A/n: Ahh, the next part is here. Guys, let me know what's going on out there! Do you like it? Hate It? Should I keep going? Any suggestions? Flames? Let me know, review!! Oh, and by the way…I still don't own these people, or anything along that line. I wish I did, though. Joss Whedon is a God. No, he's the God! LOL.
An unfamiliar scent greeted Buffy the next morning as soon as she awoke. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sniffed once, twice, trying to identify the smell. Food, that was for sure. Maybe Dawn was making breakfast. Did she start school today? No, that wasn't until next week. She got out of bed, stretching a bit, then padded down the hall to Dawn's room, knocking on the door twice before pushing it open.
"That answer's that question," she said to herself as Dawn looked up from writing in her diary.
"Hey, Buffy," Dawn greeted rather pleasantly. "Breakfast almost ready?"
"I'm not cooking," she said. "I thought you were."
Dawn furrowed her brow and shook her head. "Maybe Giles or someone stopped by."
"Let's go find out," Buffy suggested, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
Dawn leaped off her bed and they headed down the stairs together, rounding into the kitchen and stopping in shock at what they saw.
"Hey, guys," said Willow with a small smile. "Pancakes?"
Quickly closing her opened mouth, Buffy nodded, "Yeah!"
"Eager, much?" Dawn hissed in her ear, hopping on a stool before a plate. "Hey, Will?"
"Yeah?" Willow asked, turning around, spatula in hand.
"Can you make me funny shapes?" Dawn asked carefully.
Willow gave her an absolutely vibrant smile. "Sure, Dawnie."
Buffy smiled to herself. "I'll be down in a few, I gotta get ready for work."
Willow and Dawn nodded as she walked up the stairs and into her room to change into her Doublemeat Palace uniform.
"So, Will," Dawn said as the older girl placed a stack of cute if not oddly shaped pancakes on her plate. "What's up?"
Willow placed more, regular pancakes on another plate for Buffy. "You mean, why the sudden turn around?"
"Well, yeah," Dawn said softly. "I mean…you know."
"I get it, Dawn," she said. "And you don't have to tiptoe around me anymore. Tara's gone, nothing can change that. I'm still gonna miss her, but I don't want it to be like we're trying to forget she was ever here."
Dawn nodded. "I could never do that."
"Me either," Willow agreed. "Yesterday…I realized that. I realized a lot of things. Someone made me realize them."
"Who?" Dawn asked, ever the curios teen.
"I…" Willow trailed off. He was supposed to be dead. What if Dawn thought she was going crazy or something? She sighed. "It was Spike."
Dawn's eyes went wide. "You saw him?"
"I-I know he's supposed to be dead-" Willow rushed.
"No!" Dawn interrupted. "I mean, yeah, he's supposed to be, but…well, Buffy and I saw him, too. We didn't tell anyone because he was acting really weird…"
"I noticed that, too," Willow muttered. "He was more…I dunno."
"He has a soul," she spilled out suddenly, then covered her mouth with a hand.
Willow didn't look as shocked as Dawn imagined she would have. "That would make sense…how?"
Dawn slowly removed her hand. "I don't know all the details. All I know is he left for awhile, and when he came back he had one. Then he left again…then he came back again. Now he's acting even weirder."
"Tell me about it," Willow said. "But it was a good kind of weird, I guess."
"Not from what I saw," Dawn argued. "He got all zone-y, and then he ran away screaming when Buffy and I saw him on patrol. Then the other day he was sitting at Mom's grave the other night, and he's all pale and stuff. He looks like a skeleton. It's nasty. I mean, it was hard enough just to get him to eat some blood."
Willow poured some syrup over a pancake, looking thoughtful. "It must be really hard, having the soul. You know, after all he did."
Dawn nodded. "I guess. I can't even imagine that. It must hurt."
"Yeah," Willow agreed with a nod.
"What're we talking about?" Buffy spoke up from the doorway, coming over to sit next to Dawn, and digging into her pancakes.
"Uh…nothing," Willow said.
"Yeah," Dawn said. "Just…what we were gonna do today, while you're working."
"Oh," Buffy said. "How about cleaning your room, Dawn?"
Her sister sighed. "All right."
"I'll help," Willow whispered conspiringly, taking her plate to the sink.
Buffy grinned and smothered her pancakes in butter and syrup.
"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled woozily.
He'd stood up to pull down the ratty curtain covering the window where sunlight had been creeping through for the past few hours, getting closer and closer, but as soon as he was on his feet he lurched, catching himself on the TV, too dizzy to stand straight. Brightly colored spots danced before his eyes.
He rested, sagging against his stolen set for a few minutes, then straightened up again.
He stumbled over to the window and yanked down the curtain.
There, in the dim glow of hidden sunlight, he looked down at himself. His jeans were loose and baggy, and he hiked them up on his hips, scowling. His ribs showed through his skin, and he realized that a lot of his scars were gone. Holding out his hands he saw that his skin was clinging tightly to his knuckles.
"I look like I came from a bleedin' concentration camp," he laughed sardonically.
He was wasting away inside. He knew this. Still, he couldn't bring himself to hold down any blood.
Why did it have to be blood?
Buffy sighed and wiped a greasy hand across her forehead in a vain attempt to keep her hair from escaping the hair tie and hat and getting in her eyes. She slapped the burgers on their uncooked side and another sigh was barely audible beneath the sizzling noise.
"How long to go?" she asked herself, twisting her neck to get a look at the clock. Half an hour. Good.
"Buffy," her co-worker Linda said suddenly. "Can you take the counter? My ex-boyfriend and his new girl are headed this way!"
"Sure," Buffy said, happy to get away from the grills.
She put a fake smile on her face and approached the slightly heavyset woman at the counter.
"Welcome to Double Meat Palace. Can I take your order?" she recited cheerfully.
"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact," the woman said. "I'm looking for Buffy Summers?"
Buffy had to wipe off the worried look. "Uh…that's me. How can I help you?"
"I'm Robin Wood, Principal at Sunnydale High. Uh, well, the newly built Sunnydale High," she said with a smile. "I'd actually like to talk to you about a job opportunity."
"We're not hiring," Buffy said slowly.
"Oh, no, I meant for you," Robin cleared up.
"Oh," Buffy winced. "Duh. Why would you need a job, being the principal and- sorry, a job?"
"Yes," Robin said. "We're looking for a…counselor of sorts. Someone who can relate to the kids on their on levels. A friend of a friend recommended you."
Buffy was surprised. "Someone actually recommended me?"
Robin laughed. "Yes."
"A counselor?" Buffy said in wonder. "Me. I…I'd have to give that some thought."
"Hey, are you gonna order or not?" Linda's ex asked from behind Robin.
"Could we pick this up after my shift?" Buffy asked. "I get off in about twenty minutes."
"Sure," Robin said with a warm smile. "I'll be in the corner booth."
A counselor, Buffy thought. Me.
Spike cringed, gagged, and threw the empty glass across the room. What was left of the blood spattered the wall and ground. He gagged again, but managed to keep it down, holding his hand over his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. Tears escaped the corners of his eyes from the effort of keeping the liquid down.
Already he felt a little better, but not by much. The dizziness stopped almost completely, and the spots in front of his eyes all but disappeared.
He sucked in a deep breath and sat heavily on his sarcophagus.
Life had gotten so much more complicated.
"I…I'd love to!" Buffy said, and was greeted by Robin's satisfied smile.
"Great!" she said cheerfully.
Buffy had immediately noticed the difference between Robin Wood and Principal Snyder. Robin was nice…and she cared.
"Now, orientation will start tomorrow. I hope you can make that. It's at noon at the school," she explained, writing on a napkin. "I'm really glad you decided to accept."
"Me too," Buffy said, still sort of astounded at the pay increase from her job now to the one she'd be settling in to. It wasn't a great lot of money…but there was a difference.
"Dawn's going to be so happy we don't have to buy the generic toilet paper anymore," she whispered to herself as Robin's form disappeared through the doors.
She went to the back to get changed, a silly grin on her face.
Spike was sitting atop a grave, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette as deeply as he could. He found it amazing that the nicotine still had an effect on him, being dead and all. He flicked the ashes off the end and took another drag, staring at the moon.
A rustle in the bushes to his right caught his attention, but he didn't even turn.
"Buffy," he nodded, knowing without looking who it was.
"You're getting rusty, Spike," she said. "I could've staked you just now."
"Should've," he muttered under his breath. Aloud he asked, "What do you want, Slayer?"
"Ask me what happened today," she commanded jovially, still grinning.
*FLASH*
"Ask me again why I could never love you!"
The hurt look on her face, the bruise, the look in her eyes above all. Fright, childish fright, and the betrayal.
*FLASH*
"Spike?" she asked, waving a hand in her face.
"Huh? Oh, what'd you say?" he asked, snapping back into reality. Somewhere in the back of his head the scene played out again.
"Ask me what happened after work!" she said again.
The whispering voice floated past his ear like the breath of a ghost.
*"…I could never love you…"*
*"…beneath me…"*
He shot off the tombstone like a light, tense. "I can't be around you."
Her grin faded quickly. "W-what?"
"I can't be near you," he repeated, hands shaking.
"Why not?" she asked in a small voice.
He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears to go away and the voices to stop.
*"Ask me again why I could never love you!"*
When he didn't answer she sucked in her breath, pressed her lips together, and walked off in the same direction she'd came: toward home.
As he watched her leave he realized she had made an extra trip to see him, and wondered briefly what she had to say.
Then he answered her.
"I'm beneath you."
An unfamiliar scent greeted Buffy the next morning as soon as she awoke. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sniffed once, twice, trying to identify the smell. Food, that was for sure. Maybe Dawn was making breakfast. Did she start school today? No, that wasn't until next week. She got out of bed, stretching a bit, then padded down the hall to Dawn's room, knocking on the door twice before pushing it open.
"That answer's that question," she said to herself as Dawn looked up from writing in her diary.
"Hey, Buffy," Dawn greeted rather pleasantly. "Breakfast almost ready?"
"I'm not cooking," she said. "I thought you were."
Dawn furrowed her brow and shook her head. "Maybe Giles or someone stopped by."
"Let's go find out," Buffy suggested, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
Dawn leaped off her bed and they headed down the stairs together, rounding into the kitchen and stopping in shock at what they saw.
"Hey, guys," said Willow with a small smile. "Pancakes?"
Quickly closing her opened mouth, Buffy nodded, "Yeah!"
"Eager, much?" Dawn hissed in her ear, hopping on a stool before a plate. "Hey, Will?"
"Yeah?" Willow asked, turning around, spatula in hand.
"Can you make me funny shapes?" Dawn asked carefully.
Willow gave her an absolutely vibrant smile. "Sure, Dawnie."
Buffy smiled to herself. "I'll be down in a few, I gotta get ready for work."
Willow and Dawn nodded as she walked up the stairs and into her room to change into her Doublemeat Palace uniform.
"So, Will," Dawn said as the older girl placed a stack of cute if not oddly shaped pancakes on her plate. "What's up?"
Willow placed more, regular pancakes on another plate for Buffy. "You mean, why the sudden turn around?"
"Well, yeah," Dawn said softly. "I mean…you know."
"I get it, Dawn," she said. "And you don't have to tiptoe around me anymore. Tara's gone, nothing can change that. I'm still gonna miss her, but I don't want it to be like we're trying to forget she was ever here."
Dawn nodded. "I could never do that."
"Me either," Willow agreed. "Yesterday…I realized that. I realized a lot of things. Someone made me realize them."
"Who?" Dawn asked, ever the curios teen.
"I…" Willow trailed off. He was supposed to be dead. What if Dawn thought she was going crazy or something? She sighed. "It was Spike."
Dawn's eyes went wide. "You saw him?"
"I-I know he's supposed to be dead-" Willow rushed.
"No!" Dawn interrupted. "I mean, yeah, he's supposed to be, but…well, Buffy and I saw him, too. We didn't tell anyone because he was acting really weird…"
"I noticed that, too," Willow muttered. "He was more…I dunno."
"He has a soul," she spilled out suddenly, then covered her mouth with a hand.
Willow didn't look as shocked as Dawn imagined she would have. "That would make sense…how?"
Dawn slowly removed her hand. "I don't know all the details. All I know is he left for awhile, and when he came back he had one. Then he left again…then he came back again. Now he's acting even weirder."
"Tell me about it," Willow said. "But it was a good kind of weird, I guess."
"Not from what I saw," Dawn argued. "He got all zone-y, and then he ran away screaming when Buffy and I saw him on patrol. Then the other day he was sitting at Mom's grave the other night, and he's all pale and stuff. He looks like a skeleton. It's nasty. I mean, it was hard enough just to get him to eat some blood."
Willow poured some syrup over a pancake, looking thoughtful. "It must be really hard, having the soul. You know, after all he did."
Dawn nodded. "I guess. I can't even imagine that. It must hurt."
"Yeah," Willow agreed with a nod.
"What're we talking about?" Buffy spoke up from the doorway, coming over to sit next to Dawn, and digging into her pancakes.
"Uh…nothing," Willow said.
"Yeah," Dawn said. "Just…what we were gonna do today, while you're working."
"Oh," Buffy said. "How about cleaning your room, Dawn?"
Her sister sighed. "All right."
"I'll help," Willow whispered conspiringly, taking her plate to the sink.
Buffy grinned and smothered her pancakes in butter and syrup.
"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled woozily.
He'd stood up to pull down the ratty curtain covering the window where sunlight had been creeping through for the past few hours, getting closer and closer, but as soon as he was on his feet he lurched, catching himself on the TV, too dizzy to stand straight. Brightly colored spots danced before his eyes.
He rested, sagging against his stolen set for a few minutes, then straightened up again.
He stumbled over to the window and yanked down the curtain.
There, in the dim glow of hidden sunlight, he looked down at himself. His jeans were loose and baggy, and he hiked them up on his hips, scowling. His ribs showed through his skin, and he realized that a lot of his scars were gone. Holding out his hands he saw that his skin was clinging tightly to his knuckles.
"I look like I came from a bleedin' concentration camp," he laughed sardonically.
He was wasting away inside. He knew this. Still, he couldn't bring himself to hold down any blood.
Why did it have to be blood?
Buffy sighed and wiped a greasy hand across her forehead in a vain attempt to keep her hair from escaping the hair tie and hat and getting in her eyes. She slapped the burgers on their uncooked side and another sigh was barely audible beneath the sizzling noise.
"How long to go?" she asked herself, twisting her neck to get a look at the clock. Half an hour. Good.
"Buffy," her co-worker Linda said suddenly. "Can you take the counter? My ex-boyfriend and his new girl are headed this way!"
"Sure," Buffy said, happy to get away from the grills.
She put a fake smile on her face and approached the slightly heavyset woman at the counter.
"Welcome to Double Meat Palace. Can I take your order?" she recited cheerfully.
"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact," the woman said. "I'm looking for Buffy Summers?"
Buffy had to wipe off the worried look. "Uh…that's me. How can I help you?"
"I'm Robin Wood, Principal at Sunnydale High. Uh, well, the newly built Sunnydale High," she said with a smile. "I'd actually like to talk to you about a job opportunity."
"We're not hiring," Buffy said slowly.
"Oh, no, I meant for you," Robin cleared up.
"Oh," Buffy winced. "Duh. Why would you need a job, being the principal and- sorry, a job?"
"Yes," Robin said. "We're looking for a…counselor of sorts. Someone who can relate to the kids on their on levels. A friend of a friend recommended you."
Buffy was surprised. "Someone actually recommended me?"
Robin laughed. "Yes."
"A counselor?" Buffy said in wonder. "Me. I…I'd have to give that some thought."
"Hey, are you gonna order or not?" Linda's ex asked from behind Robin.
"Could we pick this up after my shift?" Buffy asked. "I get off in about twenty minutes."
"Sure," Robin said with a warm smile. "I'll be in the corner booth."
A counselor, Buffy thought. Me.
Spike cringed, gagged, and threw the empty glass across the room. What was left of the blood spattered the wall and ground. He gagged again, but managed to keep it down, holding his hand over his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. Tears escaped the corners of his eyes from the effort of keeping the liquid down.
Already he felt a little better, but not by much. The dizziness stopped almost completely, and the spots in front of his eyes all but disappeared.
He sucked in a deep breath and sat heavily on his sarcophagus.
Life had gotten so much more complicated.
"I…I'd love to!" Buffy said, and was greeted by Robin's satisfied smile.
"Great!" she said cheerfully.
Buffy had immediately noticed the difference between Robin Wood and Principal Snyder. Robin was nice…and she cared.
"Now, orientation will start tomorrow. I hope you can make that. It's at noon at the school," she explained, writing on a napkin. "I'm really glad you decided to accept."
"Me too," Buffy said, still sort of astounded at the pay increase from her job now to the one she'd be settling in to. It wasn't a great lot of money…but there was a difference.
"Dawn's going to be so happy we don't have to buy the generic toilet paper anymore," she whispered to herself as Robin's form disappeared through the doors.
She went to the back to get changed, a silly grin on her face.
Spike was sitting atop a grave, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette as deeply as he could. He found it amazing that the nicotine still had an effect on him, being dead and all. He flicked the ashes off the end and took another drag, staring at the moon.
A rustle in the bushes to his right caught his attention, but he didn't even turn.
"Buffy," he nodded, knowing without looking who it was.
"You're getting rusty, Spike," she said. "I could've staked you just now."
"Should've," he muttered under his breath. Aloud he asked, "What do you want, Slayer?"
"Ask me what happened today," she commanded jovially, still grinning.
*FLASH*
"Ask me again why I could never love you!"
The hurt look on her face, the bruise, the look in her eyes above all. Fright, childish fright, and the betrayal.
*FLASH*
"Spike?" she asked, waving a hand in her face.
"Huh? Oh, what'd you say?" he asked, snapping back into reality. Somewhere in the back of his head the scene played out again.
"Ask me what happened after work!" she said again.
The whispering voice floated past his ear like the breath of a ghost.
*"…I could never love you…"*
*"…beneath me…"*
He shot off the tombstone like a light, tense. "I can't be around you."
Her grin faded quickly. "W-what?"
"I can't be near you," he repeated, hands shaking.
"Why not?" she asked in a small voice.
He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears to go away and the voices to stop.
*"Ask me again why I could never love you!"*
When he didn't answer she sucked in her breath, pressed her lips together, and walked off in the same direction she'd came: toward home.
As he watched her leave he realized she had made an extra trip to see him, and wondered briefly what she had to say.
Then he answered her.
"I'm beneath you."
