A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my amazing Beta Geliot99, you rock!

Chapter 2 Changes

It was nearly 3 o'clock in the morning when there was a quiet commotion at the front door as the level two girls returned with Faith. Faith was exhausted and annoyed, "Upstairs. Bed. All of you!" She hissed. Faith sighed and took a few steps towards the living room, "That better be a stuffy Brit in there because if one of the girls left the TV on I might just freaking lose it."

"Never been called 'stuffy' but definitely London born and bred, still got a family crypt with my sodding name on it," Spike drawled.

"Not the Brit I was expecting but I'll take it," she said as she plunked herself down in one of the leather barrel chairs. She nodded her head towards Buffy curled up next to Spike with her head on a pillow in his lap and a blue and green tartan blanket over her slight form. "Is this another 'mother hen' thing? If she's not careful I'm gonna start thinking she's sweet on me."

Spike snorted out all small laugh, "Not exactly, we sort of kicked Giles out and took over the vigil. This was a planned kip on the couch. I should probably wake her up. She wanted to know if you heard anything about the girl."

Faith shook her head, "Don't bother. All three of the neck traumas turned out to be vamps but none of them were our girl, two guys and a super-buff lady bodybuilder type. There's definitely been a lot more new vampires this last year. This is getting ridiculous, it's like they're turning everyone."

"Hoping the girl's just exercising her inner rebel and she's on a bender or something."

"I hear that. What do you make of all this?"

He shrugged, "Magic always comes with a price. Angel's people were so busy dealing with the Senior Partners that we barely noticed what else was going on. The minute I got to Paris with Buffy I noticed something was different. Hard to put my finger on it and I was pretty focused on getting to her but it does seem like demon activity is slowly ramping up. Might be a good idea to check out some of the other Hellmouths, see if one of them didn't open up or something."

"Just Cleveland right?"

"I'm no expert but I think there's probably at least a couple more. Haven't been active in ages, of that I'm sure. Went to Sunnydale in the first place to get Dru strong, there definitely weren't any other ones active then. Cleveland woke up a few years ago. My guess is that a few more probably opened for business after the big Slayer-boom and we're just now starting to see the up-tick."

"Damn I wish that didn't make sense to my tired brain. Alright man, one thing at a time. Missing girl. I'm hitting the sack. You two coming upstairs?"

Spike eyed Buffy sleeping soundly with one arm wrapped tightly around his lap, "Nah, I think we're just going to kip here. This room doesn't get direct sunlight, we should be good."

"Your call man."

"Cheers," he murmured dismissively. He turned his gaze back towards Buffy, she looked almost like a child curled up the way she was. Adorable. He made an effort to make himself more comfortable without moving her too much as he snuggled down with her.

The girls stampeded down the stairs for breakfast, waking Buffy up with a start. She was usually up before them. She gingerly moved Spike's arm from across her upper body, as she tried to get up. She gave his shoulder a little shove, not realizing the precarious position he was in on the edge of the couch.

"Wh— ah!" Spike yelped as he fell unceremoniously to the floor with a thud.

"Ohh! God, Spike! I'm sorry!" She squealed in response and leaned over the edge of the couch to look at him.

"Oofff," he lifted his head and clunked it back down on the plush blue rug covering the floor, "Morning to you too, Pet," he groaned.

"Sorry—" she grimaced apologetically.

"Can think of a way you can make it up to me," he said with a smirk.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "You can take it out on my hide later, I'm already running late."

He scrubbed his fingers through his hair and down the back of his neck "Go on, teach, impart wisdom. I'm going upstairs until it's time for my afternoon class."

Buffy groaned as she got up and stretched her arms above her head. Spike sat up on the floor as he watched her with interest, "Wake me if you hear anything about Sheena's sister, would you?"

"Faith didn't have anything new I take it?"

"Nah, not a thing."

She nodded once and got up. Spike followed her up to their room where Buffy quickly got changed and headed back down for coffee and her morning session with the girls.

It was late afternoon when Spike came down to the kitchen after his class. He was working with the Level 4 girls on resourcefulness and creative fighting techniques. Buffy and Faith had of course stressed the point while working with them but they all felt it was such an essential part of Slaying that Spike had agreed to take on the task. After all, Spike was undoubtedly just as creative and resourceful in his fighting as Buffy. Plus he offered a unique insight, that Buffy especially felt was essential for them to really grasp what it meant to be a Slayer.

Giles came into the kitchen just as Spike was making himself comfortable with his feet up on the corner of the table and a mug of blood in his hands. He eyed the vampire as he made himself a cup of tea and carefully managed to bring it to the table without spilling it. He raised a crutch knocking Spike's booted feet off the table.

"Oh come on, mate, just got comfortable," he whined petulantly.

"I'm really not in the mood right now, Spike," he grumbled as he sat down in front of him.

Spike watched him, "Where you been all day anyway?"

"I've been making calls. Seems demonic activity, especially vampire activity has been on the rise. I just got a call from my man working with the Slayer in Cleveland, she's asking if we can send a second Slayer to help with the increase. My contacts in Pittsburgh say things have gotten so bad that they have been quietly trying to encourage people to stay in after dark in some of the rougher neighborhoods. I've assured them I have two Slayers set to arrive by next week. I've never heard Spencer so relieved. He's even offered to set up a loft apartment for them, rent free, in a building he owns."

"This nice guy a Watcher?"

"One of the few left that actually observes my authority, or rather Buffy's, I suppose would be more accurate. He had been teaching a group of trainees in an off the books location when the council was attacked. He and his students have agreed to work with us. Unfortunately that means that including his students and the surviving members of the council there are only about thirty Watchers willing to work with us here at the school. I had been planning on sending Zari to Vancouver to be closer to her family, however now I think she would be better suited for Cleveland."

"And Wendy?"

"She'll be working in Miami. She comes from a very wealthy family. They have a house there and she'll be able to blend in with the party scene there rather easily. I believe she is rather looking forward to the placement."

"Thought I smelled socialite when she was around."

"Ah yes, she did have a particularly difficult time coming to terms with the calling, a bit like Buffy. Well a bit worse if I'm honest."

"Can't rightly picture Buffy being anything less than what she is."

"Naturally. By the time you ehh… met her, Buffy had already largely come to terms with accepting her role."

"First time I saw her I knew she was something special. Her resourcefulness always impressed me. Never could have imagined falling in love with her the way I did."

"I don't think anyone saw that coming."

"Drusilla did."

"Really?"

"Didn't Buffy ever tell you? It's why Dru left me in the first place. Told me she couldn't stand to touch me because my head was full of the Slayer. Said a lot of things that turned out to be true, Dru did," Spike took a deep drink of blood and tipped his head back for a moment. He straightened up looking at Giles, "you ever look into that thing we talked about when Buffy and I first got here?"

"The Hellmouths?"

"Yeah, that."

"I've been doing some research, it's been a bit slow. However what I've found seems to support your theory. That's actually what prompted my phone calls today, Faith brought it up to me this morning."

"We might've had a little chat last night."

"Yes well the statistics I've been able to compile so far would suggest that smaller towns outside of Pittsburgh, Seattle and Chicago might be prime suspects in America as well as a small area outside of Strasbourg, France and— and possibly Dalkeith—"

"Dalkeith? You're putting me on. Where Sheena is from?"

"These are only possible sites where Hellmouths could potentially be. This isn't even considering if they are active or not. There could be any number of such places. However a pattern does seem to be emerging. All of these locations are near but not actually in large cities. Even Cleveland's Hellmouth isn't in the heart of the city. It's located under a retirement village just on the outer edge of the city."

"Sunnydale being close but not too close to LA."

"Exactly, which does tend to both narrow and widen the search simultaneously."

"Couldn't Willow just do some sort of a locator spell or something? Maybe even tell us if they've been activated or not?"

Giles thought about it for a moment, "There is a fairly standard spell I'm sure she could modify," Giles checked his watch, "Willow is at the library until closing tonight, I'll have to call her tomorrow."

"Dunno if it's pressing or not, just an uneasy feeling. Maybe I'm just being paranoid because of the whole pillar-of-fire thing, don't think I got another one of those in me."

"No, I rather think not," Giles shook his head.

"Any of these calls you been making have anything to do with our missing girl?"

"A few, I have some feelers out."

Spike nodded. The two men sat in relaxed silence as Spike finished his blood and Giles sipped at his tea. The phone rang and Spike got up languidly to retrieve it. He looked at the number displayed on the handheld phone, it wasn't Willow or Dawn or even Angel for that matter, so he handed the phone over to Giles.

Spike took his mug to the sink to wash it and set it in the dish drainer. He was just getting ready to leave the kitchen when Giles hung up the phone looking grave.

"What is it?"

Giles shook his head, "I'd rather not have to go over this more than once. Would you please go get Buffy? Faith too if she's around but I believe she was getting a shower and going over to Mr Ross's flat. She may have already left."

"Is this about Ruby?"

Giles nodded and Spike's stomach clenched.

A few minutes later Spike and Buffy we're back in the kitchen with Giles, all three of them looking grim. Faith had already left for Callum's.

"What's the sitch? Spike said you had something on Ruby."

Giles cleared his throat, "I just got a call back from a friend who works at one of the morgues. They got a report of a missing body and a dead assistant medical examiner in Dalkeith."

Spike squeezed Buffy's shoulder, she turned her face into his hand brushing her cheek against the back of the hand he had rested there. Buffy inhaled shakily, "Did you get a description of the missing body?" she asked. She turned back to look at Giles. She could read the answer on Giles's face before he even opened his mouth, "It matches the description of Sheena's missing sister."

Buffy couldn't speak. Sheena had just turned fifteen before they had arrived. Spike said there were five years between the girls and she knew they were close. Sheena would often talk about her sister. This was just too much. The whole situation seemed too surreal. A large stone dropped in the pit of Buffy's stomach. At once her mind shot to an image she had in her head of Dawn while she had been dead. The thought made her want to throw up.

She felt a little surge of energy, mixed with love and steely resolve spread into her. It started at her shoulder under Spike's hand, and spread through her. Her back muscles tensed almost of their own accord making her sit up more rigidly. She took another deep breath, this one much more steady, "What's her family's address? Spike and I will go tonight. We can canvas the area and—"

"I tried to call her mother again just now but there was no answer. I'll try again before it gets dark."

Buffy turned towards Spike, his jaw was set, she could tell he was thinking the same thing she was without even tapping into their link.

They had both seen it a number of times, a new vampire would often return home. Sometimes it was out of confusion or ignorance, sometimes it was out of malice. Whatever the reason, it never ended well.

Spike had been there, he'd done it. He'd killed his only living family, his dear mother, mere days after being turned. He caught sight of his own black polished fingernails and remembered Sheena insisting on doing them for him just before he and Buffy left for their weekend getaway. A pang of guilt shot through him.

"I'm grabbing a crossbow and a couple of stakes, you want anything?" He asked, standing up abruptly.

"I think I want my scythe for this one. Feels like official business."

"What should I tell Sheena?"

Buffy and Spike exchanged a look, "We won't be leaving right away. If she comes down, let her know her sister is missing and that Spike and I are going to check it out. Let her know there's a possible vamp angle going on. I don't want her completely blindsided if we have to dust her sister," she glanced at Spike again, "Sometimes I really hate this job," Buffy said a little tiredly. She wasn't physically tired. It was more of the thought of explaining to Sheena that they had to kill her undead sister that was exhausting.

Sheena's parents lived in a large cottage just barely outside of town. The light over the front door was on, as was a light in what looked like the kitchen. Buffy knocked on the door and a disheveled looking woman with mousy brown hair came to the door.

She was fully dressed and her walking shoes had fresh mud on them, "You must be Miss Summers and Mr. Spike, we only just got home when Mr. Giles called to say you were coming over," she choked back a sob and took a deep breath, "It's so good of you to come out to help look for our girl. We've been out looking for hours."

Buffy let out a little sigh of relief, at least Sheena's parents were safe and Giles had finally got through to them, "We're glad to help any way we can, do you mind if we come in, Mrs Anderson?"

"By all means, yes please, come in," she said.

Buffy and Spike followed her and sat down at the kitchen table where her husband was sitting with a cup of tea in front of him.

"Tea?" she asked.

"Oh no thanks ma'am," Spike murmured, "We can't stay long. We just wanted to talk to you first."

Buffy cleared her throat, "How much has Sheena told you about what we do at the castle and what she's learning?"

Sheena's parents glanced at each other and her mother put her fingers up to her lips, "Oh God, is this about vampires?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Spike huffed, "Just about everything is for us it would seem. But ehh— We really hope not. Giles did a little digging and one of the morgues reported an incident involving a missing body matching your daughter's description," Spike said as calmly and gently as he possibly could. It wasn't exactly his strong suit.

Sheena's mother let out a stifled wail, "Oh God, not my baby!"

Buffy interjected, "We don't know anything for sure yet that's why we're here. We need to go look for her. Do you have any recent photos we could use for confirmation?"

"Are you trying to tell us that one of those un-holy beasts took our daughter?" Mr. Anderson asked, his voice growing angry.

Spike looked him right in the eye, "We have reason to believe that she may have—"

"S—spike!" Buffy hissed, giving him a warning look.

He turned towards her, "We agreed they should be warned, yeah?"

"Warned about what?"

Buffy hesitated, "That there is a possibility she could have been turned. We've seen it before."

Mrs Anderson fainted. Spike, who had anticipated such a reaction, was already on his feet and caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Maggie!" Mr. Anderson shrieked as he saw his wife collapse.

Spike picked up the woman in a bridal carry, "Got a place I can sit her down?"

Mr. Anderson nodded blankly, "Just through there, in the sitting room."

Spike gave him a curt nod and carried her into the room, laying her down carefully on the couch. He came back into the kitchen, "She'll be fine, good strong pulse. Just a bit of a shock, is all."

Buffy turned towards the poor man at the table. He looked white as a sheet. He nodded glumly, "What does this mean for our girl? Is there some sort of cure or is she just—"

Spike fought the urge to laugh, "A cure for vampirism? No. Unless you call a stake to the heart a cure. Buffy and I have been doing this a long time."

"We know vampires, trust me there's no cure."

"The person has to die first, that's how vampires are made. They die. When they wake up all their memories, personality, speech patterns, the whole bloody lot, it's all still there but it's not them. It's a demon."

"So if she has been turned, our daughter is dead and— and what? Her soul— what of her soul? Has she gone on? Is she at peace?"

Spike had to ponder that for a moment, he got his soul back, but from where exactly? He really didn't know. It's not like he had a separate set of memories that came along with it or anything, "I really can't say. It's a good—"

"Yes," Buffy interrupted, "The soul does move on."

Spike turned to her with a questioning look, "Buffy?"

She shook her head, she didn't really know where it had come from, but somehow she knew it was true. At least to some degree. It probably depended on the person they were to begin with but she wasn't going to say that. She wasn't exactly a theologian. "I hum— I just realized something. It can wait. We should get moving," Buffy stood up, "If Ruby shows up, don't let her in. If she's been turned she'll need an invitation into the house. If she gets in you and your wife are dead and Sheena is an orphan at fifteen."

Mr. Anderson's gaze shifted towards the sitting room where his wife was laying on the couch. He nodded sadly, "What do we do?"

"Stay in the house, don't open the door for anyone but us after dark. Don't even go out in the yard. Unless Ruby shows up in broad sunlight, don't let her in no matter what she says. Call this number, extension 1," Buffy handed him her card, "Spike— Mr. Spike and I will take care of it. Can we see that picture please?"

Mr. Anderson went over to a little table by the front door where a family photo sat by a bowl the family used for keys. Buffy and Spike followed him, "We have others but this was taken just before Sheena's birthday."

"Thank you," she said, passing the picture over to Spike. He examined the photo, Ruby and Sheena were standing with their arms around the other's waist and standing between their parents. A happy family. They looked a lot alike, both girls had sweet heart shaped faces and dark wavy hair.

Outside the cottage Spike lit up a cigarette and turned to Buffy, "Care to tell me what that was all about in there?"

Buffy reached into the car to grab her scythe and gestured her free hand indicating she wanted to take a walk around the property before they left. "I don't know, really. It's going to sound kinda crazy but I think I just put together some things I hadn't before. Like super crazy-deep, floaty-warm-cozy-heaven type things."

"I'm listening."

"Exactly!"

Spike cocked his head to the side, "What?"

"I think you were there with me in heaven. Or William-you. Your soul I mean."

"My– what? How do you figure that one? My soul was in— what? You're not talking' sense, Pet."

"It's crazy, I know. But I think you were there with me. Well the soul part anyway."

"And you're just bringing it up now?"

"I didn't put it together until now. I— I think that's why I felt so comfortable with you when I came back… Maybe I somehow— I don't know— maybe I recognized a tiny piece of you, your humanity maybe, or something William-y… and you were so easy to talk to. I think maybe that's why I couldn't just leave you alone after you came back to Sunnydale with your soul. Everyone, even you, asked me why I didn't want you gone, I— I think somehow I was, I dunno… attracted to you… but like in a magnet kind of way."

"Magnetic souls? And here I thought you just loved me for my body."

Buffy punched him in the upper arm, "No you didn't."

He grinned, "No, I didn't. But I still don't get how you just put that together now."

"I just never thought about it before. He asked the question in there and it just came to me. I know it doesn't make any sense. It destroyed me when you died. I felt like I was walking around like half a person— it was almost like being ripped out of heaven all over again but without the overwhelming sensory issues— but that feeling went away when you came back."

They both stopped walking and turned towards each other, "So you're saying that even the soulful-poncey-William bit of me somehow tracked you down in heaven? Heaven?"

"Yeah, I think so. I— I don't know. It sounds crazy right?"

He looked at her carefully thinking, then after a moment he shook his head, "Suppose not, Pet, not really. I can't imagine any part of me not loving you completely. Not now, not after everything we've been through. I know my first thoughts after getting my soul back, right after 'God the pain! Kill me now!', were all about you. You and the things I did. What I tried to do to you. How I deserved you less than ever when I realized the magnitude of what I'd done. I knew I didn't deserve you but I had to get back to you. Then the closer I got to Sunnydale, the more jumbled up my brain got, started seeing things, people… The First, obviously. It's still a bit of a jumble in here at times but it's a hell of a lot better than it was. Taking time in LA really helped sort a lot of it out."

"I like the idea that you were there with me in some weird way. Even if you don't have any memory of it. I know I was loved and I was safe, and I'm pretty sure your soul was part of that somehow. I feel like I get a tiny bit of that back when we're together. It helps explain a few things about us that didn't make sense to me for a long time."

He snorted a puff of cigarette smoke, "You had questions about us? Fancy that."

"Like you never have? There's a bunch of poems in that journal of yours that say otherwise."

"I— Course I have in the past; not so much since Paris."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at him, "I know you. I know you still have doubts. Mostly about you and your truckload of a century's worth of insecurities. I know they're not totally about us exactly, but I know you do, sometimes."

"Bugger, we really are made for each other, you and I."

"Looks like you were right all along."

"Bound to be right about at least one thing every century or so."

Buffy laughed weakly, "Are you picking up on anything out here?"

"Nope."

"Me either, let's do a sweep between here and the park and the cemetery, see what turns up."

Spike nodded once in response, "Lead on Slayer."

The sweep of the cemetery and the park turned up two vampires but there was no sign of Ruby. They did a second sweep of the Anderson's property and knocked on the door to check on Sheena's parents again.

Mr Anderson welcomed them back inside, "Did you find her? Did you find our girl?" he asked as he led them back into the little kitchen.

Mrs Anderson had recovered and was sitting up with a pot of tea. She had a set of rosary beads clutched in her hand as she sipped a cup of tea. Her eyes were red and she looked like a strong breeze might knock her over.

Buffy swallowed painfully at the sight of her, "No, no sign of her yet. I'm sorry. I really wish we had better news for you."

Mrs Anderson turned watery eyes to her, her voice cracked as she spoke, "W—we u-understand you are doing w-what needs to be done. I just— I can't get past the idea that something so evil could be walking around in my baby's b—body," she choked on the last word and dissolved into fresh sobs.

Her husband went to her wrapping an arm around her, "We know you are doing what must be done but, I— I think perhaps it's better if you leave. If she turns up we'll call," he said quietly looking from his sobbing wife to Buffy and Spike.

"Have you talked to Sheena yet?" Buffy asked.

"She— she called. She insisted we stay inside and— to trust you both. She wants to come home— but— if Ruby really has been turned—" he shook his head, "Sheena is still so young, she shouldn't see her sister like— like that."

Spike dug his hands in his pockets, avoiding their eyes, "Sheena's a good kid, one of the best. She's in good hands at the castle."

"She's mentioned you Mr Spike, she says you and Miss Summers are exceptionally good at what you do. Killing these beasts."

"We are, been at it for a good while now."

He nodded sadly, "I can't imagine it's easy work."

Buffy shrugged, "We do what we have to. But you're right, some days are a lot harder than others."

"I can't imagine the toll it must take on you, or the toll it will eventually take on our Sheena, especially after— after this—-"

"We have a pretty incredible support system, and we'll help her anyway we can."

"I'm glad to hear it. God go with you both. If our girl is truly beyond saving; we hope she can at least find eternal rest," Mr Anderson said softly.

"We'll see ourselves out," Spike murmured thickly.