Chapter 48: Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun Part 2
April 22, 2003 - Tuesday
Halliwell Manor
One of the nymphs, Daisy, ran for the back door as Piper grabbed her around the waist. "No, no, no! No, no, no!" Piper told her.
"But we need to be outside to find our new Satyr," Daisy countered.
"Not when there's a demon out there," Buffy reminded the nymph, you don't."
Miranda, the other nymph, opened the conservatory double doors as Buffy tackled her. "Sorry, but for your own protection you are stuck here," Buffy said as she turned and closed the door.
"But, but, but, Slayer, you're suffocating us," Miranda countered. "But we're meant to be outdoors."
"We were born to be wild," Daisy added.
"We hear what you're saying," Piper told the nymphs.
"Nature's apart of us." Miranda waved her arm and a vine appeared on the door. "We're meant to preserve it, to nurture it."
"Well, that's really great, honey, but our job is to preserve you, okay?" Paige said.
"Alright, inside, inside, inside," Piper said as she pulled Daisy inside.
"Whoa!" Daisy said having spotted Sam.
"What's going on?" Sam asked. "Who are they?"
"Nymphs, Sam," Buffy answered, "clearly."
Daisy and Miranda giggle as they dance around Sam.
"Oh, hi there," Sam said as the nymphs dance around him. "Uh, no wonder the Elders were worried about exposure."
"Who's the sexy beast?" Daisy asked looking at Sam appreciatively.
Buffy rolled he eyes. "The beast is my fiancée."
"Now, I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade, but didn't you two just lose a sister?" Piper asked. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, grieving?
"Oh, we don't mourn death, we celebrate it," Daisy answered.
"It's the way of nature," Miranda answered. "The eternal spring we protect ensures that life is always renewed in the forest."
"So she'll be reborn or something?" Paige asked looking at the two nymphs.
Miranda nodded. "If not in the plants and trees, then in the wind and rain that brings them sustenance."
"Isn't that awesome?" Daisy asked excitedly.
"Still, without her, we may not find our new Satyr," Miranda explained. "We need three to perform the dance or we may not hear his call."
"I'm a little confused," Buffy said looking between the nymphs. "If you guys protect the spring, what do you need a Satyr for?"
The nymphs giggled. "Oh, because that's the way it's always been," Daisy told them.
Buffy sighed as she looked at her daughters. "Sounds to me like their…"
Piper and Paige nodded in understanding. "So do you know who the demon is?" Paige asked.
Miranda shook her head. "No, only that he wanted us to bring him to the eternal spring to-to drink from it we assume."
"Which would make him immortal, indestructible," Sam explained as he moved to stand next to Buffy.
Piper nodded. "We need Phoebe."
"Hello?" came Phoebe's voice from the front door.
"Anybody home?" Dawn added.
Buffy smirked. "Ask and you shall receive," she said. She looked at her fiancée. "Try and keep an eye on them."
As Piper, Paige and Buffy walk into the foyer the nymphs giggle and ran around Sam. They found Phoebe carrying a vase of flowers.
"Hiya, where you two been?" Piper asked looking at both women.
"Staff meeting," Dawn answered. "Well at first."
"Then avoiding Jason," Phoebe added as she handed Piper the vase. "Apparently it didn't work." She picked up a vase of flowers off a table and moved them to a side table. Piper put the vase Phoebe handed her in its place.
"Yeah, uh, well, we found something," Paige said as they heard the nymphs giggle. They look into the conservatory and saw them all over Sam.
"I thought there was three of them?" Dawn asked looking at her sister with sympathy that the nymphs were fawning over her sister's boyfriend.
"Yeah, the demon got one," Piper answered.
"Yeah, but on the plus side, you got some really pretty flowers," Paige added.
"Yeah, see, I don't want to talk about that," Phoebe told them changing the subject. "Tell me about the demon."
"Well, Piper, let him get away," Paige told her sister.
"Oh, come on, I blew off his hand, didn't I?" Piper countered.
"Enough," Buffy said looking at her daughters who were about to start bickering. "It doesn't matter how he got away, he just did."
"What's wrong?" Dawn asked her sister.
"More of Paige trying take the lead," Buffy answered.
"Oh," Phoebe and Dawn said glancing at each other.
"I don't think I'm trying to take the lead," Paige countered. "I've just had to for the last few months. It's all I do."
"Paige," Buffy said shaking her head as Sam brought the nymphs into the foyer. "I said enough."
"Alright," Sam said.
"What's going on?" Buffy asked.
"Leo is calling for me," Sam told her. "I think he needs help with either Elizabeth or Joyce." He then orbed out.
"We need to frolic," Daisy told the Halliwells. "We need to find our Satyr."
"Okay, I would like to frolic too but I actually have work to do," Paige told the nymphs with a sigh.
"Are you always this tense?" Miranda asked they circled the girls.
""Uh, look, we need to find this demon before this demon finds them," Piper said. "Alright, I'm gonna go check the book."
"I'll go," Paige interjected.
"Wait, let your sister go," Miranda suggested.
Piper smiled at Miranda. "Ha-ha, thanks."
"Why?" Paige wondered.
"You'll see." Miranda told her with a sly wink.
"Something wrong?" Phoebe wondered.
Daisy waved her hands above the flowers and they instantly bloomed. "Not anymore," she said as she and Miranda giggled.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Before anyone could stop him, Spike lunged from the basement cot in a frenzy, full-on vamp mode. He hit Faith, slamming her across the room, lunging, fighting. He picked up his cot and flung it across the room, hitting Tara. She fell to the ground.
"Tara!" Willow cried. She hurried to help Tara, then Anya took her upstairs.
Faith prepared to take on Spike when he froze. Then the Prokaryote slithered out of his eye and clattered to the floor, once more a solid object.
Spike morphed back to human guise, and he stared in shock and shame at Tara, whom he had wounded in his blackout. He caught sight of the principal as well, the man silently observing, and obviously intrigued.
"Get me out of these sodding things already!" Spike cried, humiliated. "I'm fine." He said to Giles. "Stone of yours is out, in'it? Did its job. So, I'm de-triggered, right?"
"Spike," Giles asked. "What do you remember? About the song?"
"Oh, yeah." Spike sighed. "The song. It's called 'Early One Morning.' Old folk ditty."
"What's it mean to you?" Robin queried.
"Mean? Nothin'. Just . . ." The next word did not come easily. "My mum. It was her favorite. She used to sing it to me." Self-consciously he added, "When I was a baby."
"And . . . ?" Giles prodded him.
"No 'and.' That's it," Spike shot back.
Halliwell Manor
Later Piper and Buffy stood before the Book as Piper flipped through it. "Demons and warlocks are red, beings of light are white," she sighed. She looked at her mother. "This is ridiculous." She looked back at the book. "I wonder wat a bunyip would be? Because it's not good or evil. So what the hell color is that?" She turned to the Bunyip page and it has a red and a white tab on it. "Oh, well, that's confusing."
"Couldn't agree with you more," Buffy said with a sigh as Leo walked in.
"Everything alright?" he asked.
Piper shrugged. "Yeah, sure, fine," she told him sarcastically. "If you call Paige defacing the Book of Shadows, alright."
Leo walked over to his wife and mother-in-law and looked at the book. "She defaced the book?"
"She indexed the book," Buffy said as she waved her hand at all the index tabs. "Like Piper just said…It looks ridiculous."
"Well, look, these things just come right off, see?" Leo asked as he peeled off a tab.
"That is so not the point," Piper said with a sigh.
"It's not?" he asked in confusion.
"No," Buffy said. "This isn't the only thing she's done lately. Which I've been meaning to talk to her about."
"Have you seen the kitchen?" Piper asked her husband. "Both Dawn and I hate the new organization for the spices."
"Since when did you stop referring to Dawn as Aunt Dawn?" Buffy asked.
"Around the time I realized who she was," Piper said. "And my question to you mom. Is why didn't you tell us?"
"That Dawn had been Prue in her previous life," Buffy said with a sigh as Piper nodded. "It wasn't my secret to tell."
"Anyways," Piper said as she looked back at her husband. "Paige could have at least discussed the changes with us beforehand."
Leo nodded in agreement. "You're right, she should've discussed it with you. But that's not what's making you angry. What are you really feeling?" He said as he led his wife over the couch. As they sat down they noticed that Buffy continued to flip through the book looking for the demon they were after.
"Okay, you know what?" Piper told her husband. "Just because we've gone to counselling, doesn't mean that you're a shrink now."
"I'm just saying that this whole competitive thing you got going..." Leo told her.
"I'm not competitive, she is," Piper countered.
"It's a case of sibling rivalry," Buffy said as she looked at her eldest daughter.
"Buffy's right," Leo agreed. "And you and Paige need to stop otherwise you're never going to help the nymphs reclaim their forest."
Piper sighed, she knew both Leo and Buffy were right. "I know. I just can't help but feel like I'm being pushed aside."
"She's not pushing you aside, she's just picking up the slack," Leo countered.
"Okay, just so you know for future reference," she told her husband as she glared at him, "you're supposed to be on my side in these situations. It keeps us out of counselling."
Leo smiled. "I am on your side, honey, always. I'm just saying that maybe you should look at this like an opportunity," he told her. "Now this is me talking, this isn't a shrink. You're always complaining about how you're not able to have a normal life because of witchcraft and maybe letting Paige take the lead once in a while will allow you to have that."
Piper looked at her husband for a moment. There was one person she would like to take charge, but until that person found who she was and accepted it, she would never be ready for that responsibility. "That's some good reverse psychology there," she told her husband. "I'll think about it."
"Okay," he said as he kissed Piper on her head before leaving the attic.
"Your hoping Dawn winds up a little like me aren't you?" Buffy asked.
"Are you asking as mom or Buffy who might be concerned for her sister?" Piper asked.
"Kind of both," Buffy answered.
Piper nodded. "Yes I am hoping she turns out to be like you. A melding of both my sister and my aunt," she answered. "I don't want to lose my aunt. But I would be remiss if I didn't say I want my big sister back also. A melding like you have would be the best of both worlds."
"I don't want to lose my sister either," Buffy said as she moved to the couch and sat down. "And you know me, when it comes to Dawn."
"You can't help but not worry," Piper said in understanding. "That Prue might assert control and Dawn could disappear forever."
"Exactly," Buffy said with a sigh. "I know she told me that she would always see me as her sister. But it doesn't alleviate the worry that might not be the case. As you know I sacrificed myself for Dawn." She rested her head on Piper's shoulder. "Before then I told Giles that if anything happened to her, that was it, I was done. I don't want to lose her, Piper."
Piper reached around her mother and pulled Buffy into her arms. In that moment she realized something. Something she had chosen to ignore before now. While it had been nice to have her mother back in her life. She had ignored the other half of the person Buffy Summers was…a twenty-two-year-old woman who had lost her mother and then briefly died for her sister. "Buffy?"
Buffy looked up in surprise at Piper, she hadn't her Piper use her name for well over a year. "Did you…"
"I did," Piper said as she smiled at Buffy. "I will always see you as my mom. But I realized just now that's not all of who you are. I realized I've been ignoring half of who you are for a year and a half. So I'm going to suggest we change things just a bit. So if I need my mother…"
"I'll always be there for you," Buffy said as she wiped the tears from her face.
"I would offer you the same, but for me it would feel weird," Piper explained. "So what I am going to offer you instead is if you ever need a big sister. I'm here for you."
"Thanks, Piper," Buffy as she the two of them hugged each other tightly.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn and Phoebe stood beside Paige who was bottling a potion. Miranda and Daisy weren't to far off as they arranged a vase of flowers while giggling.
"So how do you know the potion's going to work?" Phoebe asked her sister. "Shouldn't we wait for Piper or mom to find the demon first?"
"They won't," Paige countered. "That's why I went ahead and made this garden variety kick ass vanquishing potion."
"You guys have to stop butting heads," Phoebe told her sister. "We work best when we work together."
"Not always," Dawn whispered to herself. She walked over to the window and looked outside.
"Well, tell her that, don't tell me that," Paige said. She and Phoebe were so involved in their argument they didn't notice what Dawn was feeling in that moment.
"Are you sure she's the one?" Daisy whispered to Miranda. "I think Dawn might be better."
"I think they both might need us as much as we need them," Miranda replied.
"But there has never been four," Daisy said in surprise.
"And we've never been without a Satyr either," Miranda reminded her fellow nymph. "I believe we need them both."
Phoebe turned around to the nymphs and looked at the vase of beautifully arranged flowers. "Wow, that looks beautiful. You guys should be florists."
"We are," Daisy said happily. "That's what we do, in the woods I mean."
Phoebe nodded. "Right, of course, sorry."
"That's alright. Most people don't even know we exist," Miranda told the middle Halliwell sister. "They take us for granted, they take the forest for granted, as if it will always be there."
"That's why we have to help you," Phoebe said.
"Helping us helps you," Miranda countered. "After all, all of nature is intertwined, forests, flowers..."
"Love," Miranda and Daisy said in unison.
"It's in the air," Miranda told them.
"Ha, not where I'm standing it isn't," Paige countered as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Phoebe said as she headed for the front door.
"Good," Miranda said. She and Daisy giggled and dance over to Paige and Dawn. "You know we think that you two need to get back to your..."
"Wild side!" Miranda and Daisy said in unison as they moved to either side of Dawn and Paige.
"Girls, you might just have a point," Dawn sighed as she walked back over to stand next to Paige.
"I think Aunt Dawn is right," Paige agreed.
Daisy smiled as she looked at Miranda. "You're right, they are the ones," she said as she and Miranda giggle and dance around Paige and Dawn.
"The ones for what?" Dawn asked confused.
Miranda stood beside Paige as Daisy stood beside Dawn. The nymphs then kissed the cheeks of the two women next to them. Suddenly Paige and Dawn transformed into nymphs as their clothes turn into green dresses and their hair instantly grew longer.
"The ones to help us find our new Satyr," Miranda answered.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Willow and Anya were taking care of Tara. She had a bad gash on her head and as Willow ministered to her, she said, "Ow!"
"Sorry," Willow said. "It doesn't look like anything's broken."
"Sure you don't need to kiss it and make it all better?" Tara asked suggestively as Willow blushed.
Looking on, Kennedy tried to process what was going on. "So Spike's trigger's been active the entire time?"
Rona was shocked. "How can Faith take this for granted? He lives in our house! We've trained with him!"
Anya waved a hand. "Don't waste your time. Spike's got some sort of 'get out of jail free' card that doesn't apply to the rest of us." Then, seeing the looks on Xander and Tara's faces, she moved to pretend all was well, by saying, "Forgiveness makes us human, blah blah blah blah . . ."
The phone had rung, and Andrew had gone to get it. He said, "Willow, a call for you from L.A. Somebody named Fred? Guy sounds kind of effeminate."
Halliwell Manor
Phoebe opened the front door to find Jason standing on the porch. "Hi," he said.
"Jason!" Phoebe said in clear surprise. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"We never got to finish our talk," Jason reminded her.
"Yeah, uh, now's not really a good time though. I'll call you," Phoebe said as she tried to close the door.
Jason walked into the foyer before the door had closed all the way. "Did you get the flowers I sent you?" he asked.
Phoebe nodded. "I did, I did, they were beautiful, that was very sweet."
Jason smiled. "Look, I know this is awkward for you because of work and all that, I-I think we can work this thing out."
Phoebe sighed. "It's a lot more complicated than that. Believe me."
"Phoebe, we have to talk," he told her in no uncertain terms.
"I know," Phoebe agreed, "and we will soon, I promise."
Jason looked at Phoebe, he could tell she was distracted by something. "Phoebe, what's wrong? Is there something going on here that you're not telling me about?"
"No, of course not," Phoebe answered as they heard the nymphs giggling from the kitchen.
"What was that?" he wondered.
"Uh, what was what?" Phoebe asked trying to deflect the question. It was in vain though as the nymphs giggled again.
"What was that!" Jason said as he looked around Phoebe.
"Oh, that?" Phoebe said as Daisy, Miranda, Dawn and Paige frolicked into the room and danced around Jason. Oh my god. Dawn! Paige!" she said as she watched them stroke Jason's arms and shoulders.
"So handsome," Paige said as she smiled at Jason.
"You found them? Isn't that your sister?" Jason asked looked at Paige. And then Dawn frolicked around in front of him and his eyes went wide. "Dawn?" he said as Daisy, Miranda, Paige and Dawn went outside.
"Yeah," Phoebe replied. "Dawn! Paige!"
Jason looked back at Phoebe. "They're Godiva girls?"
Phoebe shook her head. "Uh, no, they're not," she said as she went back to the door. "Dawn…Paige, you both get back here right now!"
"What's going on here?" Jason asked.
"Oh, I don't suppose you can just forget about everything you just saw, right?" Phoebe asked hopefully.
"Personally or professionally?" Jason asked.
"Both?" she suggested a tad sheepishly.
Jason frowned. "Phoebe..."
"Okay, look just promise me you won't do anything until we talk, okay?" Phoebe begged. "For me."
"Talk?" Jason asked. "Talk when?"
"We're going to talk later." Phoebe said as she pulled him out the door. "Okay, thanks for the flowers. I like your jacket. Okay, bye." She closed the door." Mom! Sam! Piper! Leo!"
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Faith unchained Spike, to Giles's dismay. She pulled the former Watcher aside and whispered, "This is pointless, G-man. He doesn't know anything. Your prophylactic stone didn't work."
"Because he's not cooperating," Giles insisted. "This process takes time. He's blocking whatever's flooding his consciousness, and as long as he does so, he's endangering us all."
Robin joined the conversation. "So the trigger's still working?"
"As much as ever," Giles replied.
Dawn's P3
Paige and Dawn led Daisy and Miranda down the stairs.
"Uh, we really need to be out looking for our new Satyr, Paige…Dawn," Miranda reminded them.
"I thought all we had to do was dance to hear his call," Dawn answered.
"But it's their first night as nymphs, Miranda," Daisy reminded Miranda. "Let's see what they can do.
Miranda nodded in agreement. "Alright, why not?"
"Follow us, girls," Paige said.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Spike jerked out of a memory, aware that Faith had unchained him. She was watching him closely and would have said something, except that Willow trotted down the stairs, announcing, "Hey, I just got a call. I'm going to have to take off for a little while. Maybe a day or so . . ."
"Is something wrong?" Faith asked.
"Nothing you need worry about," Willow answered. "I'll give you the full scoop later. Hopefully I'll bring back some good news."
Faith looked first at her, then at Spike. "Could use a little of that." She shrugged. "Okay. Guess now's as good a time as we're likely to see for a while. Just hurry back."
Willow went back upstairs, Giles said to Faith, "Think about what you're doing."
She bit off, "I have unchained Spike."
"Faith . . . ," he began.
Faith turned away from him. "Don't." She and Spike headed upstairs as well.
Giles was just about to follow when Robin Wood said, sotto voce, "Mr. Giles, do you have a moment?"
Watching Faith and Spike go on up, Giles turned to the young man. "What's on your mind?" he asked.
"Same thing that's on yours," Robin said. He looked toward the top of the stairs. "We've got ourselves a problem."
Giles understood. "Spike," he said.
Robin nodded. "If that trigger's still working, The First must be waiting for the right time to use it against us. Awhile back it slipped up, told Andrew 'it wasn't time yet for Spike.' Whatever The First's ultimate plan is, Spike must be an integral part in that. Something needs to be done."
They stood looked at each other like two courtiers planning to depose the king—nervous, frightened, building up their resolve.
"Faith would never allow it," Giles murmured.
"Faith would listen to her Watcher, wouldn't she?" Robin asked.
"I'm not Faith's Watcher, she hasn't had one since she left Boston five years ago," Giles answered. "Besides I doubt you know very much about the Watcher/Slayer dynamic even if Faith was my Slayer."
Wood gave him a look. "As a matter of fact, I was raised by a Watcher."
Giles blurted, "You what?"
"Bernard Crowley," Robin filled in. "Took me in when I was a young boy. Trained me."
Giles processed that. "Crowley . . . I remember the name. New York–based Watcher. Resigned shortly after his Slayer was . . ." He was stunned. "You're Nikki Wood's son."
"Yes," Robin told him.
And there it was: "Spike killed your mother." A beat, as the full ramifications hit home. "Does Faith know this?"
"She knows my mother was a Slayer," Robin told him. "She doesn't know about Spike."
"And this has nothing to do with personal vengeance," Giles said with supreme understatement.
"Does it matter?" Robin pressed his advantage. "He's an instrument of evil. He's going to prove to be our undoing in this fight. Faith's undoing. And she will never, never see it coming."
And then he brought home his case.
"Now, I'm talking about what needs to be done for the greater good. You know I'm right."
Giles took his time. "What . . . exactly do you propose?"
"I just need you to keep Faith away for a few hours."
Giles's silence was his consent.
Halliwell Manor
Buffy Phoebe and Piper were looking through the Book of Shadows while Sam and Leo were trying to sense Paige and Dawn.
"I can't sense Dawn," Leo said. "What about you, Sam?"
"I can't sense Paige," Sam added with a sigh. "Maybe we should call Faith. After all Dawn is not only her charge but her wife."
"If you can't sense Paige and she's our daughter," Buffy said. "Faith isn't going to be able to sense Dawn either."
"She's right, Sam," Leo said with sigh as he turned to face the girls. "Which means since we can't sense them, neither of them are witches anymore."
Piper nodded. "Mm-hm. No, of course not, because thanks to me Paige is now a nymph." She looked at Buffy. "But why Dawn?"
"I think we both know the answer to that," Buffy answered cryptically.
Piper sighed and nodded. "You're right."
"Thanks to you?" Leo asked. "What did you do?" He then looked at Buffy. "And what answer does Piper know for why Dawn is a nymph?"
Buffy sighed as she motioned for Sam to follow her. They walked out of the kitchen without answering Leo's question.
"I had to be the one in control," Piper told her husband as she watched Buffy and Sam leave. "I had to be the one to find the stupid demon, which by the way, I have not done yet." She slammed the book shut.
Restfield Cemetery, Sunnydale
Giles could tell Faith was ignorant of the true purpose of the mission as they walked together through the graveyard.
"I don't know, G-man," Faith said. "Is this really a primo time for a training mission?"
"Even though I was never officially your Watcher, Faith," he reminded her. "I still consider myself your Watcher anyways. And no matter how adept a Slayer you are, there'll always be new things to learn. Now more than ever it's crucial to maintain the focus upon your calling."
Faith rolled her eyes as they walked along. "You do know how much I hated school right?" she asked. "Besides…" She orbed out and back in ten feet away from him. "I'm part witch, part Whitelighter also, remember?"
"Which makes this even more a prime time for training," Giles replied. "After all, Faith, have you used your powers against a vampire?"
"Does using my cryokinesis against one of the Ubervamps count?" Faith queried. "I'm sorry, G-man. I don't see the need of training."
"Faith the fact that your life is such chaos only underscores the importance of the lessons I can impart to you," Giles told her.
"And if I say no and orb away, how are you going to stop me?" Faith asked. "In fact you know what!" She orbed out. It was five minutes before she orbed back in. "I take it you get my point. I'll play along. But I don't need it."
So he began. "We are on the verge of war. It's time we looked at the big picture. It takes more than rousing speeches to lead," he pressed. "If you're going to be a general, you need to make the difficult decisions, regardless of the cost."
"Those girls are innocents," Faith countered as a hand shot from the fresh grave. They both glanced at it: a new vampire, about to emerge.
Halliwell Manor
Buffy sat down on the couch with a sigh. "The reason that Dawn was likely turned into a nymph is because of the memories."
"Memories?" Sam asked confused.
"Prue's," Buffy replied as she looked at her fiancée. "Dawn is Prue reincarnated. I don't know why Paige was made a nymph but I think I know why Dawn was. She's trying to find out who she is now. Is she Dawn…is she Prue…or is she like me a melding of the two."
Sam nodded as he sat down next to Buffy and took her hands in his own. "How are you doing with that?" he asked.
"I'm afraid, Sam," Buffy said. "I'm afraid I am about to lose my sister. That Prue is about to take over and Dawn will fade away."
Sam noticed the tears the fell from Buffy's eyes again and he went to wipe them away. "Let me go talk to the Elders. Maybe there is something that can be done."
Buffy nodded as she watched Sam orb out.
Robin Wood's Home, Sunnydale
Wood escorted Spike past the door to his house and toward the padlocked side door of his garage. Spike was a bit taken aback.
"Live in a garage?" he asked.
As Wood started unlocking the padlock, he said, "This is just my work room. Kind of my . . . sanctuary."
"Little place to unwind, huh," Spike ventured, while Wood opened the door and started inside. "Hard day principal-ing got you down, you need a place to cut loose, let down your hair. So to speak."
They were inside and stood in darkness for a moment. Not a problem for Spike, who, as a vampire, could see in the dark . . . and then the lights went on and he registered the dozens and dozens of crosses, all shapes and sizes, blanketing the walls. It looked like something out of the bloody Omega Man
"What the bloody hell's this?" he demanded. He felt as if he had just swallowed ice.
Wood said affably, "I told you. My sanctuary. It's the Hellmouth, Spike. You can never be too careful."
On a tool bench sat a laptop, surrounded by bookcases filled with books.
Wood gestured. "Stay away from the walls. You'll be all right."
Spike looked around the room. "Bit much, in'it?" He scrutinized the principal. "What's your story, Wood?"
He turned on the computer. A menu came up and he began to type.
Spike's spider sense was tingling.
"No story, really," he said. "Trying to do what's right, make a difference."
He looked over his shoulder at Spike. "How about you? What kind of man are you, Spike?"
"Sorry," Spike said tersely. "Not much for self-reflection."
"Yeah," Wood replied, equally tense. "Makes sense."
Whatever the principal had on the screen appeared to satisfy him. Then he pulled open a large drawer in the bench. Spike couldn't see what was inside, but it had caught the man's attention.
"See," the man said, "you strike me as the type of guy who careens through life completely oblivious to the damage he's doing to everyone around him."
Spike bristled. "That right?"
"I know more about you than you think, Spike," Wood continued. "I've been searching for you for a very . . . very long time." He glared at the vampire. "Ever since you killed my mother."
Spike's anxiety level decreased. Oh, is this all that's about. "Killed a lot of people's mothers," he said.
Robin turned back around and said in a dangerous voice, "Oh, you'd remember mine."
Then, as Spike looked on, he fastened metal braces onto his arms, one extending down to end in a rack of brass knuckles, bit of gladiator-style studded spike at the base of the elbow. The other brace was smaller, fitting over his hand like a wrist protector.
"She was a Slayer," Wood added, with soft, deadly menace.
Ah. It all came together in one package wrapped in revenge. "So that's it, is it? Brought me here to kill me?"
Wood slowly turned around to face him. "No. I don't want to kill you, Spike. I want to kill the monster who took my mother from me."
Then he tapped a key on the laptop, and from the speakers spilled a Scots Joan Baez-like folk version of Spike's mother's favorite song:
"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising . . . "
Spike tensed, gaze darting with fear as his face morphed . . . No, no . . .
"Oh, there he is," Robin Wood said calmly.
Heavens
Sam orbed into the heavens and approached Jonas, one of the Elders he was more familiar with. "Jonas," he said.
"Sam," Jonas said as he turned toward the Whitelighter. "What is it?"
"It's Buffy…and…it's Dawn," Sam said. "Buffy is afraid she is going to lose her sister. She's afraid now that Prue's memories have surfaced that…"
"Prue will take over Dawn," Jonas finished. "Dawn was never meant to remember. We only left her powers unbound, but her memories were never meant to come back."
"I believe the same spell that returned Patty's memories to Patty…" Sam said.
"May have inadvertently unbound Prue's memories as well," Jonas said as he nodded in agreement. "That would explain why they were so slow to return to Dawn. The spell awakened in Buffy memories that were already unbound any time she was summoned by Prue, Piper or Phoebe. But Prue's weren't and now she is having to come to terms with that. How these new memories fit into her life."
"Exactly," Sam agreed.
"We can do nothing to help her, short of erasing them," Jonas said with a sigh. "The consequence is that it could erase Dawn's memories as well. Leaving her essentially a newborn. What has brought forth this fear in Buffy? That could give us an indication on how to help Dawn."
"The nymphs," Sam replied. "They turned both Paige and Dawn into nymphs."
"That might be just what Dawn needs," Jonas said as he smiled. "A moment of fun. To remind her of who she used to be, who she is now is and who she wants to be."
Robin Wood's Home, Sunnydale
The memories were forcibly beaten from Spike's brain as Wood hit him in the face. Feral, instinctual, the vampire snarl and struck back, hard.
"That's right, dog," Wood said, bleeding and filled with hatred. "Bite back."
Then the principal's studded elbow slammed into Spike's jaw. He slammed the demonic murderer across the face, ramming him—it—against the cross-laden wall with one arm across the throat, the other pummeling its abdomen. Smoke sizzled as the crosses burned the hellspawn, and it howled.
The crosses on the wall seared the monster's face as Robin held it there; then, wild with pain and fury, the demon shoved Robin off him, sending him sailing . . . and shouting in English—almost like a person—"Nooooo!"
Nikki's boy kicked the creature in the face; it slammed back into the bookcases. Shelves broke; books tumbled like boulders. Robin loomed over him and rain blows all over its grotesque features, its distorted parody of a human face.
"Hurts, don't it?" Robin cried. "This is what it felt like, when you beat the life out of her?" He hit it, over and over. "When you toyed with her? Before you snapped her neck?"
Halliwell Manor
"Well, thanks to me my paper is going to get an exclusive on Paige and Dawn because I slept with Jason," Phoebe said with a sigh as she looked at Piper and Leo.
"Oh, good, so this is all your fault then?" Piper asked. "Perfect."
"Let's forget about who's fault this is, okay?" Leo said. "Either way we need to figure out a way to find Dawn and Paige before the demon does."
"Well, it's not going to do any good unless we come up with a vanquishing potion," Piper countered as Buffy walked into the kitchen. "Buffy?" she said using her mother's name to let her know if she needed someone to talk to.
"Sam went to see the Elders about Dawn, to see how we can help her," Buffy said.
"Did you just call mom…Buffy?" Phoebe asked surprised.
"I recently came to a realization that while mom will always be mom," Piper said. "You, Paige and I have been ignoring the young woman who is also Buffy Summers. They are two halves to the whole. While she will always be mom. We also need to see her as the young woman she is."
Phoebe nodded in understanding. "It's easy to forget you know," she said.
"I know," Buffy said. "You know the day that I sacrificed myself for Dawn, I had told Giles that if she died, that I was done, finished. Dawn means too much to me, to lose."
"And your afraid that with her acquiring Prue's memories," Leo said in understanding.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah I'm afraid that if Prue takes over, I will lose my sister. And I don't think after everything I can take that."
"Which is why the Elders have suggested trying to steer her," Sam said from the doorway to the kitchen. "To being like you, Patty…Buffy. A melding, a melding of Dawn and Prue."
"To tell the truth, that's kind of where I hoped she would head," Piper reminded her mother. She sighed. "We need to get back to the demons if we are to save Dawn and Paige so that Dawn can make that choice."
"Which by the way," Phoebe interjected. "Paige already made a potion."
"She did?" Piper said obviously surprised.
Phoebe nodded. "Yeah," she said as the phone rang and Leo went over to answer it.
"Hello?" Leo said. "What is it Steve? Oh. Oh." He hung up the phone before looking at Sam and the girls. "I think we found Dawn and Paige."