return trip. 'Next destination, Willow's house. I hope she's found something.'
Willow's mom answered the door. "Buffy, come in. Did you find the guy that did this? Willow is talking to that counselor right now."
"I found him, but he had bodyguards. Now we're having a strategy meeting. I won't be long." Buffy went to Willow's room and knocked on the door. Tara opened it and stepped aside, motioning Buffy inside. "Tara, how's it going? How's she feeling? Did you find any information for me?"
Willow looked up from her computer. "I found plenty. The only way to kill him is for one of his victims to do it. Since I'm the only one we know who still happens to be alive, I guess I'm the lucky winner." She shrugged.
Buffy crossed over to her. "Wills, you won't have to do this alone. He's a demon and he's hurt me and mine. That's plenty of reason for slayage. If I can't actually kill him, I can certainly distract him or hold off reinforcements. Just let me know what to do. I don't want to be knocked out again for three hours, and I don't want to get burned as bad as Spike did. Oh, that reminds me..." She reached into her bag and pulled out the book they had given her at the hardware store. "Will this help any? I was going to take it to Xander, but if you're the one doing the planning-you can have it."
Willow looked at the book. "I know you don't have any money, Buffy. How much did you spend on this?"
Buffy shrugged and tipped her head. "Free. The guys at the hardware store said the building codes had changed or something. I think that book is older than I am."
Willow opened it. "1963. It's almost older than my mom. But the principles are the same." She closed the book and handed it back to Buffy. "Give it to Xander, he's construction guy. We're working on a combination healing and shielding spell so I can face Rack at full strength without him inside my head. Tara and I do the spell as soon as I get it transcribed. After we perform it, I'll be unconscious for sixteen hours straight." She looked thoughtfully at Buffy. "Is there any way we can do it at the condo so you and Spike can guard us? It's going to take a lot out of Tara and I--and I don't like the thought of both of us tapped out without some other form of protection."
Buffy thought for a minute. "Any idea when you'll be ready?"
Willow got her figuring-things-out expression. "Tomorrow? Probably about eight or so."
Tara interjected "we still have to get ingredients and supplies. Make it ten tomorrow night."
Buffy nodded. "Ten o'clock tomorrow night. I'll see you then. Anything I can pick up?"
Tara and Willow both started to talk. "No, you can't afford..." "Thanks, but we don't know..." They looked at each other. "You first..." "After you..."
Buffy laughed. "Okay, got it. I couldn't afford the ingredients even if you did know what they were." She grabbed her bag and put the book back into it. "I'm off to look for Spike. He disappeared last night--probably got trapped by the sun somewhere without his blanket. See you two tomorrow at ten."
Buffy headed for Spike's crypt. She knew he could get there from almost anywhere in the city. She opened his door. "Spike?" No signs of a struggle. That was good. Maybe she'd have better luck downstairs. She went down the ladder. It was dark. The only light filtered down from above. "Candles, I know he has candles." She fumbled around for a few minutes, then found a book of matches. She struck a match and pounced on the nearest candle. She picked up the newly lit candle and made her way around the room. "Spike?"
There was a mound of covers on the bed. "This isn't funny." The mound never moved. "If you're playing some sort of sick game, I'm gonna kill you." She walked cautiously towards the bed, slightly worried. "Are you okay?" She moved the covers slightly. It was Spike, she could tell that by the bleached blond hair. She ripped the covers off the bed. "That is SO not...Oh. My. God." He was naked, but that was not her main concern. He was also charred and bleeding from head to toe.
She headed for one of Sunnydale's newer cemeteries. It was close to Giles' place and had its fair share of demonic action. Boring. No activity. Not even a stray animal was roaming around. She didn't want to go to the Magic Box; Anya was probably still there and might be sleeping on one of the mats from the training room. She'd seemed pretty determined to get the place put back in order before she left. Buffy thought for a while longer. She'd sneak back into the hospital and see how Willow was doing and let her know what they'd found out about Amy and Rack. She changed direction and headed toward her destination.
Sneaking into the hospital wasn't difficult. She went to Willow's room. There was somebody else in the bed. She went out to the desk at the nurse's station. One bored looking nurse was writing something in a chart. She could hear two more in a back room, talking about some movie they had both seen. "Excuse me?"
The nurse looked up, startled. "It's past visiting hours, you're not supposed to be here."
"Uh, I work late shift. I just came up to see my friend. Is she still in room 219? Willow Rosenberg? Beaten up."
"She's not here. Poor thing, such a sweet girl, it's a shame. I think she went home, let me check. Yes, she signed herself out tonight."
"Do you know, did she leave with her...friend?"
"No idea. I wasn't on shift yet."
"Thanks." Buffy turned and left. She knew where Willow's parents lived, that was probably her best bet. When she got to the Rosenberg's house, she went around to the side. She didn't want to wake everyone, just Willow. She went to the window and opened it. Willow had shown her long ago which one she left unlocked 'for Scooby emergencies'. Buffy scrambled in the window, leaned over the bed and softly whispered "Willow?" Pain exploded in her head, then everything went dark.
"Buffy? I'm so sorry. You scared me and I had a defense spell all ready to go. Are you okay? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Not so loud, please. I think my head is going to explode."
"Oh, I'll get you some aspirin. I'm a little edgy. Sorry. I'll be right back." Willow returned quickly with some aspirin and a glass of water. Buffy took them and handed the glass back to Willow. "Do you want to sit down? I mean, the floor is okay, but I have a nice comfy chair right here. Or if your head hurts too much you can use my bed. I mean, not in a girlfriendy way but because you need to be...I mean, not that you're not pretty, but I know you don't think about me in that way. I'm not reading your mind or anything to find this out. I don't KNOW, know. Just I know...I'm all babbly, aren't I?"
"Like the proverbial brook." Smiling hurt. "Quite a spell you have there. I came to tell you everything I know about Rack."
"Xander already told me. He said you and Dawn were staying at Giles' with no phone and that the police were after you. He wanted to give me the news about Amy in person."
"Wills, are you okay staying here alone? I mean, did Xander get to the part about Rack calling minds he'd been in?"
"I'm not alone. Tara is sleeping on the couch. My mom thinks she's a counselor or something. I still haven't told them about us. I didn't think now was the time, with us not exactly an us at the moment." Willow shrugged and looked away, eyes bright with unshed tears. "I know I screwed up. Tara can barely stand to be around me, you're mad at me, Dawn hates me..." Her voice trailed off.
Buffy reached around and hugged her. "We don't hate you. We just have to figure out how to fix your mistake. If you're feeling up to it, I need you to be research girl today. Find out all you can on portal demons and how to slay them. Rack's gonna pay for everything he's done."
"Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"Not that I'm criticizing or anything, I know I don't have the right, but where's Dawn? I mean, she isn't alone, is she?"
"No, Spike is staying on the couch at Giles'. Rack burned him pretty bad and since he got hurt helping me and I could use the extra firepower-I thought I'd just let him stay there-after all I could use a Dawnsitter and he's a good fighter and Dawn likes him and I do too-in a someone to beat up- NOT a boyfriend sort of way. I mean..."
Willow looked confused. "Buffy, you're as babbly as I was a minute ago. How's your head? I'm worried about a concussion." She looked closely at Buffy. "You look okay. But you're talking like I do when I get nervous because I have a big secret I shouldn't tell. You don't know something else about Rack you're not telling me? He's not after Tara or something?"
"No, nothing like that. My head's fine. Super slayer healing, remember? Nope, no secrets. I've never been secret girl, remember? I couldn't even keep my slayer secret identity a secret. Nope, no secrets here. Gotta go. Talk to you later. Hope you feel better. Tell Tara 'hi' for me."
She went out the window and into the night.
When she made it back to her temporary home, Spike was standing on the doorstep.
"Waiting up for me?" she asked dryly.
"Nah, just had some thinking to do. Now that you're back, I'm gonna go get a pack of smokes. I didn't want to leave Nibblet alone in a strange house."
"Spike?"
"Yeah?" he rasped.
"Do you have another credit card? Or do you want me to stay awake until you get back?"
He looked down and mumbled "no need to stay awake on my account. I can get in. I'll try to be quiet when I get back." He turned and walked away.
She went to bed and fell almost instantly asleep.
Dawn's alarm was insistent. Buffy listened to it for a while, then it registered that Dawn hadn't turned it off. She got up, threw her robe on, and went into Dawn's room. Dawn was on her cot with two pillows over her head. Buffy walked over, pulled the pillows off Dawn's head after a brief struggle, and tossed them across the room. Dawn crawled out of her sleeping bag, glaring. "You're closer. Why didn't you turn it off?" she muttered. She walked over to the alarm clock and turned it off.
"I wasn't closer when I was in bed. In another room." Buffy replied. "Why did you have pillows over your head, anyway? Planning on being late to school?"
"No. Didn't want to hear any noises from across the hall."
"I told you we weren't..."
"Whatever." Dawn put on her robe, grabbed her other clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. From behind the closed bathroom door came a muffled "maybe you should. You'd be less grouchy."
Buffy got some clothes and went downstairs. She knew she'd have to wait for the bathroom, but she wanted to sit for a few minutes and think. She looked around. Spike's stuff was still where he had left it, but Spike wasn't in the living room. She wandered through the condo, looking for him. No Spike. No note. She made Dawn a leftover pizza lunch and started to make a grocery list. 'Okay, food AND money to buy it with. Great. Everything else going on in my life and I need to get a job.'
Dawn was out of the shower by this time. "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Cheese pizza. I can warm it up, if you want."
"Cold. Any Mountain Dew left?"
"For breakfast?"
"It has orange juice in it. Read the label." Dawn looked around. "Hey, where's Spike? Did you two have a fight last night?"
"No. Strangely enough, we actually managed to talk without fighting. Or mostly he talked and I listened. I have no idea where he is. After I do laundry and see about some groceries I'll stop by his crypt and see if he's there. He went out for some cigarettes last night after I got home from patrol and that's the last time I saw him. Hey, Willow is out of the hospital. She's staying at her parent's house. Later tonight maybe we'll stop and visit. Oh, and whatever you do, don't mention that Tara is anything more than a friend to her parents. They don't know."
They ate breakfast in silence.
"Ready? I'm going to have another key made for you today, too. When you get off school, go straight to the Magic Box and start your homework. I'm going to run a lot of errands and don't know when I'll get back. Got your books?" Dawn raised her backpack. "I'll see you tonight. Remember, straight to the Magic Box." Dawn left.
Buffy headed for the shower.
Once clean and dressed, she headed for the laundry room. 'Well, one nice thing; I only have one load of clothes. Permanently until I get enough money to buy some more.' In Buffy's opinion, housework was best done when still not awake. Nothing like a no-brainer with lots of moving around to allow you to snooze with your eyes open. She'd learned how to do it basically in her sleep the first couple of years as a Slayer-before her mom knew her big secret. As long as no cooking or dangerous chemicals were involved, no problemo.
Buffy looked around. Everything was clean, folded, washed, or put away neatly. Time to wake up and start thinking. A couple of duplicate keys were a good idea. She'd start by getting them. Maybe inspiration would strike at the hardware store. They should know a lot about electricity, right? She grabbed her coat and the small stash of money Spike had loaned her. Keys, electricity ideas, some groceries, information about Rack, and find out where Spike went. Sounded like a pretty long 'to do' list, hopefully it wouldn't take all day.
The hardware guys were pretty helpful. When she mentioned the fire, they made the second duplicate key for free. They thought she was fishing for information about an electrical fire, so they gave her an older book they were 'just going to throw away' about home wiring. She wasn't sure if it would help, but Xander worked in construction and he should be able to make sense of it. She headed for the grocery store next.
She took her small stash of groceries home and put them away. She tried out both new keys to make sure they worked. She was glad she had left two slaying bags at Giles'. Partially emptied out they made a decent temporary purse. She brought the book along so she didn't have to make a return trip. 'Next destination, Willow's house. I hope she's found something.'
Willow's mom answered the door. "Buffy, come in. Did you find the guy that did this? Willow is talking to that counselor right now."
"I found him, but he had bodyguards. Now we're having a strategy meeting. I won't be long." Buffy went to Willow's room and knocked on the door. Tara opened it and stepped aside, motioning Buffy inside. "Tara, how's it going? How's she feeling? Did you find any information for me?"
Willow looked up from her computer. "I found plenty. The only way to kill him is for one of his victims to do it. Since I'm the only one we know who still happens to be alive, I guess I'm the lucky winner." She shrugged.
Buffy crossed over to her. "Wills, you won't have to do this alone. He's a demon and he's hurt me and mine. That's plenty of reason for slayage. If I can't actually kill him, I can certainly distract him or hold off reinforcements. Just let me know what to do. I don't want to be knocked out again for three hours, and I don't want to get burned as bad as Spike did. Oh, that reminds me..." She reached into her bag and pulled out the book they had given her at the hardware store. "Will this help any? I was going to take it to Xander, but if you're the one doing the planning-you can have it."
Willow looked at the book. "I know you don't have any money, Buffy. How much did you spend on this?"
Buffy shrugged and tipped her head. "Free. The guys at the hardware store said the building codes had changed or something. I think that book is older than I am."
Willow opened it. "1963. It's almost older than my mom. But the principles are the same." She closed the book and handed it back to Buffy. "Give it to Xander, he's construction guy. We're working on a combination healing and shielding spell so I can face Rack at full strength without him inside my head. Tara and I do the spell as soon as I get it transcribed. After we perform it, I'll be unconscious for sixteen hours straight." She looked thoughtfully at Buffy. "Is there any way we can do it at the condo so you and Spike can guard us? It's going to take a lot out of Tara and I--and I don't like the thought of both of us tapped out without some other form of protection."
Buffy thought for a minute. "Any idea when you'll be ready?"
Willow got her figuring-things-out expression. "Tomorrow? Probably about eight or so."
Tara interjected "we still have to get ingredients and supplies. Make it ten tomorrow night."
Buffy nodded. "Ten o'clock tomorrow night. I'll see you then. Anything I can pick up?"
Tara and Willow both started to talk. "No, you can't afford..." "Thanks, but we don't know..." They looked at each other. "You first..." "After you..."
Buffy laughed. "Okay, got it. I couldn't afford the ingredients even if you did know what they were." She grabbed her bag and put the book back into it. "I'm off to look for Spike. He disappeared last night--probably got trapped by the sun somewhere without his blanket. See you two tomorrow at ten."
Buffy headed for Spike's crypt. She knew he could get there from almost anywhere in the city. She opened his door. "Spike?" No signs of a struggle. That was good. Maybe she'd have better luck downstairs. She went down the ladder. It was dark. The only light filtered down from above. "Candles, I know he has candles." She fumbled around for a few minutes, then found a book of matches. She struck a match and pounced on the nearest candle. She picked up the newly lit candle and made her way around the room. "Spike?"
There was a mound of covers on the bed. "This isn't funny." The mound never moved. "If you're playing some sort of sick game, I'm gonna kill you." She walked cautiously towards the bed, slightly worried. "Are you okay?" She moved the covers slightly. It was Spike, she could tell that by the bleached blond hair. She ripped the covers off the bed. "That is SO not...Oh. My. God." He was naked, but that was not her main concern. He was also charred and bleeding from head to toe.