When Angel received no response from Willow after calling out to her four
times, he crossed the room to her spell book and recited the incantation
Willow had told him would break the spell on her. She remained at the bed,
however, staring at Dev with wide unblinking eyes.
"Willow!" Angel shouted, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. She looked up at him without recognition. "Damn it, talk to me!"
"I didn't know," she whispered. Then her head snapped up and she pushed out of his arms. "You didn't tell me!"
Drusilla rushed to Willow's side, tucking a lock of red hair behind Willow's ear and then rubbing her shoulders soothingly.
"Tell you what?" Spike asked, and Angel saw his eyes narrow. "What didn't we tell you?"
"That she had her own magic!" Willow shouted angrily. "That it wasn't just psychic gifts. None of you said anything."
Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, and once again annoyed at the childe of his who didn't like to share, Angel vowed that as soon as Dev was on her feet, they were going to have a little chat.
Angel met Spike's eyes and nodded. Spike stalked over to Willow and grabbed her chin, raising her face so that she was looking at him. "What happened?" he demanded.
"It's Dev," Willow choked. "That's why she's not healing right, and that's how they're following us."
"Willow," Spike said sharply. "Take it from the beginning."
Nodding, Willow took a deep breath and stepped back from Spike. Angel saw Spike finally relent and release her face, allowing her to sink onto the empty bed. Drusilla moved with her, settling at her side and laying her head on Willow's shoulder.
"She must have known they had magic," Willow said quietly. "So when she passed out her subconscious kicked in and she instinctively set up a shield around herself."
"That's why the healing spell backfired," Angel mused. "But why wouldn't she let that through?"
"She's blocking *everything*," Willow said impatiently. "She doesn't have the capacity to determine if what's coming at her is good or bad because she's unconscious."
"What the hell did you mean, that's why she's not healing right?" Spike bit out.
Willow gestured wildly with her hands. "It's the same reason why people get weird dreams if they eat before sleeping."
"It's been a long time since any of us have been human," Angel reminded her. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, right. Um, when you're sleeping, your body is rejuvenating itself, okay?" she explained. "If you eat right before you go to bed, then your body can't focus as much on resting because it's got to digest the food. Same reason you should wait a half an hour after eating before you swim."
"So," Spike said thoughtfully, "she's using her energy to protect herself, instead of to heal? And it's taking a toll on her?"
Willow nodded. "Exactly."
"They're following her energy, aren't they?" Angel guessed flatly.
"They're trying," she corrected. "She's not making it easy. Locator spells would just rebound off of her, like my healing spell. So I think what they tried to do was.latch onto her. But when they lock onto her shield, she cuts them off. What's left behind tries to 'report' back to the source, but with the way we're constantly moving, it gets confused."
"So when we were staying put, those parts had enough time to regroup and get back to the source," Angel deducted, and she nodded. Spike cursed roundly and ended with a familiar snort of disgust.
Angel gazed closely at Willow, saw the concentration written between her brows that meant she was on to something, and asked, "How do we make her stop?"
"We can't, not the way you mean," Willow said slowly. "But, I think this is what Drusilla's vision was talking about. Right now, if you think about it, Dev is running as much as we are. She's running from what they're throwing at her."
Her head swiveled to look at Dev again and she seemed to lean a little more on Drusilla. Angel never thought he'd see Willow--avenger of good--taking comfort from Dru. Then again, it was just as unbelievable as everything else, so maybe it was just the norm now.
"Drusilla's vision had Dev hiding under the tree," Willow continued, almost talking to herself. "They couldn't find her there and she felt safe enough to lower her guard."
She flew to her feet and ran to her trunk. "I think there's something." she mumbled, rummaging through it.
Angel shook his head, smiling despite the situation at the sheer perseverance of the red head. She found a book and impatiently flipped the pages, glancing at them only briefly before moving on. Then her eyes lit up and she grinned excitedly.
"Okay, stay with me," she babbled. "If I can construct a shield around Dev, under her own shield, she'll sense that she can get rid of hers and when that happens, the pieces of the baddies will dissipate along with it, and I'll be effectively cutting off Dev's signal, so they won't have anything to lock onto and we can actually settle down in one place until she's healed, which will be faster than we've thought because your blood will do what it's supposed to then."
She was on her feet again, bouncing on her heels with renewed energy. Angel had the thought that she was just as difficult to understand as Drusilla sometimes. He tossed a confused glance at Spike, who grinned and mouthed what looked suspiciously like, "Eyes only for the Slayer."
"Long story short," Spike said to Willow. "You're saying you can shield Dev and convince her to lower hers?" Willow nodded emphatically. "Then we won't be traceable?" Another nod. "She'll heal like she should?" An exasperated nod this time. "And what if they start locking onto you?"
Willow stilled, frowning. "I think," she said with confusion, "that if I create my shield under Dev's, I'm under their radar. They shouldn't be able to tell that I've done it. As far as they'll know, she'll simply have disappeared." She snapped her fingers. "Poof. Gone."
"Call the Demon Bumbler," Spike said to Angel.
"We should hit the road again," Willow said suddenly. Angel frowned, and she explained, "I want to do the shield right as we stop, so that there's no chance the.fragments can send anything back. You can call Wesley while you drive," she said decisively, putting the spell book on top of the trunk and starting to gather her things.
"I'll study the ritual for the spell and make sure I have everything I'll need while you talk to him." She stopped and looked at the rest of them, who hadn't moved. "Well, what are you waiting for? We've got to get moving."
Spike laughed, and moved to Willow, ruffling her hair. "Right you are," he chuckled, taking the trunk from her and hefting it onto his shoulder. "Hurry it up, Angel," he added as he strode out of the room.
Willow turned to Angel, her face hopeful. "It fits, Angel," she said confidently. "It fits perfectly."
Angel nodded slowly and she took that as his ascent and bounded out of the room with her suitcase. Yes, it fit, but he remembered something she apparently was choosing to forget. The tree was going to die.
Drusilla flittered her hands, and Angel watched her waft his way. "Daddy," she lilted, "you mustn't worry so. Our precious is stronger than you know, and she'll come from the death even stronger."
Angel grabbed her hand from its position on his chest, and stared down at her with flinty eyes. "Will she be turned?" he ground out.
Tilting her head to the side, Drusilla shook her head a bit sadly. "No, though I'd like it if she were. I can see the potential in her, so fierce and deviant." She focused on him again when he tightened his hold on her hand. Drusilla went on, frowning at something he couldn't see, "It will be all right in the end."
He put a finger under her chin and lifted it. "Are you sure?" he asked rawly.
"Surest, my Angel," Drusilla assured him, running her other hand along the side of his neck and raking her nails gently across his skin. Angel's eyes closed and he leaned into the touch. "Her path is not what she wishes it were," Drusilla whispered. "But no one's is. It will be bloody and painful, and she'll hate it but think that's all there is, won't see the forks that appear unless."
"Unless what, Dru?" Angel snapped.
Her dark eyes touched his solemnly. "I've already told you that I shan't tell until she realizes," she chided him.
Angel frowned, then remembered Drusilla's cryptic words the night Willow had seen Dev for the first time. "It's Dev's only shot, the shield," Angel said tightly. "But if it means Willow will pay too great a price--"
"You can do nothing about that," Drusilla interrupted harshly, pulling away and glaring at him. "It's her path, and she'll walk it now or later. You can do many things, darling Angel, but no one can walk someone else's path." She stamped her foot and curled her lip. "And I won't let you try."
"Haven't you two done anything yet?"
Angel looked away from Dru and saw Spike in the doorway, a grin on his face. Apparently he was also forgetting the rest of Dru's vision.
"I'll get Dev out there," Angel said, looking around and seeing that she was all that was left. "Have Willow check us out."
"Already did," Spike told him. "She's impatiently waiting in the van for us. Impatiently being--" He broke off and stared at Angel. "What is it?"
Spike picked the worst times to be perceptive, Angel decided, but then again, it was better that this get out in the open. They all had the same duty to Willow. "The tree is going to die," Angel said clearly, "and everyone seems to want to forget that or just go along merrily despite that."
A tight look grabbed hold of Spike's features and he looked away. Angel saw his jaw muscle dancing on his cheek. "Then I've got Drusilla rambling nonsense about it being Willow's path to walk, and how it's some kind of internal death--as though that makes a difference."
He moved so that he could glare at both of them at the same time. "Listen closely," he bit out. "Even if this 'death' is an inevitable thing that Willow has to go through, that doesn't mean we wash our hands of it, leave her to deal on her own. That doesn't mean we ignore it, either."
"Well what do you expect us to bloody do?" Spike exploded. "Say, 'oh, hey, Willow, that's a gosh darn great idea you've come up with, too bad it's going to lead to your kind-of death, but don't think about that'?" He stalked forward and poked Angel in the chest with one finger. "Drusilla's told me some of it, too," he growled. "And I like the sound of it even less than you do."
Angel narrowed his eyes, remembering his thoughts on Spike and Willow.
"But we've got a shitload to deal with before then, Willow most of all," he continued angrily. "Besides this, she's got Dev's database, and I think I saw her messing with financial records, too. You want this in the forefront of her mind, too? You want her to break?"
"Stop." It was Willow, coming through the door with a somber look on her face.
"How much did you hear?" Angel asked warily.
She shut the door behind her and faced them calmly. "Everything from you complaining about Dru rambling on about nonsense."
"Great, nice going," Spike huffed at Angel.
"I said stop," Willow said firmly. "I think that we need to take a small step back from the 'family way of thinking'."
"What are you babbling about?" Spike snapped.
"We're forgetting why we're here," Willow said simply. "The basis for your arrangement was you three getting along while you helped Dev. Then you kept taking it a little further, each of you for your own reasons, and the focus became the family, and I got sucked in, too."
She shook her head. "It's got to be toned down," she informed them harshly, cutting a hand through the air. "We've got a lot of hurdles to overcome before this ends, and if we continue keeping our attention on ourselves and each other, Dev's going to pay the price." With one last look, she opened the door again. "I'll be in the van. Take your time."
Angel felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He stared at the closed door and frowned.
"Is she right?" he wondered out loud, looking at Spike and Dru.
Spike wandered over to Dev's bedside and stared down at her. "Yeah, she is," he said eventually, his voice deep and disgusted. "We've been carting Dev around like fucking luggage." He shrugged and turned weary eyes on Angel. "We put it all on Willow's shoulders," he said bluntly, "so that we could indulge ourselves, and we let Dev slip from our minds."
Tears were streaming down Drusilla's face. "My Devil, I didn't mean it," she gasped.
"She knows, Drusilla," Angel soothed, moving to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "She understands you didn't mean it."
Looking down at Dev's still form, Angel knew he was right. As small amount of time as she had had with the three of them, she understand the structure and the individuals involved. Knew their flaws as well as their strengths, and accepted both without judgment.
"What do we bleedin' do now?" Spike barked.
"Exactly what Willow said," Angel responded without hesitation. "We remember why we're here."
***
It was a solemn group of vampires who made their way to the van. Willow watched them, noting the tears on Drusilla's cheeks, the tick at Spike's jaw, and the brooding way in which Angel's brows were lowered. Dev, resting sedately in Spike's arms, was the same as she'd been.
As much as she'd hated to bring reality crashing down on their shoulders, they'd all needed it, including herself. They'd all grasped eagerly onto the idea that this wasn't real, but it was. The curtain of purple hair dangling across Spike's arm was proof of that. Willow flinched, thinking about how she'd relegated Dev to the background over the past few days.
She couldn't really pinpoint how she'd come to understand what they were doing, but something had crashed inside of her when she heard Spike and Angel talking about her for what felt like the tenth time in three days, and mentioning Dev only in passing. Her mind had shoved a memory at her, Dev hovering in the air, with that cross mark at the juncture of her thighs, and Willow had wanted to slap herself silly. She had made a promise to Dev, and that was the reality amidst the fantasy.
Willow moved to the back of the van and opened the doors. Spike crawled in and set Dev down, nodding at the others once she was situated. Angel gently urged Drusilla inside, then followed.
"Call Wesley," Willow said to him. "I'll drive for.two hours, then cast the shield if Wesley doesn't come up with a compelling reason not to."
Angel nodded, not saying anything, and Willow waited a long moment before she nodded as well and closed the van doors. It was the first time she'd been driving at night without one of them up front with her, and she had the thought that maybe they were all staying with Dev as some kind of apology to her.
Willow got behind the wheel and started the engine. She could understand the need, but hoped that they didn't beat themselves up over it for very long. It was just something that had happened without anyone realizing it, and in those situations one could only acknowledge the mistake and correct it.
Which was why Willow was going to construct the shield unless Wesley predicted her or Dev's immediate death from it. No matter what Angel had to say on the subject. Besides losing sight of their purpose they were also guilty of one other transgression: they'd been playing it safe from the beginning. None of them played it safe in their day-to-day lives, it was a strength all of them shared, and it was time they remembered that.
She only hoped Angel would understand that as well.
***
The vampires in the back didn't much talk to one another right away. Angel called the Demon Blunderer and asked him to check into what Willow wanted to do and call back. But it wasn't silence that took over then. Instead of each of them being in their own head with their own thoughts, they were focused on Dev. Looking at her. Touching her. Whispering in her ear. Just bloody being with her, rather than treating her like some great bit of furniture that was back there with them.
Though Drusilla had done that less than him or Angel, she apparently felt that she was just as guilty, because she'd been cooing non-stop at their childe. Spike thought about Los Angeles, how they had sat *with* Dev, not just near her. They'd read to her, talked to her, spent time with her so that she wasn't so horribly alone in this.
It would have been easy to explain it away with the traveling, to say that they had been bouncing around so much that there wasn't time for all of that. But they had made time for other things, hadn't they? And of them all, it had been Willow who had seen. Willow, who didn't even know Dev, didn't even know the rest of them either.
"You have permission to kick my arse, Dev," Spike said loudly. "Hell, I'll even hold the others down for you."
"Don't listen to him," Angel said to Dev. "We won't need to be held down. Will we, Drusilla?"
"I'd bare my neck to make it better," Drusilla sniffed, and Spike rolled his eyes.
"Drusilla's a mess over there," he confided to Dev. "She doesn't realize that you're probably thinking only one thing in that head of yours."
"It's about time," Angel supplied, chuckling along with Spike. "Stop crying, Dru. She's not mad at us, and she's not going to kick our asses, either. She's just glad we came to our senses."
Drusilla's eyes moved from Angel to Spike. "Do you think so?"
"We know so, princess," Spike assured her, grinning at Dev.
"This is how we're going forward," Angel said suddenly, and Spike looked at him curiously. "Like we are right now. With the rest in the background."
"Or maybe not even in the picture," Spike said carefully, watching Angel's face closely.
"Maybe not even that," Angel acknowledged.
The idea of foregoing the rest of it--those things that he'd just days ago thought he absolutely had to have--didn't upset Spike. If it had been for any other reason, it might have. But letting go of the other stuff felt just as right as taking it up had.
"Yes, I like that," Drusilla said, sounding happy and pleased. "It'll be just like when our Devil first came to us."
Spike's eyes widened. It was *exactly* like when they'd been raising Dev, when they'd spent long months teaching her how to walk and speak and hunt and read and laugh and a thousand other things the prophesy hadn't instilled in her when it had made her into a full grown woman in two nights.
That time, before Dev had gone out on her own, it had been just like this moment: easy and comfortable and affable, the intensity of everything else taking a nap in the proverbial backseat. Spike met Angel's eyes and knew his own probably held the same hint of surprise that Angel's did.
***
When Willow stopped the van and opened the doors, Angel saw right away that she was braced for an argument. No doubt she expected him to refuse to let her do the shield.
"Wesley said it sounds like a solid idea," Angel said simply, and Willow frowned deeply. "But I can argue if you want. Let you feel like you badgered me into it," he offered.
Her eyes cleared and she relaxed. "Not necessary," she drawled. "I just didn't expect you to come over to my side this easily."
"Bah," Spike proclaimed. "We're not bloody morons, you know."
"No, not all of you," she quipped, dancing back out of reach of his pinching fingers.
Then she motioned them to get out of the van. They were at a scenic rest stop, which was deserted at the late hour. Abandoned picnic tables sat forlornly in the dark, and the few lights cast shadows all round them.
"I'll need to have better access to her," Willow said, chewing her lip and studying the interior of the van.
"No problem," Angel said easily. "We'll lay her on one of the tables out here."
She nodded her agreement and then turned to Spike. "I need you to act as my ground."
"Me? Why?"
"Because you don't have your own magic." She nodded her head at Drusilla. "And you don't carry someone else's on you." She motioned at Angel.
Angel carried Dev out of the van and Willow hurried after him, spreading the plastic over the picnic table so that he could set Dev down. Drusilla came to Angel and fit herself under one of his arms, wrapping her own around his waist.
"All right," Willow said, facing them all confidently. "I'm going to the unveiling spell first, so that I can make sure I set the shield up where I need to. Then I'll start on the shield itself. It's not a spell, so there won't be any casting. It's more like.directing my own energy, and I don't need to *do* anything to do that."
They all nodded their understanding and then Willow cast the unveiling spell. She stepped out of the circle, moving in the slow and lazy way she'd displayed the first time, and then sat at the picnic table. "Spike, sit across from me."
Looking wary, Spike did as she said, then raised a brow expectantly. In response, Willow held her hands out over Dev, and motioned that Spike take her hands. He did, looking even more unsure about what was happening, but he didn't balk. Angel nodded his approval and encouragement at the blonde, who just rolled his eyes.
"What am I supposed to do besides play pat-a-cake?" Spike drawled sardonically.
"Please don't talk so much," Willow said, frowning at him. "Everything's kind of far away and slow, and I can't hear you right."
Spike snorted and then shrugged in a helpless gesture, raising both of his brows questioningly.
Willow stared, seemingly with great difficulty, at him and then nodded. "I'm going to wrap Dev in my own energy," she said by way of a response. "I may have to divert some of my magic into you to keep it from going all over the place." Spike's eyes widened and he pulled his hands back.
"It's just temporary," she assured him. "I promise."
"Bloody hell, Dev, I think we're even now," he groused and gave Willow his hands again.
"You don't have to do anything in particular," Willow continued. "Just don't let go of my hands no matter what. You ready?"
Spike's eyes flickered in Angel's direction again, and Angel nodded once again. "She knows what she's doing," he reminded Spike.
"Go on," Spike said to Willow, then repeated it much slower when she didn't respond.
"Okay, here we go."
At first, there wasn't anything to really see about it all. A lot of frowning from Willow as she moved her eyes over Dev, then she closed her eyes and began breathing deeply. A small wind picked up around her, but nothing all that intense. Angel was beginning to think nothing remarkable would be evident to him when Spike suddenly arched his back and screamed.
"Fucking hell! You didn't say it would bloody burn my insides!"
If Willow actually heard him, she gave no sign of it. A sweat broke out on her brow and then her eyes began to glow. Angel saw that her nails had drawn Spike's blood. Spike screamed again and this time Willow screamed with him, though she was staring at Dev, like she was screaming her power at the vampire. There was a ripple in the air and Spike fell backwards, Willow's hands preventing him from tumbling to the ground.
"Oh, it's lovely," Drusilla enthused, and Angel looked down to find her wide eyes filled with excitement as she watched Spike and Willow.
The air rippled again, followed by a small pop, and this time Spike and Willow were keeping each other from falling. "Wow," Willow croaked, blinking hugely. "That was."
"Bloody painful," Spike hissed, his head was pressed against the wood surface of the picnic table.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked, not approaching them. There was a vibration in the air between Spike, Dev and Willow that made him cautious of touching any of them.
"Do it again!" Drusilla demanded, and Spike snarled in response.
Angel heard Willow mutter the incantation to end the unveiling spell, and she shook herself, looking around. "I fell kind of buzzed," she said abruptly, giggling slightly.
And she looked it, Angel noted critically. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were flushed.
Across the table, Spike groaned. "I feel like the day after."
"Hair of the dog what bit ya?" Willow offered cheerfully, tugging on his hands, which Spike immediately yanked away.
Angel caught him before he landed, and held him in a sitting position. "Did it work?" he asked Willow hopefully.
"Yep," she assured him, smiling as Drusilla came to sit next to her.
"Was it supposed to be so--"
"Painful?" Spike supplied miserably.
"--violent?" Angel finished over him.
Willow sobered up a bit and shook her head. "No."
"What was the screaming all about?" Angel asked.
"And the pain?" Spike griped. "You didn't say anything about pain, damn it."
She answered Spike first. "Well, you didn't ask--I didn't know there would be pain," she amended quickly when he growled again. "Dev's got some.strong magic in her, and she felt really threatened when mine came calling."
Angel nodded. "She resisted."
"In a big way," Willow said emphatically. "I had to draw on everything I had stored in Spike, and then barrage her with it. She couldn't fight me off and keep her own shield in place at the same time."
"The pain, damn it," Spike snarled. "What was with the bloody pain?"
"I think," Willow answered thoughtfully, "that it hurt because of the way I had to pull it out of you all at once. It didn't seem to hurt you when I filtered it into you a little at a time."
"So what I'm hearing," Spike said dangerously, and Angel felt him tense, "is that you didn't even need me here since you had to use all of it anyway?"
"Not at all," Willow denied earnestly, shaking her head. "I literally threw everything I had in the way of magic at her, Spike. If you hadn't been grounding me, I wouldn't have stopped at the magic."
"Precious would have been gone," Drusilla told them with a sly grin. "Just blank eyes and quiet head; nothing but flesh and bone, waiting for someone to move in."
Spike lifted his head, and Angel watched him stare at Drusilla for a long moment. "Still think it hurt more than it was worth," he said snidely, but there was less bite behind the words than there could have been, and even Willow noticed if her small smile was anything to go by.
"What do we do now, then?" Spike asked as he sat up, wincing as he did so.
"Drive like usual," Angel said. "I want to put some distance between us and here. When we stop.we'll really stop. We'll take it from there, depending on if we get a call from Cordy."
"Sounds like a plan," Willow agreed, reaching out to touch Dev's hair. "Hear that? You might be able to go a day without getting hauled around like a sack of potatoes."
***
Hours later, at sunset the following day, they did indeed stop. Willow was actually really grateful for that. When Angel had woken her up just before dawn, she'd realized that her buzz had ebbed away, only to leave her feeling exactly how Spike must have the previous night: seriously hung over.
Spike had had no sympathy whatsoever, and had spent most of the day pounding on the divider between the front and back of the van, causing Willow to alternately see stars or hang her head out of the window in case she threw up. On unsteady legs, Willow alighted from the van and checked them in at the latest motel. This one did not have a data port, and she was glad for an excuse not to work on the database. Just the thought of trying to focus on her laptop screen had her stomach rolling.
Coming back out of the small office, Willow put her hand to her mouth when she considered driving the van around the building to their room. She'd walk, she decided, and knocked on the back doors. Spike opened them and grinned when he got a look at her.
"Little hair of the dog what bit ya?" he asked her loudly, and she winced.
"One of you has to drive around the back," Willow said around her hand. "I'll meet you there. Room 120. Keys are in the ignition."
She fled before he could try to make her feel worse, and was followed by his bark of laughter. She took refuge in the bathroom, hanging for a long time over the toilet because her stomach was really not happy, but she didn't actually throw up.
Peeling her clothes from her clammy skin, Willow turned the shower on and stepped inside the stall. The water took forever to warm up but when it finally did she sank to the floor and let the spray of water fall over her. She coaxed handfuls of it into her mouth and it did only a little to alleviate the coating of cotton on her tongue. God, she felt *awful*.
The door opened, and Willow sat up nervously. "A little privacy, please!" she squeaked.
The shower curtain moved, revealing Drusilla, who tsked at her. Willow pulled her knees to her chest and did her best to preserve her modesty, knowing that she had to be eight shades of red.
"Uh, Dru, could you maybe get out?" Willow asked desperately, watching the vampire with wide eyes.
"Quiet, precious," Drusilla sang, delicately sitting on her legs and reaching out to turn off the water. "Now, let me see." Her eyes drifted from Willow's head to her feet. "Poor critter. Lean over."
"Dru, I really think I'd rather have some clothes on, so could you--"
"So stubborn," Drusilla interrupted, shaking her head. "Just relax and let me see where it hurts."
"Where it hurts?" Willow repeated, staring at her. "What do you--"
The familiar sensation of falling for miles, and no surprise this time when she landed right where she was. Experimentally, Willow tasted her tongue. No cotton. She moved her head, but there was no pain. Best of all, though, the churning was gone from her stomach.
"Thank you!" Willow said happily.
Drusilla laughed as she rose to her feet. "You're welcome. There are clothes for you," she added, gesturing vaguely behind her.
Willow peered around the vampire and saw a stack of fresh clothing on the sink. Angel, probably. No doubt Spike hadn't been in any hurry for her to feel better. "Again, thanks. Now, could I maybe, uh, be alone for my shower? I'm getting kind of cold."
Another wide smile and Drusilla was gone. Willow made short work of her shower and quickly dressed. Strangely, Spike didn't seem to be upset by the fact that she was no longer feeling like crap. In fact, he was grinning and hugging Drusilla to his chest when Willow emerged from the bathroom.
Utterly confused, Willow sought out Angel. He was sitting next to Dev, feeding her from the copper bowl. They hadn't waited for her. Curious, Willow moved forward, then sucked in a breath.
"Her back. It's--"
"Better," Angel finished, looking pleased.
Better was an understatement. It had seemed like once that first layer of skin had returned, nothing else had happened. Now, though, the skin had thickened noticeably. Willow only saw indistinct shadows where once there'd been vertebrae.
"You were right," Angel continued. "She's healing like she should be now." He raised his head and when Willow saw the emotion in them, she felt a lump rise in her throat. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Willow said thickly.
Willow spent the rest of the night sitting cross-legged on the other bed, listening to Drusilla weave horrific tales for Dev, which were spun from the loveliest--if not the most disturbing--imagery Willow had ever experienced. Grotesque as the stories themselves were, it was intriguing to hear the details that Drusilla went into, to be amazed by her descriptive technique. And it actually made Willow laugh to see Drusilla, lost in the story-telling, lean over Dev's prone form and mime the actions of the characters in the story.
The men talked amongst themselves, Spike splayed on the bed next to Willow, and Angel sprawled in the threadbare armchair in the corner. Every so often they would fall silent and listen to Drusilla before drifting back to their own conversation. Willow didn't take note of anything they spoke of, too entranced by Drusilla to pay attention.
It was actually a surprise when Angel stood up and quietly told them all that they'd been in the motel room for over five hours. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
The stories ended then, as did the conversation. They four of them began the discomforting task of waiting, something none of them did really well. Spike's fingers began drumming mutedly on his jean-clad thigh, and Willow turned her head. He was lying on his back, one hand under his head, legs crossed at the ankles, eyes planted on the ceiling, and annoyance and impatience drawn on his features.
Her eyes drifted to his hand again, and she remembered the last time she'd stared at that same hand doing the same thing. It stopped moving and she looked at Spike's face again. He was watching her with a frown, but then his gaze dropped to his hand before it met hers once again. A small smile pulled at his lips, and Willow thought it might have been the first genuine one he'd given her.
Movement from the corner of her eye. He'd turned his hand palm-side-up and was holding it out to her. Willow considered that hand, considered what he'd heard him admit to Angel. Strange as it was, she'd never thought about whether or not she liked him. But staring at the hand, remembering her own thoughts and actions after Giles had gone up to bed that far away night, she realized that she did, and had for a while.
Smiling shyly, she put her hand in his. He tugged on it, pulling her down so that she was forced to abandon her sitting position. When she too was lying on her back, he brought their hands down to rest on the bed in between them. The only contact was their joined hands, so different from the handholding they'd done the previous night for the shield, and Willow found that the waiting was easier.
An hour later, they were all forced to admit that waiting in tense silence was another thing none of them could do.
"Somebody bloody say something before I lose my damned mind," Spike's voice exploded into the silence.
Willow burst out laughing, as did Angel. Spike's low chuckled joined them a moment later, and it wasn't long before Drusilla also chimed in, though Willow thought she probably had no idea why she was laughing. Didn't really matter.
"Oh, god, it hurts" Willow gasped, tears of laughter in her eyes as she clutched her ribs with her free hand.
"So what the hell should we do, then?" Spike asked as they finally settled down a minute later. He squeezed Willow's hand and she grinned up at him, wiping the last of her hilarity away.
"I propose we go back to what we were doing," she announced. "Personally, I really want to know if the Nasty Blond Bitch is going to get what she deserves from the Dark Haired Princess."
"You do know that's about your precious Slayer, don't you?" Spike smirked.
Willow widened her eyes dramatically and tried to look vapid. "Gee, really? 'Cause I, like, had no idea!" Spike narrowed his eyes and she smiled. "Sound like anyone you know?" she asked innocently, and blinked a couple of times.
"Hey, now!" Spike griped sullenly. "No need to bring up Harm."
"Knock it off, you two," Angel said indulgently. "Drusilla, finish your story."
Willow burrowed into the bed, and rolled her head to the side as Dru began weaving her tale again. Despite being on edge about the time, Willow eventually drifted off to Drusilla's dulcet tones, only to come awake suddenly and find herself half-laying on Spike's chest.
She bolted into a sitting position and blinked down at him. "Sorry," she husked, but he only shrugged. "How long?"
Spike gestured behind her, and Willow turned and saw the bit of daylight that shone at the edge of the curtains. Angel was on the other bed, him and Drusilla on either side of Dev, and he smiled at her.
"It's just past dawn," he told her quietly. Which made sense, as Willow had gotten used to waking at dawn in order to take over driving. "We've been here ten hours, and there's been no word from Cordy."
Willow closed her eyes in relief. They were safe. They could stop running across the country in the van, and she could actually get a decent night's sleep.
"We've been talking about our next move," Angel said, drawing her attention.
"What did you come up with?" Willow asked curiously, leaning against the headboard and yawning.
"Not a damn thing yet," Spike said succinctly.
"A house would be our best bet," Angel explained. "We'd have the room and the privacy that we need, but there's the whole getting one we can use." He shrugged.
"Hm," Willow murmured, chewing her lip. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you know I took care of the money situation."
Angel stared at her silently. Spike propped himself on his elbow and raised a brow at him. "I told you--financial records," he said smugly.
"What did you do?" Angel asked her quietly.
Willow shrugged and yawned again. "Nothing much. Just changed the name on an account and set it up so that I can access with my ATM card, which I kind of tweaked so that it actually isn't connected to my savings account anymore."
"So, you stole money and then messed around with banking records?"
She sneaked a look at Angel, but couldn't tell if he was angry. "It was Mayor Wilkins' money," she offered helpfully, and Angel's jaw dropped. "Apparently, he was a little too cocky about the whole Ascension thing and didn't draw up a will. It's been sitting around all this time."
"How much?" Spike asked gleefully, and she flashed him a smile.
"Enough so that we can rent a house until Dev is on her feet again," Willow said equivocally. "How long do you think that will be? Now that she's coming along the way she should?"
"Few weeks," Spike supplied.
Willow nodded, then blushed when her stomach gurgled. "Hungry," she explained shyly when Angel and Spike looked at her with amusement. "I don't suppose you feel confident enough in our safety to let me go get some food?"
Her hopes were dashed by Spike's quick, "No."
"But I got you some things from the vending machine," Angel added, gesturing to the desk. Willow saw a few bags of chips, a candy bar, an apple pie, two cans of soda and a bottle of water.
"Mm," she moaned, slipping off the bed and making a bee-line for the food. "A feast fit for the gods."
"Willow, start calling around for some furnished houses once things open," Angel said thoughtfully. "We'll need three bedrooms, a basement and a security system. Will the lease be in your name?" Willow swallowed a mouthful of Baked Lays and nodded. "Good, that means you'll have invite rights. Thick curtains, too," he added, "but we can get those on our own if we need them."
"I have a question," Spike announced, sitting up in the bed. Angel and Willow looked at him expectantly. "Where the fuck are we?"
"Illinois," she replied around some apple pie. "An hour or two from Chicago, more specifically. We should be able to find something in the 'burbs, unless you think the city is better?"
"The 'burbs," Spike said.
"Something with some land, maybe," Angel mused, and Willow raised a brow. "If you can. I'd rather we didn't have to worry about neighbors."
Willow took some paper and a pen from her laptop case and settled at the desk, still munching away. In the middle drawer was a local phone book, and she flipped through the pages for real estate agents and began writing down names and numbers.
She glanced at her watch; it was just past seven in the morning, which meant there was a good two hours before any of these places would be open for business.
"Cartoons?" Spike asked, tilting his head and reaching for the remote.
***
"Willow!" Angel shouted, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. She looked up at him without recognition. "Damn it, talk to me!"
"I didn't know," she whispered. Then her head snapped up and she pushed out of his arms. "You didn't tell me!"
Drusilla rushed to Willow's side, tucking a lock of red hair behind Willow's ear and then rubbing her shoulders soothingly.
"Tell you what?" Spike asked, and Angel saw his eyes narrow. "What didn't we tell you?"
"That she had her own magic!" Willow shouted angrily. "That it wasn't just psychic gifts. None of you said anything."
Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, and once again annoyed at the childe of his who didn't like to share, Angel vowed that as soon as Dev was on her feet, they were going to have a little chat.
Angel met Spike's eyes and nodded. Spike stalked over to Willow and grabbed her chin, raising her face so that she was looking at him. "What happened?" he demanded.
"It's Dev," Willow choked. "That's why she's not healing right, and that's how they're following us."
"Willow," Spike said sharply. "Take it from the beginning."
Nodding, Willow took a deep breath and stepped back from Spike. Angel saw Spike finally relent and release her face, allowing her to sink onto the empty bed. Drusilla moved with her, settling at her side and laying her head on Willow's shoulder.
"She must have known they had magic," Willow said quietly. "So when she passed out her subconscious kicked in and she instinctively set up a shield around herself."
"That's why the healing spell backfired," Angel mused. "But why wouldn't she let that through?"
"She's blocking *everything*," Willow said impatiently. "She doesn't have the capacity to determine if what's coming at her is good or bad because she's unconscious."
"What the hell did you mean, that's why she's not healing right?" Spike bit out.
Willow gestured wildly with her hands. "It's the same reason why people get weird dreams if they eat before sleeping."
"It's been a long time since any of us have been human," Angel reminded her. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, right. Um, when you're sleeping, your body is rejuvenating itself, okay?" she explained. "If you eat right before you go to bed, then your body can't focus as much on resting because it's got to digest the food. Same reason you should wait a half an hour after eating before you swim."
"So," Spike said thoughtfully, "she's using her energy to protect herself, instead of to heal? And it's taking a toll on her?"
Willow nodded. "Exactly."
"They're following her energy, aren't they?" Angel guessed flatly.
"They're trying," she corrected. "She's not making it easy. Locator spells would just rebound off of her, like my healing spell. So I think what they tried to do was.latch onto her. But when they lock onto her shield, she cuts them off. What's left behind tries to 'report' back to the source, but with the way we're constantly moving, it gets confused."
"So when we were staying put, those parts had enough time to regroup and get back to the source," Angel deducted, and she nodded. Spike cursed roundly and ended with a familiar snort of disgust.
Angel gazed closely at Willow, saw the concentration written between her brows that meant she was on to something, and asked, "How do we make her stop?"
"We can't, not the way you mean," Willow said slowly. "But, I think this is what Drusilla's vision was talking about. Right now, if you think about it, Dev is running as much as we are. She's running from what they're throwing at her."
Her head swiveled to look at Dev again and she seemed to lean a little more on Drusilla. Angel never thought he'd see Willow--avenger of good--taking comfort from Dru. Then again, it was just as unbelievable as everything else, so maybe it was just the norm now.
"Drusilla's vision had Dev hiding under the tree," Willow continued, almost talking to herself. "They couldn't find her there and she felt safe enough to lower her guard."
She flew to her feet and ran to her trunk. "I think there's something." she mumbled, rummaging through it.
Angel shook his head, smiling despite the situation at the sheer perseverance of the red head. She found a book and impatiently flipped the pages, glancing at them only briefly before moving on. Then her eyes lit up and she grinned excitedly.
"Okay, stay with me," she babbled. "If I can construct a shield around Dev, under her own shield, she'll sense that she can get rid of hers and when that happens, the pieces of the baddies will dissipate along with it, and I'll be effectively cutting off Dev's signal, so they won't have anything to lock onto and we can actually settle down in one place until she's healed, which will be faster than we've thought because your blood will do what it's supposed to then."
She was on her feet again, bouncing on her heels with renewed energy. Angel had the thought that she was just as difficult to understand as Drusilla sometimes. He tossed a confused glance at Spike, who grinned and mouthed what looked suspiciously like, "Eyes only for the Slayer."
"Long story short," Spike said to Willow. "You're saying you can shield Dev and convince her to lower hers?" Willow nodded emphatically. "Then we won't be traceable?" Another nod. "She'll heal like she should?" An exasperated nod this time. "And what if they start locking onto you?"
Willow stilled, frowning. "I think," she said with confusion, "that if I create my shield under Dev's, I'm under their radar. They shouldn't be able to tell that I've done it. As far as they'll know, she'll simply have disappeared." She snapped her fingers. "Poof. Gone."
"Call the Demon Bumbler," Spike said to Angel.
"We should hit the road again," Willow said suddenly. Angel frowned, and she explained, "I want to do the shield right as we stop, so that there's no chance the.fragments can send anything back. You can call Wesley while you drive," she said decisively, putting the spell book on top of the trunk and starting to gather her things.
"I'll study the ritual for the spell and make sure I have everything I'll need while you talk to him." She stopped and looked at the rest of them, who hadn't moved. "Well, what are you waiting for? We've got to get moving."
Spike laughed, and moved to Willow, ruffling her hair. "Right you are," he chuckled, taking the trunk from her and hefting it onto his shoulder. "Hurry it up, Angel," he added as he strode out of the room.
Willow turned to Angel, her face hopeful. "It fits, Angel," she said confidently. "It fits perfectly."
Angel nodded slowly and she took that as his ascent and bounded out of the room with her suitcase. Yes, it fit, but he remembered something she apparently was choosing to forget. The tree was going to die.
Drusilla flittered her hands, and Angel watched her waft his way. "Daddy," she lilted, "you mustn't worry so. Our precious is stronger than you know, and she'll come from the death even stronger."
Angel grabbed her hand from its position on his chest, and stared down at her with flinty eyes. "Will she be turned?" he ground out.
Tilting her head to the side, Drusilla shook her head a bit sadly. "No, though I'd like it if she were. I can see the potential in her, so fierce and deviant." She focused on him again when he tightened his hold on her hand. Drusilla went on, frowning at something he couldn't see, "It will be all right in the end."
He put a finger under her chin and lifted it. "Are you sure?" he asked rawly.
"Surest, my Angel," Drusilla assured him, running her other hand along the side of his neck and raking her nails gently across his skin. Angel's eyes closed and he leaned into the touch. "Her path is not what she wishes it were," Drusilla whispered. "But no one's is. It will be bloody and painful, and she'll hate it but think that's all there is, won't see the forks that appear unless."
"Unless what, Dru?" Angel snapped.
Her dark eyes touched his solemnly. "I've already told you that I shan't tell until she realizes," she chided him.
Angel frowned, then remembered Drusilla's cryptic words the night Willow had seen Dev for the first time. "It's Dev's only shot, the shield," Angel said tightly. "But if it means Willow will pay too great a price--"
"You can do nothing about that," Drusilla interrupted harshly, pulling away and glaring at him. "It's her path, and she'll walk it now or later. You can do many things, darling Angel, but no one can walk someone else's path." She stamped her foot and curled her lip. "And I won't let you try."
"Haven't you two done anything yet?"
Angel looked away from Dru and saw Spike in the doorway, a grin on his face. Apparently he was also forgetting the rest of Dru's vision.
"I'll get Dev out there," Angel said, looking around and seeing that she was all that was left. "Have Willow check us out."
"Already did," Spike told him. "She's impatiently waiting in the van for us. Impatiently being--" He broke off and stared at Angel. "What is it?"
Spike picked the worst times to be perceptive, Angel decided, but then again, it was better that this get out in the open. They all had the same duty to Willow. "The tree is going to die," Angel said clearly, "and everyone seems to want to forget that or just go along merrily despite that."
A tight look grabbed hold of Spike's features and he looked away. Angel saw his jaw muscle dancing on his cheek. "Then I've got Drusilla rambling nonsense about it being Willow's path to walk, and how it's some kind of internal death--as though that makes a difference."
He moved so that he could glare at both of them at the same time. "Listen closely," he bit out. "Even if this 'death' is an inevitable thing that Willow has to go through, that doesn't mean we wash our hands of it, leave her to deal on her own. That doesn't mean we ignore it, either."
"Well what do you expect us to bloody do?" Spike exploded. "Say, 'oh, hey, Willow, that's a gosh darn great idea you've come up with, too bad it's going to lead to your kind-of death, but don't think about that'?" He stalked forward and poked Angel in the chest with one finger. "Drusilla's told me some of it, too," he growled. "And I like the sound of it even less than you do."
Angel narrowed his eyes, remembering his thoughts on Spike and Willow.
"But we've got a shitload to deal with before then, Willow most of all," he continued angrily. "Besides this, she's got Dev's database, and I think I saw her messing with financial records, too. You want this in the forefront of her mind, too? You want her to break?"
"Stop." It was Willow, coming through the door with a somber look on her face.
"How much did you hear?" Angel asked warily.
She shut the door behind her and faced them calmly. "Everything from you complaining about Dru rambling on about nonsense."
"Great, nice going," Spike huffed at Angel.
"I said stop," Willow said firmly. "I think that we need to take a small step back from the 'family way of thinking'."
"What are you babbling about?" Spike snapped.
"We're forgetting why we're here," Willow said simply. "The basis for your arrangement was you three getting along while you helped Dev. Then you kept taking it a little further, each of you for your own reasons, and the focus became the family, and I got sucked in, too."
She shook her head. "It's got to be toned down," she informed them harshly, cutting a hand through the air. "We've got a lot of hurdles to overcome before this ends, and if we continue keeping our attention on ourselves and each other, Dev's going to pay the price." With one last look, she opened the door again. "I'll be in the van. Take your time."
Angel felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He stared at the closed door and frowned.
"Is she right?" he wondered out loud, looking at Spike and Dru.
Spike wandered over to Dev's bedside and stared down at her. "Yeah, she is," he said eventually, his voice deep and disgusted. "We've been carting Dev around like fucking luggage." He shrugged and turned weary eyes on Angel. "We put it all on Willow's shoulders," he said bluntly, "so that we could indulge ourselves, and we let Dev slip from our minds."
Tears were streaming down Drusilla's face. "My Devil, I didn't mean it," she gasped.
"She knows, Drusilla," Angel soothed, moving to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "She understands you didn't mean it."
Looking down at Dev's still form, Angel knew he was right. As small amount of time as she had had with the three of them, she understand the structure and the individuals involved. Knew their flaws as well as their strengths, and accepted both without judgment.
"What do we bleedin' do now?" Spike barked.
"Exactly what Willow said," Angel responded without hesitation. "We remember why we're here."
***
It was a solemn group of vampires who made their way to the van. Willow watched them, noting the tears on Drusilla's cheeks, the tick at Spike's jaw, and the brooding way in which Angel's brows were lowered. Dev, resting sedately in Spike's arms, was the same as she'd been.
As much as she'd hated to bring reality crashing down on their shoulders, they'd all needed it, including herself. They'd all grasped eagerly onto the idea that this wasn't real, but it was. The curtain of purple hair dangling across Spike's arm was proof of that. Willow flinched, thinking about how she'd relegated Dev to the background over the past few days.
She couldn't really pinpoint how she'd come to understand what they were doing, but something had crashed inside of her when she heard Spike and Angel talking about her for what felt like the tenth time in three days, and mentioning Dev only in passing. Her mind had shoved a memory at her, Dev hovering in the air, with that cross mark at the juncture of her thighs, and Willow had wanted to slap herself silly. She had made a promise to Dev, and that was the reality amidst the fantasy.
Willow moved to the back of the van and opened the doors. Spike crawled in and set Dev down, nodding at the others once she was situated. Angel gently urged Drusilla inside, then followed.
"Call Wesley," Willow said to him. "I'll drive for.two hours, then cast the shield if Wesley doesn't come up with a compelling reason not to."
Angel nodded, not saying anything, and Willow waited a long moment before she nodded as well and closed the van doors. It was the first time she'd been driving at night without one of them up front with her, and she had the thought that maybe they were all staying with Dev as some kind of apology to her.
Willow got behind the wheel and started the engine. She could understand the need, but hoped that they didn't beat themselves up over it for very long. It was just something that had happened without anyone realizing it, and in those situations one could only acknowledge the mistake and correct it.
Which was why Willow was going to construct the shield unless Wesley predicted her or Dev's immediate death from it. No matter what Angel had to say on the subject. Besides losing sight of their purpose they were also guilty of one other transgression: they'd been playing it safe from the beginning. None of them played it safe in their day-to-day lives, it was a strength all of them shared, and it was time they remembered that.
She only hoped Angel would understand that as well.
***
The vampires in the back didn't much talk to one another right away. Angel called the Demon Blunderer and asked him to check into what Willow wanted to do and call back. But it wasn't silence that took over then. Instead of each of them being in their own head with their own thoughts, they were focused on Dev. Looking at her. Touching her. Whispering in her ear. Just bloody being with her, rather than treating her like some great bit of furniture that was back there with them.
Though Drusilla had done that less than him or Angel, she apparently felt that she was just as guilty, because she'd been cooing non-stop at their childe. Spike thought about Los Angeles, how they had sat *with* Dev, not just near her. They'd read to her, talked to her, spent time with her so that she wasn't so horribly alone in this.
It would have been easy to explain it away with the traveling, to say that they had been bouncing around so much that there wasn't time for all of that. But they had made time for other things, hadn't they? And of them all, it had been Willow who had seen. Willow, who didn't even know Dev, didn't even know the rest of them either.
"You have permission to kick my arse, Dev," Spike said loudly. "Hell, I'll even hold the others down for you."
"Don't listen to him," Angel said to Dev. "We won't need to be held down. Will we, Drusilla?"
"I'd bare my neck to make it better," Drusilla sniffed, and Spike rolled his eyes.
"Drusilla's a mess over there," he confided to Dev. "She doesn't realize that you're probably thinking only one thing in that head of yours."
"It's about time," Angel supplied, chuckling along with Spike. "Stop crying, Dru. She's not mad at us, and she's not going to kick our asses, either. She's just glad we came to our senses."
Drusilla's eyes moved from Angel to Spike. "Do you think so?"
"We know so, princess," Spike assured her, grinning at Dev.
"This is how we're going forward," Angel said suddenly, and Spike looked at him curiously. "Like we are right now. With the rest in the background."
"Or maybe not even in the picture," Spike said carefully, watching Angel's face closely.
"Maybe not even that," Angel acknowledged.
The idea of foregoing the rest of it--those things that he'd just days ago thought he absolutely had to have--didn't upset Spike. If it had been for any other reason, it might have. But letting go of the other stuff felt just as right as taking it up had.
"Yes, I like that," Drusilla said, sounding happy and pleased. "It'll be just like when our Devil first came to us."
Spike's eyes widened. It was *exactly* like when they'd been raising Dev, when they'd spent long months teaching her how to walk and speak and hunt and read and laugh and a thousand other things the prophesy hadn't instilled in her when it had made her into a full grown woman in two nights.
That time, before Dev had gone out on her own, it had been just like this moment: easy and comfortable and affable, the intensity of everything else taking a nap in the proverbial backseat. Spike met Angel's eyes and knew his own probably held the same hint of surprise that Angel's did.
***
When Willow stopped the van and opened the doors, Angel saw right away that she was braced for an argument. No doubt she expected him to refuse to let her do the shield.
"Wesley said it sounds like a solid idea," Angel said simply, and Willow frowned deeply. "But I can argue if you want. Let you feel like you badgered me into it," he offered.
Her eyes cleared and she relaxed. "Not necessary," she drawled. "I just didn't expect you to come over to my side this easily."
"Bah," Spike proclaimed. "We're not bloody morons, you know."
"No, not all of you," she quipped, dancing back out of reach of his pinching fingers.
Then she motioned them to get out of the van. They were at a scenic rest stop, which was deserted at the late hour. Abandoned picnic tables sat forlornly in the dark, and the few lights cast shadows all round them.
"I'll need to have better access to her," Willow said, chewing her lip and studying the interior of the van.
"No problem," Angel said easily. "We'll lay her on one of the tables out here."
She nodded her agreement and then turned to Spike. "I need you to act as my ground."
"Me? Why?"
"Because you don't have your own magic." She nodded her head at Drusilla. "And you don't carry someone else's on you." She motioned at Angel.
Angel carried Dev out of the van and Willow hurried after him, spreading the plastic over the picnic table so that he could set Dev down. Drusilla came to Angel and fit herself under one of his arms, wrapping her own around his waist.
"All right," Willow said, facing them all confidently. "I'm going to the unveiling spell first, so that I can make sure I set the shield up where I need to. Then I'll start on the shield itself. It's not a spell, so there won't be any casting. It's more like.directing my own energy, and I don't need to *do* anything to do that."
They all nodded their understanding and then Willow cast the unveiling spell. She stepped out of the circle, moving in the slow and lazy way she'd displayed the first time, and then sat at the picnic table. "Spike, sit across from me."
Looking wary, Spike did as she said, then raised a brow expectantly. In response, Willow held her hands out over Dev, and motioned that Spike take her hands. He did, looking even more unsure about what was happening, but he didn't balk. Angel nodded his approval and encouragement at the blonde, who just rolled his eyes.
"What am I supposed to do besides play pat-a-cake?" Spike drawled sardonically.
"Please don't talk so much," Willow said, frowning at him. "Everything's kind of far away and slow, and I can't hear you right."
Spike snorted and then shrugged in a helpless gesture, raising both of his brows questioningly.
Willow stared, seemingly with great difficulty, at him and then nodded. "I'm going to wrap Dev in my own energy," she said by way of a response. "I may have to divert some of my magic into you to keep it from going all over the place." Spike's eyes widened and he pulled his hands back.
"It's just temporary," she assured him. "I promise."
"Bloody hell, Dev, I think we're even now," he groused and gave Willow his hands again.
"You don't have to do anything in particular," Willow continued. "Just don't let go of my hands no matter what. You ready?"
Spike's eyes flickered in Angel's direction again, and Angel nodded once again. "She knows what she's doing," he reminded Spike.
"Go on," Spike said to Willow, then repeated it much slower when she didn't respond.
"Okay, here we go."
At first, there wasn't anything to really see about it all. A lot of frowning from Willow as she moved her eyes over Dev, then she closed her eyes and began breathing deeply. A small wind picked up around her, but nothing all that intense. Angel was beginning to think nothing remarkable would be evident to him when Spike suddenly arched his back and screamed.
"Fucking hell! You didn't say it would bloody burn my insides!"
If Willow actually heard him, she gave no sign of it. A sweat broke out on her brow and then her eyes began to glow. Angel saw that her nails had drawn Spike's blood. Spike screamed again and this time Willow screamed with him, though she was staring at Dev, like she was screaming her power at the vampire. There was a ripple in the air and Spike fell backwards, Willow's hands preventing him from tumbling to the ground.
"Oh, it's lovely," Drusilla enthused, and Angel looked down to find her wide eyes filled with excitement as she watched Spike and Willow.
The air rippled again, followed by a small pop, and this time Spike and Willow were keeping each other from falling. "Wow," Willow croaked, blinking hugely. "That was."
"Bloody painful," Spike hissed, his head was pressed against the wood surface of the picnic table.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked, not approaching them. There was a vibration in the air between Spike, Dev and Willow that made him cautious of touching any of them.
"Do it again!" Drusilla demanded, and Spike snarled in response.
Angel heard Willow mutter the incantation to end the unveiling spell, and she shook herself, looking around. "I fell kind of buzzed," she said abruptly, giggling slightly.
And she looked it, Angel noted critically. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were flushed.
Across the table, Spike groaned. "I feel like the day after."
"Hair of the dog what bit ya?" Willow offered cheerfully, tugging on his hands, which Spike immediately yanked away.
Angel caught him before he landed, and held him in a sitting position. "Did it work?" he asked Willow hopefully.
"Yep," she assured him, smiling as Drusilla came to sit next to her.
"Was it supposed to be so--"
"Painful?" Spike supplied miserably.
"--violent?" Angel finished over him.
Willow sobered up a bit and shook her head. "No."
"What was the screaming all about?" Angel asked.
"And the pain?" Spike griped. "You didn't say anything about pain, damn it."
She answered Spike first. "Well, you didn't ask--I didn't know there would be pain," she amended quickly when he growled again. "Dev's got some.strong magic in her, and she felt really threatened when mine came calling."
Angel nodded. "She resisted."
"In a big way," Willow said emphatically. "I had to draw on everything I had stored in Spike, and then barrage her with it. She couldn't fight me off and keep her own shield in place at the same time."
"The pain, damn it," Spike snarled. "What was with the bloody pain?"
"I think," Willow answered thoughtfully, "that it hurt because of the way I had to pull it out of you all at once. It didn't seem to hurt you when I filtered it into you a little at a time."
"So what I'm hearing," Spike said dangerously, and Angel felt him tense, "is that you didn't even need me here since you had to use all of it anyway?"
"Not at all," Willow denied earnestly, shaking her head. "I literally threw everything I had in the way of magic at her, Spike. If you hadn't been grounding me, I wouldn't have stopped at the magic."
"Precious would have been gone," Drusilla told them with a sly grin. "Just blank eyes and quiet head; nothing but flesh and bone, waiting for someone to move in."
Spike lifted his head, and Angel watched him stare at Drusilla for a long moment. "Still think it hurt more than it was worth," he said snidely, but there was less bite behind the words than there could have been, and even Willow noticed if her small smile was anything to go by.
"What do we do now, then?" Spike asked as he sat up, wincing as he did so.
"Drive like usual," Angel said. "I want to put some distance between us and here. When we stop.we'll really stop. We'll take it from there, depending on if we get a call from Cordy."
"Sounds like a plan," Willow agreed, reaching out to touch Dev's hair. "Hear that? You might be able to go a day without getting hauled around like a sack of potatoes."
***
Hours later, at sunset the following day, they did indeed stop. Willow was actually really grateful for that. When Angel had woken her up just before dawn, she'd realized that her buzz had ebbed away, only to leave her feeling exactly how Spike must have the previous night: seriously hung over.
Spike had had no sympathy whatsoever, and had spent most of the day pounding on the divider between the front and back of the van, causing Willow to alternately see stars or hang her head out of the window in case she threw up. On unsteady legs, Willow alighted from the van and checked them in at the latest motel. This one did not have a data port, and she was glad for an excuse not to work on the database. Just the thought of trying to focus on her laptop screen had her stomach rolling.
Coming back out of the small office, Willow put her hand to her mouth when she considered driving the van around the building to their room. She'd walk, she decided, and knocked on the back doors. Spike opened them and grinned when he got a look at her.
"Little hair of the dog what bit ya?" he asked her loudly, and she winced.
"One of you has to drive around the back," Willow said around her hand. "I'll meet you there. Room 120. Keys are in the ignition."
She fled before he could try to make her feel worse, and was followed by his bark of laughter. She took refuge in the bathroom, hanging for a long time over the toilet because her stomach was really not happy, but she didn't actually throw up.
Peeling her clothes from her clammy skin, Willow turned the shower on and stepped inside the stall. The water took forever to warm up but when it finally did she sank to the floor and let the spray of water fall over her. She coaxed handfuls of it into her mouth and it did only a little to alleviate the coating of cotton on her tongue. God, she felt *awful*.
The door opened, and Willow sat up nervously. "A little privacy, please!" she squeaked.
The shower curtain moved, revealing Drusilla, who tsked at her. Willow pulled her knees to her chest and did her best to preserve her modesty, knowing that she had to be eight shades of red.
"Uh, Dru, could you maybe get out?" Willow asked desperately, watching the vampire with wide eyes.
"Quiet, precious," Drusilla sang, delicately sitting on her legs and reaching out to turn off the water. "Now, let me see." Her eyes drifted from Willow's head to her feet. "Poor critter. Lean over."
"Dru, I really think I'd rather have some clothes on, so could you--"
"So stubborn," Drusilla interrupted, shaking her head. "Just relax and let me see where it hurts."
"Where it hurts?" Willow repeated, staring at her. "What do you--"
The familiar sensation of falling for miles, and no surprise this time when she landed right where she was. Experimentally, Willow tasted her tongue. No cotton. She moved her head, but there was no pain. Best of all, though, the churning was gone from her stomach.
"Thank you!" Willow said happily.
Drusilla laughed as she rose to her feet. "You're welcome. There are clothes for you," she added, gesturing vaguely behind her.
Willow peered around the vampire and saw a stack of fresh clothing on the sink. Angel, probably. No doubt Spike hadn't been in any hurry for her to feel better. "Again, thanks. Now, could I maybe, uh, be alone for my shower? I'm getting kind of cold."
Another wide smile and Drusilla was gone. Willow made short work of her shower and quickly dressed. Strangely, Spike didn't seem to be upset by the fact that she was no longer feeling like crap. In fact, he was grinning and hugging Drusilla to his chest when Willow emerged from the bathroom.
Utterly confused, Willow sought out Angel. He was sitting next to Dev, feeding her from the copper bowl. They hadn't waited for her. Curious, Willow moved forward, then sucked in a breath.
"Her back. It's--"
"Better," Angel finished, looking pleased.
Better was an understatement. It had seemed like once that first layer of skin had returned, nothing else had happened. Now, though, the skin had thickened noticeably. Willow only saw indistinct shadows where once there'd been vertebrae.
"You were right," Angel continued. "She's healing like she should be now." He raised his head and when Willow saw the emotion in them, she felt a lump rise in her throat. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Willow said thickly.
Willow spent the rest of the night sitting cross-legged on the other bed, listening to Drusilla weave horrific tales for Dev, which were spun from the loveliest--if not the most disturbing--imagery Willow had ever experienced. Grotesque as the stories themselves were, it was intriguing to hear the details that Drusilla went into, to be amazed by her descriptive technique. And it actually made Willow laugh to see Drusilla, lost in the story-telling, lean over Dev's prone form and mime the actions of the characters in the story.
The men talked amongst themselves, Spike splayed on the bed next to Willow, and Angel sprawled in the threadbare armchair in the corner. Every so often they would fall silent and listen to Drusilla before drifting back to their own conversation. Willow didn't take note of anything they spoke of, too entranced by Drusilla to pay attention.
It was actually a surprise when Angel stood up and quietly told them all that they'd been in the motel room for over five hours. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
The stories ended then, as did the conversation. They four of them began the discomforting task of waiting, something none of them did really well. Spike's fingers began drumming mutedly on his jean-clad thigh, and Willow turned her head. He was lying on his back, one hand under his head, legs crossed at the ankles, eyes planted on the ceiling, and annoyance and impatience drawn on his features.
Her eyes drifted to his hand again, and she remembered the last time she'd stared at that same hand doing the same thing. It stopped moving and she looked at Spike's face again. He was watching her with a frown, but then his gaze dropped to his hand before it met hers once again. A small smile pulled at his lips, and Willow thought it might have been the first genuine one he'd given her.
Movement from the corner of her eye. He'd turned his hand palm-side-up and was holding it out to her. Willow considered that hand, considered what he'd heard him admit to Angel. Strange as it was, she'd never thought about whether or not she liked him. But staring at the hand, remembering her own thoughts and actions after Giles had gone up to bed that far away night, she realized that she did, and had for a while.
Smiling shyly, she put her hand in his. He tugged on it, pulling her down so that she was forced to abandon her sitting position. When she too was lying on her back, he brought their hands down to rest on the bed in between them. The only contact was their joined hands, so different from the handholding they'd done the previous night for the shield, and Willow found that the waiting was easier.
An hour later, they were all forced to admit that waiting in tense silence was another thing none of them could do.
"Somebody bloody say something before I lose my damned mind," Spike's voice exploded into the silence.
Willow burst out laughing, as did Angel. Spike's low chuckled joined them a moment later, and it wasn't long before Drusilla also chimed in, though Willow thought she probably had no idea why she was laughing. Didn't really matter.
"Oh, god, it hurts" Willow gasped, tears of laughter in her eyes as she clutched her ribs with her free hand.
"So what the hell should we do, then?" Spike asked as they finally settled down a minute later. He squeezed Willow's hand and she grinned up at him, wiping the last of her hilarity away.
"I propose we go back to what we were doing," she announced. "Personally, I really want to know if the Nasty Blond Bitch is going to get what she deserves from the Dark Haired Princess."
"You do know that's about your precious Slayer, don't you?" Spike smirked.
Willow widened her eyes dramatically and tried to look vapid. "Gee, really? 'Cause I, like, had no idea!" Spike narrowed his eyes and she smiled. "Sound like anyone you know?" she asked innocently, and blinked a couple of times.
"Hey, now!" Spike griped sullenly. "No need to bring up Harm."
"Knock it off, you two," Angel said indulgently. "Drusilla, finish your story."
Willow burrowed into the bed, and rolled her head to the side as Dru began weaving her tale again. Despite being on edge about the time, Willow eventually drifted off to Drusilla's dulcet tones, only to come awake suddenly and find herself half-laying on Spike's chest.
She bolted into a sitting position and blinked down at him. "Sorry," she husked, but he only shrugged. "How long?"
Spike gestured behind her, and Willow turned and saw the bit of daylight that shone at the edge of the curtains. Angel was on the other bed, him and Drusilla on either side of Dev, and he smiled at her.
"It's just past dawn," he told her quietly. Which made sense, as Willow had gotten used to waking at dawn in order to take over driving. "We've been here ten hours, and there's been no word from Cordy."
Willow closed her eyes in relief. They were safe. They could stop running across the country in the van, and she could actually get a decent night's sleep.
"We've been talking about our next move," Angel said, drawing her attention.
"What did you come up with?" Willow asked curiously, leaning against the headboard and yawning.
"Not a damn thing yet," Spike said succinctly.
"A house would be our best bet," Angel explained. "We'd have the room and the privacy that we need, but there's the whole getting one we can use." He shrugged.
"Hm," Willow murmured, chewing her lip. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you know I took care of the money situation."
Angel stared at her silently. Spike propped himself on his elbow and raised a brow at him. "I told you--financial records," he said smugly.
"What did you do?" Angel asked her quietly.
Willow shrugged and yawned again. "Nothing much. Just changed the name on an account and set it up so that I can access with my ATM card, which I kind of tweaked so that it actually isn't connected to my savings account anymore."
"So, you stole money and then messed around with banking records?"
She sneaked a look at Angel, but couldn't tell if he was angry. "It was Mayor Wilkins' money," she offered helpfully, and Angel's jaw dropped. "Apparently, he was a little too cocky about the whole Ascension thing and didn't draw up a will. It's been sitting around all this time."
"How much?" Spike asked gleefully, and she flashed him a smile.
"Enough so that we can rent a house until Dev is on her feet again," Willow said equivocally. "How long do you think that will be? Now that she's coming along the way she should?"
"Few weeks," Spike supplied.
Willow nodded, then blushed when her stomach gurgled. "Hungry," she explained shyly when Angel and Spike looked at her with amusement. "I don't suppose you feel confident enough in our safety to let me go get some food?"
Her hopes were dashed by Spike's quick, "No."
"But I got you some things from the vending machine," Angel added, gesturing to the desk. Willow saw a few bags of chips, a candy bar, an apple pie, two cans of soda and a bottle of water.
"Mm," she moaned, slipping off the bed and making a bee-line for the food. "A feast fit for the gods."
"Willow, start calling around for some furnished houses once things open," Angel said thoughtfully. "We'll need three bedrooms, a basement and a security system. Will the lease be in your name?" Willow swallowed a mouthful of Baked Lays and nodded. "Good, that means you'll have invite rights. Thick curtains, too," he added, "but we can get those on our own if we need them."
"I have a question," Spike announced, sitting up in the bed. Angel and Willow looked at him expectantly. "Where the fuck are we?"
"Illinois," she replied around some apple pie. "An hour or two from Chicago, more specifically. We should be able to find something in the 'burbs, unless you think the city is better?"
"The 'burbs," Spike said.
"Something with some land, maybe," Angel mused, and Willow raised a brow. "If you can. I'd rather we didn't have to worry about neighbors."
Willow took some paper and a pen from her laptop case and settled at the desk, still munching away. In the middle drawer was a local phone book, and she flipped through the pages for real estate agents and began writing down names and numbers.
She glanced at her watch; it was just past seven in the morning, which meant there was a good two hours before any of these places would be open for business.
"Cartoons?" Spike asked, tilting his head and reaching for the remote.
***