Spike turned the wad of money over in his hand as he paced, looking out of his crypt every so often, and then punched the wall. How did he get here? It must have been done overnight, while he was asleep.
Uh-huh. And wouldn’t he have noticed when he’d dropped into a fiery oblivion? There was nothing he’d done (that he could think of) that would have landed him in hell while he was sleeping. I mean, sure, he’d tried to kill the Slayer recently, but he was a vampire. What else was he supposed to do? His entire purpose in his eternal life was to kill off as many Slayers as possible.
You aren’t supposed to fall in love with them, a tiny voice in the back of his mind reminded him.
“Shut your gob,” he said aloud to himself.
Okay, all right. Let’s go through what’s happened in the past day or so. First, he’d gone about cursing himself for loving Buffy. Then, he’d paced about his crypt and slammed his fists into walls while he waited until the sun set. He’d gone to the Bronze for no reason and left when that god-awful brain liquifier made its charming appearance. Then, he’d gone to go kill Angel with his stupid mortality…
…Angel. Now, that was a name he hadn’t heard in a long time. Yet he knew that the great ponce was living in Sunnydale and had been ever since he’d gone and gotten himself a pulse almost a year ago. Why wasn’t he feeling that this was right? It wasn’t really Spike’s style to kill the boyfriend, either; he was more rational than that. Well, when it came to Buffy, anyway. But how did he know that?
And where the hell had he gotten all this money?
He supposed it was tall, dark and forehead that had sent him here. Which, y’know, was reasonable, since Spike had been trying to kill him.
None of this makes any ballsing sense.
Spike hit the wall again and began pacing once more.
***
Riley and Xander were getting tired. It was only nine-thirty, but they’d looked everywhere they could think of and there was absolutely no Faith anywhere.
Xander was happy about this. Riley wasn’t.
They decided to find a payphone and call Riley’s cell to ask Buffy if they could go back yet. Buffy picked up on the first ring and seemed flustered for a greeting. “Hello, uh… Agent Riley’s home. Phone. Finn’s phone.”
“Hey, Buff, it’s just me.”
“Thank God, Xander,” she said with kind of an unhappy laugh.
“We can’t find her and we’ve looked everywhere.”
“We found her within ten minutes. We’re back at your place and she’s all tied up. She’s still pretending to be unconscious; one punch couldn’t do that to a Slayer.”
“…Oh.” Xander was just a little bit annoyed that they hadn’t thought to check in sooner; over an hour of lost time.
“But I’m glad you phoned,” Buffy added. “I called Giles and he didn’t pick up. He doesn’t have a machine, either… I called the Magic Box and left a message, but it’s Sunday, so I don’t think he’ll be in today. Would you and Riley go check on him? Since Faith is being so unconscious, I don’t know if he’s been hurt.”
“Sure thing, Buff. We’ll go see the G-man. Should we ask him to bring all my books back there and we can have a research party about the noise while we keep an eye on the Slayer? The other one?”
“Yeah, that’d be good. If he’s okay, I mean…” Xander could hear how much Buffy was trying to mask her worry for her watcher.
“He’s fine, Buffy. We’ll be there soon.” Buffy hung up the phone and Xander and Riley set off towards Giles’ place. They knocked when they got there and waited a moment before knocking again. Neither Xander nor Riley particularly wanted to believe that there was anything wrong with Giles. Riley tried the door after a minute and they found it to be unlocked.
They walked in tentatively. “Giles?” Xander asked softly. Nothing was really out of place; it just looked like Giles was having a mad stab at figuring out the Bronzenoise last night. Riley heard that the shower was running.
“He was just in the shower when Buffy called. He didn’t hear it,” Xander commented.
“She called an hour and a half ago,” Riley reminded Xander.
“…Oh, yeah.” He spoke up. “Hey, Giles! Are you here?”
From the bedroom walked a figure in a bathrobe. Xander yelled and hid behind Riley. Riley was just confused.
“Hey, guys. Rupert’s just having a shower, he shouldn’t be long. I assume you’re here for a research-related endeavor?”
For the second time that day, Xander made a brief statement. “You’re dead!”
Jenny Calendar frowned. “No, I’m not. Why does everyone think that today? Rupert thought so, too…” her frown transformed into a mischevious smile. “…though, I’m not complaining. Well, I wasn’t. I am now, though. I’m not dead.”
“You are! Angel killed you!”
“Rupert thought so, too… have you both had Alternate Universe cereal this morning?” Jenny said sarcastically in disbelief. “Angel tried to kill me. Rupert came and tackled him and nearly staked him but he ran off. Then we gave him back his soul, he went to hell, came back, went to L. A. … which is also kinda like hell… became human and came back.”
“Well, we knew all that,” Xander said, less frightened and stepping out from behind Riley. “But you were definitely dead.”
“No. I wasn’t.”
Xander blinked. “Oh. Okay.”
Riley looked from Jenny to Xander and back to Jenny again. “Good morning, Jenny,” he said, and then gave kindof a funny look at Xander.
Jenny laughed. “Thank God someone doesn’t think I’m dead. Can I get you something to eat?”
Riley declined, but Xander’s eyes lit up. “Well, if you’re getting something anyway…” he said, feeling like he was back in high school what with Ms. Calendar being around again. Though, living at Giles’ was different. It felt right. He quickly became accustomed to the idea.
Riley, having already been used to the idea for years, since, in his books, Jenny was never dead, sat down and spoke with her in comfortable conversation. He accepted after all the eggs and bacon she offered him. Jenny heard the shower turn off and she stole further back into the house to alert Giles that they had company. She came back out a minute later looking slightly aglow. Giles followed shortly.
“Hello, hello!”
Both guests drew back a little bit at how incredibly happy Giles seemed to be. They really weren’t used to it. “Hey, Giles,” Xander started a little hesitantly.
“I don’t mean to be frank, but why, exactly, are you here?”
“Oh, yeah!” Xander said. Then he looked back at his breakfast and said, “Tell ‘em, Riley.”
“You guys weren’t visited by Faith this morning, were you?” Riley asked after a moment.
Giles’ content demeanor switched quickly into concern. “Faith? She’s here?”
“Yeah. Came into my apartment this morning apparently lookin’ for a little lovin’,” Xander provided between bites. “I don’t know what her real agenda is, but she’s tied up and unconscious in my apartment now. Buffy called and you didn’t answer, so she thought you were hurt and asked us to check up on you.”
“Buffy rang?” Giles looked slightly worried and amused at the same time. “Hmm.”
“She wants to have a research session about the noise from last night and watch Faith at the same time, and she probably doesn’t feel like lugging an unconscious Slayer tied to a chair all the way down here, so she recommended Xander’s place,” Riley said. “We’ll help you transport books if you need us.”
Giles had been watching Jenny with a kind of fascination that made Riley and Xander uncomfortable to be in the same room as them. “Hmm? Oh, no. No, that’s fine… you go on ahead and Jenny and I will be there… shortly.”
Xander and Riley thanked them for breakfast and slipped out the door. “So, Ms. Calendar’s alive, huh? Wonder when that happened.”
Riley looked at Xander but didn’t say anything; he didn’t think it was entirely necessary to make him see that Jenny had been alive the entire time.
***
Anya waited, shaking. She didn’t hear anything out there, but that was what worried her. The wretched thing was probably just sitting out there, waiting for her to think it was safe and then attack. She had gotten tired of running very shortly and had broken into The Bronze. She was hiding in one of the cupboards under the bar. There was absolutely no way she was leaving here until she was certain it was gone.
She’d gone to Xander’s house again, but there was no one there. Only a shattered chair, which worried her momentarily before she remembered about the fluffy monstrosity not far behind her. Mostly, she was just hoping that Buffy would check home and find out about the giant rabbit that was following her and come to her rescue. Forget Xander.
Actually, that seemed to be what was gradually happening. She was forgetting Xander. It didn’t worry her; it was just one of those things that happened. And she had the feeling that he was forgetting her, too. But that’s okay. She loved him and he loved her and even if they completely forgot each other, that’s all that matters.
Anya shook and waited.
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