Anthor's note: hey everyone, school's being a drag so updates may be a little less frequent, and this is the longest chapter you are going to get ever in this fic. ENJOY!

also... i am in dire need of a beta. I'm sure some of you have noticed little mistakes and such. bright side: you get the chapters before ANYONE else, Dark side: more work for you. If you are interested post a comment and i'll find a way to get back to you. thank you!

Chapter X - Train Rides and Moscow

On a Train to Tuscany (we think):

They used the money (what little of it was left) that Spike had filched from the doctor back at the compound to buy a few train tickets out of Czechoslovakia. Tickets are cheap at three o' clock in the morning especially if you don't care where you go.

One would think that after the fuzzy moment between them in the graveyard, things might have gone along smoother between the vampire and the slayer, but things were not as ideal as one would have thought.

"Where are we going again?" asked Buffy.

Spike shrugged.

"Tuscany, I think, but only long enough to take another train to Athens." he said.

Buffy waited for more but Spike was just sitting down and staring off into space. The girl, Alex, was being equally quiet. It looked as if she was trying to sleep.

Buffy looked from one to the other and then back, to Alex and then to Spike, at first it was to see if their features matched (which they did) but after a while to was because she was bored and she wanted to see if her companions would notice. (Which they didn't)

Finally, she stopped. a small scowl spread across her face.

"Harrumph" she harrumphed.

Spike looked up his face coloured with curiosity.

"What was that, slayer?" he asked.

"I'm bored." she whined.

Spike stared at her for a full second. Then tipped his head back to go to sleep.

Buffy's scowl deepened as she crossed her arms. It was all she could so to keep from reaching over and wrenching the curtains open and letting the early dawn sunlight flood into the compartment.

"I'm bored." she whined again.

Spike's eyes didn't open.

"Too bloody bad, Slayer." he said. "Deal with it."

"I am." she said.

She waited an entire minute.

"Spiiiiiiike." she whined dragging out his name, knowing full well that it would really, really annoy him.

Spike's eye snapped open.

"Bloody hell, woman." he said lowly. "If you keep that up, you'll wake the minion."

Buffy shook her head sullenly.

"She's out cold." she informed him. "Went out for a glass of warm milk not three hours ago, remember? That makes big with the sleepiness. And that was three whole hours ago. Three whole hours with absolutely nothing to do." she paused. "I'm bored," she paused again. "Are we there yet?"

Spike cocked his head to one side.

"Slayer, what are you? Four-five years old?" he said. "If you're bored deal with it, go outside and get something to drink."

Buffy pouted.

"I'm not thirsty." she informed him, aware of just how much like a three year old she sounded like and loving the aggravated expression Spike had on his face. "And there isn't even an in-flight movie."

The looked on Spike's face was priceless.

"That's because we're not on a flight, you bint."

Buffy then burst out laughing.

Spike shot her an exasperated look.

"Bugger this." he said. Pushing up from the seat and slipping on his duster as he exited the compartment. Right out side, one of the train equivalents of flight attendants, nearly bumped into him.

"How long till we reach Tuscany?" demanded Spike.

"Not for another two hours, sir." the attendant replied respectfully.

Spike nodded and then walked off in the opposite direction as the man was going.

Buffy didn't bother asking him where he was going. He would probably not answer.

Well, that served to entertain her for about, five minutes, what was she going to do now?

Alex stirred.

"Huh? Wha?" She murmured. Then she caught sight of Buffy. "Oh, morning."

"Good morning, sunshine." Buffy greeted perkily.

Alex stared at the slayer and sighed. Just her luck, she was trapped in a train compartment with a mood swinging, hormone raging pregnant slayer.

All alone. Her father was no where in sight.

"Gee, thanks, Spike."

In another train, Athens's bound:

The stop at Tuscany was short and pretty soon they were back in a compartment after they had switched trains. Along the way, Buffy had spotted a few novels that had been left, forgotten by passengers on the other train.

She was currently wrapped one of the issued blankets having been lulled to sleep by the narrative of TRR Tolkien. (Walking, walking, walking, oh look! a Leaf! Insert the History of the leaf, and we are walking again!)

Spike looked from her to Alex and shook his head.

"Bout bloody time." he muttered.

Alex looked up from the copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula she was reading and laughed quietly.

Spike grinned and leaned back in his seat, putting his feet up. Now that the slayer was out cold he could relax.

"What're you readin' there, minion?" he asked lazily.

"Dracula." Alex responded simply. "It's funny to think I know quite a few vampires personally and none of them act like Dracula does."

Spike shook his head.

"I've met Dracula." he told her. "Poofter owes me twelve dollars, he does."

Alex arched an eyebrow.

"The actual Count Dracula owes you twelve dollars?" she asked incredulously.

Spike nodded.

"You'd be surprised how many of those monsters from horror novels are complete bollocks." he informed her. "I should know I've been, killed and known myself a few of 'em."

He watched the girl carefully, her blue eyes, so like his own, rolled and then slide back to the pages of Bram Stroker. (A no good Irishman who obviously had a run in with a vampire that was NOT Dracula, although, perhaps one of his minions.)

"Curious." Spike murmured, the word came out more high class than one would expect from Spike. He had forgotten himself like he did sometimes when he was lost in thought.

Alex looked up at him.

"What's curious?" she asked.

"That I wouldn't tell you of my greatest achievements." Spike said. "How I got my battle scars, and all that lot,"

Alex worried her bottom lip.

"You and Mum never really talk of the past." she said.

He nodded slowly.

"What's it like, minion?" he asked.

Alex to a look time to answer.

Spike let her mull over everything. He figured she was getting a little homesick for her own time and place. Where everything made sense. Where her parents were the image of true love and no organizations were out for their blood.

"Well, normal I'd guess." she saidafter a few moments of silence."As normal as one would expect, living in a house where a vampire and a slayer reign."

Spike chuckled.

There was a sudden dull thud.

And Spike was alert.

"Slayer." he said sharply.

Buffy woke instantly; something in her recognized the sudden low cautious timbre of Spike's voice. She was alert in a millisecond, using all her slayer abilities to see what was going on.

"Something's happening." she said immediately.

Spike nodded.

"But you are staying out of it."

Buffy stared at him incredulously.

"Sorry," she said. "did I wake up in some bizarro universe where you are the boss of me, Spike? Please. I'm the Slayer and you aren't. So if anyone of us is sitting out it's you."

Spike glared at her.

"And what about the little tyke you happen to be carrying around, Slayer?" he demanded.

Before Buffy could answer, a group of demons burst into the compartment.

"Slayer!" one of them hissed, the look like horny bikers only literally (they each had three horns on their head), with reddish skin and beady yellow eyes.

"You know," Buffy said conversationally. "You would think evil doer would be able to at least come up with a better opening line like that." she turned to Spike, pointing to the demons. "Fight now." she pointed between them. "Fight later."

Any reply Spike might have had to that was cut off by a demon charging at him, one that was sent back with a perfect roundhouse. This gave him a liberty to look around. Alex was holding her own, as he turned to her; she punched the daylights out of one of the demons, sending it straight into unconsciousness, the other one she beaned right between the eyes with the spine of her book.

The demon that Spike had kicked came back with a vengeance, a few punches and a knee to the groin had the demon down, Spike then reached over and snapped the middle horn off, effectively killing the demon. He did the same for the two that Alex had rendered unconscious. Buffy however was still fighting hers, and Spike realized that the Slayer was getting winded, he was about to help when, she performed an impressive high kick and brought her leg down, inadvertently breaking the middle horn and instantly killing the demon.

She scowled at the bodies.

"Oh, ew." she said. "C'mon let's change compartments."

she grabbed her book and stalked off.

"We get off at the next stop." Spike called after her.

"Why?" she asked. "We killed them right?"

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Basic strategy, Slayer, if you enemies know where you are, then don't be there." He said, he gestured for Alex to follow Buffy (which she did) and then he bent down to relieve the demons of any cash that they might have.

He was in luck, he had a feeling Lewis had only paid them half, they would get the other half when they returned with himself and Buffy. Well, now they would be getting away, at her expense, it was so very poetic. And Spike knew poetic.

He shook his head and then followed after the girls.

In Milan:

They got off in Milan and Spike immediately dashed from the train to the shade of the station as it was still quite light out. Once in there, he bought tickets to Moscow.

"Moscow?" asked Buffy. "Moscow, Russia?"

He nodded.

"You've heard of it, that's a surprise."

"Near the artic circle, Moscow?" she demanded.

"Wow, Slayer," he said. "Slow down. I think your brain has had enough work for today."

"Not a place they'd be expecting." Alex piped up.

Spike nodded again, indicating that Alex was right.

"We're going to have to bundle up, though, Slayer." he warned as he paid for the tickets. "We have about enough for some sodding cheap stuff. The demons all together have less then five 'undred Euros."

He took the tickets and slipped them into his pocket. They made their way across the sparsely populated station and sat down on one of the large couches provided for passengers waiting for their trains, they were the only passengers to have no bags to check in.

Alex frowned.

"That should be enough," she said.

Spike nodded.

"S'pose." he said. "Just giving you fair warning our accommodations in Moscow may not be as posh as we're used to."

Buffy nodded.

"How long is our stop here?" she asked.

"Shouldn't be much longer than an hour." Spike replied, he sat in the safety on the shady station. He snickered slightly before adding, "Read a book."

Buffy glared at him.

"Like you're a big bookworm." she spat.

For some reason that seemed to shut Spike up as he didn't reply and suddenly seemed quite interested in what was happening outside the station. This worried Buffy and she jumped into slayer mode instantly.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Lewis didn't send more would-be assassins, did she?"

Spike shook his head.

"She seems to have abandoned the chase, for now." he replied.

Buffy sighed pouting like a young child.

"God, how much more cat and mouse can you get?" she mused out loud. "If I ever come face to face with that wannabe evil genius again, I am so going to pulverize her."

Spike sent her a sharp look.

"You'll run like the bloody wind, slayer." he said firmly.

Buffy rolled her eyes melodramatically.

"Slaying is my job, Spike." she said slowly, as if Spike was an uncomprehending two year old. "And since when were you all 'yay forces of good'?" she paused knitting her eyes brows together. "What happened to that 'I'm the big bad' mantra that so beyond got old fast?"

At this point Spike grabbed one of the cheap paper back books that Alex had nicked.

"It got old." he replied, his face a mask of sarcasm. "Fast."

Buffy rolled her eyes again.

"Quit making with the protectiveness, Spike." she said getting up and fully preparing to walk off in an impressive huff. "I am still completely and utterly capable of taking care of myself."

As she said these words she tripped over some one else's bag and nearly did a flip and landing (heavily) on her rump. Instead of coming to her aid, Spike and Alex stared at her in open shock and then both began to snicker, which quickly became full fledged laughter.

"Sure, slayer, you'll make it quite fine on your own."

Buffy glared at them before getting to her feet and storming of in the direction of the bathroom.

As soon as she was gone Alex turned to Spike.

"How long are we going to stay in Russia?" she asked.

The vampire shrugged.

"Truthfully, Minion," he said thoughtfully. "I have no bloody idea. Could be a few days maybe weeks. We can't stay much longer than a month in one city, though, that much is for sure."

Alex nodded solemnly. They would be hopping from one country to the next for a while. They sa in silence for a few moments. Then Alex spoke up.

"Shouldn't we get some suitable warm clothing?" she asked her father.

Spike nodded.

"But we should wait for the slayer." he said. "Go fetch her, Minion; she's had her three minutes to sulk. That's 'bout good enough. We need to keep moving."

Alex nodded. She had been about to protest when she realized that Buffy would probably not be inclined to listen to Spike after their argument. Buffy was standing out side on the platform, bathed in the sun's rays.

"Trying to keep away from Spike?" asked Alex sounding amused.

Buffy turned to her not looking very amused.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"We're going to go spend the rest of the money on some warm clothing." the damphyr explained. "It should be fairly freezing in Russia at this time of year."

Buffy frowned.

"Spike sent you didn't he?" she asked.

Alex nodded, she approached Buffy.

"But he made sense." she explained. "So I consented. You, however, are acting like a stubborn child. We need to stick together and trust each other if we ever want to out run Lewis. Remember she has a lot more on her side. And oh my god, I sound like a parent."

Buffy deflated.

"Don't do that." she said, sounding a little morose. "You're making me feel like a big baby."

"You are a big baby." Alex informed her wryly. "And you are carrying one. S'why we have to keep moving, and s'why Spike wants to keep you out of the action. You should listen to him you know, at least sometimes. He's a lot smarter than he lets on."

The slayer shrugged and they both walked of the platform and back to wards the station.

They had time to kill before their train left.

In the ice box called Moscow:

"When you said cold, Spike I didn't think you meant this cold." Buffy snapped as Spike opened the door to the hotel.

Hotel being the operative word.

"C'mon slayer," Spike said almost wearily even for him, "S'not so bad."

Buffy glared.

"Its feels like Donald Trump's heart in here." she snapped. She was trying desperately not to think about how toasty it was probably in Sunnydale. Probably around the seventies, cool but not cold.

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Its got heating, beds and none of Lewis's commandos." he said. "It'll do."

It consisted of one window with ratty curtains; two small beds, a cabinet and a tattered old sofa. There was a door that presumably lead to a bathroom but other than that it was pretty much unremarkable.

"Easy for you to say." Buffy muttered under her breath (which was rising above her head in a fine mist.) "Damn vampire, can't even feel the cold, you have exactly no idea what I'm talking about."

Alex, who was walking behind Buffy, just rolled her eyes.

"I heard that, Slayer." Spike replied. "And contrary to popular belief, vamps aren't impervious to the heat, we know its there we just aren't bothered by it as much as you sodding humans are."

"Is that so?" Buffy demanded.

"Yeah."

"Then why did you bother buying a coat and a scarf then?" she wanted to know. "You just wanted to waste precious resources so we would have to check into a pathetic hotel?"

Spike looked like he very much wanted to rip Buffy's head off.

"Because, you bint," he said rather lowly. "Wouldn't you find it suspicious if it was sodding sub zero out and you see a man walking around in nothing but a leather duster, jeans and a smirk?"

"Then why didn't we just go down to Spain or Italy where it's WARM?" she demanded.

"Because, Slayer." he bit out. "Lewis will expect that and keep a tighter watch on the south."

"We don't know she has those kinds of resources." she snapped.

"We need to assume that she has the resources to find us so we don't get sloppy." he replied.

He had a point, Buffy understood, but she felt like being difficult. She watched as he began to fiddle with the old fashioned heater.

"Harrumph" she harrumphed. "Blood sucking fiend."

Spike didn't even look up from what he was doing.

"Stake driving wench." he retorted.

He set the thermostat and then straightened up shedding layer after layer of clothing until he was back in his black t-shirt and black jeans. He rolled his shoulders and stretched.

"Alright." he said. "Set the heat. I'm turning in,"

He snapped the moth eaten curtains shut and took his place on the battered couch, leaving the two small beds for Alex and Buffy.

Buffy took this as a surprise. She had thought she was going to have to argue with him to get him to sleep on the couch. There was a silence as the girls took turns in the bathroom readying themselves for bed.

Suddenly the old heater conked out, leaving the room lukewarm but far from cozy.

She shivered, glancing gratefully at the tacky but thick sheets on her bed.

On the other side of the room Spike turned slightly in his sleep. Buffy looked from him to her bed and then sighed. Checking to make sure Alex was in the bathroom she strode up to the small cabinet, inside it she found a small grubby pillow and a thick looking blanket. She smiled pulling out the blanket and then draped it over Spike making sure he was thoroughly covered, he might not be bothered much by the cold, but she was sure he must be a little discomforted by it.

Then she turned away from him, and snuggled into her own sheets.

The door opened.

"Nice of you, Buffy." Alex commented.

Buffy eyes her.

"What are you talking about?"

Alex was grinning at her wryly and then shot a pointed look over to where Spike was sleeping like the undead.

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"He got up to cover himself." she explained. "Muttered about how its was getting 'sodding nippy'"

Alex just nodded and then slipped into her own bed and turned out the light.

Author's note: i also do not own Alexandre Dumas, JRR Tolkien or anything by Bram Stroker. If you are an LotR fan, then sorry for insulting Tolkien's writing. I adore the movies... but not so much the books.