August 6, 2007 8:42 AM

The space was too confining making Buffy curl tighter into a ball as she tried to return to the blissful darkness of sleep. Someone moved behind her pushing their knees into her back and she finally abandoned any attempt at further needed oblivion and opened her eyes. Buffy blinked a couple of times before realizing she was still in Raven’s room. She sat up immediately and wondered where Spike was, why he hadn’t come for her.

At first she didn’t think anything of it because the past few days had been an emotional roller coaster and she figured that Spike had probably just given into exhaustion and ended up sleeping alone. With a smile she made her way across the hall to their bedroom thinking of the new bond that would be between them now. There was hardly anything that wasn’t known between them and she was confident that their union would only be stronger and more invincible.

However, when Spike wasn’t asleep in their bed as she had anticipated, fear began to twist in her belly. She searched the second floor and hurried downstairs when he wasn’t anywhere around. Trying not to wake Max she quietly moved through the bottom floor but by the time she was done and still hadn’t found Spike she was near to panic.

“Max, wake up, Max,” Buffy called to him as she shook his shoulder. “Please, wake up.”

His eyes flew open from years of never fully sleeping to find Buffy standing over him, her hands wringing against the other and tears streaming down her cheeks. Max immediately stood so he could put his hands on her shoulders to help steady her.

“What’s wrong, Buffy?”

“It’s Spike, I can’t find him. He’s not in the house.”

Max sighed and looked around quickly, hoping that Spike would come around the corner.

“Did you check everywhere? The attic and the basement?” He asked still hoping that Spike was just off doing something, hiding the way he had been since Faith’s death.

When Buffy shook her head no, Max told her to go wake Clem and find out if he had seen him while he checked the basement and the crypt. As she took off back upstairs, Max prayed that Spike was somewhere around so that he didn’t have to tell his wife that he had gone out earlier and might not have come back.

Fifteen minutes later the entire household minus Spike met back in the living room. Buffy began to cry again when Max came back from the basement without Spike in tow. She was quickly pulled into the Guardian’s arms.

“Buffy, after he put you all to bed last night Spike went out to get cigarettes. I never heard him come back.”

“Why? He quit,” she asked in confusion.

“He needed to get some fresh air, clear his head a little, said he was going to go to the store on the corner.”

Buffy pulled out of his arms and took off up the stairs, “I’m going to go down there and check to see if he was there.” She only took the time to pull on a pair of jeans, a jacket and a pair of sandals before hurrying back downstairs.

When she returned Max had already gone out to his car to start it, Clem told her Max was waiting for her and that he would watch Raven and Elijah while they were gone. Buffy quickly kissed both of her children and told them she loved them. She wished she had the time to talk to them knowing that if these blows kept coming they might never recover but the urgency in finding her husband took precedence at the moment. The car door was open when she ran outside and before she could even pull the door closed behind her, Max was already backing up the drive.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the convenience store, they both saw Spike’s motorcycle still parked on the side of the building. Buffy began to climb from the car to rush over to it when Max grabbed her arm, “There might be evidence. Let me call someone. Wait for me and then we’ll go in and talk to the clerk.”

Numbly she nodded her head as she crossed her arms in front of her, as much as she didn’t want to face it, something horrible had happened to Spike. Hysteria teased at her but she refused to give in to it, knowing she needed a clear head to find him and bring him home.

Max clicked off the phone and said someone would be there in a few minutes. “Come on, Buffy; let’s go talk to the clerk.”

The clerk told them that he had only been on since 7 AM and didn’t know anything. Max explained that a man had disappeared and they needed to speak to whoever was on duty, a call was placed to the young woman who had been working when Spike would have come in.

“Yeah, I remember him. Real good looking guy, came in around six, bought a pack of Marlboro reds and a couple of candy bars. Left and that’s all I saw.” The clerk told Max after he explained what he needed.

“Was there anyone else around? Any other customers?”

“Nope, no one else came in the store…” she said but stopped as something clicked. “Wait a minute there was a white utility van that came through the parking lot but pulled off into the side street without stopping. Did hear some screeching of tires but that’s it.”

Max thanked her then grabbed Buffy’s hand to pull her back outside. They walked to the side of the building where there were a couple of Guardians searching for clues.

“Max, what’s going on?” Buffy pleaded as she looked from him to the two men searching the ground.

One of the men stood and came over to them. “Hey Max, doesn’t look good.” Then when he saw the look on the Slayer’s face he changed his tone to a gentler one. “I’m sorry, miss, but there appears to have been a struggle. Probably four other people besides the one miss…Spike. There was a vehicle pulled up to the side and someone was dragged into it. You can see the tracks where the feet were dragged along the ground. Found a pack of cigarettes that were dropped, Marlboro reds.”

“They took him didn’t they?” Buffy’s asked. Spike was the one she always turned to when she felt lost and without him here she felt completely adrift.

“It looks that way.” Max turned her to face him, “At least we know they took him alive so we have a good chance of getting him back. Hang onto that, okay?”

She nodded her head slowly as she swallowed back her instinct to give into the emotions warring in her. There was another feeling in her and she sorted through the others to grab onto it, knowing that it would be the one that would carry her through: white-hot anger. Buffy closed her eyes for a second and let the emotion wash over her and force all other feelings aside and when she opened them again, she was ready.

“Let’s go, Max, we’ve got work to do.”

On the way back to the house Max called his superior to find out what was going on with Riley and to fill him in on the kidnapping. Buffy used her cell phone to call the family to tell them to meet at her house. She was still on the phone with Giles when they reached the house, “Call Dawn, let her know what happened. If she wants to help tell her to come over, if she wants to rejoice, tell her to stay the hell out of my sight.”

Clicking off the phone she made her way to the kitchen where Clem and the children were attempting to eat breakfast, she took a seat at the table with them. With both of the children’s hands in her own she quickly relayed that it appeared that Spike had been taken by the Soldiers but they were already working on getting him back.

“Is he dead?” Elijah began to cry as he reached for Buffy. She cradled him to her and reached for Raven to give her a hug too.

“No, he isn’t dead. If they had wanted him dead they would have killed him outside the store. He’s still alive and we’ll find him.”

Buffy gave them each a kiss on their heads and told them they had to be good for her because it was going to be really busy with the search.

“Can we help?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, you can help.”

Max poked his head in the doorway, “Everybody’s here.”

“Come on,” Buffy told them and holding Elijah’s hand walked back into the living room. She noted the grave and frightened looks on everyone’s face and Dawn crying in the doorway.

“Tell her,” Josh said to Dawn as he pushed gently on her shoulder. Dawn shook her head and tried to turn so she could leave but her husband held on to her. “Tell her now, Dawn. She is going to find out eventually and you need to be the one to tell her.”

“Watch him,” Buffy handed her son over to Max before turning to walk into the center of the room. “Dawn, I don’t know what it is that you have to tell me but Josh thinks it’s important to what is going on. So, tell me.”

At her sister’s words and knowing that it was going to be bad for her no matter when she told Buffy, Dawn finally turned back to walk over to meet her halfway.

“I’m sorry, Buffy. I’m so sorry.”

Everyone else in the room had fallen silent as they watched what was going on between the two sisters.

“Sorry for what, Dawn? I don’t have time for your pity party so please just say it.”

“The other night after what happened at Kate’s house, I was with Janice at the Student’s Union and we were talking about stuff,” Dawn hesitated as she took a deep breath. “I was talking about what happened and this guy joined us. Someone that Janice had met at one of the meetings. Oh, God, Buffy, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Didn’t mean for what to happen?” Buffy was holding onto a thin thread of restraint as Dawn dragged her story out.

“I was talking about Spike, not even saying about him being a demon, but about how he was hurting you and that I thought he was beating you. I said he needed to be punished. That’s all. I didn’t know this guy was part of them until Janice told me after the party.”

The sound of the slap resounded around the room as Dawn collapsed to the floor holding her cheek. Buffy had reacted and didn’t hold back much strength as she hit her sister. Josh tried to make his way toward his wife but was held back by Giles and Xander who told him to stay out of it.

“You little whiny bitch, how could you do this to him? To the man who loves you more than life itself. The man who endured hours of torture to protect you and you sell him out. You betrayed him.”

“I’m sorry, Buffy; I thought he was hurting you.”

Buffy crouched on the floor next to her sister.

“No, I’m sorry. I thought you were mature enough for me to talk to but apparently you’re not. I just don’t get how you could honestly think that Spike would hurt me. Spike? I don’t stay with him because I’m afraid of being alone, or because I’m cowered by him, or because I’m weak, I stay with him because he’s worth the effort. I have never met anyone who has endured so much to try to change who he is.”

“Yeah, you know that now. After you did the ritual, Willow explained it to me.” Dawn said defiantly.

“I knew that before. Why do you think it was him I turned to when I was falling apart? If he really wanted me in the dark or to hurt me then he would have done it when I handed him a fucking knife and begged him to cut me. He would have done it when I was so hurt and broken that I would have let him do whatever he wanted to me because I felt I deserved it but he didn’t. He fought against what his demon was telling him to do to push me back into the light. And now he’s struggling, and making mistakes, am I supposed to turn my back on him? Is he not allowed to make mistakes, to be…?” Buffy hesitated as she realized what she was about to say.

“Human, Buffy, the word is human.” Giles finished her sentence for her.

“Thank you, Giles.” Buffy stood again staring down at her sister. After a deep sigh and a quick glance around the room, “Dawn, it is going to be up to him to forgive you. Because ultimately he is the one you hurt the most. You have two choices, get up off that floor and help us find my husband and the father to my children or you get up and walk out of the door and keep your ass moving right on out of town.”

“Buffy...” Dawn cried.

“No, get up and help or get out of my sight for good.” With that said she dismissed her sister from her thoughts. “Okay, the only clue we have right now is a white van and that these guys came from the Initiative. Willow, start going through everything we knew on them, see if you can find anything we missed. Anya, Dawn and Raven start calling the Chickies and see if they’ve seen a strange white van in their neighborhoods.”

“Who?” Anya asked.

“Sunnydale Chickies, Raven will explain. Josh and Xander, I need tactical information. These guys are human, where are they getting their weapons? Get me things I can use against them. Kate, we might end up needing medical supplies, can you set up something?” After receiving a nod Buffy turned her attention to Tara and Giles, “Magic. Any spells, locator or something to use against them, research for me.”

“What about me? I want to help, Buffy.” Clem asked. “I can do more than just be a babysitter and fetch the food. These guys took Faith from me and Spike is my friend, I want to fight.”

“You’re right, Clem. I’m sorry. Xander, Josh, you now have an apprentice. Train him well. Clem, you are now in the weapons division. Everybody, you are now responsible for your own children. Keep communications open if you need help. Thanks and let’s get working.”

August 6, 2007 10:56 AM

“Buffy, it’s Angel, he wants to talk to you.” Dawn held the phone out to Buffy.

“Hello.”

“Buffy, anything I can do to help? Now, I’m sorry we went ahead and left last night instead of waiting.”

“How did you know?”

“Dawn called me.”

Buffy threw a menacing look at her sister. “So, she is the one who has been squealing to you.”

Angel sighed. “Look, I know you don’t want me to know everything but no matter what you believe, I do care. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“I know you do, Angel. I’m sorry. I just feel sometimes that I have to choose sides and…”

“You’re loyalty is where it needs to be. He is my grand-childe and in a way will always be my responsibility.”

“I did the ritual with him, the one where I saw everything that he is. I know, Angel, I know it all now. The reason he resents you and hates you and still loves you in spite of it all. You were his father in so many ways and he never felt he measured up to your expectations.”

“Shit, Buffy. You should never have seen that.”

“Never seen the truth?” Buffy laughed at Angel in his feeble attempt to still try to protect her. “I needed to know. It makes me respect you both a hell of a lot more and love you more, too.”

“Sometimes I think I was wrong. I underestimated you, Buffy. You are so much more than that girl I saw you as. And Spike. He is the right person for you and if there is anything I can do to help you both. Let me know.” Angel said.

“There is something you can do.”

“Name it.”

“When I get him home tell him that and give him the absolution and love that he needs from you.”

There was a silence on the other end of the line as Angel contemplated her request. In the end he agreed because he knew, had always known, that he was the one who needed to make the first step toward reconciliation to the other vampire. It was his pride and position as the grand-sire that had kept him away but as life continued to change he knew their relationship had to change with it. That the two of them needed to learn to work and live together without the tension and undercurrents of competition that had always pulled them apart.

“Thanks, Angel, I’ll call you if we need anything and when we find him.”

“I love you, Buffy.”

“I love you, too.”

August 6, 2007 2:22 PM

Max hurried back into the living with a grin dancing on his face, “Buffy, everybody, good news, one of our agents has been following Riley since last night. Well, this morning he had breakfast with a couple of our suspects. One of them showed up in a white van with Tennessee plates.” The grin left his face as he caught Buffy’s eyes, “one of them was overheard saying that they had the ‘animal’ captured and everything was going according to plan.”

“And the good news is where?” Xander asked.

“The good news is that William T. Blood is a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1996, an established and respected celebrity, husband and father. A kidnapping complaint has been lodged with the Sunnydale Police Department and the FBI. Search warrants are being drawn up right now to search our suspect’s houses and vehicles and Riley Finn has been detained at the airport for suspicion of kidnapping.”

Relief flooded through Buffy that something was finally moving. After hours of research and trying locator spells, nothing had been turned up so far. She motioned Max to follow her unwilling to let the others see the doubts and questions that were bothering her.

“What happens if they catch these guys? Spike can’t stand up to the scrutiny of a trial. That’s why we didn’t file a complaint about the house.” Buffy asked once they had reached the privacy of the porch.

“After the searches we are hoping we find links to the murders, then the kidnapping charges are dropped because of lack of evidence or something. They get put away for the murders and Spike is never brought into it.”

Buffy nodded, “What about Riley?”

“He isn’t involved in the murders or kidnapping but we’re hoping even with the military training he’ll be smart enough to tell what he knows if his superiors don’t get him out before he talks. The FBI agents being brought in to do the questioning are old buddies of mine from when I was there and won’t be afraid or not knowledgeable enough to ask the right questions.”

August 6, 2007 3:35 PM

The weapons division came pouring through the front door, laughing and slapping each other on the back but their antics stopped when they saw the frustrated looks on the faces of the others.

“Sorry, but Clem just walked into the surplus store like he belonged and they waited on him. We were just a little high from it and that we found where the guys have been buying some of their supplies.” Xander explained sheepishly.

Buffy smiled and walked over to Clem to squeeze his hand. “All victories even the small ones need to be celebrated. Congratulations on taking a small step for your world.”

“Thanks,” Clem said, his face alit with a grin.

“What did you bring me?” Buffy asked.

“A couple of Taser guns and some tear gas.” Josh offered.

“The clerk said there have been some military types coming in making jokes about specialized hunting they were going to do and buying equipment.” Xander explained.

“Like what?”

“Stun guns, Taser guns and tear gas along with ammo and hatchets.”

“Looks like they were planning on doing some hunting. Max, maybe some inquiries need to be made about the ammo they bought. See if it matches with the bullets that were shot at us the other night.”

Max laughed, “I’ll send some men right over there, Agent Buffy.”

She turned to smile and wink at him. It was good to have someone around who had inside connections that they had never had access to before. Maybe if they had some of their fights may have been easier.

August 6, 2007 4:11 PM

“Mu..Buffy, I’ve got something.” Raven called out.

Her mother hurried over to where Raven was hanging the phone up. “What’s up?”

“I finally got a hold of Mrs. Davis. She said that she has seen a strange white van driving up and down her road a lot.”

Buffy bit her lip trying to figure out how to tell Raven that with the warrants the location of the van was mute at this point.

“Buffy, listen, Mrs. Davis lives on Baker Wood’s Circle. The van has been driving in and out of the woods access near there.”

A broad grin broke out over Buffy’s face at the news turning she located Willow who was already on her way to her computer.

“I’m on it.” The red head said as she began to go back over the Initiative’s records to see if there were any tunnels located near Baker’s Woods.

Enveloping her daughter in a hug, Buffy kissed her on the cheek, “Thank you.”

August 7, 2007 5:25 PM

“Got it, definite tunnels ending at Baker’s Woods Bluff.” Willow announced.

“Okay, everybody, take a break, feed the kids, and eat something yourselves. After dinner pack supplies because we are moving everyone to the safe house. There we develop plans, so start thinking of any suggestions, and then Giles, Willow and Xander will go with me to find him. Any questions?” Buffy looked quickly around the room but only received nods in reply.

Clem moved off by himself at her words taking a seat on the stairs. Startled he looked up from his hands to see the Slayer in front of him.

“Don’t take it personally. I know you want to be there but the others have been with me since the beginning. There is no thinking among us. We move as one. Too many years of watching each other’s back.” Buffy reached and covered his hands with one of her own. “We’ll get you trained and you can help again. Even if we get the main guys and rescue Spike, the battles with these Soldiers have just started. You’ll have your chance to make your stand, okay?”

With tears rolling down his cheeks Clem nodded and wrapped his arms around his friend as she offered him a hug.

August 7, 2007 8:41 PM

Buffy leaned over the map that Xander was showing her. They were planning their route to the Baker’s Woods when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Buffy, I know everything is in high gear but I think Raven really needs to talk to you.” Tara said.

With an apologetic look to the others, Buffy turned see where her daughter was. Raven was curled up on one of the couches with silent tears running down her face.

“I’ll be back.” Buffy told the others. Xander, Giles, and Willow turned their attention back to the map as Buffy made her way over to the teen.

“What’s going on?” She asked as she sat next to Raven.

“It’s my fault. I’ve been hiding it all day but it’s my fault.” The girl looked at her mother with such guilt in her eyes that it made Buffy catch her breath.

“Why would you think it’s your fault?

“If I hadn’t been smoking then he would never had to go out to buy a pack. He would have had some at home.”

With a trembling hand Buffy wiped tears from the girl’s face before pulling her into a hug. “It’s not your fault. We all made mistakes that we could use to blame ourselves for him being there, including him, but it all comes down to one thing. The Soldiers are the ones to blame. They were the ones who did the wrong thing and they are the ones who will pay.”

Raven nodded and wiped her nose on her knees before looking back at Buffy, “What will happen to Eli and me if you can’t find him and something happens to you.”

“Come on,” Buffy stood and took her daughter’s hand, pulling her toward the middle of the pit. “Hey, everybody take a break and come here for a second.”

After the others were gathered, Buffy had them move into a circle, and took Raven with her to the center. She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and moved her around so she could look at everyone that was there. Raven blushed at being the center of attention but was consoled some by the smiles of everyone.

“Look, Raven, this is your family. Spike and I have already made arrangements, actually about a page and a half of descending order of who will take you in if something happens to us. After these people it goes to the LA gang. These people are not related by blood but by love, just like you and Elijah are related to Spike and I. You are also related to them by love too. These people will be here for you, to support you, to be your friend, your parent, whatever you need. Some times we fight among ourselves but we always come back to each other. You and Elijah will never be alone again. Okay?”

Raven began to sob as she hugged Buffy to her, and then found herself being comforted and hugged by everyone else.

“Buffy, I’m really sorry. I was wrong.” Dawn came up behind Buffy to try one more time. In Buffy’s speech when she had said they always came back to each other gave Dawn the fortitude to approach her sister.

“I know you are. I love you, Dawn, and always will but it’s going to take time for me to get over this.” Buffy turned to her sister. “We’ll talk again later after Spike is home.”

Max came over to Buffy interrupting any further communications between the sisters. “I know you’re ready to go but I’m going to ask you to wait.”

“Why?’

“Everything is ready to search the house of the guy we think is in charge. The van is in the garage. I’m going over to help out and I want you to wait until we’re done. Let me see if anything is there. I don’t want you going off on a wild goose chase.”

Buffy looked into Max’s face trying to decide what to do, the men they were looking for hadn’t been found yet. Which could only mean they still had Spike hidden somewhere and could be doing anything to him.

“I don’t know.”

“Buffy, I think there might be information that will help. I don’t really know myself but let me see.”

Finally Buffy agreed to give him a little while knowing that this would also give everyone to have some family time and put the children to bed before they took off.

August 8, 2007 12:10 AM

Tapping her cell phone impatiently Buffy willed it to ring again to give her some news that her husband was safe and sound and was waiting for her at home. A couple hours ago Max had called and told her they had hit pay dirt on information with the Soldiers and to give him a little more time before leaving. She jumped when the phone rang beneath her hand and fumbled it on the way of putting it to her ear.

“Hello.”

“Go, Buffy. The guys evaded us and there might not be much time. We are headed to the main entrance and one side entrance.” Max told her before hanging up.

It was then that she realized that in a way Max had duped her. He had kept her there because he was playing by the rules of the Guardians and the government and not hers. It was only when he realized that he had made a mistake and could have cost Spike his life had he called to tell her to go.

Anger flashed through Buffy as she barked the order to get the weapons together. She made her way to her bag pulling it over her shoulder as Giles, Xander and Willow did the same.

“Mummy,” Raven called.

Buffy froze momentarily then turned in surprise to her daughter.

“Bring Daddy home, please.”

“I will, Princess.” She told her, deliberately calling her by Spike’s nickname, before she turned back to the others. “Let’s go.”

Then with Buffy leading the way, the Scoobies marched out to bring back one of their own.

TBC