Chapter Seven: I’ll Drink to That!

Spike rolled his eyes when there was a knock on the bathroom door. He ignored it and pulled his t-shirt on over his head. A second later, another knock sounded.

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” he told whoever it was. “I’ll be out in a sec.”

He quickly ran the comb through his hair and coated the heavily gelled and straightened locks with hairspray. He smiled at the blank mirror, covered in condensation from his shower, and used a finger to write Too many people, not enough bathrooms.

“What’s taking so long? You’re a vampire! You can’t even see yourself in the mirror.”

Spike punched the wall near the door and growled. He whipped open the door and bared his fangs at the intruder.

“What the hell are you still doing here?”

Connor folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “Angel can’t make me leave, and Giles and Faith said I could stay.”

Spike shoved the boy out of the way and stomped down the stairs. “Buffy!” He practically ripped the basement door off its hinges in his haste. “Buffy!”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, confused, when he got down the stairs and into their room. She jumped when the door slammed behind him. “Calm down and tell me.”

Pointing to the ceiling, he shouted, “He’s still here. Why?”

“Connor?” She blinked in confusion.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t even know he was still here.”

Trying to calm down, Spike went to the closet that Xander had made for them and put his duster on. They’d spent hours with Andra and Torch last night, only coming back to the house with minutes to spare before the sun came up. Angel had stayed for an hour after Faith left. They’d all agreed that they had to do something about Wolfram and Hart. Angel was headed back to L.A. to get his people working on a plan. Buffy and Spike offered their assistance if it were needed, but made it clear their first priority was to get Andra and Torch safely out of the country.

The thought that Connor might still be in Sunnydale had never crossed Spike’s mind when they got home to the dark house with the humans already sound asleep. He couldn’t understand why Giles would agree to let Connor stay. Surely Giles wasn’t happy to have to share his room with the boy. Frustrated and ready to kill Angel, Spike grabbed a candle off the shelf near him and chucked it across the room.

“Angel told me he would take that bastard home with him!”

“So, he’s here for a little longer.” Buffy said, running a brush through her hair. “We’ve got more important things to worry about right now.”

“More important—nothing’s more important than family.”

“And none of our family is in danger at the moment, but Torch is a big problem.”

They’d left Andra and Torch to decide where they wanted to go. They were going over to the crypt at sundown and once they had a destination, it would be easy to get them to the airport and smuggle them on a plane.

“Okay, let’s get over there. But as soon as we see those two off, we’re going to discuss this…this thing with Dawn and Connor. You might not see it as a danger, but I do. Who’s to say that Connor won’t flip out on her. I want it stopped.”

Buffy went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist inside his coat. He relaxed slightly as she stared up at him with a soft smile on her face. Pulling her closer, he let the tension go and hugged her.

“I know,” she said against his shoulder, “that you care about Dawn, but I can’t help but think that this is more about Connor being Angel’s son than anything else.”

Spike got loose from her and stomped to the door, deciding that it was best if he didn’t say anything at all. It hurt that she would think that. It angered him that she refused to take his side.

He knew that if he spoke, he’d just put his foot in his mouth and they would end up fighting again.

~ * ~ * ~

Buffy got to the crypt before Spike because she refused to walk with him if he wouldn’t even talk to her. There were times when she wished Spike would just be quiet, but getting the silent treatment was another thing altogether. If he wanted to be that way, then she didn’t want to be around him.

She stopped just inside and turned away slightly at the sight of Andra and Torch groping and kissing each other on top of the sarcophagus. She was just grateful that they had all their clothes on. Spike came up behind her and cleared his throat, the noise ringing out in the vast, almost empty space.

Ignoring Buffy, he went around her and held up his brown paper bag. “I’ve brought dinner, kiddies.” They’d hopped off the sarcophagus and Spike placed the bag there. He pulled out the two Styrofoam cups with lids. “You’ll have to have it at room temp.”

The face Torch made brought a smile to Buffy and Andra’s lips.

He gingerly took his cup and sniffed the dark red liquid. “How can you stand to eat this stuff day in and day out?”

Andra shrugged. “Just think of it as haggis.”

“Haggis, I could eat,” Torch said, taking a sip of the tepid liquid and shuddering.

“So have you decided where you want to go?” Spike asked.

“Sort of,” Andra answered after downing half her cup. “We were thinking Spain or maybe Belgium.”

Torch put his cup down and met Spike’s eyes for a moment, before looking away. “Actually, Andra, I was thinking about this while you were sleeping. I think I’d like to go home.”

“You don’t mean Scotland, do you?” Andra asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

The play of emotions on Torch’s face clearly said how much he was struggling. He nodded. “Yes, I mean home.”

Buffy frowned. “I thought you said you would never go back there, because you can’t feed off your people.”

“You speak the truth.” Torch grabbed his cup again and they waited for him to down the contents. He glared at the empty cup and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ll be needing to take a detour before Scotland.” He was staring at his shoes now. “You still have those directions for Africa, right?”

Buffy glanced at Spike, who was taken aback by Torch’s question. It took him a few seconds to find his voice. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

With her gaze still on his face, Buffy reached out and grabbed Spike’s hand. She took a quick look at Andra, who was dumbstruck.

Andra’s soft eyes filled with unshed tears. “Really, Torch? Africa?”

“Aye, lass. If this fool could do it, then I suppose I could too. For you.”

Ignoring the insult, Spike squeezed Buffy’s hand and said, “It’s not easy. What you’ll have to do. But well worth it.”

“We should go with them,” Buffy blurted out. The thought of what Spike had gone through alone was horrible and it might help if they could be there to make things easier.

“That’s an idea,” Spike said. “I could lead you to the right cave and you… You’ll probably need a week or two to recover from the after effects.”

Torch shrugged. “Won’t stop you, if you want to come along.”

“I’d be grateful if you two came with us,” Andra said, still too shocked to say much else.

“I guess we’re all taking a trip to Africa,” Buffy said with a small smile.

Spike scratched behind his ear and said, “We’ll need to go home and pack a few things. Shouldn’t take us long. How ‘bout you meet us in front of the cemetery gates in an hour?”

“Sure thing,” Andra said.

“It’s a two hour drive to LAX and then a sixteen hour flight to Africa,” Spike said. “We’ll bring food and maybe a deck of cards or something.”

Spike and Buffy left Andra and Torch discussing the fact that neither one had ever flown in an airplane. They shut the door to the crypt, but Spike stopped her from walking further.

“We need to talk about Connor.”

Buffy took a quick moment to sigh and glance heavenward before saying, “What’s there to talk about?”

“He can’t stay at the house with us gone. You have to convince Giles to make him go back to Los Angeles. We could even drop him off on the way to the airport.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You heard me. I have no problem with him being there. Dawn has a little crush on him, but I’m not worried about it.”

Spike threw his hands up and dropped them with a slap onto his coat. “Why can’t you back me up on this? Is that too much to ask?”

“Is it too much to ask for me to make up my own mind?” Buffy yelled back.

He leaned forward, getting in her face. “How many times have I ever tried to get you to change your mind about something? And… and how many times have you told me that I’m a good judge of character? Huh?”

She gave him a little shove and soon they were shouting at each other at the top of their lungs. Andra and Torch came running, but stopped and watched curiously. Until Buffy pulled her arm back, ready to deck Spike.

Andra grabbed her arm.

“That’s your answer to everything, isn’t?” Spike growled. “Let her go. She wants to hit me, let her hit me. It’s not like she hasn’t done it before.”

Torch got between them. “What the bleeding hell is wrong with you two? You’re supposed to be in love with each other.” He looked past Buffy and smiled fondly at Andra while Spike’s nostrils flared and Buffy glared at Spike. “You want to waste your time together fighting? You want to be idiots like Andra and I were, wasting decade after decade being apart?”

Buffy sighed and shook her head.

“Well then stop the bickering, already.”

“Is this about Dawn?” Andra asked, letting go of Buffy’s arm.

Spike nodded, and Buffy said, “Yes. He just won’t be reasonable about Connor.”

With tight lips, Spike countered her. “And she won’t see reason. She’s blind when it comes to Angel’s son, and I won’t stand by and let Dawn get hurt because of it.”

Andra strutted forward, grabbed Spike by his jacket and pulled him away, saying, “We’ll be right back.”

“Hey!” Spike said, trying to get free.

“Just shut your gob and come along,” Andra said.

Buffy watched them go and started to make small talk with Torch, but she wasn’t able to stamp down her hurt feelings over Spike’s words or her embarrassment for her own behavior enough to carry on any kind of conversation. She glanced down at her hand. The one that she had been about to punch Spike with. She twisted the emerald and diamond ring back and forth over her finger and blinked back the tears threatening to spill over.

Not three minutes later, Spike and Andra were back. Andra didn’t even look at Buffy, she just grabbed Torch’s hand and pulled him in to the crypt.

Spike stood a few feet away, awkwardly avoiding her questioning gaze. “If we’re going to LAX before sunup, we need to get moving.” He turned on his heels and trudged away from her.

The few minutes they spent packing in the basement were tense. Buffy kept stealing glances at him. His jaw ticked and every once in a while, she caught his mouth moving as he silently talked to himself. Between them they overstuffed a duffle bag and while she rearranged some things to make it all fit, he walked away, shutting the door behind him. Once she had it right, she took the bag with her and went up the steps. She was going to start waking the rest of the house up to say goodbye and let them know they would be gone, but Spike had beat her to it.

Giles, Dawn and Faith were sitting on the couch, half-awake, but Spike and Connor were conspicuously absent. Dawn stood and gave Buffy a hug.

“Spike says you’re going on a trip?”

“We’re going with Andra and Torch, out of the country.” Buffy said it while smoothing Dawn’s hair back, but her eyes searched out Giles. “We’ll be gone for a couple of weeks.”

“Where are they going?” Giles asked.

“Andra doesn’t want you or the council to know and we promised not to say.” Buffy stared at her tennis shoes. “Sorry.” Gazing at Dawn, she said, “I’m going to miss you.”

“Me too. Just a couple of weeks, right?”

“Yes. And do me a favor and don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone. Spike is—”

“I know, I know. I wish he’d trust me,” Dawn said with a roll of her eyes.

Buffy couldn’t help but smile at her sister. “It’s not you he doesn’t trust.”

Faith stood up. “Spike has asked me to keep an eye on Connor. As if I hadn’t been already.” She put her hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “Have a good time on your trip. Tell Spike I said goodbye. I’m beat and I need to go back to sleep.”

As Faith disappeared towards the stairs, Spike and a very quiet Connor came in from the kitchen. Buffy stood by while he gave Dawn a hug, asked Giles again to watch out for her and then glared at Connor before he said, “Don’t forget what I told you.”

“I won’t,” was all Connor said, before he headed back up the stairs.

~ * ~ * ~

The airport was in a state of quiet activity. People rushed here and there, but the humans looked sleepy and were all running on caffeine and sugar. The group of four vampires stayed in the building long enough to find a plane leaving for Africa within the hour and then they worked out a plan to get on the tarmac.

Twenty hair-raising minutes later, they were settled in the back of the cargo hold of a commercial jet, doing their best to stay still as more luggage was tossed in. They kept quiet until the plane was up in the air and the landing gear had clanged back into place, tucking into the body of the plane.

Spike smirked at the two virgin flyers, gripping each other tightly. “Least we know what scares big bad Torch.”

The orange haired vampire glared at Spike. “You’d best be quiet over there.”

Spike dug into the duffle bag and pulled out a deck of cards. “We have a long trip ahead of us. What say we get a game going?”

They all worked to clear a space, using the softer luggage to lean against and a rigid case as a table for the cards.

“Did you bring refreshments?” Torch asked with one brow raised.

Buffy reached into their bag and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid. “You’re travelling with Spike. Of course there’s booze involved.”

She tossed the bottle to Torch who got it opened and held it up. “To good friends, sturdy planes, entertainment,” he pointed the bottle at the cards, “hot women and all the time in the world.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Spike said with a chuckle and then took the offered bottle from Buffy after she’d had her drink.

He handed it to Andra. She grinned. “Let’s not forget the hot men!” With a laugh, she took a long drink.