Chapter 17

Two weeks later

A frightened Buffy tore down a hallway of the W & H building, wrapped in white towel, her hair leaving a trail of water behind her. She stopped at the end of the hallway and franticly searched for something or someone familiar.

In the last few days Buffy had come to recognize by site and smell many of the people who stayed or worked in the building that she was beginning to call home. Her favorite person by far was the man with the bright colored hair and the dark attire; he was the one who had sat with her on the beach that night.

She remembered being scared at first, having recently woken up to find herself in a foreign place with no understanding of the things around her, and no memory of anything. The sea had instantly become her friend, she remembered laughing as the waves splashed her and then she had met a new friend.

After being splashed by a wave he had put the duster on her and led her through the little forest back to a large machine that carried them to the building. She had enjoyed the ride very much, except for the part where the other man rode with them. She didn't know what it was but something about him, screamed at her. Telling her that there was something to be feared about him. That he wasn't as safe as the man that she clung to.

Her first night in the large building had been interesting; she had met more people, several of them in long white coats, who dumped her into a tub of hot water and scrubbed at her mercilessly, aside from the painful scrubbing she had liked sitting in the water, large bubbles covering her. After that they forced her into an ugly blue piece of fabric that served to cover up the basics and connected her to a series of machines and poked her with needles.

Later she was taken to a small white room by a nice lady with brown hair; the lady seemed to be friends with the scary man and the bright haired man. And she was the one who had combed her hair after the bath and held her hand as the people in white coats attached her to things and poked at her.

Buffy looked forward to seeing the nice lady, every other morning since the first day, the lady would come get her for her bath and then comb her hair and help her dress herself.

Today was a bath day, and the lady had come to get her, she remembered the lady said that instead of a bath today, she would take a shower. Buffy didn't understand what a shower was until the lady told her that instead of sitting down she would stand up, and that she would be in charge of cleaning herself from now on.

Flashback:

Buffy slowly stepped into the shower and took the little scrubber thing that the white coat people used and stared at it. Remembering what they did, she grabbed the bottle with the pretty white flower and the brown hollow stick on the front, and poured it all over the scrub thing. The warm water beat against her back as she started scrubbing her arms and legs,

After cleaning herself with the scrub she stepped away from the water and searched for the other bottle with the same white flower on the front.

After pouring much of it on her head, Buffy stepped back into the water and ran her hands through her hair.

Buffy rinsed her hair out and peaked out of the shower at the lady, who was sitting in a chair next to the door holding a white towel.

The lady looked up at her and smiled, "Are you done? Did you wash your hair and body?" Buffy nodded and the lady stood up and reached out to turn off the water at the same time handing the towel to Buffy.

As Buffy took the towel the water turned icy cold, Buffy screamed and raced out of the bathroom, wrapping the towel around herself.

End flashback

Now here she was, standing somewhere that she knew was nowhere near where she should be. Somewhere on one of the upper levels of the building, she had climbed what seemed like and endless staircase that had taken her to where she was now, standing at the end of some hallway on an abandoned level of the building, and with no clue which way might lead to the bright haired man, that's who she was looking for.

She was getting terribly hungry and cold as well, but once she found him, he would give her some food and he would help her find the nice lady to comb her hair and help her put on some clothes, and then she wouldn't be cold anymore.

Buffy glanced once more to the left, that way looked darker and less friendly, but on the right side, that hallway had more light. Buffy tightened the towel and started down the hallway with the light, it felt safer and she was sure that she would be able to find the man better in this hallway than in the other one.

Spike paced behind Giles and Wesley who were searching through a pile of books for a certain text. Angel standing in front of the table, growled at Spike to stop.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Spike grumbled.

"Ah! I found it, the Book of Os deuses do inferno (see below for English Translation), Its written in Portuguese though, not sure that I'll be able to translate it well enough for us to get a decent answer but it would help us to understand the situation a bit," Wesley held up the book for the others to see.

Giles looked up from his pile of books, "Anything is better than nothing, now I believe that the name of the God is Kromus, but I could be mistaken, he is the one who keeps track of who is to be reborn and such."

Wesley scanned and flipped pages, finally stopping on one page with a picture of a large man, with a staff in one hand and a large Quill pen in the other and in front of him an opened book sat on a rock and behind him two portals, "This is the one, you were correct, Kromus guards the portals of life, allowing passage only to those who are to be reborn, "

"Does it say anything that might tell us why Buffy still has her powers?" Angel came around the table and stood next to Wesley.

Wesley nodded, "I think this is what we are looking for, it says here that on occasion, Kromus would be compassionate towards someone and allow them to be reborn with Special abilities or Powers."

Angel ran a hand through his hair, "So your saying that this Hell god, decided to let Buffy keep her abilities?" Wesley nodded.

"That is correct."

"Why would a Hell God want to give people powers, s'not evil and Hell God like." Spike said

Giles cleaned his glasses, "You are quite right, it is unusual for a Hell God to be compassionate towards anyone or hand out powers but remember he is just the Guardian of the Portals, he does nothing remotely evil. And not all Hell dimensions contain Evil beings."

Angel shook his head, " I don't like this, it's like when the First brought me back and tried to use me to kill Buffy, he has to have a reason for allowing her to keep those abilities."

Wesley closed the book, " I know it doesn't seem entirely normal but Buffy is not the only person that Kromus has been compassionate to. And I don't believe Buffy to be in any danger from having her Slayer Abilities."

"Wes, I want you to keep looking, just in case, I don't want to just let this go without knowing more, nothing may be happening right now but something could still go wrong, we have to be sure."

At that moment, Harmony rushed into the room, "Sorry to interrupt Angel but it's an emergency."

"What is it?"

"Its Buffy, she's lost, in the building somewhere, Fred says that Buffy got startled when the cold water from the shower hit her and took off running."

"I'll bleeding find her, you sorry lot can't keep your eyes on the girl for five sodding minutes,' Spike rushed out the door, nearly knocking Harmony over.

Spike flew up the stairs and began sniffing for Buffy's scent, it wasn't the exact same as before she came back, she smelt newer, like a baby, but it wasn't so much different, and the Vanilla was still there, mainly because of Fred for picking out that scent of Shampoo and body wash but there was still some of the old Buffy left in the smell.

Spike stopped when he reached the 8th floor, this was the one that no one used, there wasn't much light on this floor, just enough for a person to be able to see the empty halls and rooms. He sniffed the air again this time, catching her familiar scent.

Spike followed it down a series of hallways and past many darkened rooms, the scent continually growing stronger as he neared the end of one hallway. Just as he was rounding a corner, he crashed into the small blonde, who fell flat on her butt and tears forming in her eyes.

Spike knelt down in front of her and touched her cheek," You gave us all a scare Pet."

Buffy buried her face in his shirt and wrapped her arms around him, Spike held her tightly as she cried, "There, There Love, come on. You're a brave girl, and I'm here now. What say we go get you some breakfast? Must be starved from all the running you did.'

Buffy looked up at him and nodded, smiling. She whipped away her tears and stood up, tightening the towel around her once more.

Spike put an arm around her and they began their way back down to the main level, "First we'd better get you some clothes, then what do you say to an omelet? I'm sure the Bit won't mind making you one, she's become quite the cook."

English Translation: The Book of The Gods of Hell (Stupid name, I know but its the best i could come up with that I could easily have the computer change to another language.)

A/N

Hope you guys enjoyed that Chapter, things are gonna start moving a bit fast, right now Buffy can't talk but she is understanding more and learning things. In the next few chapters, I'm gonna focus a bit on Buffy spending time with Fred and Spike, right now in Buffy sees them sort of as Parents but that will change soon. And Buffy will also be Spending time with Dawn, Andrew and William. And I plan to have her speaking a bit by at least Chapter 25, hopefully sooner.

Please continue to Review and I will contine to supply you with new Chapters.

Luv to you all,

Amber, Crazy4mySpike :P