A/N I fixed Chapter 1 as you can tell. Enjoy Chapter 2! Thanks for your
reviews. I really do appreciate them.
Chapter 2
Buffy woke up and looked around at her surroundings. She was in a cave that had a cold breeze flowing through it. They had had to stop because the sun had come up and Angel had pulled her into a cave they had found in the woods. Buffy realized she was laying on something comfortable and she was warm. She looked around and realized that she was curled up at Angel's side, his arm holding her tightly to his chest, and his duster was around her torso along with hers.
Angel smiled down at her. "Guess you were tired."
The Slayer sat up and burrowed further into the coats. "I haven't slept much at all lately. The girls keep me up during the day and my insomnia kicks in at night." She rubbed her face. "Uh.... Is it nighttime yet?"
"Not yet. There's still about an hour left."
Buffy closed her eyes and laid her head on Angel's shoulder. "I haven't slept that good in a long time.... And I'm in a cave with my ex."
"You've always slept better with me." Angel said quietly.
She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I have. Not even Spike could get me to sleep that peacefully."
"Why don't we not talk about Spike, huh?"
Buffy looked up at Angel. "Angel, if it still bugs you.... Talk to me. I don't want anything like that between us while we're here having to fight side by side."
"It's just.... You know, it's Spike. It's really weird."
"You can't imagine how I feel about it. I don't even know how it happened.... Well, it started out as an addiction to make me feel.... Anything, really." Buffy looked Angel in the eyes. "He was a convenience and I used him. You weren't there. Thank God you weren't though."
"Why?"
"Because Angelus would be loose again." Angel looked away. She brought his face back. "Angel, I don't love him like you think I do. I told you that. He's got a place in my heart, yes, but not the space you still occupy and why is it that whenever we're together, all we can talk about is our relationship problems?"
Angel chuckled. "It's our curse."
"Probably." Buffy stretched and looked out at the woods. "You think it's dark enough to walk out into?"
Angel wanted to spend more time alone with Buffy, but she was right. It was just dark enough with the trees covering them. He could avoid the patches of sunlight. "Yeah. It should be."
Once they had started walking, Buffy looked up at Angel. "Do you think this is part of the desert, or another dimension?"
"Actually, I think that it's both. It could be part of the desert and other dimensions mixed together. It's taking a lot of magick to keep this place together and hidden from the outside world."
"Fun." She pulled out her cell phone. "Guess that's why my phone won't even come on."
"Guess not."
They walked on in silence for a while before Buffy stopped and looked around. "Are we headed in the right direction?"
"Why?"
"I swear we've past this place a couple of times now."
"We're going straight.... I think." Angel sniffed. "I don't smell us here." Buffy raised her eyebrow. "I meant.... If we had been here already, I would have smelled it."
"Maybe we got turned around."
"Buffy, we're headed in the same direction." Buffy let out a scream and jumped into Angel's arms. He caught her easily. "What? What happened?"
"Snake!"
"Where?"
"There!!" Buffy pointed at the hissing rattlesnake that was poised to strike. "Oh my God! Kill it!" Angel took the dagger Buffy jabbed his way and threw it at the snake's head. The snake was pinned to the ground, dying instantly. Then it disappeared. "What the hell?!" Angel was stifling his laughter. "What?"
"You!"
"Me!?"
"I forgot how terrified of snakes you are."
"It's not funny! I hate those things. And that one was poisonous!"
"I'm sorry. It's just.... You're the Slayer. You face down things deadlier than a rattlesnake, but you're terrified of a garden snake."
"You know, phobias are serious matters. Mine just happens to stem from a very bad experience I had as a child."
Angel smiled at her. "I'm not criticizing you. It's just funny."
Buffy slapped Angel's arm with a laugh. "Shut up."
"Sorry." Angel chuckled. "I remember the first time I found out you were scared of snakes."
"Oh please! Don't remind me."
"I have to! You remember? We were out on patrol and...."
"No, we were on one of our picnics that we told Giles was our patrol. Get your story straight."
"Anyway, you pulled away for air and there just happened to be a garden snake on the tombstone."
"Yeah, yeah. I freaked out and scrambled away right into a vampire."
"You were terrified to even get the fight near the snake."
Buffy laughed. "We can laugh now, but I was terrified!" After a while the two stopped laughing and looked down at the dagger. "Wait.... That thing disappeared!"
"I noticed."
"Which means that...." Women that looked like they were extras on Xena surrounded them. "It was probably a trap."
***
Buffy and Angel paced the cell they were in. They had been drug to the castle and thrown in here. It was a regular room with one small window, but it was pretty much barren except for the three cots on each wall.
"At least it's homey." Buffy said, sitting down.
"Better than Pylea." Angel said, sitting next to her.
"That place you were in when I...."
"When I saved Fred."
"You still don't like to talk about it, do you?"
"No."
"Did you really feel that awful?"
"It isn't that. I still can't convince myself that you were gone and I wasn't."
Buffy touched Angel's hand. "I'm here now."
Angel grasped her hand. "Yeah, you are."
Buffy smiled and chuckled slightly. "Only you and I can have a touching moment in a jail cell."
"This isn't a jail cell." A voice said. Buffy and Angel stood up. "It's your room."
"Our room?" Angel asked.
A blue demon appeared. He had mystical tattoos all over the exposed flesh and his eyes were black. "You're not our prisoners. We were expecting you."
"Who's we?" Buffy asked.
"The mages here." Buffy and Angel looked confused. "We sent for you because we cannot leave until the ceremony is finished."
"What ceremony?" Angel asked.
"The ceremony to restore the walls of reality that have slowly begun to deteriorate."
"Why did you call us?"
"Because you are the warriors on your plane. You are the best."
"Still not clear on what exactly is going on." Buffy said, raising her hand slightly.
"Every two thousand years, the walls that make up the fabric of reality begin to crumble. We've never been able to make it completely permanent, so we gather here every two thousand years to reassemble them."
"And you bring the best warriors in here to do what? Play guard dogs?"
"No. We never bring outsiders in. You are here because we need you. There has been murder in our ranks and many believe it was one of our own. You're mystical detectives."
"No, he is."
"Actually, I'm C.E.O. of a law firm now. I don't do detective work anymore." Angel said.
"Forgive me." The demon said. "Our news pamphlets aren't as up to date as they should be."
"News pamphlets?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. They keep us up to date whenever there is a conference or a gathering such as this."
"Interesting."
Angel looked at Buffy. She had reminded him so much of Connor when she had said that. She reminded him a lot of Connor now that he thought about it. Yet, she had no clue who Connor was. Buffy looked back at him, but he looked away. "It doesn't mean that we can't help though." Angel said.
"Wait, why can't you people figure this out on your own? I have Slayers to get back to." Buffy said.
"Because we have to tend to the ceremony. It must be ready before the full moon." The demon said.
"That's in four days." Angel said.
"Four days!? I can't leave Dawn that long without contacting her." Buffy said. "She worries a lot and it puts stress on her."
"Buffy, it'll be ok. They contacted us from here, I'm sure you can contact Dawn."
"On the contrary." The demon said. "You're here now, so there will be no getting out of any kind until the ceremony is over."
"What? I didn't tell anyone that I would be gone that long!"
"Listen, uh...." Buffy started, not knowing the demon's name.
"Ork." The demon said.
"Ork.... Right.... Listen, we have priorities. Lives to get back to. We didn't know that we would be on a four day honeymoon in wherever the hell we are."
"When did you get married?"
"Excuse me?"
"You said this is your honeymoon...."
"It was metaphorical. Angel and I aren't together anymore."
"My deepest apologies. The news pamphlets are very out of date then. Time moves much quicker here." Buffy looked at Angel. "Oh, but it won't affect you. You're protected from that."
"Protected how?" Angel asked.
"We knew you were coming. When you walked through the barrier, our spells took their place on you. Now you are protected and no one but a certain few know your true identities."
"You kidnap us and then put spells on us...." Buffy said. "Give me one good reason to trust you."
"I cannot. But your instincts are telling you that everything is ok, am I right?"
The Slayer backed down slightly. "Partly. The other part is telling me there's only one person here I can trust completely."
"Quite understandable." Ork looked at his watch. "Oh, the other one should be here soon."
"Other one?" Angel asked. "What other one?"
"The other champion we called for. He should be here shortly. I must leave you now."
"Wait...." Buffy tried to grab the demon's arm, but he disappeared. "What other champion? How many champions...." The door opened and a bleach blonde man was brought in. "Are there...."
"Get your bloody hands off of me!" Spike yelled.
"Spike?"
Spike stopped and turned. "Buffy?" The door slammed, but no one paid attention. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you.... You're supposed to be dead."
"Yeah, so are you, but I don't see it stopping you." Spike looked at Angel. "Oh, they brought you here too."
"Of course they did." Angel said. "Why wouldn't they?"
"Because you've got that law firm to worry your knickers off about."
"Wait!" Buffy said. "You knew?" She asked Angel. "You knew he was back and didn't tell me?"
"Well, I...." Angel started.
"Yeah, why didn't you tell her?" Spike asked.
"Why didn't you?" Buffy asked Spike. "Did you not feel I was important enough to tell that you were back?"
"I.... Uh.... It's.... I was scared."
"Of what?"
"Facing you again." Spike took a step towards her, but she backed away. "That's exactly why. You're scared of me."
"I'm not scared of you. I'm incredibly pissed off that neither of you had the nerve to call me and tell me that you were back." Buffy looked at Angel. "And he works with you?"
"No." Both vampires said.
"Why is he here?"
"The amulet I gave you.... It came back to Wolfram and Hart with him in it." Angel pointed at Spike. "He was a ghost and then Lindsey made him corporeal again."
"Who's Lindsey?"
"That lawyer I told you about a long time ago."
"The one who's hand you cut off?"
"Yes."
"This is insane!" Buffy started to walk away.
Angel jumped in front of her. "Buffy...."
"Angel, I can't do this. I can't work with you two."
"Why?"
"Because! You know, it's you two. It's you and Spike. Spike and you. And then me. It's complicated and I can't deal with complicated right now. I'm trying to build a new life for myself and I can't have two exes popping back up. In some cases, literally."
"I know this is hard, but if you just...."
"If I just what? Give it a chance?"
"Exactly."
"I can't."
"Can't? Or won't?"
"Both."
"This is ridiculous!" Spike said. "I'll just tell them that I won't do it and they can send me back home."
"They can't do that." Buffy said, stopping Spike.
"Can't or won't?"
"Both again."
"Why not?"
"Because Ork explained that once we're here, we're here. We're stuck."
"Stuck?"
"Until this ceremony to fix the walls of reality is done." Angel said.
"The walls are crumbling?"
"Apparently."
"That explains all the extra demon hype lately."
"Extra demon hype?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah."
"You went patrolling?"
"Not really. I still kill demons you know."
"I figured you were addicted."
"Just like smoking, huh?"
"I just do it cause it makes me look cool. I'm not addicted."
"Denial."
Spike shrugged. "Always when it comes to you."
Buffy smiled at Spike, completely aware that Angel was watching like a hawk. He wasn't happy with the scene, but Buffy didn't particularly care. They weren't together and they could never be together. Both of them had accepted it. *Of course, if you have to tell yourself something over and over just to convince yourself....* Buffy thought. *Maybe I'm not so sure Angel and I are over quite yet.*
Chapter 2
Buffy woke up and looked around at her surroundings. She was in a cave that had a cold breeze flowing through it. They had had to stop because the sun had come up and Angel had pulled her into a cave they had found in the woods. Buffy realized she was laying on something comfortable and she was warm. She looked around and realized that she was curled up at Angel's side, his arm holding her tightly to his chest, and his duster was around her torso along with hers.
Angel smiled down at her. "Guess you were tired."
The Slayer sat up and burrowed further into the coats. "I haven't slept much at all lately. The girls keep me up during the day and my insomnia kicks in at night." She rubbed her face. "Uh.... Is it nighttime yet?"
"Not yet. There's still about an hour left."
Buffy closed her eyes and laid her head on Angel's shoulder. "I haven't slept that good in a long time.... And I'm in a cave with my ex."
"You've always slept better with me." Angel said quietly.
She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I have. Not even Spike could get me to sleep that peacefully."
"Why don't we not talk about Spike, huh?"
Buffy looked up at Angel. "Angel, if it still bugs you.... Talk to me. I don't want anything like that between us while we're here having to fight side by side."
"It's just.... You know, it's Spike. It's really weird."
"You can't imagine how I feel about it. I don't even know how it happened.... Well, it started out as an addiction to make me feel.... Anything, really." Buffy looked Angel in the eyes. "He was a convenience and I used him. You weren't there. Thank God you weren't though."
"Why?"
"Because Angelus would be loose again." Angel looked away. She brought his face back. "Angel, I don't love him like you think I do. I told you that. He's got a place in my heart, yes, but not the space you still occupy and why is it that whenever we're together, all we can talk about is our relationship problems?"
Angel chuckled. "It's our curse."
"Probably." Buffy stretched and looked out at the woods. "You think it's dark enough to walk out into?"
Angel wanted to spend more time alone with Buffy, but she was right. It was just dark enough with the trees covering them. He could avoid the patches of sunlight. "Yeah. It should be."
Once they had started walking, Buffy looked up at Angel. "Do you think this is part of the desert, or another dimension?"
"Actually, I think that it's both. It could be part of the desert and other dimensions mixed together. It's taking a lot of magick to keep this place together and hidden from the outside world."
"Fun." She pulled out her cell phone. "Guess that's why my phone won't even come on."
"Guess not."
They walked on in silence for a while before Buffy stopped and looked around. "Are we headed in the right direction?"
"Why?"
"I swear we've past this place a couple of times now."
"We're going straight.... I think." Angel sniffed. "I don't smell us here." Buffy raised her eyebrow. "I meant.... If we had been here already, I would have smelled it."
"Maybe we got turned around."
"Buffy, we're headed in the same direction." Buffy let out a scream and jumped into Angel's arms. He caught her easily. "What? What happened?"
"Snake!"
"Where?"
"There!!" Buffy pointed at the hissing rattlesnake that was poised to strike. "Oh my God! Kill it!" Angel took the dagger Buffy jabbed his way and threw it at the snake's head. The snake was pinned to the ground, dying instantly. Then it disappeared. "What the hell?!" Angel was stifling his laughter. "What?"
"You!"
"Me!?"
"I forgot how terrified of snakes you are."
"It's not funny! I hate those things. And that one was poisonous!"
"I'm sorry. It's just.... You're the Slayer. You face down things deadlier than a rattlesnake, but you're terrified of a garden snake."
"You know, phobias are serious matters. Mine just happens to stem from a very bad experience I had as a child."
Angel smiled at her. "I'm not criticizing you. It's just funny."
Buffy slapped Angel's arm with a laugh. "Shut up."
"Sorry." Angel chuckled. "I remember the first time I found out you were scared of snakes."
"Oh please! Don't remind me."
"I have to! You remember? We were out on patrol and...."
"No, we were on one of our picnics that we told Giles was our patrol. Get your story straight."
"Anyway, you pulled away for air and there just happened to be a garden snake on the tombstone."
"Yeah, yeah. I freaked out and scrambled away right into a vampire."
"You were terrified to even get the fight near the snake."
Buffy laughed. "We can laugh now, but I was terrified!" After a while the two stopped laughing and looked down at the dagger. "Wait.... That thing disappeared!"
"I noticed."
"Which means that...." Women that looked like they were extras on Xena surrounded them. "It was probably a trap."
***
Buffy and Angel paced the cell they were in. They had been drug to the castle and thrown in here. It was a regular room with one small window, but it was pretty much barren except for the three cots on each wall.
"At least it's homey." Buffy said, sitting down.
"Better than Pylea." Angel said, sitting next to her.
"That place you were in when I...."
"When I saved Fred."
"You still don't like to talk about it, do you?"
"No."
"Did you really feel that awful?"
"It isn't that. I still can't convince myself that you were gone and I wasn't."
Buffy touched Angel's hand. "I'm here now."
Angel grasped her hand. "Yeah, you are."
Buffy smiled and chuckled slightly. "Only you and I can have a touching moment in a jail cell."
"This isn't a jail cell." A voice said. Buffy and Angel stood up. "It's your room."
"Our room?" Angel asked.
A blue demon appeared. He had mystical tattoos all over the exposed flesh and his eyes were black. "You're not our prisoners. We were expecting you."
"Who's we?" Buffy asked.
"The mages here." Buffy and Angel looked confused. "We sent for you because we cannot leave until the ceremony is finished."
"What ceremony?" Angel asked.
"The ceremony to restore the walls of reality that have slowly begun to deteriorate."
"Why did you call us?"
"Because you are the warriors on your plane. You are the best."
"Still not clear on what exactly is going on." Buffy said, raising her hand slightly.
"Every two thousand years, the walls that make up the fabric of reality begin to crumble. We've never been able to make it completely permanent, so we gather here every two thousand years to reassemble them."
"And you bring the best warriors in here to do what? Play guard dogs?"
"No. We never bring outsiders in. You are here because we need you. There has been murder in our ranks and many believe it was one of our own. You're mystical detectives."
"No, he is."
"Actually, I'm C.E.O. of a law firm now. I don't do detective work anymore." Angel said.
"Forgive me." The demon said. "Our news pamphlets aren't as up to date as they should be."
"News pamphlets?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. They keep us up to date whenever there is a conference or a gathering such as this."
"Interesting."
Angel looked at Buffy. She had reminded him so much of Connor when she had said that. She reminded him a lot of Connor now that he thought about it. Yet, she had no clue who Connor was. Buffy looked back at him, but he looked away. "It doesn't mean that we can't help though." Angel said.
"Wait, why can't you people figure this out on your own? I have Slayers to get back to." Buffy said.
"Because we have to tend to the ceremony. It must be ready before the full moon." The demon said.
"That's in four days." Angel said.
"Four days!? I can't leave Dawn that long without contacting her." Buffy said. "She worries a lot and it puts stress on her."
"Buffy, it'll be ok. They contacted us from here, I'm sure you can contact Dawn."
"On the contrary." The demon said. "You're here now, so there will be no getting out of any kind until the ceremony is over."
"What? I didn't tell anyone that I would be gone that long!"
"Listen, uh...." Buffy started, not knowing the demon's name.
"Ork." The demon said.
"Ork.... Right.... Listen, we have priorities. Lives to get back to. We didn't know that we would be on a four day honeymoon in wherever the hell we are."
"When did you get married?"
"Excuse me?"
"You said this is your honeymoon...."
"It was metaphorical. Angel and I aren't together anymore."
"My deepest apologies. The news pamphlets are very out of date then. Time moves much quicker here." Buffy looked at Angel. "Oh, but it won't affect you. You're protected from that."
"Protected how?" Angel asked.
"We knew you were coming. When you walked through the barrier, our spells took their place on you. Now you are protected and no one but a certain few know your true identities."
"You kidnap us and then put spells on us...." Buffy said. "Give me one good reason to trust you."
"I cannot. But your instincts are telling you that everything is ok, am I right?"
The Slayer backed down slightly. "Partly. The other part is telling me there's only one person here I can trust completely."
"Quite understandable." Ork looked at his watch. "Oh, the other one should be here soon."
"Other one?" Angel asked. "What other one?"
"The other champion we called for. He should be here shortly. I must leave you now."
"Wait...." Buffy tried to grab the demon's arm, but he disappeared. "What other champion? How many champions...." The door opened and a bleach blonde man was brought in. "Are there...."
"Get your bloody hands off of me!" Spike yelled.
"Spike?"
Spike stopped and turned. "Buffy?" The door slammed, but no one paid attention. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you.... You're supposed to be dead."
"Yeah, so are you, but I don't see it stopping you." Spike looked at Angel. "Oh, they brought you here too."
"Of course they did." Angel said. "Why wouldn't they?"
"Because you've got that law firm to worry your knickers off about."
"Wait!" Buffy said. "You knew?" She asked Angel. "You knew he was back and didn't tell me?"
"Well, I...." Angel started.
"Yeah, why didn't you tell her?" Spike asked.
"Why didn't you?" Buffy asked Spike. "Did you not feel I was important enough to tell that you were back?"
"I.... Uh.... It's.... I was scared."
"Of what?"
"Facing you again." Spike took a step towards her, but she backed away. "That's exactly why. You're scared of me."
"I'm not scared of you. I'm incredibly pissed off that neither of you had the nerve to call me and tell me that you were back." Buffy looked at Angel. "And he works with you?"
"No." Both vampires said.
"Why is he here?"
"The amulet I gave you.... It came back to Wolfram and Hart with him in it." Angel pointed at Spike. "He was a ghost and then Lindsey made him corporeal again."
"Who's Lindsey?"
"That lawyer I told you about a long time ago."
"The one who's hand you cut off?"
"Yes."
"This is insane!" Buffy started to walk away.
Angel jumped in front of her. "Buffy...."
"Angel, I can't do this. I can't work with you two."
"Why?"
"Because! You know, it's you two. It's you and Spike. Spike and you. And then me. It's complicated and I can't deal with complicated right now. I'm trying to build a new life for myself and I can't have two exes popping back up. In some cases, literally."
"I know this is hard, but if you just...."
"If I just what? Give it a chance?"
"Exactly."
"I can't."
"Can't? Or won't?"
"Both."
"This is ridiculous!" Spike said. "I'll just tell them that I won't do it and they can send me back home."
"They can't do that." Buffy said, stopping Spike.
"Can't or won't?"
"Both again."
"Why not?"
"Because Ork explained that once we're here, we're here. We're stuck."
"Stuck?"
"Until this ceremony to fix the walls of reality is done." Angel said.
"The walls are crumbling?"
"Apparently."
"That explains all the extra demon hype lately."
"Extra demon hype?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah."
"You went patrolling?"
"Not really. I still kill demons you know."
"I figured you were addicted."
"Just like smoking, huh?"
"I just do it cause it makes me look cool. I'm not addicted."
"Denial."
Spike shrugged. "Always when it comes to you."
Buffy smiled at Spike, completely aware that Angel was watching like a hawk. He wasn't happy with the scene, but Buffy didn't particularly care. They weren't together and they could never be together. Both of them had accepted it. *Of course, if you have to tell yourself something over and over just to convince yourself....* Buffy thought. *Maybe I'm not so sure Angel and I are over quite yet.*
