06/25/10

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the original characters, Joss and Mutant Enemy are the lucky ones.

Summary: Angel and his group took out the Thorn, but they opened up a whole new can of worms.

Pairings: Spuffy, Fresley, D/OC. Others might present themselves.

Warning: There will be cursing, violence and a smidgen of sex in this story.

Chapter Eleven: The record skipped but it's still the same song

Hospital - Present

Angel took a second to look at the office that Nina inhabited. She had clearly made it her own; a few pictures of her sister and niece were situated behind her on a shelf. Paintings and other works of art on display. All in all he'd have to say the place looked quite homey.

"So, are we gonna chat now or are you still trying to think up an excuse for where you've been?"

Angel hadn't been avoiding her; so much as he'd been trying look at everything but her. Technically they were a couple; but he was out of his element at the moment. The last time he'd seen her had been when he handed her those plane tickets and asked her to leave town.

"Listen Nina, there's a perfectly good excu...reason why I haven't contacted you."

"Okay Angel, I'm all ears; what was so damn important that you couldn't let anyone know you were alive?"

Angel stopped and started once or twice; unsure of how to go about explaining the last day's events.

"My team and I; we decided to go up against the senior partners, the demons who control Wolfram & Hart. We managed to kill a group they use to control events here on earth. At least we thought we did; turns out one of them managed to possess Wesley's body and opened a portal to the future. We got sucked in and that's how we ended up here; for me it's only been a few days since I saw you last."

Nina regarded him warily, she attempted to keep herself calm though he could see the tension seething under the surface.

"Well, that sounds pretty dire; how about I tell you what the last two months have been like here on earth."

Grauman's Chinese Theater - Seven weeks ago

Dawn felt relieved to have Buffy back on her feet, after the quick pep talk from "he who hasn't introduced himself". He had conveniently run off to help some of his crew who were taking on something that resembled Clem when he did his scary face. Her sister had settled into a nice balance between killing the demons, but not eviscerating them gleefully. Who knew after all the time she spent trying to keep Spike out; he'd worm himself in deeper than any of her previous boyfriends. Dawn would never look at Spike the same way after what he did to Buffy. But she wished he could be there for her, for both of them really

Buffy came streaking by and cleaved the head off a particular nasty looking black skinned demon. The creature barely had time to reach up and feel the space where it's face had been a second earlier; before Buffy swung her scythe the other way and split him at the waist.

"Are you okay?" Buffy gave the scythe a little shake to dislodge some of the gore collected on it as she blew a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"Yeah, I guess; shouldn't Wilow be doing something all wiccay right now?"

"I haven't seen her since..since she took on whatever's in Wesley."

"You don't think...?"

"No, if she was that thing would have made it's way back here."

Something keened at that, a sound not unlike a jetliner preparing to land. Buffy looked around, seeing nothing but the demons her slayer sisters were battling. She turned towards a screeching sound to her left, just as a dragon burst through a billboard displaying an insurance companies great service.

Before she realized what she was doing she grabbed Dawn's hand and started running in the opposite direction. This thing was twice the size of the one Spike had slain in her vision; and it had friends on the way.

Few hundred feet above - Same time

Willow hadn't seen a whole lot of action in the past year; mostly focused on finding ways of snapping Buffy out of her coma. But she had taken on a dark wizard living in an old burnt out castle in Budapest. That fight had lasted over an hour; only because the mage kept chanting a healing spell, even as they were fighting. She finally got so tired of hearing it that she sucked all the oxygen out of the room; making it impossible to speak, after that it had been easy to dispatch her enemy.

The fact that she had only been fighting the demon in Wesley for going on twenty minutes didn't change the hopeless feeling that had started to settle in. No matter what she threw at this thing it barely left a scratch; she was not the least bit comforted by the fact that so far it hadn't been able to break through any of her more powerful protection spells.

"Why Miss Rosenberg, starting to regret not becoming a veterinarian?"

"Oh, I see L.A. demons aren't very hip on the punning."

Vail snickered as he shot his hand out; using his power to grab a hold of her telekinetically he tossed Willow as hard as he could towards the earth. Following her he allowed his senses to extend out; in the next few minutes the dragons would arrive and put an end to their slayer problems all together. He grinned as he saw Willow crash into a gas station; her momentum causing her to burst out the front of the store and skid to a halt right before the gas pumps.

Vail came to a stop several yards away as Willow got to her feet, wiping blood off her lip she allowed the dark magic to grab hold, as she started towards him Vail gave a joyless laugh.

"It's such a shame, this is usually done at the stake."

With that he threw a fireball straight over the witches head. Willow didn't have time to react as the pumps ruptured and the underlying reservoir exploded. Vail himself was thrown back only a few feet, looking through the wreckage he saw no sign whatsoever of the redhead. Smirking he turned and headed back towards Buffy Summers. He wasn't allowed to dispose of the slayer per his agreement with him. But that didn't mean he couldn't settle for causing her some much deserved anguish.

Hospital - Present

Angel stood by the window as he looked at what was left of the downtown skyline. If he had any doubts about how long they had been gone; he certainly didn't now. It resembled a wasteland, how could he have let this happen, and how did it get this bad?

"So Buffy showed up and took on the senior partners forces?" He felt guilty knowing she had got dragged into this.

"Yeah, but no one called her Buffy, we were told to refer to her as General Summers."

"So what's happened, I would have thought she'd have this place all cleaned up by now."

"I don't know all the details, but apparently she managed to hold them off pretty well that first night."

"Okay, what's with you Nina; why do you keep referring to her in the past tense?"

Angel got a sick feeling in his stomach as he stared at Nina, looking for any clue; hoping she would give something away before he heard that news again.

"I'm sorry Angel, but that night that the slayers entered L.A., Buffy Summers died."

Hospital emergency room - Same time

She could still feel it under the surface; trying to claw it's way back out. How she was able to hold back the will of a god she didn't care. All that mattered were the two men on either side of her. Gunn still wasn't moving, although the healer said that was to be expected. Her former love had been on the other side of death's door. They had been forced to put a binding spell on him, keeping his spirit bound to his body until the healing potions could do their work. Knowing that he would be okay she turned her attention to Spike.

He looked naked without his duster, more so with the bandages and splints the healers had put on him after setting his breaks. One of the healers came up and held a hand over his chest, closing his eyes and chanting something she didn't recognize.

"Is he okay?"

The shaman or whatever he was looked at her thoughtfully.

"Do you know this vampire well?"

Fred smiled as she remembered what a change Spike had brought to their team, allowing her to see Angel in a big brother capacity; Spike had of course threatened to kill her and violate her corpse when she'd said that. Funny how only he could make that sound semi-sweet.

"Yes, he's a friend of mine."

"How old is he?"

She looked dumbstruck as she considered the question.

"Why is that importa...?"

The man interrupted her he held his palms out facing her.

"I meant no disrespect, it is just that he seems to be only a century old at best, yet his body is already healing at an impressive rate. Even with our assistance it should have been hours before we noticed a change."

Winifred Burkle smiled that Texas smile that everyone associated with only her.

"Spike's just a two of a kind kind of guy."

The mystic gave her a slight puzzled stare as he went about doing his work.

"You love him don't you."

In her mind she sees a man, so sweet when she first met him; a bookworm like her. She thought that man had been lost after Connor was taken. But she found him again, and for a few precious moments; she had gotten to love him like he deserved. A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked up to the heavens, her voice breaking as she answered.

"I love all my boys."

Grauman's Chinese Theatre - Seven weeks ago

'You know, if he were here he'd probably be too busy giving me googly eyes to even do anything about the dragon.'

'So..at least then he'd be here.'

'Yeah, but then you might feel compelled to kiss him, and the smacking might get the dragon's attention.'

'Why am I having an argument with myself when there's a dragon not ten feet away?'

'Oh, because you still haven't thought of a plan to slay said dragon.'

'Yes I have, it's just not fleshed out yet.'

'Hello, so not buying that, or the biding my time excuse. We both know what's going on in this cute little head of ours. We're wondering whether or not he died thinking of us.'

'Shut up!'

"Buffy, what are we gonna do?"

After ducking down the alley, Buffy had led Dawn to the only hiding spot she saw, a dumpster situated between a burning barrel and some cardboard box someone had called home. She had barely had time to throw Dawn and herself in before the thing had come roaring past. Now it just sniffed the air as it searched for them. For the last few minutes Buffy had struggled to think of a plan that didn't end with her and Dawnie roasting to a crisp.

"I just need another minute to think, we have to find some way to distract this thing, if I can get close enough with the scythe than maybe I can..."

Buffy didn't get to finish formulating her plan though as an explosion rocked the dumpster, knocking it over and spilling the girls out onto the ground. Buffy jumped to her feet, immediately her nose was assailed by the smell of burning dragon meat. She looked back toward the mouth of the alley where a tank sat. The top hatch popped up and Riley poked his head out, grinning like any guy who got to ride in a tank.

"See, I have cool toys too."

Nowhere

'Okay, 'das weird.'

Spike knew there was no way this could be real, because Sunnydale had been a sinkhole for a year now. Still that didn't change the fact that he was standing in the bottom of his old crypt holding a bouquet of red roses. He looked around, trying to suss out what the hell was going on. Gone was the aftermath of soldier boys intrusion, so it looked exactly like it had when him and Buffy were...

'What, can't think of a way to describe it? Well, I can; fucking freak-show's wa't it was.'

"It din't have to be, if I'd realized sooner."

'You were doomed mate, second she kissed you it was over for the both of you. Only way a relationship with you ends, someone's crying or dead.'

"Bollocks, could have held back, could have been there for her."

'If you'd had the soul back then sure, but who's to say the slayer would have looked at you twice with it in you. You put so much stock in the damn thing, but maybe the reason she couldn't love you is because you're just not good enough. Only reason you started shaggin in the first place is because she could imagine you were Angel.'

"Piss off, don't know her like I do, she saw something in me, even then. Might have meant something if I'd waited; s'my fault it turned out the way it did."

'Not disputin' that "William", never said it wasn't your fault, jus' said that's the way it was meant to happen. You said once she likes a little monster in her man, maybe s'true she can't stand too much man in her monster. Could be the reason she broke it off wasn't cause you were bad, perhaps you weren't bad enough.'

"Spike, who are you talking to?"

The roses fell from his grasp and he tuned out the voice in his head, drawing a whiff he suddenly smelled her. Even in a dream he'd never forget that scent, something he'd spend the rest of his days trying to describe.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah, unless you've got another girlfriend I don't know about!"

'Girlfriend?'

He immediately moved for the ladder, remembering the roses he'd dropped from his grasp he swept round and snatched them up. He didn't even bother climbing the rungs and jumped up to the top. She was taking off her jacket and throwing it over the back of his chair when she looked at him. Spike had seen just about every face the slayer could make, he'd seen her everything from defiant to mad, taciturn to extremely pissed, sated to needy, broken to mended. A few times he'd even been granted a smile, maybe a wisp of a soulful look when he knew she needed him for more than his body. But the look she bore down on him was scarier than anything he'd ever seen.

The bird looked content.

"Are those for me?"

In all the daydreaming he'd forgotten about the damn flowers. He immediately hid them behind his back, mindful not to hurt them. His lips didn't want to mind his brain so it took him a few seconds to respond.

"I...maybe...no."

Finally he gave up and brought them around holding them out for her.

"I suppose they are luv."

She casually walked over and took them from his grasp, her other hand brushing his arm, causing goosebumps to burst out all over. She brought them to her nose and smelled them, a hint of a smile on her face. She carefully set them down on the sarcophagus and folded her arms. She seemed the slightest bit condescending as she looked at him.

"They're very beautiful Spike."

'Okay, any second I'm gonna wake up in an extreme amount of pain, so, might as well enjoy perfect dream Buffy.'

"S'no prob..."

"Are they stolen?"

He guffawed at this, he'd had plenty of dreams about Buffy, most of which saw them unclothed and panting by this point. He didn't know what to make of this very un-sexy dream scape. The dreams where he and Buffy were like this, it usually entailed him being human or some such rot.

"No, why'd you think that?"

Buffy shot him her "Duh your Spike!" look, knew that one by heart now.

"Because you don't have an actual job and your only source of income is kitten poker and looting dead demons."

He thought about this for a second, before he shook his head and nodded the affirmative.

"Yeah, 'das true, but I wouldn't do that to you, have you knowing some poor florist has been deprived of their precious flowers."

"I was just wondering big bad, didn't think you had time to make it out, thought you'd be too busy making plans."

Spike knew he was gonna regret saying it a full five seconds before he did, but that didn't change the fact that he had to say it.

"What plans?"

Buffy gave an indignant huff and punched him lightly in the shoulder, which with her strength still left his arm sore.

"You already said we could spend this anniversary with the gang, so it's too late to back out now."

'Anniversary?'

Okay, so maybe if and when he did wake up in pain, he'd make sure and have Lyri whack him on the head so he could come back here. Might as well play along until something ruined it.

"I know pet, but I reckoned we could relax a bit before we head out."

Buffy's eyes perked up at this, strolling around the sarcophagus and running one finger along the edge as she looked him up and down. He loved the way Buffy looked at him like that, the way he felt wanted when she looked at him that way, even if it was for his body.

"I suppose a little relaxing is in order, since I've had such a hard day with classes; and not to mention the whole being assaulted by the undead thing, kind of tires a girl out."

Spike grinned smugly as he sauntered up to her.

"Hopefully not too much pet, wouldn't want someone to do my job for me."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck, her hair smothering him and allowing him to be enveloped by the smell of it. For just once he wanted the lie; he'd accept the world where Buffy was off in Rome snogging with the "Poof 2.0" when he woke up. For right now all he wanted was this reprieve from Angel's crusade. He figured he'd earned it after all the good works he'd done over the past year.

Dream-Buffy kissed him on the side of his head and bent her mouth down low to his ear.

"I love you William."

'If this is hell, let me stay bloody dead this time.'

A/N: I know it's been a while since I've updated, look at the profile page for relevant info. Please do review, I am one of the few writers who loves criticism.