Willow leaned back against her pillow as she helped herself to more of the collection of Ben and Jerry's that she, Buffy, and Cordelia were sharing during their impromptu girl's night. She pondered her inclusion, her guilt weighing heavily on her mind. The little redhead was very aware that she was getting a chance she didn't deserve. She, Xander, and Giles had royally screwed up the first time and while she had no intention of repeating the same mistakes, it just seemed to her that with the new timeline and the changes they were all working hard to ensure, she and her fellow partners in crime were not only going to be getting off easy, but they were going to be rewarded. Maybe an eternity with her mate would get old after a couple of hundred years, but she really didn't think so. Maybe she was making too big a deal of things. Resolve filled her as she made the decision to not think about the non-punishment aspect if her second chance for the moment and focus on the evening instead.
The three immortals had decided to totally make use of the fact that calorie watching was a thing of the past. Their powers were intricately a part of their eternal makeup and because of this they basically required a higher caloric intake than their old bodies had needed. Cordelia argued that eternity was a hell of a long time and they deserved to be allowed to indulge in a bit of ice cream-y goodness to take the sting out.
They had decided to arrange the girls night so that Xander and Oz wouldn't feel excluded, thereby giving the girls a chance to bring each other up to date on all recent events. Joyce and Giles would be filled later by Buffy. The fact that the elder returnees were enjoying a romantic evening at Giles' apartment over the gallery meant the Slayer, the Seer and the Witch could Ben & Jerry it to their hearts desire.
Buffy's focus had been on helping Spike and ensuring that Dru was behaving. She happily let the others know that with the exception of his spinal column, he had completely healed. From their original timeline, they knew that Spike had taken four months to heal from that injury, originally. This time, the addition of slayer blood once a week to his now much healthier diet of bagged human blood from Willy's ensured his healing time would be halved, if not quartered. After only two weeks, he was already starting to regain feeling in his lower extremities. In fact, just that morning, he'd been able to move his big toe slightly.
Buffy bounced in excitement as she relayed her news.
Cordelia then let it be known what she had been up to. She had helped Angel deal with his actions and had encouraged him to take some responsibility for his unsouled actions. The beautiful brunette had further suggested to the suffering vampire that his insane childe might be more willing to behave herself if he offered to help her.
The Seer had left the brooding vampire to consider her words and had been pleasantly surprised when he had come to her and Buffy after a couple of days and offered to try and keep Drusilla occupied while Buffy checked on his grandchilde. He clearly didn't understand why they all seemed so concerned with Spike, but he held his tongue, not confident enough with his place in their lives to openly question their actions.
Buffy reported that the visits had certainly gone smoother after Angel joined her. The knowledge that he was keeping Dru out of the way allowed the Slayer the freedom to enjoy her visits with her love. She had come to the conclusion that the bleached blond's obvious confusion with her actions and lingering suspicions was the cross she had to bear after all the years of abuse she heaped on the Spike of her time. The days she could coax a smile out of him left her giddy for hours afterwards.
Willow
passed on her own experiences. She had thought long and hard about the
fourteen champions to be and had come to the conclusion that with Tara
as her future mate and Oz having his own mate to woo, a relationship
between them now would only muddy the waters later, so with that in
mind she had shared a heart to heart with the boy, explained that she
was gay and asked that he remain her friend. She then told him of a
Tibetan monk she had read about and his apparent success in helping
werewolves gain control over their inner wolf. She'd taken the time to
explain the Scoobies and what they did, then asked him to join the team
as a full member. She went on to say that after graduation, if he
wanted, the team would pay for him to travel to Tibet so that he could
work with the monk, but she was quick to inform him that the team would
always need him and that his place was assured when he was ready to
come home.
She reported that his stoic reply of ‘sounds cool' was an amusing trip
down memory lane.
The little witch had then gone on to report her actions in relation to the swim team coach. She explained that she had used her new recruit to gather samples from the boy's steam room, which they had then analysed. As soon as they found the presence of the steroid, they sent samples and copies of their results to both the police and the local news. She happily reported that a very much alive Coach Marin had been arrested and charged with child abuse and endangerment. His dismissal from the faculty was a foregone conclusion. She giggled as she reported how pissed Snyder had been when the ‘best swim coach the school has ever seen' upset all his plans for housing the championship cup in the school's new display case by inconveniently getting himself arrested.
Cordelia indelicately snorted. "Are you sure we should save his ass? Why that insufferable little gnome ever chose to be an educator is beyond me! He hates kids!"
Buffy and Willow giggled in response.
"Sorry, Cordy, but, yeah, we really do have to save him. We have to do everything in our powers to make sure Robin Wood never comes to Sunnydale. But, hey! If it makes you feel better, just do what I do...think of Dawnie having to put up with him."
"Maybe we can find the monks, get them to split the key into three and then we can all get a little sister who we can enjoy watching while Snyder makes their lives a living hell," Willow joked easily, then collapsed in glee with Buffy as Cordelia's calculating expression registered with them.
"What? It could happen."
~*~*~
Buffy skipped lightly down the stairs to the factory entrance, followed closely by her ever present Dru Distractor. As she stepped into the factory proper, she was halted by a clearly distracted Angel calling her name.
"What's up?" the blonde chirped lightly.
"Um...there's no one here," Angel replied in confusion.
"Huh?" Buffy asked, bemused. She wasn't really sure what he was trying to achieve with his joke.
Angel focused stern brown eyes on the girl, irritated that she wasn't taking him seriously. "There's nobody here and I can't sense them at all through the family bond."
Buffy didn't wait for him to say more, she spun on her heel and sped to the room that had been her love's bedroom.
Buffy gasped in horror.
The bed where Spike had lain was covered in blood, and on the wall opposite the door, a message was scrawled across the surface with more of the crimson life essence.
If Princess can't have her Daddy, then Sunshine can't have her Prince.
"Oh God, Spike," Buffy whimpered as she dropped to her knees in anguish. "This is all my fault."