Chapter 5
Sorry for the delay fellow readers, but we are back. (At least for now).
Meanwhile at the Hyperion. . . .
"I don't understand why I can't just go!" Spike said as he punched the bag in the training room of the basement of the Hyperion. Each strike growing stronger than the last.
"Well lets see," Angel began as he stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall as he continued to watch Spike's anger management session. "One, she doesn't know your alive. Two, if she finds out I knew, we're both dust. So I suggest that we ease her into it instead of making her very upset and stake-happy."
"Fine, fine," Spike said in between a double upper cut. "You go pick them up. And I'll stay here and continue my anger management."
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask. How's that going for you?
"I'd feel a lot better if you'd stop asking me that question," Spike said as he hit the bag so hard that it fell to the ground. "Bollocks. Bring back a new bag while your out," Spike remarked to Angel who was beginning to walk the steps back to the lobby.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Angel said over his shoulder. At times like this, Angel wondered why he didn't put Spike out of his misery decades before.
Meanwhile on a plane over the Pacific. . .
Buffy sat in her seat in the dark cabin. Her mind pondering her last visit with Angel the day before Sunnydale was nothing more than a crater in the ground. She recalled their last conversation and him walking away, fading into the darkness.
"Buffy," a voice sounded behind her, snapping her memories away back to reality.
"Yeah?" she answered as she recognized the voice of Willow.
"Can you please tell Andrew that he needs to stop going on and on about damn Star Wars before I kill him." Willow pleaded as she took the seat next to the slayer on the other side of the aisle.
"Andrew!" Buffy shouted over her shoulder. "Shut up before I throw you out of the plane. Without a parachute."
"Okay, okay. I'll shut up."
Willow snickered. "Andrew, shutting up. That'll be a miracle in itself."
"Attention passengers," the voice of the pilot echoed throughout the cabin. "We are beginning our final approach to LAX. Please fasten your seatbelts, and return all weapons to their holding area."
As Buffy heard the landing gear begin to cycle down, she looked to Willow who was fastening her seatbelt nervously.
"I hate flying. Never could get used to it."
"It'll be okay. We'll be on the ground soon," Buffy reassured her long-time friend.
Meanwhile on the ground at LAX . . .
"So how are we supposed to know it's their plane?" Gunn asked as he stood next to Angel in the terminal. "What does it have Slayer Airlines written on the side in red letters?"
"I have no idea. All I was told was to be here at midnight and they would find us."
"Well alright then. We'll keep a lookout for a slayer, a witch, an ex-Watcher, and a band of merry men. Sounds easy enough," Gunn said to Angel.
"Nothing with Buffy and the Scoobies is ever easy," Angel remarked.
"And that reminds me that I've been dying to know who decided to rip off Scooby Doo."
"It was probably Xander," Angel answered, as his attention was still fixated on the electronic arrival/departure board. His attention shifting to the left as he witnessed a mother and father rushing to greet their young son.
"Have we figured out how your going to tell her that Blondie Bear is still around a kicking?"
"Me? Hell. Your just became you all. If I'm going down, so is everyone else. Because we all knew, Angel said as Gunn rolled his eyes with a "this is going to be fun expression on his face."
"Back to the question. You figured something out?"
"There you go with the second person. We're all a team."
"For the record, you should have told her."
"Now you tell me. Why did you wait so long give me that advice," Angel remarked smartly to Gunn as his eyes snapped off the board to the far side of the terminal. A familiar blonde leading a group towards their direction through the crowd. "There she is," Angel gestured.
Gunn followed his direction and raised an eyebrow. "She's kind of cute."
"I know," Angel responded. His mind flashing through his memories of the Slayer. And the dozen of rehearsals he made in the car on the way to the airport in telling Buffy that Spike was still alive and not getting a stake in the heart.
"Hey guys," Angel said in a shaky voice. "It's been a long time. Did you have a good flight?"
"Yeah, it was fine," Buffy replied as she moved in to hug Angel. "What did you do?"
"What? I didn't do anything? Why do you think I did something?"
"A girl knows these things. And when you always looked up to the left, I knew you were up to no good."
"Nope. Not this time," Angel said as he felt like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Glancing over to Gunn he realized he had not made any introductions. And it would serve his agenda of getting the attention off of him for the moment. "This is my associate, Charles Gunn."
"Gunn!" Andrew shouted as he dropped his bags to hug him. "It's been too long. Why haven't you called. I've missed the long talks we used to share."
Gunn, maintaining his composure pushed Andrew away. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh, its all right. It's been a long time. Plenty of time to forget."
"If I did forget something, I'm glad it's forgotten."
"Good!" Angel said as he moved to help Buffy with her bags. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Let's get back to the Hyperion."
"Fine by me," Buffy said as she looked over to watch Angel lead the way. Not helping to shake the feeling that something was going on that Angel didn't want her to know.
May be he's seeing someone else? Buffy asked herself. Good for him! He needs to move on. But surely that's not what he's hiding. Its been too long, she smiled to herself as she thought: "Boy, he's just like Spike used to be when he was hiding something."A pain struck her heart at the thought of Spike.
She reached up and touched the ring hanging on the chair around her neck as she remembered the last night that she and he spent together before Sunnydale was literally sucked to hell.
"So I guess tomorrows the big day, uh?" Spike said.
"Look's that way," Buffy responded as she sat down in the chair of the table in the basement of her home. "Everyone knows their assignments and what they have to do."
"You think this is going to work?" Spike said as he knelt down beside her. His eyes captured by her soft green eyes with his ice blue yes as he looked up. The soft eyes of a true warrior.
"We'll find out tomorrow," Buffy said as she put her head in her hands.
Spike stood up and moved towards a small box in the corner of the basement. "I have something for you," he said as he returned with that box in his hands.
Buffy raised her head to see Spike holding the box towards her. "What is it?" she asked as she opened the box. Her eyes wide and filled with confusion.
"This ring belonged to my mother," Spike announced as she took the ring out of the box and looked at the small diamond and ruby ring in her hand. "It's the only thing I have left of her. She always told me to give it to someone that held a special place in my heart and seeing that we may not make it through tomorrow, there's no one else I can think of giving it to. Besides you"
"Spike, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful. Old, but beautiful."
"Say that you will accept it", he said as he sat down on the chair next to her. "Don't worry. I'm not proposing marriage or that we have children one day. Rest easy there, luv." This remark earning a chuckle from the slayer.
"Then what is it for?"
"It's something to remember me by if I should not make it. I know we've been everything from mortal enemies to lovers. And there have been things I've done that I can never be forgiven for. All I want before we go off to battle is that you know that you do hold a special place in my heart. I am sorry for all I've done to you. Why you've taken me in I'll never understand."
Buffy looked over to Spike who had his head down towards the floor. Her attempts of holding back her tears growing more difficult by the moment. "You became a good man, Spike. And I would put my life in your hands any day."
"The true warrior till the very end," Spike remarked. And just as he could tell Buffy was fighting the urge to cry, he was fighting the urge of telling her how he truly felt for her. But what good would it do if he died tomorrow? It would only make it more difficult for her to let go. And if he did die in battle, he would want Buffy to live her life. Just with anyone other than Angel!
"Are you okay?" Buffy heard Willow ask as she snapped back to reality as they reached the front door of the airport.
"Yeah," Buffy responded. "Just thinking."
"How the hell did you get through customs with this stuff?" Gunn asked as he was helping Xander and Giles lift the equipment into the trunk of one of the cars that would make the trip back to Hyperion.
"Easy," Giles responded. "We call it artifacts."
"Oh, okay," Gunn said as he shut the trunk.
"We got everything?" Angel asked.
"We're set, Giles responded.
"Let's go."