Angel opened his eyes as dusk began to settle over the town

Breaking down the Walls

TITLE: "Breaking down the walls" Chapter 9 - 9/? - Rated R-13 - B/A Angst, series 6 predictions
AUTHOR: Charlie/Selwyn29
EMAIL: selwyn29@ntlworld.com
DISCLAIMER: They're not mine, they're Joss's, I'm just making them feel better. PAIRING: B/A, and loads more
TIMELINE: After end of series 5 Buffy, series 2 Angel
SPOILERS: Anything is possible... say all, up to B5/A2
SYNOPSIS: My take on series 6 and what should happen, please read the rest or none of this will make sense.
FEEDBACK: Come on, give me some help here, do you like it?
RATING: PG CONTENT

DEDICATION: To Trammie and Mark my Beta readers who I owe so much thanks to and Duck's who without her epics I would never had started this one. Also to the Babble Board posters, who have been an inspiration for some storylines. Also to the Bronzers who I have met over the past couple of weeks, including Falco, SpikeNip, Christopher Marlowe, Jessanne and all the rest who are reading this.

Angel opened his eyes as dusk began to settle over the town. He adjusted slightly to the dark in the room and smiled at the sight of the beautiful blond in his arms. He gently brushed across her bare shoulders, the edge of his ring just catching on her lace bra strap. His ring and his soulmate were in his arms at last. He pulled her even closer into his chest and placed a kiss on her hair. He had never believed that this day would come, where they were together, totally and absolutely. He ran his hand, once more, across her soft skin, reflecting in the warmth it brought to his cold skin. The feeling of the dip and curve of her spine as his hand ran down her back. He was rewarded in his ministrations by the sight of her face tipping up towards him and her hazel eyes opening slowly until they were open into wide pools that he was swimming in.

"Morning," she mused, sleepily.

"Its almost 6 p.m.," kissing her on the end of her nose.

"Less of the contradictions if we're going to be living together." she teased, and stretched up to kiss his lips.

"All right, I promise," kissing her back, passionately. They lost themselves for a moment in the kiss and then broke apart again.

"We'd better go check in with the gang," she said, reluctantly.

Angel nodded in agreement and kissed her once more before untangling his arms from around her and easing himself up into a sitting position.

"Any suggestions that involve us getting out of bed, you can contradict, you know," looking playfully up at him.

"I can see living with you is going to be a new experience."

"Not of the bad variety I hope," batting her eyelashes at him.

He lunged towards the bed and swept her into his arms for another passionate onslaught on her lips, then broke away.

"I think I can just about handle it." As he got up to head for the shower.

Just as he reached the bathroom door he turned to the bed.

"Stay!" he said, smiling, and quickly, opened the door and locked it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

They knocked on the door and Tara opened it immediately.

"Hey Tara." Buffy said. "Almost opened that before we knocked. Premonition?"

Tara blushed for a moment. "I thought you might be Willow."

"Will not here?" Buffy asked.

"I haven't seen her all day." Tara replied.

"Does she know we're meeting?" Buffy asked.

"I left a message and told her 7 p.m." Xander replied. "She's got a few minutes before we go to Def Con 1."

Tara walked back over to where she had been sitting and perched on the edge of her seat, staring at the door.

Buffy and Angel walked into the room. Dawn sat at the dining table, her schoolbooks spread over any free space that wasn't taken up with the demonology books. She had her pen poised in her hand, and her workbook open, but the page was blank and it was obvious she was far too involved with what was going on in the room.

"Hey Dawnie, how was school today?"

"Just don't even ask." Dawn said, rolling her eyes.

"OK, was just doing the big sister…" But Buffy didn't have time to finish.

"Helen told Josh that I thought he was cute and that I have his name written on my chem book when I so do not, she's such a liar. She's only telling him that 'cause she knows Emily Gardener thinks he's a hottie and wants him to ask her to the dance and Emily won't be happy if she knows I like him. He told me he doesn't like Emily anyway, and it's a known fact through school that Emily will go up to the point with anyone that asks. Helen likes Michael anyway and he's going to ask Gemma to the dance and she's only jealous." Dawn barely took a breath.

"Woah," Buffy said, holding her hands up in mock anger. "Too complicated for me to follow."

"But other than that, did you have a good day?" Angel's deep voice cut through the teenage tirade.

"Yes, it was ok." Dawn smiled at the tall vampire, going a little red.

They left Dawn at the table and made their way over to the seating area of the lounge. It took them a few moments to find anywhere to sit. Xander and Anya were in a tangle of arms and legs on one armchair. Giles stood by the sofa, with Wesley next to him, Cordelia and Fred sat on the floor close to the two British men,Gunn was in the middle of the sofa and Spike had the other armchair. Everyone seemed to be looking through books, Xander and Anya were alternating between turning the pages and kissing. Spike just sat, fiddling with a burnt match, watching the scene in front of him. Buffy sat on the sofa, in the space next to Gunn and Angel hovered behind her.

"So managed to get up, did we?" Cordelia said, smiling at the pair.

Angel gave her a pinched smile back. "How is the research coming on?" he asked the group.

"We think we might be getting a little further, although there is so much mythology, we are finding it a little difficult to discern between fact and fiction." Wesley started.

"Have you two discovered anything further?" Giles' asked, looking up at his Slayer.

"Not exactly, no, but we do have some news."

"Ooo, news, of the good variety I hope, rather than the 'it's another impending apocalypse' news."

"Good, I hope." Buffy said, looking a little sheepish. "But we'd better wait until Willow gets here." She had barely finished the sentence before there was a knock on the door and Tara opened it to reveal said witch.

"Sorry I'm late everyone." she panted, as she saw many concerned faces turned towards her. "I got caught up in a book," she said in way of explanation.

"We barely noticed you were missing." Spike said, drolly.

"I was worried." Tara said, taking hold of her girlfriend's hand.

Willow squeezed it for a moment and then let go. "I was just reading and forgot the time, I'm sorry."

"Did you go and see your friend?" Buffy asked, remembering Raven from the night before.

"Yes, everything is fine, he's found Ramon, she was just visiting some friends, they had an argument and she needed some space. Nothing to worry about." Willow walked into the seating area and sat on the floor, Tara sitting next to her.

"What's happening here?" she asked.

"Buffy's got some news for us, and of the world's not ending variety." Xander filled in.

Everyone looked around at the Slayer expectantly.

"Talk about in the spotlight." she said, for once blushing a little, under everyone's gaze.

She looked up at Angel for a moment, and then back at the group in front of her. Telling her friends wasn't so bad, well it was, but she could handle it. It was explaining all of this to his friends too, some of whom she didn't know so well.

"Couldn't we just take out an advert in The Times or something?" looking pleadingly at Angel.

"We owe them an explanation." Angel said, placing his hand gently on his mate's shoulder.

Buffy took a deep breath and started. "Angel and I, well, we've realised that we love one another."

"You've just realised?" Cordelia said sarcastically. "If we were blind and deaf we probably would have realised that."

Angel looked at her for a moment and she went quiet.

"Sorry, just trying to inject a little humour."

"We love each other too much to be apart. We want to be together. I've been given a second chance with life and I want this to be a second chance for us as well. I know you all have concerns, but we want to try and make this work."

Silence lay across the room for a moment before Giles spoke.

"You'll forgive us all for having reservations over this. Nothing has changed since you left, Angel."

"Buffy and I have had the same conversation, Giles, over the past two days. Many things have changed, and some have not. The one thing that has remained the same is our love for one another, we can't fight that any more and neither of us wants to." Angel replied.

"Giles, I've gone over this until I am blue in the face. I'm never going to have a normal life again. Immortality and living in the darkness lies ahead. I just want a chance for a little happiness."

"But what about the curse? That still stands right? One moment of happiness and it's back to evil boyfriend who slaughters all your friends." Xander pointed out.

"What moment of happiness?" Dawn asked.

"The curse is still there, but we are aware of the problem." Angel said, cautiously, aware Dawn was listening.

"We are adults, Xan, we can control ourselves." Buffy said, and then stopped going any further. "Anyway, I've asked Willow to help us find a 'cure' for it. And I'd appreciate any help anyone else could give."

"We'll do what we can." Fred said quietly, not sure what they were talking about, but wanting to support Angel somehow.

"Thank you. I know you all care for us, and we're glad of that, but we just want to be together. And that's another piece of news. I'm going to move into the mansion, to live." She turned to her watcher. "Giles, thank you for looking after me since I have been back and giving me a place to stay. But it's for the best, I need somewhere to stay, out of sight from anyone who might be watching, and I can't stay, sleeping on the couch forever."

She got up and walked over to where Dawn sat and knelt down by the side of her sister, taking her hand into her own.

"Dawnie, you know I love you, more than anything in this world. You can come up to the mansion whenever you want to, I'll always be here for you no matter what."

"I know," Dawn said, with tears in her eyes. "Mom would have wanted you to be happy."

"She did." Buffy whispered and hugged her little sister.

"Does this mean you're leaving us?" Wesley asked his friend.

Angel looked at his group before him. "No, I'm still going to be working in LA, if you'll all have me. We haven't worked out the day to day logistics of this yet, just that I will be spending some of my time in Sunnydale and Buffy will come and visit in LA."

Buffy walked back over to where all her friends sat. "Say something, anyone, please."

Willow stood up and walked over to her best friend.

"As long as you are happy, that's all the matters," hugging Buffy. "Isn't it Xander?" looking at him sharply, across the room.

"Yeah, I guess its OK." he said and grinned at Buffy.

Willow walked over to Angel.

"Just make sure you take care of her," waving her finger, jokingly, at him.

"With my life." he replied.

"Giles?" Buffy asked, hesitantly.

"You're an adult now, you don't need my blessing or anyone else's for that matter."

"But it matters to me, Giles."

"Angel knows my reservations already. But I do believe that both of you are older and wiser and can make this work, if you are willing to try."

"Thank you." she said.

"Well, I say, yeah, to anything which makes him less broody around the office." Cordelia chipped in with.

Angel and Buffy surveyed their friends' faces in front of them. All looking at them, with that quiet acceptance they had come to know so well. Angel took his love's hand in his own, for strength, and stepped a little more into the circle.

"Thank you, all of you. You've constantly shown that you are there to support both Buffy and I individually over the past two years, and now you show that you can support us both. I know you all have reservations over this, but I promise that we will both do as much as we can to allay those fears. We don't know what the future holds for the both of us, but we do know that our destinies are together." He looked down at Buffy below him and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "Forever."

Spike looked at the two lovers before him, totally oblivious to the world around them. 'Anyone could come in now and stake the lot of us.' he thought. Then he pushed his frame out of the armchair and walked out of the apartment.

Dawn was the only one who really paid attention to the younger vampire leaving. She saw the door shut behind him and quietly got up out of her seat at the dining table and crept out of the door.

Buffy and Angel broke apart and turned back to the others around them.

"Right, now the announcement is out of the way, how about you guys filling me in on what you've been up to while all this has been going on."

Glad for something resembling normality, the group got down to the business of research.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dawn wandered outside Giles' to find Spike on the edge of the fountain, his back to the door. He was swigging something out of a flask he had concealed in his jacket pocket and Dawn was betting it wasn't coffee. She cautiously walked around the edge of the area and sat down next to him, her hands tucked underneath her body, her feet making patterns in the tiles in front of her.

They sat in silence for five minutes, Dawn watching the floor in front of her, Spike chugging down the contents of the metal flask.

"It's not like I love her or anything." swilling the last of the liquor down his throat.

"Course not." Dawn replied.

"But someone has to look out for her. I mean, I've known Peaches longer than anyone, I know what he's like better than anyone."

Dawn again sat in silence.

"I watched the pair of them split up more times than me and Dru. And that's saying something. The glory days, back when this stupid chip wasn't in my stupid head and everything was black and white, not these damn fuzzy shades it is now."

"You want to be bad again?" Dawn asked him.

"I just want to be something." Spike shot up from his sitting position and kicked a stick across the courtyard with his boot. "It's so damn frustrating. I used to be feared across the continents, strike terror into people's hearts. Now look at me, playing hand maiden to the Slayer and nursemaid to her sister."

Spike looked up for a second and saw the expression on Dawn's face.

"Aww, Little Bit, I didn't mean that last bit, I like hanging with you." He sat back down on the stone again and reached in his pocket for a cigarette and his lighter.

"I just don't get why she's gone back to him. He's all whiny and moany. 'Oh, I've had a hard life, I've killed too many people, I need to go off to a city far, far away and atone my bad deeds by living my life as a superhero.' Come on man; get off the Bruce Wayne Bandwagon. She needed him and he left, and now he's forgiven. I mean, I could put up with Soldier Boy 'cause I knew he'd never amount to much, but this…"

Dawn looked at the vampire before her for a second.

"He's good for her," she said.

"I know, I know. He makes her happy, he's what she needs, and they're destined to be together. He'd just better make sure he makes her damn well happy…"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Buffy stared at the floor in the lounge, the others talking above her. Wesley and now Angel were pouring over some dusty old book; Giles was trying to explain what they had found out now. But, to be honest, she wasn't listening. It's not that she didn't appreciate the work they all did, with researching and all, it's just they didn't seem to be getting near to any answers, near to telling her what she had to fight and how. That was her role in all of this, going out and getting whatever it was and stopping it. However, before she did that, she had to know where she was going, what she was getting and how to stop it and those were three questions that, as yet, were unanswered.

She moved her eyes from the intense study of the floor to scan the room. Everyone was busy, Angel's brown head was bowed over a book, intensely studying, trying to find any clue he could to help them. She let her gaze linger on him for a moment and he lifted his head briefly and smiled at her, then dropped it back down to the book. She watched Xander and Anya, listening to Giles, but at the same time, whispering into one another's ears and giggling. Willow and Tara sat next to one another, Tara's small hand interlaced with Willow's. Both listening intently to Giles and interjecting a comment every now and again. Fred was staring up in rapture at Giles, Cordelia sat there with her 'I'm paying so much attention' face on, obviously thinking of other things. Buffy's eyes scanned the rest of the apartment and it was then, that she first noticed that Spike was missing, and more worryingly, Dawn was gone too. She got up quietly and crept away from the group. The door to the courtyard was ajar and she could see two figures at the fountain. She pushed the front door open gently, so as not to disturb anyone and stepped through, just in time to catch the last of the conversation.

Dawn looked up and caught her sister's eye. Buffy motioned for Dawn to go back inside and she switched places with her, sitting down by Spike's side. He turned around at the movement and saw her next to him.

"Slayer." he said, just one simple word.

"Spike." She replied.

"I heard what you said just then, about me being happy."

"And what of it?" he asked, angrily.

"I just wanted to say, thank you, for looking out for me, and I guess, I'm sorry."

"Oh don't pity me, Slayer, beat me up or stake me, but please don't pity me."

"It's not pity Spike, maybe…maybe it's friendship."

They sat there in silence for while. Spike lit up another cigarette and took a drag. He blew the smoke out in a long sigh.

"I was never in the running was I? I could never have replaced him."

"I tried that with Riley, it just doesn't work. We belong together, no matter what anyone else thinks, and no matter what we think. It's just right."

"Yeah, well, you can't fight destiny, can you?"

"It was you who taught me that in the first place, in that magic shop when you'd kidnapped Willow and Xander. You told me that we'd never be friends, that we'd be in love until it killed us both. That love was blood screaming inside of us to work it's will. It's just taken us this long to finally work it out."

"Yeah, well, Peaches never was the fastest worker." Spike said.

Buffy smiled at him. "You coming back inside to help with the research?"

"Come on, Slayer. I may have wanted to shag you, but it doesn't mean I wanted to be a fully fledged member of the good guys."

He stood up, dropping the end of his cigarette on the ground and stamping it out with his boot.

"I feel the need to get drunk. I'll see you around."

He turned his back on her and walked out of the courtyard. Buffy watched his retreating figure until it had disappeared, then she picked herself up and walked back into the apartment.

The scene was still the same as when she had left. In fact, she didn't think anyone had noticed she had been missing until Angel silently walked to her side and took her hand in his.

"Still no further on?" she asked.

"It's frustrating, so little information to work with." Giles replied.

"I think I may have a solution to that." Buffy said.

Everyone looked up at her expectantly.

"OK, not that good a solution, but I'm going out on patrol, see if I can get a closer look at this thing, the books are getting us nowhere."

Angel squeezed her hand gently in a show of support.

"Gunn, Wesley, I think you'll be the best to come with us." he said to his two friends.

"Yes, good idea." Giles said. "But please be careful, Buffy, you don't know your…"

"Limitations yet, immortality is a curse not a blessing, yes, I know the speech, Giles, wrap me up in cotton wool why don't you." she smiled at her Watcher.

She made her way to the door, followed by Angel, Wesley and Gunn.

"Good luck with the books." she called as they exited.

"Teacher's pet." Xander said from his chair. "She always gets to cut the boring classes."

"The rewards for being the Slayer are few and far between." Willow quipped back, as the remaining friends settled back to their books.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Three hours later and the morale at Giles' apartment was at an all time low. Only Fred and Giles were looking at books in any great depth, Fred didn't really understand what they were looking for, just had a great sense of wanting to be useful. Giles was clutching at straws now, reading ancient texts in a variety of lost languages, all of which spoke of great gods and wars, but nothing resembling what they had seen. Finally, after translating a rather gruesome description of how some ancient deity had executed his four wives, he pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think we might be best giving it up for the night."

"You mean we can go home? Finally?" Anya asked, overjoyed.

"Yes we can." Xander said, getting up out of the seat.

"And we can have sex?" she asked.

"Yes, we can." Xander said.

"OK guys, too much information, especially for a single girl. And ewww, ex-boyfriend issues here." Cordelia said, staggering up from her position on the floor and helping Fred up next to her.

"Are you sure you don't want anymore help? I can work some more if I have tacos." Fred said to Giles.

"Thank you for the offer, Fred, but you've done more than your fair share."

Willow and Tara began to pick themselves and all their things up as well.

"I'm going to take Fred for some Mexican food, anyone want to come?" Cordelia asked. "I have the petty cash, it's on Angel."

"Much as I love the idea of Dead Boy buying me dinner, I just want to go to bed." Xander said.

"Xan, you OK?" Willow asked, feeling his forehead.

"Yeah, why?"

"You turned down food." Tara giggled.

"What he's going to get is much better than food." Anya stated.

"What can I say girls, I'm on a promise." he said with a smile and let the ex-demon lead him out of the door.

"Willow, Tara, food?" Cordelia asked.

"The kitten?" Tara asked Willow.

"We have to go see the kitten." Willow explained. "She's been on her own the past few days, we need to spend some quality time as a family."

"Giles?" Cordelia asked.

"No thank you, I'm going to take the opportunity, presented by Dawn spending the weekend at Helen's, to listen to music without anyone making comments about dinosaurs and 'easy-listening'."

"Your loss." Cordy replied and she grabbed Fred's hand and pulled her away from the books and out of the door.

Willow walked towards the door with Tara. As she got to it, she whispered to Tara.

"You walk ahead, I'll catch you up in a second, I just need to try and borrow a book from Giles."

Tara looked a little put out for a second, but then nodded and walked out the door.

Willow turned around and walked back into the apartment, almost bumping into Giles who was coming out of the kitchen, a cup of tea in his hand.

"Willow," jumping and sloshing tea into the saucer. "I thought you had all left for the night."

"I just wanted a chance to have a quiet word," the young witch said.

"Of course, take a seat."

Willow sat on the chair offered, by the dining table, Giles in the chair next to her.

"It's about Buffy. I'm worried about her."

"Which bit exactly." Giles asked.

"It's just, do you think she really is all right?" Willow asked, concern etched into her face. "I mean, I'm scared something went wrong with the resurrection, something we haven't noticed yet."

"Willow, as far as I can tell, Buffy is fully resurrected, but immortal now, nothing that I know of at the moment can truly kill her, she just has to take care of herself and drink lots of fluids."

"I'm sorry if I've caused any problems." Willow said.

"Well, it appears you weren't thinking independently when you did the spell, these Powers That Be seem to have a hand in it somewhere, don't blame yourself, Buffy doesn't."

"I just hope she takes care of herself." Willow replied.

"Angel will make sure of that, that is one thing we can rely on in this. And she has us to look out for her and help her when we can."

Willow reached out and touched the Watcher's hand with her own.

"Thank you." she whispered.

Giles was momentarily taken aback by the contact, but looked into the young girl's eyes and saw the tears on the brink. He didn't move his hand away, as his reaction normally would have been.

"You've always been there for her, for all of us. And we do appreciate it you know, even Xander. None of our fathers are the greatest to ever roam this place, and you've given us faith again. You mean a lot to us, all of us." She held on a little tighter to his hand.

"You all mean a lot to me too." Giles replied. But then desperate to end this moment that was making him so uncomfortable, he looked around for inspiration for something to say. He looked at Willow's pale arm that was showing slightly from the bottom of her shirt, a glimpse of silver caught his eye.

"That cuff you're wearing, it's very beautiful. Is it new?"

Willow broke her grip on his hand and pulled her arm away slightly.

"Yes, I bought it from a little stall on Sunnydale market, earlier this week. I liked it, it seemed quite Gothic."

Giles took a second brief look at the silver cuff, it was about 2 inches deep, with a blue stone set in the middle and covered in ornate etchings in the metal.

Willow moved to stand up and started to make her way to the door.

"Thanks for the talk, Giles." she said, as she opened the door to the outside.

Giles walked over to stand in the doorway.

"Anytime." he replied and watched the young girl walk away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Willow walked away from the apartment towards the stairs. She stumbled a little and had to steady herself on the concrete banister. She reached out her hand to stabilise herself. The bracelet came into view once more, only now, the stone was glowing, a very dull blue. She let herself rest for a moment, catching her, now slightly ragged, breath, reviving herself. Then she stood up straight and walked on to find Tara.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Buffy, Angel, Wesley and Gunn walked through the silent streets of Sunnydale. They had been patrolling the area for a few hours now and had found very little of any note. The only thing they had come across was an attempted robbery on a closed shop on the high street. Two people had been outside the window, attempting to throw a brick through. Buffy recognised them as a young couple who lived on a smaller street off Rovello Drive. She had gone over to try and stop them, but they had run off into the darkness, laughing. She had commented to the others on how out of character that had seemed. The couple had always seemed very polite and, well, law-abiding in the past, they had never had a lot of money and their house had been a little ramshackled, but they had worked for what little they possessed. She had finally put it down to one of the quirks of humanity and they had continued on their patrol.

They made their way past the Restfields Cemetery for the fourth time that night when they decided to call it a night. Angel and Buffy opted to go and report in with Giles, leaving Gunn and Wesley to make their way back to the hotel. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Angel took Buffy's hand in his and they walked down the main street, heading back through Sunnydale. Both of them on their guard and cautiously vigilant to the world around them, yet within the shadows, a darker creature moved, following the two warriors as they made their way through the town.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Giles woke up on the sofa, his glasses having fallen off onto his chest. He picked them up and looked at the clock on the mantel, it was 12:30 am; he must have dropped off for an hour. He stood up and brushed himself down. Walking over to the fireplace he looked at his image in the mirror there.

His face looked tired and drawn, with lines running a multitude of paths across his face, his eyes looked small and withered in their sockets. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair. It was hard to tell whether his hair was grey with streaks of brown or brown with streaks of grey these days. He looked at himself again for a moment, taking in the image portrayed in the mirror.

The more he stared into the face in the mirror, the less he recognised as himself. Where had the young boy gone from his earlier years, the student from Oxford? When had this old man taken his place? A dawn of realisation began to pass over the Watcher, beginning as a tiny feeling in the pit of his stomach and extending out across his body. Without thinking any further he walked into his bedroom and took off his sensible docker pants, replacing them with an old worn pair of jeans. The grey shirt that Joyce had bought him one Christmas, was discarded onto the floor and replaced with a white T-shirt that had seen better days. He hunted in the back of his wardrobe and pulled out an old battered leather jacket and pulled it on.

He bounced down the stairs and back into the lounge, stopping once more at the fireplace, he looked into the mirror, taking off his glasses and placing them by the mantel clock. Smiling at the image he saw in the glass, he turned around. Walking to the stereo he pulled the record off the turntable where it had been playing. He held it in the air for a moment and then brought it down on the edge of the coffee table, smashing it into small pieces.

'Bloody classical music, almost as bad as Seals and Croft.' he thought to himself as he walked out of his apartment and into the night.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Willow finally caught up with Tara halfway to the campus. She sidled up behind the blond girl and clasped her hand.

"Did you get the book?" she asked.

"Book?" Willow asked, not understanding for a second.

"Oh, no, he wouldn't let me borrow it, he thinks it might be a little advanced for me."

"Maybe he's right." Tara said.

"Maybe." Willow replied.

"Willow, is everything alright?" Tara asked, scared almost.

Willow stopped in the middle of the street and turned to face her girlfriend. She took her other hand and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Everything is fine. I'm just a little overdone at the moment, you know me, trying to do too much at once." she said, reassuring Tara.

"You should take care of yourself more." Tara said.

"But I have you to do that for me." Willow said, and leaned forward to kiss her briefly. "And you do such a good job." she said, giving a wicked little smile and lead the way towards the dorms.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Spike sat in his favourite place. He was perched on a battered old stool at one end of the bar at Willy's. He stayed out of the way of the other demons, being known as a friend of the Slayer's and a mauler of demons didn't make you many friends in this place. Occasionally, the odd person threw a comment across in his direction, but he just ignored them, couldn't be bothered starting a fight now.

'Says a lot when you don't even want to fight.' he thought to himself.

He threw the last of the whiskey down his throat, the burning sensation producing a violent reaction against the cold temperature of his body.

"Makes you almost feel alive." he said, to no one in particular.

Willy looked up from cleaning a glass at the end of the bar. He'd stood there cleaning that same glass for the majority of the evening. He'd go and serve a customer, then return to that spot and pick up the same glass, keeping his head down. Spike was amazed that the glass hadn't begun to thin around the rim by now. And everytime anyone showed any signs of violence, the rubbing became a little more forceful and faster on the glass. But now, Willy walked across to where Spike was slouched, bringing the glass with him.

"Another?" he asked the vampire before him. Those were the rules of bartending, especially in a place like this, keep your head down, keep out of people's conversation, always keep the drink flowing and most importantly of all, stay alive.

"A double this time, Willie, and none of that cheap crap you keep on serving. Let's have one of the special ones."

"That's the only whiskey I've got, I don't have any others."

Spike sat there sullenly for a moment, and then lightning quick, reached out a hand and grabbed the bartender by the shirt.

"I said, I'll have one of the…" he began, but then suddenly let go of him and spun around, head in hands.

"Argh, bloody hell!" he cried, the pain splitting through his skull. He kicked the barstool in anger. "Stupid pissy chip!" he cried, barely noticing the body step up to the bar beside him.

"Give me a whiskey as well," a voice said, "And I'll pay for that one for our incapacitated friend here. Just make sure they are worth it."

Willy made some shuffling noises under the bar and produced the illusive special bottle and poured two very generous doubles into glasses on the bar.

The man sat down on one of the spare stools and Spike lifted his head up to see who his mystery benefactor was. He was in for quite a shock.

He took in the man next to him for a moment, as they both knocked the harsh liquid down their throats. He swallowed and took a breath in before saying, "Well, bugger me, never thought I'd see you in a place like this."

END OF CHAPTER 9

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Chapter 10 – coming soon