Spell Checked

****Ok, I had to continue this today, I just really wanted to get

Willow home, get some good Spikeage in. Hopefully I do alright. So, here

goes nothing.....

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

Title: Deserving

Author: Kaylorin

Beta read by: LdyEmma425

Synopsis: Begins directly after Grave. My season 7. Loosely based on spoilers and speculation. Buffy has begun her life after the events of Tara's death. Spike has changed for her. There is a new BB that brings Buffy back to her roots as The Slayer.

Rating: R (for now)

Distribution: Fine with me, make sure it's the final edited copy (indicated by 5 * after spell checked), and let me know where it's going. My e-mail is kaylorin90@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I own this story, but not Buffy, Angel, or anything Joss does.

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



First Day Jitters

As the plane landed, Willow felt fear raise bile to her throat. She was

too scared to move, and watched as her fellow passengers departed the

plane. The stewardess came back when she saw the lone red head sitting

near the back.

"Are you all right, miss?"

Willow stood up. "Oh, yeah. Just working up my nerve."

"I see. Well, we have a schedule to keep. Are you all right now?"

"Yes. I'm okay." She pulled the carry on from under her seat and

settled the strap over her shoulder.

"Thanks you for flying with us." The woman called.

Willow forced a smile over her shoulder, then headed down the isle to

the exit. She took slow steps through the retractable bridge that lead

into the airport. Giles had warned her not to be afraid. That her

friends would be there for her. The faces of Xander, Buffy, Dawn, and even

Anya passed through her head. She really didn't think anyone could

forgive her.

She walked off of bridge, and into the airport.

There, standing in a row were here friends, all smiling widely and

waiting for her. Dawn was the first to move, running to Willow and throwing

her arms around her. "We missed you."

Willow wasn't sure how to react. This was nothing close to the

reception she had expected. She looked over Dawn's shoulder to see Buffy,

Xander, and Anya all walking towards her. Before she knew it, she was the

center of a group hug.

"Um, guys...if you really want to kill me, could we do something other

than suffocation?"

All at once they backed off to give her some air.

"Hey, Willow." Xander waved quickly, then let his hand drop to his

side.

"Hey." She returned the wave.

She looked over the faces to Buffy. The Slayer gave her a softer smile.

"How are you?"

"No more magics."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh." She took a deep breath. "I'm okay. You?"

"Me? I'm a police woman."

"Yeah, you already told me that. Top of your class. Trying to fill in

for me while I was gone?"

"You betcha." She gave a weak smile.

Anya took that moment to greet the recovering witch. "You are welcome

to the magic shop, as long as all of your magic is gone. Xander helped

to rebuild it."

Willow couldn't help but smile. "Glad to know it."

Anya looked around at the minor glares she was getting from the others.

"Oh, and welcome back."

"Thanks."

Dawn stood beside Buffy, still confused and not sure how to act. ˜Should I ask her about England? Maybe she didn't see much. Maybe I should

ask her what she remembers. No, might make her upset. Maybe I could

tell her about the detective who's after Buffy. I bet she'd have something

Willowy to say about that."

Willow looked at Dawn, gently and she heard her mind. "Don't worry

Dawnie. You don't have to be careful about what you say. It's okay." Then

she turned to Buffy. "So, who's this detective?"

Dawn's jaw dropped. "How did you…I mean..." She looked at her sister.

"I was just thinking about what to say." She looked back at Willow.

"How'd you do that?"

All eyes were on the red head. "Don't worry. It's not magic. The

fates...they gifted me. They said I was a necessity, and when I woke up from

the dream, I could 'listen' to people's thoughts, like last summer,

only now it's more controlled. I can't reach into anything people don't

want me to know."

"As long as it's not magic," Anya said mater of factly.

"Huh. Cool," Dawn said smiling.

"Well. I guess I should get my other bags," Willow said as she headed

for the luggage area.

Buffy and Xander were left standing there. Neither had any thoughts

they wanted read.

Willow stopped at the luggage pick up, and felt something strange in

the back of her mind. As she picked up the bag, she heard Buffy silently

chanting Spike's name in her mind.

The group walked out of the airport to Xander's awaiting car. The five

piled in, with Dawn and Xander in the front, and the ladies in the back

seat.

Willow easily cut off Buffy's mantra in her head, but in less time than

it had taken her to walk to the car, she had found out something about

her best girlfriend, that no one else had found out all summer.

Whatever else had happened, Buffy had not only forgiven Spike, but was

in love with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Spike found out immediately that he was not a morning person. The sound

of his new alarm clock nearly gave him a heart attack. Something that

was an actual concern nowadays.

His morning ritual had not been set, and his body protested every move

he made to start his day. By the time he got out of the shower he felt

better, but decided to try some coffee.

Dressed, and now only mildly comatose, he grabbed his briefcase and the

cardboard box holding what he hoped would be suitable props for a

history class, and headed to his DeSoto. He pulled into his newly assigned

parking spot, and headed into the office to pick up his class list. The

other teachers already had theirs, of course, but as a late newcomer,

he had to pick it up that morning.

He made his way through the halls to room 106, his classroom. Of

course, this early the room was empty, but it gave him time to set a few

things up.

Spike placed the box and briefcase on his desk, and began to unpack the

posters, and other items he had brought.

Before the first bell rang, he was finished with his decorating, and

set up for the first day of class.

Soon the halls were buzzing with teenagers all greeting each other

after a long summer vacation. He stood outside the door and wondered just

how long it would take before Dawn saw him.

He watched as the kids walked by him and seated themselves at desks at

random. A few girls giggled from the classroom, and when he turned he

watched all of them turn their heads away from him. He looked back to

the hall to see Dawn's back. She had passed him when his back was turned.

The hall was nearly empty when the second bell rang. He closed the

door, and walked up in front of the class. The kids were still jabbering

when he wrote his name on the board "Mr. Worthington."

He turned and faced the room. "Good morning class. My name is Mr.

Worthington, and this class is World History."

Janice sat in the back and began writing a note to Dawn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Dawn made her way through the cafeteria to the table holding her best

friend. "Hey Janice."

"Saved you a seat."

"Thanks. So who's the new teacher?"

"You got my note didn't you?"

"Yea, but writing how gorgeous he is over and over doesn't tell me

much." Dawn took a sip of her milk. "What does he look like?"

Janice flattened her palms on the table and leaned forward. "Blonde

hair, blue eyes, English accent...God, I'm getting an A in that class."

Dawn giggled. "Janice, you always ace History."

"Yes, but now I have real incentive. Maybe I'll get an A plus."

"Well, I'll see for myself last period. Then we can compare notes.

Okay?"

Janice shook her head, and took a bite of her sandwich.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Spike sat in the teacher's lounge munching an apple while writing the

names of his students in his grade book. He was nearly done with the

last class when a woman walked up to him.

"Hello." The woman was slender and tall. Her dark blue eyes looked down

at him. Her black hair was pinned up neatly in a bun.

"Hello." Spike set down his pen. "I'm William." He extended his hand.

"Kathy." She took his hand lightly. "Music department."

"History," He released her hand, but kept eye contact.

"You looked kind of lonely over here all your lonesome, thought I'd

introduce myself."

Spike sat back and stretched. "Right nice of you. I came in a bit late

in the game. Been too busy to make introductions."

The woman took it upon herself to sit at the table with him. "Yes, I

heard you were hired at the last minute."

"Yeah, just got this list today. I think my hand is going to fall off

from all this writing." Spike held up his hand. The impression of the

pen was embedded into his left hand.

The woman nodded. "If it makes you feel better, it gets worse."

Spike chuckled. "Not really."

He looked at the clock. "I got a bit more to do before that bleedin'

bell rings."

She smiled, and stood up. "Well, that you do get used to."

He smiled as she walked away, then picked up his pen to finish filling

in the blanks in his grade book. He was nearly finished when. "Oh,

bloody hell!"

Kathy, who had not yet reached her seat, came back. "What is it?"

Spike shook his head at the name "Summers, Dawn."

"This class name can't be right. I thought this was a class for the

seniors?"

Kathy looked over the names until she reached the one he was pointing

to.

"Miss Summers. Yes, well...she had some trouble last year, but her

history marks have always been high. Some of the juniors who have shown an

aptitude for particular subjects are given the choice to take senior

year courses so they can have an extra elective period their senior

year." She looked back at Spike. "Except for her problems last year, she has

always been an exceptionally good student."

"Of that I have no doubt, I just hadn't expected her to be in my

class."

"If I could ask, how do you know her?"

He wasn't sure how to answer that one, but decided on honesty. "Used to

see her big sis."

"Buffy?" Kathy stood up straight.

"Yeah. You know 'er?"

"By reputation only."

"Reputation?" Spike wasn't sure he wanted to hear this. What did she

do? Sleep with the teachers? No, not Buffy.

"Yes, she and her senior class destroyed the old high school."

"Oh. That," Spike said, unimpressed.

The woman shook her head. "I still can't figure out why no one ever

pressed charges."

Spike scoffed. "Maybe it saved then the price of a demolition. Coulda

been planning on building a new school all along."

Kathy looked at him as though he were purple. "Yeah. That must be it."

And walked away.

"Git," Spike mumbled under his breath, and tried to figure out what the

hell he was going to say last period.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Dawn filed into the classroom following Kevin. They had sworn to sit

next to each other. Being smart was a pain sometimes. They were the only

juniors in the class, but at least they had each other. Poor Janice was

the only one in the first period class. They took seats in the middle

of the back row.

When Dawn searched for the teacher, she couldn't find him.

Kevin watched her. He still had an insane crush on her. But Dawn always

acted like he was her best friend, not like he was a guy.

The girls in the class were all murmuring, and soon the young man

understood why Dawn was searching the room. Apparently the teacher was 'to

die for', 'gorgeous', 'hot' and several other adjectives that were lost

in the gossip that was teenage female oriented.

The second bell rang and still no teacher. Dawn looked to her right. "I

wonder if he already quit, or came up missing?" she asked Kevin.

Kevin's gaze moved over her head, and when Dawn turned to see, the

Instructor's back was what she saw. Not that it was a bad back. ˜Cute

Butt," she thought to herself.

Between classes, someone had erased Spike's name from the board and

he was rewriting it. The fact that he could hide from Dawn a few more

minutes didn't hurt either. Slowly he deposited the chalk onto the ledge

at the base of the chalkboard, and turned to begin his introduction for

the last time.

"Good afternoon class. My name is Mr. Worthington."

A high-pitched short squeak came from the back of the room. Everyone

turned to see Dawn's eyes open so wide her brow was wrinkled. Her mouth

was open as well, but other than the squeak, no sound came forth.

She couldn't help it. It was Spike! Had to be!

So what if it's mid-afternoon and the sun is shining through the

windows right on him. It really didn't matter that his hair was different, or

that he was dressed like any other random teacher, or that he was

standing in front of her class teaching.

Kevin watched his friend frozen. "Dawn." He shook her shoulder.

"Dawn." He shook her a little harder.

"Huh?" She looked around the room, then back at Spike.

With no other plan coming to mind, she shot up out of her seat and

walked past the students and out the door saying something about the

restroom on her way out.

Spike watched her go, but didn't stop her. Sighing to himself, he

turned back to the class. "First day jitters?"

The class laughed a bit, then brushed off the incident. "Now first off,

let me tell you something about myself, have several degrees, one

happens to be in history, just in case you were wondering."

Another round of chuckles filled the room.

"This is my first position teaching, so I may not be perfect, but I can

give you a very good idea of what it is to expect. I don't want you to

think about this class like your learning about dead people, I want you

to feel like you could have lived the events we will be studying."

He turned around and picked up the text on his desk. "You will each

receive a copy of this text book. When you do, I want you each to write

your name where indicated, then. "He picked up a clipboard. "I would like

you to each fill in your name and book number on this sheet. Any

questions?"

A girl in the back row raised her hand.

Spike pointed to her. "Miss.?"

The girls stood up. "Porter, Rachelle Porter." She straightened her

skirt. "Are you single?"

Spike shook his head, and the girls all turned back to him for an

answer. "Let's just say, my heart belongs to someone."

"Oh well. No harm in asking."

Rachelle sat back down, just as Dawn walked back into the room, and to

her seat. She had heard his answer.

The rest of the class went slowly, ending with their first homework

assignment. As the rest of the class filed out, Dawn asked Kevin to go on

ahead.

Kevin left, and once the room was empty, Dawn picked up her bag and

walked up to the teacher's desk. Spike was leaning casually against it.

Dawn stood only a foot from him. Before she knew it, her eyes were

tearing.

"How?" She kept looking from the window to him. His hair was darker.

He'd stopped bleaching it, but there were streaks. Sun streaks. And he

was tan. He'd been like this for awhile. If it wasn't for that scar,

she'd doubt her conclusion, but it had to be Spike.

"Hey, Niblet."

Dawn dropped her bag and flung her fist and threw a punch to his nose.

A powerful one at that. He fell head over heals backwards over his

desk. Dawn walked around the desk as Spike stood himself up.

"You know, bit, I think you can get in serious trouble for hitting the

teacher." He stood himself up, wiping away the blood from his nose

using, not his hand so he could lick it clean as she'd expected, but the

handkerchief in his pocket.

"You're not a teacher. You're a vampire. One who apparently figured out

a way to get around a few rules. And you hurt Buffy."

"Look, I went away cause of what I did. I changed." Spike was backing

away from her. Whatever had changed, so had this girl. He hadn't

expected to be physically hurt by a blow from her. Emotionally, sure, but a

bleeding nose?

Dawn crossed her arms. "You really are stupid you know that?"

He stopped backing off. "I know. I'm an idiot, but I swear, It's all

taken care of."

"Taken care of? You left her, and now she's trying to pretend again,

like she did with Riley."

Spike cocked his head. "You mean you're mad about me leaving? I thought

it was for...I mean Giles said Xander told you about…."

Dawn uncrossed her arms. "He did, I was, Anya explained it." Then Dawn

looked back at him. "But then, if you left so you couldn't hurt Buffy,

why'd you come back?"

Spike took a step towards Dawn and took her hand in his. Slowly he

raised it until her hand was against the thumping in his chest.

For the second time in an hour, Dawn's shock was more than visible on

her face. "Spike. You're alive."

"I noticed," he chuckled. "Demon's gone."

Dawn pulled her hand away from the steady rhythm slowly. "But, how?"

"It's why I left. And why I'm back."

Dawn sat on the desktop behind her. "So, you're human?"

One side of Spike's mouth turned up. "Just as human as big sis."

"Wow, that's gre-" Dawn stood up. "What do you mean, like Buffy?"

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See, funny teacher scene. At least I was hoping for a weird meeting

between Dawn and Spike. So what do you think? Please R&R. Comon guys..it's

2 chapters in one day...twice in one week. Gimme some reviews.