Under the Sun

Author: enigmaticblue

Rating: PG-13

Archive: Sure, if you already have my stuff. If not, just ask.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters herein; Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and other lucky folks do. Of course, I'm not the one making money off of them.

Summary: Set after Avocation in an alternate S4 where many events of canon get thrown out the window. This one won't make any sense if you haven't read the previous story.

A/N: The title comes from Ecclesiastes, which most people know from the phrase, "A time for everything, and a season for everything under heaven." Really, this story is based on the entire book, which is probably my favorite in the Bible. It talks about making the most of what one has now, and while some find it depressing, I love it. If you've got the time, I'd really recommend you read the whole thing.

Chapter 36

"If hope grew on a bush,/And joy grew on a tree,/What a nosegay for the plucking/There would be!/But oh! in windy autumn,/When frail flowers wither,/What should we do for hope and joy,/Fading together?" ~Christina Rossetti, "If Hope"

Buffy had just gotten into the house when the knock on the front door came. Spike had parked in the garage and put the door down, so no one knew he was home. As he'd said, while Faith might not expect him to be alive, there was no point advertising the fact that he was, just in case she happened by.

She didn't even have the door open before her mom was inside, pulling her into a tight embrace. Buffy hugged her back, hard, realizing yet again that she very nearly hadn't seen her mom again.

Joyce pulled back, searching her face. "You look good," she said, sounding surprised. "And tan."

"It was the nifty sunlamps in the hotel we stayed at," Buffy replied. "We had some time to hang out by the pool."

"I'm so glad you're okay," Joyce said, sounding a little tearful. "Where's Spike?"

"I think he's getting the stuff out of the car," Buffy replied.

Spike entered the living room. "How on earth did we manage to load up on so much junk, Buffy? It's going to take me three trips just to—"

His complaint was cut short when he saw Joyce, who gave him the exact same treatment she'd given Buffy. Spike returned her hug awkwardly. "'lo, Joyce."

"Thank you," she said, her tone serious.

If Spike could have blushed, he probably would have. "Yeah, I'm just sorry I couldn't get there sooner."

"You were right on time, as far as I'm concerned," Joyce responded, searching his face, finally breaking out into a wide smile. "You're looking good."

Spike shrugged, still looking rather embarrassed. "Little R&R never hurt anybody, I reckon."

"Is Giles coming, too?" Buffy asked.

Joyce shook her head. "Not just yet. He's closing up the bookstore, but he'll be over as soon as he can be."

"Spike?" Wesley's voice echoed through the front hall. He soon appeared, carrying a brown paper sack. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought fresh blood. I wasn't sure if you'd stopped or not."

"I hadn't," Spike admitted. "Thanks, mate."

"I'll just put it in the fridge," Wesley said.

Willow and Tara were on his heels, and Willow almost squealed when she saw Buffy. "Buffy!"

"Hey, Willow!" Buffy returned her friend's hug, careful not to squeeze too tightly.

"You look really good," Willow said.

Buffy smiled. "A little vacation is good for the soul." She looked past Willow to Tara, raising an eyebrow.

"This is Tara," Willow quickly said. "She's cool. Tara, this is Buffy. You know Mrs. Summers and Spike already."

"It's nice to meet you," Buffy said warmly, although she felt a pang. There were already so many people there, particularly after it being just her and Spike for the last week. Vacation was over, though, and it was time to get back to work. "Has anyone spotted Faith yet?"

"So far, no signs of her," Willow replied. "But we haven't really been looking all that hard. We just found out about her being awake today, and we were kind of waiting for you."

Buffy nodded. "That's probably the best thing. What time is Giles supposed to be here?" she asked Joyce. "I thought the shop closed at seven."

Joyce winced. "Well, I think he might have been planning on staying a little later."

Buffy couldn't disguise her hurt. "Oh, okay."

"He was meeting with Riley Finn," Wesley said bluntly, coming back out of the kitchen.

Her eyes widened. "He what?"

"Giles is meeting with Riley tonight," Wesley stated. "He wanted you and Spike kept away for obvious reasons, but he thought he could get some information."

Buffy looked over at her mom, who appeared apologetic. "Riley came by the house yesterday," she explained. "He was quite insistent on wanting to know what had happened to you. Apparently, whatever story they were telling him at the Initiative wasn't very satisfactory."

The muscle in Spike's jaw was ticking, and the Slayer knew he was upset. She watched him, waiting for his reaction. "Right. Buffy? What do you think?"

"About Riley?" Buffy asked tentatively. She still felt a little strange talking about the Initiative around Spike, particularly saying anything that might put any of the soldiers in a positive light.

"Spit it out, luv," he said, his voice gentle.

"I don't think Riley was in on it," Buffy admitted. "He's a good guy, and I don't think he'd hurt me, but I don't know if he would ever leave the army. It's pretty much his life."

"That was our impression," Joyce responded. "I think Rupert wanted to do anything he could to spread the truth. Perhaps it would start a mutiny."

"Doubt that," Spike said sourly. "Those gits are all brainwashed to believe whatever they're told to believe."

Wesley spoke up. "That may be so, Spike, but if we could get one of them on our side, the information and the assistance could be invaluable."

Spike nodded slowly. "Right. As long as he's working for us and not the other way around, I can live with it." He glanced around the room. "Figure we're going to have to talk about Faith at some point. Why don't you lot get comfortable and I'll call for pizza. This might be a long night."

~~~~~

Xander couldn't help but think that this was more like it. They were having a Scooby meeting, and he was an essential participant. He gathered up the maps and glanced over at Anya. "I'm sorry, An. We'll have to do this another night."

Anya sighed, used to Xander's friends interrupting their time together by now. Things had been quiet lately, but she'd known it couldn't last. "I get it, Xander. Your friends are important."

"This is about Faith," he replied. "You remember her, don't you? She was planning on helping the Mayor destroy Sunnydale. They need the maps, and I'm the only one who can work them."

"I get it," Anya repeated, just a little more sharply. Honestly, sometimes he talked to her like she was stupid. Just because she hadn't been human in twelve centuries didn't mean she hadn't seen a few things. The Mayor had been scary; Faith was bad news. The Slayer saved the day. Anya knew how it was supposed to work.

Xander straightened. "You don't have to come. It's probably going to be pretty boring for you."

Anya's lips tightened. "Fine, Xander. Give me a call when you want to get together again."

He watched her go, feeling as though he probably could have handled that a little better, but not sure how he would have done so. So much of the time, he felt like he and Anya were on completely different wavelengths, and real communication was impossible.

The trip across town was a little scary, knowing that Faith was out there, probably on the hunt. Maybe on the hunt for him, since they'd had a thing.

When Xander got to Spike's place, he gave a perfunctory knock and then entered. Everyone except for Giles was already there. "Come on in, Harris," Spike called from the living room. "We'll wait to start until Rupert gets here."

Xander entered the living room, his eyes immediately seeking out Buffy, who looked pretty good for someone who had nearly been killed. "Buffster. You're looking good."

Buffy rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I think I should leave town more often if that's the response I get." She gave Xander a hug, then immediately went back to perching on the arm of Spike's chair. "So what about these maps we've been hearing so much about?" She gave Willow a fond look. "You guys were busy while we were gone."

"We couldn't have done it without Tara," Willow said, wanting to be sure that the other girl received her share of the credit, since it was unlikely that Tara would put herself forward. Willow wanted to make her feel welcome.

"I'm glad Tara was there, then," Buffy said, giving the girl a smile. Tara just bobbed her head shyly.

Xander spread out the map of Sunnydale on the coffee table where everyone could see it. "Watch." He touched the map, and within a few moments, all the various colored dots had appeared. The dark green dot designating Giles and the lavender dot for Anya were the only ones not clustered together, obviously where Spike's address would be. Giles was apparently making his way over, however, because the dot was drawing nearer.

"Neat," Spike said, grinning. "Who thought this up?"

"Willow, mostly," Wesley said. "Tara came up with the spell to protect the maps from damage, though."

"And Wesley worked out how to link the locator spell to Xander," Willow said quickly, not wanting her boyfriend to lose out on the praise.

"Go team," Buffy said. "This is really great, guys. Thank you."

Giles' dot stopped when it hit the cluster, and soon enough they could hear his voice. "I take it the pizza is for us."

"I've got it," Spike called.

"Don't worry about it," Giles said. He soon came into the living room with several pizza boxes, setting them down on the coffee table before turning to Buffy. "Buffy."

She returned his hug, grateful that she'd returned to Sunnydale for this, at least. As nice as her time alone with Spike had been, Buffy had missed her friends and family. "Don't tell me," she said with a smile. "I look good."

"You do, actually, but I wasn't expecting anything else," Giles replied. He took the seat Joyce had held for him on the couch.

"What did Riley have to say?" Buffy asked, resuming her seat.

Giles shook his head. "Not much. Apparently, the story among the soldiers is that you were working with vampires, who attacked the group. They're making it sound as if you led them into a trap."

Buffy sniffed. "It was more like a mutual trap."

"Yes, well, that's essentially what I said." Giles met Spike's eyes. "I told him that you were involved in Buffy's rescue, but led him to believe that you were human."

Spike nodded. "Probably for the best."

"Do we really think that the Initiative is going to leave Buffy alone?" Willow asked. "If they went to that much trouble to capture her in the first place..."

"I don't know," Giles admitted. "I would imagine it would depend on whether or not Professor Walsh is willing to follow orders."

"My first impression?" Buffy asked. "Would be a big no. I think she feels like she's a god or something."

"I think our primary concern ought to be Faith," Wesley interjected. "The Initiative has every reason to keep their movements and goals secret. Faith does not."

"Agreed," Spike said. "If Faith decides to make trouble, it's going to get interesting. I figure our best bet is for Buffy and me to stick together, both to deal with her and the soldiers. The rest of you lot can work on keeping a low profile. I think it's less likely she'd come after any of you."

"Are you sure about that?" Xander asked. "You know we had a thing, and she might—"

Spike gave him a slightly pitying look. "Sorry, Harris, but a girl like Faith has probably forgotten all about it by now."

Willow hastened to change the subject, both because she didn't want to think about Xander and Faith together, and also because her friend looked crushed. "What if Riley starts asking questions again?"

"We could probably talk to him," Buffy suggested, looking over at Spike. "Maybe he'll believe it when he hears it from my mouth." When Spike opened his mouth to argue, she told him, "If he sees you in the sunlight, there's no way he'd be able to tell that you're a vampire." She gave him an impish grin. "We could probably even tell him that you're some kind of male Slayer."

Spike considered that suggestion. "Not a bad idea, although if it gets back to his superiors, they might redouble their efforts to get their hands on the both of us."

"I would suggest not saying anything at all." Giles hesitated. "Although, if it comes down to it, I think that telling him that Spike's some sort of Slayer might be the best option. He thinks of you as human, Buffy. There's no sense in tempting fate by telling him that Spike's a vampire."

Wesley shook his head. "I'm not certain that's a good idea. It might be easier to allow Riley to think that Spike's some sort of soldier himself. He appears old enough so that he could easily have served in the army. That way, you don't have to give him any incentive."

"Okay, so we don't tell Riley about Spike," Buffy said. "What about Faith? If she does make trouble..."

"I think we may have to face the fact that we won't have another option this time, pet," Spike said gently. "If it's her or you, I know who I'm going to choose."

"Spike's right, Buffy." Giles sighed. "If there's any other option, we'll take it, but if she leaves you no choice, then you'll have to take whatever action is necessary."

Wesley stared down at his hands. "What about calling the Council?"

"They didn't do such a great job last time," Spike pointed out.

"They didn't know the full extent of what they would be dealing with last time," Wesley responded. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were already on their way."

"If they want to take her off our hands, I'm not sure we can refuse the offer," Giles said.

Joyce frowned. "What does that mean?" she objected. "What would they do with her?"

"We've dealt with rogue Slayers before," Giles admitted. "Typically, they're held until they are no longer a threat."

"Let's hope Faith decides that getting out of town is her best option," Buffy said. "Or that she decides that working for the good guys is the way to go. Until we know what she's going to do, we can't really make any plans except to stick together and keep an eye out."

~~~~~

There was more talk after that, most of it largely pointless in Spike's opinion. As Buffy had said, there weren't any plans that could be made until they knew more. It was late before the meeting broke up, though, and Spike was grateful when Joyce and Giles offered to drive those who had walked over, leaving him alone with Buffy.

The long day had taken its toll, and they both collapsed in bed, falling asleep immediately. Spike woke that morning when Buffy got out of bed, and he glanced over at her sleepily. "Luv?"

"I have class," she said apologetically. "Mom convinced the school that I had mono, but unless I want to call the entire year a waste of time, I can't miss much more."

"I'll go with you," he protested.

Buffy smiled at him. "I'll be fine. Class is done at eleven, and then I'll head over to the dorm to pick some stuff up."

"I'll meet up with you later," he promised.

Buffy gave him a quick kiss. "See that you do."

Spike slept for a few more hours, then woke to shower and dress, giving Wesley a call before he headed over to the campus. "What are you up to today?"

"Not much," Wesley admitted. "Did you have something in mind?"

"You want to help us look for Faith?"

"Of course."

Spike went by Wesley's place to pick him up before heading over to the campus. "Do you think that Faith will show up?" Wesley asked.

Spike hesitated. "Yeah, reckon she will. She has nothing to lose at this point."

Wesley winced. "That's never a good thing."

"No, it's not. You still have my compass?" Spike asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Wesley pulled it out of his pocket immediately. "I thought you might be asking for it."

Spike checked the direction, and made a quick right turn. "Looks like she's on the other end of the campus."

They had parked and were following the direction of the arrow when it became unnecessary. The commotion ahead of them had both men breaking into a run. Spike was just in time to watch as Faith's heavy boot caught Buffy in the chest, throwing her back.

"Looks like you recovered quick, Slayer," Spike called, hoping that the sight of him would throw her off for long enough to give Buffy a chance to recover.

Faith's eyes widened. "Spike?"

Buffy flipped to her feet, catching Faith's temple in a roundhouse kick. The other Slayer staggered back, stunned, looking from Buffy to Spike in snarling amazement. "You just wait," she said. "I'll finish what I started and then some." Her eyes flickered over Willow and Wesley before she took off running.

Spike ran after her, Buffy at his side. They moved as one, hearing the police sirens behind them; Sunnydale's finest were late again, it seemed.

And so were they.

When they reached the high, stone wall, they both scaled it quickly, looking for any sign of Faith, but she'd disappeared. "Shoot," Buffy muttered. "Where did she go?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Spike replied. "We'll have to look for her this evening. Faith always was more of a creature of the night. Figure she probably was on campus looking for you."

"She isn't real happy with me," Buffy replied. "Although, the look on her face when she saw you alive—in a manner of speaking—and walking around in the sunlight was worth it. That definitely threw her off."

Spike looked grim. "She won't be taken by surprise again."

Wesley and Willow came jogging up to meet them. "Did you lose her?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah," Spike said. "We'll go out hunting tonight with the tranq gun. It looks like it's time to pull it out of storage."

"Tranq darts don't last forever," Willow said dubiously. "I'm thinking a good ass-kicking might be in order."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "You sound pretty fierce, Red."

"Well, she threatened me with a knife and she almost killed you," Willow shot back. "I don't like it when someone tries to kill my friends."

"No one does," Spike replied. "Look, maybe we ought to split up tonight." He gave Buffy an apologetic look. "If one of you lot runs into her, it might not be good."

Buffy nodded. "You're right. I'll take Wesley, and you take Willow."

Spike hesitated before agreeing. The teams definitely made the most use of their various strengths. "Wesley, Willow, you two okay with that?"

"I'm ready to kick some butt," Willow said. "Or watch you do it."

Wesley shrugged. "If that's where I'll be of most use."

"Then we're set for tonight," Spike said, wishing he felt more sure of their aims.

~~~~~

Maggie Walsh frowned as she looked at the reports on her desk. She routinely received information from the Sunnydale hospital, as well as police reports, the better to monitor vampire and demon activity in the area. There had been quite a bit of buzz in the last couple of days about a young woman who was wanted for manslaughter and other crimes.

The girl was listed as extremely dangerous, and police had been warned to use caution before they approached her. Furthermore, one of her men had spotted a young woman matching Faith's description engaging another girl in a fight. A girl who looked a lot like Buffy Summers.

From her agent's description of the fight, it had been evenly matched, although short-lived. A blond man had arrived on the scene and had broken it up, and the dark-haired girl had fled.

Walsh leaned back in her chair, considering the possibilities. Was it possible that there was another Slayer? Her superiors had warned her away from Buffy, but if she could get her hands on Faith—and if the girl was a Slayer—Walsh might have found the perfect compromise.

Besides, if Buffy and this other girl were fighting, there was every possibility that the people who wanted Miss Summers alive and in one piece wouldn't be nearly as concerned about this other girl.

She pressed the button on her intercom for her assistant. "I want you to bring me all the information you can find on this Faith girl," Walsh ordered.

Maybe Christmas had come early this year.