Scavenger Hunt players PLEASE read note at bottom when you have
finished the story.
**************
Drusilla simply became more agitated when Buffy walked away from
her. She lunged after the Slayer, only to be pulled back by
Spike. Dru's head whipped around, her eyes black as night as she
raised her hand, pointing at him.
"Tsk, tsk. You think you can hide, but they see you," she
smirked, her eyes widening. "They're watching you: ALL of you."
Drusilla looked around the room at each spellbound member of the
Scooby Gang. "They are watching. . .waiting. . .wanting. .
.BOO!"
As Drusilla's exclamation filled the room, Willow jumped into
Oz's lap, and Xander grabbed Cordelia's arm. Giles looked away
from the mantle, then, satisfied that no one was in danger,
returned to his investigation.
"She's good." Xander tried to cover his fright.
"Heck, yeah," Cordy answered, then pried Xander's hand off her
arm.
"I think you need to go back to your room and rest, ducks.
That's enough entertaining the kiddies for today," Spike said,
attempting to pacify Drusilla, who began rambling about Miss
Edith. Spike tuned her out and cast a quick glance at Buffy.
The Slayer ignored him, trying to figure out what the hell had
just happened. She stiffened slightly as Angel approached her,
scooting back further into the chair.
Angel knelt beside Buffy, taking her hand in his own, his eyes
filled with concern. **What else is new?** Buffy felt a twinge
of guilt and stopped herself from pulling her hand away as Angel
grasped it. It wasn't his fault she was having these feelings.
It was Spike's, she justified. **Yeah, all Spike's fault. Again,
what else is new?**
"Are you all right? She didn't hurt you, did she?" Angel turned
Buffy's arm over, checking for any sign of injury.
"I'm fine. Can't say much for your roommate, though."
"About that . . . is Spike behaving himself? He hasn't done
anything, has he?"
"DONE anything?" Buffy asked, cautiously.
"Tried to hurt you?"
"No. Nothing," Buffy lied. **Nothing that I haven't wanted him
to do, or LET him do, that is.** "He's been a perfect vampire.
He's surprisingly house-trained and everything. You did well
raising him." Buffy smiled and patted Angel's knee.
Angel smirked at her sarcasm. "You don't have to lie."
"Honestly, no lying here. I think this place has some sort of
control over Spike and Drusilla." Buffy looked over at the two
vampires. Spike was still trying to get a handle on Drusilla,
who seemed to want nothing to do with him. "As far as I know,
they haven't tried to bite anyone. Yet. How about you? Adjusting
well to your living arrangements?"
"As well as expected, I guess," Angel said soberly, his brooding
face returning. "Buffy, if something's wrong, you can tell me.
You know that, right?"
"Wrong? Why -- why do you think something's wrong?" Buffy
stammered. **He couldn't know, could he, what I've been
thinking, feeling about Spike?**
Before Angel could respond, Drusilla screamed and rushed at the
vampire, who caught her in his arms expertly. "Not worthy, dirty
man," she spat at Spike as he approached them. Drusilla cowered
behind Angel, shooting a wicked glance at Buffy. "Dirty, little
humans, all of you!"
"It seems she fancies you today, Peaches. I think she's taken
this roomy bit too far. She thinks DADDY'S back. Now, why might
that be, mate?" Spike growled.
Angel held a shuddering Drusilla to him tightly. To Buffy, it
looked like Angel was protecting Drusilla from Spike. Even more
upsetting, however, was that apparently, Spike was jealous of
Angel.
**Spike jealous of Angel over Drusilla? How dare he?**
Buffy stood and walked to the trio. "Spike's right," Buffy said,
receiving a questioning look from Angel. "About Drusilla," Buffy
affirmed. "She's obviously too out of it right now to be of any
help, and since she seems determined to cling to you, Angel, why
don't you take her back to your room? Have a tea party, or
whatever, just calm her down."
Angel started to protest, but seeing Buffy's determined look,
thought better of it. Besides, it was worth it all, just seeing
how much it upset Spike that Dru was turning to him once more.
Since the powers in charge of the hotel were obviously
determined for him not to be alone with Buffy, he certainly
wasn't going to let Spike have all the fun by thinking he had
both Buffy and Drusilla for himself. Angel was confident that
Buffy accepted his responsibility to Drusilla, and that any time
he spent with his childe was not necessarily his choice.
"Let's go, Dru." Angel grabbed Drusilla's hand and started to
leave, but turned to Buffy first. "Remember what I said."
"I will. Everything's fine, Angel," Buffy attempted to convince
him. "I promise. Now, go. We've got work to do."
As Angel walked out of the room with Drusilla, the room itself
seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Cordelia sat down in the chair that Buffy had occupied and
crossed her legs. "Well, I for one am glad THAT horror show is
over. Was she trying to run for melodrama queen of the year, or
what?"
Willow pulled herself out of Oz's lap, suddenly uncomfortable
with their closeness. "I'm, uh, gonna go see if Giles needs any
help."
Flustered, Oz stood and watched his girlfriend walk across the
room to the librarian. "Yeah, okay." He felt a hand on his
shoulder, and, looking up, saw Xander standing next to him.
Xander patted Oz's shoulder, then put his hand in his pants
pocket. "It's okay, man. I've got one myself."
Across the room, Spike was a happy vampire. Glad that he finally
had a moment alone with the Slayer since they woke up that
morning, Spike closed the space between the two. "What's the
matter, pet? You're not jealous of Peaches and Dru, are you?"
Buffy psshawed. "What? Jealous of that loon? Right."
Spike, apparently forgetting everyone else in the room around
them, moved even closer to Buffy. Suddenly it seemed as if they
were the only two people in the room as Buffy felt his body
brush against hers. "What about Angel, pet?" Spike asked as he
pushed a few stray hairs from her face. "Are you jealous of
him?" he whispered in her ear.
As her pulse began racing, Buffy's felt herself began to pant a
little. Having Spike next to her, so close, so alone, so . . .
frustrating! Buffy suddenly pushed the vampire away from her and
swung at him, but missed as Spike ducked. "Stop it, Spike! Just
leave me alone, will you? There is nothing going on between us.
Nothing. There will never BE anything between us!"
Buffy stomped to the door, ready to find clues in another room,
preferably one far away from Spike. She stopped as she turned
the doorknob, turning back around to face him; something was
wrong, different. "Spike? Where'd everybody go?"
Looking around, Spike finally realized that they were alone in
the room. In fact, they were alone in a different room
altogether. "Bloody hell."