Chapter One

"Well, I think it's a bad omen. I mean, it must be, right? Just sitting there, directly on top of the Hellmouth. Maybe you should just stay home."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Buffy, I'll be fine. It's just High School."

"Even regular High Schools can be dangerous," Buffy pointed out. "Drugs, boys, bullying!"

Before she got even more worked up, Dawn said, "I promise I won't bully any drugged-up boys."

Buffy pouted, knowing she was going a little overboard. "Just call me if there's anything wiggy, alright?"

"Right," said Dawn, going out the front door to Xander's waiting car where had advice waiting for her, too.

"Stay away from boys," he said, the second she got in the passenger seat.

Again, Dawn rolled her eyes. She even added a deep sigh, for effect.

With Dawn gone for the day, Buffy set about her chores. For some reason, they seemed to take half the regular amount of time. By ten-AM, she had washed the breakfast dishes, put out the trash, done the laundry, and had begun trying to fight off the thoughts that inevitably came whenever she had a free moment.

True, she didn't often have free moments to begin with, but over the summer she'd actively tried to avoid them. Time to think had become time to feel guilty about things with Spike, and time to worry about where he might be, or consider what he might be doing.

Buffy shook her head. She couldn't dwell on it. She'd need to find a distraction, and quick.

When Willow had gone to England with Giles, it had pretty much been a spur of the moment thing, so she'd left her laptop behind and the Slayer had been making good use of it applying for jobs online.

Now that Willow and Giles were due back, Buffy decided to do one last search before setting about deleting her files and putting everything back the way the Witch had left them. Coffee in hand, she had only just sat down in front of the computer when the phone rang.

Somewhat on edge from her wayward thoughts as much as from the stress of having her little sister grow up, and worry over not being able to provide for let alone protect her, she jumped up and grabbed the receiver.

"Dawn?"

"Gee, Buffy, have you been sitting there just waiting for me to call?"

"Dawn, what's happening? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, there's just a little, umm…" she trailed off, suddenly not sounding so sure. "I think it might be ghosts?"

Buffy closed the laptop. "I'm coming to get you right now."

"I don't think you need to–"

Ignoring Dawn's oncoming insistence that everything would be fine and her inevitable request not to worry, Buffy hung up and dialed Xander.

"Can you come by the house again? I need a ride."

Buffy looked about the rebuilt High School, realizing her error in cutting Dawn off. The layout was completely different to the old building and she had no idea what exactly she was looking for or where to start.

In her haste, she had forgotten to pick up her own cell phone. Instinct was leading her to the basement, however. Doesn't everything dark and nasty live in basements?

She had just reached for the door when the principal appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and asked her what she was doing.

"I… uh. I'm Dawn's sister," she stammered, playing with a stray lock of hair. "I mean, she's my sister." What's with authority types that make me ramble? I am an authority type! Buffy shook her head and barreled on in her explanation. "She called to say she was having trouble. It's her first day and all. You know how hard it can be."

"Oh, I don't know as well as you, Miss Summers," said Principal Wood, smiling.

Buffy blinked at him. If she thought she was shocked by him knowing her name, she was utterly dumbfounded when he offered her a job.

"I've read your file, and I think you just might have the fine set of life experiences this school needs in a guidance counselor," he said.

"No way!" replied Buffy, before realizing it probably wasn't the professional response.

She was relieved when Robin leaned forward a little, smiled wider and said, "Way. You can start on Monday." After that, he wandered off again, just leaving Buffy to gape after him.

Was that for real? Several months applying for jobs and all she had to do was go visit Dawn at school? It sure sounded crazy enough to be true.

Buffy suddenly remembered her sister's predicament and turned back towards the basement door. As soon as she passed through it, she was hit by a wave of familiar tinglies at the back of her neck that made her gasp.

It's not possible, she thought, but still she called out his name into the darkness: "Spike?"

"Buffy?" replied Dawn. "Buffy, I'm down here."

Following both the sound and the sensation, Buffy finally located both Spike and Dawn at the end of a long corridor.

"What's going on?"

"There was a talisman," said Dawn. "Spike found it and broke it. Now the ghosts are gone."

"Oh," said Buffy, suddenly not sure what to do with her hands.

Spike wouldn't look at her and she didn't know how to react to him. In all the ways she imagined his return, this hadn't been one of them.

Anya had been having a rough day. In truth, she'd been having a series of rough days ever since Giles had taken Willow to England and just left her to sort out the half-demolished store.

Xander, having had the day off work, had agreed to come in and help her sort stock, but first Dawn had needed a lift to school and then Buffy called him away again.

It was so typical for the needs of the Hellmouth to come first and for her to be an afterthought. She had been planning to reward Xander for his help and everything.

Now that the day was wearing on and her helper hadn't returned, Anya was certain he wouldn't have time for anything before he'd have to set out for the airport. She balled her fists. It was just so unfair.

Continuing to grumble to herself as she shifted boxes and sorted items into piles, she was so caught up in her own thoughts that it took her a moment to realize all of the readings on the new batch of supernatural activity detectors she'd had shipped in were pointing to danger.

The awkward silence that hung between Dawn, Buffy, and Spike was broken by Dawn's new cell ringing. After picking up and listening to a frantic Anya for a moment, Dawn passed the phone to her sister.

"Xander, how are you?" Giles enquired, once he was fully settled into the car.

"All good, G-man. Today I'm picking up people instead of donuts, no carpentry or moving boxes required."

"Quite," said Giles, a bit bewildered by the response but deciding not to question it.

Willow, for her part, was staying quiet as she pretended to blend in with the upholstery in the hope of being ignored.

Once again, the tension was broken by a phone ringing.

Giles picked up, turned grey at what he heard, and then told Xander to turn around and head for the Magic Box instead of his temporary flat.

By the time Buffy and Dawn reached the Magic Box, it seemed everyone else had got there before them. Xander's car was out front and the Slayer could hear Giles' voice inside.

Spike had also beat them, coming up from the sewer exit at their feet as they approached the front door.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here," Buffy told him.

"Probably not," he agreed, his eyes cast down at his boots. "It's just–"

They were interrupted by Anya opening the door and dragging them both in by the arm, leaving Dawn to trail behind.

"There you are! We've been waiting. There's danger and I want it fixed before there's any more damage to my shop!"

Having ignored both Giles' glares at Spike and the sound of him clearing his throat when she referred to the shop as hers, Anya finally stopped mid-sentence when she took a proper look at the Vampire.

"How did you–?" she began, only to stop again when Spike started backing away.

"I'll go," he said, hands raised.

"Wait," said Buffy, and he stopped. She turned to Anya. "How did he what?"

Anya looked at her then back at Spike. "Can't you see? He's got his so –"

Again she was cut off, this time by a burst of green light appearing in the middle of the store. All of the supernatural activity detectors exploded at once and, when the smoke cleared, the gang found Tara standing among them, looking around and biting her lip as she gave a little wave.

"Uh, hi guys."