Title: The Dig

Author: Kirsten Tapp

Feedback: [email protected]

Standard Disclaimer: Buffy, the vampire slayer doesn't belong to the author, but to Joss Whedon, WB, etc. The characters of Cassandra, Marcus, Stephanie, Noah, Rein, Gostoff, James, Katerina and Hannah however do belong to the author. No copyright infringement intended.

Rating: PG - some graphical violence

THE DIG

By Kirsten Tapp

Angel watched Buffy sleeping in the hospital bed. She looked as pale as the sheets that she lay on. Angel ran his hand through his hair. How could this have happened. He should have been there.

"You don't get to feel guilty about this, Angel." Cassandra gently rocked Angel's son as she stood behind her friend. "You didn't dig that thing up and it wasn't you that put Buffy in the coma."

Angel held on to Buffy's hand as if he were trying to will her back from wherever the coma held her. "You can't stop me from wishing I had been there for her, Cass." He looked up at the stunning redhead. "What happened Cass?"

Cassandra's eyes glazed over slightly as she recalled the events that led to this tragedy. "I guess it all started with the dig.."

One Week Earlier

The Sunnydale Archaeological Society were always uncovering some unusual relics. Today was just another of those times. Considering the mysterious deaths that usually surrounded the discoveries, it was an even bigger mystery that the society was so large.

Noah brushed aside the dirt with his hand. He could feel the excitement build inside him. He had been amongst the team that had uncovered the tomb of Acathla. He had taken it as a personal insult when the tomb had been stolen. It had never been recovered.

"Ok boys and girls, let's see what new discovery we have found." Noah took a paint brush and carefully dusted the soil off what appeared to be an urn.

"Wonder who's inside." Rein, Noah's research assistant joked. "What is it? Eighteen century? Could be a member of Royalty is inside."

"I doubt it." Noah peered at the engravings on the side of the urn. "Royalty would have been buried in a mausoleum, not the earth. Besides, this urn is a long way from home. The writing on it is in German."

"What's a German urn doing in Sunnydale, California?" Hannah stared at the urn from over Noah's shoulder. She had heard tales of things that went bump in the night, but had never believed them. Until now.

The urn started to quake in Noah's hand. The sun that had been shinning brightly above them just minutes before seemed to dim. Noah carefully set the urn down on the ground and took a step back. The urn exploded before them and as the dust settled they saw the form of what may have been a man.

"What the hell is going on here?" Noah cringed at the smell that was coming off of the man. All thoughts of the discovery were forgotten with the sight of the man that appeared to be decomposing in front of them.

"Thanks for the wake up call." The man's voice sounded like someone walking over wet gravel. He raised his hand and the already crumbling ruins that were surrounding them, fell on the startled archaeologists. He laughed and started walking down the street. "Fools. Digging up things that should stay buried. Now where did they bury my wife."

Buffy set a cup of tea down in front of Giles. "Are you sure you don't want some breakfast? I'm getting really good at scrambled eggs on toast."

Giles smiled at Buffy's enthusiasm. "No thank you Buffy. I'm afraid I've come on business. It seems the archaeological society have been at it again. Unfortunately this time three members of the team on the dig, ended up buried under the ruins of the site."

Dawn's eyes widened as she shoveled her breakfast into her mouth. "Are they alright?" She mumbled, her mouth full. She was used to reports of people being attacked by demons of some sort, but not of having old buildings falling down on them.

Giles sipped his tea. "They are all alive and recuperating in the hospital. Noah York who is the head of the team managed to make a brief statement to the Sunnydale police before falling unconscious, which I over heard."

Buffy pretended to be shocked. "Giles! You were eavesdropping. How could you?" She was having trouble keeping a grin from spreading across her face.

Giles rolled his eyes. "Would you like to hear what I found out or not?" He saw that he had both Buffy and Dawn's attention. "He mentioned a German urn they dug up, which exploded leaving a decomposing man in it's place. It was this man whom is supposedly responsible for the ruins falling down on them."

"Guess it's time to call in the research team." Buffy reached over and picked the cordless phone up off of the sideboard. "How about we meet at the Magic Shop in an hour?"

Giles nodded his consent. "Perhaps you could call Cassandra. She's more of an expert on ancient artifacts than I am. She may have already seen or heard of the German urn that was uncovered."

Dawn screwed up her nose. "Why was a German urn buried in Sunnydale?"

"That's what we're going to find out." Buffy started to clear the table as she tucked the phone under her chin. "I guess it's going to be another fun filled Saturday."

An hour later they were all pouring over books except Dawn, whom Buffy had dropped off at a friends place. Cassandra had heard a rumor about a German urn, but couldn't be sure if it was the same one that had been dug up the previous day.

"Well, I'm in the mood for a good story." Xander sat with his arm around Anya's shoulder. "So which came first? The German urn or the decomposing man?"

Cassandra sat with her daughter cuddled up on her lap. "The decomposing man. His name was Gostoff. Apparently, he was a pretty average guy until he got involved in the black arts. I guess he got fed up of being average and went on a power trip. He pushed the wrong person too far and found his powers turned against him. That's where the decomposing part comes in. Even his wife turned him away. Finally she tracked down a warlock in a bid to stop her husband from stalking her across the world. The warlock somehow managed to trap Gostoff in an ancient urn and buried him. Until now, nobody knew where he had been buried."

Willow frowned. "What do you think Gostoff will do now he is free?" There were enough strange things running around Sunnydale, without adding a decomposing man to the mix.

"Probably the same thing he was doing before he was buried." Anya replied matter of factly.

"Which means he going to go looking for his wife." Tara guessed. "Is she still alive?"

"And if she is, is she living in Sunnydale?" Xander thought out loud. "If she isn't alive, she might be buried around here."

Buffy pondered the information she had heard. "Even if she is dead, this Gostoff guy probably has the power to bring her back from the dead. That is, if Gostoff is behind what happened yesterday."

"Let me make a couple of phone calls to some contacts I have in Germany." Cassandra stood up, holding onto her daughter. "If I can pinpoint where Gostoff was buried and maybe even find out his wife's name, then we can be certain we're looking for the right corpse."

"Good idea." Giles lay down the book he had been looking through, down on the table. "It couldn't hurt for us to try and find a way to trap Gostoff again. Just in case he is the one we're looking for."

"I'll call you when I find out something." Cassandra left through the back of the store which provided her with more cover from the sun.

Buffy started to issue orders. "Will, can you break into the police mainframe and see if there have been any sightings of rotting corpse guy wandering around?" The words were barely out of her mouth before Willow starting logging on to her laptop. "Anya, you and Giles keep running the store. No sense in losing business if we're looking for the wrong guy. If you have any spare time, help Xander and Tara with the research. I'm going to go and see if I can find out where our rotting friend was heading." She grabbed her bag and strolled out the front door.

The first place Buffy went was the hospital. She wasn't surprised when Cassandra's son Marcus, met her at the front door to show her where the injured archaeologists were. With Cassandra able to have visions, it was likely the Princess had envisioned where Buffy would be heading and guessed her purpose.

Marcus grinned at the Slayer. "So Mom tells me we had an annoying visitor from Germany." He shook his head. "So much for a quiet weekend."

Buffy chuckled. Marcus had confirmed her assumption that Cassandra had contacted him. "Should have known it was too much to expect a break from the normal activities of my so over exciting life."

Marcus listened sympathically. "Take it easy on these guys though. It's not everyday you get buried alive. They may have a memory lapse due to shock."

"I'll keep that in mind." Buffy promised. "Unfortunately memory lapses seem to be a way of life in Sunnydale. Look at how many people have lost friends and family to vampire attacks and then dismissed it as an attack by kids on drugs."

"Here we are." Marcus pointed to three beds on the far side of the ward. "Give me a yell if they start to stress out."

"Thanks Marcus." Buffy observed the three patients for a moment. "I'll try not to be too long. It will limit the possibility of me upsetting them any more than necessary."

Buffy made her way towards the beds glancing at the charts as she moved for the patients names. "Hi Noah. My name's Buffy. I have a few questions about the thing that came out of the urn you uncovered."

A look of fear filled Noah's eyes. "I don't know what the hell it was, but before I blacked out it said something."

Buffy frowned. "It talked to you?" That didn't make sense.

Noah shook his head. "I didn't say he talked to me. I said it said something. It was hard to hear underneath the rubble. I think it said something about finding it's wife."

"Thanks." Buffy smiled at the injured man. "You've helped a lot. I'm gonna stop this thing. You just make sure you get better."

Noah had no idea how the tiny blond was going to be able to stop something that could bring buildings down. Yet for some reason her words seem to reassure him. "Sorry for digging up so much trouble."

Buffy walked out of the room and headed for a pay phone. "Yeah, that's what they all say."

Giles picked up his ringing phone. "Magic Shop." He was relieved to hear Buffy's voice on the other end. He worried about the Slayer even more since she had been resurrected. "Have you found out anything?"

"Yeah." Buffy smiled to herself at the sound of Giles' voice. He cared more about her than her own father did. "Cassandra had the right guy. Gostoff mumbled something about finding his wife after he dropped the crumbling building on our friends here at the hospital.

"Cassandra phoned five minutes ago." Giles felt as though they could proceed now that they knew who they were looking for. "She found the name of Gostoff's wife. Willow's looking through the records of the local cemeteries. We have a sneaking suspicion she may be buried here in Sunnydale."

"Ok." Buffy felt as though they had more control on the situation now. They were moving forward at last instead of being in a permanent position of pause. "I'll head back to you guys and then we can decide what to do from there."

"See you soon." Giles put the phone down and glanced at his watch. It would be night soon, so they would have help from Cassandra and Spike.

Once more they all sat around the round table inside the magic shop, with the addition of Spike. Buffy paced back and forth beside the table. "So Gostoff is trying to find his wife, who is buried somewhere in one of the twelve Sunnydale cemeteries. But there isn't any record of a Katerina Von Welton buried in Sunnydale. Why not?"

Willow shrugged. "Could be she was buried under her maiden name." She pointed to Cassandra who was talking to someone on her cell phone. "Cass is trying to find out Katerina's maiden name now. The other possibility is that she was buried before proper records were being kept."

Tara frowned. "We don't know how long ago Gostoff was trapped. We don't really know how he got out. There has to be more to it than just digging him up."

"There was." Giles pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It sort of works the way Aladdin and the magic lamp did. When Noah brushed the soil off of the urn he activated the release button, so to speak."

"But instead of getting three wishes," Xander added in. "He got a rotting corpse that dabbles in black magic. So rubbing lamps, good. Rubbing urns, bad."

"You take a chance either way." Any patted Xander's shoulder. "Some genies in lamps don't give out wishes."

Spike watched the expression on Cassandra's face. As always it was hard to read. Finally she switched off her cell phone. "So did you find rotting corpse's Missus?"

Cassandra nodded. "I found out her maiden name anyway. I don't think it will make the search any easier. She was born here in America as Katerina Smith."

Willow groaned. "It had to be Smith." She hit a few keys on the computer. "No Katerina's, but there are ten Kate Smiths."

"So we split into teams." Buffy grabbed her weapons bag. "I suppose it is too much to hope they are all in one cemetery."

Willow nodded. "Three cemeteries. So I'm guessing three teams?" She printed out three copies of the list.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Ok. Xander, Anya and Spike take one. Tara and Willow take another and Giles, Cassandra and I will take the third cemetery. Let's go."

"Why do we always get stuck with Spike." Xander mumbled as he picked up a crossbow.

"Because Giles hates it when Anya talks about your sexual activities and Tara and Willow need to concentrate on their spells. They can't concentrate with Spike complaining in the background." Buffy hastily explained as she stormed out the door.

"Thanks for watching Stephanie for me Dawn." Cassandra passed the young girl as she followed Buffy and Giles out the door.

"No problem." Dawn called out. At least Cassandra tried to make her feel included. Sometimes Buffy got so involved in destroying the big evil of the week, that she forgot all about her younger sister. Dawn knew her sister loved her, but on Buffy's list of responsibilities Dawn was not a priority.

Cassandra sat quietly in the back of Giles' car. She hadn't missed the look on Dawn's face. It was obvious the young girl felt excluded from her sister's life. Suddenly a vision flashed into Cassandra's mind. "Giles, stop the car. Gostoff's here."

Buffy looked at the sign on the fence of the cemetery they had stopped outside of. "This one isn't on Willow's list. Are you sure?"

Giles was already climbing out of his car. "Gostoff wouldn't know where his wife was buried, Buffy. He's probably just making his way through the cemeteries one by one."

The threesome made their way through the huge cemetery. Cassandra led the way as her eyesight worked better in the dark. "There he is."

"Great. Another ugly thing to fight." Buffy screwed her nose up. "Hey Gostoff! Get a clue already. The wife wants to be rid of you."

Giles frowned at Buffy. "Well, you've got his attention. Now what are you going to do?" He did wish that she wouldn't just jump head first into these situations.

"Duck." Buffy pulled Giles down to ground level as a head stone came flying towards them. "He really doesn't take rejection well, does he?" She winced as another headstone clipped her shoulder.

"Giles, can you perform the spell to trap Gostoff, while I try and deflect these flying head stones?" Cassandra glared at Buffy. "I realize you are the Slayer, Buffy. But could you stop trying to piss off the rotting corpse man, who is throwing headstones at us. I'm not that eager to have to tell Dawn you've died again."

Buffy realized that she had once again forgotten she had a sister to look after. It had never really mattered before if anything happened to her. One Slayer dies, another is chosen. That wouldn't help Dawn though. "Sorry."

Gostoff's expression changed from one of utter amusement to one of surprise when the head stones came flying back towards him. "Who are you, witch?" He hissed at Cassandra.

"I'm not a witch." Cassandra was quite insulted. "I'm a Princess." Despite the powers she seemed to have inherited with her death and rebirth, Cassandra had never considered herself different to what she had been when she was alive.

The head stones were flying fast and furious at them. Giles reached out in front of the Princess and placed an unusual looking box on the ground. All the while he continued to chant.

Buffy watched in horror as a headstone was hurled at Giles. "Giles, look out." She jumped into the air and kicked the headstone shattering it. "Any idea what we're going to do with Gostoff once he's trapped in that box?"

Cassandra magically swatted the headstones away. "We'll have to magically seal it so that it can't be accidentally opened like the last time."

Gostoff's body started to shake as some sort of force sucked him into the box lid slammed shut. The headstones that were floating in the air fell heavily to the ground.

The threesome moved quickly to avoid the headstones hailing down on them. As one was about to hit Giles, Buffy pushed him clear but was hit herself.

Giles scrambled towards the box to make sure it was secure, assuming that Buffy was right behind him. "Thank God it worked." He turned, the triumphant smile slipping from his face. "Oh God , no."

Cassandra unclipped her cell phone from her belt and dialed 911. "I need an ambulance to the St Vincent's cemetery. The patient is breathing but unconscious. It appears she's sustained a blow to the head."

Giles stroked Buffy's hair. "Don't worry. Help is on it's way." He could see how concerned Cassandra looked. "Everything will be fine." He felt as though he were reassuring himself more than Buffy and Cassandra.

James stood in front of the group that had become too familiar to him over the past few years. "Buffy has slipped into a coma. Ordinarily, knowing Buffy's background, I would say there's nothing to worry about."

"But you are worried." Spike could feel it. "It doesn't have anything to do with the fact she's already died once this year, does it?" He put his arm around Dawn who was trying not to cry.

"I just can't be sure." James quietly explained. "Buffy's not your normal everyday girl. The only thing I can suggest is you take turns talking to her. I'm sure she can hear you."

"So it's a case of wait and see." Xander had picked up Dawn and Stephanie as soon as he got Cassandra's call. "Dawn, you know she's going to be fine." He reached out and squeezed Dawn's hand. "Buffy's made of tough stuff. It'll take more than a few flying headstones to keep her down."

"Xander's right." Willow was gripping Tara's hand for reassurance. "I've seen Buffy get through worse than this. She'll be up and bossing you around in no time."

"Spike, why don't you take Dawn and start trying to get through to Buffy." Giles needed to talk to the others out of earshot of Dawn.

"Yeah. Let's go wake big sis up." Spike followed James to Buffy's room.

Anya for once remained silent until Dawn and Spike were out of sight. "You don't think Buffy is going to wake up, do you?"

Giles rubbed his forehead. "I don't know. I think there is one person who may be able to get through to her."

Cassandra shifted Stephanie to her hip. "Do you want me to make the call?" She waited for Giles to nod before pushing a speed dial number on her cell phone.

Tara was confused. Everybody seemed to know who Cassandra was calling except her. "What's going on?" She whispered to Willow.

"She's calling Angel." Willow watched the Princess pace back and forth while she waited for Cordellia to put Angel on the phone. "I can't just sit around and wait. Let's get rid of Gostoff somewhere that he's not going to be dug up."

"We'll go with you." Xander stood and went to explain to Giles what was going on.

Cassandra and Giles were the only two left in the hospital waiting room. Marcus had stopped by at the end of his shift and taken Stephanie home with him. Giles looked over at Cassandra. "Do you think we're doing the right thing, bringing Angel here?"

Cassandra nodded. "You know Buffy never stopped loving Angel. As much as Spike wishes that he was the one who could get through to Buffy, he knows he's not."

Present Day

Angel had his head in his hands. "I wish I had the confidence that you do Cass. I've been here for two days and Buffy is still in a coma." He looked up and watched the sleeping blond. "Do you think Buffy's watching us?" A plan was forming in his head.

Cassandra smiled knowingly as if she could read his mind. "You think her spirit is watching and listening." She put a now sleeping Connor back into his push chair. "And you want to make contact."

Angel smiled up at Cassandra. "Would you mind helping me?" He knew that she wouldn't mind.

Cassandra pulled up another chair close to the bed. Taking hold of Buffy's hand, she glanced around the room until she found what she was looking for. She took hold of Angel's hand with her free hand. "Here we go."

As soon as Cassandra had grasped his hand, Angel could see Buffy's spirit standing in the corner of the room. "Hey."

"Hey." Buffy smiled sadly at Angel.

"Don't you want to wake up?" Angel could see the hesitation on her face. "We need you to wake up Buffy. Dawn needs you. You're all the family she has."

"I'm not that great at looking after her." Buffy moved closer, glancing at her sleeping form in the bed. "Maybe it's better this way."

"You mean easier." Angel could see through her act. "That's not like you to take the easy way out. You know as well as I do, that anything worthwhile is never easy. You can't give up on Dawn like that. The poor kid must feel as though everyone is deserting her." Angel couldn't even begin to count the number of times he had almost taken the easy way out.

"I never asked for all of this responsibility." Buffy hissed. "And I don't want it." She slumped against the wall. "Why do I have to be the responsible one."

Angel shook his head. "You have a lot of friends that are only too happy to help lighten the load. You get so stubborn and try to do it all yourself. Nobody is asking you to do that. But you can't give up completely. Find a happy medium."

Buffy watched Angel for a moment. "They don't play fair bringing you in. You always know which buttons to push."

"So you'll come back?" Angel asked hopefully.

Buffy smiled. "Yeah, I'll come back. Again."

Angel waited for a moment for something to happen. He glanced over at Cassandra. "Why isn't Buffy waking up?"

Cassandra held up the hand that Angel was still hanging onto. "You have to break the connection."

"Oh. Sorry." Angel let go of her hand. A couple of seconds after Cassandra released Buffy's hand, Buffy's eyes fluttered open. Angel stroked her forehead. "Welcome back."

Cassandra walked into the hospital waiting room to let the others know that Buffy was awake.

Buffy waited until Cassandra had walked out of the room before taking Angel's hand. "You're not going straight back to LA are you?" She loved having him close by, but knew his responsibilities were all in LA.

Angel brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I can stay for a couple of days. Cordellia will phone me if she thinks Wesley and Gunn can't handle something."

"Good." Buffy smiled up at him. "Now who do I have to see about getting out of here?" She didn't want to spend what little time Angel had in Sunnydale, stuck in hospital.

Later that night Giles watched Cassandra rocking Connor to sleep. "Willow phoned a minute ago. She and Tara found the perfect place to bury Gostoff. Xander is working on a site where they have just laid concrete. I can't see anyone accidentally digging him up this time."

Cassandra smiled at the sleeping child in her arms. Marcus had brought Stephanie back and she was asleep on Giles' lap. "Perhaps someone can convince the Archaeological Society to disband."

Giles chuckled. "I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I suppose Buffy is going to spend the next couple of days with Angel. Perhaps we could get Dawn to help out at the shop so that she doesn't feel so left out." It was obvious that Angel had left his son in Cassandra's capable hands.

Cassandra nodded. "That's a good idea. I think Buffy is going to make more effort to spend some quality time with Dawn."

Spike wondered around the grounds of the mansion. Just when he thought he had won the Slayer's heart, Angel turned up and he was pushed into the background again. He could be patient though. As far as he was concerned Buffy and Angel were doomed. All he had to do, was wait around and pick up the pieces.

"You'll be waiting a long time for Buffy." Willow walked out of the darkness. Spike wore his emotions out for the world to see. It wasn't too hard to follow his train of thought. "They are destined to be together. Ask Cassandra if you don't believe me." She turned and headed inside.

"I'm not going anywhere." Spike muttered as he looked up at Buffy's bedroom window. "I've got time."

THE END