Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

…

Chapter 28

As soon as Spike disappeared into the portal, it also closed leaving no trace in the fabric of space that it had ever existed. An eerily still silence settled over the annex. If it weren't for the evidence of the obvious destruction, it would have been easy to believe that the incident with the Diye Cagiriyor had not happened. Buffy was still lying on the floor where she had landed after being flung away from the portal by Spike. As she pushed her upper body up on her hands, she looked around the annex as she sat on the side of her hip. She pushed back to a sitting position, running a hand through her hair to push it back from her face.

The Scoobies lowered their crossbow, looking at each other in confusion at the sudden end to the conflict. Giles smoothly moved around the crates, moving his eyes from Buffy and where the portal had been. Dashing around the crates, Willow rushed by Giles to reach her friend. She set down her crossbow beside Buffy, before reaching to hold her friend's arms. She craned her neck to look into her friends eyes.

"Buffy! Are you alright?" Willow asked as she gripped her friend's upper arms.

"Uh, Yeah. I think so. What happened?" Buffy answered as her hand was still holding her hair back. Her face puzzled as she looked at her friend.

Giles walked up and stood over them and announced

"People, the portal is closed. I think it is a good time for us to return to my apartment."

"Okay." Buffy said as she looked from Giles over to Willow's encouraging nod and stood up.

Buffy looked around the annex, seemingly a little stunned. She hesitantly walked behind Giles with Willow at her side. As they got closer to where Xander and Anya were standing, Anya took a step toward Buffy.

"Buffy, what about Spike?" Anya urgently whispered as Buffy came toward her.

"What about him?" Buffy asked, tilting her head as she looked at Anya.

"We all just saw him... " Anya stopped as she felt Xander's hand on her shoulder.

"Anya, I don't think Spike is an issue any longer." Xander softly told the ex-demon.

"We don't know that." Anya argued over her shoulder.

"Maybe, we can talk about this later. " Willow asked, leaning around Buffy.

"But…" Anya whined as she turned her head to regard the spot where the portal had been.

"I think it is most important that we all get out here. Now." Giles informed the group.

Anya looked down in submission to the group's intent as she unhappily dropped her argument. Xander pulled her along as she regretfully left the annex. Her forehead was wrinkled as she kept stealing glances at Buffy who seemed to be confused. Anya drug her feet as she followed the group out of the Initiative.

"Come on, Buffy." Willow said as she escorted her friend over to the doors.

Turning to look once more at the annex, Buffy scanned the area as if looking for something. She then shrugged her shoulder before turning to follow the rest of the Scoobies out of the Initiative.

…

A little over twelve minutes later, the Scoobies trudged through Giles' front door. They were all clearly exhausted as the crossbows and bags of darts were haphazardly stacked on the end of the dining room table. A few feet inside the door, Buffy took a step to the side as she watched the rest of the Scoobies move into the room. Willow quietly went to sit on the end of the sofa, placing her elbow on the armrest and laying her head against her hand. Xander went over to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator, looking for a drink. Not finding anything to his liking, he closed the door with a disgruntled sound and leaned against the kitchen entry. Anya pulled out a dining room chair on the far side of the table and sullenly sat in it with her arms crossed as she stared at the room. Giles stood over at the bookcase staring at the titles of the books. He pulled off his glasses to clean them, but stopped midway, the cloth still wrapped around the lens between his fingers. Buffy continued to awkwardly stand inside the door, after a few moments she gingerly approached the back of the sofa.

"So, anyone want to tell me what went on tonight?" She asked the group.

Everyone's heads swiveled to look at Buffy with a surprised look on their faces. Willow twisted on the couch to regard her friend. With her mouth open, Willow gasped as she turned toward her friend.

"Buffy, you don't remember?" Willow asked her eyes wide as she moved down the couch.

"I think if I did, I wouldn't be asking." Buffy responded with her hands upraised.

"You really don't remember all that stuff with Spike?" Xander asked as he came in from the kitchen.

"Where is Spike?" Buffy asked as she looked around the apartment. "Did he escape again?"

"Buffy, what do you remember?" Giles asked as he put on his glasses as he gave Buffy a cautious glance as he approached her.

"Well, the last thing I remember is that we were all at the table looking at my ring." Buffy said, indicating the table with her head.

"You don't remember anything else?" Anya asked, incredulously as she came around the table.

"Nope. All I know is that I am suddenly sitting on the floor of some military complex that had obviously seen some action." Buffy said as she shrugged. "Someone want to give me the highlights?"

Anya came up beside Buffy and placed her hand on her arm.

"You really don't remember that you were engaged?" Anya asked as she looked into Buffy's face.

"Hello, Willow's spell was last night. I am still trying to get over it." Buffy rolled her eyes as she turned away.

"No, Buffy. Willow's spell was two nights ago." Anya stated as she pulled Buffy back to face her. "You thought you were engaged to Spike again."

"What? Hey, I can take a joke as good as anybody but this is getting redundant." Buffy uneasily chuckled as she worriedly looked around the room.

"Buffy." Giles said as he came forward. "You honestly have no memory of what happened this evening after we looked at your ring."

"Sorry, nothing, zilch, nada." Buffy said as she shook her head.

"Uh, Buffy, I promise you that it wasn't me. Somehow, you thought you were still engaged to Spike. Willow confessed begrudgingly. "And you're gonna hate this…but you were a kinda clingy girlfriend."

"OH, NO! You don't mean… Eew! Clingy with Spike? Eew! Wait a minute! He wasn't clingy back, was he?" Buffy sputtered

"Oh, no. He was appropriately shocked by your behavior." Willow tried to comfort her friend as she reached to pat her arm.

"Yeah, he was flinging himself around the room to get away from you" Xander added, in an effort to help.

"Flinging? There was flinging involved? Why didn't someone stop me?" Buffy wailed as she looked wildly at the rest of the Scoobies.

"Well, Spike tried, but every time he tried to stop you, his chip went off. Giles said just to let you have your way." Anya said, with a smile and nodding to the affirmative.

"My way! Please tell me I didn't have my way with Spike." Buffy groaned with her head in her hands

"Don't worry. Spike was emphatic that you had to wait till you were married." Anya stated. "Who knew vampires could be so old fashioned."

"Wait, Spike was emphatic! That means I must have been… Ooh, I... I wasn't chasing him around the sofa, was I?" Buffy stammered, grimacing at the thought of what she would be told next.

"Oh, there was just some minor wrestling involved, nothing too intense." Willow offered, as she sat back against the back cushion of the sofa.

"Ooh, I am getting nauseous. I would think my friends would have tried harder to stop me. Don't we still have some of those tranquilizer darts around here?" With her hand on her stomach, Buffy demanded as she looked pointedly at Xander.

"Well, we tried. But, you got that whole slayer strength thing and...and, you were so happy." Willow explained. "It was good to see you in a committed relationship."

"I think the word 'committed' is the optimal word here. As in I should have been." Buffy moaned with a pained expression

"I thought you two were cute together." Anya said as she walked away from Buffy and sat down on the sofa. "I swear I could pick up something going on between the two of you."

"Again with the 'Eew!'." Buffy groaned, wincing.

"Buffy, there were other issues involved besides your love life. We had that Diye Cagiriyor creature to deal with. The ring that Spike gave you seemed to have some power to combat it." Giles calmly stated as he looked at the upset slayer.

"Again, Spike has the unique ability to mess with my life…even when he helps me." Buffy announced with a shake of her head as she looked at the ceiling.

"Wait a minute, Buffy." Willow interjected. "It isn't Spike's fault. He didn't know about the ring."

"Actually, Buffy, it is quite beneficial that Spike gave you that ring." Giles lectured the distraught slayer.

"Why?" Buffy grumbled as she pulled her eyes away from the ceiling and looked at Giles.

"Well, it wouldn't be in our possession now." Giles responded, detailing the facts for the slayer.

"So that brings me back to my question of where is Spike. I still haven't got an answer on that. And what were we doing in that military complex? I am assuming that was the Initiative, right?" Buffy asked again, this time letting the exasperation creep into her voice.

"Buffy, Spike was recaptured by the Initiative. During our rescue attempt, the Diye Cagiriyor creature appeared and attacked. As a result of rescuing you, Spike was sucked into the portal by the creature. The portal closed almost immediately after that." Giles responded, listing the facts in a no nonsense manner.

"Spike rescued me?" Buffy gasped and looked stunned. Blinking in surprise, she added. "Wow, I didn't see that coming. So, now what?"

"I really don't know. We're dealing with something far outside our realm. Spike seemed to know something about it, but now that he's gone…." Giles muttered as he became lost in thought.

"Wait the ring! Buffy still has it." Willow jumped forward in her seat as she turned toward Buffy. "Maybe it's the key to defeating the creature!"

"Yes, it did seem to deflect the creature before." Giles affirmed as he pointed at Willow.

Buffy brought up her hand to look at the ring on her finger. She turned her head slightly as she regarded it. Instead of the deep blood red of the stone, it was now a dark black. Where the stone had given off a warm glow, the stone now seemed to be dead. She had a brief distinct feeling of sadness creep over her for an instant as she looked at it.

Giles took Buffy's hand and guided her to the end of the dining room table. Pulling a lamp over, so he could see the ring clearly. He turned Buffy's hand so he could look at the ring at all angles. Finally tiring of having her hand twisted, she pulled it back.

"Oh, here!" Buffy groused as she pulled the ring from her finger she placed the ring in Giles hand, so he could inspect it. The watcher immediately began to study the ring under the light.

"Buffy." Anya whispered as she leaned over to Buffy.

"What?" Buffy asked, clearly irritated.

"You wouldn't let that ring off your finger before. Do you think…?" Anya said sheepishly.

"Think what?" Buffy sighed, waiting for the ex-demon to continue.

"Do you think Spike is dead?" Anya muttered under her breath.

"I..I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it. Nah, it's just a ring." Buffy muttered. "Doesn't mean anything." Despite her talk, her eyes didn't leave the ring.

"There is definitely a color change. I can just barely see the top of the inscription I saw before. The stone is definitely obscuring the rest of the inscription." Giles detailed his inspection of the ring. "I'll take it over to the jewelers tomorrow, perhaps they can see something." He placed the ring on a napkin on the table.

As Buffy looked over at the ring, a feeling of loss began to slowly build up in her. She stared down at her ring finger that felt strangely naked. She hadn't realized that she had become accustomed to the weight of the ring on her hand.

"It is late everyone. I think we should all go home and go to bed." Giles announced to the group.

Buffy was the last to leave. She hung back from the group as everyone gathered their coats and filed out the door.

"I'll lock the door on my way out. Okay, Giles?" She called out to the watcher.

"That would be excellent. Thank you, Buffy." Giles responded from the kitchen.

Just as Buffy was closing the door, her eyes landed on the ring sitting on the dining room table. Instinctively, she dashed over and grabbed the ring. Clutching it tightly in her hand before she went out the door.

As the Scoobies broke off at the street to go to their various home, Buffy and Willow walked together quietly as they made their way back to their dorm room. Buffy could feel the bulky ring in the palm of her hand. She didn't know why she had grabbed the ring. It really didn't make any sense, but she could not leave it behind.

"Buffy. Are you okay?" Willow asked as she swung her arms as she turned to regard Buffy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Buffy said, shaking her head as she added. "Just still a little freaked out about what you guys told me what's been going on with Spike and me."

"Well, look at it this way…Maybe you have insight you didn't know you had." Willow responded. She raised her hands as she continued her justification. "Spike surprised us all, you know, with hidden depths kinda thing."

"I think I like my guys in the shallow end, if you don't mind. I don't need anymore surprises in my life." Buffy muttered as she looked away.

"Yeah, I forgot about Riley. He's very toothsome in a bland...I mean stable kind of way." Willow grimaced at her faux pas and looked over at her friend's face to see if she had noticed. Seeing no reaction from Buffy, Willow let out a sigh of relief.

Buffy could not break out of the funk she found herself in since she left the Initiative. If she didn't know any better, she would think her heart was breaking. Her logical mind reasoned that it must be a remnant of the spell she had been under. Still, her heart was calling for something. As much as she didn't want to name it...it wanted Spike. Buffy stopped as she could feel heat generating in the palm of her hand that was holding the ring.

She brought her hand up and opened her fist to see the ring. The stone of the ring was still black but there was something going on. As she stared at it, she could see the inscription behind the stone begin to glow. The letters stood out as if they were carved out of fire. The fire seemed to spread to air as it began swirl and became larger. The swirling fire soon spread beyond her hand and completely engulfed Buffy.

Willow had only taken two steps further when she became aware that Buffy had stopped. She turned to see what the matter was.

"Buffy?"

Looking around for her friend, Willow realized that she was alone.