I am so sorry. I was busy all day and had to keep an eye on stuff. I wasn't able to get to the computer until now to update. Please forgive me for that.

The Scooby gang all went to Buffy's house. Spike had opted for staying behind and keeping an eye on things.

So they scattered themselves around the living room to talk about what had happened in the basement.

"He seemed kind of weird for a ghost," Xander said.

"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts," Giles replied.

"I do!" Xander exclaimed. "I just don't believe that they're that solid."

Giles and Xander argued while Buffy looked at Willow.

"Willow," she asked. "Were you listening?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He was upset that I was closing the portal."

"He wanted to go home." Giles had heard what Willow said.

"Why would he want to go home?" Xander asked. "Aren't ghost supposed to haunt people on this plane?"

"Maybe he's not a normal ghost," Buffy suggested.

They all looked her.

"He didn't attack Willow to stop her spell," she continued. "He attacked the energy around the portal."

"He tried to get through the portal without us noticing he was there," Willow said.

"What?" Xander asked.

"He tried to go through the portal invisible, but got thrown away by the spell," she explained.

"Who got thrown away by what?" Dawn came downstairs.

"A boy," Willow started, but Buffy interrupted.

"A ghost got thrown by Willow's spell."

"Really?" she asked. "What kind of spell? Could you see right through him? I bet you couldn't touch him."

"I was closing the portal you told us about. But apparently that kid got through before we got to it."

"We didn't know he was a ghost until he said he was one," Giles answered one of her questions. "He looked normal enough."

"Except that he glowed," Xander pointed out. "And he had green blood."

"What?" Buffy asked after a moment of complete silence.

"You remember, Buffy," he explained, "when you cut him with your sword."

Buffy nodded.

"Well, I looked at his side while he was talking. His blood wasn't red. It was green. Maybe he's an alien!"

"If he's an alien, why would he say he was a ghost?" Willow argued, causing Xander to be quiet.

"Besides," Giles said, "Anya told me more about her first encounter with those ghosts she summoned in response to a wish. She said that they did glow a bit, though it wasn't noticeable in the day. When the man shot them, they bled green. They were also visible and tangible most of the time."

Buffy nodded, filing away the information.

"Have you cleaned your sword yet, Buffy?" Dawn asked, reminding the group that she was there.

Buffy looked at her sister. "Why?"

"Well," she sat on the couch, "If we had some of his blood or whatever, we could track him down, right? Or summon him with magic."

Before she could go any further, Willow interrupted.

"No," she said. "No, I am not going summon him."

"Why not?" Xander asked. "It's not human."

"But he was human," Giles answered. "Ghosts are the essence that is left behind after a person dies. Not everyone becomes a ghost, of course. But they should be treated with some respect."

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"They could make you miserable for the rest of your life," he said simply. "And they could do a lot more to you, than you could do to them."

"But I want to see a ghost," Dawn pouted.

"Maybe we could visit a ghost town or something," Buffy started and Dawn looked hopeful. "When we have the time to do so," she finished.

Dawn stood up. "Then that's going to be never," she grumped and stomped upstairs.

Buffy sighed.

"Can I see your sword?" Willow asked, once she was sure that Dawn was in her room and wouldn't hear.

"What for?" Buffy replied, surprised.

"Just in case," she answered. "I have a feeling about that kid." She stopped, at a loss for how to explain the feeling she had.

Buffy just nodded and handed her the sword.

The three of them watched Willow wipe some of the strange blood off with a scrap of cloth that she then folded carefully.

"I'll hide this in my room for now," she said. "And I'll move it to the Magic Box tomorrow."

The others nodded.

After that, they felt they had done what they could for the night and went their separate ways. Giles and Xander left to go to their own homes, and Willow went upstairs to hide the scrap of cloth with the ghost boy's blood on it and to go to bed. Buffy got ready for vampire patrol, and spent the next several hours walking around Sunnydale's graveyard(s).

Ha! It is longer!