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Chapter Twelve

Once they were back at Giles' apartment, they tied Walsh and Riley back to back and dumped on the floor unceremoniously. Harmony had been chained to the bathroom.

"Right now will someone tell me what the hell is going on!" Giles asked, he could see that Buffy had had enough for one night and she was tired, he knew that a cranky Slayer was a dangerous one.

Buff sighed and sat down on the couch. "Hostage.. hostage ...." she pointed at Walsh and Riley and then pointed to the bathroom "Hostage. We got the pointy stick thing , point at them, hello dimension hopping demon, goodbye pains in my asses, everyone's happy and I get to chill out at the Bronze and be a girl until the next problem"
"Very good , but the base is still there and full of demons , is it not? So I can't see how this has solved that problem"

Spike stood up, opened the front door and took out a small plastic disc. "Kaboom" he pressed the disc and waited .
Everyone stared at Spike and thought the vampire had lost his mind.
A low rumble could be heard in the distance and Buffy shot to where Spike was, looking out of the front door. A hellish glow could be seen in the distance . A large explosion shook the house and made everyone duck for cover , flames licked at the sky and the ground shook. Sirens could be heard from all over town and people started to fill the streets , looking over at the phenomenon.Spike laughed and started singing burn baby burn over and over.

Spike shut the door and looked as four pairs of eyes stared at him "What?"

Buffy raised her brows , arms folded and foot tapping at the floor "Kaboom?"

"Oh yeah that " he said like it was nothing

"That? That happened to be the Initiative blowing up , care to tell me how and why?"
"If you need me tell you how then your definitely staying true to your bloody hair colour and as for why, do you really have to soddin' well ask?" he raised his brow at her and waited for her answer.

How does he do that? Turn my questions back on me. " There could have been humans down there , you could have killed hundreds doing that!"

"I'm not that much of an idiot, do that an' get your stake firmly shoved up my ass, I don' think so luv, do you? I wen' in earlier an' told them there were bombs planted an' due to go off, got 'em out an' only left the bitch an' her wankers, oh an' Captain Cardboard course"
"And that's when you came in for me?"
"Yes pet" he walked over to her and stroked her arm with the back of his fingers and then sat down. "So, we got three people to get rid of Watcher, best go get the demon stick an' send 'em packin'"

Giles went upstairs and return a few minutes later with the staff , his face was one of concern and turmoil.

"If we send Riley and Harmony first, that would be the mating pair, that I understand , but why send Mrs Walsh?"
"They already have a human male, they need a female for him" Buffy looked at Spike "Actually they don't need or want her to be human"

Both men caught the meaning behind what she was saying. Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose and Spike squinted at her.She wasn't expecting him to turn her , was she? "I wouldn't expect you to do it Spike " she smiled at him.
"You know I'd do it for you, for everything she did to you pet"

Riley and Walsh watched as the three of them discussed the demons and what to do about her. Walsh had never shown any fear at all in all the time that Riley had worked along side her. He admired her for that. Her strength of character was to be her undoing though.

Buffy was feeling a little better after the strong coffee Giles had made her, and she thought she kinda owed Riley and Walsh a little Slayer time before they went on their ... ' vacation '. Riley saw her head in their direction and mumbled something that sounded obscene.. so not the way to charm Buffy into going easy. Walsh looked up and smirked, 'oh yeah, keep looking at me like that... '

"Now while I was in your 'care ' , I was paralysed, probed, prodded , electrocuted and lets not forget the nice scar I have courtesy of the hand in the stomach operation, that was a doozy by the way, and I'll never wear a two piece again. So, question is, what would amount as payback for that hmmm?"

Riley gulped . Walsh just sat there smirking. Was this woman for real? Buffy wished she could channel Faith right now. That girl had the right idea's when it came to torture.

Riley sat quiet ' How bad can it be? Have Harmony as a mate and live in a zoo in another dimension? Regular meals and comfort, better than being here and putting up with Walsh barking orders at me constantly, as much as I admire her '.

Walsh looked bored. 'Wish they would just get on with it, send me through this damn portal or whatever, Torture me, maim me , kill me, I don't care , just get on with it! You lot really are a bunch of feeble minded idiots and your testing my patience! I really should have taken my hormone replacement tablet this morning, I wonder if they do that sort of thing in this new dimension?'

Spike could see a problem with the set up, if Riley was to be mates with Harmony, then Walsh was to be the other blokes bit, Spike shuddered at that , poor bloke he won't know what he let himself in for, oh well, evil an' all that, who cares, but the fact remained that the bird wasn't exactly young. If I woke up next to that every morning I'd rather pour holy water on my manly bits than wake it up'

He whispered the fact to Giles, who laughed and then coughed once the focus was on him , Buffy frowned but carried on intimidating the pair of hostages. Giles dusted off a volume of witchcraft and flipped threw a few pages before shouting "Eureka" drawing attention back to him. Spike nodded his agreement and Giles set about doing the spell. It would deal with her being all human and also about her age problem. Giles said that the demon was a relatively peaceful one but it's eating habits made it unsociable, when he asked why , Giles told him, Spike looked like he would spontaneously combust from laughing.

Buffy was curious and wanted to know what they were laughing at, both men were still in the midst of their laughter fits so Giles just turned the book to her and pointed.

She read the passage about it's origins... blah blah blah , usual crap, she looked up and he motioned for her to keep reading , so, reproductively same as human, eww but okay..... feeding habits... oh my god that is disgusting... you can't..... snigger... your not.... snigger ... nose dives straight into uncontrollable laughter...

All three of them were crying with laughter. Walsh looked at Riley " So these are the people that avert apocalypses and maintain a balance between good and evil? Well I must say I'm not impressed. I can't see what you saw in the girl and why you associated with them, their all morons"

"Will you need Willow for this?" she stifled her laughter
"No, no I shall be fine doing this myself " Giles snorted as his amusement got the better of him for a second
Spike sat rubbing his sides , trying to get rid of a stitch.

Buffy , still trying to stop laughing , walked back to Walsh and Riley.

"Now then.... we have discovered a flaw in our plan and we've agreed on a suitable remedy. You see the zoo already have a human male that you" she jabbed Walsh , hard "Are meant to mate with. But, your a) old and b) human, they demons in the other dimension need mystical offspring so, we have to turn you into a demon of some sort. Kind of fitting really, we turn you, the head of the Initiative , into the one thing you hate, but that's not all , are you familiar with the demon clan of Gahshalacks?"

Walsh's face burned with hatred , humiliation , shock and fear.

"Obviously you are, so you know what you are going to be in....." Buffy looked over at Spike and Giles, Spike mouthed ten at her " Ten minutes. I have to say , I didn't think I could think of anything more fitting. I'm certainly over the whole tortured thing now I know you have to live out eternity being a demon that feeds off of demon and human excrement. Oh and I suggest you brush and floss regularly, your breaths gonna be a killer"

Even Riley was almost wetting his pants with laughter much to Walsh's disgust at them all. How could they degrade her by doing this? 'Shit.'. she grimaced as she said that then ...' Balls , that's better .. balls I have five minutes left as a human.'

A bright light glowed from a crystal that Giles had placed in Walsh's mouth and she screamed. The crystal sucked out her soul and replaced it with the demon. Her features contorted to that of the demon, bone and muscle shifted too. Her skin tone turned a hue of blue and her hair grew long. Her teeth became elongated and her tongue lengthened. Riley jumped and begged to be chained anywhere but to her.

Spike refused saying that he'd have to get used to demon types from now on. Giles got Harmony from the bathroom and put her with Walsh and Riley. He held the staff up and it worked it's magic. The portal opened to the other world and two of the dimension hoppers came through.

Spike explained the situation and apologised for the attack. He showed the demons their captives and they nodded their approval. They grabbed the hostages and walked through the portal, taking the staff with them.

Giles, Buffy and Spike breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was over, the Initiative was finished for good, they hoped, and the people responsible for Buffy's torture , were gone.

"Spike?"
"Yeah ?"
"You didn't free any of the demons before you blew up the Initiatives base did you?"
"No, wha' you take me for Slayer?"

The look she gave him said it all and he just smirked.

Giles yawned "I don't mean to be rude you two but I feel that it is time for me to retire." He bid them goodnight and went upstairs.

It was almost dawn and Spike looked out of the window.

"Slayer , if I'm gonna go back to my crypt tonight , I best go now, want me to walk you back to your Mums?"
"Okay "

The walk back to Revello Drive was a silent and very tense one. As Buffy stood on the front porch, Spike stood on the bottom step kicking at the railing. Buffy saw the smoke rising off him and pulled him inside, her Mum wouldn't mind , it was Spike.

"I'm tired as well , I have to process everything and we'll talk in the morning once Mums at work. " she turned to go up the stairs and stopped "Spike, I want to say thank you though, for coming back and for helping me escape. It meant a lot " Buffy ran up the stairs and shut her bedroom door.

Spike felt the tears again and tried to hold them back. He had ruined everything by having the stupid bloody chip removed .He would stay tonight and then hear what she had to say in the morning. If she decided she couldn't be around him or trust him then he would leave, His demon may pine for her but he'd survive, that's what he did.

Buffy stood against her bedroom door. Her thoughts ran through her mind all at once. She ached all over. She reeled from the fact that Spike had had his chip removed. How did that affect their relationship? Was it a relationship? Did he love her the way she loved him? The demon had bonded with her and wanted her as a mate , but did the human part of Spike, did William? Was Spike someone she could even like now? So far he had been exactly the same, but by sunset, would he be after his third Slayer again?
Buffy collapsed on her bed and before she knew it, she was asleep.

Spike curled up on the couch hugging a cushion that had her scent on it. The chip laid on the table , next to his smokes and his zippo . The holdall laid at his feet, ready to go should she turn her back on him.He fell asleep still clutching the cushion.