July 9, 2007 10:55 PM

Overwhelming fear engulfed Buffy as her hand slowly moved towards Spike realizing the arrow was no figment of her imagination. Her heart kept telling her that he would turn to dust before her eyes and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. He would be gone from her life forever. There were screams surrounding her but she knew that it wasn’t her that made the sound. Tears blinded her as her fingertips made contact with his shoulder. She wanted just one last touch before he was gone forever.

A hand grabbed hers tightly as Spike spoke to her, “Buffy, I’m okay. Snap out of it”. The sound of his voice was commanding and reality flooded back to her. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention back to the phone.

“Tara, get out of there. You and Anya hit the tunnels to the safe house. We’ve been attacked.” Buffy instructed Tara as she turned with Spike to force the children to the floor. Once she received Tara’s acknowledgement she clicked the phone off and dropped it on the floor.

“They’re coming over the wall.” Spike told her as he held Elijah against him. The sound of their attackers landing in their backyard forced him to recognize how vital the situation was.

“Damn it.” Buffy took Raven’s hand to place it on Elijah. “Can you make the light bulbs in the house pop? We need the cover of darkness.”

Raven nodded through her tears before she closed her eyes to concentrate. She pulled the fear out of her and into the air, making it pulsate around them. Slowly the house was filled with the sound of glass breaking and with each pop a little more darkness fell around them.

“Let’s go. Crawl to the basement door. Move it.” Spike ordered them.

Buffy pushed Raven ahead of her as she took over the cradling of Elijah beneath her as she followed. Spike took up the rear while he punched numbers on his cell phone. Willow had set pre-programmed codes that could be sent to everyone at one time in case of emergencies. Spike typed in the numbers to tell them to head for the safe house.

The kitchen door banged opened just as they were going through the basement door. Quickly they moved down the staircase as Spike threw the locks to hopefully give them an extra few moments to get to safety. Buffy picked Elijah up as they rushed for the door on the far side of the basement that led to the tunnels. She held the door open for Spike slamming it shut as soon as he was in then pushed the locks into place.

“What’s going on?” Clem asked as he came hurrying toward them from his crypt. “Oh, shit,” he added when he saw the arrow still embedded in Spike.

“Buffy get it out of me now.” Spike told her knowing they didn’t have much time.

“Sorry, baby,” Buffy apologized in advance for the pain she would cause as she held the arrow by the piece protruding in the front then snapped in two. Quickly she pulled the rest of it out of his back throwing it to the ground once it was free from Spike’s body.

“Clem take Raven. Get going.” Spike told his friend as he swung Elijah into his arms. As soon as he was settled he headed down the tunnel with Buffy behind him.

Running with the children and the lumbering gait of Clem slowed them down too much. Buffy could hear the bottom door of the basement being broken down. It was time to make decisions and it was her job to make them.

“Spike, I’m going to wait and get them to follow me in the opposite direction. Head for safety and I’ll catch up with you later.”

“No, Buffy, take Elijah. I’ll deal with them.” Spike started to hand his son over when Buffy pushed him back.

“Spike, they’re human. You can’t fight them. Go. Our children come first.” Buffy was filled with sadness when she saw the fear in Spike’s eyes.

Slowly Spike nodded as he turned to head in the direction that Raven and Clem had taken. His hatred for the Initiative spurned him on as he ran. They had not only taken his natural instincts from him but also the right to protect his family. The only thing he could do was hope that Buffy would be safe.

Buffy waited until she knew the attackers were only a short distance away from her when she took off down the tunnel that would lead away from where her family was assembling. Her hands hit against the walls to make sure they could hear the direction she was taking. With relief she realized that they were following her. For awhile she ran away from the safe house making sure that they wouldn’t find their way back in the maze beneath the city. Now she needed to get away from them herself.

Their footsteps behind her made her pick up her speed as she headed for a tunnel that would lead out of the sewers. The ladder she was looking for was waiting for her as she turned a corner. As she approached it she leapt into the air grabbing the ladder about two-thirds of the way up. Scrambling she went up the last third hoping that she wouldn’t be putting herself into the path of a car. The manhole cover was flung off with one push of her hand and she crawled out into the night.

Thankfully the parking lot was almost empty when she came up. There weren’t a lot of people around either as she trotted off for the line of shops to the right of her. Without looking she slipped into the first open doorway quickly disappearing behind a wall of merchandise in the rear. Feigning interest in some ugly knickknacks Buffy stayed hidden for a few minutes waiting to see if anyone followed her in.

Once it was evident that no one was coming in after her, she looked around for an alternate exit. Luckily there was a side entrance that she slipped through almost like a ghost to those around her. Buffy found herself in an alley that ran between the block she was on and the one behind it. After deciding to stay away from the street she had previously been on Buffy headed to the left.

It was several more alleys and street turns before she decided the Soldiers had given up the hunt for the time being. Then it was a matter of looking for a manhole in a darkened corner that she could jump into without being seen by passersby.

“Totally gross,” she muttered to herself as she landed in three inches of foul smelling water. “I so hope that this is not what I think it is.”

Buffy started to move hoping that she could find her way to the safe house as she moved through unfamiliar tunnels. At an intersection in the passages she hesitated trying to ascertain which direction she should go in when a small flickering light suddenly appeared to her right. It buzzed closer to her before taking off rapidly leading her to the right. When she hesitated it waited for her hovering in the darkness then she knew for sure that it was a beacon from Tara to show her the way through the tunnels.

“Thanks Tara.”

Turning in the direction of the light she started to follow it until she was once again back on track. It was just a few more turns then she was standing in front of their safe house. Halting in front of a brick wall Buffy stopped allowing all her Slayer senses to take over so that could be certain that she was the only being, human or otherwise, around her. Once her instincts gave her the all clear she stepped through the brick wall into the area where the original Sunnydale Department Store now stood.

It had been three years ago when a demon had come from the center of the earth creating a massive earthquake in its emergence. That emergence had left a hole in the earth into which the store had sunk. The city council in its usual policy of, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Speak No Evil, had decided to just cover it up and rebuild on top of it. Xander had led the construction crew in the building of the new store giving him access to the site. With little effort he had been able to keep most of the original store intact and left ways for them to get in.

On the weekends he, Spike and Josh had gone down to reconnect some electricity and plumbing and reinforcing the structure for them. Even the merchandise had been abandoned in the town’s zeal to forget their most current demon attack leaving them with excess clothing, furniture, and various other items for times of emergency. After everything had been set Willow had placed a spell around it that no one except for them would ever know that the building was there.

“Mummy!” Elijah screamed as he struggled from his father’s arms so that he could run to Buffy.

“Hey, Baby,” Buffy told him as she hugged him carefully so that he wouldn’t get into the mess that coated her from the waist down. Even as she hugged him her eyes looked quickly around the front area to find out who had made it.

She immediately noticed that Kate was not present and, before she could ask, Giles spoke up.
“Kate is at the hospital. They have a lot of traumas tonight and she couldn’t leave. I made her promise that she wouldn’t be alone for any reason.” His expression showed his worry over his wife being separated from him and their son.

“She’s smart. She’ll be okay,” Buffy tried to reassure him. “I need to get cleaned up.” She gestured to her spattered legs. ”Afterwards we’ll talk.”

Buffy headed for the bathroom of the store stopping only long enough to sort through the box with her clothing size to find something clean to wear. Spike stood to follow her into the bathroom hesitating slightly, knowing that was in Slayer mode but he still needed reassurance that she was okay. He leaned against the wall as he watched her pull her clothes from her and started to wash up. When she flipped her hair over her shoulder for the second time in annoyance he grabbed a band from the basket on the sink.

“May I?” He asked as he came to stand behind her. When she nodded her assent he gathered her hair up into a pony tail to keep it out of her way.

“You okay?” Buffy asked softly as she turned toward him noting the tension that was building in him. Her hand came to lay on his arm giving him a squeeze for comfort.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was worried about you. It’s stupid, I know, you are the Slayer,” he muttered as he turned away.

“No, Spike, I meant your injury. And it’s not stupid.”

“I told you I’m fine. Vampire remember?” He gave her a slight grin that belied his sadness before turning to leave without turning back.

Things had been going well for all of them the last two weeks as they had all settled into their new roles. Tonight had been exceptionally well between them, especially with her and Spike. She sighed as the realization that their honeymoon phase was over and now it was back to the reality of their life.

After she had dressed in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt she made her back out to join the others. The babies were sleeping in a playpen near the adults while the younger children and Raven were on a sofa watching a movie.

“Everybody okay?” Buffy asked as she walked up to them.

There were nods and several verbal assents as the others acknowledged her. Everyone drifted over to what they referred to as the pit. Several couches and chairs were pulled together in a circle while on one side was a table for Willow’s computer and some reference books that they left there for their use.

After everyone else was seated Buffy went to take a seat on the arm of the chair that Spike was seated on.

“Did you tell everybody what happened?” Buffy asked Spike. At his nod she turned back to everyone else. “Since these people we are dealing with are human, tomorrow morning I want security systems with motion detectors put on everyone’s house. Xander, can you pull some strings with your buddies and have the installations done, like tomorrow? Or rather today?” Buffy amended as Giles held up his watch showing that it was now after midnight.

“Shouldn’t be too much trouble,” Xander replied, his mind already figuring out who he could call for the job that wouldn’t ask too many questions.

Buffy nodded before moving onto to the next item on her mental list she had made on the way there.

“Dawn, Josh, you are moving back in with Giles. In the dorm we can’t protect you as well.”

“Uh, Buffy, I understand where you are coming from but don’t you think we should stay there to keep an eye on the happy humans crowd.” Dawn protested.

“I agree. Willow hacked into the campus computer and we have a list of those that attended the meeting. We’ve been trying to make friends with some of them. Besides Janice is there on campus too and she is going to go to the next meeting for us.” Josh added giving an update on their activities concerning the Soldiers.

Buffy didn’t like the idea of leaving her sister in danger but she also knew that they needed as much information as they could get. Finally she nodded her head.

“Okay, stay there but be careful. Travel in crowds and…”

“Yada, yada, blah, blah, we know the drill, Buffy.” Dawn interrupted her sister with a smug air only to receive an exasperated glare from her.

“Tomorrow morning I’ll call Max to find out if they have any names from Donna,” she reached behind her to take Spike’s hand as she felt him stiffen at the mention of Max and Donna’s names.

“How can you be like this?” Raven was standing slightly behind the circle of Scoobies. “Spike almost died and you act like you don’t even care. You are such a bitch,” she shouted as the tears poured down her face. It seemed to her like Buffy should be comforting them and taking care of them instead of acting so cold. Without waiting for a reply she turned to run off as Buffy stood to follow her when she heard the bathroom door slam shut. Knowing that she would safe, Buffy sat back down to finish the meeting with a heavy heart.

A part of her knew that she should go to her daughter but the safety of the people around her had to take first priority. If Buffy had her way she would be curled in Spike’s arms touching him all over to make sure he was safe then holding her children to make sure they were also safe but her role as Slayer dictated that she couldn’t give into this luxury until everything was set.

“After I get a list of names then Willow and Dawn can see if any of them match the club or any new residents here in town.”

“No problem. I’ve already started a list of new people here in town.” Willow offered.

“Great. Then…,” Buffy hesitated as she looked at the faces around her gaze came to rest on Clem with a smile. “You move into the house with us. We can’t put security on the crypt and they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you. So, it’s up to the big house for you.”

Clem nodded his approval with a smile. These Soldiers were creating a lot more fear than the Slayer’s name ever had in the demon world making a lot of them considering leaving Sunnydale and going back underground. Mostly though it was Buffy’s words that made him feel good because it showed that Buffy cared enough about him to want to keep him safe.

Buffy closed her eyes for a minute knowing that her next words would probably cause some problems but she knew that it was for the best even if she couldn't force them to heed her advice. With a deep breath she opened her eyes to look directly at a space on the floor in the middle of them.

"I want the children sent to stay with Angel in LA until all the alarms are in and we have a better handle of what is going on. Except Elijah. The Soldiers might consider him fair game and follow him there."

A silence followed her words for a moment as they looked at her in surprise.

"No, you are not sending my children away. Especially when you get to keep yours." Anya exclaimed.

"Buffy, are you sure? The thought of Jake being so far away from me, well, it doesn't feel right." Willow chimed in.

"No, actually. At this point I'm not sure of anything except we don’t know anything but the fact that these people are willing to kill humans for their cause. What if they find out that Aidan and Jessy are the children of an ex-demon or that Jacob is the son of two witches? Will they attempt to stop the contamination before they are adults? I just want a little time to figure some things out to be able to know that they won't be under immediate attack but it's your decision." Buffy leaned forward while she spoke with them making sure that eye contact was made with each parent.

After a few minutes they slowly agreed knowing that Buffy was right. They had to know how bad things were before they could even protect their own families. Plus with them away in safe care that would give them more time to help get the information they needed. Agreements were given to Buffy and it was decided if plans could be made Angel would pick them up that night.

“Anything else that I forgot?” Buffy asked and when no one offered up anything else she told them to try and get some sleep before morning. As everyone broke up to head for the small sections assigned to each family she turned so she was sitting in Spike’s lap. She wrapped her arms around his body squeezing him in a tight hug.

“I love you,” she whispered to him as she tried to pull him down toward her for a kiss but frowned as he turned away. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m no good to you, Buffy.”

“What do you mean? No good to me?”

Spike turned so he was looking at her again. Ever since he had to leave her back in the tunnels every disadvantage he possessed had been replaying in his mind.

“They’re human. I can’t fight them. I can’t be with you or the children during the day. I am completely useless to you in this battle.”

“No, you’re not.” Buffy shifted so she was straddling him and her hands were holding his face. “It’s true you can’t be with us during the day. If it comes down to it we just won’t go out during the day.” She kissed him quickly before settling back with her hands resting on his chest. “Spike, I know that if the only thing between me or the children and a human intent on killing us was you then you wouldn’t care how much pain it caused, you would fight to the death for us.”

Spike wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him until his face rested against the softness of her chest.

“I would, Buffy, I would.” His voice was determined and he knew it would take death to keep him from fighting for her or their children or the Scoobies.

“Okay then. Now, we need to go check on Raven.”

Buffy stood taking his hand so she could pull him along behind her. They stopped briefly to check on Elijah who was now sleeping on a mattress with Aidan. Spike pulled the comforter tighter around them before they went to find their daughter.

Dawn had gone to keep Raven company while Buffy spoke with Spike. As soon as Buffy came into view Raven took one look at her and deliberately turned away. With a sigh Buffy came to sit beside her while Spike sat cross-legged in front of them. Dawn moved away to find Josh so the family could talk.

“I’m sorry that you think that I was being uncaring because it’s not true. I care very much but I have other responsibilities that needed to be taken care of.” Buffy tried to explain.

“You care about those things more than us.”

“No, I don’t. Everyone out there looks to me to make the decisions and to decide the course of the fight. You were safe for the moment therefore they had to come first. If you or Elijah or Spike was in immediate danger, or actually any of them, then they would have my first priority.” Buffy took a risk to put her hand on Raven’s back and was relieved when she didn’t pull away. “I can’t fight if I am being emotional but don’t ever doubt my love for my family.”

“You don’t love me,” Raven responded wistfully. As much as she didn’t want this woman’s love she still needed the warmth of it.

“Yes, I do,” Buffy told her knowing in her heart that it was true, “as if you were my own.”

Sobbing, Raven turned to cuddle into Buffy’s arms while Spike moved to the other side of her wrapping his arms around them. Finally knowing that everyone was okay and taken care of Buffy let her own emotions loose and she was crying alongside her daughter as Spike rocked them both.

TBC