Chapter Thirty Nine: Deep Within My Mind, Who Knows What I Might Find
"I don't like this," Angel said as he and Cordelia walked into the Bronze.
"It'll work," She said.
"Dru might be here," Angel pointed out. He'd gone to Spike's crypt and the only thing he'd found had been the ropes that had been use to tie Dru up. That meant Drusilla had managed to get free and she was out there somewhere.
"Okay, there's Jonathan," Cordelia said, pointing to the bar. "Now stay out of sight and remember the plan."
"Right," Angel said. "You get him out on the dance floor, I grab him and we bring him back to Buffy's and get him to tell us everything."
"Right," Cordelia said. "He'll talk. He's not the smartest of the group. I found that out when I called him."
"How'd you get ahold of him anyway?" Angel asked.
"Called his mother," Cordelia said. "I called her and she gave me his cell phone number. I have to remind him to call and come home more often." Then she headed towards the bar.
"Cordelia, hi," Jonathan stammered. "It's good to see you. You look great. I mean you always looked good but now you look.. Wow."
"Thanks," Cordelia said. "You look good too." She ordered a drink and said," So how have you been? Doing anything interesting?"
"The usual," Jonathan said.
"Are you going college here in Sunnydale?" She asked.
"Yeah," He said. "How about you?"
"I'm working in L.A.," Cordelia explained. "For an investigation agency."
"Sounds like fun," Jonathan said.
"It is," Cordelia said. "I see a lot of interesting cases and work with a variety of people," And demons, she thought.
"That's good," Jonathan said.
Their drinks arrived, and he said, "It was nice to hear from you. I was ah a little surprised."
Cordelia shrugged, "I was in town and decided to try and get in touch with people who I went to school with. There aren't too many in town anymore."
"Buffy and her friends still are. You were friends with them," Jonathan pointed out.
"I was," Cordelia said. "But I haven't spoken to them in a long time. We've just. grown apart. It happens. I moved and they're still the same as they were in high school, nothing's changed." She smiled, "But you've changed. I can tell."
"Thanks," Jonathan grinned.
Cordelia was getting tired of this game so she decided to end it quickly, "Let's dance," She suggested. He agreed and they went out onto the dance floor where they started slow dancing.
Cordelia looked over Jonathan's shoulder and saw Angel walking towards them, "So," She said. "I hear you've been up to some interesting things."
"Yeah," Jonathan said. "College has been really."
"No," Cordelia said. "That's not what I mean and you know it."
He looked confused for a minute and then said, "You know about us?"
"Oh yeah," Cordelia said.
"How?" He asked.
"An old friend told us everything," Angel said grabbing Jonathan's arms. "Now, we're going to walk out of here slowly. You even think about trying to escape, well.." He turned Jonathan to face him and showed him his vampire face.
"What are you gonna do to me?" Jonathan cried.
"You're coming with us," Cordelia said. "And you're going to answer some questions."
"And if I don't," Jonathan said, putting on a tough act.
"You'll regret it," Angel said.
Jonathan shook his head, "I have the protection of a master vampire. Drusilla won't let anyone hurt me."
Angel looked amused, "How much do you know Dru?" Jonathan didn't say anything so Angel said, "You saw what she did to Spike, right?" Jonathan nodded. "Well when I turned Dru she was going to be a nun. She was everything that was pure and innocent. She never would have hurt anyone. I made her into what she is and everything she learned about torture and cruelty, I taught her and I didn't teach her everything I know. So just imagine what I could do to you." Jonathan had a vivid imagination and he could picture exactly what the vampire standing in front of him could do so he didn't protest when Angel and Cordelia dragged him out of the bar.
**
Buffy lay on her mother's bed, one hand on her stomach, hoping that she would feel the baby move again. She'd gotten some sleep but hadn't gone downstairs yet. She just wanted to be alone. Her wish was denied when was there was a knock at the door and Willow came in with a tray.
"Hi," Willow said. "I brought you some dinner, chicken soup, my mom's cure for everything." She set the tray down on the nightstand and sat on the bed next to Buffy.
Buffy moved the tray to the bed and tasted the soup, "This is good, thanks."
"Well you know," Willow said. "Have to eat."
Buffy nodded. She wasn't really hungry but she had to eat. "Where is everyone?"
"Dawn's spending the night at Janice's. I promised I'd call her if anything changed with Spike and she promised that she wouldn't leave Janice's house. Xander and Anya promised to come over this evening. Tara and I are doing research into getting Spike's memory back and we're baby-sitting Connor."
"Where are Angel and Cordelia?" Buffy asked.
"They said something about going to the Bronze," Willow said. "I guess they needed a night out or something."
Buffy nodded, "How's the research going? Have you found anything?"
"Not yet," Willow admitted "But we're looking."
"How's Spike?" Buffy asked.
"He's sleeping," Willow told her. "We gave him some blood this afternoon. He didn't say much to me, though."
"He's probably still in shock," Buffy said. "I had to tell him about Connor, Darla and that whole mess and about Drusilla breaking up with."
"How'd he take it?" Willow asked.
"Not very well," Buffy admitted. "Then I tried to make it easier by telling him that he got over it and accidentally almost told him about us."
"But you didn't," Willow pointed out.
"No," Buffy agreed. "But he almost found out about the baby too."
"How?" Willow asked. "You didn't tell him so how could he find out?"
"The baby's heartbeat. It's getting louder and when it was neither one of us was saying anything he heard it. He wondered what it was but I couldn't tell him."
"He wouldn't have believed you anyway," Willow said.
"No," Buffy agreed. "But if this goes on much longer, he's going to figure it out. Angel figured out that I'm pregnant right away and it won't take much time for Spike realize it too."
"That's why we're going to find a way to get Spike's memory back," Willow said. "So he will remember everything."
"I just want this to be over," Buffy said. "He can get his memory back and our lives can go back to normal." She paused, "Or whatever passes for normal around here."
Suddenly they heard a loud noise coming from downstairs, "Was that the door?" Buffy said.
"I don't know," Willow said. "I'll go check."
"Whoever it is tell them to go away," Buffy told her. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone right now.
Willow went downstairs and Buffy leaned back and continued to eat the soup that Willow had brought. She was just finishing it when she heard Willow call out, "Buffy, can you come down here? There's something here you have to see."
Buffy sighed. She really didn't want to go downstairs but she might as well. She got up and walked down the stairs. She went into the living room and stopped short at the sight in front of her.
Angel and Cordelia were holding Jonathan's arms to keep him from escaping. "Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday or whatever holiday you want," Cordelia said.
"How? What?" Buffy stammered.
"It was pretty easy," Cordelia said. "I just had to call his mother and she gave me his listed cell phone number."
"These guys are supposed to be my arch-nemesis?" Buffy said to Willow. "I'm insulted." Willow nodded.
"Slayer," Jonathan said, trying to sound menacing.
Buffy studied him for a minute. Then she walked over to him and punched him so hard he flew across the room. "That," Buffy said. "Was for what you did to Spike." She walked over to him, pulled him to his feet and hit him again. "That, was for what you did to me and this.." She kneed him in the groin, punched him in the stomach and threw him across the room. "Was for what you tried to my baby." She turned to the stunned group of people in her living room. "Willow, can you and Tara put together that truth spell?" She smiled cruelly at Jonathan. "We're going to find out exactly what's going on here and our friend here might be able to tell us how to get Spike's memory back."
"I'll never tell," Jonathan moaned from the floor.
"I think you will," Buffy said. "And if the truth spell doesn't work then well there are other ways to make you crack."
Jonathan blanched at this and didn't say a word as Tara cast the spell that would make him tell everything that they wanted to know.
"Okay," Buffy said, circling him like a predator. "Now you're going to answer some questions for us."
"Sure," Jonathan agreed. Under the influence of the spell he had no choice but to tell the truth.
"First of all," Buffy said, staring at him. "You're going to tell me what you and your friends did to me, Spike and my baby."
"Oh you mean the poison and herbs that you got," Jonathan said cheerfully. "Yeah the herbs Sarah gave you made you sick but she said you would just think that it was morning sickness. If you'd kept taking those herbs like you were supposed to then the build up of the herbs would have killed your baby."
Willow grabbed Buffy to keep her from attacking Jonathan. Buffy knew that the herbs were supposed to make her lose her baby but hearing it from Jonathan's lips was almost too much. "Why would you want to do that?" Buffy asked, through clenched teeth.
"We were bored," Jonathan said. His voice, still casual. " Then one night when we were figuring out how to liven things up around here, Drusilla showed up. She had a great plan and we got to help her in exchange for immortal life."
"You mean she was going to turn you and your friends into vampires," Angel said.
"Right," Jonathan agreed. "All we had to do was kill the Slayer, her baby and get Spike back for her."
"And how were you supposed to do that?" Buffy asked.
"Well, we weren't too sure," Jonathan admitted. "But then Warren started dating Sarah and she mentioned that she was your midwife. It didn't take long for us to figure out a plan using Sarah's knowledge of herbs. She knew the right ones to make you lose your baby so that took care of that problem. It wouldn't be too hard to kill you and then we stumbled across this poison and the only way you could help him was this potion that would erase parts of his memory. Then once Drusilla had Spike and the Slayer and her baby were dead she'd turn all of us into vampires and we could complete our new goal.."
"And what was that?" Buffy seethed. She was about to rethink her policy regarding the killing of humans. Every maternal instinct she possessed was kicking in. That this person could so casually talk about killing her baby was more than she could handle.
"We're going to open the Hellmouth," Jonathan bragged. "Open it and then we'll rule over Sunnydale and eventually the world."
"You're going to open the Hellmouth and rule the world," Buffy repeated. She stared at him for minute and then said, "Are you insane?"
"No," Jonathan said. "We're perfectly sane."
"You didn't need to answer that," Buffy snapped. "But do you have any idea what opening up the Hellmouth would mean? You idiots aren't capable of handling the power that you'd unleash. It'll destroy you and who knows who else."
"We could handle it," Jonathan said. "We've already started recruiting demons and vampires for our army."
Buffy looked at Willow, "How did we miss that?'
"You weren't slaying," Jonathan said. "But Spike noticed. One of our minions heard him talking to Willy at the bar. He was asking if Willy if he knew anything about the increase in vampire and demon activity."
"Spike didn't say anything," Buffy said.
"He probably didn't want to worry you," Willow said. "Not until he knew something certain."
"Well when he gets his mind back," Buffy said. "I can tell him he was right to wonder." She studied Jonathan and asked him. "So how do we do that? How do we get Spike's memory back?
"I don't like this," Angel said as he and Cordelia walked into the Bronze.
"It'll work," She said.
"Dru might be here," Angel pointed out. He'd gone to Spike's crypt and the only thing he'd found had been the ropes that had been use to tie Dru up. That meant Drusilla had managed to get free and she was out there somewhere.
"Okay, there's Jonathan," Cordelia said, pointing to the bar. "Now stay out of sight and remember the plan."
"Right," Angel said. "You get him out on the dance floor, I grab him and we bring him back to Buffy's and get him to tell us everything."
"Right," Cordelia said. "He'll talk. He's not the smartest of the group. I found that out when I called him."
"How'd you get ahold of him anyway?" Angel asked.
"Called his mother," Cordelia said. "I called her and she gave me his cell phone number. I have to remind him to call and come home more often." Then she headed towards the bar.
"Cordelia, hi," Jonathan stammered. "It's good to see you. You look great. I mean you always looked good but now you look.. Wow."
"Thanks," Cordelia said. "You look good too." She ordered a drink and said," So how have you been? Doing anything interesting?"
"The usual," Jonathan said.
"Are you going college here in Sunnydale?" She asked.
"Yeah," He said. "How about you?"
"I'm working in L.A.," Cordelia explained. "For an investigation agency."
"Sounds like fun," Jonathan said.
"It is," Cordelia said. "I see a lot of interesting cases and work with a variety of people," And demons, she thought.
"That's good," Jonathan said.
Their drinks arrived, and he said, "It was nice to hear from you. I was ah a little surprised."
Cordelia shrugged, "I was in town and decided to try and get in touch with people who I went to school with. There aren't too many in town anymore."
"Buffy and her friends still are. You were friends with them," Jonathan pointed out.
"I was," Cordelia said. "But I haven't spoken to them in a long time. We've just. grown apart. It happens. I moved and they're still the same as they were in high school, nothing's changed." She smiled, "But you've changed. I can tell."
"Thanks," Jonathan grinned.
Cordelia was getting tired of this game so she decided to end it quickly, "Let's dance," She suggested. He agreed and they went out onto the dance floor where they started slow dancing.
Cordelia looked over Jonathan's shoulder and saw Angel walking towards them, "So," She said. "I hear you've been up to some interesting things."
"Yeah," Jonathan said. "College has been really."
"No," Cordelia said. "That's not what I mean and you know it."
He looked confused for a minute and then said, "You know about us?"
"Oh yeah," Cordelia said.
"How?" He asked.
"An old friend told us everything," Angel said grabbing Jonathan's arms. "Now, we're going to walk out of here slowly. You even think about trying to escape, well.." He turned Jonathan to face him and showed him his vampire face.
"What are you gonna do to me?" Jonathan cried.
"You're coming with us," Cordelia said. "And you're going to answer some questions."
"And if I don't," Jonathan said, putting on a tough act.
"You'll regret it," Angel said.
Jonathan shook his head, "I have the protection of a master vampire. Drusilla won't let anyone hurt me."
Angel looked amused, "How much do you know Dru?" Jonathan didn't say anything so Angel said, "You saw what she did to Spike, right?" Jonathan nodded. "Well when I turned Dru she was going to be a nun. She was everything that was pure and innocent. She never would have hurt anyone. I made her into what she is and everything she learned about torture and cruelty, I taught her and I didn't teach her everything I know. So just imagine what I could do to you." Jonathan had a vivid imagination and he could picture exactly what the vampire standing in front of him could do so he didn't protest when Angel and Cordelia dragged him out of the bar.
**
Buffy lay on her mother's bed, one hand on her stomach, hoping that she would feel the baby move again. She'd gotten some sleep but hadn't gone downstairs yet. She just wanted to be alone. Her wish was denied when was there was a knock at the door and Willow came in with a tray.
"Hi," Willow said. "I brought you some dinner, chicken soup, my mom's cure for everything." She set the tray down on the nightstand and sat on the bed next to Buffy.
Buffy moved the tray to the bed and tasted the soup, "This is good, thanks."
"Well you know," Willow said. "Have to eat."
Buffy nodded. She wasn't really hungry but she had to eat. "Where is everyone?"
"Dawn's spending the night at Janice's. I promised I'd call her if anything changed with Spike and she promised that she wouldn't leave Janice's house. Xander and Anya promised to come over this evening. Tara and I are doing research into getting Spike's memory back and we're baby-sitting Connor."
"Where are Angel and Cordelia?" Buffy asked.
"They said something about going to the Bronze," Willow said. "I guess they needed a night out or something."
Buffy nodded, "How's the research going? Have you found anything?"
"Not yet," Willow admitted "But we're looking."
"How's Spike?" Buffy asked.
"He's sleeping," Willow told her. "We gave him some blood this afternoon. He didn't say much to me, though."
"He's probably still in shock," Buffy said. "I had to tell him about Connor, Darla and that whole mess and about Drusilla breaking up with."
"How'd he take it?" Willow asked.
"Not very well," Buffy admitted. "Then I tried to make it easier by telling him that he got over it and accidentally almost told him about us."
"But you didn't," Willow pointed out.
"No," Buffy agreed. "But he almost found out about the baby too."
"How?" Willow asked. "You didn't tell him so how could he find out?"
"The baby's heartbeat. It's getting louder and when it was neither one of us was saying anything he heard it. He wondered what it was but I couldn't tell him."
"He wouldn't have believed you anyway," Willow said.
"No," Buffy agreed. "But if this goes on much longer, he's going to figure it out. Angel figured out that I'm pregnant right away and it won't take much time for Spike realize it too."
"That's why we're going to find a way to get Spike's memory back," Willow said. "So he will remember everything."
"I just want this to be over," Buffy said. "He can get his memory back and our lives can go back to normal." She paused, "Or whatever passes for normal around here."
Suddenly they heard a loud noise coming from downstairs, "Was that the door?" Buffy said.
"I don't know," Willow said. "I'll go check."
"Whoever it is tell them to go away," Buffy told her. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone right now.
Willow went downstairs and Buffy leaned back and continued to eat the soup that Willow had brought. She was just finishing it when she heard Willow call out, "Buffy, can you come down here? There's something here you have to see."
Buffy sighed. She really didn't want to go downstairs but she might as well. She got up and walked down the stairs. She went into the living room and stopped short at the sight in front of her.
Angel and Cordelia were holding Jonathan's arms to keep him from escaping. "Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday or whatever holiday you want," Cordelia said.
"How? What?" Buffy stammered.
"It was pretty easy," Cordelia said. "I just had to call his mother and she gave me his listed cell phone number."
"These guys are supposed to be my arch-nemesis?" Buffy said to Willow. "I'm insulted." Willow nodded.
"Slayer," Jonathan said, trying to sound menacing.
Buffy studied him for a minute. Then she walked over to him and punched him so hard he flew across the room. "That," Buffy said. "Was for what you did to Spike." She walked over to him, pulled him to his feet and hit him again. "That, was for what you did to me and this.." She kneed him in the groin, punched him in the stomach and threw him across the room. "Was for what you tried to my baby." She turned to the stunned group of people in her living room. "Willow, can you and Tara put together that truth spell?" She smiled cruelly at Jonathan. "We're going to find out exactly what's going on here and our friend here might be able to tell us how to get Spike's memory back."
"I'll never tell," Jonathan moaned from the floor.
"I think you will," Buffy said. "And if the truth spell doesn't work then well there are other ways to make you crack."
Jonathan blanched at this and didn't say a word as Tara cast the spell that would make him tell everything that they wanted to know.
"Okay," Buffy said, circling him like a predator. "Now you're going to answer some questions for us."
"Sure," Jonathan agreed. Under the influence of the spell he had no choice but to tell the truth.
"First of all," Buffy said, staring at him. "You're going to tell me what you and your friends did to me, Spike and my baby."
"Oh you mean the poison and herbs that you got," Jonathan said cheerfully. "Yeah the herbs Sarah gave you made you sick but she said you would just think that it was morning sickness. If you'd kept taking those herbs like you were supposed to then the build up of the herbs would have killed your baby."
Willow grabbed Buffy to keep her from attacking Jonathan. Buffy knew that the herbs were supposed to make her lose her baby but hearing it from Jonathan's lips was almost too much. "Why would you want to do that?" Buffy asked, through clenched teeth.
"We were bored," Jonathan said. His voice, still casual. " Then one night when we were figuring out how to liven things up around here, Drusilla showed up. She had a great plan and we got to help her in exchange for immortal life."
"You mean she was going to turn you and your friends into vampires," Angel said.
"Right," Jonathan agreed. "All we had to do was kill the Slayer, her baby and get Spike back for her."
"And how were you supposed to do that?" Buffy asked.
"Well, we weren't too sure," Jonathan admitted. "But then Warren started dating Sarah and she mentioned that she was your midwife. It didn't take long for us to figure out a plan using Sarah's knowledge of herbs. She knew the right ones to make you lose your baby so that took care of that problem. It wouldn't be too hard to kill you and then we stumbled across this poison and the only way you could help him was this potion that would erase parts of his memory. Then once Drusilla had Spike and the Slayer and her baby were dead she'd turn all of us into vampires and we could complete our new goal.."
"And what was that?" Buffy seethed. She was about to rethink her policy regarding the killing of humans. Every maternal instinct she possessed was kicking in. That this person could so casually talk about killing her baby was more than she could handle.
"We're going to open the Hellmouth," Jonathan bragged. "Open it and then we'll rule over Sunnydale and eventually the world."
"You're going to open the Hellmouth and rule the world," Buffy repeated. She stared at him for minute and then said, "Are you insane?"
"No," Jonathan said. "We're perfectly sane."
"You didn't need to answer that," Buffy snapped. "But do you have any idea what opening up the Hellmouth would mean? You idiots aren't capable of handling the power that you'd unleash. It'll destroy you and who knows who else."
"We could handle it," Jonathan said. "We've already started recruiting demons and vampires for our army."
Buffy looked at Willow, "How did we miss that?'
"You weren't slaying," Jonathan said. "But Spike noticed. One of our minions heard him talking to Willy at the bar. He was asking if Willy if he knew anything about the increase in vampire and demon activity."
"Spike didn't say anything," Buffy said.
"He probably didn't want to worry you," Willow said. "Not until he knew something certain."
"Well when he gets his mind back," Buffy said. "I can tell him he was right to wonder." She studied Jonathan and asked him. "So how do we do that? How do we get Spike's memory back?