Quid Pro Quo

Chapter 3 – Best Entrance Goes To…


In the old, colonial Tinkercreek Mansion, a watcher’s research session was in full gear. Towards the back of the building on the bottom floor, there was rectangular shaped room. There were double doors at one end and shelves of research materials on the three surrounding walls, leaving the fourth wall with the door unoccupied. The center of the room was sunken three steps down. In the sunken area there was a wide, posh u-shaped wooden table with a red leather top. Giles sat at the head of the table with Andrew on his right and Buffy on his left. Down the sides were various watchers, their slayers training at the Cleveland facility.

Buffy’s slayer senses suddenly went off the charts. She shot to her feet, and just before the somber atmosphere of the research room was shattered, the double doors slammed open. Whatever it was that had arrived, it had been moving fast.

Not it. They.

As the doors were still swinging on their sorely used hinges, four figures walked into the room, standing abreast of each other. However, due to the bright lights in the hall and the dim lights at the door to the room, the occupants of the room had difficulty making out just whom the newcomers were. From what Giles could make out, the left door had been thrown wide by what appeared to be a woman? judging by the outline of long hair and her curves. Next to her was another woman holding a much larger man’s hand. The man was wearing a long, black coat which flapped around his dark brown leather pants at the knees as he walked with attitude, a demeanor as if he ruled the room. That one Giles knew. Angel. They weren’t being invaded; Angel had arrived sooner than he had been expected. However, even though he had been told, he hadn’t expected Angel to bring three other people with him. Nonetheless, once Giles knew this was Angel, he dismissed interest in the others for the time being. He searched through his papers for his notes to discuss with the vampire.

Upon recognizing Angel, Giles may have relaxed, but Buffy, however, felt like the roots of her hair that she needed to dye were standing on end. The four were sending her slayer senses through the roof, more than just four run of the mill demons. Angel definitely wasn’t your average demon, but the other three felt strong, also.

She knew she didn’t know the first woman farthest to the left. What she noted about the second girl was that she was holding Angel’s hand. A girlfriend. Wow. It was a shock to her that Angel had a girlfriend. But who was she to talk. He had said that he would wait for her, but why should he when she hadn’t? And it wasn’t lost on her that Angel was wearing leather. Leather meant Angelus, his darker and dangerous side, and symbolized the dangerous power he was capable of. Buffy wondered what was going on.

When she glanced at the last figure on the right, who had practically broken the wood of the door when he had kicked it in, she felt the blood drain from her face, leaving her feeling light headed. As with Angel, the man wore a long coat, but this one was longer and moved with a heavier sway than Angel’s; the material was obviously leather. Of course, the hair was a give away. The lights from the hall had turned the color white. It couldn’t be. No longer trusting her legs, Buffy sank back into her seat. It just couldn’t be.

Angel and Spike stopped only a foot or so into the room, making it clear that they were cautious allies with those in the room.

Giles cleared his throat. “Well, uh…Angel…I see that you have made it.”

Angel tilted his head slightly and waited a moment, clearly annoyed by such an obvious statement. “Yes. Let me introduce you to Nina.” If they could have seen his expression, they would have seen it change from dark to light as he smiled gently down at her. “Nina, the man in the middle is Giles, the one that called our office. To his left is Andrew. You have heard me speak of him.” Missing the hard edge to Angel’s voice when he spoke his name, Andrew preened under the mention. “And on the right, is Buffy.” That is all he said of the slayer, dismissing her with a single sentence. He wanted to establish up front that he was with Nina, no longer pining for her. No way he wanted Nina to feel jealous or hurt due to his past with Buffy. “The rest of these people? I don’t know, and I am not sure that I care.”

The man with the crown of white hair raised his hand and spoke up for the first time. “Oh, I’m sure that I don’t bloody care.”

The English accent and the deep timbre of his voice that sent goose bumps up her arms cinched it for Buffy. She could live in denial until she could see his face, but her heart told her no. Spike was back. Oh, man, was she glad that she was sitting down because her legs now felt liquid.

At the same time as Spike spoke, Illyria stepped onto the table in front of her and began inspecting the people she stood above. Spike chuckled at the site. Since Angel had not introduced her already, he indicated Illyria with a sweep of his hand. “And this is Illyria. Illyria, luv, don’t get to close to the gits at your feet, or they might want to study you, put you in a petrie dish or some such.” Spike gave a wicked smile to all the people lining the room. He loved the sight of all these brainiacs with their mouths hanging open. “And me? You’ve got books. Look it up, kiddies. Spike. William the Bloody. Slayer of Slayers. And now call me Spike the Resurrected.” He left out the whole now human part. Little too much for their baby brains at the moment. In fact, he didn’t plan on telling the know-it-alls at all unless he had to.

Angel shook his head. “How about ‘Spike that never stays dead, gone, incinerated…nothing.’ Overall, he is annoying twenty-four seven. Right, Nina?”

She shook her head. “I think he is funny.”

“Don’t encourage him!” Angel put his hand over her mouth.

Illyria ignored Spike’s long list of titles, Angel’s ribbing, and stayed with the previous subject. Her voice dripped with superiority. “Spike, these people would try to study me as you studied me?”

“Yes, but not near as fun, pet.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the expressionless demon. That woman was bleedin’ fun to tease.

Spike’s implication of intimacy hit Buffy hard. Was this blue-haired demon his girlfriend? Both Spike and Angel had girlfriends?

Mirroring Illyria, Spike had stepped onto the red leather surface in front of him. But as Illyria had no hesitancy stepping on the books or bumping a coffee cup or two, as he talked Spike did his own graceful dance around the objects, turning and spinning on the table as only he could do so gracefully in a pair of Doc Martens. However, he lost all playfulness when he stood above Andrew. “Spankie. Angel and I have thought about all the advice and wonderful words of encouragement that you have relayed to us from your superiors.” With that Spike pointed at Buffy and then Giles.

Illyria stopped in front of Buffy, and looked where Spike was pointing. “This is the Giles, the man who presumed to judge you and Angel?”

Spike beamed at her and heard Angel give a snort of laughter. “Yes, luv. You’re spot on.” Spike turned his attention back to the boy. “Andrew, you piss-ant, remember that demented slayer” Unsure of where this was going, Andrew just nodded. “You brought out your dozen little slayerettes and took her from the brood guy back there. Gramps, tell the class what Spankie here said.”

Angel’s voice was flat, chilling in its own way. “To paraphrase, I was told that nobody in your camp trusts my camp any longer. Nobody. And to condense your other pearls of wisdom, anyone connected to Wolfram and Hart were traitors. We are traitors today, right, Spike? I just can’t seem to keep track which side we’re on.”

“Just call me Benedict or Arnold. What the hell, I’ll answer to either.” Spike put his foot on Andrew’s forehead and tipped him over, ending with a satisfying bang as he hit the floor. “You made sure, Spankie, that we understood that we no longer played on the same team. Quick history lesson. Angel helped against the master, Jasmine and the Mayor to name a few. I helped against Angelus, even though I wasn’t even on the white hat side yet, I helped against Glory, and I died fighting the First Evil. And then, kiddies, both Angel and I defeated the Black Thorns. Naaa, you’re right. Don’t trust us.”

Andrew tried to back pedal but just ended up sputtering. “It wasn’t my fault. The order came from Buffy about that slayer. Besides you can’t do this to me. I am on the Watchers Council.”

Giving a bark of laughter, Spike glared down at Andrew. “Just. Did. So bugger off.”

Angel started to say something else, but stopped. First because he liked watching the watchers squirm in front of Illyria and Spike, and even better squirming by Andrew and Giles. Spike was a master at mixing menace with taunting. Secondly, since the blonde vampire could always make Nina smile, Nina’s giggle now assured Spike full reign.

Ready to move on, Spike moved to stand in front of Giles. However, Illyria interrupted the festivities. She cocked her head to the side as she stared down at Buffy. “Right now, this one has strong emotions…”

Nina looked over at Angel in concern as he started coughing.

Across the room, Spike knew exactly how Angel felt. “Feel free to NOT share those little jewels, blue.”

It had taken all this time for Giles to find his voice. “You’re back.”

Spike looked down at the watcher. “Sharp as a witch’s ball, aren’t you, watcher?” Spike spun around and the tail of his jacket brushed Giles’ face, causing Giles to bat at them. Spike jumped down, and making a gentlemanly gesture, he offered his hand to help Illyria down from the table, drawing her over to stand in front of Giles. Illyria tilted her head down and looked at Giles as if he were an insect she looked forward to dissecting. “Call this the year of resurrection, Rups. Illyria, luv, show him Fred.”

When she changed into her human form, Angel stepped up to the edge of the steps. “Remember, Giles? I called you to find Willow to help save a girl’s soul, and you refused me. You. Refused. As you made so clear, no one having to do with slayers or the Watchers Council trusted me or mine any longer, so you wouldn’t help.”

All teasing and taunting had left Spike’s voice. His voice was low and full of contempt for his audience.

“Now you see the shell of the girl we wanted to save. Illyria was resurrected in her body. Fred had been a true innocent. If anyone deserved saving, it was her. Now we’ve sort’ve bonded with Illyria because she fought the apocalypse with us, but Fred left a permanent hole in the team.”

Illyria turned her head to a different seemingly awkward angle. “Wesley died performing his mission.” She watched as the man in glasses flinched at her words. “You feel guilt.”

Angel’s voice was bitter. Guilt was good. How about some more? “Did you even know that one of your comrades died saving the world? And Gunn, another member of our family died. Would you have cared?”

Still holding Illyria/Fred by the hand and with great show, Spike moved them down the length of the room and up the steps next to Nina and Angel, standing together in an obvious show of solidarity. Buffy noted how close Spike stayed to Illyria/Fred.

The brunette vampire pulled up to his full height. “Now, Giles, it appears that you need our help. Funny how these things happen.”

Keeping his eyes on the papers he was aimlessly shuffling, Giles tried to guide the conversation back to the present. “Yes, we do need a vampire with a soul. Actually, we are still translating the text, but we need a witch, a werewolf, a monarch demon. The part that mentions Shanshu with the vampire with the soul is still being translated…”

While Angel patted Nina’s hand, he and Spike shared a look. Shanshu? Interesting. “Well, we have driven a long ways, and I’m sure Nina would like to rest. Get ready the information you have so far and send it over to our hotel…

Since this was a much harsher, foreboding Angel and Spike than he was use to dealing with, Giles jumped at the opportunity to offer an olive branch. “We have an account at the Marriot on…”

Oh, Spike thought, he was going to really enjoy saying this. “Don’t need your blunt, Watcher. Send the information to the desk of the Wyndham Cleveland Hotel at Playhouse Square, and they will get it to our suite. Quite posh, it is.”

“If you want to go fab, that hotel is it.” Andrew added.

Four voices, Giles’, Buffy’s, Spike’s and Angel’s were in unison. “Shut up, Andrew.”

Sending a packet of information to a hotel wasn’t regular watcher procedure. Giles was positive that it just wouldn’t do. “I’m sure we need to do this…”

“Clean your ears out, Rupes. Send the papers to us. And when that information leaves your hands and comes to us, remember distrust goes both ways. So does trust. Quid pro quo.” Then Spike waved his hand once above his head, dismissing everyone in the room. “Ta, ta.”

The four turned to leave and found themselves facing what was surely slayers-in-training with their mouths hanging open. Spike loved the audience. He leaned in as if he was going to impart a secret of secrets. They leaned in with him, and then he gave them a loud, unexpected “boo.” The girls scrambled to move out of their way, and they walked through the opening.

Angel, Nina, Spike and Illyria stopped once they were on the steps of the mansion where Angel was safe from the daylight. Actually he was safe for a thirty feet diameter due to all of the old trees in the yard that their cars were parked under.

Spike was still hyped. “Now that was a great entrance.” Spike was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I’m talking on a scale of one to ten, it was a thirteen.”

Angel nonchalantly shrugged. “It was ok…umf.” Nina jabbed him in the ribs.

Now that had the British blonde hopping “Ok?...OK? Just bloody ok?...You’ve got to be sodding kidding me...”

Illyria’s calm voice broke through his tirade. “The hinges were still holding the doors up.”

“There is that, blue.” Spike visibly deflated. “Ok, it was an eleven then.”

Before Illyria and Spike got into the Viper and Nina and Angel into the Masserati, the demon shook her head. “You found enjoyment in that?”

Spike and Angel looked at each other and said in unison, “Yes.” Out the open window of the car, Nina’s laughter drifted back to the mansion as they sped away.
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TBC


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