Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
Summary: Post AtS and BtVS, Faith and Xander are approached by a secret government agency. Surprises all around.
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 17: Road trip
The DeSoto's backseat was tiny and cramped, decided Faith, leaning back and glaring at the back of Xander's head.
Drusilla, beside her, giggled. "I remember this car," she said. "It always reeked of blood and fire."
"Mostly cause of you, Dru," Spike reminded her. They drove on in silence, and Faith switched her glare to the white-blonde head in the driver's seat. She wondered if her stare could cause his head to catch fire.
Drusilla giggled, and leaned against Faith, resting her head on Faith's shoulder. Faith tensed up instantly, expecting an attack like Drusilla had sent at Spike, a bite at her neck.
"Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump!" reported Drusilla happily. "Fresh and warm, trickling through every vein!" Her mouth shifted again into her near perpetual pout. "Now my Spike has it too," she said mournfully.
Faith couldn't decide whether the vampire leaning on her was creepy or amusing. On one level it was certainly disturbing to think about, but actually seeing a crazed master vampire talk about blood in that way was really, really funny.
Spike shifted, putting his left hand on the wheel and setting the other arm on top of the seat, his hand resting on the seat back next to Xander's shoulder. Xander shifted uncomfortably.
"What are you doing?" asked Xander, inching away from Spike—who was on his blind side. He couldn't think of anything to make him more uncomfortable with the situation.
"Just bein' ready to haul Dru off if she starts anything," said Spike shortly.
"Thanks, but I think I can handle anything your crazy ex tries," simmered Faith.
"Right, cause you're a Slayer," said Spike sarcastically. "And we all know no vampire has ever killed a Slayer. Oh, wait! I can think of an exception! Oops, no, two!"
"And both of them are in the car," said Xander. He reluctantly glanced into the back seat, feeling more than a little concern for Faith. Drusilla was dangerous, chip or no chip. Even without the chip, Spike had been a formidable foe.
He looked at the scene in front of him, and instantly went just a little bit into denial. No, the sight of a crazy vampire leaning her head into Faith's chest did NOT turn him on, not even a little bit.
He shifted back forward.
Faith, for her part, had seen the thought that instantly flashed across his face. She couldn't stop the quick smile that sprang to her lips. Typical, she thought.
Then she frowned sourly, pushing Drusilla away. Another time she might have started messing with Xander's juvenile brain, but right now she was a little more concerned with the vampire hanging on her. "Where are we going?" she asked sourly.
"Only one way to get it done right," grumbled Spike. "We need some major mojo."
"The place you got it?" asked Xander. Spike turned, taking his eyes off the road to give Xander a scathing look.
"Nah," he said dryly, looking back at the road. "You gotta want it, to go there."
"And I don't," said Drusilla, smiling and leaning against Faith again. "Though the stars tell me my naughty William isn't going to let that stop him…not even if they burn him."
"Your stars have already burned me, Dru," said Spike. "No, we need some major magic."
"A wizard?" surmised Faith, squinting at Xander. "Witch? Why not ask Willow?"
"Because," said Spike patiently, although an edge had begun to creep into his tone. "Red is part of your little Scooby gang."
"And we're technically sort of on your side," said Xander. "We could phone this in as a favor."
"I doubt it," said Spike. "Sure, they played nice back there, but they'd take us back at the first chance. I'm not risking this mission on the good will of your lot."
Xander felt a familiar rage building up within him, and this time didn't bother bottling it in. "My lot? You mean the one that saved you from the First? The lot that kept you alive when you were evil instead of doing the sane thing and staking you? The lot that you tried to kill on multiple occasions?"
"You see? Bitterness," concluded Spike. "It's just not going to work out at all."
--
Giles frowned deeply in Angel's general direction while the vampire chatted with Riley's wife, Sam. Angel could feel the frown on his shoulders, but chose to ignore it. "So both women your husband had slept with before you were in the building," he mused. "I'm amazed you didn't do anything…aggressive."
"Well, I may have gotten a little chummy with Spike just to infuriate Riley," said Sam.
Giles continued talking with Riley. "It seemed the best solution, since Angel would have stepped in on their side."
"How do you know he would have?" asked Riley, curious.
"I asked him," said Giles flatly.
"Well, this wasn't exactly the way we intended this to go," said Riley, lying through his teeth. This was exactly as he had planned it--except for Faith and Xander, and the confrontation with Giles and the Slayers. "Still, you sort of have custody of Spike and Drusilla, in a manner of speaking--you're keeping tabs on them, at any rate." Which was something he was uncomfortable with…he'd hoped to be the only person keeping tabs on the ex-vampire.
"Yes, I am," muttered Giles. "Without quite as much force as I'd prefer. Still, perhaps its for the best. Keeping Spike and Drusilla in Slayer headquarters would have given me an ulcer for sure."
Riley smiled, glancing to his wife. "Honey?" he said quietly.
"Be sure to call and tell us how Connor's doing from time to time," she said quickly, shaking Angel's hand. "He's a great kid."
"I'll be sure to do that," said Angel, a bemused smile on his face.
As Riley and Sam left Giles glanced to Angel. "Do you buy that?" he asked quietly.
"Not for a minute," groused Angel. "He's way too much of a control freak to let this go that easily. Not only that, but he's a lousy liar."
"Yes, he is," agreed Giles. "Even more disturbing, I think that he and Spike may have planned this together."
Angel thought about it. "I don't think so," he said finally. "I don't think they like each other very much." In fact, the animosity between the two men was almost approaching the level of animosity between Angel and either of the two men.
"Still, I'll want to keep an eye on them both," said Giles. He glanced at the girls clustered around the van, waiting impatiently. "Er, shall we?"
"Certainly," said Angel, turning towards the van. As he climbed in, Slayers on every side of him, he briefly reflected that as a vampire among so many Slayers, he ought to feel afraid, not safer than he'd felt in a long time.
Still, even Wolfram and Hart's long arm would have trouble reaching him here.
--
Buffy's eyes fluttered open at the sound of clanking, and she looked over at Dawn, surprised to see her sister receiving a drink from the stewardess.
"That had better be soda," Buffy grumbled.
Dawn gave her a very fake smile. "Oh, good, you're awake," said the younger woman. "And it's just champagne, Buffy. I'd have to drink, oh, the whole bottle to get drunk."
Buffy sighed. "Did you get me any?"
Dawn shook her head. "Buffy and alcohol are un-mixy things," she said in her best mock-stern voice, which wasn't very good at all. Certainly, thought Buffy, not as good as Dawn's actually stern and adult voice.
"Right," agreed Buffy, leaning back in the seat. Her head felt like a container fully of humming marbles wrapped in cotton, and she swallowed once to clear the pressure in her ears.
Dawn carefully dipped her index finger in the drink, stirring it. "I know something you don't," she said quietly, no childish tone at all in her voice.
"What?" said Buffy, a little irritated.
"But if I tell you, you've got to promise you'll tell Giles I didn't," said Dawn, looking down into her drink and not meeting Buffy's eyes.
Buffy sighed, bringing her seat upright and glaring at Dawn. "Just tell me what you know, Dawn!" she said.
"Nuh-uh," said Dawn. "This is big, grown-up stuff, and I want immunity."
Buffy sighed. "I'll tell him that I had to torture at least three different people to put this together, okay?" she said, disgusted that she was giving in this easily.
"Thanks," said Dawn, a smile playing around her mouth. "Giles is keeping Angel and Spike in a dungeon in England till he decides to trust them."
"What?!" said Buffy, outraged.
"And Drusilla," added Dawn. "But that's probably okay."
Buffy thought about that. Her two demon lovers--although one of them was human now--held by her father figure in his metaphorical English dungeon. Setting aside the Freudian mess involved, she was still shocked. She knew that there were still a lot of trust issues to be ironed out, but she still hadn't expected this.
Of course, in retrospect it was startlingly obvious. She'd been told to leave, and Dawn had urged her to leave, because the others were all going back to England. She'd asked Giles about Spike and Angel, and he had told her simply to ask them where they planned to go.
She hadn't of course, because the thought of approaching either of them was terrifying at this point.
So she'd crankily slunk off in the middle of the night, getting on a plane back to Italy.
Giles hadn't lied, of course, she mused. He'd simply misdirected her, using her own fears and insecurities against her to protect her, because he knew that if she knew they were being held in England, that's where she'd go.
Maybe. If she could figure out what she'd say to either vampire.
Oops, there she went again, thinking of Spike as a vampire! It was hard to think of him as a human. He was just…inhuman. Different. Not human. Even if he had been the most human vampire she'd ever met.
She sighed, eyeing Dawn. "And you decided that Buffy should know the truth because…?"
"Geez, third-person much?" asked Dawn. "Well, besides being all too conscious of just how it feels to be protected, I thought maybe you'd like to know just what your demon lovers were planning. I mean, not that I think it's a bad plan. I have some trust issues with those guys, after all the crap they pulled. But, you know, that whole thing where we don't tell each other the whole story? That sucks."
Buffy smiled. "It took me a lot longer than that to figure that out," she admitted.
"Yeah, well, learn from others' mistakes. It's more fun," advised Dawn.
Buffy nodded her agreement. "Does this mean you're not about to lose your virginity to somebody who'll lose their soul the morning after and try to kill you?" she teased.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "First of all, it would take some colossal bad luck to find boyfriends as bad as you find. Second of all, the virginity? Puh-lease. You let me go to school in Europe, the inhibition-free side of the world."
--
Spike carefully locked the hotel room door behind him, glancing at the twin beds and then at the three sullen occupants glaring back at him.
This was his own personal purgatory, he decided. He was beginning to doubt that they had actually broken out of hell, and suspected he'd simply wandered into a spare torture chamber without realizing it.
Xander switched the TV on, searching through the channels. "Oh, good, SG-1 reruns," he said without too much enthusiasm.
Faith gave him a look that screamed 'geek.' Then she glanced back to Spike. "Two beds?" she asked sarcastically.
"Well, if your friend wasn't such a tightwad, we might have gotten two rooms," said Spike, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. He wanted his duster back, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.
"They have a low limit on the card," said Xander, embarrassed.
"Oh? Short leash?" asked Spike idly. He was dying for a cigarette, he realized. The craving was intensified, much worse than it had been before he took a cigarette from Faith. Smoking again had only made his struggle to quit even worse. The realization that it had been a mistake to smoke that cigarette rankled him.
Xander glared at him.
Drusilla wandered closer to the television. "I liked her when her hair was longer," she commented. She considered the screen a moment longer, tilting her head. "The burning fishes did too," she commented.
Spike nodded. "That's good, love," he said encouragingly, wandering over to the couch at the other end of the cramped room. "At least those fishes have good taste in hair."
Xander glanced at the crazy vampire, then to Faith, who was watching him. Faith glared back defiantly, waiting for the almost-funny comment she was expecting.
Instead of a comment Xander offered her a slightly sickly smile, the sort of smile she'd seen him give his friends when he was trying to patch things up between them.
Her stomach gave a happy lurch that she tried to quiet quickly. She had no reason to think he meant it as any sort of reconciliation, or as a peace offering. She just hoped it.
She quickly tried to return the smile with suddenly numb face muscles, aware that her smile must look like a mockery of his, like a sarcastic cut at him. She wasn't able to hold her eyes up, the eye contact suddenly painful. She looked down at the floor, avoiding his gaze.
Spike wandered back. "I can sleep on the floor," he said shortly. "One of you will have to sleep on the couch, and the other two will get beds."
"How will we--" Xander started to ask.
"Draw straws, arm wrestle, I don't care," said Spike shortly, clearly annoyed again. His nicotine shortage was really starting to drive him nuts.
Almost as nuts as just being human was driving him.
Xander gave a short snort of laughter. "Well, let's just assume we already arm wrestled, since I think we all know who's the weakest one here, and I'll take the couch."
Faith glared at him. A moment ago she had been about to offer the same solution, but now that he'd offered it he seemed mildly heroic, even altruistic, and that annoyed her even more. "I'll take the couch," she said shortly. She didn't want him to get too used to being the hero of the bunch.
Xander glanced from bed to bed, and then from the couch to both beds. "No offense, but I'd be most comfortable sleeping furthest from the vampire," said Xander nervously, not quite meeting her eyes.
Faith rolled her eyes. Had he read her annoyance with his virtue so easily and come up with a solution by making himself seem more selfish? Or had that been his concern all along? She really couldn't tell, and it annoyed her.
"All right, if you really want to," said Faith, throwing her hands in the air. "I need a shower." She turned and headed for the tiny bathroom.
Spike glanced back at her. "You need clothes to sleep in or anything?" he asked. "I packed some stuff for Dru in the car, and some of it might fit you."
Faith gave him a leer. "I don't wear clothes to sleep," she informed him. She marched into the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her.
Spike's eyebrows went up, and he glanced to Xander. "You lucky dog," he drawled.
Xander looked away. "Lucky, right," he muttered.
Spike sighed. "I'll regret this in the morning…you need anything, monkey-boy? All the clothes are black, and I don't think the pants will fit, but I must have a shirt that'll fit you. Bought it all brand-new in LA, no icky Spike germs."
Xander glared at him. "We can stop and get some stuff in the morning," he said. "I'll just sleep in what I'm wearing."
"Fine," said Spike, nodding. He glanced to Drusilla. "Pass us some blankets and pillows, love?"
She tossed a pillow at his head with a giggle. "Living pure for your Slayer," she said coyly. "You naughty, naughty boy."
--
Angel watched Giles open the cell door, surprised by how nice the cell looked. "Uh, thanks," he said, stepping inside. There was thick carpeting, and the walls seemed to be padded with white foam. The bed was actually quite large, and there was a book shelf on one wall, filled with books.
Giles closed the door slowly. "We built it recently for, er, other purposes," he said softly. He glanced at the cell beside Angel's.
Angel followed his gaze and was surprised to see a form huddled in the bed, watching him from under a blanket, just a pair of eyes in the darkness. He was even more surprised to feel a twinge of memory at the sight.
"Oh," said Angel blankly. "Um, I guess I better get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, I hope?"
Giles nodded. "I'm leaving some guards…I hope that's not…?"
"Not at all," Angel assured him. "I understand your fears more than you'll ever know."
Giles nodded uncertainly. "Until tomorrow," he said, stepping out into the hall and marching away. Most of the Slayers followed him, while the others moved into guard posts that Angel couldn't see.
He turned, looking at the other cell.
The cells were opposite each other, separated by a hallway. Both were equipped with a bathroom behind a privacy screen, although Angel's was superfluous. They were perfectly symmetrical to each other, arranged in a perfect mirror, but several books were missing from the opposite book shelf, and there were a few items of clothing strewn about the cell.
Angel sat down on the bed. "Hi," he said softly. "I'm Angel. Kind of new to this cell block."
The figure shifted, and brought her head further up. She was an attractive brunette, and as soon as he saw her neck he remembered her. The insane Slayer who'd cut Spike's hands off in LA.
"Hi," she said, her voice quiet and trembling. "You're…?"
"Yeah, a vampire," he acknowledged. "But I'm … I have my soul." He couldn't quite make himself say he was a good vampire.
"Oh," she said, and pulled the blanket back over her head.
Angel sat down on his bed with a sigh, laying back on top of the covers.
He was slightly hungry, and the smell of the girl across the way wasn't helping. And the fact that her presence was making his mouth water disgusted him.
He closed his eyes, settling in for a long night.
--
A/N: Coming soon: can the gang get Drusilla a soul? If they do, will it make her good? Can Faith and Xander get past their history? And is Spike sane now? Well, forget that last question…it's dumb. Of course he's not! For answers to the rest, tune in next time.
