Latter Days by Enigmaticblue

Summary: Set post-Chosen. After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world to respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able to keep their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances and torn apart by fate? Follows my short story Yesterday.

Author's Notes: Remember how things went after Chosen? Well, forget about all of that, and ignore the comics. This is my version. This series is comprised of Latter Days, Faithfully Dangerous, and Now and Always, and the entire series will be known by the third title. You’ll see why. (And although some of the locations mentioned in this fic exist, this is my world, which means that I’m twisting reality to my own ends.)

“What a beautiful piece of heartache/This has all turned out to be/Lord knows we've learned the hard way/All about healthy apathy…There is a me you would not recognize, dear/Call it the shadow of myself/And if the music starts before I get there/Dance without me, you dance so gracefully/I really think I'll be okay/They've taken a toll, these latter days/Nothing like sleeping on a bed of nails/Nothing much here but our broken dream/Oh, but baby, if all else fails/Nothing is ever quite what it seems…” ~Over the Rhine, “Latter Days”

Chapter 13: New Council Headquarters, Bath, England

“…I’m glad to hear that Zoë made it back to Rio safely, and I let Giles know what you said about Davis. He’s working on finding a spot for him where he can’t do too much damage. Tell Faith that when she’s ready Giles will make the arrangements for her to go to L.A. We need Wesley, and we need to know more about the amulet and where it came from…” ~Excerpt from an email from Dawn Summers to Willow Rosenberg

“Hey, pet.”

Dawn glanced up from her schoolbooks to see Spike standing in the doorway. “Hey. Did you just get in?”

“Few minutes ago. Buffy passed on a message for you.” Spike handed her an envelope with her name scrawled prominently across the front. “She seemed to think you might be angry with her.”

Dawn winced. “I’m not angry. I’m busy, and I miss her.”

“Might want to let her know that, pet,” he replied. “Buffy’s feelin’ a bit cut off as it is.”

She didn’t respond, not knowing what to say. Dawn missed her sister, but at the same time, Giles was more willing to let her expand her horizons than Buffy was. The freedom and responsibility were greatly appreciated, but she could understand why Buffy was feeling left out. “I’ll call her,” Dawn promised. “How did the surprise go?”

“It was successful,” Spike said, trying to sound as though it didn’t matter. Dawn knew better; he’d practically been bouncing with excitement before he’d left.

“I take it that Buffy enjoyed getting out in the sun with you,” Dawn teased.

Spike shrugged. “We didn’t get out much.”

“I’ll bet,” she replied with a smirk.

He fixed her with a glare. “You’re a bit too young for innuendo, luv.”

“I was old enough for innuendo a long time ago.” She glanced down at her books. “I should probably finish this. I’ve got some schedules to work out for Giles yet.”

“Forget about those,” Spike said suddenly. “Let’s get out for a bit, Nibblet.”

“Where?”

“Dunno, just out. We’ll go to the pub.”

Dawn hesitated for just a moment before making her decision. She’d learned all about lost opportunities in the past few years, and if she couldn’t have her sister around, hanging out with Spike was the next best thing.

“Sure,” she replied. “I can do this later.”

~~~~~

The weekend with Buffy had been too short, but Spike had expected that. They had made plans to meet up again in a few weeks, but at the moment that date seemed far off. The one bright spot was the fact that his relationship with Dawn was back on solid ground, and better than it had ever been.

“You still makin’ googly eyes at that Watcher?” Spike asked, taking a sip of his beer as Dawn devoured a sandwich.

She glared at him, pausing to swallow the bite she’d just taken. “I wasn’t making ‘googly eyes,’” she shot back. “We were working together.”

Spike grinned, pleased to be able to tease her. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I hear that honey catches more flies than vinegar,” she replied. “Besides, dating a Watcher is probably not a good idea. Workplace romances can end up biting you in the ass, and if it does work out, it would probably end up being long distance.”

“It’s not ideal,” Spike agreed.

Dawn’s expression was sympathetic. “How are you two doing?”

“Good.” He shook his head ruefully. “We’re doin’ better than we ever have, an’ we’re hundreds of miles apart. I’m not sure what that says.”

“That you’re more mature now?” Dawn suggested, grinning.

It was his turn to glare, although he couldn’t exactly disagree with her. Spike thought that Dawn was probably right; he and Buffy had both changed over the years. Luckily for him, they’d grown closer, rather than further apart. “Yeah, well, looks like it’s goin’ to be awhile before we can take advantage of it.”

“Once we get more Slayers and Watchers trained, you guys can find a place to stay together,” Dawn suggested.

“If we keep losin’ Slayers before we can even get to them, we’re goin’ to have a hard time with that,” Spike responded.

Dawn sighed. “Yeah. Did Giles tell you that we’re having trouble getting into China? And Indonesia? There are at least five Slayers that we know of in those countries, and we can’t get to them.”

“That right?” Spike asked thoughtfully.

She frowned. “Do you know a way to get them out?”

“I might.” The plan was not even half-formed, but he had an idea. There was a good chance that the head Watcher would refuse to consider it; on the other hand, Spike thought that he might just go ahead and do it anyway. It wasn’t about who knew best anymore, it was about saving lives.

~~~~~

Giles had become used to having Spike around more quickly than he’d ever thought possible, particularly since he’d been none too certain that his plan for using his talents would work. Granted, Spike seemed to have an affinity for Slayers, but that didn’t mean he was the right one to train them.

In truth, Spike was perfect for the job. He was hard on them, but gentle enough with the younger ones that Giles hadn’t had any complaints. They had eight Slayers now, between the ages of eleven and eighteen; it seemed that puberty was a trigger, while eighteen was the cutoff. It was yet to be determined whether there would be new Slayers selected as younger girls aged.

If that was the case, Giles knew that they could easily be overwhelmed with pre-teens—not a prospect he relished.

As though his thoughts had summoned him, the brief knock on the door was shortly followed by Spike slipping into the room. “You got a minute?”

“I do,” Giles replied. “How was your weekend?”

Spike shrugged. “Nice enough. Bit short.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he said sincerely. “I realize that it’s an imposition on you both.”

“It is what it is,” Spike said philosophically. “Not why I’m here, anyway. Dawn tells me you’re havin’ trouble getting to some of the Slayers.”

Giles nodded. “There are countries we just can’t get into. We had the resources in the past, but we lost most of those, and the rest have been out of contact.”

“How do you feel about workin’ with demons?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Not the sort of demons that’ll suck a Slayer’s blood or marrow,” he clarified. “I’m talkin’ about the kind that would prefer to live an’ let live.”

Giles began to see what he was getting at. “How would that work?”

“Demons are used to getting places under the radar.” Spike leaned back in his chair. “I can think of a few clans who have access to those countries, an’ who would probably help you out in exchange for an agreement to let them alone.”

He began to clean his glasses. “I see.”

“You don’t like the idea,” Spike said in a flat tone. “You don’t think I can pull it off?”

“Somehow, I have no doubt that you can.” Giles’ mind was racing over the implications of making agreements with demons, friendly or not. Getting the older Watchers to agree to a peace treaty with demons of any sort would be problematic, but training Slayers introduced another wrinkle.

Black and white was always easier to teach than navigating the gray areas.

“What’s the problem?” Spike said, his tone even, although Giles could sense a kindling anger.

“The problem is that the older Watchers are highly unlikely to agree,” he replied. “And we’ll somehow have to get Slayers to believe that they’re safe with them, and how to distinguish between friend and foe.”

Spike’s eyebrow went up. “You should have been doin’ that all along.”

“Perhaps,” Giles agreed. “But what’s done is done. Even if we do change the training regimen, that will not prepare the new Slayers for being approached by a demon.”

“What other choice do you have?” Spike demanded. “An’ it’s not really your problem at that point. They’ll know what to do, and how to get their point across.”

Giles couldn’t believe that he was actually contemplating trusting demons with the welfare of a number of young Slayers, but Spike had a point. Demons lived in a shadow world that rarely touched their own. It was at least possible that they would have a better chance at finding the Slayers the Council hadn’t been able to reach.

“Can you set it up?”

“I can make inquiries,” Spike replied. “I’d need to go to London for a few days. Don’t know how many of my old contacts are around, but I might be able to find a couple.”

Giles nodded. “How much money will you need to get it done?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Uh, I’m not sure. Hadn’t really thought that far ahead, to be honest.”

Giles reached into his desk drawer and pulled out one of the Council’s credit cards. He didn’t give them out often or lightly; he made the purchases or delegated the task to someone else, but there weren’t many people he would entrust with what was essentially a blank check.

Spike took it with a look that demonstrated that he knew exactly what Giles was giving him. “An’ if they only take cash?”

“That’s for your expenses,” Giles explained. “If you need money to seal an agreement, just let me know. As to the details, you have carte blanche, within reason.”

“What’s ‘within reason?’”

“Don’t give away everything we’ve got,” Giles replied. “But I think you’ve got more brains than that.”

Spike nodded. “I’ll give you a call soon as I can to let you know what’s goin’ on.”

“I would appreciate it.” Giles took a deep breath. “What sort of demons are you thinking?”

“Brachen, maybe. They’re skilled buggers at avoiding customs an’ getting in an’ out without being seen. They’re clannish, but generally friendly.”

Giles nodded, satisfied. “And would be more than happy to have a deal with the Council, or to make it official. The Slayers have never sought to harm Brachens.”

“Listers might help out, too, an’ there are a couple of other types that might agree for a price.” Spike shook his head. “It’ll depend on who I can get hold of. Some of them won’t talk to half-breeds or humans. Takes all kinds, yeah?”

Giles nodded. “Yes, I suppose so. Do what you can, and let me know what you can.”

Spike rose. “I’ll leave immediately and be back as soon as I can. Audra can handle the girls for now.”

“Spike,” he called as the vampire turned the door handle. “Thank you. This may present the solution that we’re looking for, and it could save a number of lives.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah. No problem.”

He let out a long breath. He still thought it was a long shot, but there was at least the possibility of success—and that was more than he’d had a few hours before.

~~~~~

Miriam sat back in her chair, satisfied with how events were unfolding. Spike was doing exactly what she’d suspected he would, and she was grateful that her character assessment had been accurate. If it hadn’t been, they would have had to go back to the drawing board.

The seers among the coven had been keeping her apprised of the glimpses they caught of the future; she had two witches dedicated to finding Slayers, but she had another two who were assigned to periodically looking into the seeing bowl.

The bowl that Buffy had retrieved was sitting in front of her, waiting to be used, although not for the first time. The first time, she had seen Spike’s fate, and she had added a tracking spell to the ring she had already made. The second time, she had seen another Slayer and had passed the information along so that they could find her in time.

This time—this time she had been given a glimpse of how the world could end, if the appropriate steps were not taken.

Giles’ phone call had just assured her that those steps would be taken without her having to meddle. In the past, she’d found that it was easier if the future remained an unknown to those whose actions upon which it depended.

“Yes?” she called when she heard the knock on her workroom door.

One of the younger members of the coven poked her head in. “There’s a phone call for you, Miriam. Do you have time?”

“Who is it?”

“It’s Willow.”

“Put the call through,” Miriam directed. She smiled. Willow had been one of her best students, and had certainly been a success story. “Willow,” she said when the call came through. “It’s so nice to hear from you.”

“Likewise,” Willow responded. “I was calling to ask whether you had any additional information on the Slayers in our area.”

“Other than those you’ve already found, I count another one in Mexico and one in Guatemala,” Miriam said. “How is Zoë?”

“She wasn’t hurt too badly,” Willow responded. “And the venom seems to have run its course.”

“It’s good to know that our remedy is just as effective for Porenos demons as it is for Yneks. They’re close cousins, but we couldn’t be completely certain until it was tested.”

“And it’s not like you can just go out and poison someone to figure it out,” Willow replied wryly. “Thanks, Miriam.”

Miriam hesitated, then said, “I need some assistance.”

“Of course,” Willow replied without hesitation. “Anything you need.”

Miriam took a deep breath. “You may not like it.”

There was a pause, and Willow said. “I trust you.”

“Good. Because I need you to delay Buffy when the time comes.” Miriam knew how this had to be done, but she was fairly certain that her protégé wasn’t going to like it.