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When in England by Secrethistory
 
Two
 
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Authors Note: Many thanks to Verity Watson for the excellent beta! Buffy, Spike and the gang do not belong to me. This is just an elaborate attempt to rewrite canon. Any reviews including criticism will be gratefully received.

******

Chapter Two

Buffy gripped the armrest. Her stomach dropped, signalling the swift rise of the aeroplane from the runway. Wonder where Spike is now. The thought entered unbidden. Spike was making his own way to their destination and wouldn’t be joining them until his mission was complete. Might get a little crispy on the daytime flight.

She remembered his demanding stare before he exited. Of course, she wouldn’t acknowledge him.

“I’ve heard there’s great shopping in London,” she said to Giles, who seemed unperturbed by their bumpy ascent through the clouds.

“I dare say there is,” Giles replied distractedly.

“A slayer can’t have too many clothes.” She smiled weakly. “I always bought clothes in threes when I was hiding my slayerly duties from Mom.”

“That must have been expensive.”

“Yeah. So many awesome shoes sacrificed on totally non-worthy demons.”

“We won’t be reaching London for another seven hours, and when we get there we won’t have time to stop.”

“But we can hit the shops on the way back.” Buffy said. “Seven whole hours, huh?”

She squirmed in her seat trying to get comfortable. Giles was hogging the window, and there was no in-flight movie. Being unable to leave the plane for that length of time was going to drive her mad. And there must have been plenty of those, Slayers who became insane or were insane.

Of course, Giles could currently be placed in the zany side of sane. On the drive to the airport, he had talked about possible tactics. She was so uncomfortable with what Giles had proposed that she had almost demanded that he reconsider. Still, she there was a whole range of current badness to address first.

“So when exactly is Spike fake demon-napping Dawn?” she asked.

“Tonight,” Giles paused. “It really is the only way to keep Dawn safe,” he insisted.

“You know, it’s going to totally ruin the bad grades she’s been keeping up.”

“However, it may well prove a useful tool in keeping Dawn safe. And the others. What they don’t know can’t be extracted from them.” He was frowning. “And you really should talk to her about school, Buffy. Dawn will need to rely on her education at some point.”

There was a brief pause in conversation, Buffy wondering for the umpteenth time if she was doing the right thing, when Giles spoke again. Oddly.

“Buffy, you understand that you can tell me things.”

Does he know? “Yes, but there really isn’t anything to tell. I mean, about me, because I’ve been really boring lately. Barely anything has happened since you left.”

Things that had happened recently started playing movie-like in her head.

Now he was staring at her oddly too. Uh-oh. Don’t blush. “About heaven, and how you’re managing.” He turned away, and spoke slowly. “I handled it badly.”

The conversation was becoming even more painful than she had first imagined. “Thanks,” she gritted out.

“I don’t mean to push.”

“Okay,” she replied quietly, somewhat relived. She thought he read it from her face and left it at that, because she still didn’t want to expand. Maybe not ever.

Giles pulled the free magazine from the pouch in front of his seat. “This seems to be all about celebrity gossip.” He offered it to Buffy.

“I think you mean important world events,” Buffy replied, and flipped it open to see who Britney was dating this week.

******

The wait to claim their baggage and be processed in Heathrow was draining. Buffy was grateful when they stepped into a taxi.

She stared out of the window as first tightly packed houses then open fields rolled by and the day descended from just grey to almost dusk.

“Where are we?” she voiced when they got stuck in traffic.

“Trying to get to the other side of Cheltenham”.

“Okaay.” Not that helpful. Buffy England geography doesn’t really stretch that far. She glanced across at him, prepared to question him further and then stopped. Even in the faded light he looked grim. “Maybe you should get some sleep.”

“Oh, but it isn’t much further now,” he said.

“Right.” She didn’t want to argue with Giles, and it turned out that he was correct. Before another hour had passed, they were stopping, and Giles was handing over a large wad of money.

As they left the cab, Buffy hauling all of the bags, a security light came on. She felt a little dismayed by the building in front of her. Instead of a trendy London flat or a stately grand manse, it was just a modest brick house with plants climbing up the front. She quashed her disappointment as Giles produced a key and opened the front door directly onto a staircase.

“I’m totally beat,” she said, eager for escape.

“Your room is first on the left,” Giles replied. “With en suite.”

Buffy perked up a little and mounted the stairs. When she shouldered through the door, she found a double bed, and plain wooden furniture- wardrobe, drawers, bedside table and desk. A purely functional room.

She went about her night-time routine mechanically, and then dove under the covers. England cold. She lay shivering for a while, listening to the unfamiliar noises. The house shuddered and creaked in the wind and somewhere downstairs she could hear Giles moving around and a kettle boiling.

She drifted off slowly, sleeping until the sun streaming through her unclosed curtains awoke her again.

******

The next few days passed without either of them venturing further than the local cemetery. Giles insisted that they couldn’t risk being seen and pointed out that they had plenty of food and drink and lots of things to keep them entertained.

One of those things was Willow’s alarmed call to them about Dawn.

“Oh god. I think the Kzscowri must have taken her.” Buffy had gasped.

“I thought he was in England.”

“Yeah, well looks like he’s got friends. I’ve gotta go, Giles needs to know about this. But don’t worry, I’ll get Dawn back.” She pretend vowed solemnly.

Fortunately there was little further awkwardness from Giles. He appeared content to leave Buffy mostly alone while he poured over scores of dusty old manuscripts, all while furiously jotting things down in a notepad.

Buffy wandered the house, watched TV, and tried to take her frustration out on the local monsters, but there had only been one.

Finally, on the third afternoon, the phone rang and Giles announced that she would be leaving the house that night.

Spike. The last few days had left her totally antsy. He had been quicker than she’d thought he would be, and it was lucky.

When evening approached she changed outfits, hurriedly pulling on slaywear, but applying make-up carefully, and changing her mind about her hairstyle repeatedly.

“Be careful.” Giles’ parting words followed her through the door, and into the bracing evening.

She hurried to the location Spike had specified, slowing down only when the lights of the pub appeared.

She entered, cheeks cold-red and nose streaming. It was very British, old but pretty, with ceiling beams and faded décor. Super crowded.

A quick search offered no Spike amongst the hoard of drinkers, so she wandered up to the bar; well, when in England.

“You all right darling?” one of the barmen was looking at her expectantly.

“Can I have,” she hesitated. There was mostly beer. Speckled Hen? Tetley’s? Is that some sort of tea-beer? I’m sure Giles drinks that tea. Buffy played it safe. “I’d like a coke.”

“Nice choice,” he grinned and opened the fridge, extracting a glass bottle. “That’ll be £1.80, thanks.”

She picked up the drink finding a quiet corner and sat on one of the rickety wooden chairs, keeping vigilant, waiting.

After half an hour with no sign of him she was getting a little impatient. She was heading for refill when a bell rang, and the bar became claustrophobic, everyone clamouring around for last orders.

Buffy almost got bumped off her feet, and as she spun around in annoyance she brushed against Spike. Oh. An excited shiver raced through her system.

His appearance rankled. His hair was tousled, not slick and he was wearing a red shirt over his black tee. She glared at him, and he met her gaze. “Evenin’, Slayer.”

She sighed, not his fault. “I’m kind of edgy.”

A smirk appeared “You apologising to me, Love?”

“No,” she insisted automatically.

“You sure?”

“Well, more explaining,” she said. “How’s Dawn? Did everything go well? Not that I can see any scenario in which you kidnapping Dawn runs like clockwork.”

“Bit’s fine. But she was a right brat about the abduction.”

“Because people usually really enjoy it when that happens.”

“No need for her to beat on me though was there? Anyhow, she’s safe and I’m here.”

Buffy was very glad to hear it, and overlooked his irritability. “And you told Willow that you were coming to the rescue?”

“I also prevented Xander from following me.” He scowled. “And Tara. They seem to think I’m not help enough.”

Damn. Probably only a matter of time before they follow us out here. Or do some kind of magic and find out. Giles had been adamant that this was the best way of doing things, but he did sometimes underestimate her friends’ determination.

“Did they give you a hard time, Big Bad?”

“Bloody awful time.” This was heartfelt. “Why did you think I picked a pub?”

“Cause you’re a shameless alcoholic.”

“Well other than that?”

“You do know that doesn’t make sense right.” She watched him almost smile, which made him look unusually boyish. “We should leave. You took so long to get here it’s nearly closing time. Also we can chat on the move.”

He looked panicked. “Didn’t mean to do that.” He was going for the bar, his eyes were glazing over, and he was rubbing his hands. And it can’t be because he’s cold…

He returned to her with a pint and pork scratchings.

“You want?” He asked, and started shovelling them into his mouth, draining the beer afterwards almost instantly. Buffy was sure there were better uses of his vampiric speed.

“Ewww. No. And we should go.”

“Not yet,” he pleaded as he moved back towards the bar. “Double whiskey, thanks.”

Wow. He sure is thirsty. She looked away from his bent head, scanned the crowd, but she couldn’t resist focusing on him once more, as a wave of doubt pulsed. Does he think I’m worth all the trouble? All the not being quite so evil as usual. All the not running off with some other skanky vampire like Dru and letting her…

She tried to clamp down the sudden rush of feelings, but more uncertainty flashed through her. Not like he can really love me. What if he leaves, changes sides. What if I need him?

She watched him frown at her expression. “All done,” he said gently, finishing the spirit.

She met his eyes, somewhat calmed.

“Hey, you changed your hair,” he exclaimed.

“I was bored.” She looked down, and he smirked. He doesn’t know it’s for him. Not that it is.

He reached towards her and she shivered when he made contact, fingers brushing the wisps of hair around her face, catching her jaw as he closed in further. “Buffy.”

The bell rang again, and she started, jumping back from him.

“Spike?” She breathed, head cloudy.

“Closing time. Gonna kick us out.”

“Oh.” They started walking.

Then she recovered. “Finally. Giles is waiting at the house. I’m sure he’ll be curious about your activities”

“Great,” and it was just possible he could have sounded less enthusiastic.

Buffy was considering chastising him, or hitting him, that went well last time, but as they pushed their way through the crowd she suddenly froze. Her heart was hammering as she recognised the man next to the entrance. A member of the council, or the twin of one of the guys who had made the last fun Sunnydale trip. Stepping backwards, she watched his lips move, listening intently she caught a snippet of his conversation “…with Travers out of action.”

Shit. And the guy wasn’t alone. Are they all part of the council? How did they find out we’re here? Keeping her voice low she whispered, “Spike. Do not move. The council.” She tensed ready to dart for an exit when Spike’s hands closed roughly around her waist. His breath cold against her ear, he reasoned, “Don’t make a scene. We haven’t been noticed.”

“Back exit?” she hissed.

“Let’s have a go.”
 
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