Title: Don't Fear the Reaper 4/?
Author: Ajay
Rating: PG ish
for language.
Disclaimer:
All characters in the BtVS and AtS verse
belong to Josh
Whedon and others who are not me. I
just take them
out for a walk sometimes. Okay, so I
forget to Spike back
on occasion but who wouldn't
forgive me that?
Warning:
Ummm, don't wanna do this but, character
'death' and a
little Buffy bashing.
Description:
Post 'Fade Away' a wish is made, a wish
is granted and
everyone will pay.
Many thanks to my
amazing beta: Ghosts Forge who is so
good for my ego
News: I am
now archived at two sites. Luba's
www.the_crypt.net
and www.geocities.com/Jess_Lair.
Thanks to both
people who offered to host. And, there
goes my ego
through the roof.
*****************************************************
Buffy was
angry. More so than she had been in years.
From Giles down
to her own sister, they were all
against
her. She didn't think she was asking for
much. She
just wanted some time off to go to LA. She
wanted to see
Angel.
It wasn't as if
she was still bogged down with
responsibilities.
She was no longer the only slayer,
there were an
army of them with more arriving every
day. Dawn
was an adult who had just graduated from
high school.
This should have
been freeing to the senior Slayer
except it had
become the centerpiece of her current
discontent.
She had stopped seeing the Immortal just
before Spike's
appearance but he had gifted Dawn with
a trip around the
world as a graduation present. It
had included full
accommodations for Buffy to
accompany
her. That was what really pissed her off.
She tried to
convince Xander to go but he had refused
preferring to
return to
potentials.
Besides, he was to be Dawn's mentor when
she returned to
the Watcher's Academy to begin
training.
He didn't want her to become tired of him
before
then. Buffy snorted. As if that would happen.
Dawn still had a
crush on Xander.
through to the
next level in her magic. At least it
wasn't because
she was still hung up on Kennedy. That
hadn't lasted
long after their arrival in
Kennedy's desire
to move up the ranks as quickly as
possible had
driven a wedge between them.
Buffy had even
gone as far as offering the trip to the
young
slayer. Kennedy had also turned her down. At
this point Giles
stepped in and strongly suggested
that Buffy pack
and enjoy the next six months
traveling with
her sister.
He didn't bother
to tell her that he had gotten angry
phone calls from
Cordelia, desperate ones from Wesley
and finally a
depressing one from a morose sounding
Angel begging him
to stop Buffy from coming to their
city. She
had called, announcing her intention to do
so in late June
citing Dawn's graduation as a reason
for the timing.
Giles agreed with
the LA gang that Buffy's traveling
to see Angel
would not be good for anyone and went
against his own
principles to contact the Immortal to
discuss the problem.
Morty had already decided to
gift Dawn with
the trip and simply added Buffy as a
qualifier.
He really had
nothing against Angelus. He had just
wanted to teach
the young upstart a thing or two about
how the world
worked. Meeting Buffy had been
fortuitous and he
had enjoyed their time together. He
understood her
reasons for calling it off. She had
never denied that
she was in love with someone else.
It had amused him
to find that it was not Angelus but
the young William
the Bloody who held the Slayer's
heart.
Still, he had
spent enough time with her to know that
her broken heart
was leading her in the wrong
direction.
The younger vampire's final death had
driven her to
decide on an action she simply should
not be doing at
this time.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Faith was still
debating with herself about telling
the AI gang about
Jaime when Cordelia mentioned
Buffy's proposed
arrival.
Fuck!
Blondie would want to show up now. It wouldn't
be a good thing
to have her arrive as she was trying
to find the
solution to the 'is he or isn't he Spike'
question.
"Anyway,
Giles swore he'd find a way to keep Princess
Buffy in
Faith's mental
gymnastics.
"What?"
"Yeah, she's
going to be chaperoning little sister on
a world tour for
awhile."
Faith took a deep
breath, that statement had decided
it for her.
"Faith?"
Wesley's voice called. "Forgive me for
being forward but
you've seemed a little preoccupied
these last half
hour or so."
She smiled at her
former watcher. "There's something
I need to discuss
with you guys. Or, well, actually I
just want someone
to tell me I'm not crazy. Or maybe,
that I am."
Okay, she had
their attention if the looks she was
receiving were any
indication. Then again it looked
like they had
already made up their minds in the crazy
discussion.
Here goes nothing.
"Like I said
but, are you guys
sure that he's dead?"
The white faces
and huge eyes that faced her answered
her seemingly
insane question.
"Right,
then. I went out last night, to a bar near
the hotel.
I literally ran into a guy who, if he's
not Spike in some
form, has to be a direct
descendant."
She slowly raised her eyes to look at
those around
her. "I'm supposed to meet with him
again before I
leave. Would any of you like to come
with me?
See if I've lost it or not?"
Wesley's mouth
was opening and closing without a sound
and Fred sat
beside him quietly crying. Cordy
couldn't seem to
decide what to say but Gunn had no
problem in that
area.
"Are you
trying to tell us that Spike somehow faked
this all
out? I don't believe it! No way in Hell
could he manage
bringing us all back without some kind
of major mojo and
Angel was adamant that Spike gave
his life for that
to happen."
Faith closed her
eyes before replying. "That's why I
want someone to
come with me. This guy, he looks like
Spike but with
dark, curly hair. He also doesn't have
an accent and he
really believes he's 25 years old.
He had a cousin
with him last night and they were
telling me about
things from when they were children
together."
"So, what
has you so convinced this is our Spike?"
"Well, the
blue eyes, the cheekbones and, I noticed
after a while
that he has the exact scar on his left
eyebrow that
Spike had. I know it's hard to believe
but..."
"Wolfram and
Hart!"
Everyone turned
to look at Wesley.
"I'd bet my
life on it. That woman wasn't with the
Powers, she was
with the Senior Partners. Who else
would know
exactly how to get to Angel in that way?"
"Son of a
bitch. You're right." Gunn replied. He
turned to
Faith. "They took our memories of Connor
away, at Angel's
request, and gave him new memories
with a new
family. Doing the same thing with Spike,"
"Would put
Angel in his place and show him that he
can't win when it
comes to Wolfram & Hart."
Everyone nodded
at Cordy's statement. "When do you
want to go?"
Faith smiled at
her. "I'm supposed to call him."
She took a breath
before asking the next. "Should we
tell Angel?"
"No!"
was the immediate consensus form the table.
They looked at
each other, embarrassed.
"No."
Wes said more sedately this time. "I think it
would be best if
we meet your young man and see where
things stand
before alerting Angel."
"Yeah,
that's IF any of us can get him out of his room
to even tell
him."
"He'll come
out if I have to set the room on fire."
"Cordy!
That's not fair ya'll know it's just that
he's hurt and, I
think, a little angry."
"Yeah, but
is he angry with Spike?"
"Now why
would he be angry with Spike? Unless,
good Lord, you
don't think he believes Spike set it
all up, do
you? I mean we don't but...?"
"Fred,
darling, calm down. I doubt Angel holds Spike
responsible for
his death." He looked around at the
others.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't hold
it against...what
is the young man's name?"
Faith
smiled. "Jaime Ross."
"Hmm.
Well his name isn't even close to Spike's human
name. It
rather sounds of Scottish derivation,
doesn't it?"
"Does it
make a difference? I mean, wouldn't keeping
his real name
send up a red flag to you guys if you
came across
it?"
Gunn stared at
her. "Girl, do you know how many
people live in
LA? Unless he's doing something high
profile we
wouldn't hear of it."
"Unless he
had a demon problem. And, I wouldn't put
it passed those
bastards to arrange that." Cordy
slammed her palm
on the table. "It would be the
perfect way to
hurt Angel if they did"
"Hey, white
girl, don't give them any ideas, okay?"
((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Angel entered the
hotel to find complete quiet. Was
everyone out on a
case? Maybe the girls had gone
shopping.
There was no note, no message on the
machine,
nothing. He hated doing it but started to
dial Cordy's cell
number. Just before the last digit
he heard a noise
upstairs. He put the phone back down
and picked up the
sword he had taken into the sewers.
he knew it was
most likely one or more of his crew but
just in case.
He checked each
room on the second floor before
hearing the sound
again. He climbed to the next level
and headed to the
end of the hall.
Spike's
room. He had not cleaned it out. Hell, he
hadn't even been
up here since the day his Childe had
left. He
heard the faint sound again, almost as if
someone were
opening and closing a door. He grasped
the handle that
he had never bothered to touch before
and slowly
entered the room.
He may have
expected a ghost, just not he one that
faced him.
Spike's duster was laying on the floor
half in, half out
of the small closet. Not ONE of his
dusters,
not the ones he had so generously been
gifted with in
and marred from
the bomb. The one thing that had
defined Spike for
decades adn it was on the floor;
lost, discarded,
no longer needed with the number of
replacements its
owner now had. But, Angel knew that
no matter how
many other coats there were Spike would
always love this
one best. It had bee with him
longest, had
always had his back. It reflected its
owner as no other
could. Angel couldn't bear to see
it lying
there. He picked it up and carried it back
to his own room
where he lay it on his bed, curled up
beside it and
wept.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Faith waited until
they got back to the Hyperion
before calling
Jaime.
Fred had
suggested inviting him to the hotel for pizza
but had been out
voted. The gang felt that it would
be more
comfortable on all of them to come together in
a neutral
setting.
Cordy headed
upstairs to check if Angel had arrived
yet as the rest
of them gathered around the speaker
phone.
"Don't you
dare call before I get back." She shouted
at Faith from the
landing. The only answer was the
tongue Fred stuck
out.
"Angel?
Angel?" Cordelia knocked as she was walking
in to the
room. She came to a halt when she saw her
friend apparently
asleep with the old leather duster
covering
him.
She returned to
the lobby with tear filled eyes.
"What's
wrong? Cordy? Is something wrong with
Angel?"
Fred's question had them all ready to charge
up the stairs.
The seer shook
her head sadly. "He's, he's asleep.
He's finally
asleep but he's using Spike's coat as a
blanket.
It was sweet. Sat, but sweet."
They all knew
that Angel had had a hard time truly
resting and were
happy to hear that he was asleep.
But, the picture
painted by Cordy's words was
depressing.
"Maybe we
should look at it as an indication that he's
moving on."
"So, should
I not call Jaime?"
"Are you
nuts? I don't care what Wes says we need to
know. Fuck
that! I need to know." Gunn's voice was
harsh.
"You guys
were friends, huh?" Faith asked.
"Well, I was
closest to him but seem to recall from
time with him.:
"Yeah, I
really didn't know much about him other than
the torture thing
a couple of years ago but Angel
convinced me he
had changed when I came back." She
shook her head at
Faith's raised brow. "Long story."
Faith nodded
before retrieving the card form her back
pocket.
"Well, here goes."