Fanfiction

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Previously on Grey Lines:

Buffy and Giles get so wrapped up in watching the bizarre ceremony with the Foris Caliga they do not realise Anya is being drawn to it. Spike is the one that saves her, stopping her before she reaches the clearing. The four go back home, but Anya doesn't seem to snap out of it. Xander is devastated. Spike confronts Giles, knowing he is hiding something. The watcher reveals that Anya will remain in the dormant state until the Foris Caliga is destroyed. Buffy overhears the conversation and asks what's the way to destroy it. Giles says the only way is by having the hole come into contact with a human soul. The catch is that whoever touches the Foris Caliga will have his soul sucked out of him and will die. Buffy decides there has to be another way and joins everyone for a major research marathon.

Chapter 9 - Letting them Know

They spent hours with their noses buried between the worn out pages of stuffy old books and came up with nothing. Buffy sighed in frustration, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she set down the tome she was holding in her hands. She locked over her shoulder to see a tired Xander kneeling next to the sleeping vengeance demon.

“Honey…” he breathed; his eyes red and swollen. “Please…”

The feel of Willow’s reassuring hand over his shoulder startled him.

“Hey!” she whispered.

Xander glanced up at her, nodded and returned his gaze to the unconscious creature lying in front of him.

“Xander…” she called, but he refused to answer. “You have to get some sleep.” She begged him as he continued running his fingers between the demons’ soft locks.

“I can’t…” he finally whispered.

***********************************************************

Giles took off his glasses, set them on the table and let his face sink into his callous hands.

“Nothing, huh?” he heard Spike’s familiar voice and looked up to see the vampire standing next to him. The librarian nodded with sad eyes. “I need to talk to you.” he said, running his hands through his bleached hair and tilting his head to indicate the training room.

Without a word, the ex-Watcher stood up and followed the vampire. From the other side of the table Buffy suspiciously eyed the two.

“Buffy, I’m starting to get worried about Xander. He won’t eat, sleep, he refuses to do anything but research and look after Anya all day.” Willow’s voice seemed distant as the Slayer’s gaze followed the two men into the back room. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the ex-witch call her. “Buffy!”

“Uh? Wha’…?” she turned to face Willow and gave her a sympathetic smile. “We’ll figure this out, don’t worry.”

Willow sighed and sat back down on the chair, picking up the book she had left before. Next to her, Buffy pondered what to do. “What are those two up to? I better go see…” she finally decided, but when she tried to get up she felt Dawn’s hand snake itself around her forearm.

“I can’t seem to find anything.” The young teenager protested.

“Don’t worry, we will. We always do. It’s just a matter of time.” She prepared to stand, but Dawn continued the conversation.

“What do you think will happen if she gets called again?”

“I don’t know. None of us do. That’s why we are here.” Buffy was starting to get a bit annoyed at her sister’s incessant questioning.

“Is she really going to stay that way forever?”

“Aparentely, YES!” Buffy finally snapped.

“Hey, what’s gotten into you?” Dawn asked a bit hurt by her sister’s reaction.

Buffy sighed and brought her hand to the young girl’s cheek. “I’m sorry, Dawn. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just tired and worried about Anya. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.” The teenager smiled at the blond haired girl before returning her gaze to the book on her lap.

Buffy finally got her chance, but when she began to get up she saw the two men enter the room from the back door. She sighed in frustration. As they approached the table, she noticed the dark cloud that hung around Giles. She pondered what to do and eventually decided to risk it:

“You ok?”

“Oh, I-I’m fine.” He lied. She could tell he was lying, he was cleaning his glasses in that strange neurotic way.

“What is it, Giles? You know you can’t lie to me.” She tried to get him to speak, but he closed himself off like a clam in its shell, by raising the book in his hands and practically burying his nose in it.

***************************************************************

Buffy tossed and turned on the mattress as the dream slowly melted into a nightmare.

“No….no…” she moaned incessantly.

She was snapped out of her horror by the feel of a large cold hand on her back. She jumped up in surprise, sitting up almost instantly on the mattress. She turned to see Spike’s chiselled face next to her.

“Bad dream?” he asked in a low voice, careful not to wake the others who slept around them.

“Funny, then weird, then creepy, then scary.” She said lying back down. He stretched out on the floor next to her, propped his head on his arm, using it as a pillow.

“Any of the prophetic kind?” he gave her a glimpse of a grin and she smiled back shaking her head. “Are you sure? Cause I’d really love to know how this whole thing is going to turn out.”

A peaceful pause stretched between them, but when Spike began to close his eyes she broke it:

“Spike…” she called him softly, his eyes shot open at the sound of his name on her lips.

“Yeah, luv?”

“What were you talking about with Giles?” she asked, a bit uncertain whether or not that was the right thing to do.

She saw the instant change in his features. Suddenly, it seemed all his face muscles contracted at once accentuating his sharp cheekbones.

“Nothing, pet.” He lied. He knew she would never leave it at that, so he turned his back on her before she could say anything.

Buffy felt her blood begin to boil and she instinctively rolled over to him, pulling him by his arm and forcing him to face him. Her anger, made her miscalculate the strength of her actions and as a result Spike’s face was now inches from hers as her body partially hovered over his. They laid there in silence, her breathing starting to become erratic and her face flushed. Her gaze drifted nervously from his eyes down to his lips and back up again. All she had to do was lower herself a bit and her mouth would be covering his. An eternity seemed to go by, but they remained frozen in place, each waiting for the other to make a move.

Spike’s mind raced, his entire body demanded him to close the distance between their lips, but he held strong. He knew he couldn’t take the first step, she was the one who had to choose and she did.

She couldn’t take it anymore. At that moment she realised that this – kissing him – was what she had wanted to do ever since she had learned he was back. Slowly, she lowered her head and her lips brushed over his. He remained still, waiting for her move and he felt his heart burst when she pulled away. He opened his eyes to see two green lustful ones staring back at him.

She was panting now and even though he didn’t need to breathe so was he. The air between them was thick with wanting and longing and soon Buffy’s lips were pressed over his. This time she didn’t pull back. Instead, she deepened the kiss by opening herself to him, inviting him in to explore and plunder her mouth. When he didn’t respond, she ran her hand over the black fabric of his t-shirt, clawing her way up and down his chest.

The vampire lost all control and in a blink of an eye his arms wrapped themselves around her tiny waist, bringing her to lay on top of him. The feel of her weight over him, her left leg between his, chest pressing against his sent a wave of pleasure over him. “God! I’ve missed her.” He thought to himself as his tongue snaked into her mouth. Her blond locks fell all around his head, framing her beautiful face as she moved over him, manoeuvred in order to gain better access to his mouth.

Spike gasped as she pressed her thigh against the growing bulge in his pants and he felt her smile against him. He felt frustrated at the effect she had on him, but he decided to fight back and it was Buffy’s turn to gasp when Spike suddenly raised this left leg, which was buried between hers and ground it against her crotch.

“Ah…” she let out a muffled moan.

The sound caused the sleeping Dawn to stir, Spike and Buffy immediately jumped up and put a decent distance between them. They stared at the young girl who lay on the mattress next to Buffy’s. The Slayer sighed in relief as she realised her sister was still sound asleep and hadn’t woken up. Her eyes drifted back to the vampire and locked gaze with him.

“Better sleep, luv.” He said resting his head back on his outstretched arm.

She nodded and laid on the improvised bed, turning to face him. They remained still, in silence, looking at each other until exhaustion and sleep took over them.

*********************************************************

She became aware of a soft breeze grazing the sensitive skin of her forearm as her mind crawled back into consciousness. She squinted, trying to focus her sight on a recognisable object. When she saw the empty mattress next to her all the facts and events that she needed to realise where she was came rushing back to her. Her dormant fingers brushed over the green material of the pad and she looked around to see Willow, Xander and Dawn sitting around the table, their eyes fixed on dusty yellow pages, desperately seeking a way out of this mess.

“You’re up.” Her sister’s familiar voice reached her ears and she nodded.

“Where’s Giles and Spike?” Buffy asked nonchalantly, but deep inside something was making her stomach turn in an excruciatingly alerting way.

“Dunno.” Dawn shrugged. ”When I woke up the two were already gone.”

“Willow?” Buffy turned her attentions to her best friend, but the ex-witch’s answer came in the form of a light shaking of her head. Buffy sighed and headed towards the bathroom to clean up when she heard Xander’s raucous voice:

“They left together early in the morning. About two hours ago.” His eyes never left the pages of the book he was holding in his hands.

She was about to say something when a ringing sound caught her attention. She looked towards the door to see two long legs hidden under a fuming blanket. The fabric was thrown on the floor to reveal the bleached vampire; close behind him were Clem and Giles.

“Hi!” Clem greeted with a huge grin plastered across his face as he waved his floppy arm.

“Hey.” Dawn replied clearly less enthusiastically.

Realising his usual gleeful and peppy mood was inappropriate for the current situation he decided it was best to keep silent, especially after seeing Xander’s desperate expression.

“Where were you guys?” Buffy asked.

“We went to get Clem. Keep an eye on him. Couldn’t leave him chained up forever.” Spike explained. For some strange reason he was avoiding eye contact with her.

“It took you two hours?” Buffy asked suspiciously.

Giles and the vampire exchanged a quick look and the ex-watcher intervened.

“We stayed at Spike’s for a while.” He cleared his throat before proceeding. “We let Clem know of what is going on.” As he spoke his head tilted lightly towards the sleeping demon.

“Oh.” Buffy’s gaze fell to the floor and an uncomfortable silence settled between them until Xander broke it.

“Well? What are you guys standing around. We’ve got research to do.”

“Actually we don’t.” Giles spoke as he nervously rubbed his glasses with a light brown handkerchief.

“What do you mean?” Xander felt a pang in his chest, but it was still to be decided if it was a good or bad pang.

“I think I’ve got a way.” Giles paused and looked at Spike. The vampire gave him a nod and the librarian continued. “We-we found a way to bring Anya back.”

“What? When? A spell?” the rush of happiness and hope that washed over Xander was too strong, preventing him from making a complete and logical sentence. Before he gave the ex-watcher a chance to answer his arms were already wrapped around the old man, squeezing him hard enough to brake his spine. The sound of Giles’ muffled cries of pain joined with a strange cracking noise coming from the librarian’s chest made the young man back away. “Sorry!”

“Ah… Don’t worry.” Giles gave him a forced grin as he rubbed the side of his ribcage. “I don’t think you’ve broken anything… too badly.”

“What spell is this? I thought you said there was no way out except…” Buffy paused to choose her words carefully, but all she came up with was: “…you know.”

“Spike found something and I think it will work.”

“Well, what’s the spell?” Buffy insisted; there was something very strange happening. Why was he being so secretive about this?

“It’s… complicated.” Giles evaded the question and made his way behind the counter.

“What do we need for it?” Willow asked shyly. She still felt a little uneasy whenever magic was involved.

Giles took one long and deep breath before speaking: “It’s not a spell, Willow.”

“It’s not?” the ex-witch asked confused.

“Ah…” the librarian searched his mind rubbing the bridge of his nose before putting his glasses back on. “Spike can destroy it.”

“What?”

“How?” Dawn finally joined in the conversation with a look of deep concern on her face.

“He…” Giles hesitated one last time, sighing before blurting out: “Spike has a soul.”

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