Per Aspera Ad Astra

Thank you guys for sticking with me. I was so angry when ff.net was down. No reviews. :( Oh well. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. It weird writing stuff again after like a year. I hope you enjoy.
*All standard disclaimers apply. However, Lucius, Tiberius, Livia, and Portia belong to me.* ... That sounds so sick. Lucius belongs to ME! Tiberius belongs to ME! Livia belongs to ME! Portia belongs to ME! I feel like I'm controlling a set of pawns ... Dance little pawns! Amuse your master!

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Chapter Quattor

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There was an eerie silence. Just then, Dawn, Portia, Willow, and Livia entered the room. They stopped at the silence.

"What is going on?" Portia asked.

"Williamus believes he is descended from Lucius," Tiberius answered. "Come have a seat, girls." They did as they were told.

Lucius smirked. "You're of my line?"

Spike made no response.

"That's interesting. I have no childer," he continued.

Livia frowned. "But you will, if they speak the truth."

"I don't believe them," Lucius answered cooly. "Why would I create childer? I promised you I would not attack humans. I am a man of my word." He slouched comfortably in his seat.

"You aren't a man at all," Xander pointed out. "And vamps aren't exactly known for keeping promises."

"Shut your trap, whelp," Spike jumped in. "I have always kept my promises."

Xander opened his mouth to respond, but Buffy cut him off. "Drop it, both of you. Spike has always kept his word with me."

"Spike?" Lucius drawled again. "My, my, Williamus, we are not being very truthful as of late, are we?"

"William is my real name, you prat," Spike scowled.

"Of course."

Tiberius stepped in. "Perhaps you could tell us about the demon that sent you here?"

"Right," Willow began. "It was big and green and had lots of red horns." Then she blushed, realizing her own words. "Not very helpful, huh?"

"We can continue with this later, if you please," Tiberius said. "Perhaps Anna could ..."

"Could what?" Buffy asked.

"I would like to see how you fare against Livia in a fight," Tiberius answered. "Do you fight in any particular style?"

"Not really. Giles-my Watcher-taught me a bunch and I kind of squished them all together."

"Is it effective?" Tiberius pulled out a scroll of papyrus and busied himself with taking copious notes.

"Is it effective?" Spike scoffed. "That little girl can knock me clear across the room when I let my guard down."

"So you train with your husband?" Livia asked, a curious smirk on her face.

"With my ..." Buffy frowned. Her ... oh. "Not really. You see, he used to have this chip that-"

"Stops him from being a bloodsucker!" Anya finished enthusiastically. "Although I really don't think he needs it anymore."

"A chip?" Tiberius inquired.

"A chip is a piece of technology embedded in his brain that contains information and specific direc-"

Xander cut Willow off by placing his hand over her mouth. "It's a piece of silicon in Spike's head that gives him a big headache if he tries to hurt a human."

"And he doesn't have this 'chip' anymore, you say?" Tiberius asked, furiously scribbling on the parchment.

"Oh, sorry," Tara said. "He still has it. If he tries to hit any of us, it'll still zap him. It just doesn't work on Buffy anymore."

"And that's why we should stake him," Xander finished.

"Please, Xander," Dawn interrupted. "Spike wouldn't hurt Buffy. He loves her," she said, hands on hips.

"Can you really be sure of that?" Xander asked, frowning.

Tiberius cleared his throat. "If you are quite done," he said and continued without waiting for an answer. "Why doesn't this thing work on Anna anymore?"

"It's a long story," Buffy answered. "I don't think we should really go into it. It deals with me dying and getting resurrected and coming back with a little different genetic sequence ... do you guys know about genes yet?"

"About what?" Tiberius asked.

"Never mind," Spike answered. "The reason I didn't train with her is because of the chip. I do, however, go on patrol with her. Want to know anything else?"

"No, I think that's quite enough for now," Tiberius said, laying the scroll out to dry. "Would you like a hand-to-hand battle or with weapons?" he asked both Livia and Buffy, beginning to clear off one side of the study.

"If you don't mind, do you think I could eat first?" Buffy asked. "I'm really hungry and I can smell the food from the kitchen already."

Tiberius stopped, clearly disappointed that the fight wouldn't take place right then. "Of course. Williamus, Lucius, would you like me to bleed an animal for you?" he asked offhandedly.

"I'm good," Spike answered, grinning slightly.

"Surely you need to eat?" Tiberius asked.

"'m not hungry," Spike answered. "Ate enough already."

Xander and Anya swung around to gape at Buffy. "You weren't having sex when we walked in on you!" Anya blurted out, causing Buffy to turn a deep red. This, unfortunately, caught everyone's attention.

"No, we weren't having sex, Anya," Buffy reassured her, still embarrassed.

"You let Spike feed off of you?" Willow asked, amazed. "You let Spike -bite- you?"

Tara didn't say anything, trying to stay out of the conversation. Dawn glanced back and forth between Spike and Buffy while Lucius looked on, interested.

"Yes, I let him. Is there a problem?" Buffy asked, feeling a twinge of irritation. When no one answered, "Xander?"

"No problem, Buff," he muttered.

"Great!" Buffy answered, a fake smile on her face.

"Perhaps we could do the fight tomorrow, pater?" Livia asked, tossing a dark lock behind her shoulder. "I do not really feel up to it tonight."

"Of course, sweetheart," Tiberius said. "Lucius, do you think you could stay the night and aid in the fight tomorrow?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "You want me to fight the other slayer?"

"No," Tiberius said. "I would like you to fight Livia. I have not seen you two fight in a while, physically of course. You two bicker enough every day." He turned to Spike. "Williamus, perhaps I could watch you fight Anna? If that's okay with you, of course," he said to Buffy.

"Whatever," Spike answered. "Are we going to eat?"

"You eat human food?" Portia asked, surprised.

"That depends on the food, Bit," he answered, unaware of the fact that he was using Dawn's nickname. Then at Dawn's frown, he ruffled her hair and slung an arm across her shoulders. "Wanna sit next to me, Nibblet?"

Dawn flung an arm around his waist, grinning. "Sure."

Lucius got up off his seat. "I'm going to stay here for some training."

"Bye Lucius," Portia called, admiration shining in her eyes. Buffy knew that look. That was the way Dawn looked at Spike.

The rest made their way to the kitchen as Tiberius counted heads. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I only have room for nine at the table. Fulva, will you please bring a chair over for me?" The servant nodded her head before venturing out into the next room in search of a seat. "The rest of you can have a seat. Three to a couch," he directed them to the table.

True to his word, Spike took a seat on the end of one couch, helping Dawn up next to him while Buffy took the last spot. "This is so wiggy," Dawn whispered to him. "I've never eaten kinda laying down like this before." Spike grinned in response.

Tara took the seat nearest to Spike on the next couch. Anya was next to her and Xander was on the end. The couch across the table was occupied by Willow, Portia, and Livia respectively. Finally, Fulva returned with a chair and Tiberius slid it up next to the empty side.

"They will serve us in a minute."

"What kind of food do you have?" Tara asked timidly.

"We have slices of meat, cheese, grapes, and bread," Tiberius answered. "We will have wine for our drink, unless you prefer water," he said.

"No water," Spike answered.

"Spike," Buffy whispered fiercely. "Wine? You know how I get with alcohol," she said.

"Unless you want to drink their water, Slayer, be my guest. It's probably well water and unlike your wonderful American system, it isn't cleaned."

"Fine, but if I get woozy, you're the one who is going to have to deal with me all night. Remember last time I got drunk?"

"Of course, luv. Don't worry about it." He grinned. "If you get drunk, we could probably go find some demons and play kitten poker."

At this, Buffy reached around Dawn to poke him in the side.

"Are we going to have dessert?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah!" Portia answered, grinning. "Apples and honey, my favorite."

"Apples and ... honey?" Dawn said.

"They don't have sugar here, Bit," Spike said playfully. "You all really don't know much about Rome, do you?"

"Hardy har har, Spike," Dawn said sarcastically. "Just because we all aren't over a hundred years old like you ..."

"I am," Anya spoke up. "Although I'm Greek, not Roman."

"Greek?" Xander said curiously. "I didn't know that."

"Of course. I knew Latin because my father was a merchant, but we did not speak it much at home." She smiled. "I met D'Hoffryn in Thessaly after some dickheaded Roman soldier promised he would marry me and then ran off with some-" she cut off in the middle of her sentence. "Well, that's how I became a vengeance demon. I don't think it would be an appropriate time to tell you what I did to him. We are about to eat," she said sunnily. Then she furrowed her head in thought, "Right Xander?"

"Right, Ahn," he reassured her. "I really don't think forms of torture would be a proper subject to talk about at any time, actually."

Just then, Fulva and the servants from earlier came into the triclinium wtih trays of food. One of them had the cups and a pitcher of wine on a golden tray. They passed out the food and the gang dug in.

"I didn't realize how hungry I was," Willow admitted. "And this stuff tastes healthier than anything I've eaten in a while."

"Yeah, Wills, whole grain can do that to you," Xander answered sarcastically. She stuck her tongue out at him in response.

The gang finished eating quickly and made their way back to their rooms. True to his word, Buffy was not intoxicated. But then again, it probably had something to do with the fact that she took only about two sips of her wine.

The sun was already setting. "I didn't realize how late it was," Tara said thoughtfully. "I guess the spell took longer than I thought."

"Whatever," Dawn said. "I'm just tired. The apple and the honey tasted better than I thought it would."

"I'm going to turn in," Tara said.

"Yeah, I guess we all should go to bed," Buffy agreed. "Dawn are you going to be okay?"

"Sure, Buffy, I'm not a kid anymore. The only thing that might be a problem are the voices that I know will coming from down the hall." She smirked.

"Yes, well, then we better get a headstart," Anya answered, dragging Xander back to the room.

Suddenly, everyone was gone, leaving Buffy and Spike standing there.

"Do you want to go to bed, pet?" Spike asked.

"Not really," Buffy answered. "I'm kind of on edge."

Livia passed them just then, holding a stake in her right hand. "I am going on patrol, Anna. Pater told me to ask if you would like to accompany me."

Buffy glanced up at Spike. "And suddenly there is something to calm my nerves down. What do you think, should we go?"

Spike grinned. "Never one to say no to a fight. Got any other stakes with you?" Just then Lucius entered holding a stake of his own. "He's going?" Spike asked, disgust in his voice.

"Yes, Pater likes him to come with me," Livia answered coldly, throwing a glare at Lucius. "He doesn't like me to patrol alone."

"Any stakes?" Buffy asked again. Livia handed her two. "Here, Spike. I'm definitely up for a little rough and tumble. You?"

He grinned back slyly. "Always, luv, always."

They headed off into the night.

***

That's enough for now. I'm tired of writing and I have to go buy a last minute gift for Father's Day. I love my vati! Oh! And guess what? I'll be fifteen in exactly one month ... I feel particularly young compared to everyone else that writes here .. and I've been writing for ff.net alone since I was 11 (when I worked up the courage to post something). It's almost been four years of wonderful memories here at ff.net!! Of course, my grammar wasn't as good, and I got a lot more reviews about two years ago than I do now (check out my profile if you don't believe me) ... I swear, is it possible that people like stories with bad grammar? Once, Izzy and I got about 400 reviews on a 15 chapter story we did together that totally sucked. Even I can admit it (sorry Iz, haha). That's when I learned that research can be -so- lovely. Oh yeah, shouts to Izzy, my awesome and wonderful beta who has retired from the fanfiction scene. Word, baby girl.

Please review! It leaves me smiling like an idiot for about ten minutes and then propels me towards a pen and my writing notebook.

Evangeline