Getting Ahead of Myself
by sailor80
Thirty-three
[reviews]
By early afternoon, they were back on the road. Tara drove carefully while Faith watched for anything unusual. Buffy and Willow flanked Dawn in the back seat. Dawn babbled happily to herself.
Once they were home, Buffy got on the phone. She called her mother first, then Giles, who asked them to come to the shop. Tara drove them, and left the Jeep in Joyce's usual spot. She ducked into the gallery quickly to let Joyce know. The gallery was empty, and on impulse, Joyce closed early and went with Tara to the Magic Box.
They found everyone in the back room. Dawn crawled around on the mats while Giles, Buffy, and Faith examined the new equipment. Willow watched Dawn, who finished her exploration and made her way to the Slayers. Dawn pulled herself up using Buffy's pants for support. As soon as she let go, Dawn fell on her butt. She made a disgusted noise, and Willow giggled. She recognized the determined look on Dawn's face, having seen it many times on Buffy.
This time, Dawn held on to her mom's leg and bounced up and down until she had Buffy's attention. Buffy swung her up and left the conversation. She walked Dawn around the room, explaining to her what everything was, and when she finished, joined Willow. Dawn squirmed and Buffy let her go.
"Giles is stalling," Willow said softly.
"I noticed. You think he's just waiting for Xander?"
"Maybe," Willow said doubtfully. She watched Dawn climb up Faith's leg. Faith picked her up and threw Dawn in the air. Willow's stomach lurched and she closed her eyes. She opened them when Buffy began laughing. When she saw Faith, Willow laughed, too.
Buffy got up and went to retrieve her daughter from a vomit-covered Faith. Giles stepped away from the Slayer and pointed toward the small bathroom he had installed.
By the time Faith finished cleaning up, Xander and Anya had arrived. Everyone took their seats around the table.
"Three things," Giles said. "First, I have not been able to find out anything about the table. I had a colleague check it out, and she assures me that whatever is alerting your Slayer senses is not evil. There is some kind of magic associated with the table, and she will continue to research.
"Second," he continued, "the Council has negotiated a ceasefire with the Knights of Byzantium. For the next 45 days, they will stay away from us. Finally, the Council has found a small amount of information about the Beast, but it is quite old and not terribly helpful. All I can say is that you must remain vigilant about your safety and Dawn's."
"Can we patrol?" Faith asked. Although the time off had been fun, she was getting edgy and wanted nothing more than to pound on demons.
"As long as you are careful."
Faith grinned. "We're always careful."
Buffy snorted and Faith glared at her. Buffy held her hands up. "Frog in my throat," she said innocently.
Tara went with Faith on patrol. She didn't trust the knights to uphold the deal struck with the Council, whatever it was. Tara stayed out of the way and watched Faith deal with vampire after vampire. They were out for hours, and it was well past midnight before Faith decided to take a break. They headed for the Bronze, and Faith slayed two more vampires en route.
They stayed for an hour before Faith sensed a vampire in the bar. She followed her senses to the staircase.
Spike lit a cigarette and looked at Faith. "Slayer."
"Whaddya want, Spike?"
"Nothing. Just here for a drink. And one of those onion things. They're brilliant."
"Why do I have trouble believing you?"
"Hello, chipped, remember?" Spike said bitterly.
"Uh huh."
"I'm not looking for trouble," Spike said. "If it's a problem for you, I'll leave. I don't need any shit from the likes of you."
"You don't bother me or the locals, we'll be fine," Faith said. She turned to go, then thought better. "Heard anything about the Beast?"
"Which beast?" Spike took one last drag from his cigarette and dropped it on the concrete floor. He ground it out.
"If you hear anything, let me know."
"Why should I help you?"
"You're still alive, aren't you? Or whatever it is you are."
"No thanks to you," Spike grumbled.
"Tell it to somebody who cares," Faith said, and returned to Tara. They left the Bronze and headed home the long way, so Faith could check the remaining cemeteries.
For the next month, Sunnydale was quiet. The Slayers took turns patrolling, and the Scoobies gathered at the Magic Box twice a week for fruitless research sessions. The only excitement was the blonde woman who came into Joyce's gallery and bought something each week.
After the second delivery, Faith told Buffy about the woman's penthouse apartment and the small, ugly, non-human servants who jumped every time the blonde inhaled deeply. "They're just weird. And really ugly," Faith said.
"But they don't set off your spidey sense?"
"Nope. That's creepy, too."
"Between that and Spike, I guess it's just summer on the Hellmouth," Buffy sighed.
"What about Spike?"
"I keep running into him on patrol. He keeps tagging along. He's actually been helpful a couple times," Buffy said.
"I don't trust him, B. Watch your back, all right?"
Dawn continued to grow at breakneck speed. By the end of the month, she was walking and running, talking clearly, and learning to read. She absorbed knowledge as fast as they could give it to her. Giles began to find himself in lengthy conversations that began with Dawn's favorite question, "Why?" Tara, too, patiently answered Dawn's questions, even the ones she didn't ask, unlike Willow, who answered only what Dawn asked.
She looked forward to the time before dinner, when Faith came home from work and played with her in the yard in ways neither of her mothers would. Faith spun her until they both were dizzy, and played tag and hide and go seek. Sometimes Tara joined them, and Faith and Dawn would jump on the blonde witch and tickle her mercilessly before letting her up to chase them around the yard.
Willow, Buffy, and Tara took advantage of online registration to pick their fall classes, and the three of them plus Dawn made two trips to the college bookstore to pick up their textbooks.
Xander came over one weekend while Anya was working and helped Buffy and Willow change Dawn's room from a nursery to one suitable for a young girl. They repainted, changed the curtains, picked out a new rug, and changed Dawn's crib for a bed. The crib and changing table went up into the attic, and a dresser took the changing table's place.
It was their regular research meeting. Giles looked more worried than usual as he surveyed them, his eyes moving from the table to the end of the counter where Dawn played quietly with her toys. When she could stand it no more, Faith prodded him. "You gonna stare at us all night or what?"
"I received information about the Key and how it was formed."
Willow looked at Giles uncertainly and Buffy squeezed her hand gently. "So spill," Faith demanded.
"Remember when we first discussed the Knights of Byzantium and I told you that they destroyed a monastery?" Giles paused, and continued without waiting for answers. "The monks were guarding the Key to All Worlds, and both the Beast and the knights were heading there as quickly as they could. The monks had sworn to protect the Key, and they knew they were nearly out of time. Just as the knights breached their defenses, the most senior monks completed their spell, to move the Key to a place neither could reach it. The reappearance of the Beast made it imperative that the Key be protected, and it came to the one place, to the one person best suited to keep it safe." Giles looked at Buffy.
Buffy was stunned, and stared open mouthed at her Watcher.
"The enjoining spell called the Key to you. All the power that we summoned to defeat Adam was a beacon to the Key." Giles concluded.
"Shit," Faith said softly, and looked at Tara. "Glad it wasn't us."
Giles looked at her. "It could easily have been you, Faith," he said reprovingly.
Willow leaned into Buffy and whispered into her ear, "No more sex after we save the world."
Buffy choked and threw Willow an evil look.
"So they did the big mojo and that's why the Key is here?" Xander asked.
"In a nutshell, yes. And now we must protect her."
"We can protect her from the knights," Faith said confidently.
"We don't have to worry about them for at least two more weeks. The Council continues to negotiate a long-term truce," Giles said. "My concern is the Beast. We know nothing about it, so we must be vigilant. Anything unusual, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, could hold the answers we need."
"It's summer, Giles. All the usual Hellmouth beasties are on vacation," Buffy said.
"Yes," Willow said, frowning. "But the paper keeps reporting record numbers of admissions to the mental ward at the hospital."
"Perhaps you could check the records and see if there is any commonality," Giles suggested.
"I'll look tonight," Willow said.
"Does anyone else have anything?" Giles asked. After 15 seconds of silence, he said, "I'll take that as a no. I received a new shipment of books from London, so I suggest we begin."
Xander and Faith sighed in unison.
It was Buffy's night to patrol, and after an hour, she leaned toward Willow and asked, "You coming with?"
"Sure."
"Hey, Faith, will you watch Dawn tonight?"
"Yeah, if you guys bring home ice cream." Faith answered after glancing at Tara.
"Deal," Buffy said and got to her feet, pulling Willow along. They stopped to say good night to Dawn before charging out the door.
Spike joined up with them in the first cemetery. Buffy sighed when she smelled him coming, a combination of peroxide, leather, and cigarette smoke.
"Slayer, Red," he greeted them.
"What do you want, Spike?" Buffy asked impatiently.
"Thought I'd accompany you fine ladies on your jaunt this evening."
"No thanks."
"C'mon, I'm dying for a spot of violence, and Willie's banned me."
"Then go find your own demons," Buffy said testily.
"Don't be that way," Spike said charmingly.
Willow squeezed Buffy's hand, and Buffy sighed. "I don't know why I didn't stake you when I had a chance," she grumbled, and began walking. Spike fell in beside her.
They went through every cemetery in Sunnydale, even the one beside the knights' encampment. Spike asked, "What's the deal with them? SCA gone amok?"
Willow snickered despite herself. "I wish."
"They're here to annoy us," Buffy answered. "And they're doing a great job."
"How's that?"
Buffy waved her free hand. "Nothing for you to worry about."
"Got to be more to it than that," Spike pressed.
"They think we have something they want," Willow said.
"Ah. Are you playing keep away or are you clueless?"
"Clueless," Buffy answered. "Docks?"
"Yeah, haven't been down there in a while," Spike answered, and they continued their work in silence.