Replacement by sus

Author: sus
Summary: They were meant to be. The council thought they knew better than The Powers, as well as her friends. An enemy from the future changes the past.
Author's Note:
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Violence, Adult Language, Sexual Situations


Chapter 37: Replacement

That first hour after Giles entered Joyce’s home was somewhat embarrassing. Giles used it to apologize to Joyce, Buffy, Merrick, and Kendra for his bad behavior. After that, they all relaxed with a cup of tea that Joyce served Giles still sporting rosy cheeks.

After the first pot of tea, Giles got a call from Oz. Giles had asked him to check on the others in the library, if he could. He wanted find out when they intended to cast the spell on Buffy.

Oz had asked Giles why he didn't simply go to the library and stop the from casting the spell.

Giles had explained that for now he knew what they were trying to do, and from where they would probably do their spell. From what Buffy had told him, he was convinced that if they were stopped, they would find another place to do the spell, maybe even on another plane. They wouldn’t give up that quickly. As Buffy had said, they were rather controlling.

The news Oz had called to share was a bit disturbing. When he arrived at the school it was already too late to interfere. He had watched as Willow cast the spell, with the help of Angel and Xander. Oz told Giles that the group had left the school after the spellcasting, heading for the Bronze to celebrate and to buy Willow a pick me up after she refused to go home. He had also observed that Willow couldn’t walk on her own. Angel and Xander had to support her, each with a hold on one of her arms.

After Giles told Buffy, Kendra, Joyce and Merrick what Oz had related to him, they sat in silence for some time.

Buffy was remembering times she would rather forget. They all looked up when she hurriedly left the room, a hand covering her mouth, her eyes shining.

Joyce followed her, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Buffy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute."

She could hear Buffy's sniffling behind the door. Joyce sighed and returned to the living room. When the men looked up at her expectantly, she shrugged her shoulders.

It took some time before Buffy returned from the bathroom with slightly puffy eyes. She sat down beside her mother, who instantly hugged her.

Giles sat on the edge of his chair, fiddling with his glasses. "What do you want to do now?"

Buffy pulled completely away from Joyce. "I’m going to stick with what we have planned. Kendra and I are going to go dancing, and have some fun." Buffy sent Giles a tiny smile.

"Is that wise?"

"Why shouldn’t we go? What more could happen if we do? Their spell hasn’t affected me. I remember everything that happened after I walked out of the library to meet the Master. The attack. The other time line, and even furnishing my home. So you see, it didn’t work." Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Quite right. Do you mind if I accompany you?" Giles was energetically polishing his glasses.

"Sure, you can come with, but you'd better stop polishing those." Buffy nodded towards his glasses, with a smile. "Before you break them."

He blushed and smiled, embarrassed that he had been caught cleaning his glasses again.

"I’ll like to come too. I want to see their faces when they discover that the spell didn’t work," Joyce said with vindictiveness. "I wish they could feel what it's like to have someone else take control of their life."

"Don’t say the W-word," Buffy jumped up.

"What?"

"Don’t ever say: I wish. You might get your wish, but it hardly ever ends well." Buffy looked at her mother. "Promise me."

"Sure, but I don’t understand."

"Let’s go. Giles can explain on the way. Are you coming, Merrick?" Buffy asked, as she opened the front door.

"Sure thing, Buffy, I’m going wherever you're going."

Buffy smiled in relief. She could always count on Merrick’s support whenever she needed him. Buffy needed a being that was wholeheartedly on her side, at least until she wasn’t alone anymore. If Spike had been there, Buffy knew it would have been him she counted on.

As a close group, they walked briskly to the Bronze. Buffy and Joyce had an arm around each other. Joyce had tugged Kendra’s arm into hers, as Buffy grabbed Merrick’s arm. Kendra smiled shyly at Giles, when she took hold of his elbow.

It was a good thing there wasn’t much traffic on the streets of Sunnydale at night or the would have stopped it by walking up the of the road. They stopped pedestrian traffic more than once, as other people stopped to stare at the cheerful group on their way to the Bronze.

Buffy looked from one end of the line they formed, to the other. She was reminded of the time that Sweet visited the town. The only thing missing was a song, she thought with a grin.

Buffy smiled brightly to each and every person they met on their way to the club. She had a good feeling inside, a feeling that told her everything was going to work out just fine.

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After some lucky games of kitten poker, Spike got bored. Clem, the demon that Spike had seen with Buffy once, was there and Spike sold him his feline winnings and left.

Spike decided to head to the Bronze for two reasons. One, was that Buffy had told him she was going there with Kendra tonight. Spike wanted to see if he could catch a glimpse of her. Even through he had seen her a few hours ago, he longed to see her again. Spike didn’t understand how he could feel this much for a human girl. He hadn’t felt even half as much for Dru in their time together, and that was part of his problem and something he was having a hard time accepting.

The second reason was that he wanted to test his demon's reaction to the sea of humanity there. Would he want to tear into them? Gulp down the warm blood filled with fear, and throw away what Buffy was offering?

To his astonishment, his demon was calm, and ignored the happy meals on legs. Spike wondered what was going on. His demon had always been a bit odd, but it had never ignored fresh food before.

Spike forced his way through the crowd. It was packed tonight and he wasn't able to find a seat. After he picked up a beer at the bar, Spike headed for the stairs. He figured that he would have a better chance of spotting Buffy from the balcony.

Spike watched the dance floor, searching for his girl. Instead, the person he spotted first was Merrick, who was sitting with the other watcher and Buffy’s mother.

When he saw the look on their faces as they tried to be heard over the loud music, Spike shook his head and chuckled. They weren’t used to this environment, and it made him wonder why they were there in the first place.

He caught Merrick’s eye for a moment, before Merrick glanced off to the side and then back to Spike. Spike turned to look where Merrick had glanced, and found himself looking at the bathroom. Spike felt like hitting himself.

After a thank you nod to Merrick, he kept an eye on who left the loo.

Then she came out of the door, looking beautiful in one of her short skirts and a top. Buffy was dressed in Spike’s colors, red and black. He sighed wishfully.

Spike was leaning over the railing to watch Buffy, when he saw her being stopped by a big guy. The stranger placed a hand on her arm, causing Buffy to turn around. At first she looked a bit startled, but smiled warmly at him. The guy looked like someone who worked out, tall and broad shouldered. Just what most girls went for.

He said something to her, and gestured to the dance floor. Buffy shook her head, then turned to move away from him. He didn’t let go of her arm.

Spike leaned further over the railing. The glass in his hand cracked, and his eyes narrowed.

Buffy looked down at the hand still holding her, following the arm up to the face of her ex in another life. This time the warmth was gone. "Let go of me!" It came out harshly.

"Maybe later?" he asked, still holding her.

"No," Buffy answered abruptly, and removed his hand using a bit of strength. She hurriedly moved away from him, rubbing her arm where he had gripped her tightly.

On the balcony, Spike suddenly realized why his demon was so calm when he walked into the crowd. The demon already saw Buffy as his, and loved her as much as his William side did.

Buffy soon forgot the episode with her stubborn ex, and chatted happily with Kendra and her mom.

"Buffy, there you are. We've been looking for you."

Everyone was looking behind Buffy, and nobody looked happy to see the newcomers. Buffy closed her eyes briefly, before slowly turning in her seat.

The time had come for her to face them. "What do you want?" she asked, as she looked them over.

Willow seemed weak, and was leaning heavily on Xander.

Xander sent a goofy smile in Buffy's direction. "We wanted to spend some time with you, have some fun together."

Willow nodded encouragingly at Buffy.

Angel was standing behind them with a smug look on his face. He was positive everything would soon be going his way. He would have to wait a little while, to make his move, but not too long.

"What you want and what I want are two different things." She turned around and continued her conversation with Kendra and Joyce, ignoring the small group standing behind her.

With tears in her eyes Willow turned to Xander. They whispered together for a while before they walked to the other end of the room with Angel in tow.

Buffy didn’t have to turn to know that Angel was brooding and Xander was mad at Willow for the unsuccessful spell. She knew it was kind of mean to not tell them why the spell hadn’t worked, but Buffy wanted to watch them stew in their own juices.

Before Buffy and Kendra moved over to the dance floor, Buffy asked Merrick and Giles to go talk with Xander, Willow and Angel. She wanted them to explain why the spell hadn't worked, and let them know that if one of them ever again tried to place a spell on someone without consent, their powers would be stripped away.

Spike kept on watching Buffy from his spot on the balcony. He admired her in the crowd, dancing with the slayer. He had to remind himself several times a day that Buffy wasn’t the slayer. She still moved the same way, graceful and strong.

He raised his head to keep an eye on the two watchers as they made their way across the room to talk with Buffy’s friends and Angel. They seemed to be arguing, but the loud music made it impossible for Spike to hear them. He soon lost interest, and moved to find Buffy again.

He found her on the dance floor with the slayer, surrounded by a group of eager young men. The air in the Bronze was thick with the smell of arousal, both male and female, but strongest scents were coming from the group around his girl.

The guys occasionally danced close to the girls. One in particular stood out when he danced just behind Buffy. Spike observed how Buffy moved out of his reach, but he kept on following her. It was the muscle bound boy that had stopped her earlier.

A growl escaped from deep inside Spike when he saw the Angel look-alike place a hand on Buffy’s hip. She sent the boy a head shake, and moved away.

Spike felt like doing some damage to the boy, but realized that would ruin everything he now knew he wanted, for both demon and man.

With both hands on the railing, he leaned as far over as he could. Spike caught Buffy’s eyes, and they stared at each other for a while.

Smiling, Buffy gestured for him to join her on the dance floor.

Spike raised a brow, and mouthed: "Are you sure?"

She smiled brightly at him, as she nodded.

He looked at the group with the watchers and her mom, talking amongst each other. He turned his head to look at the table across the room, where her two young friends and Angel were scowling at Buffy. Finally he looked at Kendra, then back to Buffy.

Buffy noticed him looking around the room, but she had decided from the start that there would be no secrecy this time. She nodded again and made a come hither-motion.