Title: Clueless 10/20
Authors: Kim & Jen
Feedback: Oh yes, please! It's our drug of choice.
Disclaimer: We don't, never have, never will. We own our obsession with the G-man. We let them have fun and return them relatively unscathed to the Jossverse. Although, they probably have more fun with us.
As they ascended the stairs, Buffy kept looking over her shoulder.
At first, Giles thought she was trying to communicate something to him. The third time her eyes passed over him, he called the group to a halt on the landing.
"Buffy, are you alright?" he asked.
The others looked from Giles to Buffy.
"I don't know. I keep getting the feeling that someone is watching us. I can't sense any one thing. It's just that feeling."
Xander nodded. "You mean like that feeling when you're in a crowd, and people look at you funny and it turns out that you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe?"
As the group stared at him, he sighed. "Okay, I guess that only happens to me."
Buffy shook her head and said, "No, not that. More like a painting with eyes that follow you no matter where you stand."
"Oooh, I hate that one," Willow replied. "That twitchy niggle in the back of your head."
The group progressed up the stairs not seeing the eyes blink in the painting they just passed.
They stopped at the head of the stairs and Dawn faced them.
Pointing to the left, she said, "There are six bedrooms that way and six in the other direction. The seventh door goes to the attic, but we never had the chance to go up. Spike wanted to get you guys before we checked it out. I wanted to go without you. When I turned back around, he was gone."
"Show us the light first," Buffy ordered.
Dawn strode to the door and walked in the room. She opened the window and looked out.
"Huh. It's gone now."
Giles leaned out of the window and glanced around. As he started to lean back into the room, he saw it.
"Dawn, is this your light?"
Dawn took his place at the window and bounced. "That's it!"
"If we are able to make our way onto the grounds, we should be able to find it again," he told the others. "Now, show us the attic, if you please."
Dawn led them out of the bedroom and down the hall to the proper door. Buffy opened it and peered up the steps. She looked over her shoulder at Giles, and he nodded.
Motioning Dawn and Xander to stay at the doorway, he pointed for Willow to join Buffy and himself. Taking point, Buffy crept quietly up the stairs. Willow followed her lead, as did Giles.
As soon as her head cleared the floor of the attic, Buffy stopped and gazed at the room.
It was empty. There were no obstructions for anyone to hide behind. She walked up the remaining steps and looked around. When Giles and Willow joined her, they were silent.
"Ok, could it have been her imagination?" Willow asked.
"Probably not," Buffy answered. "If it had been, there would have been creepy bodies floating in mid air pointing the way."
While Giles and Willow searched the space, Buffy moved back to the stairs and called Xander and Dawn to join them.
They heard the reassuring clomp of footsteps before they saw them.
"Dawn, are you sure it came from here?" Giles questioned.
"Yes. It came from above our heads. This is the only place it could have been."
They wandered around the room looking at the nothing that surrounded them. All drew up short when Willow squealed.
"Footprints!"
Xander told the others to stay back as he went over to her. He bent over the prints and said, "These are just like the ones in the ballroom. Boots, of some kind."
Buffy did a double take over his shoulder and replied, "I know that tread. Those are military boots."
Giles stared at Buffy, their previous conversation coming back to them. She shrugged her shoulders.
"It figures they'd return. I knew it was too good to last."
"Who Buff?" Willow asked.
"Who else, Will? The Initiative."
*******************
When they regrouped at the top of the stairs in the hallway, they were subdued.
"Why would they come back now? It's all quiet on the Hellmouth front," Xander inquired.
"Because they can, they got bored doing nothing, take your pick," Dawn answered.
"We do not know if it is the Initiative. Those types of boots can be bought in numerous stores. We mustn't jump to any conclusions, as of yet," Giles told them.
"Giles is right. Let's look for Anya and Tara, first. Will, did you guys find anything in the kitchen?" Buffy asked.
"Nope, we were looking for the secret passageway like in the movie. We hadn't gotten much past that when we started arguing."
"Dare I ask what this argument concerned?" Giles requested.
Willow looked everywhere but at him. "I took the spell ingredients from the table, and I wanted to try a spell to see if it would show us any hidden doors. Tara wanted to wait for you, but I wanted to go ahead."
"Willow," Giles said harshly. "You should have placed them in the cabinet with the other weapons. Need I remind you want happened to Spike? We have no idea where we are, no means of communication with the outside, and no way of knowing exactly how long we may be here. All of our resources must be conserved until they needed. May I please have the ingredients?"
Willow handed them over with a pout and stomped down the stairs. "First Tara, then you. Why do people treat me like a wayward child?"
"Will," Buffy said harshly, as they followed her down, "when you act like a child, you have to expect to be treated as one."
"Oh, says the person who uses that patented pout and quivering lip to get out of training," Willow replied with sarcasm.
"Training is one matter. Life and possible death is another, and Buffy has never pouted her way out of an apocalypse," Giles told her softly as they re-entered the study.
"I know. I'm sorry, Buff. I just… I want Tara back."
Buffy reached for Willow's hand and squeezed gently. "I know you do. But attacking everyone who sees things differently than you do isn't helping us. Right now, we have to be in full Scooby mode to get out of this."
Xander cleared his throat. "Well, I want Anya back too, so let's get cracking. Since we're here, did you find anything?" he asked Giles and Buffy.
"Yes, there is a passage to the cellar from here," Giles replied, walking over to the portrait and showing them the opening.
"And we found…?"
"Boxes of food, blankets, household stuff. We shouldn't go hungry any time soon," Buffy told him as everyone sat down.
"Good. Always a plus. Dawn?"
"The light and the sounds from the attic. That's it."
"Will?"
"Nothing, like I said."
"Okay," Xander said rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Anya and I found another passage from the ballroom to the billiard room and the footprints. Is anything striking any chords with anyone?"
After a few moments where they all stared thoughtfully, trying to make sense of what they had learned so far, Xander sighed. "I got nothing. I was hoping something would jump out."
"It's all random facts right now," Willow agreed.
"Well I'm not going to sit around here and wait for inspiration to strike," Buffy declared, rising to her feet. "Without more information, we don't know what we're up against. We need to pick a direction and head that way."
"Buffy is right. Perhaps we should investigate the disappearances further. If we begin where the person disappeared, we may learn more." Giles followed Buffy's lead and stood up.
"Tara first," Willow declared adamantly as Xander started to argue in Anya's favor.
"Enough!" Buffy shouted. "We can start with Tara, but we are not forgetting about Anya," she said, not wanting to see another display of Willow's temper. "Guess that means we're headed back to the kitchen."
Xander pushed off from the table he had been leaning against. "Maybe we can find something to snack on while we're in there," he grumbled as he led the group from the room.
************
The portrait door closed quietly after they left.
"That was close. I thought they might go back down to the cellar."
"As did I," came the response.
"What's next?"
"Let them stew for a bit. Then, we'll move to phase three."