Chapter 80

Angel walked in the house in front of Buffy. She had held onto her scythe proudly all the way home. They had sent the driver back to LA. He had protested at first, but they had spooked him into leaving. Dawn walked down the stairs, surprising Buffy and Angel. She moved past Angel to Buffy and stared at her angrily, then kicked her lightly in the shin.

"Ow." Buffy said.

"Dumbass." Dawn said.

Buffy turned to Xander sitting in the dining room, looking pained and sheepish with Anya pressing an ice pack to his head. "Don't look at me. This is a Summers thing. It's all very violent." He said.

"If you get killed, I'm telling." Buffy said playfully to Dawn. She and Angel went into the dining room and set the scythe down on table where Willow and Giles were researching.

Willow looked at Angel. "Did you the papers or find anything on the scythe?"

"It slices, dices, and makes julienne preacher." Buffy said proudly.

"Caleb?" Giles asked.

"She cut him in half." Angel said.

"Well, all right!" Willow said.

"He had that coming." Anya said.

"Hey, party in my eye socket and everyone's invited!" Xander said. Everyone stared akwardly at him. "Sometimes I shouldn't say words."

"Where's Faith and Spike?" Buffy asked.

"Faith is still resting and Spike is downstairs." Giles said.

"What's he doing?"

"I don't know."

Buffy looked at Angel and he handed her the amulet. "I'll be back." She headed towards the basement. Angel followed, but stayed at the top of the stairs.

Spike was downstairs punching the punching bag furiously. "Hey there luv."

"Hi. Whatcha doin?" Buffy asked.

He stopped and looked at her. "Figured I'd go ahead and start prepping for the big battle."

"Good."

"So, what'd you come down here for? You and I haven't really socialized since you and Angel got back from LA."

Buffy looked at the top of the stairs. "Angel, can you give us a few?" He nodded and left, shutting the door behind him. She turned back to Spike.

"What's going on?" Buffy let the necklace drop and dangle from her hand. "What's that? A present for me? I don't usually wear hippy jewelry even though it is back in fashion."

"It is a present, but it's not what you think." She sighed and started to pace. "You've been a great ally to me, Spike. Even though we don't get along that much, you are important to me."

"Oh great!"

"What?"

"You're saying goodbye to everyone, aren't you?"

"No!"

"You've probably spent the day thinking about what you're going to say to everyone. Well guess what luv, I don't want to hear it. You're not going to die. I won't let you. Besides, I don't really want Peaches on my ass because I didn't try to stop you. I'm going to be at your side fighting off the baddies. Nothing can stop me. I'm going to be there with you till the end."

"Spike...."

"You know, I still have feelings for you and I would do anything for you. But I am not going to sit here and listen to your goodbye speech to me. You're right bloody crazy if you think...." Suddenly, Buffy's little arms were around his neck in a tight embrace. It threw Spike off a bit, but he warmed to it and hugged her back. "Well, this is new. You think Angel will divorce you for this?"

Buffy pulled away. "Thank you for everything Spike. And thank you for saying that you'll be there for me. It means a lot to me, but I'm not saying goodbye. This amulet.... It's supposed to be worn by someone with a soul and has more strength than a human. It's volatile. We don't know exactly what it does. I need someone strong to bear it."

"Well, why are you talking to me? Angel's the one you want."

"Angel said the amulet was meant to be worn by a champion." Spike looked at her, getting it.

Buffy handed him the amulet. "Been called a lot of things in my time."

"Well, you deserve this." Buffy turned and headed up the stairs.

"Thank you." Spike called.

The Slayer only paused with a smile and then walked out the door.

Later that night, Faith had allowed Buffy and Angel to have their room back. She was sleeping in Dawn's room. Angel's arm was around Buffy's waist as he slept, completely out cold. Buffy, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. Something kept nagging at her. She turned slightly and stroked Angel's chisled cheekbone and gently kissed his lips. He didn't wake up, but he did move closer and bury his face in her hair. With a smile, Buffy got up and walked over to the window. She looked up at the stars and thought about her life.

She remembered when she and Angel had first met and then little things between him and her ran through her mind all the way up to the present moment. Then there were the memories of Willow and Xander. They were her partners in crime, her best friend's, her brother and sister. And next was Giles. He was the closest thing to her father. Hank, Buffy's real father, barely held a candle to Giles. Buffy smiled to herself as the faces of all her other friends floated into her mind's eye. This was her family.

The First stepped out of the darkness as Caleb and stood at her side. "Pretty, ain't it?"

"You're not him." Buffy said.

"No, you killed him, right and proper. Terrible loss. This man was my good right arm. Course it don't pain me too much. Don't need an arm. I've got an army."

"An army of vampires. However will I fight...."

"Every day our numbers swell. But then you do have an army of your own. Some thirty-odd pimply-faced girls, don't know the pointy end of a stake. Maybe I should call this off...."

"Have you ever considered a cool name? I mean, since you're incorporeal and basically powerless.... how about the Taunter? Strikes fear in the hearts of...."

"I will overrun this earth. And when my army outnumbers the humans on this earth, the scales will tip and I will be made flesh."

"Talk on. I'm not afraid of you."

"Then why aren't you asleep in your dead lover's arms?" Buffy glanced over at Angel on the bed and the First followed her gaze. "Cause he can't help you. Nor Faith, nor your friends. Certainly not your wanna-slay brigade. None of those girlies will ever know real power unless you're dead. You know the drill." The First shifted into Buffy herself. "'Into every generation a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world. She alone will have the strength and skill to....' There's that word again. What you are. How you'll die. Alone." Buffy stared at the First and said nothing. "Where's your snappy comeback?"

"You're right."

"Hmm.... not your best."

Angel suddenly started awake, coming out of a dream. "I'm drowning in foot wear!" Buffy looked over at him and when she looked back, the First was gone. "Danm. Weird dream. Buffy? Is something wrong."

"No." Buffy paused and looked at Angel, the hint of a smile lighting up her beautiful features. She remembered what Willow had discovered about the scythe, the power it held. "Yeah. I just realized something. Something that really never occurred to me before. We're going to win."

"How do you figure?"

"I don't. I just know."

Angel smiled. "You know, you may be a cookie sooner than you realize."

"Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"I have a plan. It's crazy, but I think it'll work." Angel patted the bed and Buffy sat down, starting to tell her plan to her husband.

The next morning, Buffy stood before Angel, Giles, Xander, Willow, Anya, Dawn, and Faith in her and Angel's room. She sat in Angel's lap and surveyed them all, her eyes dancing with excitement. "What do you think?"

"That depends. Are you in any way kidding?" Xander asked.

"You don't think it's a good idea?"

"It's pretty radical, B." Faith said.

"It's a lot more than that." Giles said. "Buffy, what you said.... it flies in the face of everything we've ever.... of what every generation has done in the fight against evil. I think it's bloody brilliant."

Buffy smiled. "You mean that?"

"If you want my opinion."

"Really do."

"Whoa, hey!" Willow said. "Not to poop on the party here but I'm the guy who's going to have to pull this thing off."

"It is beaucoup d'mojo." Faith said.

"This goes beyond anything I've ever done. It's a total loss of control and not in a nice, wholesome, 'my girlfriend has a pierced tongue' kind of way."

"Buffy wouldn't ask if she didn't think you could do it." Angel said. "And you know I wouldn't let her ask if I didn't think you could do it."

"I'm not sure that I'm stable enough."

"You can do this, Willow. We'll get the coven on the line and we'll find out how they can help." Giles said.

"Oh! Pierced tongue." Dawn said.

"Dawn needs to do a research thing!" Buffy said to Giles, wanting to get her sister away from the topic.

"Yes, you do." Angel said.

Dawn stood up and headed for the door. "It's cool. Watcher Junior to the library."

"I'll go dig up my sources." Giles said. "Quite literally, actually. There's one or two people I have to speak to who are dead."

"Come on. Let's go assemble the cannon fodder." Anya said to Xander.

"That's not what we're calling them, sweetie." Xander said.

"Not to their faces. What am I.... insensitive?"

As the others headed out to go about their business, Buffy stepped forward and handed the scythe to Willow. "I trust you Willow. You're my best friend. If I thought for one second that you couldn't do this, I really wouldn't ask." She hugged the red head gently.

As Willow left, Faith came up. "I'll go help gather the troops."

"Thanks."

Now there was only Buffy and Angel in the room. He took her hands and looked into her eyes. "Are you ready for this?"

"Well, if it'll help me bake.... I guess so."

"I'm proud of you. You will never know how much I love you Buffy Summers."

"I think I can come close." Buffy kissed him gently and then, gripping his hands, she walked downstairs.

Before she walked in to the living room where everyone was waiting, she hesitated. Angel leaned down and whispered, "You can do it. They'll listen to you." Taking a deep breath, Buffy walked in. She stood before the crowd once more. All the potentials were gathered, including Kennedy, Amanda, Shannon, Vi and Rona, along with Buffy's crew, including Andrew and Robin Wood. The tension was high in the room. Not all the girls were glad that Buffy was back and some of the new ones didn't trust her at all.

Buffy took one more deep breath and started. "I hate this. I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil and that I was chosen to fight it. I wish a whole lot of the time that I hadn't been. I know a lot of you wish I hadn't been, either. But this isn't about wishes. This is about choices. I believe we can beat this evil. Not when it comes. Not when its army is ready. Now. Tomorrow morning I'm opening the Seal. I'm going down into the Hellmouth and I'm finishing this once and for all. Right now you're asking yourselves what makes this different. 'What makes us anything more than a bunch of girls being picked off one by one?' It's true, none of you have the power that Faith and I do. So here's the part where you make a choice. What if you could have that power.... now? In every generation one Slayer is born because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men." She pointed at Willow, who smiled nervously. "This woman is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power should be our power. Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers.... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"

The girls all stared at Buffy. She looked nervous, but completely confident. Kennedy was the first up. "I say 'Hell yeah!'" The other girls all started cheering.

Later that night, Buffy stood alone, looking pensively off into the night. She couldn't help wondering if she had been right about it all. Could these girls handle the power? Could the girls they didn't know about out in the world handle the power? Could Buffy herself handle the power? It was a question that haunted her every move ever since the day she had accepted that she was a Slayer. Even if she didn't believe in herself intirely, Angel did. And that was all she needed. Gunn had called and said that his crew was geared up as a just in case scenario. He also informed them that the special forces at Wolfram and Hart were geared up as well. Wesley and Fred had wished her good luck and Lorne had sang a song to soothe Buffy's nerves. Part of her wished they were here. The other part knew they were better off away from all of this. If Buffy had a choice, she would let anyone who wanted to walk away go and she would kick her friends out. But Buffy didn't have a choice. She needed each and every one of them.

Buffy wrapped her arms around herself and stared out into the darkness. Suddenly, a presence was behind her. A familiar presence. "Hey Spike."

"Hey." The blonde vampire said.

"What're you doing out here?"

"Taken a breather."

"You dont breath."

"Metaphorical breather."

"Ah."

"So, are you ready for this?"

"Are you?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Well, something's wrong with you. You're isolating yourself and you only do that when there's something bothering you. So fess up."

Buffy smiled and went to sit on the swing. Spike followed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I've seen a lot of things you wouldn't believe Miss Seen-It-All. Try me."

"Do you remember when Angel and I got married?"

"How could I forget. Worse bloody day of my un-life. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Do you remember when I fainted on patrol with you?"

"Now I think I'd remember something like that."

"So I didn't? According to your memories."

"What are you talkin about luv?"

"Spike, I was pregnant. You don't remember any of it because you're not supposed to. But Angel and I do. We actually have two sets of memories. One where we kept our baby and named him Connor, but he was taken by this vampire hunter named Holtz into a hell dimension called Quar-toth. When he came back, he was 17 and so corrupted. He tried to put Angel in the bottom of the ocean in a steel coffin. I stopped him and he seemed fine afterwards. We brought him back here and he seemed to settle down. He even went to school here. One day, the day when we went back up to LA to stop that apocalypse with the Beast, he went with us. It turned out that he was a major player. Cordy was evil and she slept with Connor. She got pregnant, but it was a mystical pregnancy and the baby turned out to be Jasmine. She was a Power That Was and she used me, Angel, and Cordy just to get into this world. When she did, Connor loved her so much, just like the rest of LA. We found out what she really was and Connor had known the whole time, but he didn't care. Deep down, he resented me and Angel because he thought we had let Holtz take him into hell. We didn't mean to. It happened too fast. So, when Angel and I got the offer to take over Wolfram and Hart's LA branch, we made a deal. We told them we would take over if they gave Connor a normal family. He's with them now, 18 and a high school graduate. He graduated with honors and he has the chance to go to any college he wants."

"Whoa, slow down Buffy."

"I can't. The stuff you remember, it's not real. You remember that Angel and I got back together because Willow found out how to bind his soul. We got married and he took me to San Francisco for eight months. But for that eight months, I was pregnant. We gave the baby, Connor, away to a nice family, the family he's with now. We didn't want Connor to grow up in out world. We didn't want him to have that pain everyday."

"Buffy, luv, slow down. You're telling me that there are two versions of the last year and a half?" Buffy nodded. "And both you were pregnant in?" She nodded again. "One we all knew about the kid and the other, you hid it from us just so you could give the kid up?"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"It's a lot to process."

"Spike, I'm not crazy here. You can ask Angel. He'll tell you the same thing."

Spike gently grabbed Buffy's upper arms. "I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes. And I'm sorry about all of it. I understand now. That's why you've been so distant and so hard on everyone. Why haven't you told anyone else?"

"I don't know. They won't understand."

"You won't know until you tell them."

"They'll just feel bad for kicking me out and being mean to me. Let them think what they want. They don't need a bombshell like this. Maybe I'll tell them one day, but not now."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For trusting me enough to tell me about this."

"You're welcome. And Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being here. I'm sorry for all the mean things I said to you."

"No you're not. Not all of them anyways. Some of them I deserved. But thanks for saying it."

Buffy smiled. "I'm glad you're here Spike." She hugged Spike again.

"Wow, two hugs in two days. You must think you're going to die."

"I'm not...."

"I was joking."

"Oh."

"I'm going back in."

"Talk to Faith."

"What?"

"She loves you. At least a part of her does. Set things straight before tomorrow." Spike nodded and walked in the house.