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Chapter 24 - Summer Leads to Higher Education
Author's Notes: My thanks to Tasha for taking the time to beta this chapter.
Joyce looked up when Buffy slammed her way into the house. She gave the other brides-to-be a sly grin before she innocently said, "Did you find Spike?"
"No," Buffy answered, dejectedly. Her hunched shoulders and pronounced pout visually displaying her demeanour. "It's obvious he doesn't want to be found so I'm not going to try any more," Buffy continued softly. "I guess I hurt him too much; he doesn't want anything to do with me."
"Honey, I seriously doubt that. More importantly, I think you're doing him a great disservice by making that assumption." Joyce responded sternly. "It is far more likely that your delightfully, sneaky, soul mate is coming up with some elaborate plan to sweep you off your feet." She suggested with a grin.
Buffy stared at her mother with dawning horror at the suggestion. The last time Spike had tried something like that it involved cattle prods, chains, a blond bimbette vampire and his insane sire. There was no way this could be of the good.
*~*~*~*
"So this is it then?" Spike asked, bemused at the fact that he now held all the paperwork required to make him look like, on paper at least, a real boy.
"Yep," Doyle grinned as he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet and ticked the items off with his fingers. "Birth Certificate, Dual Patriation stamp in your Passport, License, Social Security Number, School Records, Medical History, and Insurance papers. You're good to go."
"You're a bloody miracle worker, mate. How'd you get it all so fast?" Spike asked in wonder.
"Let's just say, my fiancé is a powerful motivator!" Doyle shrugged, blushing slightly with embarrassment.
Spike chuckled lightly, his eye's sparkling mischievously. "Cheerleader threaten to hold out on you ‘til you came up with the goods, did she?"
The Brachen demon ducked his head as his face flushed brightly.
*~*~*~*~*
Buffy sighed in absolute contentment as her eyes flitted over the slowly passing scenery. "This so beats your last attempt," she offered with a giggle, reminding the blond seated beside her of their stakeout/not-a-date and how it paled in comparison to the horse-drawn buggy ride through the park that they were now enjoying. His returning chagrined expression had her smiling back as her eyes twinkled with mirth.
She silently mused over her initial trepidation in relation to her mother's suggestion that Spike might be planning something. Even in her wildest dreams she would never have imagined the wonderfully romantic day her vampire had arranged for them. . It started with an exquisitely handwritten invitation, followed by a limousine ride to the park. A boat ride over the lake led to a lovely pre-prepared picnic of exotic fruits, vintage cheeses and sparkling champagne. Now they were on the carriage ride that awaited them after they finished eating.
Buffy smiled softly as she thought about the day they'd shared and snuggled into his comforting embrace.
As the carriage came to a halt outside her home, Spike gracefully rose, stepped out of the buggy and offered his hand to her as he turned to face her. As Buffy took his hand and rose to exit, the blond vampire effortlessly dropped to one knee.
Buffy froze.
There...in his left hand, he held an open box.
Buffy squealed in glee as she flew out of the carriage, almost tackling him. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Oh, Spike, yes," she shouted joyfully.
As he placed the diamond solitaire on her ring finger, he grinned as he pretended to grumble, "You know, it's customary to actually let a bloke ask the question before you answer it, luv."
*~*~*~*
It didn't take long for Cordy to decide that, even though there were four couples planning to marry prior to the start of the more scholastic members of their group's new school year, four elaborate weddings for eternal soul mates was a little over the top. So, completely overruling everyone else, she made the executive decision that she and Doyle would take advantage of the local court-house's marriage celebrant, Xander and Anya would head to Vegas, and the Summers women, along with their respective intendeds, would share a nice, simple, double wedding in the family's backyard.
Most of the group was still in shock over the swiftness of the various events well into their respective honeymoons.
Buffy and Spike had decided they needed to stay in Sunnydale, The Slayer was unwilling to leave the Hellmouth to the limited protection of a Witch, a Werewolf and a Key. However, the plans the blond vampire had for claiming his mate pretty much ensured that neither of them would be venturing very far from the their bedroom.
For the first time in a long time, everything went according to Spike's plan.
*~*~*~*
Willow peered intently at the computer screen in front of her. iIt was imperative that she get this right the first time. Unlike her magical computer searches, this one had to appear completely above board if it was ever traced. The excuse she and Oz had come up with, when they spoke to the lady in the University administration office, was that they were interested in the available sorority and frat houses, on campus to act as a feature in a story idea. Willow convinced her they were both interested in writing for the campus newspaper once the school year started. This allowed their present search for the names of the students belonging to the various frat and sorority houses, to seem like the natural next step for a dedicated and research minded amateur reporter to make. When in truth there was really only one house whose occupants they were interested in - Lowell House. It was the barracks that housed the majority of the Initiative operatives.
While Willow searched for the list of ‘students' staying in Lowell house, Oz searched for any and all information available on Maggie Walsh. Neither Oz nor Willow had any desire to see a demonic concentration camp gain a foothold in their town, and there was NO way that any of the returnees were willing to let Adam be assembled. That was one past event that every single one of them wanted to remain in their past.
Once the available data had been printed out, and both computers had been turned off, Willow grinned at her partner in crime. She grabbed her laptop and followed him out to his waiting van. It was time to set the second part of their plan into motion.
Sneaking into the burnt-out husk of Sunnydale High was hardly an impossible mission, but it didn't stop the two intrepid computer nerds from humming the movie's theme tune. Once they were inside, they headed to the remains of the old computer lab where Willow used her magic to tap into the old existing school phone lines. She magically repaired them, and it allowed her to move with magically undetectable access to the government network that would give them the rest of the information they needed.
As a trial run, Willow accessed the University mainframe and
manipulated the pre-arranged room assignments so that she and Tara
shared a room and Cathy, the soul-sucking, Cher-loving, Mok'tagar
demon, was given a single. They'd decided to just leave the girl to her
father, knowing that he would turn up sooner rather than later to
remove his wayward and rebellious child.
After successfully maneuvering through the administrative mainframe, Willow moved on to the main reason for the computerized investigation. She made copies of the files for Maggie Walsh and all the Lowell house inhabitants before moving on to the more tricky and, considering the target, infinitely more dangerous search. They needed to go through the military files, up to in including the minutes from the senior Pentagon officials' initial meeting where the mission parameters for the Initiative were originally mandated.
Once everything was saved, the two scoobies quickly removed
themselves, and all incriminating evidence of their presence. Then,
they returned to the Summers' residence and an impatient Dawn.
*~*~*~*
As summer drew to a close, and the honeymooners returned - or, as in Buffy and Spike's case, left their bedroom - the bustle of activity in Scooby central grew to frenzy like proportions.
Oz's planned trip to Tibet, where he would gain control over his inner wolf, had been discovered as not necessary due to his upgrade to immortality. He had actually shown some out-of-character emotion when they had discovered that. Not only did he no longer turn into a mindless werewolf during the full moon, but he had several other choices too. He could stay human and keep his enhanced wolf abilities all the time, he could turn his abilities on and off at will, or he could morph into an actual wolf with his full conscious awareness if need be. Let it be noted that Dawn was the first to call him Sirius, and his unexpected hyper-activity made way for his much calmer stoicism as a result.
Anya had managed to negotiate a sweet deal for the purchase of several key places. The Hyperion Hotel in Los Angeles was put into Wesley's name. The Magic Box in Sunnydale, was listed in Giles' name. Finally, the Chase family mansion in Sunnydale was used for an off-campus home for the remainder of the prophesized team when needed. This allowed both teams a central home-base, as well as the rest of the team having actual homes of their own. They also could be used as a legitimate and financially profitable front to anyone curious enough to look into the groups' new, and rather upscale, lifestyles.
Once all the property sales had been finalized, Spike, Willow, Oz, Wesley, Cordelia and Doyle headed to L.A. to de-demonize the hotel. After that Cordelia switched in to General Cordy mode. She ordered her minions around as she happily set about redecorating the hotel to its former stately glory while Wesley acquired his detective license and a business license for the hotel and ‘Angel Investigations'. However, this time around the ‘Angel' referred to was one half-Angel - Cordelia Chase-Doyle.
Leary of letting the council know too much, Cordelia refused to elaborate on why the hiring of Charles Gunn included hotel housing for both the experienced demon fighter and his sister, Alonna. She also skillfully manipulated the inclusion of Lorne, the host of Caritas, to join the team part time. After taking him aside and singing (badly) the theme song to Titanic, she convinced him to work with Wesley on ways to successfully enter and leave Lorne's home dimension of Pylea in order to rescue Fred. She also failed to mention the fact that she had every intention of taking Professor Seidel, the man responsible for the current location of Fred and countless others, on the rescue mission with them. However, unlike the rest of them, the scholar would not be returning.
Prior to their return to Sunnydale, Oz and Willow were asked to set up an electronic surveillance room. The L.A. team wanted to unobtrusively monitor the key players at Wolfram and Hart. The full team had agreed that they would not interfere at this stage. It was far more important, in the long run, to stay beneath the radar of the demonic law firm until they had all fourteen champions in place. The two genius' were also asked to set up an internal security system that was both electronic and magical to ensure that the Hyperion and its secrets were protected from any curious outsiders. They all felt that they were far too close to the end of their mission to take any chances at all.
While Spike, Willow and Oz helped the L.A. team set up shop, the rest of the Sunnydale group were far from inactive. Buffy used the time to have the apartment over the art gallery completely re-decorated and new sound-proofing included, and Xander and Anya moved into their new/old apartment. While Anya helped Giles organize the Magic Box, Xander started his new construction apprenticeship and astounded his new employers with his level of skill. Much to his surprise and delight he was offered a full scholarship, all expenses included, if he would consent to return to school and study architecture while he continued to perform his required practical work at the construction site. Needless to say, after discussing the matter with his wife and then the rest of the group, it was decided that Alexander LaVelle Harris would join, Buffy, Willow and Oz at Sunnydale University.
Once the travelling team members returned to Sunnydale, the first order of business for Willow was to magically protect Spike from the Initiative's body-heat sensors. While the Gem of Amara protected him from many things, all of them had learned from past experiences that Murphy's Law tended to run rampant on the Hellmouth. So, any and all extra protections were a tactical must. Deciding that simplicity was the best bet, Willow cast a spell that reverted any electronic sensoring equipment's scanning beam back to the individual holding the apparatus and therefore ensuring that the individual holding the sensor would actually be reading their own body's signals rather than Spike's.
As neither Buffy nor Xander were going to be living on campus, the
last thing that Buffy and Spike did before helping Willow and Oz move
was to take out Sunday and her merry bunch of pilferers. The blonde
immortal slayer was a little embarrassed at how easy the arrogant
vampire was to dust this time around. Although it might be argued that
it only appeared as easy as it was because the newly married slayer had
been a little miffed that the slutty wanna-be master vampire had the
audacity to suggest that she planned on showing Buffy's husband what a
real woman could do to a stud like him. Needless to say, Spike was not
in the least distressed when Buffy's innate insecurity insisted that,
later that night, she reaffirm exactly what slayer muscles could
achieve when properly motivated.
*~*~*~*
Buffy lightly knocked at the Poetry Professor's door. She couldn't believe it. The first day of classes and already the teacher wanted to see her after school. Try as she might, she could not work out what it was she had done to warrant this particular summons. She'd been on time. She'd even done the required reading. She internally grinned at the memory of Spike's sexy voice as he read the specific requirement to her. The poetry reading had been intermittently interrupted by Lusty Buffy, but they'd still finished the poem!
Her less than scholarly musings were interrupted by the deep baritone of her poetry professor inviting her to enter.
"Hi, Professor Lillian. You, um, asked me to come by." Buffy announced her presence to the man who, in her past, had been her favorite teacher.
Smiling, he looked up at the fresh faced girl in front of his desk. "Ah, yes, Ms Summers." Noticing the barely veiled look of trepidation on her features, Professor Lillian hastened to alleviate her fears. "There's nothing to worry about, dear. I only needed to see your schedule."
Buffy sighed lightly in relief before handing the man the requested item.
"Good, good," he commented as he checked Buffy's schedule against another he had lying on his desk. "Excellent," he stated before handing the perused sheet back to the bewildered girl. "I'm glad to say there will be no conflict in your classes and relieved that there will be no cause for any suggestion of impropriety."
"Impropriety?" Buffy questioned, completely in the dark and desirous
of the option to buy a vowel.
"Nothing to worry about there, now, dear," the professor responded
jovially. "I am so pleased that William was so forthcoming with regards
to his relationship with you."
"William?" Buffy asked lightly, wondering silently what the bleached menace had up his sleeve this time.
Professor Lillian smiled benignly at the young girl. "You understand, my dear, I'm sure. It just wouldn't do to have my T.A., and this department's resident doctoral candidate, in the position of having to grade his own wife's papers and tests now, would it? The integrity of my department has never been questioned before. I'm not about to have that change. I am sure you agree."
Buffy smiled and murmured her agreement to the slightly dotty man before making her exit as quickly as she could. She had a secret-keeping, bleached blond bastard to hunt down. She just knew this was going to turn out to be something to do with Mr. Insecurity and his need to stake his claim in front of a burly Iowa farm boy.