Willow was so easy to find, Spike knew she had a death wish. "You do know if you die, so does Buffy?"
"I know." She didn't look up from her computer. "Let me finish this up and you can yell at me all you want."
"So the electric's still working. Huh. Thought some demon or other would have cut that off a long time ago." Spike sat on the bier next to Willow and waited for her to finish what had her typing so frantically.
"And sent." She smiled at him. "I'll be able to get you guys a nice sized check with that one. I'll get a bonus for fixing the bugs. One wasn't even a programming issue, but rather someone messed up the tax law about inheritance. They somehow missed that it's been updated a few times since the fifties."
"That's nice." He slapped handcuffs on her wrists with the ease of a well planned surprise attack. "We need to have a chat." With a shove, she fell down the hole in the floor of the crypt and landed on her back. "Don't get too comfy, I'm on my way down and you will not like how I have these types of discussions."
He dropped and landed an inch from her head. "Got nothing to say?"
"I know what you want to know, but I don't know if you'll torture me more or less if I tell you the answer." Willow didn't flinch when he hauled her to her feet and threw her over to where he'd had Buffy chained up over a year ago now.
"And that tells me what the answer is. Tells me that you knew she was in heaven when you brought her back."
"I didn't know for sure, but I knew I was taking a fifty/fifty chance. But Edith is right about one thing. This town is the only thing standing between apocalyptic demons, and them opening the Hellmouth. And this town was lost without a Slayer here." She spit out blood after he punched her in the mouth. "Don't you think I tried everything to find out where she was? And to get some extra help here? No Slayer got called when she died this time. Faith said no. Angel stomped off to brood rather than help out. Said he couldn't be in Sunnydale if she wasn't here. Remember when the commandos got slaughtered? That was the last of people equipped to help."
"Not good enough, Witch." He kicked her in the gut and sent her flying into the stone wall which cracked on impact.
"You can torture me her entire life if you want. You can torture me for your entire life if you need to. Just take breaks to let me work and eat, all right?"
"You think I'd do anything that would hurt Buffy? Daft bint, you should know better by now." He stepped on her neck, putting all his weight on it. Only made her grunt, and he had done no real damage yet. "Let's get to know each other better. You've never even seen what I can do when given the right motivation."
Spike had to give Willow credit, she never begged, and she joked the entire time, continuing calling him Yellow every time he called her Red even when she had trouble catching her breath. Something about her continued use of the nickname, told him that she still trusted him. That she knew he'd take care of her enough that she could keep everyone fed, including providing Buffy with the energy she needed to keep going.
The razor in his hand itched at his fingertips to slice into her again but his fun got cut short when he heard Dawn calling for him and Willow as she opened the crypt door. "Keep your mouth shut."
"I don't want Dawn to see me like this. If she ever knew you did this she'd break. Not gonna do that to her." When Willow went limp, he pressed the key into her hand.
"Go nowhere." He climbed the stairs in a trice, calling out to Dawn as he went. "What brought you out here, Nibblet?"
"I've been looking for you and Willow all over town! Do you know where she is? Buffy didn't look too good when I left. I thought Willow needed to you know, eat something, to make Buffy better."
"I got it covered. Just get home before the sun sets. I'll make sure Willow gets what she needs, so Buffy gets what she needs." He didn't let Dawn hug him before she left because his clothes still had fresh blood on them. Invisible to her because they were on black, but if he got any on Dawn, she'd notice with that see through white thing over her black bra.
When he got back down to Willow, he found her laying naked on his bed. Her breathing still labored. "How'd she miss the bloody hands?"
"Probably thought it was cat blood." He shrugged and stripped down. "Sure you can control yourself?"
"If I don't feed now, I won't make it to another meal. Buffy and I will both be dead. Just close your eyes and think of England. Or rather, Buffy." She tossed him on the bed once he was within reach. When her fingers laced through his hair, Willow faded into Buffy. Her look, feel, smell, sound, and taste.
In that moment she was Buffy and nothing less. He'd forgotten that Willow even existed. And he lived in the bliss of falling asleep with Buffy in his arms. But he woke up to an empty bed with bloodstained sheets. At least it was dark out and he could get home. Punishing Willow worked against what he wanted. He wanted, no needed, Buffy to be all right. And right now that meant making for absolute certain that Willow got fed.
As Spike walked home, the memories of sleeping with Buffy faded, as if it had all been a dream and left him wanting. "Fucking balls."
"Watch your language, William."
"You must be Edith. I'm not in need of company so bugger off." He turned to try to avoid her but found her blocking his path. "It's not polite to keep someone past their wishes."
"Do you remember me? We bowed at the feet of the same mistress once. Do you remember? You have to remember." A gag appeared over her mouth for a flash and then disappeared. Another flash where she was a doll rather than just resembled one.
He scowled at her. "Miss Edith, yeah? Dru's favorite doll. I should have recognized the dress."
"Yes, so you know that my premonitions are true. And now that I no longer have to be filtered through Drusilla's broken mind, I can tell you specifics. Be clear about what's coming for you. All of you. Please work with me. Help me, help Buffy. She's the key to saving this town. I see it. I can tell you all about it if you say yes right now. Tell me you will help Buffy save Sunnydale." Her image flickered a few times and when she put her hand on his cheek he felt a chill so deep it scared him. Frightened him more than anything ever had.
"Get away from me! Stay away from Buffy!"
Miss Edith dissipated like mist, leaving him alone on what he thought was a deserted street. But then he caught the scent of Willow. "You okay, Red?"
"Just peachy, Yellow." She whispered in his ear. "I let you cuff me. And I decided to stay cuffed. I can rip steel to shreds and I'm faster than you. Plus I knew what you were thinking. You reeked of rage. But you need to go home. Take care of Buffy and Dawn and Giles." She kissed him soft but not chaste. "I'll see you around, lover."
She'd picked up some of the brashness and over confidence of her last meal, but he knew she'd be Willow again in about an hour, so he shrugged it off. Just as he was about to head off he caught a whiff of a bunch of small cats. Too big to be kittens but not full grown yet. She'd left him a box of the tasties. With a smile he picked up the box and shoved off toward the new house. What she meant by calling him lover, he did not understand, but he didn't care either. He'd have to thank her for dinner though.
Buffy noticed that she perked up in the middle of the night these days. By midnight she choked on her own energy and needed to get out and burn some of it off. She'd run the perimeter of the town and wasn't even winded. But she still felt no more real now than at any other time since waking up in the hospital. Her brain swam with too much angst to make heads or tails of anything.
Had she really been in heaven if they lied to her and told her her friends and family were okay? She couldn't reconcile those two things because lying and heaven shouldn't go together. But what if they lied to make sure her mind was at peace? So maybe she could reconcile them. But then her thoughts turned again. Would heaven need to lie to her to keep her happy? Wouldn't she be happy her loved ones would get to rest too? So was it heaven? Or was it a lie altogether? Buffy had no more answers now than she had before.
She spotted a demon in the trees and headed for the fight feigning weakness. Hook, line, and sinker, it took the bait and hit her hard enough to leave a mark for a few days. That was enough for her right now. but her punches never made contact. It hit her in the head hard enough to daze her. Another hit and she was out.
When Anya and Tara made it to a village, they cried with relief. Anya, who spoke what had to be hundreds of languages, asked the locals for food, water, and transportation to the airport. Offered them the best trade for those things, the recipe for the potion that had healed their feet overnight.
Anya fell asleep with her head on Tara's lap while they got driven to the airport by the only person with a truck in that village. The woman had to be in her eighties, but she drove, slow but steady over the rough roads then faster on the flawless highway. Her eyesight keen for anything that would hurt her vehicle. When they stopped, the woman took Tara's hand. "Be safe."
"We will." Tara shook her companion awake. "We're at the airport, Anya. I'll go find out what flights we need to take to get to the Well."
"Okay. I'll be there in a minute." Anya watched the woman who'd driven them here put gas in the truck with a grace the belied her age. Her posture straight and proud with a regalness to it Anya hadn't seen in at least a century. "Thank you. Have some potion I already have made." She handed the woman the bottle before heading inside with her bag.
Tara found her first, and Anya couldn't believe it when she said, "They had a couple cancel their trip to New Zealand! And the woman at the counter said since it was already paid for, we could get there for free. First class on one flight."
"Karma might not always be so bitchy," Anya said to herself. "When's the first leg, lift off?"
"Half an hour. That's enough time to clean up a bit before we board." Tara's smile lit up the entire terminal. "This has to be a sign things will work out. That we're heading to the right place?"
"What else could it be? Airports and planes are cursed remember, so this has to be sign." Anya felt like she'd caught Tara's burst of enthusiasm and found a bounce in their steps as they headed for the bathroom to wash some of the grit off them. For the first time since they'd started their quest, Anya had hope for a positive outcome.