Chancing Folly
By HW
Jac@blackplumes.freeserve.co.uk
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I merely borrow.
Summary: Some old adversaries decide to play a game with the Scoobies, past and present.
Spoilers: Anything from the first 100 episodes of Buffy and the first 44 episodes of Angel.
Author’s Note: Set after Buffy’s imminent return from the dead.
Dedication: To Michael, for never laughing at me and my strange world.


Chancing Folly

Chapter 1

“Why don’t we start with, ‘Hi, I’m Buffy’?”
Buffy – ‘Welcome to the Hellmouth’
****

“Goddamn you Spike,” Buffy muttered as the relentlessly smiling Buffybot made her way towards the Slayer. It was practically skipping and Buffy’s eyes narrowed even further as she watched the approach.

Giles had insisted that it continue to help her patrol, once she had ‘arrived back’. The Watcher had never referred to her ‘time away’ as her death, and Buffy felt sometimes as though she hadn’t really died at all. She had merely been away on vacation. A very wonderful, relaxing vacation that had given her a peace within herself about who she was. One of those spiritual trips people took when they left high school or college, or turned forty to go and ‘find themselves’. And she had found herself.

Now of course she found herself in the cemetery, watching a robot who looked exactly like her getting closer and closer. Buffy gritted her teeth, waiting for that first comment that would make her want to tear the thing to shreds.

“Hi, Buffy. Have you killed a lot of demons tonight? I have staked two vampires. Do you want me to help you?”

“No skirt girl. I don’t want you to help me. Ever,” Buffy ground out as she turned towards the exit and led the robot back to the Magic Box. “I don’t even know why you’re still patrolling with me. It’s not like Giles is here to glare disapprovingly at me if I don’t.”

He had tried to stay. He had stayed those three long months Buffy was ‘lost’ to them, and he had stayed a couple of months after her return, to make sure she was all right and had settled back into her life. But he hadn’t thought it necessary to be there any longer. She was old enough not to need a guardian or mentor. And she had friends to help her and carry on with their work. So he had gone back to England.

She missed him. Some days she forgot he wasn’t around and it hurt her a little bit more to find that he had left. But he had been right. She was growing up. She was grown up. She didn’t need him. But that didn’t stop her from wishing he were there. Her reactions were in some ways related to her mother’s death. She couldn’t stop her mother dying, couldn’t talk to her whenever she wanted, whenever she had a problem. Whenever she felt lost.

When it got especially bad she would ring him and they spent a couple of hours on the phone talking. He was always thrilled to hear from her and she would have to restrain herself from begging him to come home. It wasn’t the same. But in some ways it was better. She knew certainly now what she had been afraid to feel before. That Giles was her father. Her true father. Who would be back in Sunnydale in a second if she had a problem she couldn’t deal with alone.

“If I didn’t go, Spike might glare disapprovingly at me,” the Buffybot interjected, interrupting the Slayer’s thoughts and turning them in an instant from maudlin to irate. Spike. If there was one name she couldn’t stand coming from the robot’s mouth it was his.

Despite all of Willow’s best efforts, the robot would still breathe the vampire’s name as if it were one to be worshipped. The young witch had managed to remove the ‘sex-stuff’ as she put it, but she couldn’t stop the blatant hero-worship and adoration.

If she had been able to be anything but angry at the mere mention the Buffybot, Buffy might have been amused by Spike’s severe embarrassment and borderline disgust whenever it was around. But Buffy’s spiritual enlightenment hadn’t included clearing up any of those pesky little Spike thoughts and questions that buzzed around her head. And it had yet to make any imprint on her jealousy and inferiority complex where men were concerned.

Buffy would look at the robot and see herself. But to her it epitomised everything Spike wanted that she could never be. So in looking at it she would begin to doubt herself and the vampire’s declarations of love and tell herself that Spike was nothing but her friend.

The Slayer pushed open the door to the Magic Box and stepped through, pushing the door slightly so that it swung back in the face of the Buffybot. “Hey guys.”

Willow and Tara looked up from the spell book they were engrossed in, while Anya smiled brightly from her position behind the counter. “Hello Buffy. How was the Slaying?”
“Pretty quiet. Although the thing managed to stake a couple of vamps,” Buffy answered as she jumped up to sit on the counter.

‘The thing’ by this time had managed to enter the shop and was making her way towards Buffy and Anya. “Good evening Anya. How is your money?” The former demon laughed a little before answering just as enthusiastically. “Very well, thank you Buffybot.”

Buffy rolled her eyes at the exchange. “Where’s Dawn?” she asked the two witches who both nodded towards the training room door just as it opened to admit a red faced Dawn, followed by a laughing Spike. “Shut up Spike,” the teenager spat at the vampire as she saw her sister watching them. Spike didn’t get a chance to answer, as the clinging robot suddenly captured him.

“Spike. Oh Spike. I’ve missed you,” the Buffybot purred as she tried to kiss him. The blonde vampire smiled uncomfortably at the robot, painfully aware that Buffy, as well as Anya, Willow, Tara and Dawn, was watching. He managed to manoeuvre himself away from the Buffybot’s embrace, holding her by the shoulder at arms length from his body.

His eyes strayed to the real Slayer, who was studiously avoiding looking at him. Spike sighed and moved his hand up under the robot’s long synthetic hair to the off button located at the nape of its neck. Willow stood and helped him return the robot to the basement where it was stored in between patrols.

Buffy hopped down from the counter the moment the Buffybot was removed from the room and hugged her sister. “So what have you been up to?” she asked in her best big-sister-in-charge voice. Dawn shrugged. “Nothing much. Spike was teaching me some self-defence like you wanted. Want to see what I’ve learned?”

“Ah-huh,” Buffy nodded as Dawn led her excitedly back to the training room to try out her new skills on her sister.

****

Darla smiled sweetly at the man sitting before her. He fidgeted nervously in his seat, glancing at the door every few seconds as if judging the distance and time it would take to reach it. Then he’d look back at the blonde vampiress and judge how long it would take her to drain the blood from his body. Not very long probably.

He hated vampires. Not in the ‘they’re evil demons’ way, just in the ‘if you don’t do want they want they’ll rip your throat out’ way. The last time he’d worked for a vampire, things had gone very badly indeed, but it looked as though this one wasn’t going to let him go either.

“The thing is,” Darla was purring as she made her way around the back of his chair, running her fingers through his hair as he passed, “I know you’ve done this sort of thing before. To the same people. It shouldn’t be very hard to add a few more factors, make it a really challenging game.”

“A game?” the man asked frowning up at her. Now why oh why didn’t he believe this little game she wanted to play was going to have a happy ending for anyone?
“Two teams, their choice. Winners get the prize, losers, well, I think you know what’ll happen to the losers,” Darla chuckled as she leaned over him.
“What prize exactly?” the man asked, leaning as far back in his chair as possible.

“They get to live.”
He gulped. It sounded incredibly loud in that small room. This was really not his day. Of course, she was right, he had done plenty of things to them before. Bad, evil things to hurt and disorient them. But he couldn’t remember ever actually heading into the situation knowing that some of them were going to die. Probably all of them. Except the vampires. They were the reason for this whole thing after all.

“Well?” Darla demanded impatiently, “I’m not getting any younger you know. Are you going to do what we want? Or am I going to ask Dru to come back in and finish you off?”
The man shuddered. This one was bad enough, but the other one… She was just too frightening for words. Her eyes stared right through to your soul and she’d sing and dance, while you just stood by, knowing that she was suddenly going to change from the innocent little girl, into the heartless killer.

Ethan Rayne put on his best, ‘I have absolutely no problem with what you’re doing smile’ and nodded. As Darla smiled he cursed the day he’d ever come to this country. Nothing ever went according to plan.

Chapter 2

“Ok. This is where I have a problem see, because we’re talking about vampires. We’re having a talk with vampires in it.”
Xander – ‘The Harvest’
****

"Why are you being so mean?" Dawn whispered to her sister as they made their way up the path to their house, followed by the blonde vampire. Buffy ignored the question and unlocked the door in silence. Spike remained on the front porch, finishing his cigarette as Buffy and Dawn made their way inside.

"I am not being mean," the Slayer hissed at her sister as she swung the door closed behind them.
Dawn glanced at the door and back at Buffy, a disbelieving statement on her face. "No. I see that." Buffy sighed angrily and ran upstairs to her room, closely followed by her sister. "Is this about the robot?" Dawn asked as she stood in the doorway to Buffy's bedroom, her arms folded defiantly and her head tilted slightly to one side.

"No," Buffy answered shortly, managing to make as much noise as possible as she started to change her clothes. Her boots were thrown violently against one wall, making Dawn wince.
"Ok. It's about the robot," Dawn refused to back down. "Buffy you know he doesn't care about the thing. Don't you notice the way his face twists up when he looks at it? He loves you."

"Dawn that's enough!" Buffy practically shouted, her mind raging with confusion. "I've told you not to say that. Whether he does or doesn't makes no difference to me. I can't do anything about it. I can't feel the same way about him."

Dawn frowned. "Can't? That's a funny way of saying it. What does that mean?"
"Nothing," Buffy replied quickly. "Now drop it."
"'Can't' sounds like you might be able to, or maybe do, but it's against the rules. I mean you could have said 'I don't love him' or 'I'll never love him'. Doesn't 'can't' sound weird to you?"
"No," Buffy insisted, moving to close the door, "Now go to bed. Goodnight Dawn."

The younger Summers' stuck her tongue out at her elder sister and shook her head as she made her way down the corridor to her bedroom.

****

Spike sat on the roof outside Buffy's window listening to the argument his two favourite girls were having. He cursed the day he'd ever thought about having that robot built. It had brought with it nothing but trouble from day one. It wasn't like the thing was anything like the real Buffy anyway. Yes she looked like her, and her voice was the same, but those weren't exactly the reasons Spike loved Buffy in the first place.

Of course her looks had a great deal to do with the passion and lust that seized him every time he saw her. Right from the first time. But so did the way she moved, the way she fought, her own passion that burned brightly inside of her, a million and one things. But love. Love wasn't lust. And he didn't just lust after the Slayer; he loved Buffy.

So the robot had been a mistake. She worshipped and adored him, and for a couple of minutes when he had been with her, he had been able to close his eyes and pretend. And then the world would interrupt and he would be forced back to reality. And the ever-present knowledge that the real Buffy completely despised him.

Until, of course, he'd managed to get something right. And not 'right', in the sense of doing something that would make Buffy love him. 'Right' in the sense of actually doing the right thing, for the right reasons. One totally unselfish act. Not for love. Because of love.

That had been the real start in some ways. He knew the minute those hobgoblins of Glory's entered his crypt that there was no way he was ever going to let the hellbitch get her claws into his little girl. And that was when he had known the absolute truth about himself. Because his first thought hadn't been about himself. It hadn't even been about Buffy. It had been about Dawn.

No one was ever going to touch Dawn if he could help it. Which to him signified a greater change in himself than he had at first believed possible. At that moment he had to acknowledge that it wasn't all about Buffy. Somewhere along the line Dawn had worked her way into his heart just like Joyce had all those years ago when she comforted him about Drusilla over a cup of cocoa.

So it hadn't come as too much of a surprise to him when he realised he was quite willing to protect the Scoobies as well. And not just for Buffy's sake. He liked them. Willow's relentless optimism, Tara's emerging strength and Anya's incomprehension at, yet total joy with the world around her. And although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, even if they put him through the same kind of torture Glory had inflicted upon him, Xander too had gained his respect in the past few months.

But everything he had built with Buffy and her friends ever since then, everything he had worked so hard for, came crashing down around his ears whenever that bloody robot was so much as mentioned. Every smile she sent him when they were patrolling or researching, every word of thanks or praise, every time he'd catch her looking at him in secret, meant nothing if the Buffybot was around. Everything was wiped away, and he'd spend what felt like an eternity, trying to reclaim the ground.

The problem was he liked having the Buffybot patrol with Buffy. It was much safer for all of them and the Slayer would have the back up she needed when she was in one of her 'I need to be alone' moods. Still something had to be done and quickly, before he slipped too far back along the road, ever to regain his footing.

****

Buffy knew he was still out there. She hadn’t just expected him to go home when she slammed the door on him. The last time she had done that he had stood under the tree in the front garden all night. She had felt him out there until just before dawn and had been unable to sleep as thoughts about that night’s activities flew around her head.

She knew that there was no way she’d get any sleep if she didn’t talk to him, so she opened the window and climbed halfway out, so that she was sitting facing him on the roof with her legs still inside her room. “Having fun?”

Spike smiled slightly as he blew out a stream of smoke before flicking the cigarette he was smoking off the roof. “Oh yeah. It’s a riot.”
“I’m not really angry with you, you know,” Buffy told him as she tried to catch his eye.
“Yes you are,” Spike replied, refusing to return her gaze.
The Slayer sighed. “Ok, yes I am. But it’s not all about you.”

“Oh really,” Spike mocked finally turning to face her. “What else is it about then?”
“Her,” Buffy mumbled. “It. She’s so much happier than me. Everything is easy for her. She’s friendly and helpful. And she gets to love without any problems or fears.”
Spike looked at Buffy as though she’d just grown another head. “Well, yeah. She’s a robot. What does she have to worry about?”
“But why can’t my life be that simple,” Buffy almost whined. The vampire’s face softened as he saw her real fear and confusion.

“Buffy, your life can’t be that simple, because you’re not that simple. You’re a human being with real feelings and emotions that weren’t programmed into you. Everything that thing feels it was told to feel by me. And it’s fake. And boring.”
“I’m boring?” Buffy asked and she began to pout. Spike laughed at her statement and shook his head.
“You, my love, could never be boring. But the robot isn’t you. Haven’t I just said that?”
“But you built her. You made all those specifications. Isn’t that how you want me to be?”
Spike’s incredulous face was back with a vengeance. “No! God no! Look Buffy I got two things out of that robot. One of them, I’m sure you know, was sex…”

The Slayer wrinkled her nose but stayed silent as Spike struggled on. “And if you think for one moment that it quenched any thirst I had for you, you’d be mistaken. What it did show me, was the second thing. The knowledge that nothing was ever going to compare with you. The real you.”

Buffy smiled as Spike paused and the couple stared at each other for a few minutes. Finally the vampire looked away and continued. “The robot is nothing like you. And that’s good, because it made me see how much I want you. Just you. No substitutes. Do you understand? Am I getting through to you yet?” The Slayer nodded and Spike sighed with relief. She could do what she liked now. At least he had explained.

“Spike?” Buffy asked quietly when the silence became too much again.
“Yes luv?” the blonde vampire replied, staring at her with an intensity that scared and thrilled her at the same time.
“I’m going to give in.” Spike froze in shock. She couldn’t have just said that. He tried to focus his eyes as she leant closer to him raising her head so that their eyes and lips were level. He inhaled her scent and a grin started to spread across his face as she neared. Finally they were nose to nose and Spike’s eyes started to close in anticipation.

“Eventually,” she whispered against his lips before pulling away and disappearing back inside her bedroom, leaving one very shocked, confused and frustrated vampire on the roof.

Chapter 3

“My bud’s are here! I love my bud’s!!!”
Buffy – ‘The Witch’
****

“Ok, we brought movies,” Willow told Xander and Anya as she and Tara settled themselves in their friends’ living room. “I’ve got ‘Harvey’, ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ and ‘Bambi’.” Anya sent Xander a horrified look and Willow gave in at the fear in her eyes. “Sorry An. Couldn’t resist. I promise we have no bunny films.”

As Xander left to make popcorn and fetch drinks, Anya turned to her friends and smiled. “What colours do you want?” Tara and Willow glanced at each other in confusion and the redheaded witch shook her head slightly as she looked back at the former demon. “What colour of what?”
“Bridesmaid dresses!” Anya cried picking up the nearest dress catalogue and flicking through it. “This is the style I want, but I need a colour that will suit all three of you. And Dawn, as she’s the flower girl.”

Willow struggled to hold back her laugh. “Does she know?”
“No, not yet, but she’ll say yes won’t she? Everyone likes weddings.” Anya frowned worriedly as Willow and Tara continued to grin at her. “Everyone does like weddings right? I thought that was the point.”
“We all love weddings Anya, don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine. And those dresses are beautiful. I really don’t know what colour all four of us could wear though. We’d probably have to go and try some on.”

Anya smiled. “I’m going to look for my dress tomorrow night. Xander’s going out with some guys from work, so I’m going to use the free time shopping.”
“Do you want us to come with?” Tara asked, excited by the thought shopping for wedding dresses.
“Actually, I’m already going with someone. But we’ll go out next week, when Buffy and Dawn are free and that’ll be all about you guys.”

Willow smiled across at her best friend as he carried a bowl of popcorn into the living room and set it down on the table. “Xander, have you chosen a best man yet?”
“No,” Xander shook his head at Willow’s question.
“Yes,” Anya said at exactly the same moment and the engaged couple glared at each other.
“An, for the hundredth time, NO.”

“What wrong?” Tara piped up as the two witches looked back and forth between their friends.
“Xander’s being stubborn,” Anya answered without looking away from her fiancée. “You don’t know any other guys. He has to do it.”
“I’ll ask someone from work,” Xander gritted out as Willow and Tara shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“You will not. I don’t know anyone you work with. And I think that, as two of my bridesmaids happen to be your two oldest friends, that I should get some say in who is your best man,” Anya shouted, her eyes clouding with tears. Xander stayed silent but the two witches could tell his resolve was weakening.

“Um, guys. Who are we talking about?” Willow asked, still confused by the whole conversation.
“Spike,” the couple threw back and the redhead exploded with laughter. She covered her mouth with her hand as they stared at her, knowing that she really shouldn’t be laughing. But she couldn’t help herself.

Tara, ever the voice of diplomacy, tried to settle things peaceably. “Is he allowed in a church? I mean, won’t it make him all creeped out?”
“Thank you,” Xander drawled and sent a smug look at Anya as he gestured to Tara.
“Tara,” the former demon huffed as she turned to her friend. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I, I, I’m not on anyone’s side, really,” Tara stuttered. “I was just trying to figure out a way to…” She trailed off as the others continued to stare at her. “I’ll be quiet now.”

****

Spike sat at a table in the Expresso Pump, staring down into a large cup of coffee. He didn’t know why he was there; coffee houses weren’t really his thing, but he hadn’t wanted to go to the Bronze and was far too worked up to go home.

She’d told him she’d say yes. Eventually. That meant that sometime in the foreseeable future, he and Buffy would be together. An actuality and not just wishful thinking. It was a frightening concept. He hadn’t had much experience with women, not different women anyway. ‘Cecily,’ he said to himself, thinking back over the past hundred and twenty-one years, ‘Not exactly a beneficial experience. Drusilla… a hundred and seventeen years spent loving a crazy vampiress with second sight, who cheated on you with your Grandsire. And then Harmony. Oh God. No wonder I’ve done everything wrong so far. This is not going to be easy.’

He sipped from his cup and looked around the room. It was late and there weren’t too many people around. There was a young couple sitting in the far corner, completely engrossed in each other and paying no attention to anything or anyone else. A middle-aged man sat at the counter resting his head on his hand. He looked like he was asleep. A woman sat in one of the booths, gently rocking her sleeping baby.

Four years ago he’d have killed every one of them with a song in his heart. A year and a half ago, he’d have sat there whining that he couldn’t kill anyone, and wishing that he still could. Now he wondered how the idea could have ever entered his mind.

He remembered all the times he’d mocked Angel over his goody-two-shoes, soul-having act; trying to redeem himself for his past sins. ‘You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love, and a pesky curse, defanged me, and now I’m just a big fluffy puppy with bad teeth.’ The same might now be said about him, with ‘pesky curse’ replaced by ‘sodding chip.’ And Spike still hated him. There was no question of not hating him. But now at least, he understood a little better what Angel wanted. To find a place in the world. To fit in.

“Well, well,” a mocking voice broke through his thoughts, “Spike. This is a pleasant surprise.”
“Piss off Harris,” the vampire shot back without looking at Xander. “I’m really not in the mood to exchange pleasantries with you tonight.”
“Too bad,” Xander said, smiling as he sat down at the table opposite Spike. The vampire sighed and raised his eyes to the brunette, quirking one eyebrow in question. While Xander and Spike had formed an uneasy truce over the past few months, it was generally held by both of them, that they would never, ever, under any circumstances, become friends. So the blonde vampire was more than a little curious about why the whelp was sitting here with him.

“Anya’s watching girly stuff with Willow and Tara. I had to get out of the house when Will said they were going to watch ‘The Piano’ next.”
Spike snorted with laughter and nodded in agreement. “Don’t blame you mate. Bloody awful film. I watched it with Dru once…” he trailed off and shuddered slightly at the thought.

“So you don’t mind if I stay here? Even your company is better than nothing.”
Spike grinned falsely at the boy. “Thanks.”
“Hey, you should take that as a compliment,” Xander told him, resting his arms on the table. “It means that I can accept your evil status and not spend time figuring out how to kill you when you’re not looking.”
“Do that a lot do you?”
“Every day the three years Angel was here. You’ve been in our lives a lot less time. Well, in the non-killing way anyway.”

“So when did you stop plotting to kill me?”
“The minute I found out what you did for Buffy and Dawn. I saw what the hellbitch did to you. Not telling about Dawn must have been hard, especially for…”
As Xander trailed off Spike picked up the train of thought and carried on. “Go on say it, especially for a soulless demon.” Xander looked away and Spike was surprised that the boy seemed almost ashamed of what he’d been thinking. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, it’s nothing any of you wouldn’t have done.”

“No, but it wasn’t any of us. It was you.” Xander affirmed, trying to reassure the vampire that he understood his sacrifice. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, as neither of them really knew how to carry on the awkward conversation.

Finally Xander spoke. “I still don’t like you.”
Spike smirked across the table at him. “I know. And the feeling is more than mutual I assure you.”

Chapter 4

“One minute, you’re in your normal life…”
Cordelia – ‘Teacher’s Pet’
****

“Why am I here again?” the blonde Englishman asked as he stepped into the store behind the attractive blonde lady. The sales-assistant ran her eyes over both of them, skilfully assessing as she made her way towards them.

“I’m trying on wedding dresses,” the woman hissed at her friend.
“Yes but why am I here?”
“I need a man’s opinion and it’s not allowed to be Xander. Besides, you’re my best friend.”
“Well it’s a reason,” the handsome bleach-blonde answered and paused slightly before adding, “Did you say best friend?”

The sales-assistant took this moment to interrupt. “Good evening. I’m Charity. Can I help you?”
The blonde lady beamed brightly at her. “Yes. Thank you. I’m getting married and would like to try on some wedding dresses. Please.”
The man remained silent, but his eyes were laughing as he stared at his friend. Charity refused to be ruffled by the woman’s forthright and over-eager manner. After all, most brides-to-be were the same.
“Certainly. We have a wide collection. If you’d like to pick out the ones you’d like to try, we’ll take it from there.”

The young woman immediately turned to her friend and gestured at the dresses that lined the walls of the small boutique. “Ok Spike. Which ones do you like?”
Charity raised her eyebrows slightly at the lady’s willingness to turn the whole thing over to ‘Spike’. Then her knees almost buckled at the fond look he was giving his friend. The half smile on his face told Charity that he was amused, but also flattered.
“I think how it works An, is… you pick the ones you like and then I’ll help you pick one from those.”

****

“What do you think?” Anya asked as she stepped out of the changing room in he first dress she had chosen to try. Spike was seated on a comfy chair in front of a wall of mirrors. So far Charity had not drawn attention to the fact that he cast no reflection for which Spike was tremendously grateful.

He looked up at Anya who was beaming with excitement and happiness and had to hold back a laugh. “You look like Little Bo Peep.”
Anya’s face fell as she looked at herself in the mirror. “You don’t like it?”
Spike shook his head before remembering that she couldn’t see him in the mirror. “No. Far too frilly. Too many bows.”

She nodded once as though committing the information to memory and then disappeared back into the changing room. She wasn’t gone long. “How about this one?”

Spike frowned as he looked at her, tilting his head from side to side as she bounced nervously on the spot. Finally he shook his head. “Too plain. You’re meant to look like Cinderella or somethin’. That’s what the nibblet said anyway. You want something big, but without so many bows.” Anya frowned this time, thinking Spike’s advice through carefully as went back into the changing room.

“I think Xander would like this one,” the former demon said as she floated back into the store. Spike looked up at her and his jaw instantly hit the ground, as his eyes widened. For a moment the vampire struggled to speak. “Every straight bloke on the planet would like that one,” he croaked before his brain managed to crawl it’s way back into his head where it belonged. “No way!! Not for a wedding!” he practically shouted and then winced at Anya’s hurt statement. “Buy it for the honeymoon and give Harris a heart-attack,” he added with a slight smirk and was rewarded by another of Anya’s bright smiles.

“Alright Spike,” Anya called out before she opened the dressing room door. She stepped out continuing with her warning. “This is the last one so you’d better… What? What’s wrong?”
Spike was staring. He knew he was staring and he knew he probably shouldn’t be, but he couldn’t remember ever seeing Anya look so radiant. He knew she was beautiful. Now, however she was a vision.

“Nothing,” he eventually answered her, “I uh… wow.” Anya grinned at his response and spun around, showing off the whole of the dress. “Anya, you look beautiful.”
“Really?” she asked hopefully, “It makes me feel special.”
Spike grinned, “You look like a princess. I’d marry you in a heartbeat, if it wasn’t for… you know.”
Anya nodded. “Buffy. And obviously the fact I’m marrying Xander.” The former vengeance demon grinned as she made her way back to the changing rooms. “I’m taking this one,” she told the assistant brightly as she passed.

Five minutes later Spike glanced wearily at the changing room door. Anya was taking her time and Spike was getting restless. “Bloody women,” he mumbled to himself as the sales assistant passed and frowned at him.

Another ten minutes later, Spike was worried. What was taking her so long? Nothing should take that long should it? Something had to be wrong. He stood and walked quickly over to the changing room. “An?” he called through the door. “An? Are you in there?” When she didn’t reply he hurriedly pushed the door open and his eyes widened in shock.

Inside the small room Anya’s chosen dress lay discarded on the floor, her bag lay open next to it and a few of her things had fallen out.

Anya wasn’t there.

Spike’s eyes narrowed and swept the tiny room for any clues about the former demon’s disappearance. A small doll hanging from one of the clothes pegs finally captured his attention. He grabbed it and tore off the small piece of paper, which hung around its neck.

Teeth clenched he crumpled the paper in his hand and ran from the store as fast as possible, heading for the Magic Box, as the single word burned into his brain.

ONE.

Chapter 5

“If the apocalypse comes, beep me.”
Buffy – ‘Never Kill a Boy On the First Date’
****

“BUFFY!” Spike shouted as he burst through the door of the Magic Box. The four occupants of the store looked up at him, Buffy immediately stepping closer when she realised something was wrong.
“What? What is it?”
“Anya. She’s gone, someone took her,” Spike spoke quickly, the panic in his voice causing the women to shiver slightly in fear.
“Spike. Calm down a second ok. Tell me exactly what happened. From the beginning. I thought Anya was out looking for wedding dresses.”

“Yes she was, with me. She chose a dress, she went to get changed. I waited and then she was gone. And all that was in the changing room was this. He held out the doll and the crumpled piece of paper. Buffy took them apprehensively, a sick feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

Willow moved quickly to stand behind her best friend, taking the paper from her and looking at it. “Oh goddess,” she breathed before sitting down heavily allowing Tara and Dawn to take the paper from her.
“Well what does this mean?” Dawn piped up, hoping that her sister would reassure her that it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was.

Buffy’s eyes were fixed on Spike, whose statement was a mix of anger and fear. Dawn’s frightened voice however forced her attention back to her sister and friends. “It means we have to go and kick some demon ass. We’re going to find Anya, turn whatever took her into a very bloody pulp and then we kill it,” the Slayer told them trying to convince herself as much as the others.

“What if it’s not an it?” Dawn asked. “What if this time the evil is just some psychotic human? Some weirdo who’s stalking us all?”
“Stalking me,” Spike rasped out and four heads swivelled to stare at him in question. The vampire continued. “The message was left for me. She was with me when it happened and whoever did this left that note for me.” Spike already had a good idea who the perpetrator was. He knew of only one person with a childlike obsession with dolls and a desire to not only hurt him, but all of these newly made friends. Especially Buffy. The fear Buffy was reading on his face was an unnatural, for vampires anyway, anxiety for Anya and what might befall her, mixed with a dread that he may finally have to kill his former love. If Drusilla had taken Anya, and in anyway tried to follow through on the implied promise of the note, then one hundred and seventeen years together notwithstanding, Spike was going to dust her.

There was a moment of silence while confused and fearful thoughts flew through their heads. Buffy really, really wanted to ask Giles what to do and then be able to go out, kill something and have Anya back before Xander found out and started hyperventilating. “Oh no,” Buffy breathed as that thought entered her head. “How do we tell Xander?”

****

“Bye,” Xander called, holding up a hand to a few of his work mates as they stumbled down the street in the opposite direction. Xander sighed and shook his head as he began to walk home. He wished he’d never bothered going out that evening. There was something strange about talking with people who had no idea that demons existed. And as often as he told Anya that he had plenty of male friends to spend time with, the truth was it just wasn’t the same when the guys he knew weren’t vampires or werewolves, or secret military agents.

A feeling that something bad had happened or was going to happen overtook him and he quickened his pace, wanting to get home to his fiancée as quickly as possible. Two blocks from their apartment he heard a sound like crying coming from an alley as he passed. He stopped and turned to see who was there, his mind torn between wanting to help someone in danger and the knowledge that vampires were more than capable of setting unknowing humans up like this in order to trap them. Just to be on the safe side, he cautiously pulled a stake out of his jacket pocket.

“Hello? Who’s there?” he called, biting back his fear and forcing his voice to remain calm. A small child came into view and Xander relaxed slightly. He knew this could still be a trick, but the odds, he hoped, were now a little more in his favour. “Hey. Don’t be scared ok. Are you lost? Are you hurt?” The boy turned his large sad brown eyes up to Xander and the young man smiled reassuringly. “You want me to take you home to your mommy?”

The child nodded, rubbing his eyes with one hand as he carefully extended the other towards Xander. The last thing Xander remembered was taking hold of the boy’s hand.

Chapter 6

“Good that’ll show ‘em… Did it show ‘em?”
Willow – ‘The Pack’
****

Willow was panicking. She hadn’t panicked properly in a very long time, but now she was reverting to junior year of high school style panic. Xander was missing now too. They had all gone together to Xander’s apartment to inform him about Anya, hoping that he had returned from his night out, but he hadn’t been there.

Instead, hanging from the front doorknob was another doll, male this time, with a piece of paper pinned to its chest. Buffy angrily tore the paper away and ground her teeth as she read it, before handing it to Spike, whose eyes were becoming more and more wild with each passing minute.

TWO.

Dawn clung tightly to Tara’s hand as her sister walked the full length of the hallway before returning and kicking the door open in one swift motion. The small group looked around their friends’ apartment for any clues, but could find nothing out of the ordinary. Once again it was as though Xander had just vanished.

So Willow went from fear and anxiety about Anya to meltdown in the space of two minutes and Buffy and Spike were following her at a rapid rate. The five friends sat down in silence, each thinking everything over and trying rationally to come up with some sort of explanation.

Just as Spike was about to share his ‘It’s Drusilla’ theory, Buffy jumped up and grabbed the phone from the kitchen counter. She entered the number carefully, and then paced silently between the kitchen and living room as she waited for the phone to be answered.
“Who are you calling?” Tara asked gripping both of Willow’s hands in support now that Dawn was curled up on Spike’s knee.
“Giles,” Buffy told them shortly and there was a collective sigh of relief from the others. Giles would surely know what to do.

The ringing stopped and Buffy’s face went ashen as she heard the unfamiliar voice on the answer phone. The handset fell from her limp grasp and she started to fall. Only Spike’s vampire reflexes stopped her from hitting the floor. Dawn ran to pick up the phone and held it to her ear, listening as Buffy had done to the new message. She clamped her hand over her mouth and raced to the bathroom. Spike looked desperately between the unconscious woman in his arms, and the bathroom door, where his other favourite girl was busy being violently sick.

Tara decided to brave the phone message, but heard only the dial tone. She quickly pressed redial and tried to send as many soothing thoughts to the others as she could as she waited. The answer phone clicked on and one word repeated every few seconds, sending a chill down the young witch’s spine.

THREE.

****

Dawn sat on the bathroom floor, leaning her head back against the door. She sobbed quietly to herself, trying to control the nausea that had swept over her at the confirmation of her fears. Something or someone wanted them dead. Or maybe not dead, maybe it was worse than dead. Maybe they were needed for some sort of ritual.

That thought made Dawn lurch towards the toilet again. The last ritual had killed her sister. She couldn’t stand losing Buffy again; couldn’t stand losing anyone. The door opened behind her and she knew Spike was standing there, waiting for her to tell him if she was alright. She wasn’t going to say it though. She wasn’t alright.

Spike moved suddenly and caught Dawn up in his arms, carrying her back to the living room where he settled her with her sister on the couch. He wanted to tell them he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. He wanted to tell them he’d die before they were ever hurt. But they knew that was how he felt and he wasn’t going to make any more promises he didn’t know whether he could keep.

Buffy sat in total shock. Within the space of an hour her world had been turned upside down. She wanted to do something, knew she had to do something, but she didn’t know where to start. She looked up at Spike who was pacing the length of the couch. He felt her gaze and turned to face her, his statement immediately softening. “We’ll fix this,” he told her with a small smile, putting reassurance above certainty this time. Last time something like this had happened she’d gone into a coma. He really needed her at full Slayer strength right now.

She nodded carefully and squeezed Dawn’s hand gently before heading into full Slayer mode. “Ok. Anya, Xander and Giles are all missing. The only clues we have are two dolls and three not very telling messages. Anyone got any ideas?”
Spike cleared his throat and the others turned to look at him. “It could be Dru.”

Everyone sat silent for one minute before Buffy bit out dangerously, “What?”
Spike took a step back and tried to explain rationally. “The dolls. Targeting you lot, targeting me even. It makes sense.”
“Drusilla?” Buffy repeated, her voice deceptively even. Spike could only nod. Buffy turned to Willow and Tara. “We’ll walk you back to the dorms. Grab some things. You’re coming to stay with us.”

****

Buffy, Spike and Dawn sat in the lounge waiting for Willow and Tara to return. Dawn sat between the vampire and Slayer, clinging to their hands and throwing nervous glances around her from time to time.

Spike tried catching the Slayer’s gaze from time to time but she refused to look at him. His anger continued to build until he felt like hunting his former lover down and staking her, whether or not she was the one behind this.

The Slayer’s own feelings were confused. She wasn’t angry at Spike; she just didn’t know how to deal with the situation presented to her. She may just have to kill the former girlfriend of the man who now professed to love her more than anything in the world. A woman he’d spent one hundred and seventeen years with. A woman he’d loved all that time. Right up until he’d met her. Of course, he’d offered to do it himself, but Buffy doubted he’d be feeling the same way now. There was, after all, nothing left to prove.

****

Willow packed magic books and general ingredients into a bag, while Tara hurriedly threw some clothes into another. “So Drusilla,” the blonde witch began conversationally as Willow transferred Amy from her deluxe living cage to the smaller carry cage. “I mean, I caught some of the history last time, but do you want to explain it to me again? It’s confusing.”

Willow nodded frantically as she tried to remember spells she might need from the various tomes covering their desk. “Ok. When Angel was evil, he became obsessed with Drusilla…”

****

Buffy jumped up from her seat as Willow and Tara started to descend the stairs. Spike and Dawn stood also and the three made their way across to the two witches. As the two witches reached the bottom step, they froze. Buffy stared in horror as a blinding white light surrounded her two friends. She turned away, not being able to look at it directly, pulling Dawn against her so that her sister wouldn’t be hurt.

The light dissipated and they turned back to where Willow and Tara had been. Dawn thought she was going to be sick again when she saw the two dolls hanging from the banister. It wasn’t hard to guess what the pieces of paper attached to them said.

Buffy was beginning to fall apart, and even Spike was at a complete loss. It couldn’t be Dru. She didn’t possess such power. This was the work of someone a hell of a lot stronger and more proficient in the black arts.

He grabbed the two dolls and looked swiftly at the pieces of paper, shoving them angrily in his duster pocket before moving back to Buffy. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked steadily into her eyes. “Don’t give up ok. There is an explanation for everything. And even if I have to kill everyone and everything else on this earth, we are going to get them back, do you understand?”

The Slayer smiled at the vampire’s words, feeling more calmed by his threats of violence than by any soothing platitudes the others might have offered in such a situation. Before she could speak however Spike frowned and pulled the dolls back out of his coat. He unfolded the pieces of paper and Buffy tilted her head to see what was causing him so much concern. When she saw the words she realised the problem.

Willow and Tara were supposed to be four and five. So why were the bold words staring back at them, SIX and SEVEN?

Part 2