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 43

"What other woman could be loved like you,/Or how of you should love possess his fill?/After the fullness of all rapture, still,—/As at the end of some deep avenue/A tender glamour of day,—there comes to view/Far in your eyes a yet more hungering thrill,—/Such fire as Love's soul-winnowing hands distill/Even from his inmost arc of light and dew./And as the traveler triumphs with the sun,/Glorying in heat's mid-height, yet startide brings/From limpid lambent hours of day begun;—/Even so, through eyes and voice, your soul doth move/My soul with changeful light of infinite love." ~Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Buffy was about ready to tell Spike that they needed to head home, that she was exhausted, when he stopped suddenly in his tracks, sniffing the air.

"What is it?" she whispered urgently.

"Faith." He turned fierce eyes on her. "I don't think it's the Initiative that has her anymore."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "What would Adam want with her?" she demanded.

"How would I know what runs through Mr. Bits 'n Pieces' head?" Spike asked in turn. "I say we get her back tonight."

Buffy nodded, thinking that it was probably a good idea in the abstract; actually going about it, however, might get a little interesting. "What's the plan?"

"I distract him, you run in and grab the body."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "That's it? That's the plan?"

"You got a better one?" Spike challenged.

"No, but..." She trailed off, scowling. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Spike held up the hand with the Gem of Amara on it. "Unlikely."

Buffy had to concede the point. "Okay, but distraction only, Spike. Maybe he can't hurt you when you've got that on, but we haven't seen what ripping your head off will do to the whole invulnerability thing, and I don't want to find out."

"You got it, luv." He leaned in to give her a lingering kiss. "I'll see you later." Spike said it like a promise, then slipped off into the darkness.

Buffy followed him, although at a distance. She could see the cave set into the hillside as a darker smudge against the night, and Spike walked right up to it, calling out, "Hey, big and ugly! You got something of ours."

Silence greeted Spike's words, and Buffy desperately hoped that Adam was out prowling so that they didn't have to engage him right now. She immediately felt guilty over that thought, because if Adam was out and about, that did not bode well for the innocents who might also be caught.

A moment later, however, Adam emerged from his cave, staring at Spike with an expression that could only be defined as one of consternation. "What are you doing here?"

"The body you have belongs to us," Spike said boldly, even though he looked a bit like David confronting Goliath. "Give it back."

"Mother said that she was to be a companion for me," Adam responded. "She's mine."

"She's dead, isn't she?" Spike asked. "What kind of companion can a dead body be?"

Adam appeared to consider that for a moment. "She will not always be dead," he finally said. "She will be like me."

Spike shook his head, sounding almost apologetic. "I don't think I can let that happen, mate."

"I will not let you have her." Adam lunged forward, and Spike danced out of his way, leading him away from the cave where Faith's body lay.

Buffy, watching the scene, couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Adam; in a way, he was as much a victim of the Initiative as Spike had been, or the other demons that they'd cut up and pieced together to create him. Who had Adam been before Walsh had used his body as the foundation for her super-soldier? Would anyone ever know?

Did he have family who would now never be able to visit his grave?

As soon as Spike had led Adam far enough away, Buffy darted forward, into the cave, cursing the inky darkness that made it impossible to see her hand in front of her face. She could smell the stink of death, and breathed through her mouth as much as she could to avoid the stench.

Buffy didn't find the body so much as stumble over it, and she just barely caught herself from falling on top of it. With a breathless half-sob, Buffy grabbed Faith as best as she was able, slinging the other Slayer's still form over her shoulder.

She stumbled out of the cave, not staggering beneath the weight so much as the stiff, unwieldy body and the stench.

And the thought of carrying a dead Slayer. Buffy whispered an apology, then started moving as quickly as she could, hoping that Spike would get away without being harmed.

~~~~~

"How did the meeting go?" Willow asked Wesley when she got into the car.

"Good," he replied. "Tara and I talked about some spells we might do to allow us to get in and out of the Initiative labs without being detected."

"Who's going in?" Willow asked, a little alarmed at the prospect.

Wesley hesitated. "You, and whomever else is needed."

Willow gulped. "Because of the computer stuff?"

"You're the only one with the skills to get the information on Adam that we need," Wesley said. "Not that I'm terribly thrilled with the idea myself."

Willow shook her head. "No, it makes sense that I be the one to go. Who else?"

"We haven't decided that yet," Wesley replied. "I suppose it depends on what we can come up with on the spell front." He visibly hesitated. "Did you and Oz have a nice time?"

"Yeah, we did," Willow said. "I think he's going to stick around to help with Adam."

"That's good," Wesley managed to say. "We can use all the help we can get. Where is he staying?"

"With Devon."

"Good."

Willow waited for him to say something else, anything else, but silence seemed to fill the inside of Spike's car like a living thing. "What do you want me to say, Wesley?"

He pulled up in front of his apartment building. "I don't know what you mean."

"Uncomfortable silence?" Willow asked. "You looking like I'm about ready to break up with you? It's not my fault that Oz showed up."

"Did I say it was?" he asked shortly. "I have no problems with Oz coming back to Sunnydale. It's a free country, and he can go where he likes."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Please, Wes. You ran out of there today like I was going to jump him right in front of you."

"I did not!" he said hotly. "I left to give you a chance to catch up with him. I thought you might appreciate it."

"You might have asked," Willow shot back. "My ex-boyfriend comes into town, and my current boyfriend takes off, leaving me in a very awkward situation. Maybe I didn't want you to leave."

"Maybe I didn't want to stay," Wesley countered. "You loved him."

"Past tense," Willow said, her voice softer. "You're present tense."

Wesley gripped the steering wheel tightly, then released it before he turned to look at her. "I know."

"Do you?"

"Yes." He kissed her, his lips demanding, almost angry, and Willow felt herself responding to his urgency. "We'd better get inside," Wesley muttered. "Otherwise Spike's not going to let me borrow his car again."

Willow giggled. "That would be a tragedy."

They managed to make it inside, though they didn't make it to his bed.

~~~~~

Giles came immediately, without asking any questions. Buffy had laid Faith's body down in the shelter of a tree in the park nearest her house. She had no idea what to do next, whether to call the police or just leave Faith somewhere safe; too bad Buffy didn't know where that would be. The only person she could think to call, who would know what to do with a fallen Slayer, was Giles.

"Buffy." She turned to find him standing next to her; he'd come upon her while she stood by the merry-go-round, waiting for him.

Wordlessly, she hugged him, burying her face in his faded t-shirt. It smelled like Giles, and a little like the fabric softener her mother always used; if Buffy let herself think about it, Giles smelled like her home. She supposed it was fitting.

"Where did you find her?" he finally asked.

She pulled back from him, trying to push the horror of it all from her mind. "We went patrolling, and Spike smelled her. He led Adam off while I got the body." Buffy winced. "She's—"

"I know." Giles had seen bodies that were several days old before, and he had some idea of what Buffy had seen. "Where were you and Spike planning to meet?"

"At his house," Buffy replied. "I think, anyway. It doesn't matter; he has his compass."

Giles nodded. "I want you to go back to Spike's place, then. I'll call the police."

Buffy frowned. "Are you sure? I mean—"

Giles gestured at his clothing, and Buffy realized that he hadn't just thrown on anything that came to hand; he was dressed as though he was going for a jog, and while it was late, it wasn't impossible to believe that a dedicated runner would be out. He gave her a smile. "I'm a respectable businessman out for some exercise. I think it's better that they not look too closely at your association with Faith."

Buffy nodded. "Okay, but what about—later? I mean..." She trailed off, not knowing how to ask him about Faith's funeral, if she'd even have one, what they would do for her.

Maybe Faith had hurt her, had hurt people that she loved, but she was still a Slayer. Buffy thought that still meant something.

"I'll see that it's taken care of," Giles responded. "Go on. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Buffy nodded, summoning up the ghost of a smile for him before turning towards Spike's place. She had just reached his door and was unlocking it when she felt him behind her. Buffy pushed the door open, unsurprised when he followed her inside without a word.

She turned to look at him, grabbing the front of his jacket and pulling him to her, feeling his warm lips on hers. "Spike—"

"Hush, luv," he murmured against her mouth, brushing her hair back. "She's home now. It's gonna be just fine."

"Need you," Buffy managed to gasp out, wanting to feel him, to feel anchored again. To remember that she was alive.

Spike understood all of that without her needing to explain, as he so often seemed to do, and he steered her towards the bedroom, stripping her of her clothes as they went.

They came together as they had done so often in the past, and Buffy felt like she was coming home.

~~~~~

Riley felt sick; first the boy, and now a young woman, both dead because of Adam. He knew that a few of the other guys in his squad were beginning to get restless. They wanted to hunt the thing down and kill it, but word had already spread about his squad's encounter with the creature. The rumor was that it couldn't be killed, that Walsh had created the perfect soldier.

Morale was down, and no one wanted to talk about Adam, or how they were going to stop him, for fear that word would get back to the Professor. There were no plans for mutiny yet, but Riley knew that enthusiasm for their jobs was waning.

Graham grabbed his arm as he headed out of Lowell House. "We need to talk."

Riley glanced around. "Walk with me," he said, not wanting to risk talking indoors, where there was a good possibility that they might be overheard. "What's up, Graham?"

"What are we going to do, Riley?" Graham asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're the one who hasn't been happy with the way the professor has been running things lately," Graham replied. "I figure you have some ideas."

"I might." Riley hesitated, wondering if he could actually trust his friend. "I'm working on something, but it's not just my skin at risk, Graham."

The other man gave him an intense look. "Who? The Slayer?" Riley was silent. "Forrest told me what happened, man."

"What did he tell you?" Riley asked. He and Forrest hadn't spoken much recently; he had known instinctively that the other man wouldn't go along with him.

"That Walsh ordered him to bring in the Slayer," Graham replied. "They got attacked by something as soon as they shot her with a taser. He said he didn't know what it was, just that it looked like a vampire, but didn't react to the blaster at all."

Riley frowned. "He give you a description?"

"Forrest said it looked a lot like Hostile 17."

An idea suddenly occurred to Riley, but he dismissed the thought immediately. There was no way that Spike could be Hostile 17; Riley had seen the other man in the daylight, so he obviously wasn't a vampire. "Could have been," Riley finally said, remembering that Giles had said that it was possible that vampires had come upon the injured men after Spike rescued Buffy. Everything matched up. "He'd have a grudge. Do you think it's the same one attacking our patrols?"

Graham shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Riley shook his head. It really was no wonder morale was falling, between the mysterious attacks on their patrols—which had sent a number of men to the infirmary—and Adam. They seemed to be caught between an enemy that they couldn't see and an enemy they couldn't defeat. "If we come up with a way to take Adam down, are you with me?"

"You know it," Graham replied. "There are some others, too. I'll pass the word along." He hesitated, then said quietly, "Morris said he was going to be calling his grandfather."

Morris's grandfather was a three-star general, well known for his unwillingness to pull strings for family members in the military lest he be accused of nepotism. The fact that Morris was going to call him indicated how bad things were getting.

General Morris might be one of the few in the upper ranks that would be able to pull the plug on Walsh, though.

"I hope he can do something," Riley replied. "I don't like where this is headed."

"Nobody does," Graham said. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Riley replied, heading for his meeting with Buffy and the others, hoping that they would be able to find some way to stop Adam.

And that he wasn't going to be facing a court martial when the whole ordeal was over.

~~~~~

Spike noticed that Wesley wasn't nearly as worried about walking into Willy's this time around. In fact, the one demon that tried to get in their way found himself backing down in the face of Spike's fierce glare and the glimpse of Wesley's semi-automatic.

Spike smiled smugly. He did good work.

Rof and his other regular informants were waiting for him, and Willy brought a round of drinks over immediately, used to the way things worked at this point. "Rof. It's good to see you, mate."

The demon nodded, then looked at Wesley. "I did not thank you for your quick action."

Wesley waved off his thanks. "It was nothing."

"I still live to see my offspring," Rof said insistently. His orange eyes met Spike's. "You will tell your mate that I thank her?"

Spike wondered what Buffy would think about being thanked by a demon; he had a feeling that she wouldn't have the problem with it now that she would have in the past. "She will be glad to know that you yet live," Spike said formally. "I came for information about the Initiative. We want to shut it down.

One of the demons let out a bitter laugh. "They are too big."

"They are getting bigger than the humans appreciate," Spike replied. "We can stop them, but we need to find a back way in."

At the alarmed expressions on all the faces, Wesley inserted, "All we need is the knowledge. We wouldn't ask anyone to put themselves in danger for us."

"I will go." Rof didn't hesitate. "If you require me, I will go. My life is yours until I may return the favor."

Spike nodded. "It's appreciated, mate, but I don't want anyone getting hurt. We've got one of them helping us anyway, and I don't want him to spot you. He might decide that helping us isn't such a good idea."

A dark-skinned demon grinned fiercely. "You play one side off the other? You are clever."

"I try," Spike replied modestly. "So, does anyone know of an entrance?"

"I do," the demon Spike knew as Idry said. "I'll show you."

Spike nodded. "Thanks. If you can take us today, we'll be able to get the information we need that much sooner, and then we can stop these bastards."

~~~~~

Buffy frowned, not liking what she was seeing. She and Willow were heading back to the dorm after getting dinner, and Riley was in the middle of the footpath, Forrest in front of him and several other guys beginning to close in. The sun was beginning to set, and Buffy and Willow were headed back to the dorm—Willow to meet Tara and Wesley to go over spells, and Buffy to meet Spike for patrol.

"What's going on?" Willow asked, her eyes widening as she took in what was going on the same time that Buffy did.

"I don't know, but it looks like they've figured out that Riley's up to something," Buffy said, picking up her pace.

As she got closer, she heard Forrest say, "Come on, Riley. You don't want to make a scene."

"I'm still wondering why it took six of you to tell me that the Professor wants to see me," Riley replied, the way he was holding himself indicating that he was ready to fight.

"You've been hanging out with undesirables, man," Forrest replied. "You know what Professor Walsh said about the Slayer. She nearly killed me."

"Way I heard it, you nearly killed her first," Riley responded.

"She's not human."

"She's on our side." Riley stared at him. "And she's human enough for me. She's a only a girl, Forrest, what kind of threat could she be?"

Forrest glared at him. "Maybe she rubbed off on you. It's not smart to question orders."

"Maybe that's the only smart thing to do." Riley glanced around at the men who had flanked him. "You going to take me by force?"

"If I have to," Forrest said. "It doesn't have to be that way, though."

Riley shook his head. "You know, I really think that it does."

Buffy didn't wait to hear more. "Go get Spike and Wesley," she hissed to Willow. "Tell them what happened, and that I'm getting Riley out of here. We'll go to Giles' place; he's not using it."

Willow didn't argue, taking off at a run down a side path that would take her around the knot of men and to Stevenson Hall. Buffy began walking towards Riley and the other soldiers, deliberately moving slowly. She smirked when she saw Forrest's eyes widen as he caught sight of her. "Hey, guys," she called. "Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?"

Riley looked over his shoulder at her. "Hey, Buffy. What brings you into this neck of the woods?"

"Oh, just enjoying the evening," she replied. "Hi, Forrest. You know, I never got a chance to talk to you about that little misunderstanding that we had." Buffy could see the scars that Spike had left on his neck, and while it was probably a good thing that Spike hadn't killed him, she couldn't help but wish that she didn't have to deal with him yet again.

"What misunderstanding?" Forrest asked warily.

"The one where you nearly killed me," Buffy said, springing into action. The soldiers had apparently already forgotten just how easy it was for her to wipe the floor with them when they weren't shooting her full of tranq darts from behind.

She took Forrest out first with a quick spin kick, her toe catching his temple, then whirled, backhanding another soldier in the jaw and punching a third in the solar plexus. At this point, a couple had managed to pull out their tasers, but Riley wasn't hesitating to jump into action, and he wasn't too bad at the action hero stuff himself.

"Let's go," Buffy called, grabbing Riley's arm and beginning to run as soon as it looked like they had a break.

"Where are we going?" Riley asked as they started running.

"I'll tell you when we get there," Buffy said. "What was that all about?"

"Apparently, word got back to Walsh that I was talking to you," Riley said. "She wanted me brought in."

"You think she would have tried to kill you or something?"

"I don't know," Riley admitted. "But if she tried to kill you, I didn't think that I wanted to take the chance."

"Good idea." Buffy glanced over her shoulder, relieved when she didn't see any signs of pursuit. "How badly do you think they'll want you back?"

"I don't know," Riley replied. "The military tends to frown on deserters, though." He gave her a half-smile. "I don't think I can go back."

Buffy nodded. "Let's just hope that when all this is over, they won't care so much."

~~~~~

Tara hurried down the hall; she was late to meet Wesley and Willow, but she had gotten caught up in her research. One of her mother's books was proving to be really helpful, and she thought she might have found exactly the spell that they needed. The only problem was that it would take three people to cast it, and they would have to continue the spell the entire time that the others were inside the Initiative—and Willow was one of the people who was supposed to go in.

Well, they would just have to find a third person.

She halted uncertainly when she saw the young man waiting outside Willow and Buffy's room, but then continued to approach cautiously. "Hello?"

He turned, his face nearly expressionless, except for a flickering of an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. "Hey."

"Um, a-are y-you w-w-w-waiting for W-Willow? O-or B-Buffy?"

He shrugged. "Willow, but I'd talk to Buffy, too. Do you know where they are?"

Tara shook her head. "I-I'm supposed to b-b-be m-m-meeting Willow here."

"Oh." He considered that for a moment. "I'm Oz."

"T-Tara."

They stared at one another. "Do you know where else they'd be?" Oz finally asked.

"Maybe at Mrs. Summers' house?" Tara suggested.

"You want a ride?" Oz offered.

Tara ducked her head. She didn't know Oz, except what Willow had told her, and despite how things had ended between them, Willow had never given her a reason to think that she couldn't trust him. Taking his offer of a ride was probably a better idea than sitting outside Willow's door, waiting for someone to show up. "O-okay."