Hello everyone! Just here to answer to the reviews.
HarriettWithTea: Hi! It's been long! I'm so glad you liked the last couple chapters. I know how hectic it can get. I still haven't gotten around to writing the reviews for your las chapters! I read them on my phone on the way to class and it's a shitty phone so I couldn't write there but I'll do it with the next one I promise!
RHatch89: Glad you liked it!
Enjoy!
Lee out.
Everyone had been devastated. Buffy had cried, Dawn had cried, Willow and Xander had been right there with them, sharing their grief. As for Ally, she'd felt nothing but a tiny pang of sadness at not being able to fulfil her self-assigned mission. She felt worse about not feeling much than about Cassie's death itself.
And that was more than disturbing for her.
"Sleep, love. It's late." Spike interrupted her self-punishing thoughts by throwing his arm around her and making her lay down on the mattress, in the darkness of the basement. It was close to 3am, and even Spike was ready to go to sleep after spending the last couple hours reading a poetry book he'd borrowed from Willow.
"I'm worried." She confessed as she turned to face him, her hand resting in the narrow space between them.
"What about?"
"I feel like… I don't care anymore. Like I don't care about others, outside of the Gang, you, my sisters." She couldn't even look him in the eye. "I feel… cold. I wasn't like this before, Spike… I don't what's happening to me."
He raised his hand to brush some of her hair out of her face, letting it then rest on her cheek, like she often did with him. "Might be temporary, pet. You can't always care about the whole world hundred percent. Give yourself a break. Not like we don't fill the quota all by ourselves. 'Tween your sisters, Red, sometimes the idiot, and me, you've got your share. Let others worry. You've got 'nough." Sometimes, specially when she felt down, it felt like he was back to normal, like he fought through his insanity for her sake.
"You think it's that?" She asked in a small voice, getting a nod in response. She hummed, inching closer to him, and finally closing her eyes.
He might be right. She might just need some time.
And time she gave it. Time in which Anya had almost been killed by the Slayers and saved by Xander, time in which Willow went back to college, and they got considerably over Cassie's death. One thing that worried Ally, though, was that the vengeance demon that had trapped them in the house during Buffy's birthday party the previous year –the same one that had been giving Spike the doe eyes– was dead, and Ally could only feel contentment. She'd been Anya's friend, and yet Ally was satisfied about her death.
Even when they were going to kill Anya, she'd felt detached. Anya had been her friend, even if they hadn't been close lately, as she was ready to kill her. She hadn't given it that much thought before joining Buffy, really. She'd only cared about her mission and not leaving Buffy alone.
What was wrong with her?
"This is good." Ally declared, sitting on the stands near the high school's football pitch with both of her sisters during break.
"What?" Dawn asked absently, doodling on her notebook while Buffy sipped from a can of soda.
"The three of us, hanging outside of the house, bonding. We haven't done this in a long time."
"Yeah… With you always babysitting your batty boyfriend…"
"Cut it, Buff." Ally snapped, tired of her constantly verbally attacking Spike. Sure, she'd stopped punching him, but that didn't make the insults any better. "Besides, he 'babysits' me more than I babysit him these days." She still felt like she was being followed, but it'd only gotten worse, more intense, like she had someone breathing down her back. She hadn't told Buffy so as not to worry her, but… it felt terrifying.
"Alright, sorry. I still haven't gotten used to having him in the basement."
"You do know how weird your conversations sound, right?" Dawn interjected, looking them over with her eyebrows raised.
"Our lives our weird, Dawnie." The eldest brunette replied nonchalantly before checking the time and jumping from her seat. "Gotta go. I'm gonna write an email to Graham before making lunch. It's been a while since I last heard of them."
"Say hi to our back-up-brother-in-law from us." Buffy smirked as Ally jumped down the stands and jogged away before starting to gather her things too. "I should really get back. You comin' with?"
"Nah, I'll soak up on sunshine for a bit more."
"Bye, then."
Little did the two eldest Summers girls know, that their baby sister would fall in love not a minute later.
Not a few days later, when Ally and Spike got home from patrolling, they heard Buffy talking to Dawn upstairs, trying to get her to come out of somewhere.
"Family issues?" Spike guessed as they looked toward the stairs.
"Looks like. I'll go check."
"I'll be downstairs." He nodded before taking off toward the kitchen, leaving Ally to face what turned out to be a crying Dawnie and Buffy talking to the bathroom door the teen refused to open.
"What's going on?" Ally asked as she approached the senior Slayer.
"Apparently she tried out for the cheerleader team, cheered passionately for a… uhm… certain quarterback and… fell." The blonde informed her quietly, both of them grimacing at the mental image.
"Ouch."
"Dawn, sweetheart, it's not that bad." Buffy insisted to the door again, waiting for some response.
Finally, Dawn opened the door, her tear stained face showing at last. "How would you even know? R.J.'s never gonna notice me now."
"Who's R.J.?" Ally wondered, only to be ignored.
"From what you said, I'm sure he already noticed you, I mean with the falling and the…" With a horrified squeak, Dawn closed the door again, hiding inside.
"For god's sake, Buff…" Ally facepalmed, unable to believe them both.
"-spirit. Spirit. They said you were spirited, right?" The blonde tried to fix, to no avail.
"Go away!" Came Dawn's voice, cracked and obviously crying again.
"Who's R.J.?" Aly insisted again, out of the loop.
The door opened again, Dawn sticking her head out once more. "I-I finally met him, the guy of my dreams, OK… and I blew it! R.J. hates me now."
Still ignorant of the situation –she blamed herself for that. Maybe she hadn't been paying much attention to Dawn lately if she hadn't had a clue about his new crush. "The guy of your dreams? Since when? I thought you had a crush on Spike?"
"What?!" Buffy squeaked, caught by surprise.
Ignoring the blonde, Ally focused on her mess of a sister. "Who's this R.J.? When did you meet him?"
"You know him!" Dawn jumped, her eyes widening as she remembered. "You-you stopped a fight, you talked to him!"
"A fight? Oh, you mean one of those jocks that almost had a tiff in the corridor? Oh, come on, Dawnie, you can do better than that!" Ally threw her arms out, exasperated. Really, she hadn't met one boy in that high school that she'd approve of for Dawnie. They were all idiots.
"It's the end of my life…" The teen sobbed once more before storming out to head to her room, probably to cry some more.
Damn teens.
"Hormonal Nibblet?" Spike wondered when she finally went to bed, after trying to calm down her baby sister, who –in fact– didn't want to be calmed down.
"She has a crush on this quarterback guy from school, she thinks it's love. She embarrassed herself in front of him. Obviously, it's the end of the world for her. Things like these made me happy about skipping high school. So much drama…" She sighed, nestling against his chest as his arms wrapped around her.
"Never had one of those crushes?"
"Oh, no, I did. A friend from back home, then Riley, then Graham, then Angel. The friend from back home stayed friend, I got over Riley pretty fast, Graham was a cutie but it was more about teasing Riley than actually wanting a relationship with him –and I was fourteen, while he was nineteen, so no dice –and you know about Angel. But I was never this… desperate. What about you?" She craned her neck to look at him, and got a raised eyebrow in return.
"I was with Dru for over a hundred years, pet." It went without saying that he'd been absolutely in love with her.
"I mean before, when you were human." Ally rectified, hugging him tightly when she thought of Drusilla with him.
"Oh, uh… There was this girl, an aristocrat, Cecily Adams. Well, really, I think she just pretended to be one. That friend of Anya, Halfrek? Think it was her, pretending to be human. Well, I was pinin' for her back then, she rejected me, I was heart-broken, ran out and ran into Dru. That's when she turned me."
"Huh, so that's why she was making doe eyes at you at the party? Uhm, guess she realized what she'd missed." She smiled to herself, knowing he was hers alone, despite Halfrek having been killed recently. She still didn't feel sorry for the demon, yet she didn't want to worry about that right then.
"You think so?" His voice turned sly, his lips hovering over her ear.
"Yup. You're eye-candy, baby."
"That true?" His breath ghosted over her skin, down her cheek, toward her lips.
"Sure. And you know it."
"Not so bad yourself, Slayer." He drawled before capturing her lips.
Buffy and Willow, after much insistence, had finally gotten Ally to go out to the Bronze with them and Xander. Spike had surprisingly supported them, telling her she needed some time out of the house that wasn't patrolling or accompanying her sisters to school.
When she thought about it, it'd been a long time since she'd last gone out to have a drink and dance. A really long time.
"You sure about this?" Ally asked the bleach blond one last time, standing on top of the stairs to the basement, all dolled up and ready to go.
The moment his gaze fell on her, the world went silent. She could hear a pin drop, and she gulped down at the sheer hunger in his eyes. It took him all of three minutes to stop staring at her, scanning her with his baby blues.
"Yeah." He rasped out, sounding like his mouth had suddenly suffered a drought. "Better get going soon too, pet, or I might just kidnap you."
Her ego inflated, much more confident about her look than a minute earlier. "You like the outfit?" She held her faux leather skater skirt out, turning sideways to let him appreciate the whole outfit. Of course, she had her black military boots on, paired with the skirt and a tight blood-red sleeveless turtleneck crop top. She'd only applied a tiny bit of makeup, Buffy's choice, really. Hanging from her arm was her dark denim jacket, her most common choice.
"You look edible, love." He breathed, his eyes looking darker even from the distance.
She smirked, holding back the impulse of running downstairs and jumping his bones. "Save your appetite for later, then. I won't be too late."
"Have fun."
She was actually having fun. They all were. Time out with Buff and friends was… refreshing. At least, until they saw the famous R.J. on the dance floor.
"I think that's the guy." Buffy informed them all when she recognized the blonde jock from the distance.
"What guy?"
"The one who, according to Dawn, is the quote 'smartest, funniest, coolest, hottest, and having the thickest boy eyelashes boy in school' unquote." The blonde stated, clearly not approving of the boy.
"He don't seem so tough." Xander added, looking down on the jock.
The witch, instead, noticed the girl dancing with said jock. "Check out the fan club."
It was quite obvious that both the witch and Xander appreciated the girl almost rubbing herself against RJ, something the dark haired man made sure to voice. "Daddy like."
"What is that shirt made of? Paint?" The blonde criticized, only to earn a light kick under the table from her sister.
"That's mean, Buff. I think she looks hot. Huh. I like the shirt. And you don't even know her! It's not her fault that Dawn's…"
"Guys…" Willow interrupted, eyes widening.
The senior Slayer shook her head. "I'm just glad Dawnie isn't here to see her precious boyfriend getting all thrusty with some slut-bag hussy…"
Tired of the girl-on-girl hate, Ally cut her. "Do you really have to be such a…? Oh, god."
All of them were left mouth open when the girl dancing with the quarterback turned around, revealing her face.
"Oh. Oh! No! 'Daddy'… No, I wasn't… When I was looking, I wasn't… Oh, God!" Xander was close to whipping himself for his own lascivious thoughts about their little Dawnie, the same little Dawne grinding against the blonde jock right then.
"Right there with ya." Willow supported him, unable to tear her eyes off the dancing couple.
Suddenly, Buffy grabbed Ally by the arm, squeezing a bit. "You will stay here, and you will not meddle in my talk with Dawn." She ground out, fixing her with a harsh glare.
Ally nodded, but not without her own conditions. Buffy was Dawn's guardian, but that didn't mean she would do nothing if she didn't agree with her methods. "If I hear anything about you slut-shaming her, I will take her side."
And with a huff, Buffy left.
This was going to be a long night. So much for a simple night of fun.
They had to be kidding. Buffy? Hell, no. No.
But then again, the scene before her… it was pretty clear. Dawn was crying against the couch, Buffy beside her, insisting that crying wouldn't stop the quarterback from loving her. Since when was Buffy crushing on the guy? No idea, but they'd apparently been caught by Xander going at it in a classroom.
Ally really thought she was hallucinating. She was hoping for it.
"Listen, you're under a love spell. That's what this has to be." Xander explained to both of the girls on the couch, Willow, Anya and Ally next to him.
Luckily, they were already working on a solution. Ally simply couldn't take so much boy drama in her house.
"Okay, why don't you Buff go with Will and find a spell or something. Dawnie, go to your room, try to calm down, have a bath if you need it. You'll feel better soon, alright?" She walked to her baby sister, patting her hair until she looked up. "Come on, I'll prepare the bath, you go to your room and try to relax."
When Dawn was finally in the bathroom, and Buffy was distracted by the Gang, Ally went downstairs, escaping the charged atmosphere.
"The boy causing trouble again?" Her vampire asked before taking her hand.
"It seems he's using a spell of sorts to make women fall in love with him. He got another girl at school, then Dawn, now Buffy…"
"A spell? Love spell?"
"Yeah. But we'll find a solution soon, I hope. Any idea what we could do?" She lay down, staring at the cracks on the ceiling.
Spike, instead, stood from the mattress, stepping toward the stairs. "For starters, you are not leaving the house. Better yet, don't leave the basement."
"What?" She sat up, arching an eyebrow in confusion.
He pointed a finger at her as he walked backwards, his face set. "I won't have you falling for another spell of these."
"Another? What do you…? Oh." She grimaced as she remembered the lust spell, the one that had her snogging Lindsey in a back alley.
"I'll go with the idiot, see if we can find anything. Don't. Leave. The. House." He ordered before rushing to find Xander.
He might be right. Buffy had been affected already. What if the jock got her under his spell too? She didn't want Spike going through the same as with the lust spell. She could try to find a solution from home, while Xander and the vampire handled any outside factors involved in the research.
The outside factors had decided to come for a visit.
When the bell rang, she really hadn't expected it to be RJ. Clearly, who would expect that? He'd been messing with two of the three sisters living in that house. He couldn't be in his right mind, coming over.
But then again, it looked like he could get girls to do whatever he wanted them to.
Clueless of the path her life would take in a few seconds, Ally opened the door, expecting anyone else.
"Huh. It's you."
"Hi." He smiled, taking the way he blocked the door with her arm on the frame and her hips cocked to the side. He was so not getting inside.
"What do you want?"
"Have we met?"
"Yes. What do you want?"
Willow suddenly appeared behind her, eyeing the boy standing on the porch. "Oh, you have to be…"
"I was looking for Miss Summers." He announced, his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
"There's three in this house. One is very pissed at you." Ally snapped, getting his attention again.
"Buffy's not here. Go away!" Willow shooed him angrily, standing beside Ally and effectively blocking the door.
"Are you sure?" He innocently asked.
Anya joined them then, standing behind the redhead and the junior Slayer. "No Buffy for you. Leave quickly now."
"Uh-huh. Ok." He shrugged, giving them the puppy face before turning his eyes toward Ally again. "I've seen you at school before, right? I'll see you there, I guess. Might get into another fight." He smirked before turning and leaving.
And just when they thought it was over, watching him walk away, the spell kicked in.
And madness ensued.
They were all so stupid. Willow wanted to turn RJ into a woman, Anya was off somewhere with a crazy plan, Buffy was going to kill Principal Wood, and Dawn had probably stayed back. Poor little thing. She had nothing to give RJ.
Ally did. Hell, how could they all be so dumb? It was simple really. Ally wanted RJ. Ally was going to get RJ. She knew he liked her. He had flirted with her back at the house, after all. It was going to be so easy.
So she simply headed out, looking for him. If she couldn't find him on the street, she could simply head to his house. She knew where he lived, they'd found out while they researching his records.
It was going to be so easy.
As the night came to a close, everyone gathered around the fireplace, where the jacket burnt slowly. Everyone but two certain people.
"Red, can you try that locator spell again?" Spike's voice came from the foyer, making everyone turn to look at him.
"Why?" Willow asked, tilting her head.
"Ally's not in the basement."
"She wasn't with RJ, either." Xander supplied, his forehead frowning with each word. "What did she say she'd do?"
"I think she was simply going to RJ. Said she didn't need to kill anyone to get a man." Dawn spoke up from the couch, having been the last one home after everyone had fled to carry out their attempts to prove their love. Ally had been the last one there. She'd told Dawn she was sorry before walking out confidently.
"So if she wasn't with RJ, where is she?" Buffy inquired, worried.
"Red. Locator spell." The vampire insisted, a dark feeling eating at his still heart.
The spell did nothing to ease their concerns. According to the spell, Ally did not exist.
OK. There's going to be a new original chapter here before Conversations with Dead People (you were right bwburke94!). As for Sleeper, I'm not sure I will cover that or do another original chapter. Depends on how I write CwDP. If I can make it fit in my story, I might do a cover, if not, original. Pretty simple, huh?
I think that's all.
Lee out.
