Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Mercedes and Audrey.
Author's Notes:
Sorry about this one being a bit later but they changed my hours at work and I bought a few new video games so my schedule has been all messed up, but don't worry I'll continue to write this story and others and hopefully get them out on a regular bases like usual.
Tamara: Dawn will find it hard to keep quiet about something this big, but she will be able to talk to Willow about it as well as Angel and his group. The Spuffy ending will come but like I said will be a bit twisted and dark and won't please everybody about how it happens…desperate times call for desperate measures…
J: I like her to, the identity of the two guys will become known soon enough, though none of the three will be major players just yet, leaving plenty of room for the regulars.
Jess: Dawn and Spike will become friends again and almost back to the big brother and little sister roles that they used to have in their relationship, with some cute moments ahead for the two, though no shipping for the two.
CHAPTER 16-GETTING TO KNOW YOU AGAIN
"Giles, have you seen Dawn anywhere, I can't find her and she was supposed to help chaperone the new slayers today," Buffy asked with an impatient scowl on her face as she walked into Giles' office, finding him bent over a stack of papers on his desk.
"No, I'm afraid I haven't," Giles softly answered with an overwhelmed sigh as he shook his head and then took his glasses off.
"When I find her she is in so much trouble, I swear," Buffy started to say with an upset scowl on her face before Xander ducked into the room and interrupted.
"Uh Buff, you seen Willow today, Kennedy asked me if I knew where she was and…well I don't have a clue," Xander wondered aloud with a nervous smile on his face as he walked in and shut the door behind him.
"I'll help you find Willow Xander the second that I find Dawn, if we're going to find out what Kennedy is up to while still doing our council duties then we're all going to have to be on the same page here, and someone isn't helping," Buffy replied quickly with a frustrated shrug of her shoulders as she poked at a couple of the things hanging on Giles' wall before turning back to look at Xander.
"What Kennedy is up to, what's going on," Giles asked sharply, as if he had just woken up and only heard half of a conversation before jumping into it with both feet.
"Easy Giles, we're not sure of anything yet, Buffy just has her suspicions," Xander replied with a relaxed smile on his face as he walked over to Giles' desk and then started to pick up one of the odd looking objects on top of it.
"Don't touch that, if you are going to investigate Willow's girlfriend don't you think that you should talk to her first…Willow I mean," Giles snapped sharply at first as he smacked the back of Xander's hand before he turned back to Buffy and sighed.
"Great idea there Giles, except that we're trying to do this undercover, we don't want Willow to know about this, especially if we're wrong," Xander stated with an anxious and scared smile on his face as he nursed the hand that Giles had smacked while backing up behind one of the chairs in the room, looking to Buffy.
"But you don't believe that you are, you believe that Kennedy is leading a kind of double life," Giles wondered with a concerned look on his face as he took out a small notepad and began to jot a few things down.
"That's putting it mildly, Willow's said that there have been days when Kennedy will be gone for hours…and when she comes back she'll be a mess and there's an odd perfume smell to," Buffy replied softly with an apprehensive expression on her face as she tapped her fingers on the armrests of the chair.
"Has anyone actually asked Kennedy about where she goes or what she does during those absences," Giles asked with a calm look on his face as he carefully voiced his question.
"Yeah…of course, she just gives some flimsy excuse about doing some grunt work for the Immortal and then takes a shower and goes to bed before Willow can ask her anything else," Xander replied with a nervous look on his face as he nodded his head slightly before Giles asked his next question.
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"How long have you been back," Dawn asked softly with a curious look on her face before she placed her straw between her lips and sipped a bit of her drink. After the tearful reunion Spike and Dawn had retreated to a dark corner of the hospital's cafeteria and gotten something to eat. Actually Dawn had ordered most of it with Spike just paying for it as he felt that he owed her.
"It depends Bit, do you mean how long has it been since I first popped out of the amulet, or how long has it been since I've been a real boy," Spike replied back with a snarky smirk on his face as he reached over and stole one of her potato chips.
"What's the difference," Dawn asked, her mouth full of food, after she had thought for a moment about how to respond to Spike's question.
"There's a big difference, I popped out of the amulet only a couple of weeks or so after Sunnydale went the way of the dinosaur, it hasn't been that long since I got my body back, still like to know how that happened, one minute I'm arguing with Harmony and the next there's this big flash of light and I'm corporeal again," Spike said back softly with an amused smirk on his face before he popped the chip into his mouth and began to chew.
"Why didn't you call…or write, I wouldn't have told anyone," Dawn asked with a scared look in her eyes after she swallowed and grabbed another chip.
"I know, it's just after how I went out I didn't think that…," Spike started to say with a suddenly nervous look on his face before Dawn interrupted him when he went silent for more than a few seconds.
"That what, that she'd still love you, that we'd miss you…well sorry pal but we did, all of us…okay maybe not Xander, but I missed you, and Buffy, she missed you to," Dawn interjected slowly with a serious look on her face as she lightly tapped the back of Spike's hand with her finger.
"Move on pretty quickly though didn't she, got one look at that randy bastard and forgot all about," Spike started to argue back with a dismissive look on his face as he began to shake his head before Dawn stopped tapping the back of his hand and grabbed a hold of his hand before speaking.
"She doesn't love him Spike, she's with him because she can't stand to be alone, she won't admit it but when she's alone she feels like she's failed somehow, that no one loves her, she tries to act all happy and good while everyone else is around, but I've heard her crying at night Spike, what the two of you had doesn't just end like that," Dawn stated with a very firm and believable tone to her voice as she squeezed Spike's hand hard to make sure that he would look her in the eye as she spoke.
"Normally you'd be right, but I saw her with my own eyes Dawn, a few months ago, out on the dance floor livin it up with that…that," Spike started to say with a slight shrug of his shoulders and sad look on his face before he grew bitter and spat out the end as his hands clenched tightly into fists.
"What happened between the two of you, you guys used to work together or something, a business deal gone bad," Dawn asked with a look of scared disbelief on her face as she nervously pulled her straw back to her lips and took a small sip.
"About a hundred years or so ago Angel and I had a run in with the Immortal, Dru and Darla of course were fascinated with him, couldn't stop talking about him, Immortal this and Immortal that, then one night he invites the ladies up to his bedroom for a little fun, all the while stringing Angel and me up in the bloody dungeon and letting his goons torture us for fun, then he had the nerve to not let us kill him," Spike said softly with a cold and unhappy frown on his face as he related the story, half expecting Dawn to laugh at several points along the way as he watched her face closely.
"Uh huh, and now," Dawn stated with a very thoughtful expression on her face as she pursed her lips a bit and lightly tapped her chin with the end of her right index finger.
"And when we came to Rome looking for the head of a demon clan, the guy's actual head, that bastard makes sure that we see him dancing with Buffy, then everyone joined in on the fun and made sure that we couldn't get close to them to settle the score," Spike answered with an upset frown on his face before he stole another of Dawn's chips.
"Wait…you were in Rome, why didn't we know about it," Dawn asked with a confused and amazed look on her face as she sat back up straight in her chair and looked straight at Spike.
"You and Buffy were gone when we arrived at your apartment, Andrew let us in and told us how happy you lot were…and that we should move on like Buffy obviously had, Peaches has Nina and I," Spike softly said back with a relaxed tone to his voice as he stole a couple more chips from Dawn's plate, as she fake scowled angrily at him, before her ears and her interest picked up at the end and she grinned.
"And you," Dawn asked with a sly grin on her face and a modest wink, leaving little doubt in Spike's mind what she was asking.
"No Niblet, like usual I'm flying solo," Spike grumbled back with a sad pout on his face as he solemnly munched on the chips.
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"Willow," Mercedes asked with a confused and surprised look on her face as she poked her head around the corner and looked down the hallway, after seeing her hurry bye seconds earlier.
"Huh, what…oh uh…do I know you," Willow exclaimed with a start at first before she turned around, calmed down, and noticed that she thought that she had seen this young woman somewhere before.
"Not really, I've worked with Kennedy a few times, assignments for the Immortal mostly," Mercedes said back, proudly at first, before the full effect of what he had done to Kristine caught up to her and her voice broke.
"Oh really, on what kind of assignments," Willow asked with a concerned and curious look on her face and tone to her voice as she started to walk towards Mercedes, as of yet no warning bells going off in her head that she was a vampire. Mercedes looked ready to explain away at first before she realized what she would have to say so she improvised.
"Nothing important really, take out a vamp nest here, recover an artifact there, stuff like that," Mercedes replied with a slightly shaky voice as she did her best to smile innocently before Willow looked her over once and figured out that she had been there awhile.
"I see…so what are you doing here, you're not hurt are you," Willow mumbled out at first as at that time she hadn't made up her mind before she caught a bit of a whiff of blood and looked back at Mercedes with a worried look on her face.
"I'd give anything for that to be true, no thanks to my vampiric constitution and all I'm fine, it's…it's Kristine," Mercedes moaned back with a very sullen and worried look on her face as she bowed her head a bit and looked up at Willow through the trusses of her dark crimson locks.
"Kristine, who's that…wait, you're a vampire, does Kennedy know," Willow repeated the name slowly as she tried to remember if she had ever heard that name before she realized what Mercedes had said.
"Of course, she knew before she even met me, Kristine works for the Immortal to, she's in the legal division, she's a lawyer," Mercedes joked back with an oddly reassuring smile on her face as she tried to laugh off the idea that she might trick Kennedy before she spoke proudly of Kristine.
"That's good, is she here to see someone, a client," Willow wondered with a now more confused expression on her face as she could now tell that there was something big that Mercedes wasn't telling her. At that Mercedes began to tear up but she steeled herself and calmed herself before answering, though Willow did notice the reaction.
"If only, no I came to work to find her…on the floor, beaten and bloody and…I rushed her here, the doctors won't tell me anything since I'm not family," Mercedes brushed off at first with a vain look of hope on her face before as she explained she couldn't help the flashes of the sight of Kristine lying on the floor covered in blood from flashing through her mind, allowing a single tear to slide down her smooth cheek.
"Oh no…do the police have any idea who attacked her," Willow asked with a very concerned frown on her face as she started to think of ways to help Kristine get better as well as if she should bring this fact up to Giles and Buffy and get their input.
"The police don't know a thing, they don't even know that she was attacked, no Willow, I know exactly who attacked her, one of the benefits of the whole vampire package, I just wish that I knew why," Mercedes stated back coldly with a mocking and jeering tone to her voice and a half look of disgust on her face as she clenched her hands tightly into fists, looking like she wanted more than anything to hit something.
"Who then, tell me, who attacked Kristine," Willow demanded with a fervent look of determination on her face as though she didn't know the whole story she now had decided that she had to do something.
"The Immortal of course," Mercedes softly whispered back with a terrified and haunted look in her eyes as she locked gazes with Willow long enough for the witch to understand that she was not in the least bit trying to deceive her.
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Angel watched her sleep carefully, wishing terribly that he had a pad of paper and a pencil to render her likeness in some way other than in his memory. She had fiercely fought to stay awake for several hours, not wanting to miss out on anything. But it hadn't taken long for her resolve to weaken and her eyelids to become heavy enough that she could no longer fight. Angel had nicked one of the blankets from an empty room and did his best to cover her with it without causing her to wake up. He grew a but curious when he saw a small piece of what looked like a napkin sticking out of one of her pockets. Letting his curiosity consume him Angel crept forward and slowly and carefully pulled the napkin out of her pocket, all without bothering Nina's slumber.
"Wonder what she," Angel started to think to himself with a slightly happy smirk on his face before he unfolded the napkin and grinned despite himself. On the napkin Nina had doodled a drawing of him back when he was a puppet, complete with him holding his nose and saying that he was made of felt and that his nose came off. Angel grinned and had to steel himself to keep from laughing before he held the napkin in one hand and reached his other hand to take a hold of Nina's left hand that was poking out from underneath the blanket. As softly as he could he rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand, loving how smooth and warm her skin was. He had just leaned in close and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead when he sensed Spike behind him, standing motionless and silent in the doorway. Turning to Spike he started to tell his grandchilde with a glare to stay silent but in the end he didn't need to as he could tell by the look on Spike's face that he understood and wanted to talk outside the room.
"She okay," Spike asked softly with a concerned look on his face after Angel shut the door behind him.
"For now, when she wakes up we have to be ready to leave, with Willow and now Dawn knowing where we are it's only a matter of time before everyone knows, and I'd rather not give them that little piece of information to easily," Angel replied with an equally concerned look on his face as he stuffed the napkin into his pocket.
"Red's going to take Dawn back now, she's agreed not to say anything but she knows that Andrew knew about me for months, I can't say as I see that ending very well for the guy," Spike said back with a tired look on his face as he fiddled around in his pockets looking for a cigarette as he nodded his head towards the cafeteria.
"Andrew's not our problem right now, Faith will be okay soon enough but Wesley's going to need awhile, he doesn't have the bonus of slayer or vampire healing, broken ribs take awhile to heal," Angel announced with a particularly grim look of worry on his face as he began to slowly pace back and forth in front of the room with Spike looking on with his head cocked to one side.
"So why is it that I can see him rushing headlong into battle before he's completely healthy, I doubt we have that much time Angel, this is all going to go down before then, though we might be able to cover more ground if we leave Faith with Wesley for awhile, to look after him and see that his recovery goes smoothly," Spike shot back with a pursing of his lips before a grin spread across his face as he began to slowly rock back and forth on his heels.
"That could work…but…are they, I mean have they even…I know that I was late finding out about Wes and Fred back at Wolfram and Hart but," Angel asked with an oddly nervous and uncomfortable expression on his face as he looked back down the hallway first towards Wesley and Faith's room before turning his gaze back to Spike.
"Beats me, though they have been a bit chummy lately haven't they, and when we found them they did smell a bit like…though I don't think that they've gone that far yet, both probably still trying to figure out if there is anything between them, after all it's not like Faith's the most open slayer about her emotions," Spike replied softly with an amused expression on his face as he turned back to face Angel.
"Though Wes never really was the type to talk about his feelings, at least not to me," Angel added with a concerned look on his face before the doors to the waiting room burst open and the room began to fill with the Immortal's men.
END OF CHAPTER 16