The Summoned
by acs
Thicker than Dust
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. All "Keeper" characters belong to Tanya Huff, and others. None of these people or organizations have read this nor endorsed it. The story idea might be mine but this is a derivative work.
Summary: See Chapter 1
Spoilers: See Chapter 1
AN: See End of Chapter.
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Thicker Than Dust
Willow held on tightly to Buffy's hand as they walked through the cold, damp parking garage at the Ottawa airport. Buffy had somehow convinced the Council to have a car waiting for them somewhere in the concrete maze. Her skepticism taking over, she no longer believed Buffy's claims that the Council was providing them with all of these things for their trip simply because she'd asked for them. And she certainly wasn't going to fall for any of the other vague reasons Buffy had given.
There was something else going on and she planned to get to the bottom of it before they reached Cleveland. As soon as she was warm again, she thought, trying to get close enough to Buffy to share her warmth without invading her space. Which was not looking like it would happen any time soon if the expression on Buffy's face was any indication. "Buffy?"
"Yes?" She stopped and turned back to Willow.
"Do you have any idea what it looks like?"
"Yes. It looks like a car-truck thing. I think it's something British." She gave Willow an exhausted grin before going back to scanning the rows of vehicles in the florescent light. "Go figure."
Standing so close to Buffy was not doing much to help take care of the chill she was feeling, but it was having other unexpected side-effects. Too numb from all of the travelling they'd been doing to think about anything other than getting warm again, Willow decided to save attempting to analyze her feelings for later. Helping Buffy find the car seemed more important right now. "And how do you know that?"
"This." Buffy reached into a jacket pocket with her free hand and pulled out a small black object Willow recognized as a car key fob. "It was in the envelope that watcher type who was waiting for us at the gate gave me."
"Doesn't it have one of those 'find me' buttons on it?" Willow asked, holding out her hand to Buffy, who handed it over with no objection.
"Yes. I've been pushing it whenever we get near something that looks English." She stood on her toes in an attempt to see over the cars filling the row they were walking down in the large parking garage. "I think we're still too far away."
"They couldn't just tell you where it is?" Willow glared at the fob, trying to glean something from the nondescript plastic object. She hadn't paid much attention to the person who'd met them other than to note that they were male and dressed in something giving off the faint metaphysical aura of tweed. "What kind of car did he tell you it was?"
"He said something about a dog." Buffy sighed.
Willow raised an eyebrow at her companion. While Buffy's only exposure to anyone even remotely resembling a car guy had been Riley Finn, Willow had lived through Xander's car fanatic stage in middle school and remembered more about cars than she really wanted to. "English? Dog? Wouldn't happen to have been a Rover?" she asked.
"That's it!" Buffy laughed in obvious relief. "Do you see one?"
Standing on her toes, Willow looked around in the stark light. Just barely taller than Buffy, she didn't expect to see much further, especially without Buffy's much vaunted superior Slayer vision. Six months ago she could have quickly done a simple spell to find it. But that was a darker, angrier kind of magic that she was now afraid to use. In her exhaustion all she could feel of the lighter earth oriented magic the coven had encouraged her to use was a small spark within herself. And she wasn't sure if Buffy would approve of any magic not matter how friendly it was. "No. Maybe it's on the next level up? He wouldn't happen to have mentioned a floor or row number for it? Or even a color?"
Buffy shrugged slightly, her movement hampered by Willow's hand on one side and their suitcases on the cart she was pushing with the other. "Not that I remember." Releasing the cart for a moment, she pulled a small square of paper out of a jacket pocket. "We have this parking stub also but I didn't see a number written on it."
Willow let go of her hand, taking the parking stub from her. Examining it closely, she noticed several faint markings on one side. Groaning, she looked at Buffy "Giles never bothered to teach you Council short-hand, did he?"
"He mentioned there was a secret language, but he said it was only used for recording certain Council meetings." She gave Willow a puzzled look. "Why?"
"That isn't strictly true." Willow told her. "Some Watchers used it for their diaries. You can also use it to safely write down some kinds of spells. Whomever invented it must have been very clever." She shook her head. "Looks like that Watcher who gave you the keys is a fan."
"So the numbers are there? But in that secret Watcher language?" Buffy asked.
"Yes." Willow slowly translated the script in her head. It was an unusual written language and required some effort to wrap her brain around. She suspected, from the grammatical twists and turns it took, that it had been invented by a slayer and later been appropriated by the Council for their own uses but she'd yet to find any proof. "Looks like we're on the correct level." She looked around for some indication of the row they were on. "We're on Row F But we need to find Row J."
"Okay..." Buffy looked around again, repeating an odd hop she'd been doing earlier to see over the rows of cars that Willow found fascinating. "That way." she pointed back the way they'd come.
Finally reaching the correct row, Willow pressed the button again. A small vehicle at the opposite end of the row flashed its lights.
Willow stared at it in disbelief. "Yellow? Someone wants to be able to pick us out of a crowd. A hundred miles away."
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The sound of tires humming away as they headed southwest towards Kingston, with the occasional muted thud as they ran over a bump or expansion joint in the pavement, was oddly soothing to her enhanced hearing after being barraged for hours by the sound of roaring jet engines on their flight from London.
Glancing over in the dim light at her dozing friend, Buffy wondered how long the truce would last. How long it would take for Willow to stop trying to hide from her problems and assert herself. She wasn't really sure what she'd expected when she'd picked Willow up from the Coven but this clingy, distant version of her old friend certainly wasn't it. This person only remotely resembled the Willow who had kept the Scoobies together when she'd died.
It wasn't that she minded the physical closeness that had sprung up between them. She had initiated a lot of it herself, unable to resist grabbing one of Willow's hands at the slightest excuse. But they hadn't shared each other's personal space so much since Willow had met Tara. Even though the Coven's healers had encouraged her to maintain some physical contact with Willow as part of her healing, Buffy didn't want to do anything that would interfere with Willow's progress in dealing with her grief.
She knew they still had so many issues to work out between them if they were going to remain friends, but she couldn't imagine how to even begin bringing them up. She wasn't sure she could even explain to herself why she was still angry at being brought back from Heaven but accepting of Willow's self-destructive madness when she couldn't bring Tara back. Hopefully this trip would give her the opportunity.
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After several minutes of jiggling the key turned reluctantly in the rusty lock. Taking a quick look over her shoulder at Willow, still asleep in the Rover, Buffy turned the door knob. Flicking on the flashlight she'd found in the glove-box with her other hand, she pushed open the front door and peered around it curiously before reluctantly entering the dark building. She wasn't expecting anything to be wrong but thought it would be a good idea to take a quick look around and get their suitcases into the small hotel before she woke Willow.
The trip down from the airport hadn't been long, compared to the rest of their journey from Westbury, but after leaving the close quarters of their warm Rover, Buffy couldn't avoid shivering in the damp air of the hotel's lobby. Standing just inside the door and shining her flashlight along the floor and into the dark corners she could see from her position that a think layer of dust seemed to cover everything. It looked like nothing had been in the hotel for a long time. Stretching out with her enhanced senses Buffy couldn't detect any signs of life, or even unlife, in the hotel. Sighing with relief, she decided they could begin exploring in the morning.
The small collection of papers the Council had given her had mentioned a manager's suite attached to the hotel office. That seemed to be the best place to spend the night. Looking around she spotted a door behind a counter on the other side of the room. Cautiously walking across the lobby, she stopped in front of the counter and looked for a way through it. While jumping over it was always an option, the dust covering the floor was so thick that she didn't want to risk slipping. She would prefer to find the proper way to reach it.
Shining her flashlight along the barrier, she noticed a small hinged section of countertop next to the wall. Walking over to it she couldn't find anything like a latch that would allow her to move it without destroying it. Taking advantage of a gap she could duck under, Buffy found herself behind the counter.
Next to the door was a large collection of numbered light switches. On a whim, and hoping the Council had managed to have the electricity turned on as promised, Buffy pressed the switch closest to the office door. The area around the counter was flooded with a dim yellow light that caused her to squint until her eyes adjusted to the sudden change.
Opening the office door, she ran her free hand along the wall just inside the room until it collided with something that felt like a light switch. Pulling on it, she grinned to herself when the office lit up. Looking around she decided that the office could probably also wait for the morning. She really needed to find the door to the suite so she could get herself and Willow into bed.
There didn't seem to be an obvious door but one wall was free of any bookshelves. Several large dark panels in the center of the wall didn't quite match the color of the rest of the room. Stepping up to it she noticed that one of the panels had an edge that slightly stuck out from the wall. Pressing on it curiously, she heard a small click and quickly stepped back in surprise when the entire section popped out to reveal a doorway. "That was cool." she muttered to herself. Cautiously walking through the short hallway, Buffy found herself in a small sitting room. Finding another light switch, she turned on the only light in the room, a small table lamp next to a small love-seat. It revealed a tall, skinny window in one wall and doors in the other two opposite walls.
Looking in the room to her left, Buffy found a small bedroom with a closed closet, a double bed and dresser. The bed had a bare mattress and the only light in the room seemed to have a burned out bulb in it. Frowning, she shone her flashlight around. Hopefully, somewhere in the hotel she could find something to put on the bed.
The other door opened on to a moderately sized bathroom. It wasn't very fancy but at least the lights worked. Glancing quickly at the strange looking shower and turning a faucet on the sink, she sighed with relief when she saw that they at least had running water. It even seemed to be clean.
Buffy took one last look around the suite before heading back out to the Rover to get their things. Willow could have the bedroom and she would sleep on the love-seat.
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With their suitcases sitting in the manager's sitting room, Buffy took a quick break to get a feel for their surroundings. Standing at the top of the steps, she looked around in the dim glow from a nearby streetlight. There didn't seem to be anything special about the neighborhood to merit the Council's attention. The nightlife she'd seen so far was definitely of the non-evil variety. The hotel itself hadn't set off her apocalypse detector yet either. Whatever supernatural weirdness the Council thought the hotel contained wasn't something blatantly obvious.
Shrugging, knowing that if there was any weirdness in the area it was bound to be attracted to her before they left Kingston for their next stop, she headed over to the Rover and opened Willow's door. The redhead was curled up in her seat like a small child. She wasn't sure she could get her into the hotel without waking her but she was going to try.
Leaning as close as she could, Buffy placed Willow's right arm across her shoulder. Gently reaching between the seat and Willow's lower back with her left arm and under her knees with her right, Buffy pulled Willow towards her and out of the Rover, glad for her slayer strength. Willow murmured in her sleep and instinctively tightened her arms around Buffy's neck.
She managed to get Willow into the hotel, past the counter, and onto the love-seat without waking her. She wished she could just leave her sleeping and tuck her into the bed and join her, but she still had to find something to put on the bed and somehow she didn't think Willow would appreciate someone else getting her into her pajamas.
Walking into the bedroom, lit only by the light from the other room, Buffy looked through the dresser, finding it completely empty. Turning next to the closet, she opened the door and noticed a cord and bare bulb dangling from the ceiling. Pulling on the cord flooded the closet and bedroom with a shaft of light from the closet. Surprisingly, the closet wasn't completely empty. On a shelf that ran the length of the closet were several dust covered, sealed packages. Reaching up to grab them, Buffy grunted in exasperation when they fell on her head, covering her hair with dust.
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The first thing Willow noticed was the lack of motion. The next was that she was no longer in their Rover and that she was lying on some sort of couch in a dimly lit room. She assumed she was at their hotel but she couldn't remember getting there. There seemed to be several doors in the room leading elsewhere and a tall, skinny window occupying what she assumed was an outer wall.
Hearing some grumbling from someone that could only be Buffy, she rolled off of the couch and clumsily got to her feet. Looking around, she headed towards the door the voice was coming from.
Leaning against the doorjamb, Willow watched her friend bustling energetically around a small bedroom. She'd never thought of her as very domestic so the sight of her making a bed and attempting to fluff up several very flat pillows was mildly amusing. Buffy gave no indication that she'd noticed her yet but Willow knew that there was no way she hadn't seen her standing there. So she was either ignoring her because she didn't want to talk or she was intentionally putting on a show.
"Buffy?" Willow asked quietly, finally catching Buffy's attention. "Where are we?"
"The manager's suite in the Guest House."
"How did I get here?" She waved her arm in a vague motion, encompassing the two rooms she could see.
"I carried you in." Buffy admitted.
"You couldn't wake me up?" Willow frowned at her.
"You looked so peaceful. I didn't want to disturb you." Buffy shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Have you checked things out yet?" She asked curiously.
"No." Buffy shook her head. "I thought we could start after breakfast. The place hasn't had anyone in it in months. We're lucky the Council remembered to have someone turn on the utilities for us. And that they work."
Willow shivered. It wasn't really that cold but compared to the English weather they had just left it was noticeably chilly. She was still tired from the trip and could feel the cold settling into her bones. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked, yawning.
"It's that door on the other side of the suite." Buffy told her. "Why don't you get ready for bed, I'm almost done. Your case is next to the bathroom door."
"What about you?" Willow asked.
"I'm all set for now. I'll get ready when you're done."
"Okay." Willow yawned again before turning around and heading across the sitting room.
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She came out of the bathroom later to find Buffy missing. Noticing a light coming from under the door she'd noticed between the bath and bedroom, she cautiously opened it to find herself in what was obviously an office of some sort. Buffy was sitting behind a large desk that dominated the room, seemingly absorbed in the stack of folders open in front of her.
"Buffy?"
"Hey Will!" Buffy looked up, giving her a quick smile. "All set?"
"Yup. It's all yours." She looked around curiously. "What's this room?"
"The manager's office. The front desk is out that way." Buffy waved towards another closed door. "I'll show you tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Why don't you head to bed? I'll be in in a few minutes." And she went back to examining something in front of her as if Willow wasn't there. Willow stood there for a moment, just staring at her friend. This was a side of Buffy she'd rarely seen until she'd shown up in Westbury, so uncharacteristically focused and business-like.
"What side do you want?" Willow asked over her shoulder as she turned to leave. "Of the bed?" She clarified at Buffy's blank look.
"Side?" Buffy frowned at her. "The bed is all yours. I'm sleeping on the love-seat."
Willow just nodded, not completely surprised. She wasn't sure why Buffy felt the need to sleep there when there was plenty of room in the bed for both of them but she was too tired to argue.
Crawling into the cold bed, Willow lay there for a long time, staring up at the dark ceiling and listening for any sounds that Buffy was getting ready for bed, before eventually falling asleep by herself. Some time during the night she was awoken by a nightmare. The details were gone from her mind before she could remember them, leaving only a vague uneasiness behind.
Waking up again several hours later she was surprised to find she was no longer alone in the large bed. Lying on the bed, facing away from her towards the door, was a familiar blonde headed woman.
"Buffy?" she whispered in a soft voice. Her old friend just murmured something unintelligible into the pillow and didn't wake up. Still groggy and sleepy, Willow wrapped her arms around Buffy's waist from behind and held on tightly. She would figure out later how, after her announcement that she was sleeping on the love-seat, Buffy had ended up in the bed anyway. For now, for the first time since Tara's death, her need for human contact overrode her fear of rejection. Burying her face in Buffy's hair, Willow took a deep breath and fell back asleep.
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Continued in Possibilities
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Additional Notes:
AN[1]: The Ottawa airport does have a parking garage, but it isn't as big as the one this chapter implies it to be. And it is too new to have existed when Buffy and Willow would have arrived there. (I've also changed the rows to make it a little smaller) . If you are curious about the real Ottowa airport, like most, has its own web page: Ottawa International Airport.
AN[2]: This is still a B/W fic... but don't expect any shippy-ness for a while. Give them time.
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