A quick author's note: This is as though Buffy had never gone on the date with Principal Wood and Chloë had never died. Basically, anything from the date on hasn't happened, and quite likely never will.
Disclaimer: Taineyah does not own any of the Buffyverse characters.
Taineyah: Would you quit saying that already? I think everyone's figured that out already.
Disclaimer: But what if someone hasn't? Remember: lawsuits are bad.
Taineyah: I don't care. *puts hands over ears and dances* Tra la la! I'm not listening. Tra la la! I can't hear you!
Disclaimer: *Rolls eyes* I'm not even gonna bother. Let's just get on with the story.
Taineyah: Fine. Let's get started.
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Artemis stepped out into the glare of the streetlight, having finally found what she was looking for.
"A bar," she whispered happily. It wasn't that she hadn't been able to find any other bars in Sunnydale, it was just that they were all too upscale to fall for her fake ID.
She went in and ordered the first drink she'd had in nearly a week.
***
"Where'd she go?" Buffy asked Chloë, her hazel eyes sparking.
"I don't know. She said she was going out and then she took off. She didn't say where."
"Are you sure? Was she wearing an outfit for clubbing or patrolling or what? Think about it. We have to find her." Buffy ran a hand through her hair.
"She was wearing her usual clothes. Little green tubetop, long brown coat, baggy pants and oversized workboots. She didn't give any clues."
"Did she have any weapons?"
"I didn't see any..."
"Then that rules out patrolling, probably. Can you think of anything?"
"No. I'm sorry."
Buffy saw the distress on the younger girl's face and realised that she was being too abrupt. "It's okay, Chloë. At least you told me she'd left."
"She locked me in a closet. Was I supposed to say I'd locked myself in?" Chloë rubbed her hand where she'd been pounding on the door. It was an angry red, but there wasn't any severe damage. It'd be fine by the next day.
Buffy smiled. "You're right. Why don't you join the others in the basement? I've got to speak to some of the adults."
Chloë left and Buffy went into the kitchen, where her friends, and Thomas, were taking a much needed break from what Spike called the "Teeny-bopper Invasion."
"Why do I have the feeling our break's over?" Spike asked, seeing Buffy's exasperated look.
"'Cause it is." Buffy looked around. "We have a problem." Her eyes stopped on Thomas.
"What?" Thomas asked, looking up from the scimitar he was sharpening. His habit of always having something sharp to polish or play with was disconcerting, especially to the Potentials.
"It seems that your little pet Potential has taken off into the night. Chloë saw her leaving and she locked Chloë in a closet." Buffy watched his face, which turned from absolute neutrality to confusion.
"She did?" Thomas asked, incredulously. "She promised me she'd tell me if she was leaving." He replaced the scimitar into its sheath.
"You believed her?"
"She doesn't lie very often." He stood up and hung the sheath off of his belt.
"Well, now we have to go find her. Xander, Giles and Willow, you stay here. Look after the girls. Spike and Anya, head out towards the Bronze."
Before she could continue, Spike interrupted. "No offence to Anya, but I can find the Hellian better and faster on my own."
"No one goes anywhere on their own."
"Except for you?"
"I was going to take Thomas with me."
"I'm going on my own." Spike disappeared out the back door.
Buffy shook her head and sighed at the vampire's stubbornness. "Anya, stay here then. Will, can you try a locator spell? I'll be on my cell. Call me if you find her. Thomas, you're with me." She too, disappeared into the darkness, Thomas falling silently into step behind her.
***
#I saw Chloë just before the sun went down. That means the Hellian's been gone an hour, maybe two.# Spike stopped in his tracks. #Pissed off bad girl teen. Why am I headed for the Bronze? She'll be at a bar.#
He changed his direction. He knew where she'd probably be.
A few minutes later, he was stopped outside of a rundown little establishment in the warehouse district. They'd serve anyone who put money on their counter. Taking a deep and unnecessary breath, he went in.
As he'd suspected, the girl was sitting at one of the grubby tables in the dark back corner.
"Found ya, you little moron." He sat next to her.
She looked at him dazedly. "Get the hell away from me." She lurched away from the table, unsteadily.
"What, you can't hold your drink?" Spike mocked as she stumbled out the door.
"I'm fine. Now go away."
"I have to take you back." He tried to grab her shoulder.
"No, you don't." She started running, barely able to stay on her feet.
Spike kept up with her easily. "Listen, Hellian, you're drunk. You can hardly stand. Why don't you come with me and have a nap?"
Artemis didn't answer. She tripped over a rock and fell headlong on the pavement, gashing her chin.
Seeing his chance, Spike picked her up. "You're coming with me, whether you like it or not."
"I don't have to listen to you. You're not older than me."
"I beg your pardon, but you're wrong. I'm about a hundred years older than I look."
"Okay, so maybe a little." Artemis closed her eyes, passing out. Blood was running freely from her chin, the smell making Spike hungry.
"Assholes in the bar probably don't even have a liquor license," Spike said. "They should know better than to give someone that much."
Spike trotted her back to the house. He really needed to get to the fridge. He was absolutely starved.
As he walked up the walkway, she woke up and said, "For a dead guy, you're pretty cute." Then she puked all over both of them.
Spike looked distastefully at the chunky liquid running all over his jacket. #At least she got some of it out of her system,# he thought.
"I've got her!" he called as he got into the house.
"Thank god," Giles said. When he saw them, though, he wasn't so sure. "What did she run into out there? Demons? Bringers?" Anya, Willow and Xander piled out of the kitchen to see what was wrong.
"A bar and then a sidewalk. She was already plastered by the time I found her. She tried to run, but she fell on her face."
"Anya, I think that you had better take Artemis and get her cleaned up."
"I'm not touching her," Anya said, wrinkling her nose.
"Willow?" Giles wiped his glasses tiredly.
"No way. I'd be sick all over the place." Willow looked rather green at the thought.
"Bloody hell, you girls are wimps." Spike looked at them. "I'll take her and clean her off. I need to rinse my jacket anyway."
"Spike, it's not like you have the best track record with girls and bathrooms," Xander said.
"Yeah," Anya chimed in. "That's where you tried to rape Buffy."
Everyone looked at Anya. (A/N: you know, that "that was a serious faux pas, you shouldn't say that aloud" look?)
"I'm not going to hurt the Hellian. Bring me up some blood, though. I'm starving." He went up the stairs.
***
Buffy and Thomas looked at the girl who was now sleeping on the couch. The bandage on her chin stood out starkly against her skin. An oversized hoody covered her hair and she had a pair of Chloë's Winnie the Pooh pajama bottoms on, making her look very young and innocent. She could have easily passed for twelve or thirteen years old, instead of her 16.
"What are we gonna do with her?" Buffy asked.
In a rare show of emotion, Thomas's voice cracked as he said, "I've had my hands full just keeping her alive. She could be so sweet, if only..." He was cut off as someone knocked at the door.
Buffy sighed as she went to let what she expected to be another Potential in. The door opened to reveal a green skinned demon with red horns and a dark haired girl in her late teens or early twenties.
"Hi B."
Buffy's jaw dropped.
"Aren't you going to let us in?" Faith asked.
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I'd like to send a special thank you out to Darklight, who gave me the information I need to explain Faith's appearance in this story. Please read the stories that Darklight has put up on this site. You really should. They're really good. (I would have put this in with the last chapter, but it would have ruined the surprise.)
Please review.