Reunions: Part 14
by JoAnne Storm
I looked at the other known exit points. The warehouse didn't have many windows, and they were covered with steel bars anyway. There was only three doors. One of the reasons the warehouse had closed was because the building wasn't up to the fire codes.

The doors could be blocked with crosses. Or, a two person team could keep them covered. I preferred to use crosses, though. We had no idea how many vampires would be in the building and couldn't afford to be grossly out numbered.

Willow finally found out that the tunnel ran to the building across the street. She had ended up looking at all of the building plans in the area. A team would enter there while another drew Spike's attention away from the tunnel. It was decided that the Dragon Team would enter the tunnel because Spike didn't know of our existence. An attack the opposite way would make him wonder where the Slayer was.

Attacking during the day negated the possibility of them running out the doors. Now, we just had to figure out where the sewer access was. It turned out to be right in the middle of the warehouse. I wonder how Spike put up with having a whole in the middle of his living room? A few people in the tunnels armed with crossbows, crosses, and Super Soakers filled with holy water would take care of that escape possibility. The crosses and holy water wouldn't kill a vampire, but they would make them think twice about going into the tunnel. Giles, Mrs. Summers, and Oz would be those people.

Willow and Cordy would stay in the library, there was no arguing about that. Oz wouldn't risk Will, and even if Cordy didn't have Alex to think about, I wouldn't have let her go. Steven and Bobby would go with Buffy and Mandy. That left George, Jerry, Kathryn, Juan, and me in the tunnel.

We had a few hours before dawn, so we spent it increasing our arsenal and catching up with each other. Oz was filling up the water guns him and Mrs. Summers would carry, Super Soaker CPS 3000 series, a large gun with a reservoir of water that is carried on your back and lets out a constant stream of water. They had replaced the original water packs with ten gallon versions. I didn't think I wanted to know how he gotten someone to bless that much water.

Willow and Jerry were discussed spells that could come in useful. Giles's library had several books Jerry had never even heard of, and the spells contained within them made him quiver with anticipation.

Team 1, also known as Buffy, Mandy, Bobby, and Steven, had already loaded their crossbows. Now they were trying to figure out how to carry the optimum number of stakes.

The rest of us whittled stakes. Since we didn't know how many vampires were going to be in the warehouse, we decided that the more we carried, the better. Team 2 wouldn't carry crossbows because Giles didn't have enough to go around and we didn't have time to go back to the plane for ours. Instead, we relied on the element of surprise. Kathryn's "little toys" and Jerry's spells were our big attacks. Then, we would use stakes until they ran out. Hopefully, Spike's army would find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

I talked briefly with all of my old friends, making sure Cordy stayed in sight the whole time. Giles told me he understood my reasons for going after Spike. I knew he would. After Ms. Calendar died, he went to try to kill Angelus, and almost killed himself in the process.

Will was so happy to see me. She had missed having me around. Oz had even wanted me to be the best man at they're wedding. She was five months pregnant, and wanted me and Cordy to be the godparents. Imagine that, a father and a godparent, all in one day.

Buffy told me about how she had forced her way into Cordy's house after she was released from the hospital. Cordy had been amazed at what she had to say, but Buffy was even more shocked when Cordy had showed up on her door-step the next morning. Her mom quickly agreed to let Cordy stay for awhile, which stretched into eight months when they found out she was pregnant.

She had only moved out when she had started making money as a fashion designer, one month after Alex was born. The Summers had refused any money from her, only asking her to help out with the bills while she was there. In return, she gave them a bunch of clothes from her small, exclusive, and very expensive line. She had also named Alex after Mrs. Summers to show her appreciation of their generosity.

The old habit of teasing each other quickly came back into play as Buffy called out from the other side of the room, "Hey, Xander! Run into any bug people lately?"

I just laughed. I knew I didn't have to answer, some of the members of the Team had been there during the last encounter.

"Well," Jerry was the one who answered. "There was that vampire who used Egyptian Dung Beetles to hide the bodies of his victims. Harris seemed to have a great time using the industrial strength bug spray we found."

The others laughed, which led to an explanation of my experiences with bug people. I couldn't resist a comment to Cordy.

"I don't know, I kinda liked Worm Guy. Being trapped in Buffy's basement, all alone..."

"Easy for you to say. You didn't have them fall on you!"

"What about you, Buff? How many times did you die?"

"Not once in five years, thank you!"

"She did avoid around twenty death prophecies and prevented one hundred Armagedons, though." Giles said with pride.

"Yeah, Angel said you were becoming a legend."

She came up behind me. "How is he?"

"He's... Angel. Still has that brooding thing down pat. That and the tortured soul thing," I whispered.

She didn't smile at my crack. No one else was around us, so I knew we could talk freely.

"He keeps an eye on all of you. Told me how you guys were doing. He would have told me that Cordy was still alive, but I cut him off."

"Did he tell you about how he escaped?"

"No, and I didn't ask. Buffy, he said that if it hadn't been for Spike, he wouldn't have let you know that he was here. He wants you to happy, and for some reason, he thinks that means avoiding you. Try to straighten him out."

"Why are you telling me this? You used to say anything to put Angel in a bad light."

"Not always. Remember when Kendra had first arrived? I defended him then."

She just raised an eyebrow at me.

"OK, truthfully, I don't know why I'm rooting for him. I just know that when I thought Cordy was dead, I didn't want to see any of my friends suffer like I was. And, if that meant the two of you together, so be it. And, now that I know Cordy is alright, I still feel the same way. Don't worry, by this time next week, I'll probably be calling him Dead Guy again.

"Buff, he put me up in his apartment last night. Even though he knew I didn't like him and could be a threat to him. And, I almost killed him when I saw him at first. He didn't even try to stop me. Maybe, I just don't want to see another ally die for no reason."

She nodded her head in understanding. She had never really liked Kendra, but she was an ally in the war. Ms. Calendar was another wasted death.

"I'll... I'll go see him after we're done today. Even if I have to track him down."

She would too. Once Buffy's mind was made up about something, there was no stopping her.

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