His Slayer

Disclaimer: Joss owns BYVS

A/N: Hi all. Sorry about the long delay but I've been working so much I haven't had time to write. Anyway for a bit there I was confused as to where this story was going. But I know now where it's headed. Spuffy action is coming up soon and I hope you enjoy. Skyz

~*~

Chapter Nine:

It was always a surprise to Giles, at how much trouble his Slayer got herself into.

It wasn't as if she went looking for it he knew. It just sort of found her and inevitable landed her in situations like this.

Well not exactly like this, he mused with silent amusement. This all together was a new situation. One in which he hoped Buffy could handle well enough.

As plans went hers were never very thought out and that was why he was her watcher. He was essentially the brains behind their partnership and it suited him just fine.

Sighing now he cleaned his glasses with slow precision.

"Would you mind very much repeating that?" he asked tiredly as he lifted his eyes to the man sitting across from him.

Ronald Thornton's lips thinned in slight irritation.

"We've been through this twice already Rupert. There isn't anything new. Now as she's your Slayer I thought you should be the first to know."

Alerted at Ronald's slightly harsh tone Giles slipped his glasses back on and regarded the thin, balding man.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Giles demanded frostily.

Roland rose abruptly and gave a grimace as his bones cracked as he stretched.

"It means the Council will not allow Maggie Walsh to experiment on our Slayer! Discretely we're gathering some of our special units to go in and extract her."

Giles smiled slightly.

"Your Slayer?" he asked with deceptive calm. "Well that settles it! If you're going in then I can go back home and rest peacefully," he added sarcastically. Glaring at the man he let out a low growl. "That's not what is going to happen. You will do as I say if you value your life. Do you understand me?"

Ronald swallowed as he took in Giles' voice.

His mind ran wildly, he'd heard tales of the Ripper and had scoffed at them.

But now he saw the truth in all those tales.

He knew to disagree could possible bring about his death. That wasn't his intention.

"Of course," Ronald said hurriedly.

Giles nodded.

"Now gather those men from special units and I will devise a suitable plan of action," Giles ordered as he turned his back on Ronald.

As soon as he heard the door close behind Ronald he let out a deep sigh.

"Buffy," he muttered. "I hope you remain exactly where you are. I hope you do not try anything rash."

He hoped she realized that help had arrived and he wasn't too late.

~*~

Riley Finn played a game of tag football with a few of his friends. Big and athletic he usually got the ball on every throw.

It helped to be the commander of their squadron too.

So it was slightly shocking when the ball was thrown and not to Riley. But to the newest addition to their group.

Riley panted out of breath, resting his hands on his knees as he watched their newest recruit zig-zag amongst his men.

Narrowing his eyes slightly he looked up as he was bumped from behind.

"Hey Riley. Whatcha think of him?" Forrest asked as he handed Riley a bottle of water.

Riley rose and took a long swallow of his water.

"A little rough around the edges," Riley commented as he watched Alexander Harris get tackled.

"Hope the boys don't hurt him too much. Dr. Walsh wouldn't want that, she doesn't like hazing," Forrest muttered amused.

Riley grinned.

"We'll keep it quiet then. If he passes the tests he'll be treated like a team member," Riley said as he moved forward.

Forrest followed slowly.

"He's a townie which means he knows the lay of the land. Probably knows some of the haunts we don't. It'll be good to have him on board," Riley added as he reached his team. "That's it guys. We've got a meeting in thirty! Alex wait a minute."

Xander rubbed his sore side absently as he watched the group disperse and he was left alone with Riley and a sullen Forrest.

Slipping on a wide grin Xander ambled over to his commanding officer.

"What's up?" he asked curiously.

"What's up sir!" Forrest snapped.

Riley lifted a hand.

"We're civilians at the moment," Riley said with a smile. "Speak freely soldier."

Xander barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Forrest and do the Snoopy dance.

"Alex sorry about the boys. They don't take well to change. But they'll get used to you. So… how do you like things so far?" Riley asked as he moved and the other two were forced to follow.

"It's been…interesting," was all Xander could think to say. It had been interesting.

All the soldier lingo and guns and…high tech equipment.

It was a dream come true.

Sort of.

Xander let his thoughts drift as Riley continued with his welcome speech.

Things had been put into motion as soon as they'd convinced Joyce, which had taken a few hours, but Willow was a whiz on the computer.

It hadn't taken her long to doctor his records and have his papers sent to the Initiative headquarters in D.C.

They hadn't been sure how long it would take for him to be approved, but Willow had worked a little magic on that as well.

So in only a day he was in the fold of Dr. Walsh's elite group of commandos.

He hadn't been sure what to expect so he'd kept an open mind.

"…Alex?"

Forrest rudely shoved Xander and he was brought from his thoughts.

"Yes…sir?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"We're here. We'll get your ID card and authorization numbers as soon as we're down at the lab. You'll get a body scan so that when you come here alone you'll be recognized by the scanner."

Xander nodded mutely.

"So you ready to roll?" Riley asked excitedly as they stepped into the elevator leading to the lab.

Xander swallowed and nodded.

"What's the matter?" Forrest asked scathingly. "Cat got your tongue?"

Xander grinned saying the first thing that popped into his head.

"This is so cool!"

Riley let out a booming laugh.

"You'll fit right in Alex," Riley said patting Xander on the back.

~*~

Wesley hesitated on the turn onto Revello Drive. It had been his plan to find Rupert but he'd decided to detour to Buffy's house instead.

But now he wasn't so sure.

Maggie was probably watching both Rupert and Giles's houses.

It wouldn't be safe to bring Tate into such a situation.

Abruptly he turned his blinker off and drove past Revello, and headed out of town.

There was a motel on the edge of town, he would book a room there and decide on what to do from there.

Espionage had not been a Council endorsed course, but he'd fancied the stealth of it all and had taken a course.

If you called watching all the James Bond movies out there.

He could be James Bondish with the best of them, he thought happily.

Sneak in and sneak out.

Grinning he turned into the motel parking lot.

"Well Tate. We're here and now all we have to do is get in touch with Rupert and things will move smoothly from there on."

Confidence was not something he lacked and now as he rented a room, and headed towards it, confidence was in his every step.

He hadn't been head boy at Eton for nothing.

"Stealth and common sense is all I need. Now let's figure out how we shall contact them."

Tate gave a small wail.

Wes looked down and nodded.

"Of course after I feed you and myself," he drawled out.

~*~

Buffy smothered the laughter and wiped the smile off her face as Angel gave her a startled look.

"What?" he asked in alarm.

Buffy clenched her jaw and eyed Angel with a critical eye.

She supposed this was a joke, she mused with a roll of her eyes.

Angel's once thick brown hair had been bleached and slicked back. His large frame was encased in all black which wasn't unusual.

Except that he was wearing a red button down shirt over a t-shirt that was tight enough to mold his chest.

And something had been done to his right eyebrow…

It had been an automatic response to laugh at the absurdity of it. Now that feeling fled fast and now Buffy felt her simmering anger grow.

"Nothing," Buffy muttered. She wasn't about to tell Angel he looked like a bigger, weirder version of Spike. And he didn't look good at all.

Angel ran a distracted hand over his face and edged a little closer to her.

"Buffy…are you okay? Did she hurt you?" he demanded quietly.

Buffy gazed at him a moment before she turned her attention to the room.

"Not too much," she answered absently.

Angel watched her pace and swallowed back some of the words that wanted to spill out.

He couldn't start demanding answers, he reasoned.

She'd been through an ordeal.

But then again so had he, a small voice in his head hissed. She didn't seem concerned for you, it added gleefully.

"What the hell went on Buffy? Why did you come here?" Angel burst out despite himself.

"Well that didn't take long," Buffy mused dryly as she faced Angel. "In fact I figured it would take you quicker than that to start the interrogation."

Angel had the grace to look abashed, but the look soon dissolved as he glared at her.

"I'm not going to interrogate you Buffy. I just want to know what's going on and why you came here. We can talk like adults about this or continue on this childish-"

Angel knew he'd made a mistake once Buffy's eyes filled with anger and he took a hasty step back.

"Childish?" Buffy hissed. "I haven't been a child since I was fifteen Angel. You tell me how this is childish! I'm the Slayer…when people are in danger it's up to me to save the day! And that's what I did."

Angel watched Buffy a moment and scowled.

"You don't have to do it alone- and hey you haven't been! I'm here. Watching your back-"he tried valiantly to ignore Buffy's snort," and keeping you safe. If you'd told me about Dru I could have taken care of it for you. But you didn't give me the chance! Why not?! I thought we-"

Buffy cut him off with a sharp slash of her hand.

"That we were what? What are we to eachother Angel? I'd like to know because I haven't a clue! I don't have to tell you everything. And hello I'm the Slayer! I can take care of myself. I don't need you to look after me okay? I wanted- I needed to do this alone. This isn't about you."

Tiredly Buffy dropped down onto the nearest chair and closed her eyes.

Abruptly Angel felt a wave of regret and guilt spill over him.

Sighing he leaned against the wall.

"I'm sorry Buffy," he said stiffly. "I just thought we were in this together."

"Not this," Buffy muttered angrily. "Dru got in touch with me. Got inside my head and that's partially why I came."

"Why did she?" Angel asked relaxing slightly.

Buffy wondered warily on how much she should tell Angel.

Glancing around the room again she knew it wouldn't be safe to divulge the fact that Dru'd had the baby.

"She needed my help with Spike."

She let the sentence hang there waiting for his reaction, knowing it wouldn't be a good one.

He despised Spike.

More so now than ever.

She suspected it was the Angelus in him that brought that on, seeing as how Spike helped her defeat him.

She heard Angel grinding his teeth and wondered what he would say.

"I see," was all he said though.

Buffy opened one eye to look at him.

She closed it abruptly.

He didn't see anything.

And she wasn't certain she could explain it all. How could she tell him what she'd felt knowing Spike needed her?

That she was his anchor?

How could she tell him…things between her and Spike were forever changed?

Angel watched Buffy, almost able to see the emotions rolling around inside of her.

A knot formed in the pit of his stomach and he tried to ignore it. Ignore the unease that crowed him.

"What aren't you telling me?" he found himself asking. He glared at her, telling her silently to look at him.

Buffy raised her head and opened her eyes.

Silently her eyes met his.

And they both knew they were on the edge of something neither wanted to acknowledge.

That once she spoke they'd be on uncharted territory.

~*~

"Yes what aren't you telling us dear?" Maggie asked aloud as she leaned back in her chair and studied the monitor.

She was highly amused at what her team had done with Angel. She'd done it as a whim and thought Buffy would appreciate it.

She certainly did.

While he was no replacement for Spike he was a vampire with his own qualities.

Such as his soul.

That pesky curse would have to go.

She needed an uncontrolled demon in order to achieve another pregnancy. Spike had been in full raging demon mode when they'd initiated the process of impregnating Drusilla.   

But with the former lovers sharing quarters she hoped it wouldn't be too long before that curse was non existent.

She'd heard about what had happened the last time the Slayer was intimate with Angelus.

A wide smile streaked across her lips.

And if all else failed it was good thing technology was as strong as it was these days.

They would just extract the soul themselves.

"You've got a call on your private line Dr. Walsh," her secretary informed her.

Lifting her phone keeping her eyes on the monitor she answered.

"Yes," she snapped out.

"Dr. Walsh we've got activity just on the edge of town," Riley Finn's voice sounded in her ear.

Sighing Maggie removed her eyes from the monitor and pulled out a tablet of paper.

"What about it?" she demanded impatiently.

"Well…no one stays there but demons. Except we think their newest guest is human."

"Well perhaps he doesn't know it's a hotspot. Maybe he's just a tourist," she told him impatiently.

Riley's silence was lengthy.

"Should we check into it or not ma'am?" he finally asked carefully.

Blowing out a breath Maggie gave a shrug.

"No. Let it go. I want Buffy Summers's entire circle of friends and family watched twenty-four seven. We're still looking for Spike and Wesley. They're bound to turn up sooner or later."

She hung up and tapped her pen against her note pad.

Abruptly she began to write her grocery list.

Whoever said being an evil genius was easy?

~*~

Spike pulled himself from the water and rose soaking wet.

Lifting a hand he swiped it through his hair dragging various vegetation from it.

Blinking as water dripped into his eyes he studied the dark docks and tried to recall where he was.

Walking he made his way into the village with little trouble.

Music was wafting through the air and he followed it until he was led to a pub.

He opened the door and stepped into the dimly lit room.

He wasn't bothered as the music suddenly stopped and all eyes turned to him.

Abruptly he grinned.

"'Ello mates," he began, "can anyone spare a change of clothes?"

Looking around he took in the room and when a large man came round the bar a bat in hand he was ready.

"We…don't take yer kind," the man announced with righteous anger.

Spike shrugged.

"And what kind would that be?" he asked amicably.

"You know," the man hissed out roughly as he swung.

Spike caught the bat in one hand and dragged the man forward, his game face appearing.

"I asked nice enough," he growled. "But it seems you lot need to be taught a lesson."

He ripped the bat from the man's hands and swung it sending the man tumbling into a nearby table.

He fell onto it breaking it.

Men scattered out of the way.

They shouted.

They attacked.

And Spike…

Well he had himself a jolly good time.

Took the edge off his bloodlust too.

Striding out of the pub in a new pair of clothing and enough money to get him where he was going he headed for a nearby car.

He wasn't about to walk all the way back to London. Until he found a suitable car the small compact would have to do.

Once he got to London…

He knew enough to know that he couldn't just bust into the Council HQ's and expect to save Buffy.

He had to think about this carefully.

And he had to do it the smart way.

Which he realized with a pang, might just take longer than he'd planned.

He just hoped nothing happened to Buffy while he planned. He would never forgive himself if she was hurt.

And when he saw Maggie again, a growl rolled from his throat.

He'd dance in her blood.