Disclaimer: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Angel are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and the WB. Not mine, please don't sue.
Chapter 11: Best of Intentions
"I grabbed everything I could on dimensions, portals, and for the hell of it, time travel." Lindsey said, out of breath. He had just come back from a trip to the Magic Box to grab books. He handed Willow her laptop. "I'm not sure if you can use it here, but I thought I'd grab it anyway." He told her her. She kissed him on the cheek, and headed towards the nurses station. Lindsey, Xander and Anya stared at each other for a moment.
"I'll take dimensions." Anya offered, breaking the silence. "I know the most about them." She said, picking up a couple books.
"I'll take portals. We can work together." Xander said to Anya, grabbing a few books himself.
"I guess that leaves me with time travel." Lindsey replied without expecting a comment. They shared another look, before settling down and beginning to read.
*
"Goddess, Connor!" Dawn exclaimed, opening her door and jumping out of the jeep. He was seconds behind her, half afraid of what it was they had hit. They crept towards it slowly, both of them aware that whatever it was had the possibility of not being human. As they got closer, it appeared to be a person.
"Oh, man." Connor said, leaning down to check for a pulse. The figure was wearing a long black trench coat, and that's why Connor hadn't see him until it was too late. The body itself was slightly mangled from the force of the car, but appeared to be a man. Connor was praying that whoever it was still alive. He touched the figure's neck, and tears welled up. He looked up at Dawn. "He's dead." Connor managed to croak out. Dawn gasped out a sob and covered her mouth with her hands. What had they done? This trip was supposed fix everything. Now they'd killed someone?
Connor pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. They wore matching expressions, each one feeling lost and helpless, not knowing how to get out of the mess they had created.
"We've got to keep going." Dawn finally said.
"What?" Connor looked at her in shock. "You can't mean that."
"I'm not trying to be heartless, Connor, or undermine what's happened here." Dawn explained. "But we've got to save Buffy and the baby, and we can't do that if we call the cops and report what's happened here."
"You just want to leave him?" Connor cried, incredulous. "Doesn't matter if we kill people, as long as we're doing it in the name of good?" Dawn flinched.
"I'm not saying that! Besides, it didn't stop you in the past." She hissed. He looked like she'd punched him in the gut. Guilt washed over her. Whatever he'd done in the past, he wasn't that Connor anymore. No matter which life he was leading. She touched his arm. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Dawn apologized. "But we're on a deadline here, Connor. I'm sorry that this guy is dead, and I'm sorry that we killed him, but we can't do anything else for him here. He's dead! Buffy isn't, but she might be if we don't fix it!" Dawn nearly shouted at him.
"We can't just leave him here." Connor protested.
"Fine." She said, walking back towards the jeep. "We'll call the cops and tell them where they can find the body on our way to the post office." Connor stared at her, and then at the body before backing away and following. They got back into jeep, and buckled up. Connor looked at her again, wondering when Dawn had become the cold one and he, the one who cared. She picked up her phone and dialed.
"Hi, um, yes, I'd like to report a body..." She trailed off, glancing out the window at the body.
At where the body was supposed to be.
She dropped the phone.
"Connor." Dawn began, her voice high pitched. She pointed to the now empty street. "Where did he go?"
*
Anya threw her book down in disgust. Xander raised his eyebrows over the top of his equally boring and useless book, but didn't say anything. She picked up another one and sighed, wishing that she was at home, with her feet up, eating ice cream and having lots of sex with Xander. Instead, she was here, looking up stuff about dimensional portals while Dawn and Connor were running amok and Buffy was having her baby just a little too soon.
Lindsey, however, was enthralled. He'd never realized how much people had researched time travel. Most of what he had come across was interesting, but didn't really apply to the situation in which they had found themselves. Glancing at his watch quickly, he wished for the thousandth time that Connor and Dawn would make their way back here, even if it was just so that Angel and Buffy could remain clueless. Willow had tried to call Dawn on her cell, but had gotten no answer. Either Dawn wouldn't or couldn't answer. Lindsey hoped it wasn't the latter. He read a few more sentences before stopping short. Re-reading them, he got the attention of Anya and Xander.
"I think I've found something." He said, smiling slowly.
*
They scrambled out of the jeep a second time and headed to where the body had been seconds ago.
"He was dead! You said he was dead!" Dawn shouted, a little hysterical.
"He was dead!" He snapped back at her. They shared a look, and then each of them reached for the hidden stakes they were packing. "He couldn't have gotten far." Connor continued, using his heightened senses. They headed towards an alley, carefully watching the shadows. Connor paused again, searching. "Don't make a sound." He whispered.
The figure in black rushed at them from the shadows, knocking Dawn backwards. Connor grabbed a hold of their attacker at the same time, and the two of them went one over the other as they fought for control. Dawn sat up, took one look, and cried out.
"Spike?" The fighting pair stilled. Dawn rose shakily to her feet, and walked closer. "Spike?" She repeated, gently this time. The man who had managed to come out on top of Connor and was currently choking him met her gaze. He growled, a low and dangerous sound, and then abruptly released Connor. Connor's hand went up to his neck to check out the damage, while Dawn faced Spike.
"I see it now." The blond vampire said, his accent still in place.
"See what?" Dawn said, uneasy. Spike moved towards her slowly. Connor managed to get up and was trying to think of the best way to get Dawn out of there, even if the vampire in front of them was indeed Spike. He hadn't known Spike that well, only seeing him once or twice before the vamp had left town. Sure, there was a resemblance, but still...
"The lights...the spark." Spike replied, inching closer. "Pretty green lights." Dawn froze, all thoughts of moving erased. It was Spike. It seemed an eternity since she'd seem him last. Granted, this Spike seemed nuttier than a loon, but it was Spike nonetheless. He'd stopped dying his hair, and while he still wore the coat, his clothes had obviously seen better days.
"Spike, what happened to you?" Dawn's lip quivered as Connor made his way behind Spike, prepared to do whatever was necessary.
"I found my own spark." He smiled whimsically, before clutching his chest in pain. "It burns."
*
"Ok, you said that Dawn did a memory spell a few days ago, right?" Lindsey double checked. Willow nodded, her expression revealing that she had no clue what that had to do with the current situation. "I think I know what happened. Or, sort of....a wild, slightly hair-brained theory, at least." He continued.
"At this point, I'll take wild and hair-brained over the huge pile of nada we've got here." Xander said, gesturing to the stack of books he and Anya had already looked through.
"Well, it says here that there are some memory spells where if something goes wrong, the fabric of reality can be altered." Lindsey began. "All it would take is someone entering the spell after it had been cast and boom, instant time travel."
"So what exactly are you saying?" Anya asked.
"Memory spells are usually for remembering forgotten memories, and sometimes repressed ones as well. If someone entered the spell while it was in progress, then whatever memory was playing out would no longer be memory...it would be real." Willow answered for Lindsey, catching on.
"So if Dawn cast a spell to alter her memory and something went wrong..." Xander trailed off as they all stared at each other.