Shooting Stars

Part 8

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Willow didn't need to worry about her parents when she went home to pack. They were still out of town. Good thing, too, she thought. She had left a small note taped to the fridge that said she'd gone on a trip with school. After all, it was sort of true. And, they'd probably never know she'd even left. That was the good thing about her parents.
She was currently standing in the library, her suitcase resting at her feet. She'd packed a week's worth of clothes, some well-hidden weapons, and the spell stuff Giles had told her not to use. She had no idea of why she'd thought to bring it along. But, if something went wrong, it could possibly help them later.
"Hey," Xander said as came in, a duffel bag strapped over his shoulder and another in his arms. Willow raised her eyebrows curiously.
"How much did you pack?" she asked, as her friend eventually found a way to get both bags to the floor without dropping them.
"Everything I own. My mom said if I didn't find coming home important enough in my daily life, I shouldn't try it ever again, or she'd have me arrested for trespassing," Xander explained. "Hence the double-bagger."
"I'm sorry," Willow said. Xander shrugged.
"No big. Are we still waiting?"
"Yeah. Oz said he'd be here as soon as he got his stuff together, and I'm not sure about Buffy."
"Cool," Xander said. Willow took a seat at the table, as Xander sunk to the floor by his stuff. "I hope Giles tells us why were sitting here with all our stuff."
"He will," Willow said, hoping that she was right…

Oz parked his van around the back of the library, like Willow had suggested. He headed in the 'secret' way, through the back. It was usually used in emergencies, but, according to Willow, this could very well be one of those. It was very likely.
He moved through the stacks, seeing Xander and Willow down by the table. Willow sat at the table and Xander on the floor beside it.
"Still no sign of Giles?" he asked as he came down the stairs. Both of them looked up to him.
"Nope," Willow said with a sigh.
"Nada," Xander added, looking to the door. Hopefully, everyone gets here soon."
"What do you mean, everyone?" Willow asked. Xander looked up to her.
"Giles, Buffy, Angel. He's coming, right?" Willow's jaw dropped.
"Xander, did you just forget that you've hated Angel for, like, ever?" Willow asked.
"Look, I know you find it odd, but I actually understand what it's like to like someone even though other people don't understand it. I can't blame him for that. Plus, he saved our lives from Chaos. That equals some amount of forgiveness and all that stuff," Xander explained. Willow seemed shocked.
"Oh," she said after a pause. She turned to Oz. "Is your stuff in the van?"
"Yeah. So, what's the story?" he asked, taking a seat beside Willow, as Xander shrugged.
"Basically? Giles had a panic attack, told us to meet here after we packed. We left, we packed, and we have returned," Xander said. Oz nodded.
"Where're we goin'?" he asked after a pause.
"We don't exactly know," Willow said.
Now this, Oz thought, is really weird…
* * *
"Mom, Giles said we have to go, so I have to go!" Buffy yelled down to her mother. She was upstairs, packing her things for the trip that they were going on.
"Why? Where? Didn't he say why?" her mother called back.
"No, mom, he didn't," Buffy muttered, going to her closet. She'd need major weaponry if this were as bad as Giles was… Not saying. Well, he was acting like it was the end of the world, for the second time that week. She pulled her trunk out, lifting out the shelf. Her mother stepped into the room.
"My god, how long has that been in there?" Joyce wondered aloud. Buffy shook her head, as if to say 'don't ask', as she pulled out several stakes and the mini-crossbow Giles had let her have. She also removed a few bottles of holy water and a few crosses.
"Look, I really have to get going," she said, putting the top shelf back in the trunk and shoving the whole thing back in the closet. "As in right now." She put the bag of her Slayer stuff in the middle of the clothes in her other bag, so x-ray machines couldn't find the weapons, just in case they were flying. She didn't know what they were doing, or where they were going for that matter.
"Buffy, just tell me what's going on!" Joyce demanded. Buffy zipped up her bag, pushing past her mother and going down to the living room. "What is all this about?"
"Look, mom, Giles didn't tell us anything! He said, 'go home, get packed, and be back here by six'. Now, all I know is that gives me twenty more minutes to find Angel and get-" Buffy stopped when she realized what she'd just said. She'd spent a long time convincing her mother that Angel was dead. Not good, she thought. Not good at all.
"I thought you said-" Buffy interrupted her mother.
"Mom, look, we can deal with this later, alright?" she asked, strapping her bag over her shoulder and turning to the door. Her mother grabbed her arm, spinning her back towards her.
"Buffy, what is going on here?"
"Mom. I don't wanna be mean, but I don't have time for this. I know how much you hate hearing that, and you probably think I'm keeping a lot from you. Right now, I'll tell you the truth, I am. And I have to go, and we really need to wait until later to talk about this." With that, the Slayer shook free of her mother's grip, leaving her in a confused stupor.
And she would deal with it later.
* * *
Giles had, once again, opened most of his 'good' weapons boxes and packed the contents for the upcoming trip. He'd disconnected his phone line so none of the teens he was dragging along with him could call, wanting to know what was going on. Not that he would answer the phone, but that hadn't occurred to him at first. He'd tell them later about what was going on.
When he was translating a random sample of text from the Codex to try and teach Willow how to do the backward translations, he'd discovered another prophecy. It was one of the longer ones, about a second Hellmouth 'coming to be' in England. He didn't know much about the ritual of a newborn Hellmouth, but it would most certainly destroy the world. More so than Chaos's mass-hatred would have.
He supposed that was the funny thing about the Codex. It told you what couldn't be stopped, and left the rest up to you. Kind of like it was preparing a scenario for a game. But, of course, The Powers That Be, which thought that life on Earth was a game, created the Codex. According to them, there was only life on Earth because it was a game.
And, he hoped they would be the winning team in the sick little game. He really didn't want the end of the world to be staring him straight in the face and smiling at him before it struck.
Again.
* * *
Xander glanced up when he heard noises outside the door. Someone had finally shown up, he knew that much. He was hoping that it was Giles.
"Xander? What is it?" Willow asked. He looked up to her.
"Someone's here," he replied. The others looked to the door as Buffy and Angel came in.
"Is Giles here yet?" Buffy asked. Xander shook his head.
"What's up?" Oz asked. Buffy looked to Angel.
"It's Spike. He called me, thinking you guys are all dead and I'm still on his side. He wants me to go to England and help them open the Hellmouth there, or so he says," Angel explained.
"There's more than one Hellmouth?" Willow asked, her eyes wide. Angel shrugged.
"Not yet, but the more time we spend chatting about it, the closer we come to two Hellmouths," Giles said from the doorway. "Angel, if you plan to join us, you'll have to figure out how. We have plane tickets."
"Cargo hold. Kendra used to do that, didn't she Buff?" Xander asked.
"Right. We'll have to try it," Buffy replied. "Oz?"
"Van's out back," Oz said, as the group headed out.
* * *
Spike was pacing, wondering where his new lackie, Daniel was. He was trying to create a Hellmouth, or something like it. He had the perfect plan, and not one of them knew what he was up to. Yet. Daniel was out getting the books that he needed to have to do the ritual. Fortunately, Daniel was not as smart as Dalton, the other bookworm vampire Spike had kept around before the Judge had roasted him alive. Daniel was just another vampire who had a few connections with the dealers that Spike wanted to get in touch with. Plus, he was a complete idiot.
"Spike?" Drusilla's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Why hasn't the party started yet?" She had come over to rest her head on his shoulder. "Aren't we going to have a party?"
"No, Dru. There isn't any place to have our party here yet. That's why we're waiting for that wanker Daniel to get back here with those books. Then, we can have a party," Spike explained, trying to put it into terms his insane girlfriend would understand.
"But you told Angel that-" Drusilla started, but Spike interrupted her.
"I know what I told him, ducks," Spike said, turning to face her. "You know how he is. He'd want the whole explanation, and we don't know what kinds of things are going on in Sunnydale. See, if he's got himself a new bunch of lackies, we don't want 'em all here, and opening a Hellmouth is boring to them. This way, it will be a better party."
"Really?" Drusilla said, her eyes lightening. Spike nodded, as Drusilla smiled, starting her singing again. Spike rolled his eyes, wondering why he bothered to come up with these excuses. He should just tell her he planned to kill Angel and Daniel, and let the demons massacre the Slayer and her friends. He knew they were alive. He had connections in Sunnydale from before. And, they knew that he was alive, and what he was up to. His little plan was, so far, working out perfectly, and they'd have a hard time avoiding his many traps.
It would be fun to see what would happen next…
* * *
Willow sighed, looking out on the lighted city below her. They had gotten to LA and made the seven thirty flight to New York, where they had a quick layover to re-fuel the plane. They had to get off so it could be cleaned, and some passengers were staying in New York while some others were coming from New York to go to England. That would make it easier for Angel to avoid the sun, too, since it would be rising when they got to New York, and it would be afternoon when they got to England.
That would be the hard part. They'd have to figure out a way to deal with that, or they wouldn't have Angel's help on their trip. Or ever again, for that matter.
"You okay?" Oz asked her. She nodded. She was sitting by Oz, with another person in the aisle seat. Xander was two rows back, on the aisle, and Buffy was in front of Oz, Giles beside her.
"I was just thinking," Willow said. Oz nodded. Suddenly, there was a piece of paper sticking through the seats in front of her and Oz. It had Willow's name on it, in Buffy's handwriting. Willow grabbed it, unfolding it and reading.
Willow,
Giles and I were talking, and he wanted to know if you had your Wicca stuff with you?
Buffy
Willow grabbed a pen out of the little pocket in front of her, writing a return note to her friend on the bottom of the page.
* * *
Buffy grabbed Willow's reply note, quickly opening it:
Buffy,
Yeah, I have it. How come? I mean, he's never asked to see any of my stuff before. Did he tell you why he wants to see it?
Willow
Buffy tapped Giles on the arm, letting him see Willow's reply. He nodded, and went back to staring out the window. Buffy waited a moment for a reply, finally grabbing her pen and writing back.
Willow,
Don't know why. He said something about a 'crucial fact' a little bit ago, but I don't know if that has anything to do with this whole mess. And, like earlier, he's not talking'. I'll try to figure it out, though.
Buffy
She passed the note back to Willow, wondering what Giles' 'crucial fact' thing was all about. He was being super-secretive about their whole mission, which was not like Giles. He was usually like; 'we must examine everything and talk about all the boring details for twenty minutes'. Now, it was, 'let's go now, I won't tell you a thing'. It was beginning to get on the Slayer's nerves. Whatever was happening, she couldn't do much to stop it if he wouldn't say what it was they had to stop…
* * *
Oz took the note that was passed back through the seats, tapping Willow's arm to get her attention. She glanced away from the window, taking the note. Oz watched her as she read, making a small reply on the bottom and passing it back.
When she turned again, Oz was looking at her, confused. Willow guessed it was because of the notes, signaling for him to drop his tray down as she grabbed another piece of paper. There were lots of sleeping people, and they had to use notes to be less obvious. But, Oz still wanted to know what was going on.
Willow passed the now-finished note to Oz, who set it on the tray to read it:
Oz,
I guess you're wondering why Buffy and I have so many notes going back and forth, huh?
Well, she and Giles were talking, and he wanted to know if I had my Wicca stuff with me. We think it's because of something he missed that might be in there.
Willow
He dug into his pocket, finally finding a pen. He skipped a line, writing a note to her:
Willow,
What is the fact Giles missed? Maybe we could look it up ahead of time?
Oz
She took it back, reading his note a few times before replying. Probably because his handwriting was a little hard to read. But, when he got it back, he began to wonder how much Giles would really tell them. It simply read:
We don't know.
* * *
Angel didn't know how long the plane had been in the air, but he knew they were still flying. The first time they landed wasn't a problem. They'd stop in New York for a little bit, but he didn't have to get off the plane. And the luggage loading crews shouldn't see him. But, when they landed in England it would be a big problem.
When they did land in England, it would be the middle of the afternoon. And, the airport in London was full of windows and skylights, which made it a whole lot worse. The only places that were not prone to sunlight were the bathrooms, which were usually a good distance from the actual planes.
He'd have to figure something out. If Spike was really planning to go through with this, he was the only one that could tell them what the platinum-blonde vampire would do…
* * *
Giles turned to Buffy, wondering what time it was. But, he found her sound asleep. He smiled, guessing that she hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days. No one had, so he didn't disturb her.
Most of the people on the plane were sleeping, and no one was really paying any attention to any of the other passengers. Giles dug into his bag, pulling out one of his books. It had a few things about new Hellmouths in it, and about the rituals for creating them. Spike probably didn't know that he was getting into a deathtrap.
New Hellmouths, especially when they were just created and then quickly opened, were the most powerful things in the known world. Of spell origin, anyway. There were some creatures out there that were more powerful than even a new Hell-mouth. If Spike succeeded, the entire country of England would be literally destroyed. The Hellmouth would basically rip the whole country apart and let thousands of demons loose all over what had been northern Europe. Which was why they had to find Spike and stop him, quickly.
He noticed a small passage he hadn't managed to translate from Latin to English. With a quick glance around the plane, he set to work on it to pass the time…
* * *
There was fire spiraling across the ground. All different colors of it, almost like it was a rainbow of flames that was literally ripping the ground apart. There was red, followed by orange, then green, blue, purple, and finally deep black flames. At the center was a deep, black pit, which held only the worst of her nightmares.
She could feel the heat of the flames on her skin as it raced up to greet her. Demons leapt from the black pit, running to escape the abyss, or taking to the sky and flying or racing over the ground in all directions. The fire ripped the dirt from under her feet, the heat nearly killing her without the help of the demons.
And then she was falling. Falling down into the black abyss where the demons lurked. Where they waited to rip her apart and taste her flesh… She hit the ground, as a hand closed on her wrist. Its claws dug into her flesh, as she stared into its blood red eyes in terror. It smiled at her, the red spines all over its body shifting as its black skin moved. The smile showed its perfectly white teeth - no, fangs - as it lowered its head to her neck.
She could hear it whisper something as it lowered to sink its teeth deep into her veins: "Goodbye, lover."
* * *
Buffy awoke with a start to see Giles looking at her intensely. His hand was on her wrist, her other hand clasped tightly to the plane's armrest by the window. Her face was covered with an icy sweat; her heart pounding so hard that she couldn't seem to fill her lungs with enough air.
"Giles?" she finally asked, as he let go of her wrist, her eyes wide. "What…?"
"Good heavens, are you all right?" he asked. She nodded, using her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Her knuckles stayed white for several seconds after she pried her fingers off the armrest. "What happened?"
"Um… N-nothing. Bad dream," she said, struggling to remember the dream that she'd had.
"Was it a prophecy?" Giles asked. She looked to him, shaking her head slowly.
"I'm not sure. Maybe," she said after a pause, slowly remembering the dream.
"What happened?" Giles questioned.
"Um, there was fire. I remember seeing rainbow-colored flames, making a-a big hole in the ground. It might've been Spike's new Hellmouth, I'm not sure. There were lots of demons," she said. She paused a moment after the word 'demons'. "Demons…"
"What is it?"
"There was this one demon. He was totally black except for red spines and these deep red eyes. He… He was gonna kill me."
"Did it say anything?" Buffy bit her lip, trying to think back to the end of her dream.
"Yeah, I-I think it did. It said…" Her eyes widened, as she remembered the exact tone of voice the demon used at the end. "Oh god… Angel…"
"What. A-are you sure?"
"No…" Buffy couldn't hear Giles whatsoever. She was totally lost in her own thoughts. "Angelus… It was the demon…"
"What?" Giles' voice finally got to her, and she looked back to him.
"Uh, the demon. You know how when a person is made a vampire, a demon sorta sets up shop in their body? Well, this was the one that found a home in Angel, but he was separated. Like… I don't know, but this was definitely not Angel, Giles. I'm sure of that."
"Buffy, demons like that cannot separate from the host body without dying, and if they can, there's no record of it." The Slayer thought she heard him say 'that's a big 'if'.'
"Wait. That spell," she said after a moment. "Willow's spell to turn a vampire back into a human. It said that the demon and the human fight, and if the human wins, the demon separates, without dying."
"Buffy, we cannot do that spell. Angelus, the demon entity, would most certainly kill Angel and there would be absolutely no way to get him back. There would be no trace of him, for the demon would completely take over the body. And I don't know of any other way something like that could have happened. Are you sure that's what it was?"
"Yes, I'm sure." That ended the discussion, as Giles shook his head and went back to his book. Buffy sighed, growing silent for several minutes. She knew that, somehow, Angel and Angelus had separated in her dream. It was a prophecy, it would happen. But, if Willow didn't do it, who did?
* * *
Xander awoke to the landing of the plane, surprised that he'd actually fallen asleep. He didn't, however, have to wonder what he had been dreaming about. He'd been dreaming of Cordelia again, wishing that she were there with all of them. Sure, she could be annoying and they fought all the time. But, he was in love with her, and no one could change that. It was interesting how he understood how Buffy felt about Angel now. No one liked it, but they'd have to accept it. It was the same way with him and Cordelia, and, eventually, the others would all learn to live with it.
The teen grabbed his stuff, standing. Everyone had agreed to meet right outside the gate, seeing as they had all been separated for the flight. He slowly made his way through the crowd, meeting up with the others.
"Hey guys," he said. Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but something else caught her attention. Slowly, everyone turned to see what she was staring at. People started screaming. There was a pack of vampires, fifteen, at least, who were slowly spreading out to give them no chance of escape. "What's goin' on?" Xander wondered aloud.
"Someone knows we're lookin' to crash," Oz said. Buffy nodded in agreement.
"And vamps don't like crashers. I speak from experience," Buffy said. "Especially vamps like Spike." Xander guessed that she was referring to the time she and Angel crashed Spike and Drusilla's party at the factory when they were assembling the Judge. It nearly got both of them killed.
"Now what?" Willow asked, as Buffy dropped her bag to the ground, digging out her Slayer stuff. She pulled out several stakes, tossing one to Xander and handing two to Oz. He passed one of them to Willow, who took that as a legitimate answer to her question of 'now what'. Giles also took a weapon, as they all faced the onslaught. Midnight dark, to be exact.
"Guys? What about the sun?" Oz asked. Buffy looked to the windows amazed that it was still dark.
"Not a problem," one of the vampires pointed out.
"Damn. Spike must have started the ritual," Giles muttered.
"Get them," one of them said, as people began to see what was going on and started screaming and running in all directions. The circle closed quickly, as Xander backed up into one of the windows. One of the vamps charged at him, and he stepped aside to watch him fall down and onto a wooden crate that splintered, killing the vampire in the process.
Then, there was a sharp pain in the back of Xander's neck. He fell halfway through the broken window, the side of his face sliding across a piece of glass. The last thing he felt was the blood running down the side of his head before his vision blurred and gave up to darkness…
* * *
Willow grabbed the vampire that had knocked Xander out, pulling him backwards into a position for Oz to stake him. She was leaning down to help Xander, but Giles' call for help interrupted that impulse. And she hoped that the vampires would leave Xander alone until Giles was okay.
Willow pulled the vampire off Giles, staking him. That was what was wrong with our attempts over the summer, she thought. If we can catch the vampires, then we can kill them.
"Get the Slayer!" one of the vampires yelled as they withdrew from the others to attack Buffy. There were exactly twelve out of seventeen left, and most of them were the bigger, stronger, older types.
"Come on!" Oz yelled, as they all moved to help the Slayer.
* * *
Buffy kicked one vampire in the chest, using her cast to break the nose of another. One grabbed the back of her neck, but she bent down low, twisting to get away from him, backhanding another as she jumped to avoid being tripped.
There were twelve or so vampires all trying to attack her at the same exact time and she only had the one stake. Which was now knocked from her hand by a swift kick from one of her many attackers. She executed a quick roundhouse kick to the one that had disarmed her, not staying to watch him fall.
"A message from Spike," one of them said, punching her in the stomach. She doubled over, trying to catch her breath as another grabbed her from behind. As soon as she could stand again, she lifted her leg back, right between the male vampire's legs. He quickly let go of his hold on her arms, doubling over.
Now, Willow, Oz, and Giles were helping her. There were exactly nine vampires left alive. They were still very outnumbered, but they were winning. So far.
Suddenly, Buffy was on the ground, a big vampire smothering her. She fought to free herself, surprised at how strong he was. He smiled, as she tired to pull her wrists from his arms, which were pinning her to the ground. He lowered his head to her neck, and…
Turned to dust. Buffy rolled over, quickly getting to her feet. She grabbed the stake Willow held out to her, shoving it in the chest of another. There were still six more of them. Oz, Willow, and Giles were each busy with one, which left three for the Slayer to kill on her own.
As one of them charged, she quickly dusted him. The one with the broken nose tried to punch her, but she blocked it, quickly killing him as well. The third was the one that had punched her in the stomach. He was apparently the leader of the group.
"Die, Slayer!" he said, knocking away her weapon and kicking her in the knee. She fell to the ground, as he got right down beside her, sitting on her right arm as he grabbed her hair and pulled her head off the ground. She'd landed a few feet away from Xander. "Nighty night."
"Sleep tight," she finished when she felt a sharp piece of glass under her hand. She grabbed it, shoving it into his upper arm. He screamed, letting go of her and standing up to run around like an idiot. He was the only one left.
"Catch!" Oz yelled, tossing her his stake. She quickly killed him.
"Thanks," she said, turning to the others. Oz nodded, using his sleeve to wipe blood away from his nose. Giles had a deep gash on his hand, Buffy guessed from falling on the glass, and Willow had a cut on her cheek. They were covered in various little scrapes and bruises, and Buffy had a cut over her eye that stung, but wasn't too bad.
"Ow," Xander muttered, slowly getting to his feet. There was a gash across his face that had just missed his right eye, and blood was smeared all over his neck.
"You okay?" Buffy asked. Xander looked around for a minute before nodding.
"Um, we're… Boarding…?" the stewardess said from the desk. Everyone grabbed his or her stuff, heading onto the plane like nothing had even happened. As a kind of ironic end to the battle, a small shard of glass fell from the top of the window, shattering when it hit the ground. The window was now totally broken.
"Figures," Xander muttered, as they all left the terminal.
* * *
Giles sank into his seat on the plane, grateful to get a little rest after the battle that had just taken place inside. This time, the five of them had seats in the same general area, which was nice. Oz was by the window, Willow in the middle, and the Watcher by the aisle. In front of him, there was an empty seat, followed by Xander, and Buffy sat in front of Oz.
As the plane took off, Giles got out the book he'd been working with. There was some important information inside, and it might help them when they finally got to England…
* * *
Oz watched the clouds sink below them as the airplane rose into the sky. Willow rested her head on his shoulder, probably just as tired as he was. But, they had a long flight before they reached England, and that was always good. They could all get some sleep.
They would be serving breakfast on the flight, which was also good. Oz was pretty hungry after the whole battle thing, and he hadn't had a decent meal since about a week ago, before they knew the world was ending the first time. He glanced over to Giles, who was totally lost in some old book, as usual.
"What's up?" Willow asked, lifting her head to look at him. He glanced to the window.
"Well," he said, looking back to her with a smile, "we are." Willow smiled, giving him her 'not literally' look.
"I know that," she said. Oz's smile grew.
"I was just wondering what we're planning to do when we get to England," Oz said. Willow shrugged.
"Find and kill Spike, I think," she said. The stewardess walked up to their row, pushing a cart with breakfast items on it.
"Breakfast?" she asked Giles, who looked up and shook his head before going back to his book. "You?" she asked Willow.
"Yes, please," Willow replied, taking the cereal box and milk from her so she didn't have to try and reach over Giles. Oz smiled, nodding when he was offered breakfast. The absence of light was a little strange, but otherwise, it was pretty much a normal morning.
Which he could, gratefully, deal with.
* * *
Angel knew something was very wrong. Even behind the solid body of the airplane, he should've been able to sense the sunrise, but there was nothing. They were on the way to England, but the sun hadn't risen, which could mean one of two things. Giles had calculated wrong, or Spike was already starting the ritual.
Plus, they didn't know anything about the trip. Giles hadn't been telling them a thing, which was also odd. Usually he elaborated on subjects to the point of boring everyone half to death. And, Angel knew that the Watcher knew something that he wasn't telling them. He'd never kept things from them before, though. Which equaled serious problem.
Maybe he was sure that this time, they were on a suicide mission. From what he knew, creating a Hellmouth was the most dangerous magick ritual to ever be created. It didn't usually kill the person that opened it, but whoever was near it…
"Damn," Angel said to himself, wondering how he could've been stupid enough to walk right into Spike's trap. He knew they were alive, and was leading them to England to kill them, and they were playing right into his hands.
Or, maybe they weren't. Now that one of them knew what was going on, they could hopefully turn his plan against him. Use his own trap to catch him. He was planning to get them, so they'd just have to get him first…
* * *
Xander flinched as Buffy wiped the blood away from his cut. He had figured that when the vampire pushed him out the window, he'd fallen and then slid across one of the broken pieces. As he'd already told Buffy, he didn't remember any of it, even though he was sort of awake the whole time.
"Hold still," she said, dabbing more of it away. Luckily, someone had thought to pack gauze, tape, and some antiseptic stuff that really stung. They didn't want to ask the flight crew for stuff. Xander was glad, even if the cut did sting like all hell. Buffy said it would be worth it when he didn't get an infection, so he'd shut up about it.
"Sorry," he apologized for his twitching. She set the bloody gauze on the tray, taping a clean piece over the cut.
"You know, this is only temporary, right? When we get back, you'll need stitches. We're just lucky it missed your eye," Buffy said.
"Stitches?" Xander asked, trying not to jerk his head to look at her as she continued to cover the cut.
"Yeah. Xander, this cut will never heal if we just cover it up," she said, taping the last bit of gauze to his face.
"Great." He sighed, leaning back against the seat. He closed his eyes, wondering what would happen to them when they got to England. Spike wouldn't be too happy to see them all, that was for sure…
* * *

Part 9

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