Buffy’s cell phone rang, the caller id said it was Spike.

“Hey, baby, miss me already?”  she answered seductively.

Giles cleared his throat, “Buffy, it’s me.”

“Oh – Giles, sorry!”

“We’re being followed.  It’s a red BMW convertible, not far behind us.  It looks like Glory.”

Spike, Giles, Willow and Annie had only left about half an hour ago in the Desoto heading for L.A.  Obviously, Glory had been waiting for someone to run. Fuck, Buffy thought, I should have sent a decoy out first.

“Where are you?” 

After getting their location, Buffy said, “Ok, we’re on the way.  Tell Spike not to drive too fast unless she makes a move on you.  Give us a chance to get there and stop her.”

Closing the cell phone and rising from her chair, she said, “Ok, Xand, we’re up – let’s rock and roll.”

**~**

“There it is!” Xander said, pointing ahead of them about four cars.  In the next lane and a little ahead of them was a red BMW convertible and it was most definitely Glory driving.

Buffy hit the speed dial on her phone, Giles answered and, without preamble Buffy said, “Ok, we’re here.  We’re gonna block her, try to get her stopped. Tell Spike to punch it – get out of here.”

“Ok, Xander, do whatever you have to do to get her to slow down – if we can get her to stop, that would be even better,”  Buffy instructed.

“And don’t die,” came from Anya in the back seat.

“Right. Hold on.” Xander had no idea how he was going to get the hell god to pull over, but he sped up, jumped in the lane in front of her and immediately hit his brakes - hard.  Glory swerved off the shoulder to avoid hitting them and came to a stop about twenty feet off the pavement.

“Way to go, Xander!” Buffy exclaimed. “Pull over! Pull over! Keep the motor running.”

Before Xander could come to a stop, Buffy had the door open and was jumping out, rolling to her feet she sprinted back to where Glory’s car was stopped, but when she came up to it she stopped short.  It wasn’t Glory, but a brown haired young man sitting behind the wheel.  Buffy frowned and narrowed her eyes, considering this. Where had Glory gone?  Buffy scanned the area but didn’t see anyone else.

“Are you ok?”  Buffy asked warily.

“I . . . I think so, I don’t know what happened.”  The young man looked perplexed.

“Who are you?”  Buffy stood back from the car watching carefully.

“My name’s Ben.  What’s going on? Who are you?” Ben looked at Buffy, questioning.

“I’m . . . I’m Buffy, you were nearly in an accident.  I’m afraid it was all our fault.”  Buffy motioned towards the car where Xander and Anya waited.

“Oh, well, there doesn’t seem to be any damage.  Thank you for stopping though.  That doesn’t happen often here.”  Ben smiled at her.

“Yeah, sure.  Where are you headed, anyway?”

“I’m not sure . . .” Ben tried to determine exactly where they were.

“Just out for a drive, then?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah, I guess that was it.”  Ben smiled again.  “Guess I better be going.  It was nice to meet you.”

“Yeah.”  Buffy turned and started walking back to Xander’s car, shaking her head, trying to figure out what was going on . . . how did Glory get out of that car and where is she now?

Just then, she heard a motor rev from behind her and dove out of the way just in time to avoid being run down by the red BMW.  Catching a glimpse as the car sped past her, she could see that it was Glory driving now.  What the fuck is going on?  Jumping to her feet she ran back to Xander’s car and jumped in.

 “GO!”

“Buffy, what’s going on? Why were you talking to her?”  Xander asked as he tried to merge back onto the highway in pursuit of Glory.

“I . . . I don’t know . . . she wasn’t there . . . it was someone else . . . and then she was trying to run me down . . ." Buffy shook her head trying to clear the confusion.  “I don’t know what’s going on.  Just follow the car.  Surely Spike’s gotten far enough away by now that she can’t catch him and follow.”

Xander did as she asked, keeping the BMW in sight.  Buffy called Spike to find out where they were and, she was right, they were many miles ahead of them, so there was no way Glory could be following them.

Every once in a while, Xander would pull in front of Glory and slow down, making her keep her speed down, at least for a little while until she could change lanes.  She didn’t seem to recognize them in the car, or, Buffy thought, She doesn’t care. Why doesn’t she care?

**~**

Tuesday, near dawn:

Spike pulled into the underground parking at the Hyperion Hotel in L.A., it was nearly dawn.  Willow and Annie were asleep in the back seat, while Giles was keeping watch for any sign of Glory and her red BMW.  What neither Spike nor Giles saw was the non-descript brown compact car that rolled slowly by the Hyperion when they had turned in, or the crusty minion that was behind the wheel of it.

Spike picked up the phone and hit the speed dial. 

“Yeah,” came the answer from Buffy.

“We’re here,”  Spike said simply.

“Good.  Glory is just reaching the city limits, she couldn’t know where you are.”  Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.  “We’re going to stick with her.  I’ll call you later, ok?”

“Ok.”  Spike paused, “Buffy?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

“I’m the Queen of careful.  I love you.”  Buffy smiled into the phone.

“I love you, too,” Spike replied before hitting the end button.

Spike lifted Annie out of the car seat and woke Willow up.  Giles grabbed Spike’s bag as well as his own, handing Willow hers and they trudged up the stairs that led to the hotel lobby.  Angel and Faith were sitting in the small kitchen off to one side of the lobby when the trio walked in.

Angel was the first out the door to greet them. “Spike," he said dryly.

“Angel.” Spike forced his tone to be neutral as he addressed his grandsire. Spike had Annie in his arms, her sleeping head resting against his shoulder; he didn’t offer to shake hands. 

Angel turned to the others. “Giles, Willow . . . welcome.  We’ve got some rooms set up for you on the second floor.”  Angel took one of the bags from Giles and led the way up the stairs.

After settling everyone into a room, satisfied that they didn’t need anything else, Angel went back to Spike’s room and stepped inside.

Spike looked up from where he was tucking Annie into the bed. “Didn’ Darla teach you any manners?”

“Spike, I know you don’t want to be here,” Angel started, Spike snorted like that was the understatement of the year but Angel ignored him. “I promised Buffy I would help take care of Annie and I meant it.  You have to trust me, Spike . . . we have to trust each other in this.”

Spike studied him closely. “No matter how many promises you make to Buffy, you’re not gonna get her back, you know.”

“I know that, Spike,”  Angel said, resigned.  “She’s made that very clear. But that doesn’t mean I don’t owe her for what I’ve put her through.”

Spike cocked his head, eyes narrowed considering Angel. “What about what you’ve put me through . . . don’t think you owe me a bit?”

“Spike,” Angel dragged his name out, as if talking to an insolent child.

“Never mind, then.  Gonna get some shut-eye.  Wake me if anything comes up.”  Spike turned from Angel and headed towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door and took a deep breath, closing his eyes he let it out slowly.  He absolutely hated having to get help from Angel.

**~**

Xander, Buffy and Anya watched as Glory pulled into one of the most posh hotels in Century City and went inside.  Watching across the lobby, they could see her get a room and head to the elevators. 

“We need to know what room she’s in,”  Buffy said to no one in particular. 

She was trying to think how to get that tidbit from the hotel desk clerk, knowing how tight lipped they were with things like that, when Anya said, “Why don’t we just follow her?”

Xander and Buffy looked at her. “Well, we’ve been following her all this way and she hasn’t cared, why should she start now?”

Unfortunately, that was true, and it bothered Buffy that it didn’t bother Glory that she was being followed.

Buffy shrugged and started towards the elevator right behind Glory. “You guys stay here in case she decks me,”  she called over her shoulder.

Glory ignored Buffy as she stood behind her, waiting for the elevator to arrive.  Inside the elevator, Glory addressed her, both women facing front towards the elevator doors. “Nice hotel, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Very,”  Buffy agreed.

“Didn’t know they paid Slayer’s enough to afford it,”  Glory continued amiably.

“Didn’t know they paid ex-hell gods anything . . ."  Buffy countered.

Glory smiled and stepped out of the elevator on the seventh floor. “This is my stop.  I’m in room 713, if you want to stop by later for a drink,” she called over her shoulder to Buffy.

Bad, bad, bad, bad! Buffy thought as she rode the elevator back down.  She’s way too confident . . . we’re missing something.

She, Xander and Anya got a double room on the seventh floor as close to Glory as they could.  One of them stayed in the hallway at all times near Glory’s room to make sure she didn’t leave, while the others would rest, taking shifts every hour.  Glory had room service delivered, but never left her room.

Buffy called Spike later that afternoon and told him where they were and what had happened with Glory, including how unconcerned she was.

“Sure,” he’d said, “you put us up in this soddin’ flea bag hotel of Angel’s and you’re in the lap of luxury!”

Buffy laughed, which is what he wanted her to do. She talked to Annie and told her how much she missed her and loved her. She  made Spike promise to get everyone there together and make sure there was always someone on lookout, because she had a bad feeling that Glory knew more than she was letting on.

“If she starts moving, I’ll call you,”  she’d said, at last.  “I love you, Spike, more than you’ll ever know.”

“I love you too, Buffy.  Please be careful, luv. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you,” he said before hitting the end button.

**~**

Wednesday, 12am, Midnight:

Buffy was standing on the cliff, holding Annie, watching the sun start to rise on the horizon.  She felt Spike walk up behind her and started to turn around to face him.

“Buffy! . . . Buffy, wake up!”

She opened her eyes to see Xander shaking her shoulder.  “I’m up! I’m up!” she said, more to convince herself than Xander.

“She’s moving!”  Anya called from the doorway.

“What time is it?”  Buffy tried to focus on her watch.

“Midnight,”  Xander told her.

Glory hadn’t left the hotel room the whole day yesterday or today.  She’d order in room service, sometimes they would see Ben answer the door to let the waiter in with the food, other times it was Glory.  They couldn’t figure out how Ben got in the room, but neither of them ever left the room, until now.

“Let’s go.”  Buffy was up as they all three followed Glory onto the elevator.

“Midnight stroll?”  Buffy asked.

“Something like that,”  Glory answered cheerfully.

After retrieving their car from the valet, just behind Glory’s, they piled in and followed her. 

“Something’s very wrong,”  Buffy said.  “Glory’s heading straight towards the Hyperion.  She knows.”

Buffy called Spike. “Spike, she’s coming right for you!  Somehow she knows where you are!” 

“Ok, Buffy, we’re ready,”  Spike assured her.

“Spike?” 

“Yeah, baby?” 

“Don’t forget your promise.”  Buffy blinked back tears.

“I haven’t.  I love you.” 

“I love you, too.  We’ll be there soon . . . along with Glory, apparently.”

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