Chapter 5

 "And the head dude was just sucked up into a portal of some kind?" Dawn asked.  She grabbed a chip off the tray Buffy was preparing for the post-apocalypse party.

"Yep, it was sight to see."  Buffy's eyes flickered up towards the ceiling.  "You think they'll be able to make Tara better?"

"Of course they will," Dawn replied confidently.  "Willow's got plenty of help up there."  She giggled.  "Did you see Wes' face when he was introduced to Fred?"

"Yeah."  Buffy gave a smile.  "It was really sweet."

"What do you think about what he said about the scabby minion?"  Dawn grabbed another chip.

"Spike and I went by the penthouse that we rescued him from."  Buffy shrugged.  "That intern Ben was dead, and we let some prisoners go."

"So, you think the scabby minion that Wes told us about is the same one that killed Ben?"  Dawn glanced at Buffy when some knocking sounds came from upstairs.

The Slayer shrugged again before she picked up the chip tray.  "Giles says with Ben dead Glory has no power here."

"That's good."  Dawn grabbed the dips and salsa.  "I always thought that Ben was a little weird.  Remember when I was talking to him and the next thing I knew I was talking to Glory?"

"Yeah, I can't believe we didn't put it all together," Buffy said.  She entered the living room where Spike was on the couch watching television.

Spike looked away from the show he was watching, and he interjected his opinion, "Bitch probably had a spell on them.  I've seen it before."

"You're saying if Glory had turned into Ben while you were being tortured you'd have remembered?"  Dawn put the dips on the coffee table.

"Sure."  Spike nodded.  "Those spells don't work on vamps.  I think it's something to do with being undead."

"But Buffy's supernatural."  Dawn took the chip tray from her sister, and she set it down next to the dips.

"Like werewolves, she's sill human just like you."  Spike reached out to grab a chip, and he popped it in his mouth.  After quickly chewing and swallowing, He said, "They're almost done upstairs.  How long before Harris and the demon girl gonna be back with dinner?"

"Shouldn't be too long," Dawn replied.  She sat down beside Spike.

"Yeah, I called the order in before they left."  Buffy sat down on the other side of the vampire.  "I just hope Xander picks out some good movies."

"Wonder if you'll dream about the cheese man, again?" Dawn laughed.  She thought that particular nightmare was hilarious.  Who else but Buffy would dream about cheese?

"Giles said that was because of the joining spell," Buffy protested.  "No more dreams with the First Slayer for me.  She's scary."

"So, you and Spike gonna go out on a date?"  Dawn decided to change the subject.  "I mean, besides on a boring old patrol?"  She smirked when Buffy blushed bright red.

"I don't know, Dawnie," Buffy answered as her eyes darted to Spike's face.  "I haven't been asked yet."

Spike cleared his throat when Dawn gouged her bony elbow into his ribcage.  He was a little nervous about asking the Slayer for a date. The last time had turned out so badly that it gave the Big Bad a bit of a complex.  Spike grunted when Dawn poked him even harder in the ribs.  Where on earth did the girl get such razor sharp elbows?

"Oh, quit poking him, Dawn," Buffy muttered.  She turned to the vampire, and she smiled shyly.  She was a modern woman.  She could take the reins.  She could do the asking!  "So, you wanna go out Bronzing with me?"

"You sure, Slayer?"  Spike stared at Buffy in awe.

Buffy twisted her hands in her lap.  Her voice dropped to a whisper, "I'm sorry I freaked out when you told me you feelings, Spike.  I just wasn't ready, especially after Riley's betrayal."

"Buffy?"  Spike covered her hands with one of his own before she accidentally hurt herself.

"I've always known you..."  Buffy bit her lip for a moment.  "... cared for people.  Otherwise holding that stake on Drusilla that time would have never worked."

Spike winced when Dawn elbowed him again.  "Quit it, Nibblet. Just give me a moment to gather m'thoughts."

"I want to be more," Buffy said.  "I want to be friends."  She looked at the vampire with hope in her eyes.

"I'd like to try that, too." Spike's undead heart expanded with happiness. He had his crumb at last.

Xander and Anya staggered in the front door, laden down with food and DVDs.  Xander yelled out, "Hey, where is everybody?"

"Let me help."  Dawn leapt to her feet.  She rushed into the foyer to help Anya take the food into the dining room.  Mexican food for ten people was quite heavy.

Xander entered the living room where he ignored the fact that Spike and Buffy were holding hands.  Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away on its own was his motto these days.  Xander put the movies on top of the television, and he repeated his question, "Where is everybody?"

Spike lifted his eyes to the ceiling, tilted his head, and listened carefully. He nodded slightly before he answered, "They're fixin' Glinda.  Should be done in a few."

"What movies did you get?" Buffy asked before Xander could blast the vampire for answering him.

"You know, finding story lines that are about dimension hopping was hard."  Xander turned to look at the pile of movies.  "So, I got the first season of that SciFi channel show Sliders.  Ahn wasn't any help whatsoever.  So, I settled on Event Horizon and the Matrix movies."

"Come and get it," Dawn yelled up the stairs.  "Tacos are here, Fred."

The slender waif-like woman appeared at the top of the stairs, followed closely by Wesley.  When they reached the bottom she was startled by the voices that sounded upstairs, but she visibly relaxed when she recognized Willow's voice.  Fred smiled shyly at Wesley when he helped her pick out some food.  Together they settled at one end of the table.

Spike and Buffy got their food, and they settled at the opposite end of the table.  They waited for everyone to get settled before Buffy announced, "Spike and I are going on a date Friday night at the Bronze.  If anyone wants to protest, do it now because I don't want to hear it later."

"I..."  Xander's voice became muffled when Anya's hand covered his mouth.

"Xander is very happy that you're happy," Anya said.  The past few days had given the ex-vengeance demon more confidence in herself.  She no longer was bothered by Xander being uncomfortable with what she said.  "Now, shut up, Xander.  Our friends don't want to hear it."

"On that note," Spike said.  "It's nice to have you back, witchlet."  He spoke directly to Tara, who sat to his right.

"It's good to be back," Tara replied shyly. She smiled at Willow.  "I'm just glad Willow and Giles were able to find a spell to restore me."

"A toast, everyone."  Buffy held up her cup of soda.  "We survived yet another apocalypse without any of us dying."

"To Spike and his idea to go to Pylea."  Dawn held up her cup.  When Xander hurumphed from his spot, she shot him a glare that if he hadn't been fighting the supernatural for years would have made him turn tail and run.  The others hastily raised their cups, too.

"Cheers!" Everyone said as one, and they each took a drink.  There was some polite chatting as they all dug into the food in front of them.

Spike swallowed the bite of enchilada, and he asked Wesley, "So, did Peaches stake that bitch Darla again?"

"What?"  All eyes turned to stare at the smirking vampire, except a blustering Wesley and an oblivious Fred.

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"Where's the General?" Dante yelled.  His horse skidded to a halt.  Nearby he saw is brain-addled friend Orlando and the general's aide-de-camp.

"Not here, sir," the young knight answered.  "The seer wanted to tell him we'd get separated unless we were confined together in a solid object, but the general didn't want to listen."

"Any ideas where we are?"  Dante dismounted to help Orlando off his stead.

"No, sir."  The young knight shook his head.  "Last thing I saw was the blue vortex."  He looked up at the clear, blue sky, and said absentmindedly, "You know when I was little my grandmother warned me about swirly vortexes.  She'd say, 'Alex, my boy, whatever you do, don't jump through any portals.  You never know where you might end up.  Might be heaven, or hell, or maybe the dimension without shrimp'."

"Which are you hoping for?"  Dante seated Orlando beneath a tree.

"Oh, the one without shrimp, without a doubt," the young knight replied while he threw off his chain mail.  "I'm deathly allergic to shellfish."

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"What are you doing?" Gunn asked a game faced Angel.  The dark-skinned man had found the vampire's actions perplexing since the return of his car.

"Making sure that idiot didn't scratch my baby."  Angel intently studied his convertible.  "When will Wes be back?"

"He just called."  Cordelia walked out of the mansion.  "Spike spilled the beans about Darla's return.  I don't think Buffy's too happy with you right now, Angel."

"How the hell did he know?"  Angel looked at the brunette woman in shock.  He had been very careful not to let the Slayer know about some of his less than savory actions.

"Guess that crazy ho-bag Drusilla came for a visit right after you tried to burn her and Darla," Cordelia said sarcastically as she shrugged her shoulders.  "There was some kind of big blowup at the time.  I didn't care enough to get the full details."

"Great," Angel grumbled.  "When will Wes be ready to go?"

"He said he wanted to stay here for a few weeks."  Cordelia put her hand out.  "Give me the keys.  I want to put my stuff in the trunk.  Then, we can go back to Los Angeles."  She snapped her fingers when Angel was slow on the uptake.

"Sounds good to me," Gunn replied.  "I don't know how you guys lived in this town for so long.  It's so damned weird."

"That's life on the Hellmouth," Cordelia quipped.  "Weird, bizarre, and sometimes entirely too ookey.  Let's go."  She slammed the trunk closed, and she got in the front passenger seat of the car.

"Her majesty has spoken," Gunn said.  He leapt over the side of the convertible into the back seat.  "Wes'll be back when he's ready."  Gunn was ready to get back to the big city.

Angel stared broodily at his two friends.  He wasn't as eager to leave Sunnydale as they appeared to be.  He hadn't been happy when Xander had delivered his car to him.  The Scooby male had given him a pitying look before he had skedaddled off. Angel hadn't thought too much of it, but now that he was behind the wheel, he could smell that Spike had driven the car back from Los Angeles with Buffy sitting next to him.

Gunn's cell phone rang, and after he had hung up, he leaned forward to say to Angel, "That was Lorne.  He thinks Wolfram & Hart is up to something.  We need to go."

Angel sighed as he put the thought of Spike and Buffy aside.  There would be time later to come back to Sunnydale to see what was going on with those two.  Right now, there was a problem back in his town that needed to be taken care of immediately.  He turned the key in the ignition, and the old car roared to life.

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"Silas, we gave you a simple task," Wolf said.  "Separate the vampire from his Seer and destroy her.  What happened?"

"I don't know," Silas moaned.  His body was in constant pain, making thought difficult. "I don't know why the vampire had a Slayer with him.  The blond scum had a better team than you anticipated."

"Angelus isn't a blond," Ram replied.

"We lost control of Pylea," Hart said.  "We are very disappointed with you Silas."

"I'm sorry," Silas screamed when more pain filled his body.  "I will not fail you again.  Please give me another chance."

"We will think about it," Wolf remarked.  "In the mean time, tell us more about this vampire and the Slayer."

Silas wetted his dry lips before he spilled his guts.  He hoped that Wolf, Ram, and Hart would be pleased enough with the information to let him live.  When he was done, he passed out into the blessed darkness of unconsciousness.

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Gregor blinked in surprise when a portal opened near his resting place, but before he could really react a man dropped through the hole.  The portal closed as quickly as it had opened.  Gregor hurried over to the man.  He had been in this hellish dimension for several weeks, and he was glad for some human companionship.

The man groaned, and he opened his eyes.  He first looked at Gregor and then up at the fiery red sky.  "They just had to send me here," he whispered to himself.

Gregor leaned closer to catch the words.   He pulled back slightly, and he asked, "Where are we?"

"Quor-toth."  The man grimaced in agony.  "The worst of the worst."

The End.