Connecting the Dots
Chapter 3 of “Connections”
By Chani
“Sorry it took us so long to get here, but after fifteen minutes in the car with Maria Andretti, I made her go back to get my car so I could drive,” Cordelia announced as she strode past Giles, who was holding the door open. “You’d think someone who was around when they invented cars would actually learn how to drive.”
He chuckled, looking out the door. “Where is she?”
“Getting her bag of witchy things out of the car. I always thought old people drove slow, and since she’s older than dirt—”
“I am not older than dirt.”
Without missing a beat, Cordelia responded, “Close enough.” She turned around to face the watcher and the witch, who was now standing in the apartment. “Giles, Rena. Rena, Giles. Where is everybody?”
“Willow’s upstairs napping. Buffy and the others are at the park waiting on us. You can—”
“Well, I’ll go wake her up so we can get this over with,” she interrupted, heading toward the stairs. “It’s already late and I’m tired.”
They watched her ascend up the stairs, shaking their heads. “She had a bad audition today,” Rena offered. “Told some rugrat that he had a bright future as someone’s bitch in prison…problem was he turned out to be the director’s son.”
Giles gave her a pained look, closing the door. “I assume she didn’t get the part, then?”
“I have a feeling it might be worse than that. She said—”
“Sorry I was still sleeping,” Willow interrupted as she descended the stairs with Cordelia following closely behind. “I was kinda tired.”
“Exhausted is more accurate,” the watcher corrected. “She had been up for days with me researching this…problem.”
Rena gave the redhead a sympathetic smile. “Yes, I imagine so. When you gave me the list of supplies you needed, I realized what spell you were planning to perform. Not an easy one, even on a decent night’s sleep. Thought you may be able to use a hand. So where is it?”
“In the park.” Willow shrugged. “It’s already gotten its temple up. From what I read, that’s not a good thing.”
“Yes, that’s why Buffy and the others are there now. We thought it best to keep people away from it.”
The older witch giggled at Giles. “Well, I’ve never seen one before, but from what I’ve heard, most people wouldn’t actually want to go near it.”
Cordelia cleared her throat loudly. “How big is this thing?”
“Maybe I should go back to Giles’ apartment and check on them,” Xander asked. “It’s almost midnight.”
Spike snickered. “For that matter, they may have stopped by The Bronze for some wings and beer. Maybe I should go check there.”
Buffy glared at him. They were all tired of waiting, and it was beginning to tell in their moods, especially hers. She’d had enough of her friend and the vampire complaining and arguing with each other. “They’ll get here.”
“Yeah,” Spike said dryly, “but will it be before the next bloody millennium?”
“Millennia.” She gave him a smug look.
“’Millennia’ is plural for millennium, Einstein. Maybe you should go back to school and take a vocabulary class.” The blond vampire pulled out a cigarette and started to light it, only to have the slayer blow out the lighter’s flame. “Hey!”
“How many times have I told you not to smoke around us?”
He shrugged. “How should I know? How many times have I listened?”
She snatched the lighter out of his hands. “Well, you aren’t smoking here.”
“Gimme my lighter, slayer.”
“Promise you won’t light up?” She dangled it in front of his face.
“Yes, now gimme it.” The vampire rolled his eyes, taking it from her.
“He’s evil, Buffy. His promises mean nothing.”
“Shut up, whelp.”
“Look, chipboy, I’ll show you—”
“Will you two be quiet?” the slayer snapped. “Go…patrol the perimeter or something.”
“But it takes over half an hour to get around—” Xander drifted off when he saw the irritated look on his friend’s face, then turned his attention to Spike. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Cordelia put her hands on her hips and looked at Giles. “So this spell will get rid of this Neuennymagh demon, right?”
“Well, the spell summons the Cristaliphous demon, which gets rid of the Neuennymagh demon,” Willow answered.
“Assuming the spell is successful,” Giles added.
“Well that shouldn’t be a problem,” the dark-haired girl announced, pointing at Rena. “I mean, she’s been doing magic for over five hundred years now.”
“I’m not five hundred yet.”
“Whatever. The point is you can do this spell.”
“Yes, about that, I have an idea. Since no one’s ever managed to summon this thing before, I was thinking some…umm, precautionary measures might be called for.” The witch smiled. “And possibly a backup plan.”
“I would definitely agree with that,” the watcher responded. “What did you have in mind?”
Their visitor smiled devilishly. “Well, this might sound crazy, but…”
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. They had just made it to the far side of the park, which meant they still had to make it back around the other side before they’d be finished. It may as well have been an eternity as far as he was concerned, though.
Xander hadn’t stopped complaining the whole time they had been patrolling. First it was because he was tired. Then it was because he wanted to be home shagging his ex-demon girlfriend. Xander had stopped that line of drivel when Spike suggested he’d been having similar thoughts. Now, much to the vampire’s chagrin, the boy was complaining about him.
“…and I don’t understand why Buffy keeps paying you to help us. It’s not like we need you or anything. You should be happy we didn’t stake you after that stunt you pulled with Adam…trying to turn us against each other. How lame. You should’ve known it wouldn’t work, we’re all too close to…”
At that particular moment, he would have given anything to be able to punch the whelp. Or, at the very least, slap him in the back of the head once. “Stupid, bloody chip,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He kicked a stray can that was lying on the ground. “This is a waste of time.”
“I think that was the point,” the boy told him. “We’re all tired and Buffy’s stressed out over not being able to beat this thing. She probably just needed some time…hey, Willow and Giles must be up there now!”
Spike looked up, following Xander’s gaze. Though they were all the way on the other side of the park, the glow from the crater illuminated the area surrounding it, and he saw that Buffy did indeed have company. It was too far away to see who it was, but there was one thing that was certain. “There’re five people up there. I’d say, if that’s Willow and Giles, they brought some company.”
Xander squinted, frowning. “You’re right. I wonder who—”
“If you’d stop yappin’ and pick up the pace, we could find out.” He was surprised when the whelp nodded at him and wordlessly followed his suggestion. In fact, the walk back—quick as it was—was pleasantly silent and he finally felt his earlier aggravation subside as they neared the slayer.
“…Cordelia must’ve brought the ingredients for Willow…but I don’t know who that other girl is.”
The comment caught Spike’s attention, and when he finally turned his attention toward the visitor he froze, doing a double take. “Oh my God…it can’t be…”
“What?”
The question didn’t even register, but he once again started walking—slowly—toward the group. His eyes were focused on one person. Her back was to him, but he’d have known it was her even if he were blindfolded. There was no way he could be this close to her and not sense her. When he saw her shiver slightly, he knew she had sensed him as well. “Kit-Kat,” he whispered, smiling.
She turned around to face him, a slow smile forming on her face. “Will…”
Nodding, he closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her. He knew the others were staring at them, surprised, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was the fact that he had her where he wanted her…and he didn’t want to move.
“Umm, I hate to break this up, but we need to get in gear.”
Spike looked to his right, glowering at the
Slayer for interrupting. The witch in
his arms made no effort to disengage herself, and her grip on him was just was
strong as his was on her. “Slayer, I—”
“Besides, since you know her, maybe you can
talk some sense into her.”
His mood changed instantly, and he was about
to ask what she meant when he felt the witch in his arms squirming away. With a sigh, he released her from his
embrace, only to grab her by the arm before she could get away. “You’re here to help with the spell?”
“That was the idea.”
“Tell him your plan,” Buffy butted in.
Spike frowned. “Plan? It’s a summoning spell. Why do you need a plan?”
It was Willow who answered the question. “We kinda worked out a plan before we left Giles’ place.”
“Yeah, I’m well acquainted with Rena’s idea
of a plan,” Spike snorted. His comment caused the witch to finally look up at
him, a sheepish smile on her face. He
shook his head and huffed. “Well? Spill it, luv.”