Not Beneath Me - Chapter 23 (Strengths and Weaknesses)
By Tasha

Chapter Summary: Angel headed to the Magic Box to share the information about what he saw at the hospital and home. Buffy and Spike went home to visit with Joyce, and they are now headed out for their nightly patrol. Giles received the toxicology report shortly before Angel arrived. Willow, Tara, and Giles worked on using the liquid to their advantage. Glory, now back in her form, left the house to find the Council in the hopes that they know where her key is.

(Disclaimer and Distribution notes are listed in the Prologue of this story. Thank you ahead of time for reading and accepting or abiding by them.)

'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.

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Spike and Buffy checked in on Joyce Summers, and they all ate dinner together as a family with Dawn. Spike surprised them all with his cooking knowledge and a delicious meal. After a couple hours of family time, Joyce and Dawn headed up to bed while Buffy and Spike left the house to patrol. Buffy found that being with her family helped to recharge her strength. She needed their support.

Spike and Buffy tried joking back and forth to ease some of the tensions they both felt. Spike shared humorous stories of Angelus' faux pas from Spike's fledgling days.

"I wish I could have seen that." Buffy tried to imagine Angel's now well gelled hair being full of wedding cake and gooseberry wine. "He must have had a fit."

"Dru and Darla were still trying to kiss up to him a week later because of how hard they laughed at his poncy assed self." Spike laughed heartily at the memory. "Seeing the big git all flustered like that is something I'll relish for centuries."

Buffy slowly stopped laughing. "Sometimes I forget how old you are." She wrapped her hand around Spike's arm. "You are going to live long after I die. Why would you want to mate with someone who will be old, frail, and ugly in a few years."

"You will never be ugly to me, pet." Spike stopped walking. He turned towards Buffy and cupped her cheek. "Your beauty comes from within and I will not live one sunrise past your death. Even without the mating bond, I don't want to live without you."

"Spike, Slayers have a very short life span. Are you saying if I died tomorrow, you'd meet the sunrise?" Buffy knew Spike loved with all of his being. She'd seen how he cared for Drusilla even when Dru tossed him to the side for Angelus.

"Yes, pet." Spike pulled Buffy to him in an embrace. "I don't care if it be a day, 2 years, or 20 years. I will stay with you to the end but not a sunrise more."

"I think you will find your life expectancy to go up drastically if you mate with William the Bloody, Miss Summers." A fairly tall woman dressed in a tweed suit jacket and skirt emerged from a nearby set of bushes.

"What do you want?" Buffy frowned. She'd recognize the look and style of the Council anywhere. She also remembered this woman specifically because she caught the woman eying Spike several times during the earlier exchange at the Magic Box. Buffy stood protectively in front of Spike's chest in case the woman wanted to harm him.

"There is no need for such a defensive attitude, Miss Summers." Lydia stepped further into the moonlight. "I mean you and William no harm."

Spike huffed. "Not many people are allowed to call me William, and you are certainly not one of them." He growled.

"My apologies." Lydia extended her hand to Buffy. "I'm Lydia, and from your stance I see you remember that I was with the Council earlier."

Buffy looked at the hand with disdain. Instead of shaking Lydia's hand, she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't trust anyone from the Council, not anymore."

"There are many who will always follow Quentin Travers blindly in his endeavors, but I have a particular spot of interest in William the Bloody." Lydia looked at Spike with a star struck kind of gaze. "I did my thesis paper on his life, before and after his turning."

"Is that right, little Watcher?" Spike smirked with his natural swagger. "Had a bit of interest in the big bad?"

Buffy elbowed Spike in the ribs. "Watch it Big Bad, or you will be big pile of dust."

"Easy now, luv." Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy's waist. "You should know better than that by now. As sad as it is for me to say it, I'm as faithful as a dog." He chuckled. "I remained loyal to one woman for 100 years. Why would I even think of any woman other than you when I love you more than I ever cared for Dru."

"I know." Buffy sighed. "I can't help but see green still when you even look at another woman."

Spike tightened his arms around Buffy. "That's fine, pet. It's good to know that I'm not the only one feeling a bit insecure at times."

Lydia cleared her throat. "If I could interrupt a moment ..."

Buffy and Spike both glared at the interfering woman. "If you must," Buffy answered.

"When I later checked on my thesis in the archives, I noticed several facts were changed from what I originally wrote. Several pages were missing all together." Lydia adjusted her glasses. "That sent up a few warning flags in my mind about what other things in the Council's archives might be altered. I've been biding my time until other instances were revealed."

"Not to be rude, but what does this have to do with the Council being here now?" Spike questioned. "That git wasn't exactly forthcoming with any information."

"That's why I'm here." Lydia finished closing the distance between herself and Buffy. She handed Buffy a leather portfolio case. "I don't agree with Mr. Travers' withholding of information about Glorificus. There is a copy of everything we know about her in that folder. I think you will be quite shocked at the content."

Buffy started to open the folder, but Spike held it closed. "We should get that to your Watcher, pet. We don't want any prying eyes seeing us with it out here."

Buffy nodded. "Thank you, Lydia." She looked at the other woman with a bit more respect and admiration. "I know how hard it can be to go up against the Council. If you ever need help, you know where to find us."

"I just might take you up on that, Miss Summers. If Mr. Travers finds out about this, I am finished." Lydia stepped back towards the bushes. "Oh, and I also included some information in that folder about vampires and Slayers that you two might find interesting. There are many things the Council would rather keep hidden from their Slayers. Good luck." She disappeared into the night.

Buffy and Spike darted around tombstones on their way out of the cemetery to the Magic Box. About halfway through Sunnydale's streets they noticed some of Glory's minions searching various places. Spike tucked the portfolio into a large inside duster pocket, and they both followed the minions to see where they were headed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel knocked on the locked door of the Magic Box. It was long past closing hours, but the lights were still on inside. He figured that Giles and the rest of the Scoobies were probably up doing research.

Giles answered the door. "What do you want, Angel?" He was tired and his nerves were shot. He wasn't up to dealing with an irate vampire at the moment.

"I just want to talk, Giles. No yelling." Angel shuffled back and forth from one foot to another.

"Giles, a fax just came in from the hospital." Willow called out from the back of the Magic Box.

"Fine, Angel, but if you start trouble, I have no problems with kicking you out." Giles stepped to the side and headed for the back. "Lock the door please." He walked into his office to retrieve the fax. It contained the toxicology report on the liquid within the vial that he'd asked his friend at the hospital to give him.

Angel walked over to the table. He waved to Willow. "Hello, Willow. Hello ... I don't believe we've met."

"This is Tara, Angel." Willow hugged Tara. "Tara, this is Angel. Tara is my girlfriend."

"Wow, really? Good for you." Angel sat down at a chair at the table. 'Didn't see that one coming. I wonder what happened with the wolf boy.' He waited for Giles to come back before he spoke again. "Where are Buffy and Spike?"

"They are probably out on patrol now," Giles answered without looking up from the sheets of paper in his hands. He sat down, going over the various figures and percentages.

"Do you have any way of contacting them? I saw something really weird tonight, and they are probably going to want to know about it." Angel continued, "It would probably be easier to tell everyone at once."

"They have a lot to deal with right now with Joyce's illness." Giles set the papers down in front of him. He highlighted several columns and continued to talk without looking up from them. "You can tell us what you saw, and then we'll decide if Buffy needs to be informed."

Angel growled inwardly in frustration. He worked with these people for three years. So, he went a lot crazy on them for about 6 months, but he'd worked hard to regain their trust again. He hated feeling like he was being blown off. "I followed some really scaly and disfigured looking demons to this upscale place on the other side of town after I saw one of them talking with someone from the hospital in his car."

Willow and Tara looked across the table at Angel. "Was the demon wearing brown robes, like a monk?" Willow asked.

"Yes, he was. Is that significant?" Angel queried.

"It might be," Giles looked up from his papers to give more attention to Angel's story.

"When I got to the house, I checked the mail box. There were several pieces of mail with someone named Ben on them. Some of them had a medical reference to them." Angel explained. "Before I left, the same man whom I'd seen the demon with arrived at the house. When he got out of the car, he seemed to undergo some sort of transformation. Instead of a man, there was now a woman in his place. A bunch of the demons came out of the house and helped the woman into the house."

"Did she have long reddish blonde hair? About as tall as Spike?" Giles questioned further.

"Yes, I believe so. I was a ways down the driveway. I didn't get a clear look at her."

"Ben? Wasn't that the name of one of the interns at the hospital that helped Mrs. Summers?" Tara asked.

"Yes, but I'm sure there are lots of Ben's that work at Sunnydale Memorial." Willow countered.

"Buffy seemed to have quite an adverse reaction to Ben when Joyce left the hospital. Even Dawn seemed a bit uneasy around him, and Buffy stood in front of Dawn quite protectively." Giles pondered the events of the other day again. He'd meant to question Buffy on the incident later, but with the Council's arrival it hadn't been possible.

"Do you think he knows about Buffy and the Key?" Willow didn't want to say too much in front of Angel especially with the way she heard he was acting, but she was concerned.

"We never said anything at the hospital. So, she should be safe." Giles answered somewhat cryptically.

"Key? What Key?" Angel's gaze darted between Willow and Giles.

"I'm sorry, Angel, but right now we can't ..." Giles stopped mid-sentence when he read something of interest on the report. "Good heavens."

"What?" Willow scooted closer to Giles to read the report.

"The vial included heavy traces of sedative and destabilizing agents." Giles skimmed his fingers down through his friend's summation of the liquid. "It is believed that the liquid attacks various elements or enhancements that would not be apparent in normal humans and "sedates" them for lack of a better term. It reduces these abilities to human levels causing loss of strength, stamina, etc."

Angel's eyes narrowed on Giles. "You found the vial of what was injected into Spike?"

"Yes." Giles sat back in his chair and removed his glasses. "This explains why it took Spike so long to recover, even with the infusions of Slayer blood." He chewed on the end of one of the arms of his glasses. "Until there was enough Slayer blood to counteract the initial dosage of debilitating drug, Spike would continue to heal at only a human pace."

"You let Buffy feed Spike continually?" Angel slammed his fists on the table as he stood up.

"Yes, and this is why we won't trust you. You are behaving like a big jerk," Willow scolded. "Sit down. Buffy knows what she is doing, and if you keep acting like this no one will trust you."

Angel reluctantly took his seat again. Willow turned to Giles. "Do you think that what Angel saw was Glory switching forms? It seems ridiculous, but a vampire does have control over showing its demon or human sides. Couldn't Glory do the same thing?"

"It would be easier to tell if we knew exactly what Glory was." Giles sighed. "I think that we need to head to the Council's hotel to get some answers." He closed his books and stood up. "Even if I have to beat it out of Quentin Travers."

"I'll go with you." Angel stood up alongside Giles. "Just in case you run into whatever this thing is on the way."

"If Glory thinks that the Council knows anything about her, she might head there to kill them," Tara warned. "If her minions were watching the shop from the outside, they would have seen the Council come and go."

"Willow, I'm going to take the vial with me. Use the ingredients list in the report and make more. We should have everything here at the Magic Box." Giles grabbed the vial from his office.

"If we can make a quick stop at the mansion, I have the hypodermic there. It will give us a little bit more of the fluid." Angel offered.

"All right, but it will have to be quick. If Glory is already on the way to the hotel, we won't have long." Giles and Angel darted out of the Magic Box to Giles' car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy and Spike followed Glory's minions up to the Sunnydale motel. They both looked at each other. "What the hell would Glory's minions be doing at a hotel?" Spike raised a curious brow in question.

"Beats me." Buffy shrugged. They continued to follow them up the stairs where they started hearing an extra amount of grunting, groaning, crashing and British cursing.

They ran the rest of the way up the stairs. One of the Watcher's they saw at the Magic Box earlier flew out a broken door past them and down the hall.

"That had to hurt," Spike muttered low. He bolted for the open doorway. He stopped only a moment before he jumped into the fray of the battle going on in the large suite. He ducked a few minions who flew over his head from some of the Watchers. He headed straight for Glory who had Quentin Travers hanging off the floor by her hand around his throat.

"Tell me what I want to know, and all your little boys can go home," Glory taunted.

"I don't know where your Key is," Quentin grunted out past his closing windpipe.

"You were going to tell that nasty little girl about my Key." Glory whined in her annoying way. She clutched his throat tighter. "You can tell me instead."

"We ..." Quentin gasped. "We only knew you were a god."

"At least someone knows just how important I am." Glory preened. "But if you don't know where my Key is then I don't need you." She was knocked away from Quentin and into the wall by Spike before she could crush Travers' throat completely.

"I don't think so, you crazy bint." Spike squared off with Glory, circling each other.

Buffy got the rest of the Watchers out of the hotel room as quickly as possible. She kicked some of the minions in the head to knock them out, and she made her way over to Travers. "I don't know why I'm doing this, but give me your hand." She pulled Quentin up off the bed and half carried him out of the suite to safety.

Inside the suite Glory and Spike punched and kicked at each other. Spike fared far worse than the hell god. He broke his arm when he was thrown through the door into the bathroom to hit the edge of the tub. Spike barreled into Glory's chest with his shoulder at full speed to knock Glory into the opposing wall.

"Now I'm mad." Glory stood back up to full height. With determination she stalked over to Spike and rammed her fingertips into Spike's chest. "You made me break a nail." She said over Spike's screams of agony.

"SPIKE!" Buffy pulled Spike away from Glory's grasp. She feared for a moment that Spike would dust, but thankfully Glory wasn't holding his heart. Spike hit the floor a few feet away from the door. Buffy was now the object of Glory's anger, and Buffy slammed into the wall after being thrown by Glory.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel, Giles and Wesley ran through the Sunnydale Hotel parking lot. People vacated the building left and right. That wasn't a good sign. When Giles noticed several of the Watcher's bodies on the landings and in the hallway he hastened his pace even more.

Angel pulled on the open door jam to stop himself from flying by it. He drug Spike out of the room along the wall. "Crazy Childe." He checked him over briefly. After being sure that no wood pieces were near to his heart, despite the bloodied marks on his chest, Angel headed into the suite.

Giles ran up behind Glory while she headed back over to Buffy to beat her up again. He buried the hypodermic into Glory's neck and started to press the plunger down.

Glory swung around with fists flying. She punched Giles so hard that he crashed into the dresser with a crack. He slumped to the ground. Before she could get the offending object out of her neck, Angel jumped on her and pressed the rest of the liquid into Glory's system. He pulled the hypodermic out with him as he was thrown away from Glory with the last of her strength before she transformed back into Ben.

Spike's eyes widened and Buffy growled when they saw Ben. "Bloody Hell," Spike growled out from his spot now just inside the door where he'd crawled into. "Did you see that?" He said to Buffy, and she nodded. Although normal humans would forget the change happening in front of them, Buffy already held some of Spike's blood in her. It tainted the hell god's radar, and Buffy was able to remember the change.

Ben staggered up and crawled for the door. Wesley was about to follow, but the pale look on Giles' face stopped him. He wasn't sure who the escaping man was, but he needed to tend to Giles first. He wondered where the woman disappeared to and how she got past him.

Buffy dragged Quentin up onto the bed after she brushed it off. "I think you need to make with the explaining, right now."

"I don't have to do anything," Quentin huffed.

"We just saved your life, mate. You owe us," Spike snarled.

"I owe you nothing!" Quentin Travers objected.

"Would you rather we let the bitch come back and finish the job?" Buffy moved over to make sure Giles was okay while Spike checked on Angel.

"Fine, Glorificus isn't like any demon you've encountered before."

"I could have told you that." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Tell me what she is. So, I can kill her."

"She isn't any form of demon at all. She's a god." Quentin said the last bit with a sneer of delight on his face. His own pride and lust for power satisfied him that even though Glory could end the world, it would finally give the little bitch of a Slayer her just deserves.

"Somehow you guys managed to force her to change. How?" Buffy asked Wesley and Giles.

"It was the liquid that Dru injected into Spike. It is debilitating to the supernatural it seems," Giles offered in explanation.

"You don't get more supernatural than a god, I suppose." Buffy shrugged.

"Who knew that Dru's little act of revenge would actually help you, luv." Spike cuddled the shaking Slayer close to him. "Bet she's turning over in her dusty grave with that knowledge."

Buffy half chuckled. She knew Spike was trying to calm her down, and it was slowly working. Giles was all right. He had a cold compress resting against his forehead. He was probably going to need to go to the hospital for x-rays. Wesley and Angel were off to the side nursing their own wounds. Quentin Travers was lying on the bed while several of his lackeys worked to reattach the door to the hotel room.

"You do realize that we're going to have to kill him to kill her, pet," Spike spoke softly. "We can weaken her with the injection, but if we don't kill the human she will come back."

"I know." Buffy sighed. "I hate it, but I know." She buried her face into Spike's chest. "What I wouldn't give for things to be back like the old days where I just see bad and slay bad. These gray areas are killing me."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ben and Glory bounced back and forth over who was in the forefront of the body they both inhabited. With the help of their lackeys, they made it back to the house in one piece.

"What did they do to me?" Glory held her head in her hands.

"I feel like I was hit by a Mack truck." Ben buried his head in the pillow of his bed.

The minions looked over their Mistress and Ben for the rest of the day. All was in a state of confusion because no one knew what to do to fix it. They tried to bring Glory some humans to suck energies from, but she wouldn't stay in her hell god form for long enough to complete the process.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You'll never defeat a god," Travers choked out the words and clutched his bruised throat. Although he was surprised that William the Bloody stepped in to rescue him, he wasn't willing to let go of his preconceptions of all vampires. "She will come after you and your family and render you weak and defenseless."

"That is where you are wrong, Mr. Travers. We know her weakness now," Buffy smiled proudly. She wrapped her arm around Spike's waist. "Besides the relationships, friendships, and family that I have are my strengths. They are never my weakness. Together we can overcome anything you, or any hell god throws our way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(To Be Continued)