In this chapter: a visit from Angel and some secrets revealed- Spike has mood swings.

Chapter Three

Beach

Angel and Cordelia reached Buffy's house at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the next day. Cordelia got out of the car and quickly dived back into it, taking cover from the heavy rain that was pouring down. She turned to the back and shook the sleeping Angel awake. He awoke with a start and sat up.

"It's raining." Cordelia told him before he could say anything, and then grabbed her coat from the back seat. They both exited from the car and made their way to the front stoop in a big hurry, trying not to get wet.

"Come on, come on!" Cordelia muttered as she bounced up and down in the rain, trying to keep warm. Finally the door opened.

"Hey An- oh, hi Cordelia." Willow said, surprised. "Come in."

"I never thought you'd ask." Cordelia said and she and Angel walked in.

***

"So where is he?" Angel asked as he handed Dawn his coat. Cordelia insisted on keeping hers on, saying that she was cold.

"Upstairs. Buffy's with him."

Angel began to walk upstairs, followed by Cordelia, but he waved a hand in dismissal and Cordelia turned back to Willow in a huff.

"Men." She said loudly, and rolled her eyes at Willow. Willow smiled back, and they walked into the living room together.

***

Buffy sat next to Spike at the window and nervously tapped her finely manicured nails against her thigh. Spike was rarely quiet and his silence made her a tad bit uneasy.

"Spike?"

Buffy turned at the familiar voice and got out of her seat.

"Angel." she greeted him and then wrapped him in a big bear hug. Angel hugged back and smiled weakly at her.

"How's he doing?"

Buffy turned her head in Spike's direction (still gazing out the window) and turned back to Angel. 'Bad.' she mouthed.

"Can you leave for a little bit? I want to talk to him- about when-"

Buffy nodded hurriedly and walked out of the room, closing the door soundly behind her. Once Angel heard her greeting the other's downstairs, he began o talk.

"William."

Spike's jumped up and was at Angel's side in a flash. "Don't ever call me that name." he snarled.

Angel placed his hands on Spike's shoulders and shook him.

"Look at you. You're not Spike anymore."

"Like Hell I'm not! I'm still me, nothing has changed." Spike's blue eyes glared defiantly up at Angel. To someone who never knew Spike, he would've looked strong and defiant, but to Angel- who had known him for 120+ years- he saw that Spike was afraid and clearly different.

"You're lying." Angel said calmly. Spike looked up at him, angry sparks in his eyes for several minutes, but then caved in, the bright light dying almost instantly.

"Everything is so hard. I can't stand, knowing what I did, and having to put up with it. I keep going back, and what's worse is that I can feel HIM inside me."

"HIM?" Angel asked.

"William." Spike muttered quietly. "That pansy- he's back. And I can feel him growing within me, pushing ME away."

Angel kissed Spike on the forehead Spike returned to his chair. He gazed out at the sky- that had stopped raining- and looked at the sun peeking through the clouds. A beam of light hit him on the face and he flinched out of habit.

Angel watched his every move and sadness filled his heart. Spike was going through what he had gone through- but his old self was coming back to him, and there was no beast within him to even him out. He had two personalities now, and there was no way to clearly separate them.

Spike suddenly broke the silence. "Don't pity me." he turned to Angel, and Angel saw that he had been crying. "Just take me to the beach."

***

Angel walked down the stairs, Spike following shyly behind. Immediately as he entered the room, Buffy jumped up, followed by Cordelia, Willow, and Dawn.

"How is-"

"I'm right here, and don't go pitying me. I'm just fine." Spike cut Buffy off mid-sentence and stood next to Angel. Dawn ran over to him and gave him a large hug, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "I missed you so much," she said so that only he could hear her, and he stroked her hair gently.

"I missed you too, Little Bit."

"Does he want anything?" Buffy asked Angel in a whisper as Spike held Dawn.

"He- want to go out." Angel said reluctantly. Catching his tone, Buffy frowned.

"Where?"

"To the beach."

Buffy burst out in a grin and looked at Spike and Dawn. They had walked into the living room and had plopped down onto the couch together, next to Willow, who was smiling brightly at Buffy. 'The beach.' she mouthed to Willow, and Willow's grin grew.

"I'm gonna call the rest of the Scoobies."

***

Spike sat on the sand, looking out at Dawn and Xander, who were playing together in the water. Cordelia sat on his right, and Buffy on his left. Cordelia was busy talking with Willow, Tara, and Anya about magick and demons. They were laughing a lot with one another as they shared stories of things that had happened over the last three years.

"I used to love to go to the beach. My little sister- Harriet- loved the water, and she always claimed that she would be the first woman swimmer." Spike said as he watched Dawn laughing as Xander made a fish face.

"I called her my little nibblet. She was so beautiful. Looked uncannily like Dawn." Buffy looked at Spike, who seemed lost in memory. "I never got to say goodbye."

Buffy slid her hand onto his, and he grasped it tightly.

"I used to write poems and sketch on those trips." he said shyly, and looked over at Buffy.

"You wrote poetry?" Buffy looked at him, surprised.

"Bloody awful poetry, and I hope that William won't pick that up again." Spike said and smiled. Buffy smiled back.

"So, why are you being so nice to me now? Me being a vampire made it different?" Spike suddenly stood and shouted. The other three girls halted their conversation, and looked up at him as he stomped off across the sand.

"What was that about?" Willow asked and looked at Buffy expectantly. Instead, it was Anya who spoke next.

"I expect that he's going through a lot of changes in attitude. After all, he was William once, and then he turned into Spike- so his attitude changed- and now he's human again with both attitudes of a human and a vampire combined. It's no wonder that he gets a bit snippy."

"Hey, where did the walking dead go?" Xander and Dawn approached to group, wet and giggling.

"Hey, he's human now." Buffy said and stood up.

Xander shrugged. "Whatever. Now, where is he?"

"Why do you wanna know, Xander?" Willow asked and grinned.

"I think that Xander's having an affair with Anya and Spike- I always k-knew they f-fought too much." Tara said and smiled. Dawn almost fell into the sand in hysterics.

"Shut up!" Xander said and blushed. "I did not have an affair with the walking dead, and I just wanna see what the guy's like now, okay?"

"Well, he went that way, " Buffy pointed in the direction where Xander wandered off to.

"Thanks." Xander began to walk away, when Cordelia jumped up and ran over too him.

"I'm coming with you."

Author's Note: No cliffhanger this time. Sorry it took so long to post, but I've been really busy.

Blessed Be, Luna