Chapter 6: Breathe

Buffy and Fred walked into the Wolfram and Hart's lab and saw they weren't alone in the room, Wesley and Knox seemed to working too.

"Hey Wes…" Buffy smiled.

Wesley and Knox turned their attention to Buffy and Fred.

"Buffy…Fred…" Wesley smiled at both of them, "Thought Angel was coming too."

"He was…" Fred looked towards the door to see if Angel was coming.

"He's probably fighting with Spike; it's what they do best." Buffy looked over at the sarcophagus, "Is this it?" She started to walk towards it.

"Yep, that's it." Fred said.

Fred and Wesley stood back and watched as Buffy examined the whole parameter of the ancient sarcophagus closely.

"So…what happened to dinner last night? You…me…" Wesley said quietly to Fred without taking his eyes off of Buffy and the sarcophagus.

Fred turned around towards Wesley, "Oh my god…I honestly forgot. I'm so sorry."

Wesley laughed and looked at Fred, "It's alright. I'm sure you can make it up to me somehow."

Fred gave him a sweet smile, "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know…movie…my place…make out session." Wesley said.

"Wes!" Fred squealed in embarrassment, and looked at Knox and Buffy to see if they heard him and when she saw no one was looking she gave him a kiss on the lips.

While Fred and Wesley were being 'busy' across the room, Buffy was examining the pretty looking crystals that were onto of the lid cover of the sarcophagus. She seemed memorized by the crystals and moves her hand slowly to touch the iris. Then, before Buffy can react the iris opened and gust of air blew into Buffy's face. She instantly started to cough and wave the dust away from her face.

"Buffy?" Wesley asked in concern when he saw her coughing near the head of the sarcophagus.

"What happened?" Fred asked and set her hand on Buffy's arm in comfort.

Wesley rubbed her back, trying to get her to stop coughing.

Buffy pointed to the sarcophagus, "I don't know…the thing opened there was some sort of air…"

Knox walked over to the sink and poured a glass of water and came back and handed to Buffy.

"Here." Knox handed to glass to Buffy.

"Thanks." She said and drank the glass down.

Wesley and Fred looked over and saw that Buffy was right; the iris on top of the lid was opened for some reason.

Spike walked through the lab door, "So what's happened?"

Spike looked at everyone hovering around Buffy as if they were concerned for some reason, "What's going on?" he walked over to Buffy and the rest of the group.

"It's nothing…I'm fine." Buffy said and cleared her voice.

"The iris on the sarcophagus opened and there was something that came out of it…Buffy breathed it in." Fred explained.

"What?!" Spike shouted and started to panic.

"Spike, I'm fine…really…" Buffy reassured him.

"I don't know Buffy…I think we should have you checked…just to make sure." Wesley said.

"Right." Spike said and nodded, looking at the sarcophagus and trying to keep his cool.

"But—" Buffy tried to object but couldn't get a word out.

"But nothing luv…" Spike said firmly to her, "Where's the med-lab wing around here?" he asked Fred.

"Come on I'll show you." Fred said.

Both Buffy and Spike followed Fred out the door of the lab.

"What do you think happened?" Knox asked Wesley.

Wesley just kept staring down at the iris on the sarcophagus, "Not sure." He said, "But it can't be good."

TBC...