A/N – Thanks for the feedback so far, guys! However, a lot's been going on in my life lately (mother in hospital, impending grades, ect.) and I have a worry that all this might give me writer's block. But fear not! I've been dreaming this fic day and night, perfecting it, and I will not rest until this tale has been told. Any suggestions you guys have on the next few chapters can and will be listened to. If there's some character, aspect, or angle you think I'm ignoring, please let me know. So, review, please!
Part 4- Out of the blue
"So, it's all set, then?", Fred asked through the telephone, twirling the cord nervously.
"Great! Of course, I'm sure you guys don't need directions, seeing as how you managed to find your way here a couple times", she continued. "But just in case, call up the hotline. We'll give you directions in a jiffy. Hope to see you soon. Bye, Willow."
She hung up the phone with a giddy click.
Lorne smiled at her, knowingly. "Excited about our little Sabrina popping back in, aren't ya, Sweet Potato?"
"Isn't Willow the best?", the physicist gushed. "I mean, gosh, she's so smart, and funny, and she knows all those cool magic tricks…oh, and she's a science buff, just like me!"
"Wow", Lorne whistled. "Something tells me if she were of the less feminine sex, you'd be ga-ga over Strawberry Red. At least, more so than now."
Gunn scowled at that thought, briefly, and went back to polishing his axe. "Isn't anybody wondering what Angel and Darla are talkin' about up there?", he asked. "They've been gone a bit too long for it to be just chit-chat."
"You don't really think they'd be doing anything more than that, do you?", Fred asked,
"Of course not", Lorne brushed off the thought. "Darla looked way tired from all that mojo she used to get here to be getting her freak on. Besides, Angel said they were just gonna talk, so let's leave it at that."
"What in the hell could those two possibly be talking about?", Gunn mused.
"Gee, I don't know", Skip chimed in, sarcastically. "How 'bout, 'Hey, Darla. How's it going. By the way, nice of you to drop in from Heaven and mysteriously learn magic tricks. Oh, and by the way, thanks for ramming a piece of wood through your heart to give birth to the snot-nosed punk that buried my ass in the sea for three months. That was just gosh-darn swell!'"
"Ain't nobody talking to you, Rusty", Gunn glared at the demon, clutching his axe menacingly.
"Oh, come on. You don't honestly believe that all that tension between them just dissipated, do you?", he said, smirking arrogantly. "She sired him! Traveled with each other for 150 years, did the nasty every way you can conceive of…she bore him a son, for Pete's sake! What they're doing up there right now…. making civil conversation?"
Angel sat on the chair, opposite Darla. She had taken her seat on the bed.
He sat there, wringing his hands, looking at his Sire with some anxiousness. Darla almost chuckled at the look on her Childe's face. She'd never known Angel, or Angelus, for that matter, to be nervous around her. Angry, aroused, intrigued, excited, sure…but nervous was a new one.
Darla looked around the room and let out a sigh. "At least you changed the sheets."
Angel looked up, confused. "Huh?"
Darla arched an eyebrow at him. "You mean you don't remember what happened the last time we were in this room?"
Angel's eyes shot open in realization. "The night we…"
"Yeah…", Darla smiled, almost shyly. Now she surprised Angel. If there was one thing he'd never known Darla for, it was to be bashful. And yet here she was, alive and well and blushing at the thought of being in the same room with him as on the night they conceived Connor." I'm surprised that slipped your mind."
"I, um…never got into this room much, since the night I led you here", Angel admitted.
"'Led' me? You led me here?", Darla's eyebrows arched in surprise.
"I sensed you following me back that night", Angel sighed, recalling one of the worst and also best nights of his life. "I guess I was just so pissed off after the whole Wolfram & Hart thing, I couldn't take it anymore…I felt you close. All night. And I pretty much decided what I was going to do then…so I chose this room." His dark, brown eyes met Darla's blue ones, an ancient memory flickering through them. "You always did like a room with a view."
Darla managed to suppress a gasp that nearly escaped her in surprise. Her gaze ticked from Angel's to the balcony doors that led outside. Where Angel almost lost his soul. Gasping, fighting, stumbling about. She could remember the look of horror on his face when he thought that the demon was breaking through. No doubt, in her mind, that Angelus had tried to do that, from within, fight his bondage inside, tear at the restraints that bound the monster within….but ultimately lost. Because it wasn't enough to release the animal within Angel.
It wasn't perfect happiness. It was despair.
A despair that brought forth Darla's beautiful baby boy into the world.
"You never cease to amaze me", she smiled at the tall vampire. "Soul or no soul."
"Said the woman who came back from the dead not once, not twice, but three times", Angel smirked. "You competing with Buffy for the Lazarus award or something?"
"Speaking of which", Darla sighed, looking at him directly in the eyes. "How is Buffy?"
Angel was caught off guard by the question. "Fine, I suppose. Why?"
"You 'suppose'?", Darla asked, shaking her head slightly. "Have you been keeping track of her at all?"
"Well, sometimes things happen", Angel said, an edge of bitterness starting to creep into his voice. " Like being stuck at the bottom of the sea for three months, dealing with a son who pretty much despises you, fire raining from the sky, fighting an indestructible Beast, then, of course, the little matter of having my soul stolen from me- -"
"And pining after Cordelia?", Darla interjected. "That one of those things that just 'happens', too?"
Angel looked at her in shock. "How did you- -"
"Oh, please. What do think we watch on the other side? 'Days of Our Lives' marathons?", Darla said, her voice bordering on casual, except for a flash of emotion. "I know about her, Angel. About what you've been feeling for her. Thinking about her."
Angel sat there, speechless. What could he really say?
"For someone so damn smart, one would think you'd actually consider the logic in how you suddenly find a woman who you've been repulsed by since you met her to be simply irresistible", the blonde woman said, her gaze scrutinizing Angel.
"I don't think that's any of your business, Darla", Angel said defensively, standing up and walking towards the balcony.
"C'mon, now, darling", she pressed, standing up from the bed. "You mean to tell me you haven't given it any thought as to how that happened? About these warm, fuzzy feelings happening between you two conveniently around the time I came to you pregnant?"
"What are you saying?", Angel asked, whirling on her.
"I'm saying that if you think about, Angel…really think about it, it's just not logical", she said, calmly.
"Love isn't supposed to be logical. You know that", he said, almost angrily.
"'Love'?", she said, her eyebrows raised again. "Is that what you think you're feeling?"
Angel paused, searching for the words. "I…I don't…"
"You don't know", Darla finished for him. "Exactly. Angel, you heard it yourself. There are forces at work here, forces beyond our control. They've been manipulating all this into happening- -"
"No. This is different", Angel said.
"How is it different?", she asked, her arms folded over her chest.
"Cordy and I…we've fought together for three years now, we…we've changed. She's changed", Angel said, trying to argue his point. "She's a different person now than before…she's- -"
"The kind you want to settle down with? Raise a family? Grow old with?", Darla asked, clearly not buying it. "Isn't that the same thing you said about a certain little blonde Slayer who patrols the Hellmouth?"
Angel started to say something, but Darla cut him off. "Open your eyes, Angel. All this you're feeling? The jealousy? The fantasies about Cordelia? The lust?…It's a lie."
"No", he said, a bit of grit in his voice.
"Think about it", the blonde pushed. "If this thing could've manipulated us into giving birth to Connor, and the rest of your friends into the decisions they made…why couldn't it manipulate your feelings for another woman? When everyone knows there's only one woman for you? And here's a hint: It's not me."
Angel shook his head, confusion starting to cloud his mind. "No…no it doesn't- -"
"Yes, it does. Only you're not allowing it to make sense", she said, her chime-like voice still calm. "Angel, I know you. On affairs of the heart, your love doesn't waver, not by itself. You killed me years ago, not for Cordelia…you did it for Buffy. I knew it back then, I sure as hell know it now…All the changes you've made to yourself since getting to California? The mission? The purpose? The life-altering decisions?…In the end…it all comes back to Buffy."
"What does it matter?", Angel said, his voice welling with a long-forgotten pain. "Darla, you know the score. Even if ", he trailed off, "…Buffy and I can't be together. The curse won't let us be."
"And yet you think with Cordelia that won't be a problem?", Darla asked, smiling. "Because she can't give you perfect happiness?"
Angel's eyes widened, as he realized Darla had pretty much won the argument.
"I never said that", he said, again on the defensive.
"You didn't have to, Precious", she smiled knowingly.
Angel had to do something to get out of this conversation. It was leading him to a place he wasn't sure he wanted to go to. "Look, Darla", he quickly replied. "Maybe you should get that rest you've been wanting- -"
"Okay then, let's try this", Darla said. "Are you in love with Cordelia?"
Angel looked at her, then to the floor. "I…I…"
She decided to switch, stopping a smile that was trying to creep its way across her ruby-red lips. "Are you in love with Buffy?"
Angel looked up into Darla's eyes, and without pause, without thought, almost automatically, he replied.
"Yes."
Now Darla let her smile explore the width of her face. Checkmate, she thought, triumphantly.
Angel's eyes lit up in realization. It was as if something deep within him had awoken from a deep slumber. As if the real him, his real feelings had risen up from the ashes of his too-often burned heart. And he could feel his heart, his soul singing the name of the one person he knew…that at some level, he always knew… he belonged with. That he belonged to.
Buffy.
His eyes betrayed his emotions, face flooded with love, and hope, and fear and pain. Thinking about Buffy always made him do that.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Angel", she said gently, reaching up and stroking the ride side of his face. "You known it all along. You always have. It's like the Mohra demon said…'Together, you are powerful.'"
Angel's eyes shot up to her, stunned at the words he had just heard. He'd never told anyone that story…about the Day that Never Was. That magical day where, for the first time in his life, he had everything he ever wanted.
His human heartbeat.
Sunlight.
The image of his own reflection…and life and love with the woman who held a strangle-hold on his heart for all time.
"How did you- -"
"I told you", she said softly. "We see a lot up there…..That's why those forces kept you apart. Because they knew, that together, you two were practically unbeatable. Impossible to defeat. When you were together, you stopped everything that came your way. From the power of the Master, to the sisterhood of Jhea, even a demon Ascension, you faced it together…and you conquered it together."
"I thought…I thought the Powers That Be were the ones who kept us apart", he stammered, lost in the sea of emotion overcoming him. "Because they couldn't risk releasing Angelus again…because of our duty, our lives, our- -"
"The Powers would have liked nothing more than for you and Buffy to have ended up together", Darla corrected him.
"Then why didn't they do anything?", he asked her, his face contorting with anger. "Why'd they sit on their all-powerful asses while Buffy and I were kept apart? Why didn't they help us?"
Darla shook her head. "You know that's not how it works, darling. It has to be your choice. YOU made the decision to leave her, YOU made the decision to swallow back the day- -"
"Because the Oracles said that when the End of Days comes, if I were mortal, Buffy would die!", he snapped. "That wasn't an option. It never will be."
Again, Darla shook her head. "That's not what they said, Angel. They never said that Buffy wouldn't die if you stayed a vampire. Look at what happened to her two years ago."
The Champion winced, the memory of that fateful night, when Willow arrived at the hotel, bearing the news that he had always feared since he first witnessed Buffy being called as the Slayer. That his beloved had fallen in battle. He couldn't deal with that pain. He had to flee to Asia for three months just to try and escape it, and when that failed, finally come to terms with it.
"But none of that matters now", she said, turning his gaze upwards so that he would look at her. "What matters now, is that the End of Days is coming. Now. And if Buffy is to survive, she'll need help." She paused for a beat. "She'll need her champion. As will the rest of the world."
Angel looked at her, staring hard. This angelic figure, who only in appearance was the Darla he remembered, was now telling him everything he wanted to hear. That he needed to hear. But even so, he had been disappointed one time too many in the past. Although none of them ever hurt like his failings with Buffy. Even Connor's betrayals and rebellions, hurtful as they were, fell short of the pain he was caused when he and his lover were separated, seemingly forever.
"And then what?", he asked, his voice starting to crack. "Once this End of Days passes, if we survive it, then what? Do we go back to our regular lives, Darla? Me to mine and she to hers? Do we play make-believe and pretend it's not killing us inside? Because nothing's going to change what it is. I'm still a walking corpse. I can't give her what she needs, or what she'll want. I can't give her children- -"
"You had Connor. And that was with another corpse", she smirked, but not maliciously.
"Because he was a prophecy!", he countered. "I don't know if I can do that again. And even if I could, I destroyed the Gem of Amarra years ago. I can't go out with her into the sunlight. If we have kids, I can't go out in the daylight and play with them. And if we make love…and Angelus gets free…the first thing he'd do is make her suffer, our children…"
Darla looked down at the floor, briefly, before looking at him again. "Angel, trust me on this. I know things now. I'm still not sure about how much I can tell you but…" She paused, taking a shaky breath, before continuing. "You have to trust me. If you love her…and you do, don't deny it…go to her. Tell her that. Fight for her, Angel. Because believe it or not, you are worthy of love. And certainly worthy of hers. Everything else will fall into place after that."
Angel stared deep into her eyes, watching as her orbs danced with a secret that wanted to escape, but dared not seep out. "You're not telling me something", he said.
Darla nodded. "You're right. I'm not. Like I said, it has to be your choice. You can't cheat on this one. All I can do is prod you along the right path. The rest is up to you. It always has been."
They stood there, neither of them saying a word, for what seemed to be an eternity. Darla could see the words start to sink in to his head. Which, in itself, was a miracle, given that Angel could be amazingly thick-headed.
"Do you…do you really think I have a chance at this? That….we have a chance?", he spoke at last, hope flickering in his eyes, his voice hoarse from emotion.
"If I didn't, I wouldn't have wasted my time arguing with you about it", she gently chided, smiling all the while as she did.
If his long-dead heart could be beating right at that moment, it would have sung. There was still hope. Even after all this time, all the angst, the anger, the tragedies, and deaths and return from the dead, after the miles of distance, the way-too-infrequent phone calls, even after Connor…there was still hope. That he could still find happiness. That he could still be with her. With Buffy. That thought, in itself, was enough to have placed him in near euphoria.
She could read the emotion on his face. So much hope, so much fear, so much want….to Darla, he was an open book. That happens after a lifetime or two with someone. You get to know them. Understand him. And Darla was one of the only people, ever, that had the unique ability to understand Angel, as well as Angelus. Perhaps she was matched by only one other in that category…Buffy.
"She'll be here soon", she told him, a soft smile stretching on her pretty face. "I can feel them coming."
The vampire's eyes widened at the thought of his beloved being under the same roof as he was again. What would he do? What would he say? Why did he suddenly feel like some silly schoolboy, when he knew that he was more confident than that…most of the time, anyway?
"Oh, God. I-I'm nervous, why am I nervous?", he asked his Sire.
"Well, it's not everyday lately that you get to see the woman you love…that you really love", she responded.
Angel looked at himself, his face contorting in horror, before looking up at Darla. "I-I-I'm a mess", he realized. "That battle with Skip made my clothes all dirty. I've got to change, take a shower- -"
"Slow down, darling", the blonde chuckled. "First things first. Go shower. You smell like you just crawled out of a sewer."
Angel looked at her blankly. "I did crawl out of a sewer. That's were Skip's lair was."
Darla frowned. "Just shower, okay? Let's start simple. In the meantime, I'm going to get some shut-eye. Wake me up as soon as they arrive, understand?"
He nodded. "Will do." He turned to exit the room, when he paused, turning back to Darla.
"Darla", he began.
"Yes?", she couldn't help but smile. He was so cute when he was all awkward.
After a hesitant step, he quickly walked back to the smaller woman, wrapping his arms around her in a warm hug. Although surprised, Darla was quick to hug her ex-lover back. It was odd, though. They did a lot of things together over their time as a couple. A lot of sex, a lot of killing, a lot of torture, suffering and sex mingled into that, too. But they never really hugged. Not like this. Not with such warmth, and empathy.
He pulled back from their hug, his eyes filled with warmth. "I'm really glad you came back…thanks for setting me straight."
"Hey, you know what they say", Darla shrugged, impishly grinning. "Mother knows best."
Angel let out a small chuckle at that. "I hope so." Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.
"Are we there yet?", Dawn whined, slouching in the seat of the rather large Winnebago the gang rented.
"Bloody hell, Nibblet, that's the tenth time you've asked me that!", a rather irritated Spike snapped from the driver's seat. They were driving for about four hours, their trek to L.A. starting in the daytime. Taking that into account, Buffy had ordered every window in the Winnebago to be covered with aluminum foil. No use having Spike, one of their strongest warriors, spontaneously combust while on their way to handle a major battle, possibly THE battle of their lives.
"You've been driving for hours", she grumbled. "Just admit you're lost already."
"I'm NOT lost, damn it!", he shot back, glancing irritably at Dawn before returning his eyes to the road. "I've been to L.A. before, mind you. I'm just taking the short cut. 'tl save us time, is what 'tll do."
"What good will your stupid shortcut do if you're lost?", she sniped.
"I'm not LOST!", he growled in his Cockney English accent. "Will you just give it a rest and let me bloody well be? We'll get there when we get there."
"Famous last words", she muttered to herself.
"I heard that!", the vampire called from the driver's seat.
"Good!", Dawn shot back.
"Dawn, Spike, could you please keep it down? We're going over strategy here", Buffy admonished her younger sister.
"I still don't get why we couldn't have traveled during nightfall", Spike argued huffily. " 'ts not like L.A. won't be there in the morning if we don't get there quick enough."
"Spike…it an apocalypse", Buffy said dryly. "Urgency is kinda the issue."
"To get to L.A. or to Angel?", Spike muttered. He had been displeased when he learned of the situation in the City of Angels…moreso because it meant of having to deal with that Angel. Things between Spike and Buffy had been warming up recently, giving him hope that he could finally win her heart. Which was why a visit to L.A. was completely not in his plans. Having the object of his affection face-to-face with the old object of her affection, even if it was only to save the world, couldn't bode well. For him, anyway.
Ignoring the murmur she heard from Spike using her sensitive hearing, Buffy turned back to the table set up in the back of the vehicle, eyeing the mess of books and research that Giles had dug up.
"I hope they won't behave themselves as such during the entire trip", Giles frowned. "That could prove to be most distracting, as well as annoying."
"I wouldn't worry about that. You know how they get on", Buffy shrugged.
"I think that's his point", Anya chimed in, idly filing her nails.
Principal Robin Wood took a quick look around the vehicle, whistling as he surveyed the vehicle, the impressive arsenal of weapons lined in back, and the 10 other Potentials sitting there, gossiping with each other and generally relaxing.
"Gotta hand it to you, Buffy", he nodded in approval. "This is quite a setup you got here. I take it this is the Mother Ship of this little convoy you've set up?"
"Pretty much", Buffy said. "This is the Santa Maria among the Nina's and the Pinto's"
Wood raised an eyebrow. "That's Pint-a's, Buffy."
Buffy blushed with embarrassment. "Oh. Right." She smiled at her employer. "By the way, thank you for arranging all those buses for us. Between our three cars, there was no way we were going to fit 200 Potentials in there."
Wood brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "Ah, what's a little illegal use of school property when it comes to saving the world?"
Xander smiled over at Willow. "Wow, you were right, Will. This guy's 10 times cooler than Snyder could ever hope to be."
Willow grinned back. "Right again, as always."
Buffy turned to Willow. "So…on the phone with this…Fred, she said that Cordelia was possessed by some evil being?"
The redhead nodded. "Yeah…says that it got her pregnant. And that it's been making her do some pretty bad things…kill people, summon some Beast-creature, and she's the one responsible for the sun blocking out in L.A."
"Figures that the Poof and his mates would be smack-dab in the middle of the end of the world", Spike sneered. "Couldn't solve it themselves, could they?"
"They had a lot to deal with", Willow said defensively. "Especially with Angel losing his sou- -"
Faith coughed loudly, and poignantly, shooting daggers at Willow.
"His…so…vereignty over the city which he claims as his own", the redhead quickly about-faced.
Buffy frowned. "That's definitely weird. I'd never picture Cordy to be an evil mastermind."
"No kidding", Faith smirked, her legs lazily propped up on the table. "I've seen snow less flakier than her."
Giles scrunched his eyebrows. "Bizarre…tell me, d-did this Fred mention anything else specific about Cordelia's condition?"
"Other than suddenly going full-blown pregnant and hatchet-crazy? No, she let the details a bit sketchy. I guess we'll have to be filled in when we get to the hotel."
Dawn made a face. "That's odd. I mean, think about it. Cordelia's the new big-bad. The same girl who spent more time in malls than…well, anyone."
"Are you kidding?", Xander snorted. "I could've told you that girl was evil from when we met in the sandbox in kindergarten."
"Xander, this is quite serious!", Giles reprimanded him. "We're talking about an old friend, one who needs our help more than ever, and you're still acting like some petulant child over silly grievances!"
Xander stood up, meeting his glare. "Giles, I know that humor is very strange with you British, but that was what we uncultured Americans call a joke. You think I actually want something to happen to her? She's my ex-girlfriend, for God's sake! Of course I still care if something happens to her!"
Everyone grew silent at Xander's unexpected outburst before the young man sat back unsteadily in his chair.
Buffy gave him a faint smile. "We know, Xand. We're going to get her back, I promise."
"Looks like someone still carries a torch for a certain cheerleader", Spike smirked.
Anya frowned at Xander, arms folded over her chest. "Evidently", she all but growled, some jealousy mixed in with that voice.
"Remind me why he's here again?", Xander pointed at Spike, irritated.
"Actually, I was beginning to wonder that myself", Wood glared in the direction of his mother's murderer.
Buffy stayed an arm on Wood. "We need him. He's a good fighter. And we need all the help we can get right now."
Wood glanced at Buffy, then back at Spike. "I guess some sacrifices have to be made."
Spike sighed. "I didn't mean that in a spiteful way, Xander."
"Oh, be still my beating heart, Spike's apologizing", Xander said in a mock surprise voice. "Ask me when I care."
Willow furrowed her brow in thought. "I should've known something was wrong…Cordy seemed different when I visited last time…jumpier, I don't know. Something told me that she was a little…off."
Faith shrugged. "We only spoke for a moment, but it was pretty nasty…She seemed like her usual bitchy self to me. "
"Good cover", Dawn noted. "After all, let's face it. She's been the Queen of Mean for as long as we've all known her, right?"
"Pretty much", Anya agreed. "I met her that one time I was supposed to grant her vengeance wish after Willow made out with Xander, and I have to say, she was one of the nastier girls I've met. And I was pretty around the block with my vengeance demon-gig."
"So, let me get this straight", Wood interjected. "We're traveling 200 miles out to help this…Angel…?"
"Yeah", Buffy simply said.
"And he's a detective…who fights evil?", Wood skeptically asked.
"Uh-huh", nodded Faith.
"Who's got a friend you know who's pregnant with a hell-spawn that could destroy the world…?"
Everyone nodded.
"Boy", Wood thought aloud. "Glad it doesn't get any more confusing than that."
Xander and Willow exchanged knowing looks with each other. Boy, if only Buffy had told the good principal that Angel was a vampire…and one with a soul. Obviously, Buffy chose to save that topic for another time and place. Like when they were so far deep in battle that it would be too late to turn back.
"Yeah", Buffy muttered. "Real simple."
Giles looked to his Slayer in concern. "I have to wonder, though. Was it so wise to place Andrew driving 5 of our Potentials in the car? My car, to be exact?"
"Don't worry about it", Buffy shrugged. "Andrew knows that if he tries anything, I'll bend him like a pretzel. Besides, it's not like he could get that far in your car, anyway."
The Watcher stiffened up. "I'll have you know, that car can go up to 75 miles an hour- -"
"Once you wind up the rubber-band on it?", Dawn snickered.
"Really, old man, when are you gonna move out of the bloody Stone Age and get a car you don't have to Fred Flintstone your way around in?", Spike chimed in.
"I don't recall asking your opinion on the matter, Spike", Giles sniped.
"But you do have to admit, Giles. That car's seen better days", Willow said.
"Like when man invented fire", Xander teased.
Giles rolled his eyes. "Can we get back to more pressing matters at hand? Such as - -"
At that, an arrow crashed through the window, embedding itself deep into the table that the Scoobies were sitting at.
"Such as the flying arrow that came from the window", Giles finished.
"Bloody hell! Ambush!", Spike yelled from the driver's seat, the car beginning to roar faster as the screaming girls hurtled down the empty interstate.
"Everyone get down! NOW!", Buffy ordered as the Potentials instantly ducked for cover.
Faith instinctively leapt up to her feet, peeling back a thin layer of foil from one of the windows. She took a peek out of the window to take a look at their assailants.
About 7 or 8 Harbingers on horseback. Reloading arrows into their crossbows.
"Yo, B! We've got company!", she called back to her sister Slayer.
"Giles, Xander, protect the girls. Dawn, Anya, follow them and keep down at all times", Buffy instructed them as she bolted for the weapons cabinet, grabbing a sword and pocketing Mr. Pointy in her back pocket. "Willow, see if you can work up some kind of protection for us and the other Potentials, or anything to get us out of here."
She turned to Wood. "Help keep them safe?"
He nodded. "Will do."
"Wait, where are you going, luv?", Spike called out from the driver's seat, his eyes focused on the Slayer for a moment in concern before turning back to the road.
Buffy's eyes steeled. "Out. Faith?"
Faith walked to her side, crossbow in hand. "I got your back."
Buffy nodded, and the two Slayers quickly took to the ladder leading to the roof of the vehicle.
"Be careful", Dawn called to her sister, worry sparkling in her blue eyes.
Buffy nodded. "Don't worry. I will." Then she and Faith disappeared onto the roof.
Wood grabbed the radio from near the Winnebago's entrance. "Attention all units! Attention all units! Evasive maneuvers, we are under attack! I repeat: Evasive maneuvers!", he barked into the radio connecting him with the drivers of the three cars and four school buses loaded with Potentials.
Willow got to the driver's seat, where Spike was frantically swerving, trying to avoid the approaching Harbingers on his left.
"Spike, how much farther?", the witch asked.
"Well, got good news and bad news, Red", the vampire replied, his eyes fixed on the road. "At this rate, we should be about 5 miles outside L.A.'s city limits."
"Great. And the bad news?", Willow asked, a sense of dread in that question.
Spike took a quick, grave look at Willow before motioning for her to look to the rear view mirror.
"So are they."
Willow frowned before looking at the mirror, and she gasped at what she saw.
A legion of horseback riding, weapon-toting Harbingers.
At least 200, by the looks of it.
Riding right behind the Sunnydale convoy. And closing the gap quickly…
Willow gulped. "Oh, we are in so much trouble."
T B C…….
