Remember Me

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Joss owns it all damn him!

***

Chapter 13 - Running on Empty

Buffy woke the back of her head throbbing in pain. Groaning, she
slitted her eyes open and took a quick look around the room. Angel
appeared to have left again, letting her breathe a small sigh of relief.
Damn! She had almost gotten away! She couldn't believe how close
shd cod come, only to have him pull her back at the very last minute.

To combat the dizzines she felt, Buffy held herself as still as possible.
Her head hurt so bad that the back of her eyes ached. She thought
back to her escape attempt and tried to figure out what she could
have done differently. If she had the chance again she didwantwant to
waste it.

She thought of Will, probably worried sick, wondering where she was.
Had Angel already sent a ransom note? Did he know that she'd been
kidnapped? She wondered how long it had been since she'd blacked
out. Was it still the same day? There was no clock in the room and
she realized she didn't even know if it were day or night. All the
curtains in the room had been closed, for obvious reasons, and she
couldn't tell if the dim light shining behind them was sunlight or
lamplight.

God, had it only been three days, maybe four, since they'd arrived?
She remembered having such a giddy sense of excitement when
they'd first gotten off the plane. Yes, she was nervous and a bit
worried about whether she could keep up the charade without
revealing her true feelings, but a whole week away with Will! She
couldn't help but anticipate the pleasure of his company.

Buffy faltered, gasping involuntarily. She *had* been worried about
the charade. The *charade*. Oh my God! How could she - ? What
did he - ? Oh my God!

They had never truly been engaged. They weren't even dating!
Buffys' breath was escaping in short shallow pants. She tried to calm
herself, worried that she would hyperventilate and pass out again.

Why didn' tel tell her the truth? Why did he let her think they were
really a couple? Buffy's cheeks burned hot. She had practically
thrown herself at him. She'd worn her Victoria Secret's lingerie! Will
had seen her in lingerie! And he'd touched her. Boy, had he touched
her.

Could he have gone along with her faulty memory because he'd
*wanted* to touch her? To sleep with her? But no, if he'd wanted that
he'd had plenty of opportunity. *He* was the one that hafusefused
her, over and over again. He'd made up some ridiculous excuse
about her wanting to wait until their wedding night. Buffy snorted.
And she fell for it! If she and Will were really engaged, or even just a
couple, there was no way she'd *ever* want to wait that long! Geez,
she didn't even want to wait that long now.

Then why? Why had he lied to her?

Buffy shook her head, regretting it as the world started to spin. She
didn't know why Will had done it. But she knew Will, and she knew
there had to be a good reason. She wished she could talk to him.
Her eyes began to water as she realized that she may never talk to
Will again. Even if Angel had already given him the ransom note, he
still wouldn’t know where to find her. And Angel had made it clear
that he wouldn't let her go whether he got the money he wanted or
not.

Oh God, she didn't care why he'd done it. She was glad that he had.
Glad that she got to be happy for the past four days. That she got to
be in love. She'd tell him, too. Tell him that she loved him, and that
she wanted their engagement to be real, as soon as she saw him
again...if she ever saw him again. The tears leaked from her eyes,
and she wished she could swipe them away but her hands were still
tied down. So she just let them trail down her cheeks until they hit the
pillow.

***

Xander walked the perimeter of the luau for the fourth time. He hadn't
found anything they could use. With so many people at the party,
everything was pretty much trampled. Any debris that had been left
could be attributed to the luau. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out.
Xander ground his teeth in frustration. So far he hadn't been any help
whatsoever.

If they didn't figure out who had Buffy before the drop off, Spike was
going to lose half a million dollars, and they still might not ever see
Buffy again. Damn it! He stomped back into the lobby, searching the
vicinity for Wesley. He spotted him over by the activities desk talking
to the clerk there.

"Yes, so you didn't see anything out of the ordinary that night?"
Xander heard Wesley asked as he walked up behind him. The clerk
shook his head no.

"Do you remember seeing this woman at all during or after the luau?"
Wesley held up a picture of Buffy that the gang had brought with them
in order to help with the search.

"No, I'm sorry." The clerk shook his head apologetically. "I do
remember her though. She and her husband signed up for surfing
lessons the first day of the conference, right?"

"Fiance." Xander corrected absently. Then chuckled softly to
himself.

"Oh, yeah, her fiance." The clerk nodded. "I'm really sorry I can't
help."

Xander and Wesley thanked the clerk, then began walking toward the
elevator bays. "Lot of help I am. Theyengaengaged, not married,
doofus." Xander rolled his eyes. "Did you find anything else out?"

"No, unfortunately nobody else had any other information. It's like
she just vanished without a trace." Wesley murmured, frustrated.

"So, where does that leave us?" Xander asked, stepping onto the
elevator and pushing the button for their floor.

"We've got to prep the equipment. Good thing we brought the kit."

"'Always be prepared.' That's my motto." Xander answered.

"Yes, you're a bloody Boy Scout." Wesley shot back.

"You know it." Xander answered, oblivious to Wesley's teasing.

They reached Spike's suite, knocking quietly. Tara opened the door
quickly, shushing them. Spike had finally agreed to take a quick nap.
They all knew he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, no matter
what he told them.

"Did you guys find anything?" Willow asked eagerly, her hand
reaching out towards Wesley's.

"No, luv." Wesley sat down next to Willow and wrapped his arm
around her bringing her close. "Our best bet now is to go through
with the drop. Xander's going to start prepping the wires, and the
homing device."

The girls all looked at each other anxiously. "Is Spike going to be in
danger?" Cordy asked, looking toward her boyfriend.

Xander gave her a grim smile and a nod. "Yeah, Cord, probably.
We'll do everything we can to keep him safe though; and to bring
Buffy home safe, too. You know that." Xander answered, trying to
reassure her.

"So that means you'll be in danger, too? Right?" Cordy asked again,
this time biting and chewing on her bottom lip. "You're going to keep
him safe, who's going to keep you safe?"

Xander quickly made his way over to Cordelia, hugging her in a tight
embrace. "Honey, this is my job. You know I'm trained for this, and
I've been doing it for a while now. How come this is the first time
you've gotten so worked up over it?"

"Because this is the first time I've had to watch it. To be here, and
know that you're going to be going up against the bad guys in a
couple of hours!" Cordelia's voice rose and wavered.

"Cordy, honey," Xander ran his fingers through her hair, trying to
soothe. "You know, I'll be careful. This isn't something we can walk
away from. This is Buffy and Spike. They need our help."

Cordelia nodded, but didn't answer.

"Besides, Wesley will be there. He'll keep me safe." Xander
continued.

"And me." Lorne's voice piped up from across the room.

Tara looked up quickly, "But, Lorne, you've never done anything like
this before."

"Baby, I have to do something. These are our friends. Besides, I'll
just be there as backup. You know...I can ride in and save the day.
But not unless the boys absolutely need me." Lorne kissed her on
the cheek, letting his lips linger for a bit. Tara's expression was still
worried, but she recognized the determined look on Lorne's face and
kept her objections to herself.

"We should all go together." Willow suggested, looking toward her
husband for support.

"Wills, you know that's not a good idea." Wesley answered instead.

"Why not? We can do the same thing Lorne's doing. Just hang back
until you need us." She asked, giving him her puppy dog eyes.

"Luv," Wesley kissed her. "It would be too distracting. We'd all be
worried about each other. With only the four of us going, it's already
bad enough. But with you girls there as well, we won't be able to
concentrate at all!"

Willow's hurt look caused Wesley to hold her closer. "Wills, we all
love you ladies so much that it would be too hard *not* worrying about
your safety. It'll be hard enough even while you are all here, let alone
if you come with us." Wesley looked up to receive nods of approval
from Lorne and Xander. Each man was holding his lover close, each
thinking about how hard it must be for Spike. "Please understand,
luv."

Slowly Willow nodded. Each girl caught the ots eys eye and gave
tired sighs of defeat. "Will you at least have Agents Benson and
Salazar with you?"

The local F.B.I. branch had sent over two field agents when they had
called the police to inform them of the kidnapping. Both agents had
been vocal in their objection to the boys getting involved. They were
also against giving into the kidnapper's demands by getting the
money so quickly. Instead they wanted to stall him, telling him that
there was a delay in cctincting the money, but that was one thing
Spike would not agree to. There was no way he was taking a chance
on Buffy's safety.

"Yes, so don't worry." Xander answered for Wesley. "Both fibbies will
meet us here tonight. They'll be monitoring the whole exchange
along with us."

"Okay." Willow reluctantly agreed. After a few more minutes of
cuddling time, the boys stood to finalize the rest of their plans for that
evening. They left the room promising to return by 11pm to prep
Spike and say goodbye to the girls.

The girls huddled together on the couch, staring silently at the muted
television. They were all worried about the men and what they
planned to do tonight. They were also scared to death at the
prospect of never seeing Buffy again. None of them wanted to
contemplate what she might be going through while she was in the
hands of the kidnapper. So they stared at the tv, closing ranks in
order to hold each other close until the men returned later that night.