Chapter 16

Willow slammed the front door of her parents’ house behind her, and she leaned against it.  She panted from the race home she’d just done.

“I have to stop using the magic,” Willow whispered to herself.  “Before Tara dumps me completely.”

Willow rushed to her old bedroom where her stuff was stored.  She took a box, and she started to haphazardly throw all her magical supplies into the box.  When she had collected everything she could find, she tossed the box into the closet.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Right?

Someone pounded on the front door.  Willow thought for a brief moment to hide in the closet with the magical supplies.

“I know you’re in there, Willow.”  Amy shouted.  “You better come out.”

Willow shook her head.  “No, go away,” she whispered.  “You’re bad, bad news.”

Amy pounded on the door and shouted again.  Willow knew she needed to do something before the neighbors called the police.  Who knew what Amy might do to the arriving officers?

Willow marched down the stairs to the front door.  She was a powerful witch.  She’d faced a Hell-god before.  There was nothing to be scared of.

Willow flung the door open.  “Go away,” she hissed.  “Before the neighbors call the cops.”

“I can handle the cops.”  Amy scowled at Willow.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”  Willow waved her hand.  With a burst of smoke and a flash of light, Amy turned back into a rat.  “You brought it on yourself.”

Amy the rat squeaked before she ran off into the bushes. 

Willow sighed.   “Don’t be like that, Amy.  Come back into the house.  I have some nummy cheese.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

"But I just sang for Lorne," Buffy protested.  "Didn't he see anything then?"

"I sure did, lamb chop, but that was before Darla dropped those two little bundles of joy on us."  Lorne sauntered into the room.   “Besides, I think even without a song and dance that I have a solution.”  He carefully sat down in an armchair.

“Do tell,” Buffy said.

“We pool our resources,” Lorne replied.  “You work at the gym.  That will leave the detecting to Wesley and myself.  We have the experience.  Spike and Lawson can do the treasure hunting.”

Anya leaned over to Buffy.  “Spike found the treasure of Amara.”

“Yeah, he did.  I wonder if the ring was the only thing there.”  Buffy scrunched her nose.

“It wasn’t.”  Spike ambled into the room from the kitchen.  “Unless Harm did something with all that stuff, it should still be there.”

Tara stepped into the room holding a pink bundle and a bottle.  “Uh, sorry to interrupt, Freya needs her bottle.”

A brief look of panic crossed Buffy’s face before she reached for the bottle and the baby.  After she and Freya were settled, and the baby was feeding, she turned to Anya.  “Talk to your friend at the gym for me.”

“I’d be happy to,” Anya chirped.  “I’ll also help Wesley find a good space for the detective agency.”

“Tomorrow after sunset, Lawson and I will check out the Amara treasure.”  Spike watched Buffy feed the baby. 

“Sounds like we have a good plan,” Wesley replied.  “Lorne and I are going to go back to the hotel.”  He and Lorne rose and left.

Anya tilted her head.  “Xander and I would stay, but I don’t think that the babies would appreciate our noise.”

“Probably not,” Buffy replied.  She burped the baby.

“Lawson and I will go do a quick patrol.”  Spike stood up.

Buffy looked up at him with wide eyes.  In a small voice, she asked, “Will you be back?”

Spike licked his lips.  “Do you want me to come back?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, I will.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Warren wandered around the mall having fun scaring the shoppers.  It had been so fun to see their terrified faces.  He had even groped a few of the prettier females.  Their terror had been the sweetest.

But now?

Now, Warren wasn’t feeling well at all.  His stomach gurgled painfully.  Warren wasn’t sure if it was the big batch of spicy chicken he took from the Chinese restaurant, the big cookie he took from the bakery, or the two fish tacos he took from an unobservant chick’s plate.  It had been fun watching her accuse her tablemates of stealing her food.

Warren decided to sit down for a few minutes.  Hopefully all that food would start to digest soon.  He sat down on a bench to rest.  Soon, he felt the need to lie down.

A little girl skipped up to the bench, and she sat down.  Warren felt her sink straight through his body until she touched the wooden bench.

The little girl scrunched up her nose.  “Icky, there’s something on this bench,” she grumbled.  She brushed off her clothes.

Warren opened his mouth; … at least, he thought he opened his mouth.  His face felt funny, and no sound came from his lips.  Warren went to move his hand.  He realized he couldn’t feel his body anymore.

Warren’s sight grew dim.  Blackness surrounded him.

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

It took several days for Angel to realize that Wesley was missing.  A case had come in, and Angel needed Wesley to research an obscure prophecy dealing with vampire offspring.

Imagine Angel’s surprise when he entered Wesley’s office.  Everything was neat as a pin, which was unusual for the ex-Watcher.  Normally there were books and papers scattered all around the room for Wesley to use for research. 

Angel frowned.  Strange.  He went to the phone to call Wesley’s cell phone.  After he’d dialed, the top drawer of the desk started to make noise.  Angel opened it, and he found Wesley’s cell phone inside.  He dropped the landline phone.

“Hey, guys,” Angel called out.  “Has anyone seen Wes?”  He picked up the cell phone.

“Have you tried calling him?”  Cordelia appeared at the door.

Angel waved the phone at Cordelia.  “He left it in a drawer.”

Gunn and Fred burst through the front door of the Hyperion.   They were holding hands and laughing happily.  Cordelia and Angel turned to look at them.

“Maybe we should just let him be for awhile,” Cordelia said in a soft voice.  “He missed his chance with Fred.”

“Yeah.  I guess so.”  Angel set the phone back in the drawer and closed it.  “Still, we could use him.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Spike slipped into Buffy’s room.  In the dark, he could see how she’d rearranged the room.  It wasn’t much; just the bed shoved up against the wall by the window and the twins’ bassinet in the corner furthest away from said window.

Spike slipped off his boots.  He ambled towards the bed while taking off his shirt.

“Hey,” Buffy mumbled, half-asleep.  “Anything I need to know about?”

“Nope, the priest have skedaddled back to where ever they came from, Willie’s was pretty quiet, we made sure Sharky left town,” Spike whispered while he slid into bed.  “And, Zoof’s was rowdy, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Zoof’s?”  Buffy rolled over to snuggle up against Spike’s chest.  She sighed when he put his arms around her.

Spike kissed Buffy’s forehead.  “Yeah, the Rusty Beaver.  It’s a strip club out past the skating rink.  Zoof’s one of my poker mates.”

“Ah, okay.”  Buffy sighed.