Title: Voyage To BuffyWorld 4/?
Author: Della
Disclaimer: None of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters are mine. They belong to Joss Wheddon and UPN and WB and any others that have a rightful claim to them and the programme... Also I have no claim to Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and any characters within that programme... No infringement was ever intended with this fanfiction...
Feedback: Yes please... *Constructive* flames keep the fire burning, but the good stuff keeps it alive...

Buffy and Willow came bounding into Giles' apartment. No knock signified their entrance, just the banging of the door against the wall as it opened. Buffy at first looked apologetic for the slamming of the door, but her eyes lit up the moment she saw Lee and her apology was soon forgotten. "Hi, Lee..." she gaily greeted him.

He nodded in response, "Uh, hello Buffy..." he murmured.

Buffy's grin grew, if it was at all possible. She turned to Willow, winked at her and said, "What'd I tell ya, ay...? Tall, dark and handsome..."

Willow giggled and nodded, then looked around the apartment. Her eyes lit for a moment when she saw Chip lying on the couch, but when he moaned her eyes immediately took on her infamous sad puppy-dog look. She was across the room in an instant, "Oh.." she murmured with concern, "is... is he all right Giles...?"

Giles wiped the stern look he was giving Buffy from his face, then looked down at Chip, who was starting to fidget again. He shook his head in answer to Willow's question, then addressed Lee, "I... I suggest you get to your room as soon as is... is possible... I'm not entirely sure that Chip will remain as docile as he is now..."

Lee nodded and started to move off.

Buffy pouted and asked, "You need any help...?"

Giles answered her question, "He may do, Buffy... Would you mind accompanying Lee to his hotel room and then coming back here with him...?"

Buffy bounced on the spot as she happily replied with, "Nah, course not..." She then moved off with Lee, passing Xander at the door.

Xander looked into the room with a frown and received a surreptitious nod from Giles, indicating that he should go with Buffy. He grinned, nodded and announced, "Say, I guess I could come along too..." And when he received a scowl from Buffy and a quizzical look from Lee, he added, giving Lee a friendly pat on the back, "You ever seen a Sla.. er... Buffy drool...?"

Lee shook his head with a chuckle and said, "And neither have I seen a Slayer drool either..."

Buffy blinked with surprise at her Watcher as she closed the door and mouthed 'You told...?'

Giles nodded, even though the closed door barred Buffy from seeing it. He then turned to Willow and smiled, "Well..." he muttered with a sigh of relief, "now that we have rid of the riffraff here, what say I make a cup of tea... Hmm..?"

"Yes, please Giles..." Willow enthusiastically replied, "I'll... I'll stay here and look after Chip while you do that... 'Kay...?"

Giles chuckled lightly at her obvious display of having a crush on Chip. He nodded, then shook his head as he headed off for the kitchen.

# #

Willow waited until the Kitchen door had shut before she looked down on the ailing man lying on the couch. 'Buffy had been right', she thought, 'Boy is he *ever* handsome...' However, her breath caught when Chip let out another moan, longer than the one before and more evident of pain. She leant forward, picked up the discarded cloth on the coffee table and began to wipe Chip's forehead with it, all the while whispering that it was okay... that *he* was okay...

When he let go of another moan, Willow started to panic. The cool cloth didn't seem to be cooling him. She could feel the heat emanating from him and see the perspiration that drenched his body and forehead. His legs began to shift, then his body suddenly tensed. Willow shrieked her fear when Chip suddenly rose with a shout and started across the room as though possessed. "Giles!!!" she screamed, "Giles... he's... he's up, Giles..."

Giles came running into the room and when he saw Chip at the door, he muttered an expletive and started after him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Willow rise and try to catch Chip. "No! Willow..." he shouted a warning, "leave him be..."

"B-but..." Willow stuttered, but stood stock still in the middle of the room.

"He has a fever, Willow..." Giles quickly explained, "He can hurt you and not know that he has..." He then turned to face Chip in front of him and whispered, "Come on Chip, you... you shouldn't be up and about... You... you really should conserve your energy..." He took a startled step back and away when the blond haired man smartly faced him and growled, baring his teeth. Giles held up his hands in supplication and continued to whisper, "It's... it's all right, Chip, I... I promise you..." He then moved forward, with his hands still raised and tried to place one of them upon the younger man's shoulder. The next thing he knew, the breath left him in a 'whoosh' and he found himself flat on his back looking up at the blond haired man growling over him.

Willow squealed with fright and finally moved from where she had stood. She got between Chip and Giles and shoved Chip in the chest. "You leave him alone..." she snarled.

Chip furiously blinked at her, a question furrowing his brow.

Willow saw his legs begin to buckle and immediately placed a hand on his arm to steady him.

Chip whimpered, struck out at the arm and ran from the apartment; staggering as his legs threatened to crumple.

The door banged hard against the wall and the pictures rattled precariously with the force of its slamming.

Giles was on his feet in a moment, briefly checked that Willow was okay, then followed Chip from the apartment. "Stay here, Willow... Tell Buffy and Lee what has happened... Lee might know what to do..." he shouted back at her as he ran.

Willow did a tiny jig of indecision before she exhaled loudly. She closed the front door, made her way to the kitchen to make tea, and only then, did she let out a whimper of fear; her hands evidently shaking with that fear as she reached for a cup.

# #

Giles ran after Chip. He had no idea how the young man was still standing, let alone running as he was. He saw the blond haired man ahead of him, but what shocked him the most was seeing two men dressed in suits and ties suddenly point in Chip's direction and then pull out two revolvers. He ran even faster, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time.

The simultaneous 'BANGS!!' reverberated in the air. Two birds took flight and chirped their displeasure at the sudden intrusion. Giles blinked at the sound, but opened his eyes when he heard a telltale moan and the 'thump' of a body dropping to the ground. With no thought for his own safety, he ran to Chip. He knelt and silently cursed the patch of blood that was spreading across the young man's shirt. He felt for a pulse in his neck, but the skin there was cold and clammy and he couldn't find one.

He took one of Chip's hands in his own and tried for a pulse at the wrist, but before he could confirm one way or another, his world suddenly exploded into a haze of bright white fireworks that quickly spiralled into a darkness that was far from welcoming.

# #

Although unaware of what had happened, Lee ran as fast as he could to his and Chip's hotel room. He picked up the radio stashed under the bed and immediately started calling, "Sunshine, this is Riverbank, come in please... Sunshine this is Riverbank, come in please..."

The radio suddenly crackled to life, "Riverbank, this is Sunshine, report your position..."

Lee breathed out in relief, before quickly replying with, "This is Riverbank, Sunshine... Position is as follows... Cover blown and getting wet... Microchip faulty... Looks fried... Needs some doctoring, before it dies on us..."

There was a pause before the radio crackled to life again, "Riverbank... Have *you* burst your banks...?"

"Negative..." Lee instantly replied, "Just worried about the microchip..."

"Understood, Riverbank... The doctoring should take place, where...?"

Lee thought a moment, then quickly turned to Buffy and asked in a whisper, "Can we meet at your place...? It's easier to use code..."

Buffy nodded, "Go ahead and tell them..."

Lee briefly smiled, as he asked, "Your Mom and Dad's names are...?"

"My Mom..." Buffy said, "her name's Joyce..."

Lee patted her shoulder, mouthed his thanks and then got back on the radio. "Sunshine, this is Riverbank. Doctoring should be at a *Summers* place. And it'll be *Joyous* to see you there..." Lee briefly winced and bit his lip in hope that they had understood. His heart flipped with fear to think that they might *not* have.

"This is Sunshine, Riverbank," the radio eventually crackled, "Understood... Rovello is a fine doctor and the doctoring will take place 30 minutes from now..."

Lee sighed a huge sigh of relief, before replying with, "Understood, Sunshine and we'll be there..." He then pulled out all the wires to the radio, stuffed it inside a duffel bag and then started out the door. He stopped when Buffy put a hand on his arm.

"Uh, what about your clothes...?" she squeaked when Lee turned to her.

"Expendable..." Lee grated out at her... "Chip's not..."

Buffy nodded and whispered her 'sorry' before she gathered up an open mouthed Xander and followed Lee out of the room and then the Hotel.

"Is your place far from Giles' apartment...?" Lee called to Buffy as he ran.

She shook her head, "Five minute drive..." Buffy muttered.

# #

He hadn't meant to be as hard to Buffy, but his concern for Chip was overwhelming. He needed to get back to him, to satisfy his own worries that he was okay and was going to be okay. The moment he thought that, he was sure he saw a body across from them lying on a mound of grass, but he quickly discounted it as a trick of his thoughts; that was until he saw Buffy change direction and head towards the bundle.

He also turned and followed her at a run. When she suddenly stopped, he almost ran into the back of her. He was about to chastise her when he saw just who the body was. "Oh God..." he murmured, wanting to be sick, as he sunk to his knees beside the body.

Chip lay there on his side, shaking uncontrollably; moaning intermittently; a hand fisting the grass in pain.

Lee leant a little forward to get a closer look at his friend. He placed a hand on his shoulder, straightened, but was still on his knees, and threw a mobile to Buffy. "C... Call the medics, now..." he whispered, his voice tight with unexpressed emotion.

Buffy caught the mobile, but aired her concern, "But... but what about you being found out...?"

"It doesn't matter now..." Lee whispered to her through gritted teeth of anxiety.

Buffy saw his look and quickly dialled the number.

Her instructions phased in and out amongst the rushing of blood in Lee's ears. All his thoughts were cluttered with everything that he and Chip had gone through... From the first time that they had met at the academy, to graduation, to being assigned on the Seaview and what they'd done whilst on the Seaview... All of it... His eyes lit with unshed tears, but he would not fall apart in front of these strangers... He painfully swallowed his tears and tried to still any other thoughts...

Xander suddenly bent and picked up a note that had been attached to one of Chip's legs. "There's a note..." he whispered, then his eyes grew wide and he noisily gulped.

Buffy's sixth sense suddenly went crazy at his look. She snatched the note from him and started to read it herself... "Oh no... No..." she suddenly exclaimed in whisper.

On her pain-ridden exclamation, Lee blinked up at her, "What is it, Buffy...?" he softly asked, unable to raise his voice past a whisper.

"Th... they've got Giles..." she whispered back, "They've got my Watcher..."

"Shit!" Lee exclaimed back thumping the ground, "Buffy... dear God, Buffy, I'm... I'm sorry..." he apologised.

Buffy blinked back her tears and flatly replied, "Not your fault, Lee... I should've been there, but... but I wasn't..."

Xander suddenly spoke out, "And it's not *your* fault either Buff... It just happened, that's all..."

"Yeah, sure, Xand... Sure..." Buffy snarled at him.

"Hey, we *could* sit here all day blaming each other," he retorted, "but it won't get the Big Guy back... And..." he softly added, "And I *wanna* get the Big Guy back..."

Lee took the note from Buffy and read it himself...

~ ~ ~ ~ Captain Crane,

Guess what... I have something that you want... Never seen him before... Never thought ONI agents were so old... Must be getting desperate... Still, he was with the present I have left you, so I guess he must mean *something* to you... He means nothing to me, however...

Why not trade... You for him... I really have no need of Tweed... Meet with me at Midnight - Restfield Cemetery... You're familiar with that time and place, are you not...? Oh, and please come alone this time... You saw what happened to your last companion...

~ ~ ~

Lee scrunched the note into a ball and angrily threw it away. He vaguely heard the approaching sirens of the medics, but the painful ache of seeing Chip lying here and the thought of Giles being in the clutches of 'The People's Republic' made his stomach turn too much to really pay attention to anything.

"So what are we going to do...?" Xander suddenly asked.

"We go get Giles back..." Lee vehemently stated with a snarl, "That's what we're going to do..."

"You got a plan...?" Xander asked.

At first Lee shrugged his shoulders, almost in defeat, but then his brain started to work again. "Someone..." he whispered, "is going to have to go to Buffy's and get Jamie to the hospital to see to Chip..." He looked at Xander and added, "I'd like you to do that..."

Xander didn't like that idea. He wanted to help in getting Giles back, but then he didn't want this man, Chip, to die either. He thought he knew what Giles would do in this situation, so he eventually shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

Lee then turned to Buffy, "Me and you are going to go get Giles..." He briefly looked to where the note had landed, before adding, "And I have a feeling that this is going to be more in your league of things than Chip's or mine..."

"You mean Vampires..." Buffy murmured.

Lee nodded and said, "The good thing is, is that it doesn't look like they know who Giles is, so, we've got a readymade surprise waiting for them..."

Buffy nodded, but felt less confident in that than Lee, simply because she could not get past the fact that if they *did* find out that Giles was Watcher to the Slayer, he'd be in trouble. "I just hope Giles is capable of helping when we need him..." she whispered in fear.

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