"Here it is!" Willow said proudly as she grabbed the paper from the printer, "Finally, we have those nerds tracked down,"
Buffy's face lit up with a little bit of hope because she knew that they now had a lead on finding Spike. She wanted to get him back as soon as possible and before the nerds try anything stupid. Willow handed Buffy the paper and she began to read it. Buffy began reading the paper with a half smile on her face, but it quickly fell to a full frown before she was finished.
"Buffy, what is it?" Dawn asked.
Buffy looked up sadly before she read out loud, "You didn't think that we would let you find us that easily, did you? We have your vampire, vow to never lay hands on us ever again or you kill your lover."
Everyone shot glances at each other. No one knew what to do or say. No one could say anything.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jonathon and Andrew both sat at opposite ends of the desk as they each busied themselves with things to do. Jonathon was typing something on his computer and it seemed that he was really getting into it. Andrew was cleaning his actions figures yet again trying to get all the little particles of dust that may be on them. They both glanced back at each other with evil glares now and then, just for the heck of it. Unexpectedly, a loud, hurt growl came from Spike's cage. Jonathon and Andrew both looked over reluctantly to see what had happened. Warren happily walked from the cage with his super-soaker hugged tightly to his chest.
"Don'tcha just love being evil?" Warren asked to no one in particular as he absentmindedly walked away.
Jonathon and Andrew both forgot about their little fight and both began to walk over to the cage. They both stopped halfway, knowing that they couldn't do it.
"I kinda feel bad for the guy," Jonathon said.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like he can kill us if he wanted to." Andrew replied, "Plus he's got that really cool trench coat thingy, I bet it gets a lot of hotties."
"You think maybe we should get him something? Like, I dunno, blood?" Jonathon asked.
"Warren will prolly feed us to him if her found out we did that. I think maybe we should just stay out of it." Andrew answered unhappily.
"Should we tell Buffy?" Jonathon continued to question.
Both of the geeks hadn't noticed that Warren had walked back into the room, "No one's going to tell anyone. And if you do, you'll have it worse than poor little Spikey over there," Warren said cynically.
Both Jonathon and Andrew nodded slowly as Warren walked away. They both traded a few more glances before they both went back to their busy work.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The silence was deafening. Everyone lay still, uncomfortable at the fact that they were trying to save a vampire that almost everyone loved to hate. The silence was broken by Willow as she quickly tried to figure out a way around the obstacle.
"Buffy, don't worry. We'll find out where those geeks are. We'll get Spike back," Willow said assuring.
"Thanks, Will. So, what can we do?" Buffy asked.
"Well, I can track down a bunch of places where that message could've come from. We just then have to find out which location the nerds are at," Willow answered.
"Ok," Buffy said and quickly walked out the front door.
Everyone quietly contemplated on what to do, except Xander. Xander swiftly grabbed his coat and followed Buffy out the door.
"Xander," Tara called as she followed Xander to the door, "Take care of her, ok?"
Xander simply nodded and continued on his journey. He stood outside in the walkway and tried to figure out where Buffy could've gone. 'If I was Buffy where would I be? The cemetery is a good bet, or maybe the Bronze.' Xander thought. 'Or maybe the tree that is conveniently located in the beautiful lawn of Buffy's house,' Xander finished thinking.
"Hey," Xander said as he walked up to Buffy.
"Hey," Buffy quietly replied.
They stood in an awkward silence as they both stared at the ground. Neither one of them knew what to say. Xander slowly remembered what Tara has told him before he left and he decided to break the silence.
"Buffy," Xander started, "I know you probably think that I'm mad at you,"
Buffy lifted her head and watched on as Xander spoke.
"Which I am," Xander stated and Buffy's head suddenly felt heavy, "But besides the fact that I hate the guts of Evil Dead, I'm mad because you didn't tell me. You know that I'm here for you. Spike…that's another story."
Buffy chuckled and a smile was forming on Xander's face.
"Thanks, Xand. I know I should've told you earlier, but with everything that's going on…" Buffy trailed off, "And, it was all my fault. I mean, I watched him as he was pulled off and shoved away. And I didn't do anything, until it was too late,"
Xander carefully listened to Buffy's story as she continued.
"And, I wanted him out, away from my family, my friends. But I don't want him dead. You know?" Buffy finished.
"I know. Come on, Buff. Cheer up! We'll find that nimrod somehow. He's gotta be smokin' up some kind of lung cancer somewhere," Xander thought out loud.
"Huh?" Buffy said confused as Xander spat out insults.
"What? Just because we're on good terms doesn't mean that I still can't hate Spike. Come on, I live off the gratitude of verbally kicking his ass." Xander fought for himself.
"You know he's gonna physically kick your ass one day," Buffy smartly told Xander.
"Oh yeah," Xander sarcastically replied.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike lay bruised and battered in his cage. Warren was serious when he meant that he was going to make his stay here as uncomfortable as possible. He couldn't believe that those pathetic nerds had so much power over him. And to add, they could hurt him, bad. A little push of a button and those geeks could send him crawling. The chip. That bloody chip. If it didn't hurt him any more, it was going to be the death of him. And to salt the wound, Buffy hated him. He was killing her and he didn't even know it. She left him and this time it was for sure. She'd never come back to his crypt again, wanting to feel, wanting to be loved. She'd never love him. Spike was dying inside; he couldn't take it anymore.
'Poor little Spikey,'
'You're beneath me,'
'You're a monster,'
'You can't love without a soul,'
'I could never love you,'Spike sat curled up in the cage with his thoughts whirling around him. He fought them. He tried so hard to push them away. Spike sat still as a statue as he whispered his mantra.
"She will come, she will come, she will come…she won't come, she won't come, she won't come…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I know you guys love my review plugs so if you are getting sick of them, just review. Gosh, if you people just reviewed, you wouldn't have to strain your eyes to read that extra bit of crap at the bottom. Just save all of us some trouble, please. Hehe. But do I hate it? That's another story…