THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.
CHAPTER 19-SHE'S BACK-------CLEANING DUTY
Whistler had been good to his word. The spell to reconnect Jenny's body with her wandering soul had produced such an enormous torrent of light that for a split second Spike expected to burst into flames even though he was no longer a vampire. The spell had been like many of the resurrection spells that Spike had seen before, although Spike didn't recognize any of the words that came out of the demon's mouth. Making a mental note to ask Whistler about the spell later Spike waited out most of the spell by ducking behind one of the sarcophagus's in the crypt and waiting until the light died down.
"You can come out now Spike, the spell worked," Whistler said with a relieved and tired smile on his face as he leaned back up against one of the stone pillars and closed his eyes.
"Are you sure…all I saw was a fancy light show and some crazy talk," Spike asked with an unsure frown on his face as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"Don't believe me eh…then why don't you ask her yourself," Whistler mumbled through a soft but yet deep intake of breath before he let it out and wiped a hand across his face.
"I'll do that…," Spike said with an annoyed scowl on his face as he walked around the sarcophagus and rested a hand on the nearest column as he poked his head around the corner of that column and gazed with interest at the teacher looking around with bewilderment and fear.
* * * * * *
"I don't know how you did it…but you're lying, that scar is as fake as everything else that you've…," Giles started to exclaim with a defiant frown on his face before Lilah laughed a bit and smiled.
"It's all true Rupert…you don't mind if I call you Rupert do you…anyway I died and to keep me from possibly coming back as a vampire or some other big bad ole Wes hacked my head off with an axe, hence the nifty scar," Lilah purred back with a smile of delight on her face before she wrapped the scarf back around her neck.
"But that still doesn't explain where this creature came from or what its motive is, not to mention the fact that Angel and his group now control an evil…no parlay that…the premiere evil law firm…," Giles debated with a worried look on his face as he began to pace around the room.
"Angel and his merry band did us a favor…so the senior partners rewarded them," Lilah said back with an almost bored look on her face before she sighed, shook her head, and walked out of the room, leaving Giles to only stare into the empty space where she had been.
* * * * * *
Faith had done her best to placate Cordelia's questions without giving away very much of the truth. In her mind she was still trying to come to grips with what had happened with Wesley upstairs. In her heart she had absolutely no regrets about their actions but in her head she knew that soon a decision would have to be made. Unlike the many hundreds if not thousands of times before this one Faith actually felt the urge to stick around and stay with the man that she had just slept with. A small slice of her mind was telling her that she should tell Robin what had happened and try to make things work with him. However when she even ever so slightly cracked the door open to her heart their was only one outcome that called forth with the utmost clarity. Her heart was directing her to her former watcher with such a fierce determination that at times Faith had to resort to rubbing ice cubes from the freezer on the back of her neck to keep from thinking about what she'd like to do with him. But even that course of action could only keep her calm for so long. It was like she had become addicted to a new drug, one that she simply couldn't get enough of, and that new drug's name was Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.
"Earth to Faith…hello…," Angel said with a slightly confused look on his face as he fell into step beside Faith and tried not to grin.
"Huh…what…oh Angel…you want something, or have you added scaring the shit out of me to your repertoire," Faith asked softly, a bit nervous at the tone of Angel's voice, as she sat down on one of the small couches on the edge of the lobby.
"Hardly Faith, no…I was just wondering what you were thinking about," Angel asked with a joking smile etched across his face as he sat down beside her and smoothed out a crease in his jeans.
"Me…Wesley, some ice cubes…cherries…and a whole hell of a lot of Cool Whip…," Faith responded softly with an embarrassed smile on her face as she crossed her arms and lightly rubbed the back of her left arm.
"A simple I'm thinking about Wesley would have sufficed ya know," Angel added with a nervous shrug of his shoulders before he leaned back in his seat and tilted his head to one side so that he could study the slayer sitting beside him. Even from a brief once over Angel could see that Faith had changed in her time in Sunnydale. Her amazing amount of confidence was still firmly in place but now the exhibitions thereof were less and further apart.
"Sorry…I'm just not used to this kind of thing," Faith said with a calm but slightly sullen frown on her face before she ran a hand nervously through her hair.
"Used to what kind of thing…being in charge…having friends…sorry Faith but you're going to have to be a bit more specific if I'm going to help you," Angel stated with a look of sincere concern on his face as he tried to keep from smiling at the difficulty that Faith was having admitting to the real reason for her hesitation.
"Being in love, wait…I mean…no…that's not what I, damn…," Faith replied softly at first with a truthful and heartfelt smile on her face before she realized what she was saying and she clammed up and swore loudly to try to cover her tracks.
"That's what I thought…," Angel thought with a happy smirk on his face as beside him Faith groaned loudly as she dropped her head into her hands and shook her head in dismay.
* * * * * *
"Stay away from me…Rupert, Buffy…," Jenny shouted with a terrified expression on her face as she scrambled back away from Spike, who had both hands up in a non threatening position and was trying his best to look as innocent as he could possibly get.
"Easy now pet…I'm not going to hurt you," Spike said with as sincere of a tone to his voice as he could muster as he slowly backed away from Jenny and turned to Whistler, a mighty glare in his eyes.
"I don't believe you…where's Rupert…," Jenny asked with an unconvinced scowl on her face as she backed up behind one of the larger columns in the crypt.
"In Los Angeles luv…but in the LA of the future…exactly four years from now…give or take…see Angelus killed you and set you up as a gag gift for Giles to find when he got home, now this might be hard for you to accept but…I'm not a vampire anymore, I'm human, more or less," Spike stuttered awkwardly through his initial explanation with a frustrated frown on his face as he tried to put his tidal wave of ideas into words that would hopefully explain everything.
"You're lying…," Jenny exclaimed with a slightly confused look on her face as she was seemingly believing part of Spike's story but not others.
"No Jenny…I'm not, like I said Angelus killed you but Whistler here brought you back so that when Buffy, Joyce, Molly, and I go back to our rightful time to royally kick some big bad's ass you and Giles can finally get that fairy tale ending that you two always wanted," Spike added with a nervous and bored look on his face as he slowly began to pace around the crypt, trying to come up with a way to show Jenny that he was telling the truth.
"This is getting old Spike, you and Ms Calendar here need to get back to your family in Texas, your time to get the spell cast is running out, and Noxon isn't going to wait around forever, she's a very busy…," Whistler interjected with an unhappy edge to his voice as he stepped in between the two and began to nervously fish around in his pockets for something.
"I know Whistler…I know…damn you're a bloody git…how did Angel ever stand you long enough to learn anything worthwhile…," Spike growled with a very angry scowl on his face as he stomped around the crypt before Whistler smiled with glee as he pulled a small liquid filled vial out of his pocket and hurled it at Spike. "Bloody hell man…what the hell did you do that for," Spike exploded into a fit of anger as he shouted at Whistler before the balance restoring demon jumped out of the way and produced another vial from his pocket and showed it to Jenny.
"See Ms. Calendar, this is a vial of holy water…blessed by a priestess from your own tribe…see it bears the mark of your tribe, now if this is holy water then if I throw it at Spike and he bursts into flames then he's still a vampire, but if he doesn't then you'll know that everything that he's told you is the truth," Whistler said quickly with a nervous smile on his face, as Jenny slowly nodded her head with a look of subtle disbelief on her face, before Whistler hurled the vial at Spike, who didn't see it coming. The vial exploded into Spike's forehead, showering his face with the holy water. Spike was forced to bit his bottom lip to keep from ripping Whistler limb from limb while Jenny could only mutter softly to herself while staring wide eyed at Spike, who did not burst into flames but instead threw his hands up and stormed back outside of the crypt, leaving a beaming Whistler behind.
* * * * * *
After his conversation with Faith Angel had spent much of the day trying to calm the new slayers down while keeping Andrew away from any of the important divisions of Wolfram and Hart, thus allowing Gunn and Fred to hit the books and try to come up with a reason for the Beast being back. Giles and Robin had been hounding him all day about what Lilah had said and had finally cornered him in his office near sundown when Lilah had offered to take the new slayers shopping for clothes. Sensing that something was amiss Angel had called Lorne and forced Lilah to sing for him before he allowed the shopping trip to commence. Faith had slipped into the group unnoticed at first and was only found out when she began to haggle with a saleswoman about the price of a rather low cut blouse. The argument had ended with Faith getting her way and none of the new slayers said a word until they got back out to the waiting limousines and Willow and Kennedy made sure to slip into the same limo that Faith slid into.
"Alright…lay it on me Will…," Faith grumbled with an unhappy expression on her face as she sighed deeply and leaned back in her seat while Cordelia did her best to stifle a giggle from nearby.
"Okay…is that for Robin…or for Wesley," Willow stuttered out with a nervous twitch of her before she curled her toes up inside her shoes and prepared for Faith's verbal assault that she was sure to come.
"It's none of your business Will, I'm just buying this top because I like it, that's all, it's been awhile since I've had some new clothes," Faith replied coolly with a restrained tone to her voice as Cordelia only smiled and nodded her head in reply.
"Oh…yeah, right…and what about the last outfit that you bought, the one that looked like it was molded to your body, those jeans and that shirt were so tight that if it hadn't been black leather I would have thought that you were naked," Kenney exclaimed with a totally unconvinced glare on her face as she leaned her head to one side and stared directly at Faith.
"Uh Kennedy, may I ask how you know about that last outfit," Cordelia asked with a slightly confused look on her face as she tried her best to tread delicately as she knew more than either Willow or Kennedy about what was truly going on.
"I peeked okay…and I noticed that she got the outfit off of the rack that only had stuff that was a few sizes to small for her, it just seemed odd to me," Kennedy replied with a confident and calm look on her face as she looked back and forth between Cordelia and Faith.
"You know what Kennedy, I think that you'd better start minding your own damn business before you piss me off…," Faith growled with a restrained glare of anger on her face as she did all that she could to keep from snapping Kennedy's neck right then and there.
"Okay…let's try to keep the homicidal thoughts to a minimum okay…or at least until the Scourge come," Cordelia exclaimed with a nervous smile on her face as she leaned forward in her seat and glared first at Kennedy and then at Faith, who shrugged her shoulders and feigned indifference.
"A…is there any word on Buffy yet," Willow asked with a timid tone to her voice as she was making a rather obvious stab at changing the subject to a hopefully lighter note.
"Not yet…but Wesley said that the Wolfram and Hart techies sounded pretty optimistic about being able to open up another portal to get Buffy and the others back," Cordelia replied quickly with an overly happy smile on her face, happy to be talking about something else at the moment.
"How optimistic…like gleefully optimistic, or they just said that they were optimistic so that Angel wouldn't kill them," Kennedy asked with a pessimistic expression on her face as she leaned in a bit closer to Willow, but all the while kept her eyes locked onto Faith.
"What's it matter really, if they can help get B back then it's good news…right," Faith exclaimed with a restrained glare on her face as she slowly nodded her head and looked out of the window, hoping to get a little bit of peace and quiet before she started the night that she had planned.
* * * * * *
"I have to see him…," Jenny stated with a very concerned and saddened look of panic on her face as she started to trek towards the door to the crypt.
"Oh no you don't luv…you can't see him or anyone else right now, remember to the world at large you're dead, and you're going to stay that way until we all go back through the portal that Noxon creates and get back to our right time, then you and ole Rupert can see all of each other that you bloody well want to for all I care," Spike exclaimed with a frustrated and impatient scowl on his face as he jumped up off of the sarcophagus that he had been sitting on and positioned himself squarely in Jenny's way.
"But he's suffering…I have to tell him that…to tell Buffy about the soul restoration spell that I translated…," Jenny pleaded with an intense look of emotional pain on her face as Spike saw in her eyes the depth of the love that the computer teacher had for Giles.
"Don't worry, Buffy and Red find the disk and find the translation, Red casts the spell…Angel gets his soul back but a little to late so Buffy's forced to send him to hell to save the world…long story short pet, they'll be okay, but we won't if we don't leave at first light," Spike countered determinedly as he shoved the door to his future crypt shut with his elbow and leaned back up against it, arms crossed over his chest.
"And why exactly is that…is that very fabric of space and time going to rip apart if we stay here more than a single minute past dawn," Jenny asked pointedly with a very serious and determined frown on her face and hands on her hips as she paced around the crypt, acting very much like a pent up animal wanting its freedom.
"Because luv, if anyone sees you still alive after your oh so public death then…well then…that'd be very bad," Spike countered with a growing look of frustration on his face as he tried to keep his calm.
"Fine…so tell me this then, why are you doing this…even though you're human now you must still hate Angelus, so why…," Jenny asked softly as she slowly resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Buffy…I gave up everything for her and was lucky enough to get a second chance with her…a second chance that I'm not going to fuck up just because my grandsire and I don't get along very well…she doesn't hate you, Buffy I mean…she did afterwards for a time…but when she found the disk she…," Spike at first growled back his reply before his countenance softened noticeably and he slowly walked away from the door, hoping that Jenny would stay where she was, and sat down on one of the sarcophagus' beside her.
"I knew she didn't…she was angry…I had betrayed her…and Rupert…I never meant to…," Jenny softly whispered with a conflicted look of regret on her face before Spike cut in.
"I know what that's like," Spike interjected with a look of sadness etched deeply upon his face as he shook his head and waited for the dawn to come.
* * * * * *
"You're going to wear yourself out Buffy," Molly, with Joyce in her arms, pleaded softly as she followed a very nervous Buffy, duster in hand, around the living room.
"I'm fine Molly…but this place is far to dusty…," Buffy softly mumbled her reply back as she flittered around the room, dusting here and there.
"Spike will call when he and Ms Calendar are on there way back here, you can clean all you want the night before…but you're going to wear yourself out if you keep this up," Molly stated with a very serious frown on her face before she set Joyce down and watched as her niece slowly began to wobble towards the couch.
"You don't understand Molly, after I slept with Angel and he reverted to Angelus I was horrible…no beyond horrible to her…after she died I hated myself for how I had treated her, but I never got a chance to apologize…don't let her get the phone cord," Buffy replied with a far away look of sadness on her face before she snapped her head around, almost as if she had eyes in the back of her head, as Joyce grabbed on to the edge of the couch and headed for the phone cord with an excited smile on her chubby little face.
"Well don't worry Buffy, you'll have plenty of time after she gets here, we still have a few months before that Noxon casts the spell," Molly interjected with an awkward smile on her face as she rushed off after Joyce, snatching her up just before she could get her hands on the telephone cord.
"It'll take me that long to stop apologizing like every five seconds for being such a bitch to her…oh shit they're here…," Buffy started to reply with a very worried and slightly scared look on her face before the doorbell rang and through the small window in their front door she could see just enough of Spike's face to know that it was time to face the music.
END OF CHAPTER 19