His Slayer
Disclaimer: Joss owns Btvs
A/N: Hi all. Thank you again for the reviews. From here on the spuffiness level is in affect. I just had to get Angel out of the way so they could end up trapped together. Thanks for bearing with me while I've tried to decide the fate of this story. Enjoy. Skyz.
~*~
Chapter Twelve:
Giles hurried from his flat, his long strides determined. His main thought at the moment was to get as far away from Spike as possible. He'd tried not to leave a trail for Spike to follow and had stayed sequestered in his flat for hours waiting for Spike to attack.
It had unnerved him greatly to have come upon Spike unprepared like that. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to have no recollection of anything except for Buffy. How that had been accomplished he had no idea.
But it plagued his mind as he half walked and half ran down the cobbled street. This made things more difficult, he realized in dismay.
He wondered vaguely why his Slayer's life was so complicated. He had often wondered since becoming Buffy's Watcher how he had gotten stuck with her.
Why couldn't he have had one of those staid and hollow Slayer's that the Council produced amass?
He cringed even as he thought it. Buffy was the best Slayer for a reason, and he knew very well he wouldn't have it any other way.
He loved the girl despite her flaws and tendency to fall for the very vampires' she was supposed to kill.
Slightly out of breath he leaned against the side of a building and sucked in a few deep breaths before he glanced around.
He wanted to make sure he hadn't been followed. By Spike or any of Maggie's men. He wasn't sure if she even knew he was in the city, but he still had to be careful.
He moved silently into a darkened alley and paused at a nondescript door. He knocked once and waited for the door to be answered.
When it swung open revealing a dimly lit interior he hurried in, and gave a slight start when the door slammed shut behind him.
"What do you want?" the thick Irish accented voice came from behind him, and he whirled around to face the speaker.
He wanted desperately to clean his glasses, but resisted the urge as he studied the woman before him.
She had to be well past seventy and he must say she looked every one of her years.
Her face was a mess of wrinkles and her eyes barely peeked out from beneath sagging eyelids and wild white hair.
All in all she made for a ghastly sight.
Giles smiled.
"Rowan?" he asked slightly hesitant.
The woman stared at him.
Giles shifted and when it became evident she wasn't going to say anything he cleared his throat and began to speak.
"I am Rupert Giles and I've come to you for help. I've long been aware of your certain expertise and until now it hasn't been prudent to use your type of magic. But now I must ask for your help and hope you will be inclined to help me," he said slowly not wanting to say it all in a rush or stumble over the words as he was want to do.
"Hmmm," was the only response he got.
"I'm sorry what was that? Was that a yes?" he asked curiously.
"No lad it was an 'hmmm'," she snapped with a small cackle.
Giles managed a strained smile.
"You see I've come to rescue m-"
"You part of them Watchers?" she demanded as she moved forward.
Giles almost let loose a yell of horror as he finally noticed as she moved that one of her legs wasn't a leg at all.
It had been covered by the table she'd stood behind, but now as she moved forward he realized she was one legged and the other…well it actually appeared to be a frog leg.
Swallowing Giles tried to tear his gaze from the sight and meet her old and all too wise eyes.
"Whatcha starin' at lad? Like what you see don'tcha?" she drawled out mockingly as she paused a few feet from him.
"Dear Lord…you do realize you've got a frog leg?" Giles stammered out despite himself. He told himself to shut up, but his brain wasn't listening as he went on. "Is that sanitary?"
"S'exactly why I don't do business with you Council lot. Came by here a time or two wantin' me to do something or another for them. Gawked all they could at me and asked the same dumbass questions. So no I won't be helpin' you tonight Rupert Giles. Appearances aren't always what they seem… Off you go now lad," she all but shoved Giles to the door.
He tried to stammer out an apology, but it was too late as he found himself face to face with the closed and locked door.
Now he did take off his glasses and clean them.
Blinked rather owlishly and shook his head, a vision of her frog leg appearing in his minds eye.
He shuddered and thought it was a good thing she hadn't wanted to help him. Knowing his Slayer as he did she would have been prone to say a rude thing.
Of course not that he had been rude. No he had just been startled and had asked pertinent questions.
Besides having a frog leg couldn't possible work out well could it?
Putting on his glasses he strode off and wondered whether she had to soak the leg in swamp water.
~*~
Xander shoved open the door to the Summers house and called out.
"Shhh," Willow shushed him as she came into the foyer and pulled him into the livingroom.
Xander stared at the baby asleep in a play pen across the room.
"Where'd that baby come from?" he asked confusedly.
"Where have you been Xan? We've been trying to talk to you since like two days ago," Willow complained in a whisper as she dragged him from the room and into the kitchen.
Xander trailed after her and finally shook free of her to open the fridge and scrounge for food.
"I was training. Getting caught up on protocol. Doin' manly stuff," Xander replied puffing out his chest.
Willow couldn't help but shake her head.
"Well listen that baby in there belongs to Spike," she started off abruptly.
"WHAT?" Xander half yelled half yelped.
"Shhh!!!"
Xander clamped his mouth shut with a grimace.
"But that's not the most important thing here. It's that Buffy sent Tate here-"
"Who's Tate?" Xander asked as he began to fix himself a sandwich.
"That's what the baby's named. Anyway Maggie is after Wes and she doesn't know that the baby survived so Wes brought him here. In fact it seems Tate's a super baby. He's like a little superman. He's cute too which is surprising because he-"
"Ok hang on a minute. We've got a super baby in the livingroom and we're gonna still use Oz as bait? Am I the only one who sees a prime opportunity to get into the inner sanctum of the Initiative here? I'll just take the baby and bam! I'm in and they're all bye-bye."
The look Willow gave him could have curdled milk, as it was it made Xander take a quick step back and swallow hard.
"Or maybe not," he mumbled.
"Xander come on this is serious! That baby's human and Buffy wanted us to protect it. Maggie doesn't know about Tate and that's the way we're gonna keep it! Now Joyce went out to meet Wes. They're gonna discuss something and we're supposed to look after Tate. While we're at it you can tell me how it's going with the commandos," Willow ordered as she walked out of the room.
Xander munching on his sandwich reluctantly followed.
~*~
Joyce paused as she caught sight of one of the men she knew was a commando. He'd been following her, she was sure of it.
She turned abruptly in the other direction.
She knew she wasn't being very discrete, but she wasn't used to playing at espionage.
She had been on her way to meet Wes at the Espresso Pump for some coffee. And to talk more in depth about Spike, Buffy and little baby Tate.
He'd been reluctant to leave the baby with them to go back to the motel. But with the help of Willow, she'd finally convinced him that it was the safest place for the baby. There were wards up and other magicky stuff she had never heard of too.
If they were being watched as it seemed they were, then this plan of theirs really wasn't going to work, she realized abruptly.
Joyce glanced at her watch and bit back an oath as she tried to think of a way out of this mess they'd gotten themselves into.
Her thoughts strayed to Tate and grimly she settled on a fate she hoped would work out for all of them.
~*~
"How did this happen?" Buffy demanded as she moved out of Spike's arms.
"I have my ways," Spike replied with a grin as he took in their surroundings. For a cell it was certainly better than the one he'd had back in Sunnydale, he mused.
He looked at Buffy then, really studied her and didn't like what he saw.
She was pale, paler than she had been and her eyes were slightly unfocused and he knew drugs were in her system.
Striding towards her he took her arms and steered her towards the large bed.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked her voice slurring slightly as the drugs took hold of her.
Spike made her take a seat and gripped her hands in his.
"You've got to sleep of the drugs Buffy," he told her gently. "When you're awake enough I'll explain what's happened and where we go from here. Go to sleep."
Buffy blinked warily up at him.
"You'll be here when I wake up?" she asked tiredly.
Spike grinned.
"'Course I will," he promised.
Buffy smiled dreamily as she fell back onto the bed.
"You look funny… Like Angel but you're not. Cuz I can see you. See your pretty blue eyes…" she trailed off and was soon fast asleep.
Spike sighed and moved away from the bed.
Looking around he knew as with his old cell there had to be cameras and listening devices all over the room. He would have to find a way to speak to Buffy alone without Maggie eavesdropping.
Crossing his arms over his chest he wondered vaguely what he must look like as Angel.
The witch had gotten an image and he'd trusted her to make him look as much like this Angel fellow as she could.
He shook his head as he thought of the old woman.
She hadn't been hard to find, he'd asked in all the right places and had come to her for help.
It seemed to him that now that Giles was involved he had to move quickly, and wouldn't have time to wait around for the demons of London to make a move.
It was selfish he knew, but he wanted the credit of rescuing Buffy all to himself.
Pursing his lips he wondered how Wesley and Tate were getting on.
They would be in Sunnydale by now and he hoped they were okay. With Maggie here and her attention focused on Buffy he knew Tate was relatively safe.
But for how long, he didn't know.
He knew what Maggie wanted with Buffy and he shuddered as he thought of it.
Buffy had not gone into detail about her relationship with this Angel person, but Spike knew it must have been important enough for her to come rescue him.
But that didn't matter; he was more than confident that he could help her put Angel in the past. After all she hadn't seemed too upset to see him.
She had feelings for him and at the moment that was all he needed to make his plan work, he thought with a smug grin.
Glancing at Buffy again he narrowed his eyes. He knew that Rowan was the best at what she did, and he sure as hell'd paid her enough to get things right.
He just hoped she did as he told her.
~*~
"I've heard many a tale about you boy," Rowan said as she studied the man she had strapped to a chair in her back room.
"You have to let me go," Angel said sharply as he glared at the old woman.
She shook her head and grinned.
"I'll not be doin' that. No I've made a deal with a certain vampire, and until he says so you're to stay here. So not a minute sooner are you to leave. It's quite a treat to be meetin' you Angelus," she mused taking a seat opposite him.
Angel's eyes flashed with banked anger.
"Angel. It's Angel now," he muttered.
She cocked her head to the side and studied him.
"That'd be the soul talkin' now wouldn't it? I've no doubt you're no Angel," she laughed loudly at that, too amused with herself to be polite.
"Look you don't understand. I've got to go back. You have to send me back okay? A girl's in trouble and if I'm not there- Listen to me this is a life or death situation," Angel growled jerking against the magical binds that held him.
"So I've been told. You aren't the first to come lookin' for a little help in rescuing a certain Slayer lad," she slyly said, and grinned when she saw the look of shock settle on his features.
"What?! Who else is looking for her? Is it Spike? Tell me you didn't help him! He's evil woman. Pure evil. He doesn't have a soul and he's been trying to kill her since he laid eyes on her!"
"Is that so?" Rowan shrugged. "Well it's too late. I gave him everything he needed. In fact even now he's taken your place. Something tells me he won't be killing her though. Not the way he talks about her."
She shook her head as if confused by Spike's feelings for Buffy.
Angel frowned.
"What are you talking about?" Angel demanded to know. "What are you saying?"
Rowan met his eyes and shrugged again.
"I've never seen a vampire in love before. But this Spike fellow sure does fit the bill. Talked about rescuing her and keeping her safe. Wanted to be the one to rescue her. Didn't care how he did it. Didn't even care about my leg."
She lifted her frog leg and stuck it out.
Angel swallowed back the gag that wanted to erupt. And thought about what Rowan had just said.
Spike was in love with Buffy.
He shook his head and couldn't believe it.
No.
It wasn't true; Spike had lied to this woman and was on his way to kill Buffy as he sat here helpless.
"Listen you have to call Giles back here. Explain to him that Spike is trying to get Buffy too. You must know the stories about William the Bloody don't you? He's killed two Slayers already. She's third on his list. Please-"
"Do you always talk this much? I wanted to ask you some questions about the old country," Rowan complained.
Angel's brows rose.
"What?" he asked shocked.
"Did you happen to know the O'Donnell's?" Rowan asked. "Old Thierry O'Donnell?"
Angel blinked.
"Uh…" he began.
"I am askin' only because you were a right bastard Liam O'Connor. You got around so to speak. Thierry's little girl Maggie. Remember her? Right bastard you were to leave her like that," she scolded him.
Angel stared at her blankly.
"That was over a hundred years ago. Listen that's in the past I can't change who I was back then, but I'm a better pers-"
"Left her high and dry. Treated like a tramp she was for carryin' your bastard seed."
Angel's mouth dropped open in shock.
"What?!" He gasped out.
Rowan cast him an innocent look.
"You dinna know? I'm sure there are all kinds of things you don't know about. I'll be havin' fun filling you in dear Liam."
~*~
A/N: So this was basically a filler chapter. I've always wondered whether Angel got anyone pregnant while he was human. I mean he certainly was getting around back then and it seems more than likely. So forgive my indulgence. Skyz.