Savage the Hunt
Disclaimer: Joss owns Btvs
A/N: Hi all. I'm glad you all enjoyed the first chapter. Here's chapter two. Enjoy. Skyz.
~)~
Chapter 2-
"So you're saying Buffy has lost her memory and is living in some hick town? She doesn't remember anything or anyone? Not even the man she killed?" Anya asked skeptically.
"She didn't kill that man," Joyce snapped. "She doesn't have it in her."
"Well Joyce it's all good and well to think that but…her fingerprints were on the gun they found. A gun that matched the one used to kill that man. If she didn't do it, then who did?" Anya demanded to know.
"She'll remember me," Spike muttered.
A few people turned to stare at him.
"Spike…" Dawn began cautiously.
"She'll remember me," Spike repeated his voice louder than before.
"William…" his father snapped out causing Spike to look at him. "Do you believe this?"
Spike couldn't answer as he lowered his head once more.
"That can't be all," Wood reasoned quietly.
Gunn looked away from their curious gazes.
"Wood's right. What else is there?" Joyce asked.
"I have some pictures," Gunn muttered and reached for the large envelope he had at his side. Stalling was foremost in his mind. He wanted to have everyone lulled into a sense of calmness before he told them the rest.
Spike was the first to react as he jumped from his chair, and grabbed the envelope from Gunn's hand. He tore into it and held a pile of photos in his shaking hands. He hesitated a moment before he forced himself to look at the pictures.
He flipped through them one by one.
Thrust them to the nearest person before he slumped back into his chair and covered his face with his hands.
"Oh…my baby," Joyce murmured reverently as her hand smoothed over one of the pictures of her daughter.
Another silence fell as everyone got a chance to study the pictures.
"You didn't answer the question," Wood finally pointed out.
Gunn gave Wood the nastiest look he could. He didn't want to get into it, didn't want this day to get any worse for Spike, for any of them. But there wasn't a way he could keep this a secret and live with it.
"She's married," he announced grimly.
"To Spike," Xander stated firmly.
Gunn shook his head.
"No. She's married to someone else and she has two kids," he added emotionlessly.
"No!" Spike yelled as he shoved back his chair knocking it over as he jumped to his feet. Breathing hard and wildly shaking his head he couldn't believe it. Would not believe it. "No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No!"
He wasn't sure whether he screamed it our moaned it but it didn't matter. It was still the same no matter how he said it. There was no way Buffy did not remember him. She could not be married to some other man. And she most definitely could not have that man's children!
It was too much.
All of it.
It piled on top of him, weighing him down, suffocating him until he swayed on his feet, welcomed the dizziness that swallowed his body, and embraced the darkness that flooded his vision.
~*~
Spike crumpled under the strain, and once he was safely put to rest with a sedative, everyone convened back in the livingroom.
The questions came then, fast and furious.
Gunn answered them as best he could.
"Charles," Spike's father finally said causing everyone to quiet. "What concerns me is the fact that she's out there vulnerable and alone. This has to be stopped immediately. I've no doubt William will agree with me."
Gunn nodded.
"It's not that simple. I wish it were but it's not. She has this whole new life and she's happy. Or she seems to be. We've got to think about what this will do if we bring her back here. It's not going to be easy."
"She's wanted for murder. I think we should call the police and let them handle this," Anya stated firmly.
"No," Faith snapped. "No way are we letting the police anywhere near Buffy."
"Faith's right. We can't have the police screwing things up for us," Lindsey agreed quickly.
Ethan Savage surveyed the room for a moment.
"Well then…as you've already said Buffy doesn't remember anything. We could let her lead this happy life…or let William handle it. I will admit I'm selfish in wanting my daughter back. I don't care if she doesn't remember me. I want her back! I need her back," Joyce finished on a sob.
Dawn wrapped her arms around her mother.
"I want Buffy back too," she told them defying anyone to protest.
Ethan paced the spacious livingroom and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. His face was a mask of concentration and anger.
"What else did you find out?" Xander asked Gunn.
Gunn let out a deep sigh.
"I didn't dig too deeply. She's married and has two kids. She was brought to the hospital with signs of trauma, and didn't know anything about her past. I've looked up as much as I could at the time about her husband. He's clean. I just don't know what to do. What the hell should we do?!" Gunn asked on an explosive breath.
Ethan lifted his eyes and let his eyes stray over the group.
"This doesn't make sense. How can she have been right under our noses like that?" he asked curiously. "We had every available media outlet bombarding everyone with our search for her. The police issued warrants for her arrest. It's not possible for her to have simply slipped away that easily, so then if she didn't who helped her stay out of harms way?" Ethan asked at large.
Lindsey let out a low curse as he too rose.
"You're right. We don't know exactly what happened that night. It never made sense. Why Buffy would kill that man and go missing, it didn't make sense. We never figured for there to have been two men in the house that night," Lindsey muttered thoughtfully.
"What are you saying?" Willow asked slowly not liking what she was thinking.
Gunn buried his head in his hands.
"He's saying what if there was another man in that house that night. Someone who obviously took the time to keep Buffy hidden until the media attention blew away. Who must have done something to her…hurt her enough so that her memory got screwed with." Faith paused crossing her arms across her chest as she digested the words she'd just spoken.
"What you're saying is that this is some kind of conspiracy? Because she's been living here all this time, there has to be a reason why. I mean who marries someone who has no memory? She could have already been married-which she was- and have another life. This…Well that's a creepy thought. This is unbelievable!" Anya exclaimed.
Ethan didn't like the picture that was being painted. It wasn't as unlikely a scenario as he wished it were. He and his family were powerful with enemies in all corners of the world. For some one to have pulled this off… Money had to be involved. Influence and power at their fingertips. Enough to withstand pressure from the Savage family.
"So…if we're thinking foul play here why is she alive? She's a liability anyway you look at it. Her being alive doesn't seem right. I mean whatever those men wanted that night, we don't know if they got it. Buffy probably knows what they wanted. And it stands to reason some one might recognize her, and tell her real husband. This doesn't make sense," Lilah snapped.
"While I was there I never saw her husband. He was away on a business trip. I didn't want to leave, I know it's stupid, but I thought if I left she'd disappear again. I couldn't tell Spike because I knew he'd come right down, and with her not remembering it's gonna be hard to convince her of all this."
"Who said we had to convince her?" Ethan asked at last. "I have a plan. Once I discuss it with William I will inform the rest of you. It's time we all took a bit of a break. Charles you're exhausted you need to rest. I'll have my driver pick Gwen up from the airport. Excuse me," Ethan gave them a nod and left the room heading for the stairs.
Gunn rose on unsteady feet.
"We can talk about this tomorrow. I'm beat. Maybe in the morning it will all make sense," he mumbled as he fled.
"Well I certainly didn't expect this when Spike called," Anya mused. "And I don't expect to have any more answers to this little puzzle in the morning either. This is just too…weird. Like a movie. One of those books that's made into a movie. This is like fiction-"
Lindsey wrapped an arm around Anya's shoulders.
"Babe let's call it quits and hit the sack," he interrupted her quietly as he brushed his lips across her silken cheek.
Everyone soon trickled out of the livingroom to sleep or pretend to sleep. None had any doubts that they'd be getting no sleep tonight.
~*~
"You'll never guess what I heard," the voice was slow and thick with a southern accent.
The person the voice addressed merely lifted one finely arched brow, and continued to study the stack of files in front of her.
"Aren't you even the least bit curious?" the man asked as he took a seat on the edge of the cluttered desk. He brushed his fingers over the tops of the folders and waited for her to speak. A small smile curled at the edges of his thin mouth.
"What?" she finally asked without an ounce of curiosity.
The man clucked his tongue.
"Well if you're gonna be like that then darlin'…" he drifted off letting her decide whether she wanted to hear the news he had. He knew once he told her she'd be rearing to go. This was an interesting piece of news.
"Okay you've piqued my interest Rafe," she told him her voice laced with irritation.
"Well as I've gathered sources all over the damn place, wasn't it my surprise when one of my sources called me up tonight? And told me there was unusual activity over at the Savage mansion in the hills. Cars kept coming. And not just any cars. Friends of his and his wife. People who haven't be-"
"Been together in the same place since Mrs. William Savage went missing," she concluded a thoughtful look clouding her intriguing features. Her steel gray eyes met those of her partner and she slowly grinned.
"And you wonder why this interests me? Well since the missus has been missing the mister hasn't been one to socialize. Now I could never figure him out. The whole case was puzzling. William couldn't be ruled out as a suspect in her disappearance. Now why of all times is he meeting up with everyone he's tried so hard to stay away from?" he asked carefully.
"Add that with the fact his best friend and right arm man has been MIA for the past three weeks," she added.
He sent her a surprised look.
She gave a shrug.
"I have my sources too Rafe."
Rafe gave her a slight glare of reproach.
"But I share darlin'. So Charles Gunn went missing and now everyone's back here where it all started. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked seriously.
Tia Fletcher gave her partner a feral grin.
"You could eat a horse too?" she asked facetiously. Then gave a small laugh and became serious. "Let's go visitin' in the morning," she stated flatly.
"Exactly."
~*~
Spike woke with a pounding head, and the belief that yesterday had been nothing but a bad dream. It couldn't have possibly been real. His eyes opened a crack and through the dim darkness he could see the shape of a chair at his bedside. A man sat slumped in it.
Pushing a hand through his curly and unruly hair he blinked to dispel the sleepiness that clung to him like early morning dew.
"How are you feeling William?"
The voice of his father had him jerking up straight and staring warily around.
"Dad?" he asked worriedly.
Ethan sat forward in his chair and reached out, flicked on Spike's bedside lamp.
Spike lifted a hand to block out the sudden light, and nearly groaned when memories bombarded him from last night. He slumped back down onto his bed, and buried his head under the covers.
"William I asked you a question," his father told him as he felt the covers over his head be tugged away.
"Is she alive?" Spike asked voice muffled by his pillow.
He heard his father sigh before he answered.
"Yes."
"Then I feel like shit," Spike snapped as he lifted his head to peer up at his father.
His father's soft chuckle didn't help to lighten the mood.
"Welcome to the club. William the rest of us discussed this occurrence last night. We all can agree that it's a wonderful thing but… It puzzles us how she could have been in that town for all these years. And let alone leaving us in the dark like that. How could we not know that? We've come to the grave conclusion that someone may have intentionally kept her from us."
Spike closed his eyes and wondered if he'd heard his father right.
Realized he had and welcomed the surge of anger that came.
"What else did you all think of? If someone intentionally was behind this- I swear people are going to die," he threatened in a dangerous voice.
"There had to have been another person in that room William. Whoever it was must have taken Buffy with him. The force used rendered her unconscious and caused her amnesia. We can't discount the fact that she's still alive. We wondered why if he took Buffy with him, would he then keep her alive? Even if she had some form of amnesia. She could likely get her memory back and cause all kinds of trouble."
Spike leaned back against the headboard of his bed.
"But you're forgetting there's the fact that she's wanted for murder Dad. If she remembers anything at all he can use that against her. He can lie and manipulate her to do as he wants. I always knew there had to be another reason for what happened. It couldn't have just been a break in. God… She's alive. Alive dad! Do you know what it was like? Not knowing whether she was dead or alive? Thinking that she'd left me?! I didn't want to believe it but…sometimes it was so hard to keep the faith, and believe that she would come back to me once she was ready. I have to see her."
Abruptly Spike swung his legs over the side of his bed and got to his feet. He felt a grin begin to form. He could sweep everything else he'd learned since Buffy was alive, away, and revel in the fact that she was still here. Alive and he would see her again.
He loved her.
Always had and it was the love now that kept him from losing his mind as he grinned and turned to face his father.
"She's alive!" he yelled boisterously.
Ethan grinned as well as he rose and wrapped his arms around his son.
"She's alive," Ethan echoed. But for what reason remained to be seen, he mused silently.
