g120- Thanks for the comments and review. And yeah, some day. All of them died and everything. Harsh. Haha. But hopefully you'll like the storyline even more because in this chapter it sorta suggests where I'm heading with it. teehee.
zigpal- Thanks for claps and review and no, no Wiffy, but a nice Tillow trip that surprisingly we don't go into in this chapter. And ah yes, Wolfram and Hart will actually start to play a big part in this season, but not for a while...
rabidreject- Awesome huh? Why thank you. And while I can tell you that they won't be a fall-out with Tara, I can also say that Tara will be taking the trip of guilt some time in the season. After all, she is the most powerful of all of them now...so a lot more Tara involvement
BuffyAngel47- Thank you mucho for the review and hope you like the new season.
A/N: As seems to be a developing tradition with all the openers this is slightly episode-centric...enjoy.
"This is strange. I put Lily to bed, I go to the bathroom and when I come out...Lily's in our bed..." Joyce commented in mock confusion as she walked back into the bedroom from the en suite to see Rupert sat up in bed, with Lily in front of him. He kept taking her hands and pulling her up gently, which the four month old presently found absolutely delightful as every time her head came up and she saw her Dad in front of she burst into high-pitched baby giggles.
"She wasn't going to sleep..." Rupert half-defended himself sheepishly.
"Well, she's never going to if you keep interrupting her sleep pattern like this," Joyce pointed out but she was smiling as she did so.
"And she's so cute..." He added, "And look, she can sit up all by herself now," As if to prove the point, despite the fact Joyce already knew of this little milestone first hand, he pulled Lily up gently by her hand yet again, but when she was upright he let go and indeed Lily stayed sat up straight, grinning and peering at the two of them almost questioningly. He then spoke directly to his daughter in a voice both he and Joyce had recently adopted specifically for Lily and which both Dawn and Buffy found hilarious, despite the fact he'd heard them do it themselves when they thought neither he nor Joyce could hear them, "You can can't you? Yes" He nodded to emphasize the meaning of the word.
"She can't sleep in here with us again Rupert," Joyce said, knowing exactly where Giles was going with all this, "She hasn't slept in that cot," She gestured across at where it stood presently uselessly on the far side of their room, "once since we brought her home...and I'm starting to get afraid that we might roll over onto her" She admitted and Giles laughed slightly.
"I know you prefer it this way as much as I do," He told her and she shrugged in admittance.
"Maybe, but if we keep like this she'll get used to it and then we'll never get her to go to sleep elsewhere. Besides," She said, reaching over and picking Lily up to place her upright on her lap, "I'm not listening to your arguments, or anything you have to say."
"What? Why not?"
"Because you voted against me before in letting Buffy take Dawn out on patrol," Joyce explained, "You know I want to keep Dawn as far away from all that as possible"
"Yes, but I see no harm in Buffy teaching her how to defend herself if the situation should ever arise" Giles reasoned, "Wouldn't you prefer for Dawn to be able to at least handle herself? This is Sunnydale after all"
"Yes, I know..." Joyce admitted as she watched Lily grab her little finger in her small hand. She had taken to grabbing things lately. Particularly her hair and she'd had to veto wearing of all necklaces until further notice, "but I just don't feel comfortable with her actually out there. I just feel...like we're daring something to go wrong, chancing it too much...I don't know..."
"She was fine wasn't she?" Giles pointed out, "Buffy kept her perfectly safe"
"Oh yes, perfectly safe," Joyce agreed sarcastically, "Except for the vampire bite on her neck." Subconsciously, she rubbed her hand lightly over her own scar, "I spend enough time worrying about Buffy out on patrol, I don't want to add to that the possibility that Dawn's fighting for her life"
"She wasn't. And she won't be. Not with Buffy with her." He reached across to kiss her on the lips, silently reassuring her of Dawn's safety. The kiss was warm and tender but it had to break off prematurely as Lily squealed seemingly spontaneously, attempting to clap her hands together but not quite making the noise she wished to. Joyce sighed.
"Lily, come on, you need to be asleep. In your bed," She told her, going to pick up her daughter, but the moment she did the four-month-old started to get grumpy, tears threatening at the corner of her eyes. "Oh, Lily, please. No it's okay, you're not going anywhere, come here" She picked her up in her arms comforting her.
"See, she prefers being here with us," Rupert pointed out and Joyce smiled wryly at him.
"Yes, and who's fault is that?"
"Besides" He said, choosing not to answer that question and instead resume the topic from before, "I think we have something to be a little more concerned about right now. First day of school tomorrow which means-"
"The first day of the new Sunnydale High," Joyce nodded, still holding onto Lily who, if she was hearing the increasingly steady breathing correctly, was slowly falling asleep, "I may be wrong, but I still think this re-opening is just asking for trouble"
"You're probably right," Giles agreed, "Which is why we're going to keep a close eye on things"
"The High School's on a Hellmouth, Rupert," Joyce pointed out, "I don't think 'a close eye' is going to keep everybody safe. I just wish it did..."
"She does this on purpose, I'm sure of it," Joyce said, looking at the clock and noting that Dawn still wasn't down to eat her breakfast. "Buffy could you...?"
"Yeah, sure," Buffy nodded, slipping off her seat at the island, "I'll go shout at her" She headed off in the direction of the stairs, knowing full well that her Mom had tried to tell her not to shout, but ignoring her anyway. "DAWN! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE! YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE!"
"I'm comfortable with that," Dawn shouted back down just as her Mother came into the hall and heard her.
"You won't be in a minute if you don't get down here right now" She warned her and the two heard Dawn suddenly hurry up a little getting ready, rushing out of her room.
"Hey, where's Giles this fine morning?" Buffy asked, looking around for effect, "He's usually up getting all flustered over something"
"He doesn't fluster," Joyce protested but sounding amused anyway, "And he's upstairs, trying to get Lily to actually wear clothes." At this statement, Buffy couldn't even hold back her laugh.
"Excuse me? What?" She giggled whilst trying her hardest to remain serious and Joyce sighed as she began to explain.
"She won't let us put her clothes on. She keeps kicking them away. I think she's starting to teeth..." She theorized, "Which would explain the sudden awkwardness. Dead on four months. Just like you" She told her eldest fondly, but it only made Buffy squirm in teenage like embarrassment as all reference to one as a baby had the tendency to do. Luckily, as distraction, right at that moment Dawn came bounding down the stairs. "What time do you call this?" Joyce asked and Dawn smiled winningly.
"'Just in'?"
"Kitchen. Now. You did have a choice of pancakes, but now it's going to have to be cereal. Now go" She ordered her and Dawn sighed and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
There was a knock at the front door just as Giles came down the stairs carrying a now fully clothed Lily.
"You did it?" Joyce asked, despite the visual confirmation and he nodded.
"I did it. Though the challenge was slightly akin to battling a slurgoth demon, but let's not dwell on that"
"Yeah, let's not," Joyce agreed, from the name alone deciding she didn't want to know what the hell a 'slurgoth' was.
Buffy opened the front door to find both Anya and Xander on the doorstep and she suddenly remembered that they did have plans for him to come over in the morning before Dawn had to go to school so they could compare the layouts between the new and old Sunnydale Highs. She didn't remember Anya wanting to come along for the ride though.
"I'm dropping Anya off at the Magic Box on the way," He explained as though reading Buffy's thoughts.
"Ooh! She's here!" Anya squealed, spotting Lily and immediately heading over to her. "Gimme, gimme, gimme"
Joyce and Giles both smiled in amusement as they handed her over to the eager woman. Since Lily had been born, Anya had been over almost constantly to see her and couldn't wait for the day when Giles would eventually say it would be okay to bring her to the shop. What the made the situation more amusing was Xander's worried expression every time he saw Anya get like this, as though he worried she was going to suddenly turn around to him and demand that they have one of these.
"So how is everyone?" Xander asked, looking around at the chaotic atmosphere, "Busy?"
"Well, let's see," Buffy replied, "My sister is about to go to the same school that tried to kill me for three years. She refuses to go to Private School despite Mom and me trying to convince her otherwise, we can't change districts and there is no possible way I can prepare her for what could come out of there. So, peachy with a side of keen. That would be me"
"Well, as long as you're staying positive," Xander said, playing along, "I do have something to add to your keen though"
"You got the blueprints?"
"I got blueprints, I got the snazzy suit..." He listed off heading into the dining room with everything.
"Yes, very double-oh," Buffy agreed distractedly, "Now what did you find out?"
She asked as Xander laid out the papers on the table for Buffy and Giles to see with Anya not really paying attention so much as paying attention to Lily, and Joyce too distracted by making sure Dawn was getting ready/eating fast enough for them to get out time.
"I got two crews working this diabolical yet lucrative new campus," Xander explained, "Finishing the science building here and reinforcing the gym. As of yet no pentagrams, no passageways...everything up to code and safe as houses. I've looked at all the plans, I've been on the site for hours..."
"There's been no supernatural activity whatsoever?" Giles asked him and he shook his head, but Buffy wasn't yet convinced.
"Nothing creepy? No invisible girls? Hyena people?"
"Oh, you just had to throw that one in didn't ya?" Xander asked sarcastically, "And no there wasn't anything, except..."
"Except what?" Buffy asked quickly, jumping on the possibility of something weird going on at the High School.
"Well, there is one interesting detail," Xander explained, getting out the relevant information.
"This is going to be the type of interesting that horrifies us all and ensures that we're, well at least me, are going to be in constant worry, isn't it?" Joyce asked, having been listening in as she tried to get Lily to let go of Anya's hair.
"Well, it depends if you care about the Principal," Xander replied, before carrying on to explain, "Well, I managed to scare up the plans for the old High School. You remember the center of Sunnydale's very own Hellmouth-"
"It was under the library..." Buffy nodded as Xander held the old plans up on the window, and placed the new over them, the window working as a light box so they could see the outlines of both plans.
"Right, so I lined up both plans old and new and on the exact spot where the library was, we now have..."
"The Principal's office," Buffy read.
"Does this mean the Principal is like the Mayor?" Joyce asked, sounding understandably and completely confused, "Is he evil? You're not gonna have to kill Dawn's Principal on the first day are you?"
"Hopefully not," Buffy replied, "And maybe he isn't evil, maybe he's just..."
"Going to die?" Xander filled in, but Giles nodded in surprising agreement.
"Xander' right. If this Principal is completely human and normal, then having his office directly over the Hellmouth is going to put him more than average danger"
"The last two Principals were eaten..." Xander said thoughtfully, "Who would even apply for that gig?"
"Someone evil," Anya supplied bluntly, "Get your home directly over your own Hellmouth and you've got the Underworld at your fingertips. Maybe he plans to take over Sunnydale bit by bit, starting with the High School, until we're completely wiped out. Or turned into mindless zombies"
"Thanks Anya," Buffy told her, "That won't have us worried about Dawn all day"
"Who's worried about me?" Dawn asked, walking back into the room having just finished her breakfast at a dangerously quick rate.
They arrived in their car only a few minutes before Xander and that was only because he had had to take a detour to drop Anya off at the Magic Box. Giles was going there later as he first wished to see the High School as did apparently everyone.
"Mom, you take Dawn to class," Buffy said, "Me and Giles will do the daytime patrolly thing"
"What?" Dawn yelped, "No. I am not having my Mom take me to class. Are you trying to ruin my life in High School so early or is just like a gift? I can't have Mom there"
"Yes, I know," Joyce said in mock agreement, "You have no Mother, you hatched full-grown out of a giant egg"
"You know considering the whole I-was-once-a-big-ball of energy thing? That joke isn't so funny," Dawn replied smoothly.
"Dawn," Buffy said patiently, "Out of the car. Mom's taking you to class."
"But what about Lily?" Joyce asked, "Who's going to take her?"
"Well, given we're looking for the creepies, I don't think me and Giles can take her, so best choice is you" Buffy looked to Dawn, "Hey there you go. Everyone will be too distracted by Lily cuteness to even realize Mom took you to class. Perfect"
"Just great..." Dawn mumbled in non-agreement as Giles got Lily out of the car.
"Now," Buffy began to lecture while they waited for her Mom and Giles to do the Lily exchange thing which usually took around five minutes with of lots of hugging and kissing. By the end of it Lily usually looked very overwhelmed and confused. "Remember, if you see anything strange or you know, dead...stay away from hyena people, lizardy type athletes, Magicians in talent shows who like guillotines...if you see anyone invisible-" It was at this point Dawn decided to draw the line.
"Buffy, I think it's pretty safe to say I won't see anyone invisible."
"You could still drop out," Her older sister suggested as Giles and Joyce headed over to them, "You know only nerds finish school"
"Buffy," Joyce reprimanded and she shrugged.
"What? All I'm saying is this place is evil."
"Tough to let em go, huh?" A voice asked and the family, the only remaining people not inside the building beside Xander and his work crew, turned to see a tall, attractive African-American. "I'm Robin Wood," He introduced himself, "The new principal" He shook hands with each of them, even sparing a moment to finger shake with Lily, "Aren't you cute? So this is a erm, family event is it?" He asked, smothering a smile.
"No," Buffy instantly replied, "Well, yes, but not...no outyness. Just all heading in the same direction. Dropping Dawn off. On way to direction. O-oh, I'm Buffy Summers, this is Dawn and that's erm my Mom, Joyce and erm, she's holding Lily and then that's Giles..." She trailed off, "Okay maybe it does smell slightly of family outingness. Maybe. B-but just a little though. S-sorry, it's just...I'm a little thrown. I expected you to be more...aged"
"Buffy," Joyce reprimanded her daughter for the second time in as many minutes, before apologizing to Principal Wood, "I'm sorry. It's just previous principals here have been well..."
"Not as good looking?" Robin Wood, half-joked giving Joyce a dashing smile to accompany it.
"Well, yes. Oh, I-I mean no! Not that you're not good looking..." Joyce sighed as she realized she was babbling as much as her daughter so she turned to Giles for help, "Rupert?"
"What they mean is, you're very unlike the previous principals here. Have you, ah, seen any of them? Or know of any of them?"
"I've seen a lot of dedications and pictures to Bob Flutie," Robin informed them.
"Well, think thinner and way more evil and you have Snyder," Buffy told him.
"I'll erm...try to remember that..." Wood told, looking officially confused by this family. "I have actually heard of you believe it or not, Ms Summers. Actually all of you, except for Dawn have come into play in the school records"
"We have?" Buffy asked, sounding panicked while her Mother just sounded confused.
"What? How? How can I be...I didn't go here...or work here..."
"All major meetings, such as a re-admittance of a student, with Principals are recorded on audio for future reference." Principal Wood told her, "You had quite an interesting final word in a meeting with Principal Snyder"
"I did?" Joyce racked her brain trying for the life of her to think what it was she had said.
"Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh?" Robin prompted and Joyce blushed in embarrassment. "That and I know you dated the old school librarian here...which I'm assuming moved to more than dating" He smiled.
"Again, we ask how?" Dawn asked.
"Snyder was very thorough in his recordings of anyone in association with your sister" He turned to Giles, "And you he just didn't like. At all"
"Well, that has decidedly brightened my day," Giles told him.
"Good to know," Robin Wood smiled the charming smile again before announcing his departure, "Well, I have to get to work. Got to start deadening young minds. It was nice to meet you all. And you," He spoke directly to Dawn, "Need to be getting to class."
"You know that's not a bad idea," Dawn said to her family, already retreating to the building, "I'm here. I'm safe. You can go. Love you. Bye!" And she was gone at what was precariously close to the speed of light.
"Dawn!" Buffy called after her, but her sister didn't reply, "That's it" She said to the remaining two, "I'm gonna patrol the building"
"Buffy, why?" Giles questioned, "I know we said we'd check things but from what we've seen everything's perfectly normal. You can't just walk into the school building"
"Of course I can. Besides I have to. Did you see that Principal? Wicked shifty"
Anya was ecstatic and doing no work. After dropping Dawn off at school, Giles had come back to the Magic Box with Joyce in tow, who had decidedly to temporarily stop by the store also, before heading on home. Which meant Lily was at the Magic Box. Which meant Anya had finally got her wish. Which was why she was so happy and not paying the least attention to the cash register for once in life. Instead she was playing peek-a-boo with Lily (A instructed change after Joyce had caught her trying to teach her the value of money and it's great importance in the world).
"We're going to have to think about getting a sitter soon you know," Joyce suddenly said and Giles looked over at her in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I have to return to work in a few weeks. I mean it is my business so I have to be there some of the time. And I can't take her with me, and you can't have her here all the time. It's too dangerous"
"What? Why not?" Anya whined.
"Anya, you're stood in front of a potion that, if I've read the label correctly, can cause boils on the skin with one drop. I am not having my youngest daughter near anything like that"
"But a sitter?" Giles frowned, "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that...a stranger looking after our daughter..."
"It wouldn't be a stranger. I have friends who are in that business and they'd be delighted to do it. Besides, it wouldn't be all the time. I do a lot of work from home, and sometimes you're not here at the shop- you're at home too. So it'd only be one or two days a week..."
Before Giles could even attempt to protest against this suggestion the store phone began to ring, and since Anya was too preoccupied paying attention to Lily to do any form of work, Giles was the one who had to get up and answer the call.
"Hello? Oh, Buffy. Yes...why are you calling?"
At the mention of Buffy's name, Joyce immediately started paying acute attention to what was going on, worrying for any reference that the school Dawn was presently attending was dangerous and deadly. If it was, then she was going to pull her daughter right out of there and whether she liked it or not she was going to go to a safe private school that wasn't on a Hellmouth. Maybe somewhere far away. Boarding school perhaps. In a place furthest away from the convergence of vampires and other evil things that occurred in Sunnydale.
"Well, I need to check my books Buffy so as to know what we're dealing with..."
"Dealing with?" Joyce asked frantically, "What are we dealing with? Is Dawn okay?" Giles attempted to shush her with a wave of the hand, but this merely seemed to piss her off.
"Fine, okay Buffy. I'll be over as soon as I can. Yes, right now. Bye...and yes, yes you were right Buffy. Yes." He hung up.
"What? What is it?" Joyce asked worriedly, "What's going on? Is Dawn okay?"
"She's fine," Giles told her, "At least to Buffy's knowledge. But she's discovered a disturbing presence in the school."
"Presence?" Anya frowned but whether this was over the 'presence' or over the fact that Joyce, apparently needing some comfort in light of her worry, had taken Lily off her without thought, to hold her tightly.
"Definitely supernatural," He elaborated, "She described them as 'zombie ghosts'. I'm going over there now to see for myself, see what we're dealing with"
"I'm coming too," Joyce told him firmly, but her husband did not look particularly keen on the idea.
"Joyce, we don't know what this is. I'm not comfortable with you being there. You may get hurt"
"I can hold my own," Joyce countered, "I know we haven't even done any since I got pregnant with Lily but I used to train with you...and I was okay. And I'm worried for Dawn. Really worried. I can't just sit around and wait to see if you all come back alive"
"Joyce, you mustn't think like that," He told her, "We'll be fine"
"You don't know and I do think that way. So please, just this once for closure, let me come with you" She pleaded and he sighed.
"Well, who's going to look after Lily if you're with me?"
The couple then turned to look over at an eager faced Anya wearing a broad smile.
"Giles!" Buffy yelled in relief when she saw the car pull up outside the school where she had been waiting for the Watcher. However, relief turned to concern and confusion when she saw her Mom get out of the car also, "Mom, what are you doing here?"
"Buffy, I need to make sure Dawn is okay," Joyce explained patiently and Buffy hurried to comfort her.
"Oh she's just fine, she just called me two minutes ago..." Joyce just kept looking at Buffy, looking entirely unconvinced and Buffy gave in, "...to tell me she's trapped in the basement by zombies with two other students"
"Dear lord," Giles exclaimed, "Can we get down there?"
"I don't know," Buffy shrugged, "She said they fell through a hole in one of the girls bathrooms but I haven't been there yet..."
"Well let's head there now," Giles decided but when Joyce went to go with them Buffy stopped.
"Mom, you can't come," She told her simply, "You'll get hurt"
"Maybe," Joyce admitted, "But that doesn't mean I can't not come."
"Mom, please-"
"Buffy. Dawn's in trouble. She's my daughter. I have to help. I've helped with things like this before"
"Yeah, like three times," Buffy nodded, "The other times you've been knocked out or kidnapped. Not exactly a great track record"
"Buffy," Joyce said in a patient tone as she tried to explain her need to help, "If Dawn was in trouble, but someone else told you they would save her, you'd still want to help wouldn't you?"
"But I'm the Slayer, it's-"
"But what if you weren't?" Joyce challenged, "What if...Anya was the Slayer and she told you to stay behind while she saved Dawn. Would you? Or would you help regardless?"
"Fine," Buffy sighed, realizing she couldn't make her Mom stay behind, "But you stay well away from dangerous things" She told her as they started heading in the direction of the bathroom Dawn had told her about. Opening the door though, Buffy did not find a floor so much as a huge crater. "Whoa" She said simply.
"'Whoa' indeed," Giles agreed, stepping past her slightly. "I'm presuming this was what Dawn was talking about. But how exactly are we supposed to get down there?"
Without the blink of an eye Buffy leapt forward, jumping into the hole and Giles and Joyce leaned forward to see her land cat-like on her feet perfectly.
"Yes, that works perfectly," Giles nodded, "For you..."
"Oh right..." Buffy said, realizing that the two forty-odd year olds didn't have the Slayer agility to be able to jump such a great height and land well. "You could like...climb down"
"Hmm..." Giles pondered the notion, peering around as to how he could achieve climbing down, "Perhaps..." He nodded, crouching down and beginning to climb down.
"Rupert," Joyce interrupted him and he looked up at her, "You're not going to leave me standing here are you?"
"I'll help you down once I get down there," He assured her, before carrying on to use what remaining of the floor and the surrounding basement wall to steadily climb his way down. "Right," He said once he was steady on his feet, "Joyce, you want to..."
"Nyuh..." Joyce grumbled worriedly as she slid down onto the floor and started to gently and carefully climb her way down into the makeshift cavern. Climbing had never been a strong point of hers. There had been a point when she'd been in her late teens where her friends had gone on a healthy athletic kick which involved rollerskating, gym, aerobics and rock climbing. For the fun of it she had tagged along for all and had only discovered that while rollerskating and aerobics had the potential to be her forte, gym was boring and rock climbing just scared the hell out of her. She'd always been worried she'd fall. And that was when she was attached to a harness. Here she had nothing but her hands and feet to stop her falling. Which was exactly what happened when she was three quarters of the way down. Luckily Rupert was already reaching up to help her down and when she stumbled, quickly progressing into a fall, he was there to catch her perfectly. "Hmm.." She smiled, "Very chivalrous"
"Okay, can you put my Mom down and get on with zombie hunt please?" Buffy requested, rolling her eyes at the cuteness.
"Oh yes," Giles nodded setting his wife upright on her feet and she brushed wall dust off her beige slacks, though it was a pointless act as no doubt, within a few minutes, new dirt and dust would attach itself.
"Now, let's see where Dawn is," Buffy told them, pulling out her phone and beginning to dial. Once the other line picked up, Buffy didn't give time for a hello but just began talking, "Dawn! We're close by-" She cut off as a voice that was definitely not Dawn's replied.
"You're too late"
"There's a strange voice on the phone," Buffy explained to the other two.
"We can all hear it," Joyce told her and Buffy clicked off her phone as she realized that was indeed true.
"But then, you're always too late aren't you?" The voice continued and the three headed in the direction they believed it to be coming from and just as they turned the corner they bumped directly into a janitor. A janitor that looked like he'd been dead for some time. "Sure as hell didn't save me!" He yelled at Buffy.
"Where's my sister?" Buffy demanded.
"I think she's lost..." He replied with a sinister grin.
"If I'm the one that let you die then why take it out on her?" Buffy asked, "I'm right here...what are you after? Fear? Revenge? Tasty brains?"
"Buffy, I don't recall a janitor being killed on your watch..." Giles said, sounding the thoughtful.
"What are you getting at?"
"These aren't real ghosts," He informed her, "Or zombies for that matter...more like manifestations. Controlled by a talisman...meant to torment their victim"
"Great, mind games," Buffy rolled her eyes, "Where would this talisman be?" She asked just as the Janitor back handed her, sending her stumbling backwards. "Okay, that? That just pissed me off," She told him, swinging around with a high kick but just as it was about to connect he disappeared completely. Only to reappear a second later behind Joyce and Giles.
"You never gave me the time of day," Another voice said and they turned to see a Zombie Nerd coming towards them, "Not even the time to save my life" The three turned away, walking away from the Nerd and the Janitor only to walk directly into the dead girl Buffy had seen before which had initially prompted her call to Giles.
"Were you busy making out with your dead boyfriend when I was ripped to death by a werewolf? Is that why you let me die?"
"Buffy, Oz was the only werewolf while you were in High School and he never killed anyone," Giles reminded her, "They're just playing with your mind. Don't listen to them"
"What have you done with my daughter?" Joyce demanded but the three zombies only smiled.
"You won't be able to find her," The girl grinned.
"You won't be able to call for her," The nerd added.
"She won't hear you," The janitor added, "Place is like a maze. Swallows up the sound. A person could spend months in here and never be found. Believe me I know"
"Tell me where she is!" Joyce demanded, sounding desperate and increasingly worried the more the three zombies talked.
"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE" The girl yelled at Buffy, ignoring Joyce completely. "This place is ours now. It's built on our graves. We rested easy until you returned"
"Leave." The janitor told her, "Leave and never come back"
"And I so would," Buffy told them, "But not until I get my sister"
"Dawn is fine," He told her, "She's sitting in class right now, not remembering any of this. We don't care about her. All we want is for you to leave so we can rest again"
"Actually, all I think you want is to get between me and that door," Buffy argued, pointing out the door behind them and when she saw their expressions of panic and shock she knew she was right. "Who's for finding out why?"
Stupidly, before she could do anything, the nerd rushed her first and Buffy grabbed his arm single handedly, gathering enough momentum to throw him to the wall behind her, knocking him back into the janitor, creating a domino effect as they both went tumbling painfully. Buffy then rushed for the door, nothing in her way now, but the girl jumped her from behind, clambering onto her back and trying to bite her. So, Buffy jumped up and back, flying through the air in a somersault, causing the girl to fly off her. She spun around to see all three were standing between her and the door again.
"Huh, if at first you don't succeed..." She looked past them and saw that while she had been fighting the zombies her Mom had sneaked past them and was already pushing the door open with Giles' help. Buffy somersaulted over the zombies to join them, "...cheat" She finished before rushing inside the room that the door was hiding. Which was not Dawn as they had expected, but Spike.
"Oh my god..."Joyce gasped as she took in the sight of the disheveled Spike, crawled up desperately against a wall.
"Spike?" Buffy asked in disbelief, not even sure she could believe it was him. "Are you real?" She asked, at first tense as she saw him reach out towards her, but she felt herself relaxed as she felt his hand caressing her cheek. She'd missed this, she shouldn't, but she had. She'd thought he was gone forever, but here he was back. In the Sunnydale High basement.
"Buffy..." He said softly.
"Yes?"
"Duck..."
"Duck?" Buffy frowned, "What duck? Where?"
"No, Buffy, duck" Giles stressed pointing to behind her and Buffy ducked just in time to avoid the pipe the janitor tried to swing at her.
"No visitors today...terribly busy..." Spike mumbled and Joyce was torn between helping her daughter and her husband who were trying to fight off the zombies yet again or going to a not-quite-right Spike. She decided her strengths lay in comfort and mothering if she were perfectly honest, and not the fighting portion of the program so she went over to Spike.
"Spike?" She asked, kneeling beside him, "Do you know who I am?"
"Nobody comes in here," He told her, "Just the three of us"
"Three?" Joyce instantly picked up on that, "Spike, have you seen Dawn? Is she here?"
"DON'T YOU THINK I'M TRYING?!" Spike suddenly burst out, standing up straight, sending Joyce backwards a little in shock at the sudden change in mood and tone, "Ooh, not a fast, not a quick STUDY! I dropped my board in the water and now the chalks all run...sure to be caned..." Spike laughed a weak, undoubtedly insane laugh, "Should've seen that coming..."
Just then Buffy and Giles shoved the zombies back outside and closed the door behind them, pushing against it to hold it shut. As they did so Buffy got out her cell phone.
"Buffy, now really isn't the time to make a call," Giles told her in exasperation and she threw him a look.
"I'm calling Xander. See if he can find that talismany thing you mentioned. If he can find it and get rid of it then the dead men walking will be the dead men gone, you get me?" She started dialing. "Hi Xander. I need a huge favor"
"Can't stop by..." Spike continued to mumble, "Don't have a pass, always need a pass. P-proof" He turned away and his unbuttoned shirt opened slightly revealing scar after scar all created by himself as he had evidently scratched away at his chest frantically.
"Buffy," Joyce said just as her daughter finished her phone call with Xander, "Spike...he's..." She gently took hold of Spike's wrist to pull him around to face the Slayer so she could see the lacerations on his chest.
"Oh my god Spike, what did you do?" Buffy asked him in shock and horror. Before he could answer, or not answer as the case may have possibly been, Buffy's phone started ringing, caller ID identifying it as Dawn, "Dawn? Are you okay? Look, just hang tight. We'll find you. We? Me, Mom and Giles. Don't worry we'll get there soon. Now these things can hurt you, but you can hurt them too. Find something heavy" She hung up and turned to the vampire, "Spike are you gonna help us?"
"THIS IS MY HOME!" He exclaimed, "I belong here. I've always been here! Cheers for stopping by!"
"Buffy, I don't think he's in any fit state to be helping us," Giles pointed out kindly.
"What's wrong with him Giles? What happened to make him like this? He's like...Drusilla but less sense making"
"I don't know," He replied, "But we'll have time for that later. Right now we need to find Dawn"
"Well, she said she's in a room near a furnace close to where we all fell in" Buffy said, recalling the information Dawn had given her.
Dawn had been fighting them off fairly well. Sure the bag of bricks was too heavy for her to life higher than ankle height, but those zombie's ankles had been smashed to bits. But now she was on the definite down side of the fight as the one that looked like a janitor was pulling her up by the hair.
"You can thank your dead sister for this"
At that exact perfect timing moment Buffy burst through the door, rolling forward under the nerd to knock the janitor back with both her legs, landing neatly next to Dawn.
"Thanks sis," Dawn grinned before Buffy jumped back up to carry on with the fight.
"Dawn," Her Mom said in relief, running over to her and holding her tightly, "Thank god you're okay"
"Mom..." Dawn squirmed in embarrassment, acutely aware that Kit and Carlos were still there, watching.
"Sorry," Joyce apologized, knowing what her daughter was getting at and so only half meaning the apology, "Come on, we need to get you three out of here" She told them, helping Dawn up and guiding the others out with them, out of the danger zone of the battle that was ensuing with the zombies.
Suddenly though, there was a flash of light and the zombie Buffy had been fighting disappeared as did the others.
"Are they gone...?" Carlos asked nervously,looking around, checking the creeps weren't going to jump out at them again.
"Xander must have destroyed the talisman..." Giles reasoned.
"How did you know it was a talisman?" Dawn asked.
"Well, it was simply due to a matter of looking at and considering the-" Giles began to reply, but Dawn cut him off.
"I wanted a simple answer Giles, not a magic lecture"
"Besides," Buffy said, "I think the more important question is who put it there in the first place"
"Is this your family?" Kit asked Dawn, looking around at Buffy, Joyce and Giles.
"Yep..." Dawn admitted quietly, feeling completely and utterly ashamed. Not only had she gotten trapped by zombies on her first day but she'd managed to show her first potential friends within minutes that her family were freaks.
"Cool..." Kit nodded in approval, "Way better than mine"
"Well, we try," Buffy said off-handedly, "Now let's find a way back upstairs"
"You guys are gonna be okay," Buffy told the teens as they all walked along the corridor after finally escaping the basement, "This school is intense, but you can do alright if you're careful and-"
"Principal Wood,"Giles suddenly said and Buffy frowned at him in genuine confusion.
"What?"
"Principal Wood about to head this way," He elaborated.
"Well, he can't see you two here!" Buffy said, realizing what point Giles was making, "He's already suspicious enough. Go!" Buffy shoved the two of them round a corner corridor before either of them had a chance to protest.
"Oof!" Joyce stumbled a bit, "I'm sure she didn't need to do that"
"Well, we could always take advantage of the situation." Rupert suggested, "Some unexpected alone time..." He leaned towards but she pushed him away slightly.
"Rupert, we're in a school. The kids..." She half-protested but he seemed unconvinced.
"It never used to bother you..." He reminded her and she blushed slightly.
"That was different"
"Well, we could always find the library if it'd make you more comfortable," He mock-suggested and she hit him playfully, before relenting and giving into the kiss, eventually wrapping her arms around him as he slipped his hands around her waist.
"Eww," They heard from their right and they broke their kiss to turn and look in the direction the protest had come from and saw a grossed out tenth grader.
"Oh, grow up," Joyce told him simply and the boy, disgruntled, walked off, leaving the couple to resume their lip-locking. However, barely a moment had passed when Buffy came around the corner.
"Eww," She told them, "Can we stop that now please?"
The couple sighed in resignation, breaking apart and turned to Buffy, who was grinning broadly at them.
"Guess what?" She asked them excitedly, before proceeding to tell them about her new job as school councilor.
Later on, well into the night, when Buffy was patrolling, Anya and Xander were having wild monkey sex, Dawn was fast asleep in bed and Joyce and Giles were yet again talking about where Lily was supposed to sleep, Spike crouched down in the basement as the people talked to him.
"Everything is... I had a speech, I learned it all..." Spike mumbled, "oh God, she won't understand... she won't understand.."
"Of course she won't understand Sparky," Warren told him angrily, beginning to pace, "I'm beyond her understanding. She's a girl! Sugar and spice and everything useless unless you're baking! I'm more than that. I'm more than flesh. I'm-" As he paced, Warren morphed into Glory.
"More than blood. I'm...you know I don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me. Oh my name will be on everyone's lips...assuming their lips haven't been torn off, that is. But not just yet, that's alright now-" She began pacing again and then it was Adam making the strides.
"I can be patient," He told Spike, "Everything is well within parameters. She's right where I want her. And so are you number 17. You're where you belong"
The Mayor knelt down beside Spike so he could speak to him face to face.
"What'd you think? You'd get your soul back and everything would be Jim dandy?" He asked, shaking his head in amusement, "A soul's slipperier than a greased weasel- why do you think I sold mine? Well, you probably thought you'd be your own man, and I respect that, but the truth is-"
"You'll never be a man will you Spike?" Dawn asked him, causing him to look up a little at her voice, "I mean, sure Buffy had a thing for you. But she's always had a thing for dead guys. Hey," She frowned in disgusted in confusion, "Does that make her a necrophiliac? Anyway, the point is, soul or no soul- sorry dude, but she's always gonna prefer Angel. We all prefer Angel"
"You're a sweetie Spike, don't get me wrong," Joyce told him kindly, "I've always kinda liked you. I mean, you haven't tried to kill me so that puts you in my good books. But you're just...not right for Buffy. This soul...it doesn't make a difference. Just causes you a lot of pain. And where's the sense in that, huh? You're not thinking straight..." She reached out to brush his cheek in a motherly way, but then the hand became the thin, white hand of Drusilla's.
"Because as she'll never be yours, you'll never be hers Spike. You're always mine. My little darling boy. You'll be always in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You always liked them. Right from the beginning. And that's where we're going-"
"Right back to the beginning. " The Master grinned, "Not the "Bang", not the "Word", the true beginning. The next few months are going to be quite a ride, and I think we're all gonna learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're a pathetic shmuck, if it hasn't sunk in already" He towered over Spike's huddled figure, "Look at you. Tried to do what's right. Just like her, you still don't get it. It's not about right. It's not about wrong"
Buffy smiled quietly, arms folded serenely and powerfully.
"It's about power"