Buffy woke the next morning, groggy and unenthusiastic about getting out of bed. There weren’t enough sleep-in days in her life. Sleep-in days with someone, say, Heath Ledger, bringing her breakfast in bed.
Skip that. She’d settle for days where getting up didn’t mean going downstairs to face yet another life crisis.
Throwing her feet over the side of the bed she glared at the alarm clock and stuck her tongue out at the digital reading. “You and I are going to have words sometime soon,” she swore at it, and headed off to the shower. Hot, steaming water would wake her up. And coffee. Gallons and gallons of coffee. Maybe she could hook up an IV and just tote it around with her all day on one of those wheely things they have at the hospital.
A half-hour later, showered and her mood only slightly improved, she headed out the door in search of the rich, brown nectar of the gods known as French Roast with sugar and cream. As she walked the halls she smiled to herself at the beast-like sound of snoring coming from Xander’s room and noted the shower running in Willow’s. Pausing to knock on Dawn’s door she stopped just short of rapping on the wooden frame and decided that just because she herself couldn’t sleep in, everyone else should catch up on their rest.
To the lobby it was. The hotel was silent as she took the stairs two at a time and crossed the floor. Even better. Coffee and some moments of quiet reflection out on the sunny veranda would have to improve her mood. She pushed open the door to the kitchen and stopped short, surveying the disaster on the counter tops. Cordelia was at the sink, angrily scrubbing out a coffee mug and muttering to herself.
“What…happened?” Buffy asked her, sidestepping cereal that littered the floor.
Cordelia glanced over her shoulder. “You’d think we were robbed, right? Attacked by some sort of snack-seeker? No. The two to blame are out there,” she stabbed a wet, soapy finger toward the lobby, “snoozing and getting their sticky fingers all over that antique couch.” She returned to washing the mug with fervor and Buffy hid a smile, backing up and out of the kitchen just enough to see who Cordy was referring to. Her smile faded slightly when she pushed open the door to see Connor and Dawn sleeping, quite snuggly-like, on a couch in the corner.
Sighing she returned to the disaster area. “If I’d had coffee in me I’d have seen them,” she muttered and grabbed a trash can and dish rag. “I’ll give you hand.”
“Don’t you dare,” Cordy snapped suddenly. “Those two are going to get a rude awakening in a minute, just as soon as I figure out who didn’t run the dishwasher last night leaving us with no clean coffee mugs, and they’re going to fix all of this. And if there’s no food left in that pantry, god help them,” she added as an afterthought.
Buffy paled slightly. “They ate all the food? All the food? We just restocked after Gunn and Xander ate it all!” She dashed to the pantry doors and threw them open, eyes searching desperately. “Oh, thank God!” she cried a moment later, producing a canister of coffee. “I’m saved.”
“If they’d eaten that they wouldn’t be asleep right now,” Cordy observed. “Straight coffee grounds would probably have them doing laps around the hotel. Any actual food in there?”
Buffy returned to searching, producing another box of cereal and a few stray pieces of fruit from the fridge. “This isn’t going to do it,” she lamented, looking at their few wares. “Dawn is so dead. I’m starving. She doesn’t eat like this at home…or maybe she does. She claims Xander’s the one who cleans out the pantry...”
“Smart girl,” Cordy observed and handed Buffy a clean coffee mug. “Let’s worry about this first. Then we’ll send the infidels for doughnuts.”
“And muffins,” Buffy agreed as they walked out to the office.
Cordy nodded. “And scones. And tea biscuits. I don’t even know if I like those, or where to get them, but Connor’s damned well going to find some.”
Buffy sighed as her stomach grumbled in response and wisely got to the coffeepot before Cordy. A moment later the smell of brewing java filled their nostrils.
“I swear, sometimes just the smell is enough to make me feel better,” Cordy sighed happily.
“I didn’t get much sleep,” Buffy told her, stifling a yawn.
The seer perked up a bit. “More dreams? Of the potential Slayers?”
Buffy’s head shook. “No… Other stuff.”
“Well,” Cordy shrugged. “Not like you don’t have enough on your mind. If it helps, I didn’t sleep either.” She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. “I had the weirdest dream… about Doyle.”
“That guy…who used to work with you?” Buffy asked.
Cordelia nodded. “Yeah. I dreamt he came to my room, was talking to me. It was the clearest thing I’ve ever seen. Like I could reach out and touch him. I could practically smell the Harp’s and peppermint on him. He was a fan of the breath mints, like that could cover up the smell of warm pub beer,” she explained off Buffy’s look.
“Was it a vision, maybe? Do you have those when you’re sleeping?”
Cordy’s brown hair swayed as she shook her head. “Never have before. Besides…Doyle’s dead. I don’t generally have visions of people who’ve been gone for three years. Just a dream, I guess.”
Buffy’s stomach grumbled and she sighed. “Time to wake the traitors. You wanna play mom or should I?”
Cordy’s eyebrow quirked. “Oh, let me, please. I’m getting the hang of it.” Rising to her feet she sat down her mug and stalked across the lobby. Connor’s feet were resting on an ottoman across from him and she shoved them off, jolting the poor boy to consciousness. When he sat up suddenly Dawn’s head fell off his shoulder and her entire body slid behind him, thumping down harshly onto the couch cushions.
“Get up,” Cordy ordered.
“What?” Connor blinked at her, uncomprehending.
“Up. You. And you,” she pointed at Dawn, who was rubbing the side of her face where the cushion had smacked it. “The kitchen? Late night munchies with a side of gross? What, did you two have a food fight in there?”
The culprits glanced guiltily at each other. “Uh…just a little one. With some cereal. Cheerios can get quite a lot of distance,” Dawn explained sheepishly.
“Yeah, well. You’re cleaning it up. But first, you’re going to get us breakfast,” Cordy ordered. “Buffy and I don’t handle saving the world well on empty stomach’s.”
“Buffy’s up?” Dawn asked nervously.
Cordy nodded, eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah. We drew straws for who got to come wake you up. You can only guess how she wanted to do it. Something about dangling you over the balcony like one of Michael Jackson’s kids.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Dawn assured Connor.
“But she could,” he conceded and rose to his feet. “What do you want?”
“Doughnuts, muffins…coffee cake.”
“Scones!” came Buffy’s reminder from the office.
“And scones. And tea biscuits,” Cordelia added. “Charge it to the company card at the Java Company.”
“Can I brush my teeth?” Dawn asked meekly. When Cordelia didn’t answer, save for the arching of one perfectly manicured eyebrow, Dawn nodded quickly. “I’ll get some gum, that’s okay.” She and Connor hurriedly exited the hotel.
Cordelia smiled to herself and strolled back to the office. “God, there was no part of that I didn’t enjoy.”
Buffy glanced at her approvingly. “Just like I remember you,” she teased.
Her comment gave Cordelia pause. “It was, wasn’t it?”
Her tone caused Buffy to look up from her replenished coffee mug. “What?”
“I haven’t really let loose like that in a while. It felt good. Hell, it felt right.”
“Cordelia with control over her mouth,” Buffy smirked. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Yeah, well…I have a feeling a lot of stuff isn’t the way you remember it. Same goes on this end, though. Dawn’s about nine feet taller than I remember. You’re going to have trouble with the boys pretty soon.”
“Already do,” Buffy grimaced. “Her first kiss? A vampire.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not even a little. She staked him a little while after, and she didn’t know he was a vampire at first, but still…”
“You Summers girls and your vampires…”
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, each lost in their thoughts, when Buffy looked up again and took a breath.
“Can I ask you something?”
Cordy glanced up. “Is it about the lines on that shirt? I was hoping you’d mention it. I don’t think you have the curves to carry it off.”
Buffy looked down at her clothing. “Uh…no, not about that, but thanks for the opinion. It’s about Angel.”
“Oh…yeah, I guess.”
“He’s…said some stuff to me. Since I’ve been here. And it’s kind of confusing me.”
“Stuff about what?” Cordelia asked, straining for nonchalant.
“About himself…and us. He’s sorta implied that maybe he’s…I don’t want to say involved… with some--”
“Morning!” Willow greeted them happily, followed by Anya. “Is there just coffee? No hot tea?”
Buffy and Cordelia exchanged a glance and dropped the subject. “Uh…no. Just coffee, sorry,” Buffy told her friends. “Dawn and Connor were sent on a mission for sustenance.”
Anya poured herself a cup of coffee. “What’s the plan today, then? More research, I’m guessing?”
Buffy nodded. “We’re getting Spike tonight. No question. Last night just proved we’re close, and that Wolfram & Hart are serious about protecting him. I thought Faith and I would do a little recon today in their building, see what we can scope out. I want Wesley to go through it with us again but I’m hoping to be in there and skulking around by lunch.”
“What about the potential Slayers?” Willow wanted to know.
“They’re another issue, but I don’t know what to do about it. Giles and Regina are still looking into who the possible mole is in the Watcher’s Council. Someone’s feeding information to the Harbingers about where the potentials are located. I’d like to know who, and why, and how many girls are left.” Buffy’s gaze fell on all of them. “I can’t let any more die without doing something. I just wish there wasn’t so much going on at once. Between rescuing Spike and stopping him from unleashing some untold apocalypse, and saving the potential Slayers, and worrying about the Harbingers showing up again… I don’t know how much more we can take.”
*~*~*
Lilah stood behind her desk at Wolfram and Hart and cast a steely eye over her associates gathered before her. “Nothing goes wrong,” she began. “Nothing.”
She let her words resonate around the room before continuing. “The meeting will begin this afternoon. You will all be there, with your respective assignments. I trust you’ve secured everything required.” At the several nods and murmurs of agreement, she nodded. “Good. This isn’t a game, children. This is the beginning. The Senior Partners are going to be watching, and they expect to be impressed. Impress them.”
She took a seat on the edge of her desk. “Where are we with the Extinction project?”
A serious looking man in the back of the room spoke up. “Four more in the past six days, Ms. Morgan,” he told her.
“Good. No problems, I trust?” The man shook his head. “Keep it up. The more we take out, the less retribution we’ll expect when this all goes down. Have you been in contact with your source in England?”
The man nodded. “He stresses that things are going according to plan and there’s no reason for us to interfere.”
“Sounds like our boy doesn’t care for us checking up on him. Too bad. Until the job is done he can count on our ‘interference’ for the duration. If he doesn’t like it I’m sure an arrangement can be made to persuade him to think otherwise. See to it.”
The man nodded and jotted busily on his pad of paper.
Turning to Katrina, Lilah nodded. “Bring him in. I think it’s time they meet the guest of honor.”
Katrina rose from her seat and headed to a door on the east end of Lilah’s office, opening it and returning a moment later with Spike. “Ladies and gentlemen… Allow me to introduce William the Bloody. I’m sure you know of his exploits. Your reputation precedes you,” she grinned at Spike.
Spike glanced around the room. “Lovely.”
She smiled benignly. “Treat him well, folks. He’s the key to all of us receiving our bonuses this year…and for the next millennium or so. If you don’t want to end up chained in hell, being scrapped at by demons for eternity, I suggest you make nice with him. It’s his opinion that will count come the big finale.” She led Spike to a seat and once he was situated she turned back to her associates. “Curtain’s at sundown. You’re dismissed.”
When everyone had filed out of her office she turned to Spike. “Things are really coming along,” she confided almost gleefully.
“Ducks in a row, then?” he asked, bored.
“It all begins tonight. Tonight you’ll get your first taste of what’s to come.”
“And what’s that?”
“Tonight you raise the Gy-ra. Tonight, you get to witness the first of many, many demons referring to you as their master. And you get to watch the next part of the End of Days be ushered in.” Lilah sat on the edge of her desk, balancing on one hip. “In a few hours the sun goes down and the ritual begins. We’ll bring in the Fevticat Order, along with a few other mystical ingredients, and together you’ll raise the Gy-ra. And unleash him on the city…on the world eventually. Inch by inch he’ll gather his army and begin mass destruction on anything that gets in its way.”
Spike’s blood was pumping but his expression remained unimpressed. “Demons have a funny way of getting dead, if you haven’t noticed. Especially when there’s a Slayer in the mix.”
“That’s the beauty of it all, Spike darling,” Lilah smiled slowly. “Even if she somehow manages to defeat it? The Gy-ra’s just a distraction for what’s about to come. That little Slayer of yours hasn’t even begun to deal with us. When it’s all said and done…it’s her blood you’ll drink from your celebratory chalice.”
“Her blood?”
Lilah nodded. “I thought you might like this part of the plan. As a reward…turn her. Have her with you forever, at your side, just like you’ve dreamed. It’s the best of both worlds, isn’t it? You’re chipless and fancy-free…that soul won’t be such a problem pretty soon…you’ll have the power and the ability to take out Angel, and just about anyone else who bothers you…and you can have the Slayer. The one thing that I know is holding you back from being totally on board here.”
Have Buffy. At his side? For all eternity? And…evil.
Buffy evil.
Spike grinned.
It had such possibility.
