A/N: As with my other stories, I had the general idea of what I wanted to do beforehand but I needed some ordinary occurrence to write the part that combines the supernatural portion of Buffy's life with the part that is normal Buffy-the-big-sister part. It takes place some time in early Angel Season Five and when I imagine Season Eight would be going on. I don't know; I don't read the comics except for the Dust Waltz series. I hope you enjoy. If you don't… sucks for you, because it's a totally amazing story and you should appreciate the literary value.

The Games: Chapter One

"I can't believe Robin hired you back," Dawn said as she and Buffy filed into the bleachers.

"I know. It's so weird after everything that happened, you kn - oh, R.J.'s about to hit!" Buffy replied.

Dawn slapped her arm playfully. "Shut up. You went farther than I did to impress him."

"You tried to kill yourself."

"So what? Oh my God, he hit a triple! Go R.J.!" Dawn yelled. She should be a cheerleader, Buffy thought.

"I thought R.J. played football, anyway." Buffy said.

"He does, but he also plays basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring."

"Sounds like you like him."

"Sounds like I did. Besides, he liked you. I'm not sure I could like anyone with judgment that poor."

"You liked Xander."

"He realized the error of his ways before I existed. And he liked Anya. Major turnoff."

They both laughed. It was nice to be sisters and not partners-in-war again. Buffy missed teasing Dawn about boys and having her laugh about it instead of storming off in disgust. Someone in the row in front of them turned around.

"Dawn, you like R.J.? Wow." the girl said with a smirk. "That's gutsy, admitting it. He's pretty much a loser now."

"Not anymore - he scored a run!" Dawn replied. Buffy pretended to swoon. "Buffy, quit it. You're embarrassing me." She wasn't serious, though, and Buffy could tell. She stopped anyway.

"Oh, Miss Summers - can I come see you on Monday?" the girl asked.

"Actually, you can't. I won't be in until Tuesday, …" Buffy waited for her to provide a name.

"Rebecca. Rebecca Alexandra Kefflan. You can pull my file if you'd like. All it's going to say is that they called social services on my parents because I wore a Dr. Who bowtie and Twilight Zone shirt every day for a year even though I only saw one episode of The Twilight Zone and eventually the shirt started to smell and my mom didn't have time to wash it ever and my dad was always at the bar and I couldn't walk to a Laundromat because we lived in rural South Dakota and the closest big town was thirty-eight miles away and -"

Alexandra suddenly turned around huffily in her seat and faced the baseball game again. Buffy wondered what she'd done wrong. She turned to Dawn for an explanation.

"Buffy, you never trail off like that when you're talking to a high schooler. They'll tell you their name when they feel like it." Dawn explained with an eye roll.

Rebecca turned around again. "That wasn't the problem. I just can't wait until Tuesday. It's important."

"Well, what's the problem?" Buffy asked tiredly. She now knew why Joyce often used to describe her as melodramatic.

Rebecca looked utterly flabbergasted. "We can't talk about it here! There are too many people!"

"Buffy."

"Oh, Ro - Principal Wood. Hey, what's up?" Buffy asked. She didn't care if the kids called her Miss Summers or Buffy, but she knew that Robin didn't like to be called that around the students.

"Would you mind coming with me? Something's come up," Robin said.

"Sure. Dawn, I'll be back in a few minutes." Buffy grabbed the leather jacket that Angel had given her so many years ago. It had been sitting in the back of the closet for the past five years because it was too painful for her to look at it and remember how happy they were together, but since she realized how much she loved Spike, she could appreciate the memories that she shared with Angel but still retain the knowledge and understanding that they could never be together. Now she wore the jacket because it was a part of her history; part of what had shaped who she was. Angel was a part of her, and that jacket was a key part of that history that they had together. The jacket was a part of her, with its creases and indents from being worn so much while fighting demons, vampires, and other Hellmouth-y type creatures from the black lagoon; a part that made her the person that she used to be.

When Buffy and Robin entered his office, she automatically shut the door behind them.

"Buffy, something's come up."

"You said that already," Buffy pointed out.

"Because it's the truth. Buffy - Spike's alive."

"Wha - ? No. What - Robin, what are you saying? I mean, God - what?" Buffy stuttered.

"Spike's alive. The shaman that we had searching the school sensed his presence elsewhere. I couldn't get a location but I did get a phone number." Robin lifted a slip of paper off of his desk.

Buffy took it and glanced at it. "This - there's no way - this is Angel's new work number." she grabbed her cell phone and pressed speed dial 1.

"Angel's office, this is the big CEO-man himself speaking," an English-accented voice answered. Buffy knew without question that the voice belonged to someone with slicked-back platinum blond hair. He was wearing a long black leather jacket that, by inheritance, belonged to the man she stood next to. The voice had called her 'love' a million times, had told Dawn stories about life and comforted her and helped her when Buffy couldn't. He had a good heart even without a soul and would never hurt her, even without the soul and chip.

"Spike is alive."