Disclaimer: Alas, Spike is not mine.
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Chapter 18: Mole Girl

Buffy reluctantly left the warmth of her bed and the loving arms of her mate, shovel in hand and set out for the vineyard. She knew that Spike was going to be disappointed when he found out she wasn’t at home when he woke up, not only because he liked waking up beside her, but because he was having one of those dreams.

It was curious all the side effects of the claim. Buffy could feel when he was turned on, which frankly was like every time she walked into the room, she could feel when he was hurt and she could tell when he was thinking about her.

It was a nice feeling, to know that she was so loved.

Buffy arrived at the vineyard expecting it to be abandoned. But it wasn’t. It shocked the hell out of her to actually see the place active. Buffy decided that maybe going in through the main door was not the best idea out there. It had been a while, but she thought she remembered where the sewer entrance was. Buffy entered the sewers with confidence that she would find the entrance soon.

Turning a corner and squaring her shoulders, she marched on ahead.

An hour later she still hadn’t found what she was looking for.

“You would think that the entrance would be here,” Buffy groaned in frustration.

The problem was, that she was lost. Very very lost. She could be anywhere under Sunnydale. Buffy exhaled deeply. It was inevitable, if she wanted to get out of the sewers this millennium, she was going to need help. And the sad thing was that he was never going to let her live it down.
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Across town and much more above ground, Spike was startled from his sleep. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked about the room to find the person that was foremost in his thoughts at that moment. Buffy.

Spike whipped off the covers from his nude form, and grabbed his pants. It was almost a secondary thought to put them on before he opened the door that led into the hallway. Spike sniffed the air of the house to determine that his mate was not in fact in the house.

Spike grabbed his boots, a tee and his duster. He knew that Buffy needed him. He didn’t know where she was and that bothered him.

Spike pulled his duster over his head and headed outside into the sunny December morning.
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Buffy was getting tired of standing there. She couldn’t sit. She was standing in the freakin’ sewer after all. She stretched her legs. Spike was going to be all smug about finding her too.

Sure enough, Spike turned the corner and Buffy breathed. Unfortunately. She nearly gagged. Sewers not so pleasant smelling.

“Do you want to tell me why you are standing, with a shovel, under the Walmart?” asked Spike.

“Walmart? Good grief. I’m lost. How did I get under Walmart?”

“Where are you heading?”

“The Vineyard.”

“To do what?”

“It’s a thing, there’s a thing, a sharp metal pointy thing...”

“Buffy...”

“Ok, I need this scythe, it’s buried under the vineyard. It helped me defeat the First evil the first time.”

“Right then...this way,” said Spike without another word

Buffy picked up her shovel and followed after him.

“I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Spike snorted. “You are not, you were bloody lost, who else was going to help you out of the bind? The whelp? Couldn’t find his way out of a bag that one.”

Buffy chuckled. “I couldn’t very well get anyone else to help me could I? Don’t have a claim with any of them. Do I?”

Spike smiled. “No, you don’t.”

“And I don’t have Xander’s Toy tattooed on my ass do I?”

“Not unless you got it done since last night...”

“You wanna check now?” she offered.

Suddenly Buffy felt herself get caught up in Spike’s arms. Buffy leaned in to be kissed.

“I love only you Spike,” she purred between kisses. “But I really don’t want to do it in the sewer.”
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With Spike’s help, Buffy found the sewer entrance to the vineyard’s cellar. Unfortunately they discovered that it was going to need at least a jackhammer to get into the block of stone that Buffy said the scythe was encased in.

“Can’t you just magic it out?” asked Spike, lighting a cigarette.

“I could, but then again I could have magicked up myself some new teeth too, but I didn’t. Magic always has consequences.”

“Someone bloody brilliant came up with that line.”

“Fishing for a compliment are you? Alright. You said it Spike. You’re ‘Bloody Brilliant.’ Happy?”

Spike smirked.

“So how you propose to get the sharp pointy thing out of the hunk of rock then?”

“Right now? I’m thinking pick axes and sledge hammers.”

“Bugger, you want me to help don’t you?”

“Was thinking about persuading you, yes.”
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Buffy and Spike, returned dirty from walking around in the sewers to hear Anya and Xander shouting in the living room.

Why they were having a fight in her house, Buffy couldn’t understand.

“What’s up guys?” said the slayer trying to be positive.

“God, Buffy what happened, you look like you’ve been trapped in the sewers,” said Anya

“Cause I don’t ever do that...”

“Oh, did you have fun in the sewer then?” asked Anya happily.

“Not so much.”

“What the bloody hell are you and the whelp doing in our house, having a row?” asked Spike.

“Oh that’s not important now,” said Anya. “What is important is that the amount of money we are spending on this wedding is directly proportionate to number of fights we have about it.”

“So it’s what, 500$ a fight?” asked Buffy.

“Roughly,” nodded Anya.

“Hmm, so what was the fight about this time?”

“Apparently I’m not respecting her demon traditions,” said Xander.

Buffy nodded.

“I merely asked if you were willing to participate in the flagellating. And suddenly I’m getting lectured about the vile demons and the grossness of the food and weirdness of my demon family. I’m sorry if I don’t have crazy drunk parents like yours.”

“Hey! I think that’s hitting below the belt! No more hitting, down there!”

“And telling me that we shouldn’t have my demon friends at the wedding at all cause they aren’t normal or important isn’t? They are important to me Xander!”

“Buffy back me up here, I just can’t let my normal human parents around vengeance demons. Bad things could happen, I mean just one I wish statement from my mom and it’s alternate reality time.”

Buffy put up her hands in defence. “I am so not taking sides here Xander. This is something you two have to work out yourselves.”

“And work it out in your own house!” said Spike angrily.
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For an entire week, Buffy returned home completely covered in dirt and debris. Spike had helped out for the first few days, but had eventually found excuses not to dig.

Buffy had thought about ranting at him that she was dong this to save his undead life...but thought the better of it. She really didn’t need more complications to her plan. If it even really was a plan.

Dawn was off of school now and studying for her Christmas exams, so were Willow and Tara. It was surprising really, to Buffy, that Willow had actually toned down her magic use, despite the fact that Amy was still very heavily into the witchcraft.

Buffy could only hope that everything would be rainbows and puppies in Willow land this Christmas.

Buffy stepped into the shower to wash today’s dirt and grime from her body. Dawn had started referring to her as mole girl to the other scoobies, and to tell you the truth it wasn’t really not deserved.

The warm water was welcome to her weary bones. Buffy had reached out to grab her shampoo when she accidentally knocked over a new bottle in the shower. Buffy groaned as she stretched her tired muscles to pick up the bottle. As the water dripped down her nose she read the label, ‘intensive care for dry damaged colour treated hair.’ Must be Spike’s she thought.

It was comforting how he seamlessly just fit into their lives. Buffy wrapped her arms around her sudsy self and exhaled contentedly. She just hoped that her plan with the scythe would work.
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When Buffy exited the shower there was an irate Dawn standing outside tapping her foot.

“You can’t ignore me forever you know...” began her sister.

“Ignore you about what?” asked Buffy innocently, clutching at the towel that covered her frame.

“Come on! I know you told Spike, why can’t you tell me?”

Buffy looked at her sister incredulously. “I honestly don’t know what you are talking about Dawn. I’m in a friggin towel in the middle of the hallway. You are going to have to enlighten me.”

“How I’m made of Spike and you.”

“Ohhhhh,” said Buffy now realising what the conversation was about. “Sorry, I’m old, sometimes, it just leaks out my brain.”

“Ya, ya you are old, not like I haven’t heard that excuse before. So tell already.”

“Right, ok, when you were pregnant with Eleanor, you went on this personal mission to find out as much as you possibly could about the monks and how they made you. You found the spell that they used to turn the key into you and started to translate it.”

Buffy yanked her sliding towel back up.

“Well?”

“Well, you translated the spell, found out that the spell had been modified from it’s original. That you were supposed to be a copy made from me, but that the monks, they chose to blend my DNA with someone else’s, so that you didn‘t turn out to be a clone.”

“How did you find out it was Spike?”

“I didn’t find out anything Dawnie.”

“How did I find it out then?”

“You had the council do a paternity test on yourself.”

“But I didn’t have options of who my DNA donor was.”

“No, but attach a spell to that puppy and whoosh, there were sparks. Spikes actually.”

“So was there like a big red light that whooshed him?”

“No, cause he was dead.”

“Then how?”

“Your big red light found something I had kept that had Spike’s DNA on it.”

“What was it?”

“I am so not telling you that.” Buffy blushed.

“And that’s how I knew...”

“And that’s how you knew... Can I get dressed now?”
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Christmas morning, Buffy was delighted by the scads of presents under the tree. Most of them seemed to be for her too. Unfortunately she caught on to her friends’ game half way through the present opening. Everyone had decided to get Buffy gag gifts too. Willow had given her a collection of toothbrushes, Amy dental floss, Xander toothpaste, Dawn Polident, and Anya a denture case.

It also seemed that some of the practical gifts were teeth related too. Giles had put a mouth guard in her stocking, and Anya gave her an electric toothbrush.

“Ok, I get the point!” said Buffy looking with puzzlement as she held up another bottle of mouthwash.
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It was on an early January morning that Buffy trudged home, completely covered in dirt, but confidently griping her scythe.

She had spent much of the Christmas holiday hacking away at that block of stone. Actually she spent a lot of time since thanksgiving stuck in that vineyard cellar. Probably not the best way of going about not ignoring Dawn, or helping Xander and Anya with their problems or Willow with her magic overuse.

She hadn’t been thinking about them at all. The focus was Spike. She couldn’t let him die, not again. Buffy stashed the Scythe in her bedroom closet and threw herself into the shower.

When she immerged, clean and no longer like the mole person she once was, she saw Spike sitting on their bed looking at the weapon from a cross the room, her closet door still wide open.

“This it then?” he asked.

“Yep, the reason Buffy’s been all mole person,” she said sitting next to him clad only in a towel.

“You gonna resurface now?”

“Yeah, I’m done with the digging.”

“Missed you,” he said sadly, gathering her into his arms.

“I missed you too,” she said into his shoulder.
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Buffy reappeared at her spot at the Magic Box the next day, eager to resume her normal life, which included her thesis on vampire mating and family structures, being maid of honour to Anya, annoying older sister to Dawn and dutiful slayer to Giles.

“You aren’t covered in dirt!” exclaimed Anya happily.

“Nope, dirt free today.”

“I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to rejoin us clean people.”

Buffy laughed.

“I’m sorry I’ve been unavailable for such a long time. I had something to find.” Buffy took the scythe out from its finding spot under the table.

“Wow, that is a very impressive weapon.”

“Shiny too. So where’s Giles? I want to show and tell.”

“He’s found fault with my inventory again. It is possible that he accused me of stealing the burba weed this morning. I couldn’t tell, he was muttering in that extremely strange British way he has.”

Buffy chuckled.

“I know who’s stealing your burba weed, Anya, just charge it to me.”

“Spike.”

“Spike, he likes to think he’s still evil.”

Giles emerged from the store room pleased to see Buffy at her spot at the table.

“Look Giles! I have a shiny pointy thingy!” said the Slayer pleasantly.

Giles was instantly mesmerized by the scythe. It took him at least a full 45 minutes to regain the ability to process conversation.

“Where did you find this Buffy?” he finally asked.

“The vineyard, it’s been there for centuries. It was meant for Slayers. I can feel it. Like it was meant for me.”

“Extraordinary. Does it have a name?”

“I think so... the only thing coming to mind though is question mark. I don’t know, it’s been a while since I had to explain it. Plus I had to give this baby away to another slayer when I stopped slaying.”

“Why did you stop slaying?” asked Anya

“I got old.”

“Oh that makes sense.”

“Buffy, may I take this to discover...” trailed off Giles.

“Oh yes, by all means, discover away,” said Buffy. “But I will need it back.”

“Oh yes of course,” said the watcher looking intently at his Slayer’s newest toy.
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Dawn strolled into the magic shop after her school day whistling a jaunty tune, but stopped dead in her tracks as she beheld her sister sitting a the table.

“Buffy! You’re clean!”

“Oh good lord,” said Buffy. “I really wasn’t down there that long.”

“You mean you don’t like being reminded that you’ve been mole girl for like ever?”

“Hardly.”

“I think that Buffy regrets her decision to be a subterranean dweller for the past month. We should not make sport of her new found delight in the above ground world,” declared Anya.

“Thank you Anya,” said Buffy, “I think.”
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tbc...