Disclaimer; I do not own anything, it belongs all to joss :(
(Giles voice) previously on buffy the vampire slayer
Buffy went to see angel and told him she had moved on. she then returned home and filled dawn in. she went to see spike, who could smell angel and got angry. Buffy told him that angel means nothing anymore, and that she wants to be friends with spike. He agreed and the made a step forward…
Chapter eight: taking down the trio
Buffy met Spike at his crypt the following evening for patrol, just as promised. For a moment he had seemed surprised by the fact that she had arrived, but he had recovered quickly and they were now walking side by side through Spike's cemetery. An uncomfortable silence loomed between them, and this worried Buffy. She could tell he was nervous and unsure of himself and their newfound friendship, but after the progress they had made last night the last thing Buffy wanted was for them to slip back into uncertainty. She chewed her lip for a moment before making a decision and deciding to take a drastic step.
Spike was walking beside Buffy, a surreal feeling overtaking him; he couldn't believe they were here. He was aware of the silence between them but was unsure of how to break it, usually he would attempt to lighten the mood with a witty comment or a sarcastic remark, but he didn't think it would be appropriate at the moment. Truth be told, Spike was scared. No he amended not scared, terrified. He was absolutely terrified that he would say something to anger Buffy and make her take back her offer of friendship from the previous nights. Lost in thought, Spike was brought crashing back to earth as he felt Buffy's hand grab his. He looked down to see their hands holding one another's and watched as Buffy entwined her fingers with his. He looked up at her confused
"Buffy…?" he asked confused. She answered him with a shrug of her shoulders and squeezed his hand slightly tighter.
"What…?" Spike was in shock and could only manage one word at a time. Buffy noticed this and tried her hardest not to giggle at the look of astonishment on his face
"There doesn't seem to be much out tonight" Buffy commented, ignoring Spike's continued look of shock and stuttered half questions
"although I'm not complaining" she continued "It's nice to have a peaceful night to spend time with a friend" at that, Spikes shock seemed to dissipate and a brilliant smile lit up his entire face, the kind of smile that Buffy rarely saw but in that moment, decided she would do anything she could to make it a regular occurrence.
"Well pet, we may as well finish up a quick sweep and head back to the crypt. Maybe we could play cards or something?" Spike suggested, becoming bolder by Buffy's seemingly random move. In actual fact, this is what she had intended by grabbing his hand
"Yeah, sounds good to me" She said, and Spikes smile seemed to get just that much brighter. The travelled through the cemetery and finished patrol as planned, and headed for the crypt.
Buffy and Spike sat on the sarcophagus in his crypt, a deck of cards spread out between them. Spike had decided it would be fun to teach her to play poker, and idea that Buffy readily agreed to. When she had first come back, Spike had taught her how to play, but she could still never beat him. This time she had an advantage. Not only did she know how to play, she had gotten pretty damn good at it, and Spike didn't have a clue. It's not cheating Buffy told herself its simply payback time. An almost evil, sneaky smile graced her face, one that she quickly masked with her 'poker face' before Spike saw it. She watched as he dealt out the cards and got ready to play.
"Now pet, you start of with five cards, ok?" he told her in his 'instructor voice' Buffy nodded to show that she understood
"And you try and make something of them, say a pair or three of a kind" he continued, telling her all of the instructions of the game. Buffy listened intently, throwing in some questions to clarify certain rules in order to make her lack of knowledge believable. They played a few slow games with Spike explaining things as they went. All of which Buffy deliberately lost. Now it was time to get serious. She threw her cards down and played beautifully, winning three straight hands, spike looked at her in shock
"How, but…how?" he asked. Buffy smiled the same sneaky smile as before, pretending to be nonchalant she replied,
"I guess I just had a good teacher" she told him. Next thing she knew, Spike was on her, checking up her jumper sleeves and in her pockets
"Spike! What are you doing?" she laughed as he continued to search her
"I'm lookin' for cards" he told her "there is no way you could 'ave won like that without cheatin'" he told her. Buffy's expression turned serious
"What? You think just because I bet you, that I must have cheated? Gee Spike, its nice to know you think that highly of me" she snapped at him. Spikes eyes widened
"Buffy, luv, I didn't mean it like that, I was just messing around, you played good, I know you didn't cheat" he said in a rush. Buffy maintained her angry expression for a few more minutes before breaking out into laughter. Spike was confused for a moment before catching on to what she was doing
"Oh you're evil" he told her, hiding his own smile, Buffy continued laughing
"What can I tell you baby? I've always been bad" se quoted him, and that look of love shone in Spikes eyes, and the fact that something so simple as remembering his words had meant so much caused her knees to go weak. She smiled at him, happy in the direction they were heading.
They continued playing around and laughing for hours until it was time for Buffy to leave. They both didn't want their time to end, after things had been going so well, but Buffy knew there was something else she had to do. They stood at the door of his crypt together, buffy on the outside of the threshold.
"Thanks for patrolling with me Spike" she told him
"No worries pet, although we didn't exactly patrol I'm willing to help out anytime you need me" he told her
"I know. Thank you Spike" she told him sincerely. She leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on his check and turned and left, not looking back to see the smile on his face, although she knew it would be there. Spike placed his hand on his check where she kissed him. Oh yeah, 'friends' is definitely a good start he thought to himself, before heading back into the crypt.
The next morning, Buffy awoke to find Willow sitting on the kitchen table, working on her laptop. She asked if Dawn had gotten off to school ok, and then decided to sit down with Willow.
"Working on a school project?" Buffy asked as a way to start conversation
"No, I'm looking up different forms of magic and stuff" Willow told her vaguely. Buffy raised one of her eyebrows, looking directly at Willow.
"I thought we agreed that you would take it easy on the magic for a while Will?" Buffy wondered
"Oh yeah, I'm not doing magic, just reading magic" Willow told her. Buffy didn't believe her, but let the subject drop for now. Apparently the other night hadn't been the end of Willow's magic problems. One problem at a time Buffy thought
"Hey will, can you do me a favour?"
"Sure" willow replied, finally turning her attention from the computer screen to Buffy
"I need you to look up some guys for me" she told her "Warren, the buffy-bot maker, and Jonathan from high-school, they're in Sunnydale somewhere, but I need an address"
"Why, what's up?" Willow asked
"I think they're up to no good. Slayer dream" Buffy told her. She already knew where the trio was residing, but she thought if she requested help in tracking them down, it may seem less suspicious. It didn't prove to be time consuming as Willow had the address up on her screen within a matter of minutes
"Buffy, are you sure about this?" Willow asked her.
"Pretty sure Will, its just a hunch, but it's worth checking out" Buffy tried to explain to her
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Willow agreed "do you want me to come with you?"
"Nah, it should be right, thanks anyway" Buffy said. Leaving Willow to her work she left the house, making one stop before going after the trio, once and for all.
Buffy walked down the street, her stride fast and determined. Her hands were free of weapons, she had only herself. More than enough for three nerds Buffy thought. She went to the house where she knew they were. Instead of the surprise attack on the basement she had planned, she went up and knocked on the front door. An older looking woman answered the door, Buffy assumed it was warrens mother. She greeted her politely and invited Buffy into the house
"The boys are down in the basement" she told her "it's so nice that they have female company coming around. Which of the boys are you interested in?" The mother asked. Buffy screwed her nose up in disgust at the thought of being interested in any of the trio members, but smiled politely at the woman
"Oh my interest lies totally in Warren" she told her. The old woman smiled in delight
"Oh that's so lovely, he will be pleased to see you. I'm so glad he is getting out and meeting new people" the lady continued
"I'm sure he will have the opportunity to meet plenty of new people soon enough" Buffy told her sweetly, before making her way down to the basement
Buffy descended the stairs to find Warren, Jonathan and Andrew, all sitting around the table, drinking sodas and discussing the fist plan to drive the slayer crazy.
"You know, you could try and be a little less obvious about it" buffy told them, announcing her presence. All three members of the trio jumped in surprise and quickly stood up to face her.
"Slayer…I mean, Buffy, what are you doing here?" Jonathan asked, attempting and failing to hide the fact that they had just been discussing ideas on raising demons.
"Oh, nothing much" Buffy told them, walking around the basement and eyeing off their set-up. Last time she didn't get a good chance to really look at things before the traps went off, this time, she assumed, they hadn't had time to set the traps up yet, and looking around was interesting, if not a little creepy. They had drawings, and plans covering the majority of wall space, and blue prints to Sundydale's museums, banks, everything worth something. Buffy had to give them a little credit; they had gone to a lot of effort and trouble to do what they had done. If the trio wasn't run by an evil, sadistic psychopath, Buffy thought they may actually be good at something other than evil. As she continued walking around, she noticed the three of them begin whispering to one another, pretending not to notice, she continued on what she was doing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them advance, and spun around to avert the attack. She did a back kick and hit Warren in the chest using enough force to make him stumble back, but not actually cause any damage. The other two stopped when they saw warren hit the ground, figuring fighting the slayer wasn't worth their own safety. They backed up, heading in the direction of the door.
"I wouldn't try leaving if I were you two" she told them, they stopped moving instantly
"Y-you can't do anything to us" Andrew stuttered
"Yeah, you don't hurt humans" Jonathan said
"That may be true" Buffy told them, "but do you really want to risk it?" They looked at each other and shook their heads, no. A moan was heard coming from Warren who was still on the floor, Buffy looked at him for a moment, then deciding he would be incapacitated for a few more minutes turned her attention back to the other two
"Now, I'm going to give you a once in a lifetime opportunity here" she told them, making sure they listened to her. When she was sure she had their full attention, she continued speaking
"Run" she received blank looks
"I'm serious, all I am interested in is Warren, you two can get out of this, totally free" again, blank looks, she sighed
"I'm serious, but on one condition; you stay out of trouble and NEVER try to contact Warren again. Also, Andrew, if someone tells you to kill Jonathan, don't do it" Jonathans eyes widened at that, and Andrew nodded dumbly "You two are important to me, so I am letting you go" comprehension seemed to dawn on them as they realised she was serious. Warren began making movement on the ground, slowly recovering from the hit Buffy gave him
"You better make it quick guys" she said, they didn't bother to reply, choosing instead to run out the door and not look back. Buffy then turned to address Warren, who was now slowly standing up
"You made a mistake then slayer, you think you can just come in here and boss me around? You've got nothing on me, you can't do a thing" he told her, standing up to his full height now
"You're right, I can't do a thing" Buffy told him. Warren was about to reply when sirens could be heard in the background
"But they can" she said, Warrens eyes widened and he attempted to run, but was once again knocked down by Buffy.
"And before you start thinking this isn't over, let me tell you; it is. Before I came here I had a friend work a little mojo on you. In a few hours, you will be unable to come near any of mine again. And also, that whole idea to cause people pain, it wont work either. You know that chip in Spike's head? Guess whose got one now" she said. Warren gave her one of the evilest looks Buffy had ever seen and charged at her. Buffy let him hit her, and when he did, he fell to the floor in pain
"What, how?" he asked
"I told you, you can't hurt a fly anymore Warren, your criminal days are over"
When the sirens got really close, she made sure he was totally unable to move, and ran out the door so she wasn't seen. Watching from a distance she saw the police come and drag a cuffed and protesting Warren away.
It was something small, but hopefully a start at making things go better. At first, buffy had considered inviting Andrew and Jonathan to come stay with her, but she had plans to fulfil, plans that unfortunately did not involve them. She knew they would be back though, so letting them go seemed like an ok option. She had stopped by at Tara's house before she left, asking her to make sure Warren was unable to hurt her or anyone else again, and putting a false, magic chip in his head seemed like the best option, just in case he did happen to get out of jail in the near future. Buffy didn't think they would be hearing the last of Warren, but from now on, he wouldn't be a problem to the gangs safety. After making sure the police had everything under control, Buffy left and returned home to get ready for another patrol with Spike.
TBC