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Chapter 11
Spike made his way to the arcade. Xander had been acting strangely and that bothered him. Spike thought it was the simple fact he had caught them in his bedroom but the more he thought about it, the more he wondered what exactly Xander had heard. There was something nagging Spike in the back of his brain.
Buffy should have come. You knew the boy was acting squirrely and you just went along with it.
She's a big girl, William, she certainly doesn't need some bloke acting like her bloody overprotective— whatever the hell you are— She's pregnant, not incompetent. She'd kick you through a wall if she knew you were fretting like some pathetic moron. Like Harris.
He let out a puff of smoke, flicking his cigarette butt and stomping on it as he neared the front of the arcade. Willow was standing outside, looking very out of place and agitated. Her nose was slightly pink, and she looked like she should be in bed instead of out tracking down bad guys.
"What's the word, Red?"
She looked up, spilling a folded wad of tissues from her pocket. She stooped down to gather them before they blew away and sneezed.
"Bloody hell, what are you doing out'n about?"
"Buffy is in trouble, I can't just lay in bed and—" she sneezed again and blew her nose. "Where is she anyway?" She asked, looking around.
"Magic Box, thought they might have figured out a way to fix her by now. Harris sent me to check on your lead."
Willow shook her head frantically. "It's not magical the guys behind this built an invisibility gun. I told Xander that! We're going to need it to make her visible again," she moaned through a stuffed up nose, "I thought he was bringing Buffy with him!"
"Bugger all, the git—" He cut off as a chill rolled over his shoulders. He knows— course he does you simp, the welp was there listening to your sodding pillow talk— bloody hell—
He tried shoving those thoughts into the back of his mind and cleared his throat, "And where are our bad guys?"
"Well considering Buffy's mystery van is right there, I'm guessing they're inside."
"Think they just have the gun thing in there with them?"
"Or they can take us to it. It's not in the van, I already looked."
"Right, guess I'm bout due for a migraine," Spike ground his teeth at the thought.
Willow straightened up with a sniff, turned on her heel and strode determinedly into the arcade with Spike close behind. Spike scanned the large room looking for anything that looked out of place when he saw the spring on the pinball machine in the back room, pull back seemingly on its own.
"Think I spotted them," he murmured into Willow's ear, pointing towards it.
They were feet away from it when Willow squealed painfully as an invisible force pulled her roughly towards the pinball machine holding her by the back of her head and pulling her hair.
"Let her go!" Spike growled.
"And I'm supposed to be afraid of the Slayer's pet vampire? You're on a leash man. What are you going to do?"
"You're about to find out unless you hand over your little toy there."
"No, I don't think so. See I've got something a little more valuable than just the invisibility gun. I have information," Warren sneered.
"Right information like if I don't get that thing Buffy is going to disappear permanently. Can't let that happen, hand it over."
"Worried, daddy?"
Spike clenched his fists growling, "Shut your mouth."
Willow glanced at Spike, taking in his stiff shoulders and clenched fists, there was murder in his eyes and it wasn't the gleeful look he normally got at the prospect of violence. This was personal and it was clear Warren was getting under his skin.
"What's he talking about, Spike?" She asked.
There was a sickening grin in Warren's tone, "Oh that's right I forgot the most important part, the Slayer hasn't told her friends. I wonder why that is." Warren jeered as he leveled the ray gun at Willow.
"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you. Rip your jaw clean off!"
"You wouldn't even if you could, Slayer has you so wrapped around her little finger I'm surprised you even know your own name," Warren spat.
"You'd be surprised what I could manage if I put my mind to it. You'd be dead."
"Big talk. You know I am interested in one thing. I can't help but wonder how exactly you managed it. I mean you had me build you a robot because she wouldn't sleep with you; I wonder how you managed to convince her to change her mind and suddenly fall in bed with you—"
Spike started forward ready to attack, "Shut your mouth Warren."
Warren pressed the gun into Willow's side, "I can kill her with this thing," he paused until Spike relaxed his stance, "that's better. What I still can't figure out is how you could have gotten her pregnant, considering you're dead and all. Or you know maybe it's all a trick, maybe it's a spell. Oh wouldn't that be neat? Do you have the Slayer under some kind of a spell to make her think she's in love with you? Or maybe just think she's pregnant, is that it? You know if that's the case then I think you went overboard with the twins thing. I mean come on, isn't that a bit derivative?"
"Oh it's no trick. Explains a lot about your shoddy workmanship if I got to explain the birds and the bees to you, mate. That thing was nothing but a pile of nuts and bolts. Garbage." He growled, taking another step toward Warren and Willow. Willow's head jerked back violently. Spike stopped, clenching his fists.
"My work was flawless!" Warren paused thoughtfully, "No. you're just trying to get me to talk about something else. I really struck a nerve didn't I? Because you actually love her, don't you? Oh that's rich," Warren sneered.
"What the hell do you know about it? If anything happens to Buffy, I swear I'm going to rip your throat out!"
Willow looked at Spike with wide eyes, "Spike?"
Before he could answer there was a rustling sound behind him, and a voice let out a wimpy battle cry. An invisible force, brushed by Spike on either side of him, and he put his arms up in surprise. "Bloody hell!"
A second later the ray gun flew up, presumably torn out of Warren's hands. Warren yelped, "Hey!! What gives?! Traitors!!"
The gun floated in the air to a point behind Spike. Spike rushed forward just as Willow broke free and ran over to where the ray gun was floating in midair. Spike tackled Warren and another invisible someone into the pinball machine.
"Hey wait a second I'm on your side!" A whiny little voice came from somewhere under his right arm.
"That remains to be seen, like you," Spike said, hefting the two invisible people by what he assumed was the back of their shirts. The one in his left hand was significantly larger and was clawing at Spike's arm furiously while the one in his right hand merely wriggled a little as though trying to get comfortable.
Willow watched as a dial turned on the ray gun, and a somewhat familiar, nasally voice said, "Here, take this. Give me a second to get over there and then shoot to turn us all visible again," thrusting the gun at her.
"What am I supposed to aim at?" Willow wailed with a sniffle.
One of the pucks from the air hockey table lifted in mid air, jiggled in front of her face a second and then flew over to hover close to Spike's stationary right arm. Willow took aim and fired. Spike flinched at the last second as two guys he didn't recognize appeared.
Warren twisted violently, jerking Spike's arm. Before he had a chance to get free, Spike dropped Andrew who collapsed on top of Jonathan. Using both hands Spike got a better grip on Warren, slamming him down into the pinball machine, breaking the glass into a million pieces.
Warren swore loudly as Spike buckled, falling to the floor with a yell, clutching his head in agony. There was a groan of pain and more muttered swear words as a trail of blood appeared on the floor. Willow took aim and fired but sneezed and missed, hitting a racing game instead. The back door opened and closed quickly with a snap. The blood trail didn't come back around but Willow still increased her grip on the gun as she rushed over to Spike who was just pulling himself up with a groan.
"Bollocks, where'd the bastard go?" Spike groaned, rubbing his forehead.
Willow shook her head, "Out the back, but he's hurt. Don't know how bad."
"Can smell the blood."
"Yeah well as much as I love the idea of you playing bloodhound, I think we have bigger problems."
Spike straightened himself up fully, "Too right you are. Got to get that thing to Buffy."
"Where's Buffy?" Jonathan asked worriedly.
"Like I'm going to tell you anything. Thanks for the assist, but I don't know who the hell you are," Spike said through clenched teeth.
Willow narrowed her eyes at him, "I think I know this guy, Spike. Jonathan, right?"
"Yeah…" he answered bashfully.
Spike turned towards him, "What do you two little twerps have to do with any of this?"
Andrew finished adjusting his shirt and cleared his throat, "We were supposed to be criminal masterminds, like Lex Luther."
"Yeah, until Warren decided he wanted to go all Dark Side on Buffy," Jonathan answered.
"You work with that ass? You did this to her? To—" Spike clenched his jaw shut.
Jonathan looked like he might wet his pants, "It was an accident! We didn't mean to! In fact that's why we didn't go along with Warren's plan after we found out she was pregnant. We didn't want anything to do with what he had planned."
"That's right, we're not bad guys anymore. We're not killers!" Andrew squeaked, "We're like Darth Vader when he turns against—"
"I've heard enough of this nonsense," Spike rolled his eyes, "Come on Red, you've got the gun. Let's get Buffy back to living color before we track down our evil mastermind."
Willow froze in place watching Spike, her mouth hanging open slightly.
Spike turned towards her, taking in her shocked expression, "Buffy needs our help. You want to drill me for information on the way, fine but I'm not wasting my time here."
Jonathan pulled keys out of his pocket, "You guys need a lift?"
Willow cast an uncertain eye towards Spike and shook her head, "Ohh yeah, thanks for the offer but I'm thinking that's a pass."
Buffy was pacing the floor at the Magic Box while Giles, Anya and Xander poured over research material. "This is a waste of time. I should have just stayed with Spike," Buffy grumbled.
"When were you with Spike?" Anya asked.
Xander started to cough, Anya patted his back.
Buffy was suddenly glad they couldn't see her, "Ahh I mean when he gave me Xan's message."
"Yeah Anya, of course that's what she meant!" Xander said in a strained tone, "But really Buffy don't worry about it I'm sure Spike's got this. It's just safer if you're here," Xander said, earning a look from Giles.
"Safer? What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.
"I'm trying to put myself in his grungy boots, if it was me I'd be losing it right about now."
"If it was you, what, Xan?" There was steel in Buffy's voice that made Xander flinch.
He cleared his throat nervously, "I just mean, I know he's really determined to help."
"You know I've noticed he's been almost tolerable lately," Giles chimed in a little absentmindedly without looking up from his book.
Anya shoved Giles' book aside with the one she was looking at, "What about this one Giles? I know the wording is a little off for the situation but if we tweak it just a little it might make her visible again."
Giles leaned over slightly annoyed, to look at the page Anya was pointing at, "Only if we want her to appear inside of a mirror and I don't think that will negate the ermm— deterioration effect."
Buffy's stomach twisted and the hollow feeling that had been eating at her since leaving Spike's crypt grew. Xander had been acting strangely ever since she had arrived. Even though he couldn't see her she had caught him staring in her general direction a number of times. It was clear he heard them talking but exactly how long he had been listening and how much he had heard was the real question.
Spike took a cigarette out of the pack, placing it between his lips as he and Willow watched the two geeks drive away from the arcade. He gave a jerk of his head in the direction of the Magic Box, "Let's hear 'em, Red, know you got questions."
"Is it true? Is Buffy really pregnant with twins?"
"Just found out about the double-mints today," he pulled the ultrasound pictures from his pocket, holding them out for her but unwilling to let go.
She eyed him wearily as they walked, "But how? I mean not the obvious how, but how?"
He blew out a puff of smoke, "Suppose we have you to thank for that. Dunno if she'd be too keen on me saying much but I suppose it's got to come out eventually," he paused, "The night we faced Glory. We went back to her place for the weapons and— she eh… invited me in—" He took a long drag of his cigarette.
"Invited you in?"
"To her bed."
She gave him an incredulous look, "You're kidding?!"
Spike glared at her, "Emotions were running high, we were both in a state, trying to go out on a high note I guess. Hell she actually did—" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, "I do love her you know."
"But how? I don't understand, you're dead— you still wouldn't— unless—" Willow clasped a hand over her mouth, putting it together, "When we brought her back we reanimated more than just her body—"
"Got it in one," Spike replied, "didn't believe her at first. Thought Finn had been back to town. But there's no question about it. I'm definitely the only candidate."
"This is why you got the job and asked Tara about getting your soul."
Spike nodded, "If I ever expect Buffy to love me the way I love her, I got to be the man they deserve."
"And you think she'll love you if you get your soul?"
"She's still holding back, and we all know why. I'm just a soulless thing."
"Did she actually say that?"
He glared at her out of the corner of his eye, "Course not! Doesn't have to. Sodding Peaches— No. She doesn't have any idea I'm even looking into it."
Willow adjusted the gun in her arms and gave a sniffle, "I don't know, Spike— I think Buffy would want to know."
Spike shook his head, "No way. Girl's having enough trouble. I'm supposed to be helping clear her plate, not piling more on. And what did I do? Got her pregnant the first time she let me touch her. Twins. Bloody hell. No, Buffy doesn't find out bout this till it's done you got me?"
Willow looked up at him, "And if she still doesn't love you?"
The question stung and he winced inwardly. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was making a valid point, "I have to try. If not for her then at least to be worthy enough to be the father of our children."
She nodded seriously, "I've been looking into it for you."
"Yeah?"
"I think I might be onto something actually. I'm going to have to work on it some more but I'm pretty confident I can do it. I mean heck, if I can bring my best friend back from hell and get her pregnant with a vampire's twins all with one spell, yeesh, I really am one badass witch," she said smiling brightly.
Spike bit down on the inside of his cheek so hard he drew blood. Let her have this little ego boost, when Buffy is ready she'll tell them, that'll likely knock the wind out of the witch's sails.
Buffy sat down on the step leading from the front door of the shop watching the three of them. Waiting like this was starting to make her skin crawl and she was about three seconds away from bolting when the door opened. Willow came in, still clutching the ray gun with Spike behind her. Buffy sprang up, moving out of the way before they had the chance to trip over her.
"You're back!" Buffy exclaimed.
Willow stopped, Spike pulled back, "Watch it," Spike said gruffly, then eased up, "go on Red, do your thing."
"Do me a favor, Buffy and give me something to aim at."
"You want to shoot me?!" Buffy asked in alarm.
Spike gave a gentle nod, "It's alright, Luv, she's going to get you back."
"Yup, this is a total reverse-bad kind of shooting," Willow said reassuringly.
Buffy's stomach lurched and it was all she could do to keep calm. The idea of being shot with the weird looking gun was unnerving but she knew Spike was just as invested in the safety of their babies as she was.
She gave a little sigh, "If you say so," she picked up a bundle of sage and held it in front of her chest.
Willow took aim, firing. There was another flash and Buffy stood fully visible again.
Spike's shoulders relaxed and he resisted the urge to run to her, "Are you alright, Slayer?"
Buffy looked down at her arms, bringing one hand to her chest and the other to her stomach for the briefest moment before moving her hands to her hips. She nodded her head, "I think I'm alright."
Spike started to take a step toward her but stopped himself. She walked around to stand close to Spike, a little of the tension that had built up in her seemed to dissipate a fraction and the knot in her stomach eased a little. "Did you get the guys who turned me invisible?"
"Two out of three," Spike answered.
Willow came over and handed the ray gun to Buffy, "They used this."
"Seriously?" Buffy griped holding up the weapon, "Never useful," she huffed as she smashed it down over the little railing, breaking it in half. She turned back to Spike, "So where is our third bad guy? Who is he?"
Spike pressed his lips into a fine line, "Warren. The robot guy. He's still invisible."
Buffy cast her eye back towards the broken pieces of ray gun, "Ohh…"
"If it makes you feel any better, the git was planning on killing you with that," Spike said a little bluntly. He studied the pieces of the broken gun and couldn't suppress a slight grin.
If she hadn't smashed it I certainly would have. Bet that wouldn't have even given me a headache.
He brought a hand up to rub his forehead, the migraine from the chip firing at the arcade still lingering. It was often the case and he knew it would be gone within the hour.
He thought about mentioning the fact that Warren was bleeding enough to leave a trail but if Willow wasn't saying anything, he certainly wasn't about to volunteer the information. He didn't even know how badly or where he had been cut. He could always go back to the arcade and follow the blood trail, but the fact was that he just didn't care about the guy that much. If he didn't turn up in a day or two maybe he would. Maybe.
Asshole deserves to fade away into nothing.
The only thing that bothered him was the look on Buffy's face as she looked at the broken gun. He placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder, "It's not your fault, Slayer. The git brought it on himself."
She nodded and moved a hand to her belly. An action that didn't go unmissed by Xander or Willow. "I hum— I think I just want to get out of here."
Spike straightened his shoulders, "Right, course you do."
"Xan, can you take care of that thing? I'm taking Willow home." Buffy said, eyeing Willow as she sneezed and fished out a tissue with a sickly groan.
Xander practically jumped out of his seat, "Sure, Buff, you probably don't want to be touching that anyway."
Spike turned to Buffy, dipping his head to speak into her ear very low, "Willow knows about the babies. Know the boy heard more than he's letting on too."
She nodded, "You're right about Xan, he's being super weird. How does Will know?" She asked coolly.
Spike swallowed and dropped his voice, "Think our geek squad was watching us earlier today. Mentioned it in front of the witch. We ended up having a nice little chat on the way here."
Buffy's eyes grew wide and a shot of anxiety ran through her. Xander had heard them. The creepy spying bad guys knew about the twins and now so did Willow.
We couldn't even have this one to ourselves for one freaking day? And what an incredibly long day it's been and it's not over yet…
"I think it's time," she murmured.
She stood nervously beside Spike. Her heart was pounding in her chest, palms wet with sweat. Spike shifted his stance next to her and put a hand on her back. He could almost feel her shaking. "Breathe, Slayer."
Buffy laughed, maybe it was the tension of the moment but just for a second the thought of a vampire telling her to breathe seemed hilarious. And then the nausea was back. She steadied herself with a deep breath and looked at the faces of the friends surrounding them. It wasn't everyone, but she was sure Dawn and Tara were probably asleep, they would just have to find out later.
Buffy cleared her throat, "Spike and I have something we need to tell you."
Giles stood up, taking his glasses off, "If you think we haven't noticed you've been spending an awful lot of time together, you would be mistaken."
Spike grinned, "Well spotted, Watcher man."
"Spike," Buffy warned. "Well yeah we have been and we're sort of— humm…"
"Dating? Having lots of sex and orgasms?" Anya asked.
"A bit," Spike shrugged easily.
Buffy glared at him, "Seriously?!"
"What? She asked. We're telling them everything, yeah?" He gestured towards the group.
"Yeah…" Buffy admitted, "but I didn't think we'd be going into everything, everything!"
"Well ain't that what got us into this to begin with?"
Xander couldn't stand it anymore, "Fine Buffy and Spike sexy-happy-fun-times, we get it; but last I knew vamps didn't shoot the right ammunition to result in babies. So what the hell?"
"Oi!" Spike snarled.
There was a cracking sound and Giles looked down at his glasses in his hand. He had pushed his thumb through the lens cracking the glass, "Brilliant—" he spat and strode behind the counter to pull out a bottle of scotch and poured himself a drink, "Go on, don't mind me…"
Willow couldn't help a grin, "It was the spell we used to bring her back! It reanimated Spike's—"
"Good Lord," Giles murmured into his scotch before downing the glass.
Willow flushed a little pink, "Well yeah. So when we pulled her out of hell and brought her back it also made it possible for her to get—"
Buffy's insides started to writhe while Willow spoke, "I wasn't in hell," she blurted.
Spike turned to her sharply with his hands on her shoulders, "Buffy, sweetheart, you don't have to do this now."
Tears filled her eyes suddenly, "I can't keep hiding it either, we said we would tell them everything. I need to tell them this too."
"You've been through a lot today, luv, are you sure?"
Xander suddenly looked a little sick but Buffy ignored the look he gave her. Despite his outburst, they were still trying to pretend they didn't know he heard them talking.
Buffy swallowed a lump in her throat and gave Spike a little nod. Then turning back to her friends, "When you brought me back, I was in heaven, or I think I was. I was warm and safe and loved and finished. Complete. And then I was panicking, alone in a coffin and digging myself out of my grave and fighting demons and— in debt up to my eyeballs and— things have been getting better but it's still—" she broke off turning to Spike, "and now this—"
Spike laced his fingers in her hair, "You're not alone, I made you a promise and you know how I feel about those," he said pulling her against his chest resting his head on hers and eyeing the stunned looks on the other's faces.
Willow, who had been glowing a moment ago, despite her cold, suddenly looked white as a sheet. She had ripped her best friend out of heaven and had been instrumental in inadvertently burying her under a pile of insurmountable odds without so much as handing her a shovel.
Well that's going to change.