DISCLAIMER: I own none of the people or places, please, I am not the
talented. They all belong to Joss and Co. All hail them.
PAIRING: S/B, some X/A hintings
SPECIAL THANKS: To rubygoddes, who will undoubtedly be helping me loads.
The night was cool, and there was a soft breeze blowing through the small town; it was just the sort of night you would expect to be quiet and calming. But the town was alive with people running from store to store, teens gathered in their cliques downtown, and a campus full of up and alert coeds bustling from building to building.
There were other active inhabitants of the town out and about as well. They were the less heard from and talked about bunch, the ones that hid even with their abilities for dominance. They slithered in the shadows and crept along alleyways, keeping to themselves, until it came time to feed or fight.
One person was out prowling the streets with the intentions of finding these hidden citizens however. She walked through the darkness where they congregated, carrying her air of confidence-and also her large bag of weapons in case the confidence failed and violence was called for.
Buffy twirled her stake in her fingers out of boredom. In the last three nights the only one who had come in contact with the sharp wooden object was her. The monsters of Sunnydale were getting better at hiding as years went on-either that or she was just slacking off. Since her confidence, and more importantly pride, would not let her think the latter was true, Buffy set her mind to searching out one more moving shadow before retreating homeward.
She stealthily made her was across the graveyard, slinking behind the tombstones and walking silently over piles of twigs and dried leaves. The shadow she was tracking made its way past mausoleums and through trees, disappearing once and again, but Buffy kept up with it. It finally stopped outside of one of the unnamed burial spots of a former Sunnydale resident and slowly opened the door and made its way inside.
" Oh, must be long running Sunnydale moocher. Why can't they pay for houses like the living?" Buffy mumbled to herself as she watched the shadowy figure move about.
The shadow made it way into the crypt, and Buffy began to follow when she realized suddenly who she'd been tracking. She looked at the mausoleum and the surrounding bush and landscape. It all seemed too familiar. She hadn't been here in over four months, but now she remembered it.
Spike's crypt. That meant who she was following had been Spike.
Buffy's breath caught in her throat for a moment. She hadn't been expecting to see him back so soon. In all honesty, she hadn't expected to see him ever again. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the urge to just sit down on the newly rained-on ground.
She had to have known he would return sometime, but some part of her mind had refused to believe it as reality. That's why it was such a shock to her to have him back here-and coming to find out she has been chasing after him.
A million thoughts all of a sudden raced through her mind, many possibilities and options. She didn't know weather to leave it alone and just let him find her in time, or to take the initiative and go to him. Preferably to take that time to introduce him to her newly fashioned stake. It had been seeing less action lately.
She shook her head violently at the thought of something getting action. Those sort of thoughts only lead to bad places that her mind didn't need to be going. She was angry at Spike and she intended to stay that way until hell froze over-which on a Hellmouth it had every possibility of doing at any time. She needed to compare forgiving him to something with less likely chances of occurring..
Buffy looked back up at the crypt, thinking on the idea of just walking away. She seemed to have done too much of that last year. All she had done was let things lie-then they had grown to mass proportions that just eventually blew up in her face. Now that she thought back on it, she really didn't want that to happen again. She was queen of handling things wrong, she just needed to handle it right for once.
" Tomorrow will work, too," Buffy said as she abruptly turned away and started out of the cemetery and towards her home.
Spike would still be there in all his platinum-haired, irritatingly British glory the next night, she could take out her anger on him then-as soon as she had vented most of it out on the punching bag she'd moved to her house.
As Buffy walked away, she laughed to herself and seemed to break herself out of the trance she was in. Just because that was Spike's crypt, and a shadowy figure had just made its way into it, doesn't mean the figure had to be Spike. It was an abandoned home just waiting for some house-broken demon to settle down into it. Anything could have gone into it. And that's what she reminded herself all the way home, before slipping into thoughts of what had been going on here.
The Magic Box was still in ruins, Willow was still off in England on her rehabilitation trip with Giles, Xander and Anya were barely talking, and Dawn was getting ideas about her being Buffy's partner-in-slaying. All was not right with the world, but then again, it rarely ever was.
Buffy walked into her house, and yelled out that she was home. She was greeted by silence, but wasn't surprised. No one was ever home it seemed, not that she was going to openly complain to the populace about it or anything. She just missed them when they were gone, and lately had been understanding how Dawn had felt last year.
She had thought, and hoped, that at the beginning of the summer things would start to change, get better. But nothing had really changed, not yet. Willow was gone, which was new, but she would be coming back, and they were all awaiting the day, and then just slowly fall back into place with each other, as they always did. Anya was off in her new vengeance lifestyle, mostly because the Magic Box was not on its feet yet and she wasn't going to stick around if she wasn't earning money. Xander was as busy as ever with construction, and only stopped by every once in a while, mostly to see if he was needed on patrol.
But Buffy was pretty covered in the patrolling area; mostly because of her new little helper. Dawn had made it a point of coming along each night Buffy was about to leave the house. The first night, she had dressed all in black and bought walkie-talkies she thought would come in handy. While Buffy couldn't help thinking how adorable it had been, she had also been scared. She wanted to be more a part of Dawn's life, but she didn't want to endanger her sister.
That's why Dawn was going through training. Nothing too hard or dangerous, just some standard defense moves that Buffy thought would help if they were ever outnumbered and Buffy couldn't watch Dawn closely. So far Dawn had twisted her ankle, gotten a black eye and a busted lip, but she was still enamored with the lifestyle. She wanted to be in all the action, and Buffy wasn't going to refuse her the chance. At least not yet.
Just then the door burst open. Buffy's hand went to her belt, where she had her stake tucked in securely, and she whirled around-to see Dawn and a friend of hers giggling and walking in the door. Buffy quickly stashed the stake back in her pants, but happily, Dawn's friend hadn't noticed her.
" Hey, Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed as she saw her sister standing in the living room. Dawn dragged her friend-a girl that looked around Dawn's age, but that didn't look quite as carefree and the Slayer's sister-through the door and right up to Buffy. " This is Bianca. We just met at school today."
That explained why Buffy didn't recognize her. Buffy smiled and held her hand out to shake, however, inspecting Bianca thoroughly. No noticeable tattoos or piercings, other than in the ears. She wasn't all dyed and artificial like a few of the people Dawn had brought home with her. All around, she looked pretty good.
" Hi, Bianca. I'm Buffy.as Dawn said. It's nice to meet you."
Bianca nodded and smiled. " You too, Mrs. Summers," she said politely. " Hey, you work at the high school don't you? Counselor or something?"
" Yeah, I just started.about the time you all started. And feel free to call me Buffy. Ms. Summers makes me sound old."
Dawn rolled her eyes and began dragging Bianca away. " You are old." They started giggling and talking again and ran up the stairs. Buffy sighed and followed slowly after, but went on to her room once she reached the second floor hall.
She changed out of her patrolling clothes, and into something more comfortable. All the time, she thought to herself, I'm not old. Just because she was now faculty instead of student didn't mean she was suddenly old. Like Mrs. Franklin, the English teacher the kids all swore was 90.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. The kids. Was she now doomed to be calling people only three years younger than her kids? She may have grown up fast, but she didn't suddenly become an old lady.
Still, Buffy's level of pride and confidence slowly sank as she sat on her bed. She could do back flips and prevent apocalypses in high school, and still could, how many other teenagers could do that? Her mystical ancestors may have died early, meaning they never did get old.
" Age is all in the mind. You're only as old as you feel," Buffy said to herself. " I feel..21." Buffy smiled to herself, deciding that she was not going to waste another night at home. It was only 10 and she still had the night before her.
She quickly climbed back into the clothes she had just finished throwing on the floor, and went to Dawn's door and knocked. The music inside was blaring, and she could hear the two girls screaming along to the music. She pounded harder, and cringed when the wood cracked.
That's when the door flew open. " What?" Dawn yelled over the pitch of the radio.
" I'm going back out!" Buffy screamed back. " You two don't leave the house, okay?"
Dawn quickly shut the door and came out into the hall. " Do you want me to come with?" she asked excitedly, her blue eyes shining, even through her one black shiner.
" No, its okay, Dawn. You have a friend over, you two have fun."
" Buffy, it's fine, I can ask Bianca to go home. Tell her it's a family thing, or whatever."
" Uh.Dawn I don't know. I sort of wanted to move fast. There might not even be anything out, there hasn't been for a few nights."
" That's perfect! I can come along, you can give me the scoop on the graveyards, you know, paths you take and things, and we might not even get to the bloody and violent battles. Hold on while I tell Bianca."
" Dawn, that's." Dawn was back in her room, talking to Bianca before Buffy could stop her. It seemed only seconds before Dawn was rushing Bianca to the door and out onto the porch.
Bianca walked down the steps, then turned back to Buffy. " Hey, I hope your friend is okay."
Buffy looked at her in confusion, when she felt Dawn's elbow jam into her side. Suddenly she caught the lie, and sighed. " Yeah, I'm sure they'll be fine. Nothing major."
" Well, getting hit by an ice cream truck isn't that great," she said, also looking bewildered.
Buffy rolled her eyes and looked at Dawn, who shrugged. " Well, you know those wacko ice cream truck drivers, they're menaces behind the wheel. Hope to see you again, Bianca."
" You too, Mrs. Summers," was all she said before walking hurriedly off.
Buffy slowly turned to look at Dawn, raising her eyebrows. " An ice cream truck?"
Dawn shrugged again and looked away. " I panicked." She looked at Buffy's still reprimanding stare, and held up her hands in defense. " Hey! You know me. I'm not good with the telling-of-lies."
" You? Who lied to your sister and friends for months about your little klepto habit? Yes, however would you perfect your lying skills."
" Okay, okay. So ice cream truck accident wasn't exactly my best lie. But it's better than the other idea I had."
" Oh? What was that?" Buffy asked as they left the house.
" That Xander fell over the fence at the zoo and was mauled by the lions."
Buffy nodded and looked at Dawn. " Yeah, ice cream truck was good. Good choice."
The two sisters made their way through the Sunnydale streets, and surprisingly to Buffy, headed right into the same cemetery she'd come from earlier. She looked at Dawn, wondering if she caught it, but Dawn was smiling perkily and looking around at the surroundings, like she'd never been there before.
Then, she suddenly turned to Buffy, her smile gone. " This is Spike's cemetery."
Buffy nodded slowly and looked over at Dawn. " I know. Maybe we should leave. Catch one of the other eleven cemeteries in Sunnydale."
"No, Buffy, it's okay. I mean, its not like Spike is even here or anything. So we're good. Let's go kill something, k?"
" My same thought, exactly."
They prowled the graveyard for an hour, Dawn jumping and squealing at every snapped twig every rustle in the leaves. At one point, she grabbed Buffy and cowered behind her, only to stand up bravely when the noise she was scared by turned out to be a dog. Buffy repeatedly reminded herself that this was quality time with Dawn. It didn't count if by the end of the night, one or both of you didn't want to strangle the other slowly to death.
That's about the time they ended up in front on the familiar crypt. It seemed like Buffy had only been standing here an hour ago, staring up at it. " That's right, I was," Buffy whispered.
" What?" Dawn asked, not taking her eyes from the crypt.
" Oh, nothing, I was just saying that maybe we should go home now. I mean, it's not like there's anyone there to."
The crypt door opened suddenly, and a shadowy figure stood in the door. It was motionless for a few seconds, while Buffy was so still she could hear both hers and Dawn's hearts beat like drums. Then the figure moved, and a ray of moonlight caught its face.
There was no mistaking the slightly hollow cheek bones, the hair that seemed whiter than snow in the direct light. Buffy had tried to convince herself that what had happened earlier, the figure she'd seen, could have been anyone, anything, and she had sort of succeeded. But now there was no mistaking the obvious. Spike was back.
The night was cool, and there was a soft breeze blowing through the small town; it was just the sort of night you would expect to be quiet and calming. But the town was alive with people running from store to store, teens gathered in their cliques downtown, and a campus full of up and alert coeds bustling from building to building.
There were other active inhabitants of the town out and about as well. They were the less heard from and talked about bunch, the ones that hid even with their abilities for dominance. They slithered in the shadows and crept along alleyways, keeping to themselves, until it came time to feed or fight.
One person was out prowling the streets with the intentions of finding these hidden citizens however. She walked through the darkness where they congregated, carrying her air of confidence-and also her large bag of weapons in case the confidence failed and violence was called for.
Buffy twirled her stake in her fingers out of boredom. In the last three nights the only one who had come in contact with the sharp wooden object was her. The monsters of Sunnydale were getting better at hiding as years went on-either that or she was just slacking off. Since her confidence, and more importantly pride, would not let her think the latter was true, Buffy set her mind to searching out one more moving shadow before retreating homeward.
She stealthily made her was across the graveyard, slinking behind the tombstones and walking silently over piles of twigs and dried leaves. The shadow she was tracking made its way past mausoleums and through trees, disappearing once and again, but Buffy kept up with it. It finally stopped outside of one of the unnamed burial spots of a former Sunnydale resident and slowly opened the door and made its way inside.
" Oh, must be long running Sunnydale moocher. Why can't they pay for houses like the living?" Buffy mumbled to herself as she watched the shadowy figure move about.
The shadow made it way into the crypt, and Buffy began to follow when she realized suddenly who she'd been tracking. She looked at the mausoleum and the surrounding bush and landscape. It all seemed too familiar. She hadn't been here in over four months, but now she remembered it.
Spike's crypt. That meant who she was following had been Spike.
Buffy's breath caught in her throat for a moment. She hadn't been expecting to see him back so soon. In all honesty, she hadn't expected to see him ever again. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the urge to just sit down on the newly rained-on ground.
She had to have known he would return sometime, but some part of her mind had refused to believe it as reality. That's why it was such a shock to her to have him back here-and coming to find out she has been chasing after him.
A million thoughts all of a sudden raced through her mind, many possibilities and options. She didn't know weather to leave it alone and just let him find her in time, or to take the initiative and go to him. Preferably to take that time to introduce him to her newly fashioned stake. It had been seeing less action lately.
She shook her head violently at the thought of something getting action. Those sort of thoughts only lead to bad places that her mind didn't need to be going. She was angry at Spike and she intended to stay that way until hell froze over-which on a Hellmouth it had every possibility of doing at any time. She needed to compare forgiving him to something with less likely chances of occurring..
Buffy looked back up at the crypt, thinking on the idea of just walking away. She seemed to have done too much of that last year. All she had done was let things lie-then they had grown to mass proportions that just eventually blew up in her face. Now that she thought back on it, she really didn't want that to happen again. She was queen of handling things wrong, she just needed to handle it right for once.
" Tomorrow will work, too," Buffy said as she abruptly turned away and started out of the cemetery and towards her home.
Spike would still be there in all his platinum-haired, irritatingly British glory the next night, she could take out her anger on him then-as soon as she had vented most of it out on the punching bag she'd moved to her house.
As Buffy walked away, she laughed to herself and seemed to break herself out of the trance she was in. Just because that was Spike's crypt, and a shadowy figure had just made its way into it, doesn't mean the figure had to be Spike. It was an abandoned home just waiting for some house-broken demon to settle down into it. Anything could have gone into it. And that's what she reminded herself all the way home, before slipping into thoughts of what had been going on here.
The Magic Box was still in ruins, Willow was still off in England on her rehabilitation trip with Giles, Xander and Anya were barely talking, and Dawn was getting ideas about her being Buffy's partner-in-slaying. All was not right with the world, but then again, it rarely ever was.
Buffy walked into her house, and yelled out that she was home. She was greeted by silence, but wasn't surprised. No one was ever home it seemed, not that she was going to openly complain to the populace about it or anything. She just missed them when they were gone, and lately had been understanding how Dawn had felt last year.
She had thought, and hoped, that at the beginning of the summer things would start to change, get better. But nothing had really changed, not yet. Willow was gone, which was new, but she would be coming back, and they were all awaiting the day, and then just slowly fall back into place with each other, as they always did. Anya was off in her new vengeance lifestyle, mostly because the Magic Box was not on its feet yet and she wasn't going to stick around if she wasn't earning money. Xander was as busy as ever with construction, and only stopped by every once in a while, mostly to see if he was needed on patrol.
But Buffy was pretty covered in the patrolling area; mostly because of her new little helper. Dawn had made it a point of coming along each night Buffy was about to leave the house. The first night, she had dressed all in black and bought walkie-talkies she thought would come in handy. While Buffy couldn't help thinking how adorable it had been, she had also been scared. She wanted to be more a part of Dawn's life, but she didn't want to endanger her sister.
That's why Dawn was going through training. Nothing too hard or dangerous, just some standard defense moves that Buffy thought would help if they were ever outnumbered and Buffy couldn't watch Dawn closely. So far Dawn had twisted her ankle, gotten a black eye and a busted lip, but she was still enamored with the lifestyle. She wanted to be in all the action, and Buffy wasn't going to refuse her the chance. At least not yet.
Just then the door burst open. Buffy's hand went to her belt, where she had her stake tucked in securely, and she whirled around-to see Dawn and a friend of hers giggling and walking in the door. Buffy quickly stashed the stake back in her pants, but happily, Dawn's friend hadn't noticed her.
" Hey, Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed as she saw her sister standing in the living room. Dawn dragged her friend-a girl that looked around Dawn's age, but that didn't look quite as carefree and the Slayer's sister-through the door and right up to Buffy. " This is Bianca. We just met at school today."
That explained why Buffy didn't recognize her. Buffy smiled and held her hand out to shake, however, inspecting Bianca thoroughly. No noticeable tattoos or piercings, other than in the ears. She wasn't all dyed and artificial like a few of the people Dawn had brought home with her. All around, she looked pretty good.
" Hi, Bianca. I'm Buffy.as Dawn said. It's nice to meet you."
Bianca nodded and smiled. " You too, Mrs. Summers," she said politely. " Hey, you work at the high school don't you? Counselor or something?"
" Yeah, I just started.about the time you all started. And feel free to call me Buffy. Ms. Summers makes me sound old."
Dawn rolled her eyes and began dragging Bianca away. " You are old." They started giggling and talking again and ran up the stairs. Buffy sighed and followed slowly after, but went on to her room once she reached the second floor hall.
She changed out of her patrolling clothes, and into something more comfortable. All the time, she thought to herself, I'm not old. Just because she was now faculty instead of student didn't mean she was suddenly old. Like Mrs. Franklin, the English teacher the kids all swore was 90.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. The kids. Was she now doomed to be calling people only three years younger than her kids? She may have grown up fast, but she didn't suddenly become an old lady.
Still, Buffy's level of pride and confidence slowly sank as she sat on her bed. She could do back flips and prevent apocalypses in high school, and still could, how many other teenagers could do that? Her mystical ancestors may have died early, meaning they never did get old.
" Age is all in the mind. You're only as old as you feel," Buffy said to herself. " I feel..21." Buffy smiled to herself, deciding that she was not going to waste another night at home. It was only 10 and she still had the night before her.
She quickly climbed back into the clothes she had just finished throwing on the floor, and went to Dawn's door and knocked. The music inside was blaring, and she could hear the two girls screaming along to the music. She pounded harder, and cringed when the wood cracked.
That's when the door flew open. " What?" Dawn yelled over the pitch of the radio.
" I'm going back out!" Buffy screamed back. " You two don't leave the house, okay?"
Dawn quickly shut the door and came out into the hall. " Do you want me to come with?" she asked excitedly, her blue eyes shining, even through her one black shiner.
" No, its okay, Dawn. You have a friend over, you two have fun."
" Buffy, it's fine, I can ask Bianca to go home. Tell her it's a family thing, or whatever."
" Uh.Dawn I don't know. I sort of wanted to move fast. There might not even be anything out, there hasn't been for a few nights."
" That's perfect! I can come along, you can give me the scoop on the graveyards, you know, paths you take and things, and we might not even get to the bloody and violent battles. Hold on while I tell Bianca."
" Dawn, that's." Dawn was back in her room, talking to Bianca before Buffy could stop her. It seemed only seconds before Dawn was rushing Bianca to the door and out onto the porch.
Bianca walked down the steps, then turned back to Buffy. " Hey, I hope your friend is okay."
Buffy looked at her in confusion, when she felt Dawn's elbow jam into her side. Suddenly she caught the lie, and sighed. " Yeah, I'm sure they'll be fine. Nothing major."
" Well, getting hit by an ice cream truck isn't that great," she said, also looking bewildered.
Buffy rolled her eyes and looked at Dawn, who shrugged. " Well, you know those wacko ice cream truck drivers, they're menaces behind the wheel. Hope to see you again, Bianca."
" You too, Mrs. Summers," was all she said before walking hurriedly off.
Buffy slowly turned to look at Dawn, raising her eyebrows. " An ice cream truck?"
Dawn shrugged again and looked away. " I panicked." She looked at Buffy's still reprimanding stare, and held up her hands in defense. " Hey! You know me. I'm not good with the telling-of-lies."
" You? Who lied to your sister and friends for months about your little klepto habit? Yes, however would you perfect your lying skills."
" Okay, okay. So ice cream truck accident wasn't exactly my best lie. But it's better than the other idea I had."
" Oh? What was that?" Buffy asked as they left the house.
" That Xander fell over the fence at the zoo and was mauled by the lions."
Buffy nodded and looked at Dawn. " Yeah, ice cream truck was good. Good choice."
The two sisters made their way through the Sunnydale streets, and surprisingly to Buffy, headed right into the same cemetery she'd come from earlier. She looked at Dawn, wondering if she caught it, but Dawn was smiling perkily and looking around at the surroundings, like she'd never been there before.
Then, she suddenly turned to Buffy, her smile gone. " This is Spike's cemetery."
Buffy nodded slowly and looked over at Dawn. " I know. Maybe we should leave. Catch one of the other eleven cemeteries in Sunnydale."
"No, Buffy, it's okay. I mean, its not like Spike is even here or anything. So we're good. Let's go kill something, k?"
" My same thought, exactly."
They prowled the graveyard for an hour, Dawn jumping and squealing at every snapped twig every rustle in the leaves. At one point, she grabbed Buffy and cowered behind her, only to stand up bravely when the noise she was scared by turned out to be a dog. Buffy repeatedly reminded herself that this was quality time with Dawn. It didn't count if by the end of the night, one or both of you didn't want to strangle the other slowly to death.
That's about the time they ended up in front on the familiar crypt. It seemed like Buffy had only been standing here an hour ago, staring up at it. " That's right, I was," Buffy whispered.
" What?" Dawn asked, not taking her eyes from the crypt.
" Oh, nothing, I was just saying that maybe we should go home now. I mean, it's not like there's anyone there to."
The crypt door opened suddenly, and a shadowy figure stood in the door. It was motionless for a few seconds, while Buffy was so still she could hear both hers and Dawn's hearts beat like drums. Then the figure moved, and a ray of moonlight caught its face.
There was no mistaking the slightly hollow cheek bones, the hair that seemed whiter than snow in the direct light. Buffy had tried to convince herself that what had happened earlier, the figure she'd seen, could have been anyone, anything, and she had sort of succeeded. But now there was no mistaking the obvious. Spike was back.