"Jennifer! Jennifer, where are you going?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"It's none of your business, Alicia."

Alicia pouted and stamped her foot. "I want to come."

"Tough."

"MUM!"

Jennifer groaned. There were footsteps on the stairs and then a brown haired figure in an apron appeared in the doorway.

"What are you two arguing about now?"

"Jenny's going out and won't let me come," Alicia whined before Jennifer could answer. Their mother frowned and crossed her arms.

"Jenny..."

"Mum, I'm eighteen. I don't want to hang out with my sister."

"It wouldn't kill you to let her tag along for a bit."

"It might. Besides," she continued before she could get scolded, "I'm doing research. Alicia hates anything academic. She'll be bored."

"Research for what?"

"Um..."

Their mother rolled her eyes. "The family history again?"

Jennifer blushed and turned to the mirror, pulling on her jacket and checking her hair.

"I don't get you sometimes, Jenny. Six months ago you didn't give two ticks about the family history."

"Yeah, well Alex said family history can be fascinating. You never know what you might find."

"And if Alex told you jumping off a cliff was thrilling would you do it?"

Jennifer scowled at her mother in the mirror. "Don't be silly. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Hmm. Well if you won't take your sister now, you can take her out somewhere tomorrow. Your choice."

Jennifer sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow. Whatever." She turned away from the mirror. "Can I please go now?"

"You head straight to the library. And be back by ten."

"Yeah, I know."

Her mother frowned but nodded and headed back downstairs. Jennifer took one last look in the mirror and headed out as well, followed by Alicia.

"So where are you taking me tomorrow then?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"How about—"

"No."

Alicia scowled. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

"The Bronze."

She pouted. "Why not?"

"Because my friends will see me."

"But—"

"No! Look, I'm going. We'll talk about it later. Bye!"

She slipped out the door and pulled it shut behind her with a sigh. Sisters were so annoying!

Knowing she was being watched by said annoyance, Jennifer turned left in the direction of the library but at the end of the road she took a right, and then another and doubled back on herself so she ended up at the other end of her street. Instead of the library, she was headed for the cemetery. She already had a lot of information on her family history, but Alex had said that visiting graves could give some seriously interesting information, and so she agreed to meet him there to take a look. She hoped that maybe this meant something more though. Perhaps he'd even kiss her tonight!

She arrived at the cemetery earlier than expected and began walking between the gravestones and crypts, trying to keep warm as well as looking for gravestones of her ancestors.

She came across a fairly large crypt whose door had been left open. Wondering if perhaps Alex had also arrived early and was looking about, she approached.

"Alex?"

There was no answer. Shrugging, she went up to the door, intending to close it but when she glanced inside first she was shocked to see a lounge chair in the middle of the crypt.

"What the hell?" she murmured

Stepping inside to look around she was shocked. The entire place was decked out as though someone other than the dead lived there. In front of the chair was a TV, blankets covered the tombs, and a fridge stood in one corner.

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

She jumped and cried out in surprise at the voice. Turning, she saw a man standing in the door, peroxide blonde hair reflecting light from the moon outside. He was looking at her as though ready to eat her and the brown grocers' bag he carried didn't make him any less threatening. She was suddenly reminded of all those rumours flying about the town, rumours about vampires, werewolves, giant snakes and creepy monsters.

"I said, who the bloody hell are you and what are you doing in my crypt?"

"Y-y-your crypt?"

"Yes, idiot. My crypt. What are you doing here?"

"I-I-I was just... I..."

The man rolled his eyes and stepped inside. Jennifer backed away, almost falling over the chair in her haste, and the man snorted. He headed to the fridge and opened it up, removing several jars from the brown bag and moving them to the fridge. He turned back to her.

"Why are you still here?"

Jennifer looked at him in shock for a moment then turned tail and ran.

"Hey!" called a familiar voice and she drew to a halt, turning to the sound. A figure was working their way through the gravestones towards her.

"Alex!"

"Hey, Jenny. What's up?"

"Oh god, it was... there was a man."

"A man?"

She nodded and pointed in the direction of the crypt she'd just left. "He was living in a crypt!"

Alex turned to her with a sceptic smile. "Living in a crypt? Jenny..."

"Don't!" she snapped. "I know, it sounds crazy. But he really was! There was a chair and a TV and a fridge and everything!"

"Jenny, who's gonna be living in a crypt? Unless he was a vampire or something." He laughed and Jennifer frowned at him.

"He could be."

This only made him laugh harder. "Come on. You don't seriously believe that? I mean, for one thing, if he was a vampire then why didn't he kill you?"

She opened her mouth to reply but then realised she had no answer for that and shut it again. "I guess."

He grinned at her. "Come on, let's walk."

Spike shook his head as he watched the girl leave. That was novel. He'd never had a human walk in on his crypt before. A year ago he would haven't have let her leave so easily. That thought made him scowl. He really had gone soft. Falling in love with the Slayer did not do a vampire any good.

"You're gonna kill me one of these days, Buffy," he murmured to himself. "And not with a stake to the heart either."

Turning to the fridge he pulled out a jar of blood and filled half a glass with it then topped it up with vodka and moved to his chair with a sigh. Reaching for the remote, he switched the TV on just as the theme tune for Passions was starting.

"Perfect timing," he muttered.

His comment was punctuated by a piercing scream.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

He leapt from his chair and stormed to the door, yanking it open and looking out. In the distance he could see two teenagers against a tree, but only one of them smelt human.

"Oh, bloody hell."

With a longing glance at the TV, he sighed and took off.

"Oi!" he called, approaching the two kids. The boy turned his head to snarl at him, bearing his pointed teeth. "You're making me miss my show."

He swung his fist at the boys face, hitting it with a resounding 'smack!' The girl slid to the floor as the boy turned his attention to Spike. Not giving the much younger vampire any chance to get a hit in, Spike pummelled him to the ground. Grabbing him by the collar, Spike lifted him up and pushed him back onto a tree branch. The boy's scream was cut short as he turned to dust.

Spike turned to the girl, thankful to see she was still alive, but bleeding heavily.

"Hey, you got a cell? You need an ambulance."

The girl nodded, fumbling for one in her pockets.

"T-t-thanks, mister."

Spike looked at her, realising it was the girl he'd seen earlier in his crypt. "It was nothing."

She handed him the cell phone and he dialled for an ambulance before handing it back. "You're gonna be alright. Just stay here until it arrives."

He got to his feet, ready to return to his crypt.

"Don't go," she asked in a scared voice.

"What?"

"He might come back. Alex."

Spike realised she hadn't seen the boy get dusted.

"Uh, I don't think so. I... uh... I scared him off. He won't be back."

He was horrified to see the girl was beginning to cry. He didn't deal with crying, not from anyone.

"I-I-I thought he l-l-liked me!" she sobbed.

"Um, well, he did. Just not in the right way."

Alright, so not the best answer, Spike realised when the girl began crying harder. Where was that fucking ambulance?

He crouched down and tried to put a comforting face on. "Look, there are plenty of other boys—whoa!"

The girl had thrown herself at him, wrapping her arms about his waist and sobbing into his chest, knocking them both to the ground.

"They all hate me! They think I'm ugly and talk about me behind my back!"

Spike didn't answer. He was rapidly trying to figure out a way of getting the girl off him without hurting her—and subsequently him. He didn't think a gentle nudge was going to do the trick if the tightness of her grip around his waist was anything to go by.

"Um... could you get off me?"

She ignored him. "God, no one wants me. I'm going to be alone forever! I'll never get married or have kids and I'm gonna end up one of those old lady's that lives with a bunch of cats!"

He could feel the front of his shirt getting wetter by the minute.

"Look, kid, I'm really sorry your boyfriend was a va- jerk but would you please get off me!"

The girl sobbed harder, but pulled away nonetheless. "See! Even you don't want me and you saved my life! God, what's wrong with me?"

She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in them. Spike backed away until he was out of lunging distance. The girls sobs were reducing slightly and he thought she was finally going to stop crying but then she toppled to one side and he realised she was simply passing out from the blood loss. Cursing, he tore a bit of cloth from his shirt and pressed it over her wound. Moments later he heard sirens and looked up to see the ambulance pull up at the edge of the cemetery. Not waiting, he scooped the girl up and carried her over placing her on the stretcher just as the paramedics pulled it out of the van.

"She was attacked by a dog or something. Better hurry. She might not make it." He was unable to fake any worry about the fact.

"Are you coming with her?"

"No," he answered quickly. "No, I just found her. Don't know her at all. Might creep her out."

He managed to resist the urge to walk away until after the ambulance was gone.

"Thank god!" he murmured, heading for his crypt. He didn't ever want to be in that situation again. Someone else could play hero next time.

He swore when he got back to the crypt, seeing the end credits for Passions beginning. He grabbed the glass of vodka-blood and drained it. Looking at the empty glass, he thought over his day.

"You know what," he said to the glass. "I've had to cover up a murder for the girl I love, I've had the shit beat out of me by the girl I love, I'm probably going to LOSE the girl I love because of her goddamn martyrdom complex, I've been cried on by some pathetic teenager, and I missed Passions." He paused and set the glass down. Turning to grab his coat he pulled it on and headed for the door. "I am going to get stone cold drunk. Somethin's gotta go right today."