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Chapter 4
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"Where is that girl?" Joyce had started to worry an hour earlier when Buffy had failed to come home to begin to dress for the gala. Now it was getting into crunch time and still no Buffy.

"I could still help out, mom," said Dawn. She had visions of wearing the little black dress that Buffy had laid out on her bed.

With just the right amount of makeup and a grown up hairstyle she could easily pass for sixteen, seventeen even! No reason mom's party had to suffer because Buffy got side tracked again. Joyce Summers had two daughters after all.

Finally, Joyce left a terse note for Buffy to join the gala as soon as she could and headed to her gallery and the cream of Sunnydale society; more importantly ... their wallets.

Tara, with a crestfallen Dawn in tow, made a side trip to let Mr. Giles know about the missing slayer before continuing on to the promised dinner and movie.

As consolation prizes went, it wasn’t too bad. Dawn ate too much chocolate cake for dessert and the chick flick was to die for.

~~~

Joyce didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The event had gone even better than she had hoped. All the original art had sold by evening end. Reproductions had nearly flown out the door. She even had a short list of commissions that promised revenues yet to come. Joyce could have danced with joy.

The blight on this otherwise perfect evening was the mystery of her missing daughter. It was as if Buffy had vanished from the face of the earth!

Joyce had talked to Giles and each of Buffy's friends several times throughout the evening and no one had the first clue where she was. No one had heard a word from her all day. They all agreed that she had been excited about helping at the gallery and had no major plans aside from that.

By morning, Joyce was not the only person worried about her missing daughter. A full Scooby meeting had been called.

"H, ha, has anyone gone to see Spike to as if he's seen Buffy," Tara asked. "I mean, he's the only other friend of Buffy not here and he may know something," she said softly as she saw the disapproving looks that met her suggestion.

"Oh yeah, let's go ask the stalking, dead Romeo if he's seen his Juliet lately. I don't think so! Besides, he's not Buffy's friend," said Xander. He had more than a little sharpness in his tone.

"Actually, 'Romeo and Juliet' was more her story with Angel, don't you think? I'm not sure what classic play would fit Buffy and Spike," said a thoughtful looking Willow.

"Maybe 'Hunchback Of Notre Dame' or ‘Beauty and The Beast’," suggested Dawn.

"No play! There shall be no playing of any kind with the annoying undead and the Buffster! Bite your tongue Will, Dawn," Xander said in an outrage.

"I'm inclined to agree with Tara, actually," said Giles. "We may not like it, but Spike has been known to keep rather close tabs on Buffy here of late. Perhaps his obsession will have a benefit for a change. At the very least we'll have another resource in the search," he suggested.

"Joyce, perhaps you could approach Spike with this. He would be more likely to cooperate with you, I should think," Giles said. "Until we have some sort of clue, all we can do is to spread out and ask discreet questions. We don't wish every vampire and demon in Sunnydale to know the Slayer has gone missing," he reminded them. "Discretion must be your by-word."

"This is my daughter you are talking about, Rupert, and I'll gladly tell any and every human, vampire, and demon on this planet if I think they might help me find her," Joyce said stiffly.

"Yes, well, I doubt every vampire and demon would be interested in recovering the Slayer, so that should not be an issue," he said looking directly at the distraught mother.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably as the two adults glared at each other.

After planning a pattern, they split up to begin a search. Joyce and Dawn headed for Spike's crypt hoping to get answers before sunset.

~~~~

"Nothing, not one clue," said a defeated sounding Anya. "It's like she just stepped into another dimension or something. I did that to a couple of people back in my vengeance demon days, so it can happen that quickly. But usually there's a trace of some kind when you open a dimensional portal," she added.

"No! Buffy can't be in some other dimension and she can't have just disappeared! Maybe Glory has her," Dawn said in a panic.

"Yeah, maybe Glory ..... Forget that," said Xander. "Scratch the whole Glorificus thing. I did not say that," he said firmly.

Giles ignored the ashen boy and asked Joyce, "What did Spike have to say?"
"Well, Spike wasn't there. Dawn asked a couple of his demon friends if they knew where he was, but they said he hadn't been around for a couple of days," she said quietly. Joyce knew that Spike had withdrawn after his tragically misspoken avowal of love for her daughter. She was just glad that it didn’t look like Spike had left town for good.

"Spike has friends," Xander said in amazement. Dawn rolled her eyes at his expression of shock. "You don't think the bleached wonder maybe has Buffy chained up somewhere again," he asked aloud.

"Good Lord, I hope not," exclaimed Giles. He took off his glasses and polished them rapidly at the thought.

Joyce held her temper at the vitriol she was hearing from Buffy’s friends regarding Spike. "He would never have kept her away from my gala, besides, I'm sure Spike learned his lesson the last time. He was really apologetic once he realized his methods were not appreciated."

"Look, she's my daughter and I am not a total fool, but I do not think for a moment that Spike would knowingly hurt Buffy. He may be misguided and a bit rash, but he does truly care about her," Joyce said.

She was met with five sets of shocked eyes and a warm glow of appreciation from Dawn.

"I think he might have handled that a lot better if Drusilla hadn't been in town anyway," added Dawn.

"Dru, of course," cried Willow. "Dru must have come back. Oh goddess, Dru's got Buffy!" She leapt from her seat in alarm at the thought.

"Calm down sweetie," said Tara, "We have no reason to believe this Dru's anywhere near Sunnydale or Buffy."

"Am I the only one that's not comfortable knowing that Spike AND Buffy are missing at the same time," asked Xander indignantly.

"Yes, well, that is worth noting," agreed Giles.

~~~~

Spike was ready to stake himself. For the better part of the day all Buffy had done was whine and complain that is when she wasn't accusing him of creating this lovely vacation in hell with his beloved. He'd given her his coat, helped her in their climb, listened to her bleedin' complaints, offered comforting words and conversation and never once tried to rip out her tongue. What more could she want from him, he wondered. He’d endured less torture at the hands of Angelus!

Once more they began their ascent towards the building at the crest of the mountain. Spike shielded his eyes from the glare on the snow.

"Bloody hell," he gasped, "Why am I not on fire?"

"And to that, may I add my agreement," snarked Buffy.

"No, wait Slayer. It's plenty bright out here and yet no Spike Bar-be-que. Not complainin' mind, but that's pretty off inna it? Should be a pile of ash right now, wouldn't ya' think? And just where is the sun anyway ... sky looks a mite odd too," Spike said. "Course it’s been awhile since I’ve been cavortin in the snow in daylight."

Buffy rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "And with all this snow, I should be an ice cube. What's your point, Spike?"

"You are a bloody ice cube, slayer," he muttered under his breath. "Just seems we can't really be on some mountain on earth in broad daylight's all, pet. Can’t be real at all," he said a bit louder.

"Hum, hate to admit it, but yak' got a point, Spiky," she replied. "So what do we do now?"

"Keep climbing I guess. After you Slayer," he answered.

Buffy delivered a cold stare at the vampire and retorted, "Why do I get the feeling you just enjoy watching my ass?"

"Cause I'm a pig, remember," he smirked. Buffy had to laugh at that in spite of her best efforts not to enjoy their verbal jousts.


"Hey, how would you know what a normal daylight sky looks like anyway," she asked. Any conversation was better than the silence surrounding them. He was right ... it was eerie. Not even a bird to be seen or heard. The stillness was vaguely menacing.