Chapter 1:

 

 

 

William leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest as he intently listened to whatever Giles was rambling on about and pretending that he wasn’t watching Dru ignore him.

 

Three days… it had been three days since she’d spoken in anything more than a monosyllable to him. Oh she’d said stuff to the others; he’d actually come into the library after patrol and found her and Xander deep in conversation. He’d jokingly commented that the sight had to be one of the signs of a forthcoming apocalypse.

 

Xander had snorted, Dru had just stared at him with arched brows and walked away from him. Never saying a word.

 

He couldn’t remember the last time they’d actually had a meaningful conversation that revolved around something besides his patrols.

 

He could remember a time when she used to listen avidly to every word that spilled from his lips whether the words made sense or not. She wanted to know him.

 

But now… now she was pissed. And he couldn’t understand why she was still so angry about the fact that he’d staked Angelus.

 

He was the Vampire Slayer… he was supposed to stake the bad guys. And Angelus was a bad guy.

 

So now every other minute was spent wondering if his girlfriend was ever going to speak to him, which he really didn’t have time for because the times he didn’t spend trying to get Dru to talk were spent wondering when Buffy was going to attack.

 

And it was inevitable that she would. He’d staked Angelus and as the vampires mate she would have to retaliate.

 

Sometimes he wished that she’d just get on with it. The sooner she engaged him in battle, the sooner he could send her to join her boyfriend and Dru would hopefully start talking to him again.

 

“Dru what do you think?” Giles was asking when he forced his attention back to the group gathered. The Scoobies were sitting in the chairs, Dru still standing apart (like she always had) but for some strange reason he thought that she was more a part of this group than he was at that moment.

 

“There’s something wrong,” Dru’s voice was soft, her eyes distant as William focused on her. She was paler than he’d ever seen her and her face was lined with worry.

 

For Buffy? He frowned at the thought. Dru hated Buffy; she wouldn’t be worried about her.

 

“You said she was still… alive… maybe she’s just gathering up her minions or whatever before she attacks,” Xander waved a hand as he perused the selection of donuts left in the box that William had picked up on his way to the library.

 

“There’s been no sign of that… in fact there’s been no sign of any activity at all on Buffy’s end.”

 

“Maybe she’s not going to do anything then…” Willow began wincing and shrinking back on herself. “It could happen,” she mumbled.

 

“What about your bond with her?” Giles queried softly. “You are her sire after all.”

 

“That’s just it… she’s there, but she’s so silent it’s like…”

 

“Like what?” William asked quietly, his voice barely a murmur as Dru’s eyes flew to meet his.

 

“I think there’s something wrong with her… Buffy, the Buffy that I remember would have attacked by now. She wouldn’t even have waited to gather forces her rage alone would have forced her to do so.”

 

“You think something happened to her, that something’s keeping her from retaliating?” William asked.

 

“I don’t know… I told you that I thought there was something wrong with Angelus. That night he was fighting you he was weak, it was like he hadn’t fed in days… maybe weeks. At the end, when you staked him he wasn’t even thinking about himself he was thinking about…”

 

“Buffy… he said her name right before…” the Slayer waved his hand, mimicking the poof of a vampire into dust.

 

“Yes.”

 

“So where do we start looking for her?”

 

 

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Dru kept one eye on William as they crept slowly through the factory. She had made a vow that she wouldn’t allow William to dust Buffy until they knew what had happened to the other Vampiress. William had promised and she wanted to believe him…

 

But sometimes his Slayer side took over. Took precedent over the wishes of the female that he claimed to love and while she thought she could trust him with her life, she didn’t dare trust him with Buffy’s right now.

 

“It’s really quiet,” he breathed into her ear from behind her.

 

“Too quiet,” she agreed on a breath.

 

This factory, the few times that she had staked it out trying to determine what exactly Buffy’s plans in Sunnydale were had been hopping with activity.

 

But now…

 

Now it was like a tomb… and smelled like death.

 

When she’d been here before, bound and tortured by Angelus while they’d waited for the right time to perform the ritual of Sire blood it had been bustling.

 

Even from where she been tied in Angelus’ room she could hear the sounds of all that happened around her.

 

“I don’t like this,” William said quietly. “Maybe…”

 

“Angelus had a room near the back…” Dru cut him off unwilling to let him voice his opinion that he thought Buffy was gone. Because she knew that the female wasn’t.

 

She could hear William sigh behind her, but he still followed her closely. His eyes scanned the nooks and crannies of the factory… possibly expecting that Buffy would leap out of the woodwork and attack them.

 

Coming upon the closed door of Angelus’ room she touched the tips of her fingers to the hard wood and paused.  Concentrating intently she heard no sound emanate from within the room and frowned slightly. She could feel Buffy on the other side of the door, knew that her childe was there but… there was no absolutely no indication that she was up yet.

 

Buffy wasn’t a neonate… she was over a hundred years old and should at the very least be up and moving around.

 

“Dru?” William queried, the vampiress in question could practically feel the tension in his muscles as he hovered behind her.1

 

Not responding she pushed the door open and slowly slid into the room, eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness. And stopped dead.

 

Laying still as…well death on the bed was Buffy.

 

Clad in a black t-shirt, covers drawn up to her chest she was unmoving.

 

“Dru,” Will hissed as she moved closer, one hand reaching out to grab her arm in order to stop her she easily side-stepped him and instead knelt beside the bed.

 

One hand slowly moved of its own volition touched Buffy’s arm, when there was no response she moved to perch on the bed beside her. Hand moving to the blonde’s face, turning her head she gasped as she got her first good look at the other woman.

 

“Oh my god.”

 

A sharp indrawn breath behind her reminded her of Will’s presence and she felt the bed dip as he moved to sit on the other side. Through her shock she could feel William drawing the covers away from Buffy’s body and his gasp.

 

“What the hell?”

 

She knew that in his minds eye he was seeing the exact same thing that she was.

 

Buffy with Angelus cradled to her chest rushing out of the church. William throwing the first thing he could get his hands on, hitting Buffy in the back of the head.

 

The two vampires disappearing amidst a cloud of dust as they crashed into an organ, which in turn crashed down on them.

 

“I did this to her,” he stated softly his eyes filling with dawning horror.

 

Dru closed her eyes against the sight before her before turning to scan the room. There was a bowl on the bedside table that had probably held blood at one time. Angelus had probably been force feeding Buffy from the look of her wounds, using the bowl to pour the blood directly into her mouth.

 

“Will check that refrigerator,” her head jerked to indicate the small one in the corner.

 

“What am I looking for?” he asked moving quickly to do what she asked.

 

“Blood packets…” touching the bowl she scented. “He’s been feeding her animal blood,” she muttered rolling her eyes.

 

“There’s nothing in here, he probably…” his eyes shot up to meet hers.

 

“Went out to replenish their supply…”

 

“And I staked him,” Will closed his eyes, slumping slightly against the refrigerator.

 

“You couldn’t know,” Dru said as pulled an unresisting Buffy into her arms, tucking a blanket around her body she glanced up at the Slayer.

 

“But I should have… he didn’t even want to fight me… said that he didn’t have time… I fought him anyway,” he whispered.

 

“You didn’t know.”

 

“She’s been here alone for days… this place is abandoned, they all probably cleared out when they found out I staked Angelus… but they left her here.”

 

“She would have been worthless to them… she’s… damaged goods William.”

 

“And I damaged her… and then I staked the one thing that was trying to help her,” he laughed harshly.

 

“That’s a what if that I don’t think you’re prepared to deal with… if he had helped her, if you hadn’t staked him… in a few months she would have been on her feet again, she would have been a threat. The only reason you feel remorse now is because she’s not.”

 

“No now she’s lying practically dead on her bed, and has been for four days,” the bitter words flew from his mouth. “She’s your childe and I did this to her, shouldn’t you be like pissed at me or something?”

 

“Do you want me tell you that I am pissed at you, because I am. I told you to stop and you didn’t. Of course all the blame can’t be laid on your shoulders, I knew something was wrong with her, I’ve felt it for weeks but… I love you William, I love you more than I’ve loved anything in my entire existence.”

 

“You’re going to help her… aren’t you.” It was a statement of fact not a question and Dru only stared up at him. Eyes bright as she willed him to understand. Buffy was all she had left now. Without her, without William she was truly alone in this world and she didn’t she could stand that.

 

“Don’t fight me on this William.”

 

“What do you need me to do to help?”

 

 

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