Sorry for the lateness of the update, I've been real busy these last few weeks...

Part 9
The right way

It was night again and at the Summers home, Buffy, Angel, Connor and Joy were preparing to go hunting again and the slayer and the vampire had promised that this time they wouldn't get sidetracked. The two's statement was received with skepticism by Connor. Willow, Xander and a very eager Dawn offered to show Cordelia around the Bronze in hope of finding some stray memories. Though a little disappointed of not being able to join them, Connor agreed that it was a good idea. When they were about to leave, there was an unexpected guest.

"Spike? What are you doing here?" Buffy was afraid he'd freak out again.

"Figured you'd be heading out for some demon chopping and thought you could use a hand," Spike gave the slayer a look that let her understand he wouldn't lose it this time.

"If you promise to behave," Buffy thought help was always welcomed.

"Cross my heart," he made a mock sign across his chest.

"And hope to die?" Angel asked smirking.

"No use in hoping for that," Spike returned the mischievous smile. "So what are we after?"

"Gholas," Joy said and Spike nodded.

"Right, right. Any idea where the buggers are?" he asked.

"They were in the sewers last night. They have to be there...somewhere," Buffy filled him in.

"Split and search then?" Spike suggested.

"Best idea," Buffy agreed. "Now, who goes with who?"

"You, me and the girl check one side, Angel and his toddler can check the other," Spike offered.

"Toddler?" Connor looked at the vampire incredulously.

"Buffy's coming with me," Angel corrected Spike. "And..."

"Oh, no you're not dumping the toddler on me because you want your quality time with the slayer," Spike objected.

"Toddler?!" Connor interjected louder this time.

"Connor's coming with us. End of story," Buffy told Angel, settling it once and for all. She didn't feel like listening to two vampires disputing over her all night. Joy smiled. This meant she was going to have her father for the rest of the night all to herself. She couldn't shake off the bad feeling that nightmare had given her and Jacques' sudden disappearance didn't help either. It could mean only two things: either everything had gone bad in the future and her mother had reached Jacques and was probably on her way to eliminate her as well or her dream had been true and Jacques didn't want to tell her himself. Wesley had comforted her. Or at least he tried. It was all just a dream, he had told her before he mysteriously disappeared on some secret mission only he knew about. Somehow, Joy had a hard time believing his words. The battle had been fought. Willow vs Buffy, but who had won? She couldn't tell. She had a knot in her stomach and she thought in horror that it was going to stay there until Jacques had either the courage to show himself or her vampire of a mother would slam open the doors of the Summers house looking to spill some blood. She sighed. Being by her father's side for the night would do her good.

"Just stop calling me that," Connor told Spike a little menacing.

"Uh, the little bugger's got your temper," Spike noted smirking.

"Stop teasing the frustrated teen, Spike," Buffy warned him as they left the house. Connor only let out a sigh, exasperated. For a brief moment he considered punching a hole through Spike wondering if he'd still be smiling after. Angel caught his wild gaze and gave him a warning look. Spike might look like he's all talk, but he was an above average fighter.

"Tell your sonny boy not to put any ideas in his mind. My head might hurt like hell when I hit humans, but I won't stand a nosy brat pushing me around. Especially not yours," Spike told Angel after noticing the exchange of glares between the two.

"Don't worry, he doesn't even know you're harmless," Buffy had mentioned Spike's condition to Angel the previous night when they were up talking with Xander and Willow.

"Good. I might not be so harmless to him considering his parents," Spike pointed out.

"Just stay away from him," Angel said and there was an obvious undertone of menace in his voice.

"What? Don't you trust me, mate?" he asked and Angel stared at him. "My bad."

Buffy noticed Angel's obvious love for his son despite all he had put him through. It was strange to see him in that position, as a father...She just couldn't picture him holding a baby in his arms. All the times she had tried, she could only see Angelus ready for a meal. She shook off the image, the research on Angelus had left her with a few nightmares over the years.

"Hey, you think you and I can have a friendly fight? How about it?" Spike suggested and Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you have enough of that when we were on different sides?" Angel asked shaking his head.

"Actually, I think you left more scars on me when you were your gruesome charming self," the vampire noted as they reached the sewers. Connor pretended he wasn't interested in their conversation, but actually listened to them quite attentively. Joy was amused to see the interaction between the two vampires. She hadn't witnessed a meeting between the two in her lifetime and if she, in some way, had she couldn't remember because she would have been too young. Angel had died when she had been 5 years old and all she had known of him had been her father's, mother's and Wesley's stories and some of the very few scattered memories of Liam of a tall man with chocolate brown eyes, black hair and a sweet smile. It was hard imagining Angel, as young as he was now, a grandfather. The thought itself was laughable. But then again she had never known any of her grandparents. Spike's parents were long dead, Joyce Summers had died, ironically, of a brain tumor on the hellmouth and Hank Summers had believed his daughters dead in the falling of Sunnydale and Buffy and Dawn had let him believe that. But she had had something of a grandmother in Remy's mother. She smiled, Jacques had once told her, when he had found out that she had no grandparents, that she could have his. Jacques had been spoiled all his life by his grandparents from both sides. Even if Willow's parents had refused to even speak their daughter's name after her manifesto against Fred, whom they considered a hero, they embraced their nephew happily, especially since he happened to not live with his mother.

"I guess this is where we do the splitting," Buffy said when they reached the sewers. "They were down there somewhere last night," she told Spike. Connor and Joy rolled their eyes pretty much at the same time.

"The nest was just behind the corner up ahead," Joy gave the exact location. "Me and..." she had almost let the word 'dad' slip. "Me and Spike will go that way. You can go the other. I'm sure you can remember it," a thin smile crossed her lips.
"Like I said, never gonna hear the end of it," Buffy whispered to Angel as she passed him by. Angel chuckled. Connor shook his head. He felt like he was babysitting overgrown teenagers. He was supposed to be the young one for god's sake.

"Think I can really bring those two back together?" Joy asked her father when they were out of sight.

"Considering the history, I'd say there's a fair chance," Spike noted as they advanced in the sewers. "Besides, I doubt they were fighting demons last night. By the shape they're in I'd say they were probably fighting each other. One of the slayer's worst habits. You know she loves you only when she hits you."

"I'm lucky she didn't use that technique on me," Joy smiled.

"Sure, she mostly took out her frustrations on me, but I like to think of it as love," Spike returned the smile. It felt good to joke about it with someone who knew the whole truth.

"I missed you, dad," Joy said and Spike put his arm around her shoulders - something he had wanted to do ever since he had found out she was his daughter - and she let her head rest on his right shoulder.

"You have no idea how right this feels," he didn't find the words to describe his feelings. He chuckled. "I never pictured having children, but now that you're here...it's so right."

"I know," she smiled looking up at him.

"You look like something's bothering you," the vampire noticed.

"Bad dream," she tried to shook it off, but couldn't.

"What'd you dream?" he asked as they advanced even further into the darkness.

"That Willow killed mom."

"That almost happened once," he remembered the stories of Willow's dark days.

"Almost. In my dreams it actually happened. And that's how it was meant to be," she sighed pulling away from him. He stopped in his tracks. It was obvious she had something on her mind. There was a moment of silence before she spoke: "What if I'm making a mistake? A big selfish mistake?"

"Selfish?" he laughed. "Do you hear yourself talking? You're preventing yourself from being born! You're taking away all you've known in your life. If that's selfish..."

"But it is. I'm selfish because I'm sparing myself from having to make a choice. I'm sparing *my* family from death. What entitles me to do that? Who knows how many people I'm killing this way! How many people will Angel not save because he's here? How many people are dying as we speak because I sent my mother on a wild goose chase for gholas? Don't you think that's selfish?" her tone was harsh, but it wasn't addressed to him, but to herself.

"No, it's not. How many people are you saving? How many people are you sparing along with us?" he tried to reason with her.

"A whole world that doesn't exist yet and maybe won't either, because I decided I was the right person to change it all," she closed her eyes and touched her forehead. "You have no idea how right that was. Her, dying. It was like the world had been waiting for it all along. Maybe that's what I was supposed to do. Stay in my place. Fight the fight. Save the world. Like she always did. I'm a coward. An incredibly huge coward."

"Don't say that. You can't know what the world is suppose to be like. Your mother should've stayed dead, but she came back twice. Death just isn't her. And maybe in some strange way that's what you're doing right now. Proving what I'm saying. You're keeping her safe, out of death's way. And hey, if that's not how the world's suppose to be, not your fault. The world would send you a message if it was that wrong. And quite frankly, I wouldn't want to live in a world that considered this wrong."

"Oh, dad, if you could only understand..." she looked out into the darkness, lost. "I would've done anything, *anything* to change the world for us, so we could be a family, but I knew it couldn't have been done. Changing the past has a price. And I'm one of the fools willing to pay it," she paused. "I don't mind what's going to happen to me. But I have no right to mess with you."

"You're my blood, you have all the right in the world," he assured her putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "And if you don't, I just gave it to you." She smiled.

"Thank you," she turned to look in his eyes.

"Now all I need is the power to walk away from this," he said and gestured around himself.

"Well, you won't need much power to get away from this stinky place," she deliberately misunderstood him. She smiled, she had enough mind turning chattering for one night. Spike understood her silent plea to put serious things aside and just enjoy the evening. He liked the idea. He didn't feel like thinking of leaving Sunnydale and most of all Buffy behind. "Now, how about we find ourselves a couple of demons so we can say we actually did something here tonight?"

"You're reading my mind," the vampire smiled as they concentrated on the sewers ahead. As they kept walking, Spike chuckled: "You know they all think you're strange, but they just don't say anything."

"Really? I thought I acted pretty convincing."

"Sure, you didn't scream daughter from the future, but you were still weird," Spike assured her.

"Well since I only blew my cover in front of three people I..." she started.

"Three?" Spike scowled.

"What?" Joy looked at him questioningly.

"Nothing," he tried to brush it off.

"Oh no, *that* isn't a nothing," she insisted.

"Which *that*?"

"That noise you do," she imitated him. "That noise. The noise you do when you don't agree with something or when you think I did something stupid."

"Untrue I..." she stared at him. "Okay, okay, for god knows what reason I can't lie to you," he sighed. "Three people?! Have you entirely lost your mind?" he let out his disapproval.

"That's better, " Joy smiled. "You're actually the only one I didn't *have * to tell, but I did anyway. Wesley used black magic to trace my steps and got this twisted idea I was here to kill Angel and mom. So I had to tell him. And then Lorne, well that wasn't absolutely necessary, but I was a bit out of ideas at that point," there was a moment of silence. "So what do you think I should do to be less...strange?"

"Easing up on the staring would help," the vampire suggested. "Who's Lorne?"

"Well there's this dimension..." Joy began the story of the singing demon, the way she had heard it years ago from her uncle Wesley. In a totally different part of the sewers, Angel, Buffy and Connor walked on in a strange silence that seemed to demand it stay undisturbed. It was only occasionally interrupted by whispers between Buffy and Angel and low laughter at private jokes Connor could not understand. He didn't enjoy the situation one bit. He had been better off with Joy, at least when she was hunting she wasn't thinking of other things. He briefly wondered if she didn't need help. All alone with a vicious vampire and possibly a nest of demons...he looked at the slayer and his father and sighed, he wished he had Cordy's visions and pretend that Joy was in danger, but no, he was stuck there. Better make the best of it, he thought to himself. The sewers split in two in front of them.

"I guess we gotta split up," Buffy said. "I'll take the right side. You and Connor can take the left."

"I don't need a babysitter," Connor snapped.

"You can't go alone. You and Joy barely made it out alive last night," she reminded him. "We can't have you walking around alone."

"I can take care of myself," Connor didn't want to hear it.

"Don't be stupid," Buffy was loosing her patience. "I don't want to worry about you all night."

"Then don't," Connor put it simply.

"Connor..." Angel interfered.

"And I think you two wouldn't mind being alone," he interrupted him. Buffy stared at him, her face rock hard. "C'mon, I might've lived most of my life in a hell dimension, but I'm not blind. You two...all the jokes and innocent little touches..." he made a grimace. "It's beyond obvious and I don't think I'm the only one who's seeing it so why don't you do yourselves a favor, get a room and get it over with!" the vampire and the slayer were stunned. Connor turned away to hide his satisfaction. There was a moment of total silence in which Angel and Buffy both avoided each others gazes embarrassed. They both admitted to themselves that they were still attracted to each other, but they tried to avoid giving that impression to the people around them. Connor's words had proved how big failures they were.

"Last night should've been a lesson for you, Connor. There's no way you can stand up to a whole herd of these things," Angel eventually spoke.

"Watch me," he marched down the left tunnel.

"Were you like that when you were a teenager?" Buffy suddenly asked.

"In some ways. Stubborn, always looking to defy my father," Angel sighed. "Think we should leave him alone?"

"Well I don't think he'll get himself killed," she said. "And if demons won't kick his ass tonight, I probably would. No offense, but he's just asking for it."

"I wouldn't suggest getting into an argument with him. He can be...persuasive," Angel remembered a couple of not so easy fights with his son. He had to admit he had more than just his touch in battle. "And he throws a mean punch."

"Wouldn't we just make the perfect family?" Buffy chuckled.

"He is right you know," Angel said easing the sudden tension that had built up between them.

"Yeah, too bad we can't take that room and get it over with," she smiled playfully.

"If it would only be that easy," he said as they started down the second sewer tunnel.

"But you gotta admit, it would make things easier," Buffy pointed out.

"A whole lot," Angel smiled. They walked in silence for a while, neither one daring to speak. Then suddenly they heard a noise coming from close by. Buffy wanted to say something, but Angel put a finger to his lips gesturing for her to be quiet. He blended into the shadows and pulled Buffy with him. He listened. There were voices heard up head and a distant light blinked from time to time. Then there were footsteps, didn't sound like demons, but they weren't human either. As she sat there, pressed to his chest, thinking how funny it still was to not hear his heart beat and holding a strange memory of actually having heard it, Buffy wondered why nothing felt as right as this. Spike's embrace had never felt like this, his felt sinful, hot and dirty, sometimes brutally passionate in the best way possible, but it could never be like Angel's -sweet, tender, loving, right. Or could it? Sex with Spike was never tender, nor loving, nor sweet, but his embrace? She had admit at times - many times -it had been tender and loving, but not in the manner in which Angel's was. She looked up at him, his chocolate eyes piercing the sewers. She thought he wouldn't notice because of the darkness, but he did.

"What is it?" he asked.

"If I kiss you now, can we forget it ever happened?" she asked and she felt his eyes gazing into hers in the darkness. And then her body stiffened, he was lowering himself to her. No! She didn't want a kiss! A kiss was too much! Too many memories too many desires she had buried! She wanted to push him away, but found she couldn't. She was helpless in his arms. His lips brushed hers and their mouths roamed hungry over each other. As always for them, a kiss was never just a kiss, it was passion and it was all they had.

"Well well, what do we have here? A couple of lovebirds," a mocking voice said and they broke away from each other. They had forgotten all about the noises, the footsteps. Angel had been right, they weren't demons or humans, they were vampires.

"Finally some action," Buffy let out satisfied. The vampire that had spoken swallowed hard realizing they weren't average human snacks. "What are you, afraid?" the slayer stepped towards them amused. "Boo!" she mocked them as Angel stepped behind her.

"Let's show her what we're made of," the lead vampire was enraged and ordered the other vampires to attack. As she and Angel fought them, Buffy thought to herself again how right it felt, when they fought each other, when they were slaying together, side by side, like now, when they embraced or kissed and suddenly she realized a heartbeat was nothing, just a useless ticker that reminded humans of time passing by.

In another part of the sewers, Connor walked alone, feeling a bit uneasy. Even if he would never admit it, maybe he didn't stand a chance against 10 armed demons, let alone more than that. He suddenly wished he would be by Joy's side again. He stopped for a moment pondering if he should return to the place the sewers had split in two and maybe search for either Angel and Buffy or Joy and Spike. Just when he was about to dismiss the idea, he heard a scream from somewhere behind him. It was ratter an echo from far away. He turned, running in the opposite direction he had been going till then. Soon he discovered there had been a passage he had carelessly passed by before. He slipped through it and ran in the direction of the noise. It was Joy and Spike who had run into trouble. They had stumbled upon a herd of demons.

"Connor!" Joy was relieved to see some back up. "I guess screaming does help."

"These aren't the demons we fought last night," Connor noticed as he joined the battle.

"Tell me something I don't know," Joy let out as she kicked a demon in the face.

"Where's Buffy?" Spike asked while struggling with a demon.

"We split up," Connor told them.
"Brilliant!" Spike scowled punching the demon he was fighting in the stomach. "Of all the bloody..." he was suddenly thrown down.

"Dad!" Joy cried out, but as soon as she did she bit her tongue and looked worried over at Connor. She let out a sigh of relief, the boy was too busy fighting to have listened.

"Can't you use one of your light tricks on them?" Connor suggested before falling down struck by a demon.

"I tried, it doesn't work!" Joy told him once he got back on his feet. "I think they're either blind of immune to magic."

"Great," Connor mumbled before jumping back in the fight.

Meanwhile at the Bronze, a confused Cordelia looked around herself trying to recognize something. It did have a strange familiarity, but she couldn't - like all things - place it.

"So does it strike a spark?" Xander asked curious.

"Spark? Maybe. Can I remember anything? Nope," Cordy sighed. This wasn't helping. She appreciated everyone's good intentions, but she also felt pressured by them. Like she would horribly disappoint them or insult them if she didn't remember the past they had been a part of.

"I don't blame you," Willow said. "I'd wipe away half the things I did in Sunnydale from my mind if I could. Unfortunately I couldn't erase everyone's memories of them." Xander tensed for a moment. He knew if she wanted she could. He was suddenly scared that she might one day act upon her words. Willow gave him a glare as if she had read his mind, but said nothing.

"I can't really imagine you doing anything that needs erasing," Cordy thought. Willow seemed like one of those strong good persons that couldn't be shaken by anything, like she'd seen everything and nothing could surprise her anymore. She was far from the truth.

"You'd be surprised," Willow allowed herself a thin smile.

"Well, someone's enjoying herself. Look yonder," Xander pointed towards Dawn dancing with some girls and boys her age. "I think we might've been tricked."

"That's a brilliant deduction, Sherlock," Willow smiled.

"Why thank you, Watson," Xander returned the smile before gazing back at the teen. "I'm just happy she went back to non-skanky wardrobe."

"Huh?" Cordy asked.

"Oh, remember I told you about the love spell I made Amy do for me so you would love me?" Xander turned towards her.

"The one that backfired?" Cordy remembered the tale. She had found it quite amusing, but sensed she hadn't thought it to be funny in the past.

"That's the one. Well there was this teenager that had a jacket that pretty much did the same and Dawn..." he stopped when the slayer's sister approached the table.

"So, how are you guys doing?" Dawn asked and suddenly felt Cordy's curious gaze. "Hopefully not sharing embarrassing stories."

"Oh, no I was just telling Cordy about...about...what was I telling you about?" Xander turned to Cordy for help.

"That demon you guys killed," Cordy tried to be of assistance, but couldn't really remember all the strange demon names she had been told.

"The little fear demon," Willow interfered.

"Oh," Dawn said and then made her way back to the dancing floor.

"So Dawn was caught in the spell too..." Xander restarted his story. Cordelia smiled. Somehow, she felt at peace.

Back in the sewers, after killing half the demons and escaping the rest, Spike, Joy and Connor were heading out when they ran into Buffy and Angel.

"Where were you?" Connor asked furious. With just a little help they could have taken out all the demons, but they were forced to retreat.

"We ran into vampires," Buffy said and Connor rolled her eyes.

"Right," he let out and went on past them. Joy chuckled.

"They really did this time," she whispered to Spike and the vampire grinned.

"I know. I can smell it," Spike told her. "Cold dead bodies and ash."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Joy smiled and they went on ahead.

"Well this sucks," Buffy let out when she found herself alone with Angel once more. "They don't believe us."

"Can you blame them?" Angel looked back after the others, but they were too far away for him to see them anymore.

"Think we should find the rest of those demons?" the slayer suggested.

"They might be less mad about it," he thought it was a good idea. They walked a while in silence until they reached the remains of a struggle.

"Is this it?" Buffy asked making a grimace at all the slaughtered demons lying around.
"No, they're not fresh," Angel explained.

"Oh, that's what that wonderful smell is," she sighed watching Angel pacing around, observing the scene, seeming to be searching for something.

"Look, what happened...before the uhm, vampires...," she had problems expressing herself.
"Never happened," he looked up at her shortly before resuming his pacing. He thought that was what she had wanted to hear. He didn't notice her disappointment. "They said they were gholas, right?"

"Yeah, gholas," Buffy mumbled distracted. "I suddenly don't feel like hunting anymore. Think we can postpone this? Maybe we can hunt them tomorrow or... I'll slay them on my lunch break."

"That's a good idea," Angel said not paying much attention to her words, his thoughts were elsewhere. He crouched down and touched some goo, rubbing it on his fingers and then smelling it. Now it was obvious. Those bodies didn't belong to gholas. Sure the blood looked the same, but the texture was different, it was thinner and it smelled sweeter than ghola blood. And someone had gone through a whole lot of trouble to hide that fact. Given the choice between Connor and Joy, it was obvious who it was. Joy. A part of himself wanted to believe she was just a sloppy fighter, but another had claimed from the beginning that something was wrong with her. He stood up. He wasn't going to make any accusations until he would talk to her. He looked up and noticed Buffy seemed disturbed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked nearing her.

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired," she lied as she made her way back through the sewers. Angel looked after her worried, but decided she could wait, he had other things to take care of now.

In another part of Sunnydale, Wesley walked alone, searching for a certain place. It was a crossroad between this realm and another. The kind of portals he was searching for were very rare and usually located in particularly bad places, like the hellmouth for instance. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, but he had to find out what happened, or ratter, he corrected himself, will happen.

"You know, this kind of magic is dangerous," a voice said startling him. He turned to find Willow behind him with her hands in her pockets, looking very amused by his reaction.

"Aren't you suppose to be at the Bronze?" Wesley asked confused.

"I was. Dawn and Cordy are home and Xander's watching over them," Willow smiled. "And I thought I could watch over you."

"I don't need watching over," Wesley shrugged.

"Considering what you're trying to get yourself into, you'd be surprised how much you need it," she said and her voice held a warning. "What exactly are you after, Wesley?"

"Nothing that concerns you," the ex-watcher started walking down the street again.

"I can read your mind if I want to!" Willow yelled after him. Wesley stopped. "Someone who's willing to jump in another dimension has to want something badly. What is it? A talisman? A book? A jewel?" with every word, she neared him. Wesley suddenly smiled.

"You can't read my mind. I blocked it," and with that he was off again. The redhead clenched her jaw and followed him. She knew he wouldn't be able to open the gateway on his own. He would try, but he wouldn't succeed. And she was just curious enough to help him do it.

End Part 9