A/N- For all who didn't notice, I have the current status of this story as 'on hiatus' (which it is) I have a lot of things going on in my life right now, including finding out my husband and I are expecting child #3. However no sooner was this discovered, (and celebrated) than I began having complications. Needless to say things have been stressful and my attempts to work on this fic have been met with one dead end after another. The story is there, but the words aren't comming, and right now, I simply have more things to worry about. I have appreiciated everyone that has read and reviewed so far. I really do hope to get back to this fic once things settle down, and I hate to leave everyone hanging. However, after I put this on hiatus, I realized I never posted the last chapter that I had written, and figured I might as well give you something to naw on while I (hopefully) get my writting feet back under me.

Enjoy!

Chapter 7 {Confrontation}

"Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one is. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does." Whistler (BTVS 2x21 Becoming Part 1)

"Are you sure this is a good idea Buffy?" Giles asked in a loud whisper. He told himself he was going to trust her, but right now her orders left him reeling. "You want me to leave the house, so that this… messenger can come, and you can…what, torture him for information?" The distaste was evident in his voice.

"I'm not going to torture him Giles….. At least not in the classic sense." Buffy rolled her eyes at Giles squeamishness. "I'm just going to keep him here long enough to get the information that I need. Hopefully without him finding out that I'm from the future." Buffy frowned. "The last thing that I need is the powers finding out that I'm on to them."

"Uh- on to them?" Giles asked weakly, removing his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. He found he was roundly ignored.

"You can go to the library. I'll meet you there after I've talked to him. I asked Kendra to go to my house. She can keep my mom busy… She's on some sort of kick right now, thinks I'm doing drugs or something." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"And what do you plan to tell her about the 'dark power' that her watcher was told about?" Giles questioned her warily. It was good to see her with a bit of color back in her face, even if it was at the prospect of pummeling some demon. Good demon, he mentally corrected himself.

"I'll tell her that someone was trying to bring Acathla forth, and we stopped them." Buffy picked up a knife and laid it within reach on the counter, checking her boot for the dagger she stowed there earlier.

"You think she'll believe you?" Giles asked, his eyes darting away from what Buffy was doing. She looked like she was preparing to go to war. And it looked like it was something she had done a hundred times before. A chill ran through him as she spoke her next words.

"She won't have a choice."

*****

Spike rubbed his hands together, almost giggling in glee as he watched the young woman making her way up the steps to Buffy's home. Two slayers in one day, it was almost too good to be true. He had planned on gaining access to the slayer's house, killing her mother, and than attacking her when she found the body. It was one of his better plans, he liked to think. At least he had one. Angelus, he had to admit, had been right, she was too strong for him to best in an outright fight. He had to gain the advantage somehow.

After watching her, he had decided that her mother was the best way to get to her. It was too dangerous for him to attempt going for her watcher, or one of her misguided groupies. They had taken to carrying crosses and stakes, not to mention they all knew who he was. No, her mother was clearly still the best way to go...With the other slayer here though… Spike grinned as he walked back to the factory. It would change his original plan, but if it worked, the rewards would be that much sweeter.

"Dru baby!" he called "I've got a surprise for you pet."

*******

Buffy tapped her toe as she waited, wondering, not for the first time, if she was making the right decision. She knew Giles wasn't happy, and tried not to think about it. He had left her. Not the other way around. Stubbornly she pushed aside the little voice that whispered to her that this Giles had done nothing to incur her wrath. He had been nothing but supportive.

She knew she was different, and she knew they could tell. And as much as she longed for things to go back to the way they used to be, she was too used to pushing them away, and too scared of being let down again, to let them in. Rationally, she knew something had to give. She had been caught in a pattern of self-destruction long before she was tossed back in time. The only difference now was that her friends were even more clueless now then they were in the future as to what had caused such a radical change.

Buffy was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a door closing quietly downstairs.

"Showtime" she whispered

******

"Hello?" Joyce opened the door, blinking somewhat owlishly at the young man on her doorstep. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yes" Spike put on his best 'serious' face, and motioned to the girl beside him. "We're friends of Buffy's, can we come in?" Joyce glanced back and forth between the two people on her porch, pushing aside a momentary feeling of unease.

"Oh, are you here to help with her history project?" she asked pleasantly.

"Of course" Spike stifled an evil grin, shooting Dru a look to keep her quiet. "Her history project... She said she'd meet us here" He gestured towards the door again. Joyce followed his eyes and than blushed when it dawned on her what he wanted.

"Oh sorry, I am just so rude! Won't you come in?"

******

Buffy walked down the stairs in Giles apartment, her eyes landing on the demon she had seen only once before, the night he had told her how to kill Angel.

"There you are" he turned from his perusal of Giles apartment to watch her descend the stairs.

"Who are you?" she uttered the obligatory phrase, even though she knew what his answer would be. His was a face she would never forget, burned into her memory like so many others from that day.

"Whistler" He shrugged his shoulders with aggravating casualty, reminding Buffy of why he made her so angry the last time they had met.

"What do you know?" she bit her tongue to keep the questions from spilling out. If time had taught her anything it was this; never reveal all your cards before you know what your opponent has up his sleeve. And she was banking on the fact that he had quite a lot up his sleeve.

Whistler eyed the young girl evenly. It was obvious why Angel had fallen for her, even if he wasn't supposed to.

"None of us saw you coming." He finally answered her, inwardly impressed at how she held herself. He had expected to be pinned to the wall within minutes of her seeing him. "It wasn't supposed to go down like this. I always saw this as Angel's big day." He straightened his jacket, ignoring her frown. "Then you had to go and make with the smoochies…" He shook his head at her, as though bewildered at her apparent lack of self-control. "Now he's a creep again." Buffy growled low in her throat, forcing herself to focus on the information she needed to get from him, instead of the insults that were flowing from his annoying looking mouth.

"What do you mean, Angel's big day?" She demanded, wondering why she hadn't remembered this part of the conversation before. His eyes had widened at her growl, but he held his own, inwardly raging at his big mouth, while debating whether or not it would hurt anything to tell her. After a moment, he relented.

"There's this prophecy…"

Prophecy…

Buffy's eyes narrowed at the word.

"It says that one day, the vampire with a soul will Shanshu, live again." Whistler explained, the ghost of a sad smile flitting across his face. "I thought he was here to stop Acathla, not bring him forth."

*****

Spike followed Mrs. Summers into the house. He glanced over his shoulder, covering for Dru as she drifted up the stairs. "I'm going to kill a slayer" she sang quietly, clapping her hands quickly and tilting her head in glee.

"So, are you from the local college too?" Joyce called over her shoulder as she headed into the kitchen.

College?

"Uh, yeah" Spike agreed readily, his fangs sliding into place as he stalked through the house.

"Would you like some hot cocoa?" Joyce called from the kitchen.

Had she just offered him hot chocolate? His eyes widened slightly as he rolled it around in his head. What would it hurt?

"Oh, sure" he heard himself say, his human visage coming back as he pondered "Say, do you got any of those little marshmallows to put in it?"

Kendra opened the bedroom door quickly, expecting to see Buffy on the other side. Before the door was fully open and arm darted through. Drusilla grabbed the slayer by the neck, holding her out in front of her as she began to chant.

"Be in my eyes" Drusilla whispered as her fingers danced in front of the slayers face. "Be in my eyes" she hissed again. Reaching out, she cradled the young girl's face, almost lovingly, before sinking her teeth down deep into her waiting throat. Spike was right, drinking a slayer was like eating the finest of chocolates… "All gone" she burped, giggling.

Carefully she picked up the young girl and headed for the stairs, Spike said to take her to the factory, then she would get to play.

*****

"Shanshu?" Buffy whispered "Wait, what do you mean, you thought?"

Whistler paused again, wondering how much to tell her. If the powers found out he was talking to her, his goose was royally cooked. Get in, tell her how to use the sword, get out. That was what they said. His work was done. Still, he felt a little guilty, knowing he had played a part, albeit unwillingly, in all of this.

"The powers, they aren't so clear." He shrugged "I really shouldn't say anymore." He backed towards the door, inwardly holding his breath.

Faster than you could say 'bought your uncle' Whistler found himself pinned to the wall. "I always knew you were a wall-pinning type of girl." He wheezed appreciatively. Buffy glared at him.

"I'm running out of patience." She smiled tightly. "I want to know what's going on" She pushed her arm a bit deeper into Whistler's windpipe. "And you are going to tell me." Whistler nodded quickly, immortal or not, being pinned to the wall by your neck was still painful. "Now" Buffy began, "Tell me why you sent Angel to me."

"There- there was this prophecy" He rambled as Buffy's arm pushed him deeper into the wall.

"I am really starting to hate that word" She muttered threateningly. "What prophecy" she spat out.

"I-I don't know really. I don't know! I don't know!" He cried as she reached for a knife he had spotted lying on the counter. "I swear I don't know!"

"Then tell me what you do know." She hissed, still fingering the knife appreciatively.

"Ok! Ok! Loosen up on the neck will ya?" Whistler grumbled as she allowed him to rest his feet on the floor. "Look, right before you were called they sent me to him. He was a class act at the time too, I'll tell you what. Livin on the streets of New York, eatin rats… really not his best look, not to mention the smell." He shuddered. "All they told me, was that you were his destiny. I was supposed to get him cleaned up, and send him to you. They figured that would be enough. The rest was up to him."

"And" Buffy persisted

"And what?! What do you want, a freakin guide book? That's all I know." Whistler pressed himself up against the wall as she paced the room, agitated. He really didn't fancy getting himself pinned to the wall again.

"Listen!" She spun on her heel to face him again, her face still a mask of rage. "You sent him to me, I slept with him, now I have to kill him. Explain to me, how, exactly, that could be his destiny?!" She picked up the knife and twirled it in her fingers, making sure he noticed as she continued. "What exactly does your little prophecy say, 'Since we haven't wreaked enough havoc Buffy's life as it is, let's rip her heart out too?"

Whistler gasped as the knife the slayer had been holding imbedded itself deeply into the wall, just inches from his face.

"I swear I don't know Slayer! I swear I don't know."

*******

"So," Joyce set the cup down in front of Spike, and smiled gently "How old are you Spike?"

"uh.." Spike thought fast "Twenty-three" he nodded quickly "Yeah, I'm twenty-three." His chest puffed out a bit at his quick thinking. Dru would be awful proud.

"Where's your girlfriend?" The slayer's mom wondered as she looked towards the steps.

"Ah!" Spike yelled almost jumping out of his seat "She, she had to go home and get something." He returned to his hot chocolate, wondering again why he didn't just kill her.

"Oh, ok."

If she thought anything was off, she chose not to show it. "So, have you two been together long?"

*****

Buffy sighed as she headed for her house, her mind spinning in a thousand directions. Prophecies…she really, really hated them. They had a way of screwing up her life, one way or another. Hopefully Giles would be able to figure out what Whistler was talking about. For a second she wished she could talk to the Angel from her time. She wondered if he knew anything about what was going on. She knew Wesley had joined up with him, and Wes was almost as obsessed with prophecies as Giles. Maybe he had found something in one of his studies?

Buffy shrugged it off. As far as she knew Wesley was still at the Watcher's Academy being 'head boy' and there was no way for her to talk to Angel. Future Angel, she amended. For now she needed a clear head. And she needed to figure out what exactly to tell Kendra to keep her and her watcher from going all wiggy.

Buffy paused as she neared her front door, a rolling feeling taking up residence in her gut.

Spike.

She had patrolled with him too many times not to recognize the feeling. Dread built in the pit of her stomach as she suddenly longed for a chipped Spike, one that watched passions, and pested Giles, and did NOT eat her mother.

Cautiously she eased the back door open, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized they weren't in the kitchen. Not that she had much hope of him not knowing she was there. She had come to accept, and sometimes even rely on, the vampires' keen sense of smell. It was a constant, even if it did freak her out.

She crept quietly to the doorway, stopping short to listen.

"So then I told her, 'You just wait and see, you'll be sorry'" Spike laughed as he finished his story, sucking down the last of his hot cocoa.

"Oh my" She could hear her mother "Well, it sounds like you two had some good times."

"You know pet, we did. We really did." Spike agreed, suddenly sitting up a bit straighter. "Slayer" he called conversationally "I know you're in there. Why don't you come out, and tell your mum hi."

Buffy stiffened as she walked into the room. If her mom noticed his use of the term 'slayer' she chose not to show it. "Spike" she greeted him, her eyes narrowing when she saw how close he was sitting to her mother. If she wanted to take him out with out her mother getting hurt, she would have to get him to move towards her.

"Ah, ah" Spike shook his finger at her, then dipped it into his mug, scooping up the chocolate ring on the bottom. He licked it off, grinning wickedly at her. "Your mum invited me in. Nice of her wasn't it." She eyed him distastefully.

"You know Spike, for someone with no taste buds, you sure do eat a lot." She snapped, forgetting her mom for a minute and shuddering a bit as he continued to tongue his finger.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I like the texture." He shot back informatively, smirking. He had to admire her spunk. If she wasn't a slayer, he would have considered turning her.

"Of course you do" she muttered. Spike did always have thing for contrast.

And I so did not want to go there

"Buffy," her mother interjected, thankfully cutting off her line of thinking. "You know, it wasn't very nice of you to keep them waiting. I'm sure they have better things to do with their time than to wait around for you to show up to work on your history project." Joyce folded her arms and waited for her daughter's explanation.

"Them?" Buffy paled, her eyes flashing back to Spike, the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach suddenly growing to epic proportions. Where was Kendra anyway?

"Yeah, Dru was here." He answered innocently "Too bad she had to leave." His eyes traveled the length of her, leering. "She took your friend with her though…" He tilted his head slightly, watching to make sure she got his meaning. "She said she wanted someone to play with."

"You sonofabitch" Buffy cursed, stepping towards Spike menacingly.

"ah-ah-ah" Spike tsked, sliding closer to where her mom was sitting, still grinning as he watched the drama unfold.

"Buffy!" her mother chided "Watch your mouth young lady!"

"Yes" Spike agreed. "You shouldn't be talking like that slayer, it's not very lady-like." He nearly sung the last words, shaking his head at her mockingly.

"Spike…" Buffy warned, clenching her fists together in an effort to stay calm. "What did Drusilla do with Kendra?"

"Can't say as I know really, I've been havin' hot cocoa here with yore mum." Spike grinned, moving even closer to Joyce. "You know, it really was the best cocoa I've tasted in a long time." He complemented her seriously.

"Why thank you!" Her mother beamed, turning to give her a pointed look. "So polite"

Buffy rolled her eyes disgustedly. "What is it with you and my mom?" She muttered quietly, knowing he would hear her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you liked her."

"Hey!" Spike scowled as her comment resonated in him. He didn't like her! "She just makes good cocoa is all." He scoffed, looking completely put out.

Buffy almost groaned as the truth of her retort hit her, remembering too late what Spike told her not long after her mother's death. He was 'fond' of Joyce, he had admitted in his offhanded way, 'She always treated him right.'

Spike growled as he watched a smirk dance across the Slayer's face. He was in control here, and she had no right to look so damn cheeky!

Buffy's snapped back at the sound of his growl. Right. Danger now. Memory Lane later.

"Mom" Buffy looked at her mother, willing her to listen. "Listen to me. I need you to trust me. You need to come over here, away from Spike."

"What? Why?" Joyce looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Mom! I can't explain, I just need you do to it. Now!" It was the wrong thing to say. Buffy cringed as her mother stood up, put her hand on her hips, and assumed 'The Stance'. Oh no oh no oh no.

"Do not talk to me like that young lady!" Her mother hissed, clearly allowing her many 'parenting' books to lead the conversation. "Are you in some kind of trouble? It's drugs isn't it? I knew it was drugs." Buffy watched as her mom stepped even closer to Spike. "She's been distant, moody, and not at all herself lately." She confided. "We moved here for a change, to keep her away from the wrong kind of people, you know?"

Spike nodded in feigned sympathy.

"You really shouldn't upset your mom like that Slayer, it's not very nice." He took another step towards her mother, this dance had been fun, really, but he was never one for patience.

"Spike" Buffy threatened, her muscles tensing as she recognized the look on his face. She had seen it way too many times to count. "Look mom, it's not drugs I swear!" She babbled, trying desperately to keep her head. "I just really need you to get away from him. He's not safe." She held her breath as she admitted this, hoping it would be enough to pull her mother back to her side.

Joyce looked over at Spike nervously, the subtle feeling of unease returning. "What do you mean he's not safe Buffy?" She asked, stepping just a bit closer to her daughter.

Spike dove.

Buffy saw the move coming but wasn't close enough to stop it. She wasn't sure she could have without hurting her mother. Spike had her by the balls right now and he knew it. She realized too late what her real reason was for avoiding her mother in the kitchen that morning. She couldn't loose her mother again, she couldn't.

"Buffy!" Her mother's panicked scream cut through her. Spike had morphed into game face, his fangs almost dripping as the moved closer to her mother's neck. Buffy's eyes darted around the room. Her mind kicking into over drive as she evaluated the situation she was in.

"Is this what you came here for?" The question was more of a stall then anything. "I thought you came here to kill me, not snack on my mom." His fangs stayed poised over her mother's neck as he contemplated a response, giving her the second she needed to slip the dagger she had been inching down her sleeve further into her palm.

"I mean, you wouldn't want to get all filled up on her, when you could have me, right?" She tiled her neck provocatively as she stepped to the side just a little, lining up her shot. She would have to be careful, and she would have to be quick. Her mother seemed to have gone into shock, staring in horror at the fangs that were inches from draining her. Buffy hoped it would last long enough for her to do what she needed to do.

Spike allowed his eyes to trail her again, his cock jumping at the sight of the Slayer baring her neck to him. Buffy reacted the moment she saw his eyes glaze over, shuddering internally at what she had done. NEVER, not even when they were sleeping together, had she taken a submissive stance with him. She reserved that right for Angel alone.

Lightening quick the dagger flew through the air, Buffy didn't even watch to see if it hit its target. She dove for the body of her mother she instinctively knew Spike would drop.

Spike roared as the knife plunged into his eye, covering him and Buffy's mother in a spray of blood. His hands grappled to pull the knife out, lunging towards Buffy as he wiped the blood off his face.

"You bitch!" He yelled, diving towards her as she flung her mother across the room and out of danger.

"Oops, sorry mom" she called pulling a large knife out of her boot, wondering why she hadn't shoved a stake in it instead. "You and me Spike, leave her out of this."

"Yeah right" he answered as he came at her again, grinning savagely as the dagger he wielded sank deeply into her arm. "Not bloody likely!"

Joyce came out of her trance slowly, staring in shock as her daughter fought the strange looking man in their living room. Had his face always looked like that? She ran into the kitchen and scrambled for a weapon, her hands landing on her rolling pin, she quickly made use of it as Spike landed at her feet with a thud.

"Stay. Away. From. Me. And. My. Daughter!" She bellowed as she thumped him repeatedly in the head, wondering briefly at the strange sense of Déjà vu that came over her.

Spike scrambled away, knifing Buffy one last time as she attempted to stop him from running out the door. Three strikes and he was out. He was done trying to kill her. In fact, he had a sinking feeling he had just signed his own death warrant. Right now he needed to find Drusilla and get the hell out of dodge.

******

"Mom! Mom! It's ok." Buffy eased the rolling pin away from her mother, trying to comfort her. Her mind was running in a million different directions. Where was Kendra!?

"No, it is not ok!" her mother spat, looking disheveled and righteous all at once. "Buffy, who was that? WHAT was that?" She took a breath and fixed her eyes on her daughter, daring her to try and talk her way out of this one. "You need tell me right now, what the hell is going on!"

Buffy gulped as she stared at her mother. She deserved the truth, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Well, accept for.....

"That was a vampire" she explained calmly, hoping this would go better the second time around.

"A vampire?" Her mother's voice was tinged in disbelief.

"Yes mom, a vampire. And I'm a vampire slayer. One girl in all the world with the strength to fight the vampires. Have you seen Kendra?" She quickly changed direction, moving towards the stairs worriedly.

"A slayer" Joyce tried it on for size, watching as her daughter darted up the stairs faster then she had ever seen her move before.

"Kendra!" she heard her yell. "Kendra!" After a moment Buffy appeared at the bottom of the steps again, tucking what looked like wooden stakes into her boots and up her sleeves. Joyce shivered as she caught site of the huge ax Buffy was holding in her grasp.

"Have you tried not being the slayer?" She grappled, clinically aware that she was still in some sort of shock.

"It's kind of this thing. Nothing I can do about it. Destiny, calling, and all that." She heard her daughter recite, watching as she bandaged a cut on her arm using only one hand, her dexterity betraying the fact that she had probably done it many times before.

Joyce watched her daughter reached for the door, her mind suddenly moving into gear as she realized what was about to happen.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Buffy cringed as the look on her mother's face changed from 'shock' to 'fear' as the reality of the situation dawned on her.

"Mom, I have find Kendra. Spike said Drusilla has her. She might still be alive." She choked back the voice that assured her she wasn't. She had to try.

"Well, we'll just call the police." Joyce said in a no-nonsense tone, and Buffy groaned as she moved towards the phone in an effort to do just that.

"And tell them what? Mom, even if they did find her, they have no idea what they're up against. You'll get them killed." Buffy turned back towards the door, hoping her mom would accept her answer.

"Buffy this is crazy!" Her mom insisted, anger and disbelief evident in her tone. "Vampires? Can you hear yourself?"

"Mom, I'm not crazy." she insisted, screaming inside for every minute that Kendra was out there, alone, afraid, possibly dead.

Joyce shook her head in disbelief, picking up the phone again in a misguided attempt to help her daughter. Although now she wasn't so sure if it was the police, or the psyche ward she should be calling. She couldn't believe she almost let her daughter convince her she had seen a vampire! Drank hot chocolate with one!

"What do you think has been going on for the past couple of years?" Buffy tried to convince her, watching helplessly as her mother erected yet another wall between them. "The fights, the weird occurrences? How many times have you washed blood out of my clothes and you still haven't figured it out?" Panic bubbled up inside as an image of Kendra, dead on the library floor, flashed before her eyes. "Mom, I have to go."

"No. I forbid it." Joyce shook her head adamantly. This was going to end, now.

Buffy's insides quivered as she recognized the look on her mothers face.

"Mom, don't do this. Please." She pleaded, tears filling her eyes as she was forced to watch her past once again being lived out in front of her. "I have to go." She whispered again, hoping her mother would let it go, while inwardly knowing she would not. Life was funny that way.

"If you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back." It was a threat she knew her mother would keep.

Buffy met her mom's eyes and held them for a long moment, nodding her acceptance slowly before clenching her jaw, and walking out the door. She would have time to cry about it later. Right now, she needed to find Kendra, and she needed to find her fast. Thinking quickly she headed for the mansion. She was angry, but if she found Spike and Drusilla she was going to need some help.