THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Joyce and Noxon.
CHAPTER 22-AFTERSHOCKS-GOING HOME
"Should we see if they're okay in there," Andrew asked with a meek smile on his face as he plopped down in the middle of the couch and began a search for the remote.
"Not yet Andrew…they'll probably be in there for awhile…I know…why don't we see if there's anything good on," Dawn replied with a bored frown on her face as she crouched down a bit to stare at some of the oddities that adorned Wesley's apartment before she shrugged her shoulders and plopped down onto the couch, searching for the remote.
"Fine with me…," Andrew reluctantly agreed with a shrug of his shoulders as he plopped down on the couch beside Dawn, sitting near enough so that their shoulders touched but Dawn stayed silent. "So what do you think they're really doing in there," Andrew asked with a sheepish smile on his face as he looked across Dawn and towards Wesley's bedroom door.
"Probably trying to get Faith up…or sober…how do I know this you're asking yourself…simple, woman's intuition," Dawn replied with a very proud of herself smile on her face before she found the remote and turned the television on.
"You sure it wasn't all of the empty bottles of booze in the kitchen that tipped you off…," Andrew questioned aloud with an amused smirk on his face that quickly disappeared as Dawn glared at him.
"Shut up Andrew…," Dawn grumbled with an unhappy frown on her face as she glared over at Andrew before turning her attention back to the screen, just in time to catch the news.
* * * * * *
Somehow Jenny and Molly had been able to keep Buffy from sobbing outright long enough so that she at least looked presentable when Spike came home, mumbling something about his boots. When Buffy had said that she was pregnant again Molly had almost instantly turned into a human pogo stick, bouncing up and down like she hadn't done in some time, not noticing the odd look that Jenny was giving her. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Buffy holding Joyce tightly and Jenny and Molly trying to calm Buffy down so that when Spike got home he wouldn't go into fits with worry about what was wrong.
"Honey…I'm home…," Spike joked with a happy grin on his face as he poked his head around the door and looked around the apartment for Buffy.
"She's in here," Jenny replied with a cautioned tone of restraint to her voice as she slowly walked around the corner out of the kitchen and pulled an oddly grinning Molly with her. The young slayer couldn't help but giggle as she passed Spike, giving the former vampire serious goose bumps that something was terribly wrong.
"Buffy…," Spike shouted with an alarmed frown on his face as he swept into the apartment, not even stopping to take his coat off, before he half stormed into the kitchen to find Buffy sitting quietly at the kitchen table, Joyce fussing in her arms.
"Hi…," Buffy softly replied with an almost out of body look on her face as she continued to stare straight ahead at the clock on the counter on the other side of the room.
"What is it luv…what's wrong…," Spike asked now with an almost desperate tinge to his voice as he hurried to Buffy's side and knelt down, his worry only growing at the signs that Buffy had been crying and Joyce's obvious frustration and being held so tightly.
"I should be happy…I should, we're going home soon…we'll see everyone…now I've ruined everything…," Buffy stammered out with an almost shell shocked look on her face as she couldn't look Spike in the eye, not yet.
"Congratulations…," Molly squealed with glee, nearly at the top of her lungs, as she sprinted into the room and jumped up on Spike's back, wrapping her arms tightly around his body as he stood up at her coming in.
"Con…what…Buffy…what the bloody hell is going on here…," Spike questioned softly at first before he couldn't stand it any longer and shouted his demand.
"I'm pregnant…," Buffy whispered softly as she hung her head, so softly in fact that Spike could only half hear what she had said.
"What…," Spike asked with a confused and worried look on his face as he let a worried Molly slide back off of his back.
"She said that she's pregnant Spike, she thinks that it'll hurt our chances of getting home," Jenny stated calmly as she crossed her arms and leaned lightly up against the kitchen doorway, smiling slightly at the look of both shock and utter joy that passed across Spike's face before he found his voice.
"I love you Buffy," Spike stated as plainly and as sincerely as Buffy thought that she had ever heard him before he wrapped his arms around both Buffy and Joyce, pulling the two most important women in his life close to him. After a few shocked seconds of not fully realizing what was happening Buffy relaxed into Spike's arms, nearly sobbing into his shoulder in relief.
"Psst…Molly…come on…," Jenny whispered harshly to Molly twice before the young slayer heard her and the two left Buffy and Spike to talk in private.
* * * * * *
"Shouldn't you go and oh I don't know…check on her," Cordelia asked with a very frustrated and slightly angry glare on her face as she stared a hole through Wesley, who was taking small swigs from a bottle of tequila to dull the throbbing pain in his temples.
"She's a big girl Cordy…she's just experiencing one of the more negative aspects of drinking more than what one should," Wesley replied through a burp as he slowly made his way back towards the bed, walking past the closed bathroom door as inside Faith tried her best to heave her guts out. Cordelia had acted quickly and turned on and raised the volume up high enough on Wesley's radio so that Dawn and Andrew hopefully wouldn't hear Faith's retching.
"Yeah she's a big girl…right…where were you when she was getting shit-faced and wanting the three of us to have sex…," Cordelia asked with an angry frown on her face as she glared over at Wesley and lightly punched him in the shoulder.
"Guess I must have missed that part…," Wesley replied with a gleeful smile on his face before Cordelia got very angry, grabbed the bottle of tequila away from him and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Wesley looked on in wonder for a bit before he shook his head, seemingly snapping himself out of some sort of spell, and said with an embarrassed and confused look on his face, "Thanks…I needed that."
"Anytime Wes…don't you know that's what I'm here for…well that and making sure that you two don't wear the same clothes into work today that you wore out last night with vomit girl in there, now go and take a shower…alone, and then make Faith take one…also alone, I want to see the two of you ready to go to Wolfram and Hart in less than thirty minutes, we all have a big day ahead of us," Cordelia demanded with a very serious and commanding look on her face as she poked Wesley in the chest before he reluctantly nodded his head before disappearing into the bathroom. "Now all I have to do is get Buffy junior and geek boy out of here before those two come out…," Cordelia trailed off with a deep in though look on her face before she slowly and quietly slipped out of Wesley's bedroom and back into the main room.
"Everything okay in there, Faith's not to hung over is she," Dawn asked with a very nonchalant smile on her face before she couldn't help but giggle a bit as Andrew poked her in the ribs with his thumb.
"No she's…sorry but Faith's not in there, in fact I have absolutely no idea where that…where Faith is, she'll probably waltz in whenever she feels like it…," Cordelia started to affirm Dawn's guess but stopped herself and tried her best to cover her tracks.
"Uh...Cordelia, don't bite my head off or anything…but I'm a geek and will probably be a virgin until the day that I but even I can tell that there was someone else in there…the shirt over in the corner looks like the one that Faith bought last night…Kennedy told me," Andrew stated with a very meek and nervous smile on his face as he kept his gaze fixed on the television screen and not on the shocked look on Cordelia's face.
"Wha…you two turn that thing off and go wait in the limo, I'll be down in a minute," Cordelia said with a very flustered look of panic on her face as she quickly walked up to the television and shut it off before turning back to the two on the couch, emphatically pointing her finger towards the door.
"Fine…but we're right and you know it, come on Andrew let's go…," Dawn replied, throwing her hands up in defeat, before she looped her arm around Andrew's and drug him first back up to his feet and then out of the apartment. Cordelia watched the two walk down the hall until they disappeared around the corner, staring oddly at the fact that the two were still arm in arm as they rounded the corner.
* * * * * *
"Is that the last of it…we didn't forget anything," Buffy asked with a worried look on her face, and a fussing Joyce in her arms, as she stood in the doorway of their apartment.
"That's all of it pet, the only thing that we have left to do is turn the lights out," Spike answered with a somewhat solemn tone to his voice as he unplugged the last of the appliances and stood up.
"Did you check the oven…the iron…the…," Buffy stammered out a pair of flustered questions with a worried look on her face before Spike sighed deeply and interrupted her.
"We don't have a bloody iron Buffy, never did, you always used the one down at the Laundromat and we turned the gas off last week, the oven's been off ever since, we're fine…," Spike interjected with an impatient aura about him as he shut the last of the lights out and shut and locked the front door behind them.
"I just feel like I'm forgetting something…the car maybe…," Buffy grumbled softly with an absentminded look on her face as she and Spike walked slowly down the hall, Joyce happy now to be moving instead of simply sitting still.
"Molly's car is in storage, we can pick it up after we get home, and that clunker we got will probably die once it gets us to Noxon, now that we finally know where the bird is," Spike answered with a slightly rushed expression on his face as he and Buffy entered the elevator and Spike pressed the correct button.
"Pretty ironic that she was pretty much right under our noses the entire time…literally," Buffy sighed with a sarcastic frown on her face as she shook her head and noticed by the length of her hair that she hadn't gotten it cut in some time and that it was now hanging down at least to her belt and who knew how much further.
"I hear the sewers are really nice this time of year…," Spike joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood, with his familiar smirk spread upon his face before he and Buffy cracked up into a fit of laughter, a fit that bought them odd looks from both Jenny and Molly when they reached the lobby and the elevator doors opened.
"Oi…what's so funny," Molly demanded with a bored look on her face as she pulled her hair back up into a tight ponytail. She had wanted to tie her hair into pigtails like she usually did when there was work to be done but she had uncharacteristically slept in and hadn't had time.
"Nothing Molly, Spike was just trying to lighten the mood," Buffy answered with a relieved smile still on her face before she handed Joyce to Jenny, who had in an odd way become like a second mother to her. Buffy and Jenny still had their moments of uncertainty but those moments had become fewer and fewer as time went on.
"Did it work," Jenny asked with an almost sad to leave look on her face before she opened up the van's back door and got inside.
"A little…Spike…where's the sword and the spear," Buffy replied softly at first before she hopped up into the vans front passenger seat and turned to Spike, who was in the process of getting into the drivers seat.
"Packed safely away under the seats luv, now are we ready to meet this old bird and have her get us home," Spike answered with a roll of his eyes and frown before he closed his door and slipped the seatbelt on.
"As ready as we're gonna be…I just wonder what it's going to be like, seeing everyone again…I'm almost eighteen and they'll all still be barely fifteen…," Molly sadly questioned aloud with a worried pout on her face as Spike drove away from the apartment complex and towards the meeting place.
* * * * * *
"Angel…I demand to know where Wesley is this second," Giles shouted with an impatient frown on his face as he and Robin exited the elevator and caught sight of the vampire.
"Rupert I already told you, I don't keep tabs on my people, Wesley will be here when he gets here, if you want to talk to him make an appointment, he's usually pretty good at meeting his appointments on time," Angel replied with a frustrated sigh and shrug of his shoulders as he stopped walking and turned around to face the two men.
"Or you could just be lying to us and know exactly where he is…," Robin added with a hateful glint in his eye as he glared at Angel.
"I don't have any idea where he is Robin, Wesley said that he had something to take care of last night and that I shouldn't wait up…so I'm not waiting up," Angel reiterated with a suppressed look of anger on his face before he started to walk away again.
"Angel there you are…the team is ready to make their first attempt to open the portal," Knox exclaimed excitedly as he pushed his way through the crowd of people on the catwalk and hurried down the stairs.
"Good…tell them that I'll be there soon to personally oversee everything, now all that I need is…wait where's Cordelia," Angel started to reply with a somewhat happy look on his face before he glanced at the office that he had told Cordy to have and noticed that the door was open.
"She left early this morning with Dawn and Andrew, about the same time that Sam and I arrived," Riley stated through a slightly painful grimace on his face as he and Sam walked slowly towards the quartet.
"Sorry Angel, the doctor's told him to stay in bed but he…," Sam said as she started to apologize for her husband before Angel shook his head and smiled.
"It's alright Sam, did she say where she was going," Angel asked with a hopeful look on his face as he turned away from Giles and Robin slightly, being glad to talk about something else.
"No…she was concentrating so intently on where she was going that she barely said hello," Riley began with a thoughtful look on his face as he wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow.
"But the young man, Andrew, I did hear him mention something about faith and someone's apartment, does that help you out any," Sam finished with a confused look on her face as she looked first to Riley and then to Angel, hoping that the information helped either of them.
"I knew it, she was with –him- last night, all day she wouldn't tell me where she was going, every time I asked she'd say that she was busy…," Robin declared with a very angry and defiant edge to his voice as he clenched his hands into fists and started to take a step towards Angel.
"As much as you want to think that you do Robin you don't own Faith, if she doesn't want to tell you where she's going or what she's going or even who she's doing it with then that's no concern of yours, just because the two of you slept together a couple of times doesn't entitle you to anything," Angel responded with a very serious and certain look on his face as he turned back and made sure that the son of the dead slayer understood every word that he had to say before turning and walking briskly up the stairs and out of sight.
* * * * * *
They had found a culvert big enough to back the van into, at least part ways and had continued their journey on foot. Spike, Buffy, and Molly were dressed in an almost identical manner, with each leaving room for their more individual traits to show. Spike looked almost the exact same as he had the day that Buffy had gone to ask him about the singing demon with black jeans, boots, black shirt with a red one overtop of it, and finally his trademark duster. Buffy had thrown on one of Spike's old black shirts and wore her own long and dark duster, a present for Buffy from Spike on Joyce's birth. The rest of her clothes were exactly the same as Spike's with the exception that she had only one shirt on along with more comfortable shoes than boots. Molly looked almost like a junior Spike, even though instead of a completely black shirt she instead wore a dark blue shirt that she had tucked into her jeans and proudly wore the duster that Spike had gotten her along with the anti vampirism totem that Spike had picked up for her on his trip. Jenny looked very much the part of just your average bystander in the crowd, blue jeans, light colored shirt, and a warm jacket.
"I know this is going to sound really juvenile…but are we there yet," Molly quipped with a sly grin on her face as she winked at Joyce in her arms and waited for the rebuttal.
"Almost…Noxon should be around here somewhere," Buffy replied with a sarcastic scowl on her face as she looked back and Molly and her daughter. Molly had insisted on carrying Joyce even before they had left the apartment.
"You may stop now…I am here," An odd voice called out of the darkness, causing everyone to stop in their tracks and search the darkness for any signs of anything.
"Who's there, show yourself," Buffy demanded with a shaky tone of anger in her voice as she cast a quick look back to Joyce to make sure that she was okay.
"I am she that which you seek, the one that you have been told about by the demon Whistler…I…am Noxon," The voice said as it came out of the darkness before a single candle was lit and Buffy and the others got their first look at the one that would send them home. From the dim light of the single candle all that they could see was someone lost in a sea of red robes, with only the slightest traces of a nose, an eyelash, illuminated by the light from the candle.
"We have everything that Whistler said that we should have, so what do we do now…," Spike asked with a cautious tone to his voice as his hand went to the dagger that he had slipped into his belt after getting out of the van.
"Put away your weapon former vampire, I mean you no harm, go back to your vehicle and wait, when the portal opens drive through it and don't look back, that is all…," Noxon stated without a hint of anger in her voice as Spike grinned an embarrassed grin before he shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay…but…," Buffy started to say with still a not completely convinced look on her face before Noxon suddenly blew the candle out.
"I think that's our cue to leave pet," Spike said with a slightly nervous hint to his voice as he clasped his hand with Buffy's and the two followed Jenny and Molly back out of the tunnels, with everyone throwing a cautious glance back behind them along the way.
"What should we do once we get back, should we go to Angel right away…," Molly asked with a slightly scared and confused look on her face as she snapped Joyce into her car seat.
"We make sure that we've truly made it back…then we go check on Angel and the others…I can't wait to see the looks on their faces…," Buffy replied softly with a nervous but optimistic smile on her face before a large portal appeared in front of them, complete with a swirling blue smoke and bouts of lightning.
"Looks like it's time," Jenny called out from the back as she reached her hand up and pointed towards the portal, getting a nod from Spike and Buffy before the former gunned the engine and took off through the portal.
"They're gone, it's safe for us to come out now," Whistler whispered with a happy smile on his face as he and Noxon slowly walked out of the culvert and stared at the disturbed area of the path where the portal had been.
"They have a very challenging road ahead of them, I only hope that they're strong enough to complete it," Noxon interjected with a concerned expression on her face as she stared up into the sky.
"They will survive…they have to…Willow…," Whistler said softly with a restrained look of optimism on his face before he realized his mistake and prepared for the worst.
"I told you never to call me that again; I left Willow behind decades ago after Kennedy died…," Noxon said harshly with a pained look on her face before she turned around and slowly made her way back into the culvert.
END OF CHAPTER 22