Chapter 76
A man closed his shop. There was lots of traffic and honking on the street. The street was full of cars, all pointed in the same direction, but no one was moving. People were even walking through the street carrying belongings. Buffy and Angel walked among them, looking around, when someone in a car called out to them. It was Clem, driving a late model red VW Beetle.
"Hey you two." Clem said.
"Hey." Buffy said.
"So I heard you two got back in town about a week ago and you now own Wolfram and Hart."
"You heard right."
"Isn't that an EVIL law firm?"
"I guess you could call it that." Angel said.
"You're lawyers? When did that happen?"
"We're not.. We just run the place." Buffy said.
A car horn blared behind Clem. "Can you believe this mishegaas?"
"Yeah. You'd think these people had never seen an apocalypse before. What about you? Just going for a quick spin to 7-Eleven.. in Nebraska?"
"It's getting bad here. Really bad. Hellmouth acting up again, people feeling it, getting crazier. You can't swing a cat without hitting some kind of demonic activity. Not that I swing cats, or eat.. nope. Heh. Cuttin' way back. Cholesterol.. morals. I mean, morals."
"Right."
"We've seen some bad stuff in this town before but, you know, this time, it's like it just seems different, more powerful. I don't think anyone's gonna be able to stop it." Clem caught himself. "I mean, I'm sure you'll do fine. Complete confidence in you two. Heh. Uh, if anyone can do it, you guys can, because you.. rock! If you save the world, I'll come back, we'll have drinks. When. When, I mean. When you save the world. It's gonna be great with all the.. rocking. Maybe.. maybe you should just get out of town this time."
"Yeah. We probably should." Angel said sadly, knowing they couldn't just up and leave like the rest of Sunnydale.
"You take care of yourselves, ok?" Clem waved. "Bye." With that, he drove off.
Angel looked down at his watch. "Oh hey, aren't we supposed to meet Willow at the hospital about now?"
"Oh.." Buffy grabbed Angel's wrist and looked at his watch. "Come on."
An hour later, Buffy and Angel walked wearily into the house. Buffy had wanted to leave because she felt so guilty about Xander that she couldn't stand to be around him at the moment. Not like she was going to avoid the subject though because Dawn walked up to them and said, "Hey guys. How's Xander?"
Faith, Kennedy, and Amanda walked into the dining room as Buffy said. "He's doing really well. He's ready to come home, I think." She smiled and put down the file on the table. Angel started opening it.
"Whatcha got?" Faith asked.
"Info that Giles and Willow were able to pull off the police database. We figured with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been." Angel said.
"'Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious institutions in the last 10 years.' Looks like this gives us a place to start."
"Yeah. We figure we start with California. We don't find anything there, we'll expand the search. But a guy like Caleb didn't just get in the game. He's been playing for a while, and I wanna know where. Whatever it takes." Angel looked at Dawn. "You good to help?"
"Well, I was gonna do lots and lots of homework, but darn the luck, they went and canceled school, so looks like I got the time."
Angel smiled and handed Dawn the papers. "Good."
"Hey, um.. How was Xander's mood, you know, exactly?" Neither Buffy or Angel looked at her. "And did you get a chance to talk to the doctor about the meds? Because it seemed like.."
"Hey, pipsqueak, why don't you go get some of the stuff you've already gotten from Giles?" Faith said.
"Or, um, we can talk about this later, maybe."
"Ok." Buffy said, still not looking at Dawn.
"Yeah. I'll be right back." With that, Dawn left the room.
"Try to find anything that looks like Caleb, his church, his ring.."
"His ability to render a slayer useless in just one punch." Kennedy said. Buffy looked up, hurt and Faith frowned. "I didn't.. that was stupid. I don't know why I said that."
"Uh, it's ok. Um.. you know, I.. I have to go to the school to pick up the rest of my stuff."
"I really didn't mean.."
"It's fine. Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Hey, uh.. isn't Anya doing that thing for you guys today?"
"Yeah. We were. We probably should head down there now."
"Ok. I'll be back soon." Kennedy and Amanda left. Buffy looked at Faith. "See that everyone else gets started on this." Faith nodded and Buffy headed to the door.
Angel caught her before she could open it. "I'll come with."
"No. Just.. stay here and watch after them, ok?"
"Buffy.."
"It's just the school. I promise I'll call if the Hellmouth decides to open while I'm there." Angel stared at her wearily. "I'm coming right back." With that, she kissed him gently then left.
Angel stood in a corner watching Giles walk to the desk and pull a magnifying glass out of the drawer. A bunch of potentials were sitting on the couch and chairs in the living room as well, but they were quiet and solemn-looking. Andrew had been bitching to Angel about Faith eating one of his hot pockets and Angel had told him to go away. Now he was bitching to Giles about it.
"See, it's not the hot pocket itself.... even though it did have that new- and-improved thicker tomato sauce.... it's just the fundamental lack of respect." Andrew whined.
"Shut up." Giles said. "Pay attention." He held the magnifying glass over the photo. "Dawn, what do you see?"
"What am I looking for?" Dawn asked.
"On the back wall, a.... knothole."
"That's not a knothole."
"Amanda, would you go down to the basement and get Spike?"
"Maybe this'll help.... if this does bring us closer to Caleb."
A minute later, Spike stalked into the room. "What's up.... Rupert?"
"Spike, I have a mission for you."
"Oh, really? Cause, you know, sometimes our missions end up with you trying to kill me. I'm not fond of those."
"This is bona fide.... with real ramifications. Take a look at this." Giles handed the picture and the magnifying glass to Spike.
"Looks like our boy's been here. You want me to go check it out?"
"I need someone who can take care of themselves in case Caleb has.... left some souvenirs."
"Are we gonna get to the food-stealing issue soon?" Andrew whined.
"Take Andrew."
"What!?" Spike and Andrew asked.
"Well, you are always saying you wanna get out of the house more." Dawn said.
"Yeah, but...." Andrew protested.
"There may be demons.... lurking about. You never know. He's a demon expert. He can help."
"Oh, please." Spike said.
"Well, he can bring his pan flute thing along. Excellent. Off you go."
"Giles!"
"I'll go." Angel said, stepping in.
"I would like you here, Angel." Giles said.
"I don't want to be here. I need to get out so I'll take Spike and Andrew to the mission. I know where it's at." He grabbed his coat and breezed out the door before Giles could say anything more.
Buffy walked into her house and shut the door. "Hey. Guys, how's it.." She paused and looked around, realizing everyone was gone. "Going?"
"Buffy. Are you hurt?" Giles asked from the dining room.
"Oh.. Caleb came back looking for seconds."
"My God, is h-he.."
"Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head? You betcha. The short lack of consciousness was nice. I feel rested." Buffy sat with a groan. "So.. how did those police files work out? Were they helpful?"
"Uh.. uh.. yes. Very much so, I think. Um.. there's evidence that Caleb may have established a foothold up north."
"That's great. That's.."
"I, um.. I sent Spike to look into it."
"Spike? Is this a mission from which you intend Spike to return alive?"
"Yes. I sent Andrew with him."
"Again I ask the question."
"Buffy, you and Angel weren't here. Decisions have to be made in your absence."
"Yeah, well, those are the ones that have been scaring me."
"I did what I thought was right."
"Where's Angel?"
"What?"
"You know, tall broody guy that I married?"
"He went with Spike."
"What? You sent away one of the few people that's been watching my back."
"We're all watching your back."
"Funny.. that's not really what it feels like." Buffy stood and got ready to leave.
"Buffy.."
"Where did everybody go?"
"Excuse me?"
"Faith. The girls. Where are they?"
"Um.. Faith thought that the girls could do with some time off their studies. I.. I thought.. She took them to the Bronze."
Buffy gawked and rolled her eyes, walking back out the door. She was angry now. All their hard work and Faith was throwing it away because she was the lenient Slayer.
Angel stared out the van's window as he drove. Spike was in the passenger's seat and Andrew was sitting in one of the seats behind them. He leaned forward. "You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?"
"It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation." Spike said.
"Right. Right. Gotcha. I-I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries. They're really good."
"Not as good as those onion blossom things."
"Ooh, I love those."
"Yeah, me, too."
"It's an onion.... and it's a flower. I-I don't understand how such a thing is possible."
"See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes."
"Masterful."
"Yeah." Spike paused and then glanced at Angel and Andrew. "Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you and stake you."
"Right." Andrew said.
"Don't worry Spike, I won't tell anyone the Big Bad is a softie who can hold a conversation about a fried onion." Angel said.
Spike smiled. "So how's the that Slayer of yours? She seems a little on the depressed and broody side."
"She's been through a lot."
"S'what Faith and Willow said. Something about how she and you were evil. The LA gang planned Angelus, but evil Buffy...."
"She doesn't like talking about it.... And frankly, neither do I."
"Wow.... Buffy was evil?" Andrew asked.
"Didn't you hear him you little ponce?" Spike asked. "He doesn't want to talk about it."
"Ok, I'll ask Buffy later."
"Sit back and shut up." Angel growled.
Buffy stormed to the Bronze. As Buffy rounded the corner, Faith kicked a police officer against the hood of his car, grabbed the club from another, pressed it against his throat, and knocked him into a wall. He sunk down to the ground.
"Faith! What are you doing?" Buffy asked angrily as she walked up.
"Just blowing off steam. Well, it started that way. Turned when the cops went evil on us." Faith said.
Dawn, Chao-Ahn, Rona, and the other girls came out of the club and gathered around Buffy and Faith. "Girls, go home. I need to talk to Faith for a minute."
"Buffy, we weren't.." Dawn started.
"Dawn.. you, too. Go." The girls walked away.
Buffy glared at Faith. "What is this?"
"They needed a break, all right? They've been running themselves into the ground. Things just got out of hand." Faith said.
"Taking a break is one thing.. I get blowing off steam.. but they were fighting. And those girls were drunk! What were you thinking?!"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Yeah, what if someone had gotten hurt?"
"They didn't."
"Faith, I need to know that these girls are gonna be safe when Angel and I aren't around."
"No one got hurt, B. Look, you don't even know these girls. You haven't been here. Maybe you should have a little more confidence in em, let them mess up sometimes, you know, get down and dirty. How the hell else are they gonna learn?"
"Learning from your mistakes is one thing. I know all about that. But you don't throw children into.."
"They're not children."
"That really isn't the point."
"Yeah, what about the vineyard?"
"What?"
"How safe were they when you dragged them off to meet Caleb? How safe was Rona or Amanda or Molly?"
Enraged, Buffy punched Faith in the face, knocking her down to the ground. Buffy walked away. Faith touched her face and watched Buffy leave, but didn't follow.
A man closed his shop. There was lots of traffic and honking on the street. The street was full of cars, all pointed in the same direction, but no one was moving. People were even walking through the street carrying belongings. Buffy and Angel walked among them, looking around, when someone in a car called out to them. It was Clem, driving a late model red VW Beetle.
"Hey you two." Clem said.
"Hey." Buffy said.
"So I heard you two got back in town about a week ago and you now own Wolfram and Hart."
"You heard right."
"Isn't that an EVIL law firm?"
"I guess you could call it that." Angel said.
"You're lawyers? When did that happen?"
"We're not.. We just run the place." Buffy said.
A car horn blared behind Clem. "Can you believe this mishegaas?"
"Yeah. You'd think these people had never seen an apocalypse before. What about you? Just going for a quick spin to 7-Eleven.. in Nebraska?"
"It's getting bad here. Really bad. Hellmouth acting up again, people feeling it, getting crazier. You can't swing a cat without hitting some kind of demonic activity. Not that I swing cats, or eat.. nope. Heh. Cuttin' way back. Cholesterol.. morals. I mean, morals."
"Right."
"We've seen some bad stuff in this town before but, you know, this time, it's like it just seems different, more powerful. I don't think anyone's gonna be able to stop it." Clem caught himself. "I mean, I'm sure you'll do fine. Complete confidence in you two. Heh. Uh, if anyone can do it, you guys can, because you.. rock! If you save the world, I'll come back, we'll have drinks. When. When, I mean. When you save the world. It's gonna be great with all the.. rocking. Maybe.. maybe you should just get out of town this time."
"Yeah. We probably should." Angel said sadly, knowing they couldn't just up and leave like the rest of Sunnydale.
"You take care of yourselves, ok?" Clem waved. "Bye." With that, he drove off.
Angel looked down at his watch. "Oh hey, aren't we supposed to meet Willow at the hospital about now?"
"Oh.." Buffy grabbed Angel's wrist and looked at his watch. "Come on."
An hour later, Buffy and Angel walked wearily into the house. Buffy had wanted to leave because she felt so guilty about Xander that she couldn't stand to be around him at the moment. Not like she was going to avoid the subject though because Dawn walked up to them and said, "Hey guys. How's Xander?"
Faith, Kennedy, and Amanda walked into the dining room as Buffy said. "He's doing really well. He's ready to come home, I think." She smiled and put down the file on the table. Angel started opening it.
"Whatcha got?" Faith asked.
"Info that Giles and Willow were able to pull off the police database. We figured with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been." Angel said.
"'Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious institutions in the last 10 years.' Looks like this gives us a place to start."
"Yeah. We figure we start with California. We don't find anything there, we'll expand the search. But a guy like Caleb didn't just get in the game. He's been playing for a while, and I wanna know where. Whatever it takes." Angel looked at Dawn. "You good to help?"
"Well, I was gonna do lots and lots of homework, but darn the luck, they went and canceled school, so looks like I got the time."
Angel smiled and handed Dawn the papers. "Good."
"Hey, um.. How was Xander's mood, you know, exactly?" Neither Buffy or Angel looked at her. "And did you get a chance to talk to the doctor about the meds? Because it seemed like.."
"Hey, pipsqueak, why don't you go get some of the stuff you've already gotten from Giles?" Faith said.
"Or, um, we can talk about this later, maybe."
"Ok." Buffy said, still not looking at Dawn.
"Yeah. I'll be right back." With that, Dawn left the room.
"Try to find anything that looks like Caleb, his church, his ring.."
"His ability to render a slayer useless in just one punch." Kennedy said. Buffy looked up, hurt and Faith frowned. "I didn't.. that was stupid. I don't know why I said that."
"Uh, it's ok. Um.. you know, I.. I have to go to the school to pick up the rest of my stuff."
"I really didn't mean.."
"It's fine. Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Hey, uh.. isn't Anya doing that thing for you guys today?"
"Yeah. We were. We probably should head down there now."
"Ok. I'll be back soon." Kennedy and Amanda left. Buffy looked at Faith. "See that everyone else gets started on this." Faith nodded and Buffy headed to the door.
Angel caught her before she could open it. "I'll come with."
"No. Just.. stay here and watch after them, ok?"
"Buffy.."
"It's just the school. I promise I'll call if the Hellmouth decides to open while I'm there." Angel stared at her wearily. "I'm coming right back." With that, she kissed him gently then left.
Angel stood in a corner watching Giles walk to the desk and pull a magnifying glass out of the drawer. A bunch of potentials were sitting on the couch and chairs in the living room as well, but they were quiet and solemn-looking. Andrew had been bitching to Angel about Faith eating one of his hot pockets and Angel had told him to go away. Now he was bitching to Giles about it.
"See, it's not the hot pocket itself.... even though it did have that new- and-improved thicker tomato sauce.... it's just the fundamental lack of respect." Andrew whined.
"Shut up." Giles said. "Pay attention." He held the magnifying glass over the photo. "Dawn, what do you see?"
"What am I looking for?" Dawn asked.
"On the back wall, a.... knothole."
"That's not a knothole."
"Amanda, would you go down to the basement and get Spike?"
"Maybe this'll help.... if this does bring us closer to Caleb."
A minute later, Spike stalked into the room. "What's up.... Rupert?"
"Spike, I have a mission for you."
"Oh, really? Cause, you know, sometimes our missions end up with you trying to kill me. I'm not fond of those."
"This is bona fide.... with real ramifications. Take a look at this." Giles handed the picture and the magnifying glass to Spike.
"Looks like our boy's been here. You want me to go check it out?"
"I need someone who can take care of themselves in case Caleb has.... left some souvenirs."
"Are we gonna get to the food-stealing issue soon?" Andrew whined.
"Take Andrew."
"What!?" Spike and Andrew asked.
"Well, you are always saying you wanna get out of the house more." Dawn said.
"Yeah, but...." Andrew protested.
"There may be demons.... lurking about. You never know. He's a demon expert. He can help."
"Oh, please." Spike said.
"Well, he can bring his pan flute thing along. Excellent. Off you go."
"Giles!"
"I'll go." Angel said, stepping in.
"I would like you here, Angel." Giles said.
"I don't want to be here. I need to get out so I'll take Spike and Andrew to the mission. I know where it's at." He grabbed his coat and breezed out the door before Giles could say anything more.
Buffy walked into her house and shut the door. "Hey. Guys, how's it.." She paused and looked around, realizing everyone was gone. "Going?"
"Buffy. Are you hurt?" Giles asked from the dining room.
"Oh.. Caleb came back looking for seconds."
"My God, is h-he.."
"Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head? You betcha. The short lack of consciousness was nice. I feel rested." Buffy sat with a groan. "So.. how did those police files work out? Were they helpful?"
"Uh.. uh.. yes. Very much so, I think. Um.. there's evidence that Caleb may have established a foothold up north."
"That's great. That's.."
"I, um.. I sent Spike to look into it."
"Spike? Is this a mission from which you intend Spike to return alive?"
"Yes. I sent Andrew with him."
"Again I ask the question."
"Buffy, you and Angel weren't here. Decisions have to be made in your absence."
"Yeah, well, those are the ones that have been scaring me."
"I did what I thought was right."
"Where's Angel?"
"What?"
"You know, tall broody guy that I married?"
"He went with Spike."
"What? You sent away one of the few people that's been watching my back."
"We're all watching your back."
"Funny.. that's not really what it feels like." Buffy stood and got ready to leave.
"Buffy.."
"Where did everybody go?"
"Excuse me?"
"Faith. The girls. Where are they?"
"Um.. Faith thought that the girls could do with some time off their studies. I.. I thought.. She took them to the Bronze."
Buffy gawked and rolled her eyes, walking back out the door. She was angry now. All their hard work and Faith was throwing it away because she was the lenient Slayer.
Angel stared out the van's window as he drove. Spike was in the passenger's seat and Andrew was sitting in one of the seats behind them. He leaned forward. "You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?"
"It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation." Spike said.
"Right. Right. Gotcha. I-I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries. They're really good."
"Not as good as those onion blossom things."
"Ooh, I love those."
"Yeah, me, too."
"It's an onion.... and it's a flower. I-I don't understand how such a thing is possible."
"See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes."
"Masterful."
"Yeah." Spike paused and then glanced at Angel and Andrew. "Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you and stake you."
"Right." Andrew said.
"Don't worry Spike, I won't tell anyone the Big Bad is a softie who can hold a conversation about a fried onion." Angel said.
Spike smiled. "So how's the that Slayer of yours? She seems a little on the depressed and broody side."
"She's been through a lot."
"S'what Faith and Willow said. Something about how she and you were evil. The LA gang planned Angelus, but evil Buffy...."
"She doesn't like talking about it.... And frankly, neither do I."
"Wow.... Buffy was evil?" Andrew asked.
"Didn't you hear him you little ponce?" Spike asked. "He doesn't want to talk about it."
"Ok, I'll ask Buffy later."
"Sit back and shut up." Angel growled.
Buffy stormed to the Bronze. As Buffy rounded the corner, Faith kicked a police officer against the hood of his car, grabbed the club from another, pressed it against his throat, and knocked him into a wall. He sunk down to the ground.
"Faith! What are you doing?" Buffy asked angrily as she walked up.
"Just blowing off steam. Well, it started that way. Turned when the cops went evil on us." Faith said.
Dawn, Chao-Ahn, Rona, and the other girls came out of the club and gathered around Buffy and Faith. "Girls, go home. I need to talk to Faith for a minute."
"Buffy, we weren't.." Dawn started.
"Dawn.. you, too. Go." The girls walked away.
Buffy glared at Faith. "What is this?"
"They needed a break, all right? They've been running themselves into the ground. Things just got out of hand." Faith said.
"Taking a break is one thing.. I get blowing off steam.. but they were fighting. And those girls were drunk! What were you thinking?!"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Yeah, what if someone had gotten hurt?"
"They didn't."
"Faith, I need to know that these girls are gonna be safe when Angel and I aren't around."
"No one got hurt, B. Look, you don't even know these girls. You haven't been here. Maybe you should have a little more confidence in em, let them mess up sometimes, you know, get down and dirty. How the hell else are they gonna learn?"
"Learning from your mistakes is one thing. I know all about that. But you don't throw children into.."
"They're not children."
"That really isn't the point."
"Yeah, what about the vineyard?"
"What?"
"How safe were they when you dragged them off to meet Caleb? How safe was Rona or Amanda or Molly?"
Enraged, Buffy punched Faith in the face, knocking her down to the ground. Buffy walked away. Faith touched her face and watched Buffy leave, but didn't follow.
