Spike had been in the Magic Box all day. He was starting to sound like Angel with all his brooding about how he messed everything up, and he knew it. This was pissing him off even more, to sound like the Poof just wasn't acceptable. He spent hours second guessed everything he had done in the last few years, questioned if he missed something, examined the smallest things he had done, could he have said something different to make a difference.

  He remembered the many fights they had when they were enemies, the fight in the church while restoring Dru, the whole Judge thing, the gem of Amarra. Then there was the first time. The fight in the school when Joyce hit him with the ax, telling him to get way from her daughter. He had to smile a little at that one. With that thought, his mind drifted to the many chats with Joyce over hot cocoa. His heart almost broke when he realize she would never get to see her grandchild. Joyce would have loved to see this, Buffy and Spike as parents. Who would have imagined?

   He remembered the many times he had left but was somehow he was somehow drawn back to Sunnydale. The first time when Dru left him he came back to kidnap Willow, ended up with Willow and Xander both, then finally had to fight on the same side as Angel and Buffy. His own word came back to him *Love's a funny thing* ~ ain't that true he thought. Then there was the time when he and Buffy almost got married, granted, it was because of Willow's spell, but still it was great. He had always wondered what would have happened if that spell hadn't been broken. Would they have gotten married? He could remember every single moment that he spent with her. Everywhere he turned something always reminded him of her. 

 Finally Spike couldn't take it anymore being cooped up in here was just too much. He stormed out of the training room and headed for the basement. He hadn't gotten very far before Willow stopped him. " Where do you think you're going?" Her voice was firm and she had her 'resolve face' on.

"Sod off. " Spike growled angrily. To tell the truth he wasn't mad at her, he was mad at the whole situation, she was just the one in his way.

"Spike!" Dawn protested, "Where are you going?"

He took deep breath to calm himself. "I'm going to try the tunnels I can't just sit around waiting 'til dark."

"No! You're not going Spike! You already said it was blocked, you can't make it to…her that way. "Dawn replied, she choked as the thought of Warren having her sister.

"Dawnie's right Spike, you can't do it all by yourself. If you insist on trying it take Angel with you." Willow wasn't asking, it was a command and Spike knew it. She might not be using her powers anymore but it was still there, maybe not quite as strong, still more powerful then he wanted to mess with. He gave in not wanting to fight a pissy-off powerful Wicca. "Fine." He mumbled. 

"What? I'm not going anywhere with him!" Angel said, pointing to Spike.

Willow quickly turned her attention to the table where Angel was sitting, "YES. YOU. ARE." She growled at him, punctuating every word. Her power could be felt from across the room and he even thought he saw her eyes flash black for a moment. 

"Fine." Angel had been told how strong Willow had become before she quit cold turkey. *If this is Will without magic, I don't want to see her with it.* he thought. *Defiantly not the Willow I knew back in high school.* Besides he had convinced himself if this thing with Spike makes Buffy happy, he'd respect it for now. And he was going just as crazy himself being 'trapped' in the Magic Box.

Xander had been drawn into the conversation with Will's last little outburst. He was behind the counter with Anya deciding seating arrangements, for the millionth time. "I think I should go with them." All eyes were on him,"What? I just don't want to explain two dusted vamps to her, that's all!"  

@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

There was an uncomfortable silence between the guys as they approached the collapsed section of the tunnel. It had been that way since they left the shop. Finally Xander couldn't take it any more, "So far so good."

"Yeah mate, that's because the collapsed section is up there." Pointing to the wall of rubble completely blocking their path. The factory wasn't far. Xander's face dropped when he saw what Spike was pointing to. Without another word, the three of them walked to the wall of rock and debris that stood between them and Buffy. Then they started digging through it.

They had been making quick work of it. Within a half an hour they could start to see little holes in it and the section was becoming more unstable with each piece  they removed. Spike saw the pile shift as Angel picked up a large chunk, before he could do anything the pile shifted to the right, pinning Xander's leg and arm under a large bolder.

@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

The last hour dragged on forever, there was an uneasy feeling in the shop. The otherwise large storefront seemed to close in around them. As the seconds ticked slowly by, each one of them became more impatient. Tara, Willow, and Cordy tried their best to concentrate on figuring out the rest of the two prophecies. Dawn tried to help but she couldn't sit still and had started to pace the store. Anya had waited on a few customers, but mostly she counted her money. It was comforting, normal, to her and that's what she needed right now. She couldn't bear to think of Xander in danger.

The silence was killing Dawn. You could hear the beating wings of fly in here, and it was driving her nuts. She couldn't take it any longer, "Have you found anything?"

Tara looked up from her book, "No, I'm sorry Dawnie." Dawn let out a long sigh. "Sweetie I know this has to be hard on you, but there's nothing more we can do."

"There's gotta be something we can do. I mean, I can't just sit around and wait for something to happen?"

"What more can we do?" Cordy asked.

"We can go to the factory and see how bad it is? If it's too bad, I'll go into the tunnels and warn the guys." Well, she had a point. No one wanted to just sit around waiting to see if the guys could make it to the factory that way. And if they did get there who knows what Warren and the rest of the geek trio had in store for them?

"I think she's right." Anya sheepishly said from behind the counter. "Maybe we should try to help? It's not much, but Dawn's plan could maybe help a little."

After a few more minutes of discussing it farther, they made a quick plan and were grabbing any thing they felt they needed. They headed out the door of the Magic Box. Cordy would drive Angel's car with Connor and Dawn. Anya would take Xander's with Willow and Tara. 

 @~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

The shifting of rocks left a hole large enough for them to crawl through. The rubble shifted on to Xander, leaving him trapped. Spike started to quickly dig him out. Spike and Xander might not have been the best of friends but he couldn't just leave the annoying wanker there. Xander saw the opening, "Why are you helping?'

"'Cause I can't just leave you here. A certain ex- demon, Bride-to- be would kill me. Remember, "if anything ruins my wedding they'll be hell to pay!' "Spike reminded him in his best Anya voice.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. The bride would give you hell. "

"Bloody right" Spike mumbled, pulling him free, "What hurts Harris?"

"Just my arm. I'm fine. Go on, I'll catch up with you!" Spike hesitates for a moment, then nodded.

Angel and Spike wiggle their way though the opening, leaving Xander standing there, holding his arm, which really hurt like a son-of- bitch. They made their way down the tunnel a few more feet. "You got a plan?" Angel asked Spike.

"Don't die." Spike mumbles back. He hadn't thought far in advance, the only thing he was thinking about when the left the Magic Box was he needed to find her.

"Great plan, Spike, really great plan." The older vamp mocked.

"Well, it works for me." Spike protested, climbing the ladder that led to the factory.

@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

Buffy was still chained to the pillar. She had been beaten, her face was slightly swollen and she had a bruise on her left cheek. Holts circled her as if he were lion stalking its prey, "Nothing you do will save him. The child and his father will die; he must pay for what he has done!"

"Please don't. I love them. After the baby is born you can take me in their place. I know he will be a good father and raise her."

"After who's born?" he questioned.

"After our child is born in October, then you can come and take ..." She couldn't finish the sentence, she didn't want to think about it. She knew a slayer's life span wasn't very long and she had had longer than most, but she couldn't bear the thought of having to leave her friends and family again. She didn't even want to think about leaving her child and Spike. It wasn't fair; she had just found true happiness in her life. She was going to have a family with the man she loved and this bastard was going to take it all way.

"Ahhh…. So I see Angelus has been busy."

 Buffy's eyes grew large as she realized who he was talking about, "You're Holts." She hissed.

"Yes Slayer, I'm very disappointed in you. You should know better than to play with fire like you do. Someone always gets burned and this time, you will all burn." He stopped in front of her, "I think this is all too fitting. You see, Angelus took my wife and two children away from me and now I'm going to take them away from him as he watches. I was just going to take his son." Holts steps in closer and puts his hand on her stomach, "But with this little development, he's really going to pay!"

Buffy tried to pull away from him but couldn't, "This is NOT Angel's child! It's Spikes! Why can't any one believe me?" She yelled at him.

Holts was shocked, "It's his grandchild?" he question still trying to figure it all out. "Is everybody in that bloodline able to have children?" he said sarcastically, as the fact that the baby isn't Angel's, set in. 

"Get the bloody hell away from her!" Spike snapped as he charged at Holts and sent him flying. Spike was shocked when the chip didn't go off. Angel had gone to Buffy's aid, but didn't make it. Two Farrell demons had stopped him. In all the commotion, Warren was free to turn his attention to Buffy. He grabbed the knife from the table and went after her, holding it at her throat.

Buffy wiggled her arm out just enough to knock it out of Warren's hand. He got mad and struck her across the face and yelled, "Go to hell Bitch!" 

Spike heard it and turned his head to see what happened. When Spike turned, Holts shoves him off and runs out the door. Spike was more interested with what was going on with Warren and Buffy then in giving chase after Holts.

   Angel saw and heard the whole thing, but still couldn't get to her. He had his hands full. Finally, after a few minutes, he got the upper hand. Farrell's might be big, but they were also not very smart. As one of them charges, he ducked, sending him flying into the second one and both into the wall with enough force to knock them out.

Spike jumped to his feet and went after Buffy. Warren moved behind her, putting his hand on either side of her face, "Stop right there Spike. If you come any closer, I'll snap the bitch's neck.

Spike stopped a few feet away from her, "Sorry."

"Be sorry later, just get us out of here alive." From behind, Angel struck Warren, rendering him unconscious.

@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

A little while later at the hospital, Buffy was comfortable and resting. Spike was sitting on the bed next to her, just holding her hand.

The gang had already been in to check on her and had now gone home. He had told them all that Buffy and the baby were fine, but they would run a few more tests in the morning, just to make sure they were alright. Then if all was well, she could go home. As he sat beside her, exhaustion finally overcame him and he slides up next to Buffy and falls asleep.

"So I see you finally found yourself a mate, 'mate." David joked, walking towards him.