A/N : I know I've kind of scared you all, but you should know by now that my stories always have happy endings! Well, eventually anyway...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

"There's gotta be something!" Spike yelled as he burst into the Magic Box, taking the door off it's hinges with ease.

Buffy followed behind, attempting to calm the vampire down.

"Spike, there are ways to deal with this" she tried to tell him, "We can call Willow and Tara, they'll know more about the magicks involved in opening a portal, and Anya might even be useful, y'know she was a demon, she might've heard of this Quor'toth place"

"'M not sittin' around waiting for others to solve my problems for me" Spike yelled to her as he stormed up the ladder to the balcony and began rifling through the more dangerous books on magicks and sorcery.

Angel breezed past Buffy, following his grand-childe.

"He's right" the brooding vampire nodded on his way, though it was almost unheard of for him to ever agree with Spike, he was doing so now it seemed and Buffy and Cordy shared a worried look as the latter entered the shop, "We can't just sit around waiting for a solution. Every minute we waste is another minute Connor and Annaliese spend in that hell place" he said bitterly, pausing just briefly at the ladder to finish his sentence before pulling himself up to join Spike.

"You should call Willow" Cordy told Buffy, "Then I'll try Wes. Between us there must be something we can do" she said, sounding as hopeful as she could manage, which right now wasn't very.

She'd love to think there was a simple way to get the kids back, but in all honesty it didn't seem likely. It was clear from the way Sahjahn had opened the portal to Quor'toth that it took an awful lot of power to achieve. If it was as awful a place as he claimed, and it had seemed to be so, it was no place for humans, never mind tiny babies, like Connor and Annaliese.

The two women made the phone calls that they'd spoken of as their vampire partners continued a destructive journey through piles of dangerous books and bottles of strange potions. All the very worst magicks existed within the pages and liquids stored on the upper level of the shop. Buffy wanted to advise the two to be careful, but she knew there was really no point.

Angel and Spike had more in common than they liked to admit, and Buffy realised she had to come somewhere in that list, along with Drusilla, and their very bloodline. They had similar characteristics sometimes too, though both would deny it til the day they were dust, she was sure. When they started something, they stuck with it til it was done. There was no giving up, no doing things half way, and both would do just about anything for those they loved. Both had proven it, to her and to others over the years. Now their childrens' lives were at stake, and they'd even go so far as to work together if it meant the safe return of Connor and Annaliese.

"We're here" Willow called as she and Tara arrived at the shop, the red-head with her laptop clutched to her chest, and her girlfriend carrying a couple of very old looking books.

"What about Anya?" Buffy checked as the witches came over to the research table n put down the items they carried, taking two seats across from the Slayer and Cordelia.

"W-We talked to her about Quor'toth" Tara explained, "She's heard of it, but only that it's bad"

"No details" Willow shook her head, "She was tired too, and what with the baby and everything, we thought maybe she should go home and rest up"

"Probably a good idea" Cordy agreed, "Kinda freaky knowing Xander's going to be father" she mused, "Not so much what I expected to hear when I came here"

"Yeah" Buffy sighed, "It's weird but somehow even Spike and Angel being fathers seemed less crazy"

"I think Xander will make a great Dad" Willow frowned slightly at their attitudes as she booted up her laptop, "but I guess, given the running away, maybe he's not so much ready for it"

"H-He probably just needs time to th-think it over" Tara suggested, her stammer a little more evident in front of strangers.

Though Cordelia and Angel were not at all scary to her, she couldn't help but be wary of what she said in any sort of unfamiliar company.

"Okay, so how exactly are we spelling this Quor'toth place?" Willow checked as she brought up a couple of search engines she regularly used and prepared for major research mode.

"Oh, um... here, sweetie" Tara pointed to the place she had marked in one of the books she'd brought, "I remembered this old book had a reference in it, i-it's about dimensions, the different kinds and, and how it's possible to cross from one to another"

"That's great, Tara" Buffy nodded, "If you can find us a door into Quor'toth, it'd be a big help"

"Gotta say, not so crazy about heading into a hell dimension" Cordelia winced, "but whatever it takes. I'll do this for Angel, and for Connor"

"I know how you feel" Buffy agreed as they both looked up at the balcony where Spike and Angel sat, pouring over books that didn't really mean much to them.

They were so determined to find a way to bring their children back or at least follow them into the dimension to which they'd been taken and bring them home.

"This is bloody useless" Spike cursed as he tossed another volume aside.

He was sick of reading through book after book, trying to make sense of things that meant little or nothing to him. He wasn't used to feeling this way, so soddin' useless! He was alright in a physical fight, back against the wall, nothing but fists and fangs. Trouble was, the thing he needed to fight had eluded him, and the only way to get to the enemy and rescue his child, the only one he would ever have, was to find something in these books that was of use.

"We have to keep looking" Angel sighed, "What choice do we have?" he said as he continued to skim through the pages of the book in his hands.

"Y'know this is all your bleedin' fault!" Spike yelled.

"What did you say?" his grand-sire wanted to know.

"You heard me!" the bleached blond protested, scrambling to his feet, "You come here with your soddin' bint and your kid, bein' chased by some bloke who's life you bloody ruined" he said, pointing a finger at Angel with a special kind of nasty emphasis on the word 'you'.

"Spike!" Buffy called up to him from the ground, but he barely heard her as he started to let out some of the bottled up emotion he had, all the pain and anger and...

"I didn't come here to see you, William!" Angel reminded him as he too stood up now, "I came here for Buffy's help, not yours"

"Yeah, drag my woman into this, wouldn't you? Even when you've got your cheerleader already hangin' off every soddin' word you say" Spike ranted and Angel's eyes flashed angry yellow.

"You leave Cordelia out of this" he growled, "Buffy too. You have a problem with me, Spike, that's fine, but this is not the time for a fight about the past"

"Too right it bleedin' is!" he argued, "If you hadn't come here, that Holtz bloke wouldn't have come either, or the bleedin' demon that opened up hell and sucked my daughter in!" he raved.

"I lost my son too!" Angel reminded his grand-childe.

"Like I bloody care!" Spike shot back, "Stupid poofter, you don't deserve a kid"

That was one step too far for Angel who then dived at Spike, flipping the bleached blond back over the balcony and falling with him due to the force with which he travelled.

The girls yelled and gasped as the pair of vampires hit the ground, apparently unscathed, as they pounded on each other, their fangs showing by now and their eyes flashing yellow/gold. They were venting their anger and pain on each other, that much was evident, but the girls all knew it was not at all helpful. Buffy was first into the fray, attempting to part them, only to get a miss-timed kick in the legs that sent her sprawling - Angel didn't even realise what he'd done.

"Angel, stop it!" Cordy urged him, but he didn't hear her as he pinned Spike to the floor and punched him across the face.

"Will you two just calm down!" Buffy attempted in vain to get them to see sense, but they refused.

Just as Willow and Tara decided perhaps they should try something before the pair killed each other, Angel and Spike were suddenly lifted from the floor and flung in opposite directions across the shop.

"What the bleedin' hell...?!" Spike cursed as he found himself up against the opposite wall from his grand-sire, unable to move at all.

Looking across at Angel he realised he was in a similar position, suffering the same problem.

"As charming as it would have been at one time to watch the two of you end each other" said a voice from the front door, "There are far more important things at stake" Giles pointed out as he step further into the shop, his arms raised in such a way as to show he was the one with the power here, the very being that had pulled the two vampires apart and who kept them away from each other still.

"Giles" Buffy smiled as she ran at him, hugging him tight.

Willow, Tara, even Cordelia, were all barely less eager to see him themselves. He always had a theory, a plan, an answer to any problem they came up against. It seemed now he had even more power than before, not just the knowledge he'd always possessed but magicks too.

"Hello, Buffy" her Watcher greeted her, wishing he could hug her back, but unable to let his arms fall if he were to keep Angel and Spike as they were now.

"Giles, how did you...?" Willow began and he nodded that he already knew her question as Buffy finally let up her overly-tight hold on him and he walked across the shop til he was standing directly between the two vampires, both of whom were now calm enough that their game faces had melted away.

"Now, if I allow you to move, you will remain a distance apart and not attack each other" he told them, like a father or teacher admonishing small children for their naughty behaviour.

"Whatever you say, Watcher" Spike said, complete with eye roll, "Just buggerin' well let us down already"

A nod from Angel was enough for Giles to believe he would also behave and the magicks ended, letting the two vamps fall back to the ground, landing perfectly on their feet like cats.

"Now, I believe something much more serious has taken place since we last spoke Buffy" her Watcher said, turning to her, "The coven saw everything, and imbued me with as much power and knowledge as they believed I could cope with in order to help"

"You know about Quor'toth?" Cordelia asked, glad to hear it but kind of surprised since very little had been found in the books here or on the web, and they'd been searching for hours.

Even Wes could find very little using all his resources in LA, or so he'd said just a half hour ago when she'd called him again.

"As much as the coven had access to, yes" Giles nodded, "And I fear it is not a place where any human being ought to be left for long" he said with a grave expression that did nothing to make anyone feel any better.

"So tell us how the soddin' hell we're supposed to get in there and save our kids" Spike snapped at the Watcher, attempting to stay calm but finding it impossible when it was Annaliese's life hanging in the balance.

"There is only one way in, and that is to tear one's way through the fabric of reality" Giles explained, removing his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes.

"Like opening a portal, right?" Cordelia checked, "because it really wouldn't be the first time we played around with those" she said with a look at Angel, they both remembered all too well the trouble they'd gotten into when she was accidentally sucked into Pylea and the gang had followed to save her.

"No, not a portal" Giles corrected her, "If it were just that it would be so much easier"

"Oh" Willow gasped, "Quor'toth is one of those dimensions?" she checked, having heard of such places before.

She shuddered at the Watcher's confirmation and Buffy looked between the two of them in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, "One of those dimensions?" she checked, mimicking the witches peculiar emphasis.

"A-a place so b-bad that even portals can't reach it" Tara explained.

"Indeed" Giles nodded, "As I said it is a literal tear in reality that must be made, a doorway ripped into the very wall that holds the hell dimensions and all other dimensions separate from our own"

"That's going to take some power" Angel realised, "More than we have?" he checked.

"Possibly" Giles was forced to agree, "but then again, possibly not. Willow and Tara have significant strength between them; that, together with what I have been given, it might just be enough"

"So, let's do it" Buffy urged her Watcher, "The sooner the better, right?"

"It will take some preparation, I'm afraid" Giles explained to her, "This type of magick, it is very dark, and very powerful. It demands great attention to detail as well as great strength"

"But we can do it" Willow said, with a little more confidence than she really felt, "We have to" she said as Tara nodded next to her.

Neither loved the idea of commanding the dark powers but there were two babies lives at stake here, two completely innocent children, two little miracles. There was no way Willow and Tara could let them stay in a Hell dimension. Though Annaliese and Connor were both born of vampires, they were not evil, even their fathers were not. The witches only hoped that they could be of some use, that this spell would work, and that Spike and Angel would get their babies back, before it was too late.

To Be Continued...