Chapter 1:
Every Road Leads Back to You

The first thing he noticed was that he was moving.  Not in the sense of one foot in front of the other, but still. . .moving.  He opened his eyes slowly and focused on the ropes that were around his wrists.  The zapping pain in the back of his head was proof positive that he was in a world of trouble.

“God, were am I?”

“Don’t bring him into this, mate.  He’ll be of no use to you now.”  A distinctly British voice came from the other side of the van.

Xander squinted.  “Spike?”

He lit a cigarette and it illuminated his face.  “In the undead flesh, boy.  Got yourself into a heap of trouble, did you now?”

“What did I do to deserve this?”  He leaned back and closed his eyes.

“That’s what I’d like to know.  Rupert sent me looking for you.  You’re a slippery one, I’ll give you that.”

“Giles?”  Oh man.”  This was getting worse and worse by the minute.

“So what’d ya do, boy?  Steal one of  his dusty books?  Or even better, did you tell him you wanted to shag?”

“You know, Spike. . .your village called.  They said they were missing an idiot.”

”Good to see you still have a sense of humor.”  He flicked the cigarette out the back window.  “So what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

”Well, you’d better get chipper and chattery there pretty quickly, mate.  From the looks of it we’ll be hitting Sunnyhell in about an hour.”

Sleeping.  She was curled up on the couch sleeping peacefully.  From what Willow could surmise in the quick walkthrough she’d done, Buffy had been sleeping on the couch ever since she left.  Over four months ago, she’d laid her red sweater down on the bed and forgot to pick it up before she left for the airport – it was in the same place she’d left it.

Willow sat in the single overstuffed chair with her feet pulled up under her.  She’d been there for over an hour and sat for most of it watching Buffy sleep.  She still didn’t know what to do, what to say to her, if she should wake her up, let her sleep, or run screaming into the night.

Buffy stirred and reached out to the coffee table for a glass of water.  She sipped it without opening her eyes then put it back down.

Willow held her breath and watched the sleepy movements she made.  It would have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but Willow saw Buffy stiffen slightly.  She knew someone was there and she was running scenario’s through her mind.  Same old Buffy.  “I’ve missed you.”

This time, Buffy visibly stiffened and her breath caught.  Slowly she turned her head in the direction of the voice she knew so well.  “Will.”  Then she opened her eyes.

“Come on.  Up and out you go.”  Spike was pulling Xander to his feet and dragging him to Giles’ door.

Xander put up what little fight he had left in him but he knew it was no use.  He gave up and slumped against the wall.

A moment later, Giles opened the door.  “Spike.”

Spike gestured to Xander.  “Look what I found crawling around in an alley like a rat.”

Giles sighed and nodded to him.  “Xander.”  He stepped aside so they could both walk in.

Spike led him to the couch and pushed him down.

“Do you really think this is necessary?”  Xander held up his bound hands.  “It kind of itches.”

”It took me almost a year to find you.  Your not getting away now.”  He turned to Giles.  “Almost had him in Santa Fe then he just disappeared into thin air.”  Spike turned back to Xander.  “I underestimated you once, it won’t happen again.”

Giles paced in front of Xander then stopped in front of him.  “Seems like I underestimated you too, Xander.” He sat down on the coffee table and was face to face with him.  “You have a lot of explaining to do so I suggest you start at the beginning.”

Xander sat back and sighed.  “I guess I owe you that much.”

Giles became angered and grabbed him by the shirt, eyes blazing.  “You owe me nothing!  Buffy and Willow on the other hand. . .God help you boy when they find out.  And they will, I assure you.”

She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes.  “When did you get in?”

Willow glanced at her watch.  “Almost two hours ago.”

She tried to hide her surprise.  “Really?”

Willow nodded.  “I wasn’t sure if. . .I didn’t know how. . .”  She was struggling with the words.  None of them wanted to form understandable sentences.

“How was your flight?”  Her voice was level, cold.

Why are you sleeping on the couch?”

Buffy shrugged and got up. She went to the kitchen and refilled her glass.  “Did Giles pick you up?”

“I called a cab and how long are we gonna do this, Buffy?”

She looked up at the clock on the wall.  “Not much longer.  I have a second patrol to run.”

“A second patrol?  Buffy, we haven’t seen each other in over four months and you tell me you’re going on patrol?”

“Duty calls, Will.  I have obligations, no one is gonna do it for me.”

“I’ve missed you.  You don’t know how much.”

”No, I don’t.”

Her head shot up.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Buffy put her head down.  “Nothing.  It meant nothing.”

Willow got up again and walked over to her.  “This isn’t what I wanted to happen.  This isn’t what I wanted to say.”

Buffy looked up at her.  “Then what did you want?  What did you expect?”  She walked around her and stood in the living room.  “Look, I’m not up for a patrol.  I’m gonna go take a shower.”  She walked away into the bathroom and shut the door.

Willow stood there in shock.  She never expected Buffy to be so cold, so uncaring.  She was ready for a fight, ready for the screaming and harsh words, but not this.  Never this.  She walked into the living room and curled up on the couch.  It was still warm from when Buffy was sleeping.  She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and began to cry.

“And you never got his name?”

”It wasn’t tops on my list, Giles.”

Giles walked over to a bookshelf and took out six large binders.  He dropped them in front of Xander on the table.  “This is a record of every living Council member. Distinguishing marks, achievements, where they are assigned – complete with up to date photos.”  Xander gave him a blank look.  “Start looking.”

”Giles, there has to be over three thousand pages here!  You really don’t expect me to. . .”

”I whole heartedly expect you to.”  Giles glared at him.  “And I don’t expect to be let down.”

He shook his head.  “Fine.  Untie me.”  Once untied, Xander got up to stretch and found Spike at his side in an instant.  “Relax black ranger.  I’m a little stiff here.”

Giles stood back and took in his features for the first time since he’d been dragged in by Spike.  Xander’s face looked drawn, older.  He had a trimmed goatee and mustache that came together at the edges of his lips.  He was dressed all in black, complete with a black cloak tied around his shoulders.  There were lines in his face.  Giles was disturbed most of all by this.  A boy so young shouldn’t have lines like those.

He took the cloak off and tossed it on the couch.  He was wearing a black skull cap that completely hid his hair and it was beginning to itch so he removed it and tossed it aside too.  This drew gasps from both men flanking him.  He gave them a sheepish smile.  “What?”  He reached up and ran his hand through his hair.  “Oh, yeah.  That.”  He shrugged and sat down.

Spike shook his head.  “No wonder I had such a hard time finding you.”

Giles nodded in agreement.  “Yes, I see the trouble now.”

Xander looked up at both of them.  “Get over it already.”  He began to flip through the first book.

Neither one of them could believe it.  His hair was cut drastically short in a military flat-top style and it was. . .bright yellow sun blonde.  They stood there and just shook their heads.

Willow blew her nose and took a deep breath.  This wasn’t going at all the way she’d expected it to.  She sat up and looked at her watch.  Buffy had been in the shower for almost forty five minutes now.  She hesitantly made her way to the door and knocked.  “Buffy?”

Silence and running water.

“Buffy, are you in there?”

“Where else would I be?”

Willow let out a sigh of relief.  “You’ve been in there a long time.  Are you okay?”  She waited a few moments for an answer then tried the door.  It was unlocked.  She stepped in and was hit by a wave of steam.

“Leave me alone.”  Came from the shower.

She walked over and pulled back the curtain.  Buffy was sitting curled up in the tub with the shower water running across her back.  Her head was down an she didn’t look up.  Willow reached out to touch her and jerked her hand back.  “Buffy!”

”Get out of here, Will.  I want to be left alone.”  Her voice echoed a little against the porcelain.

“Are you trying to boil yourself alive?”  She reached around the other side and turned the water off.  “You’re a slayer, not a shrimp!  Now get out of there.”

”No.”

”Buffy.”

”No.”

”You’re not gonna make this easy, are you?”  Willow reached down and put her hand out.  Buffy wasn’t in the mood to fight, so she complied.  “Oh, well, maybe you are.”  She led Buffy to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed.  She gently dried her off with a fluffy white towel patting her back lightly.  The skin there was red and swollen and boils were beginning to form.  “How could you do this to yourself?”  She whispered.

“They’ll be gone by morning.”

“Willow looked up at her, shocked.  Then the realization dawned on her.  “How did you know they’d?. . .Oh God, Buffy.”  The phone rang.  The phone always rang at times like these.  Willow silently cursed to herself before answering it.  “Hello?”  Her voice was strained.

“Willow.  Is everything alright?”

“Giles.  It’s not a good time.”

”I’m sorry but, I need you two here right away.”

Willow looked at her watch.  “Giles, it’s midnight.  Can’t this wait till morning?  I just got in two hours ago and . . .”

”Willow.  It’s about Quentin.”

”What?”

“Just come here.  Both of you.”

”Fine.  Give us about an hour.”  She hung up the phone.

Buffy hadn’t moved.  “So?”

“So Giles needs us at his place.  Something about Quentin.”

Her head shot up.  “I thought he was. . .”

”So did I.  Giles didn’t say much but it sounded important.”

Buffy was up and dressed in fifteen minutes.  She emerged from the bedroom and looked at Willow sitting on the couch.  “Ready?”

She nodded and followed the slayer out the door.