"Hey, Spike? I was-," Buffy shouted into her house.
"Shhhhhh…" Spike whispered harshly as he emerged from the living room. "I don't want her to think anything's wrong."
She craned her neck around. "What's she doing?"
"Dawn came down with and old Care Bear's game." He glanced momentarily at them, then back at Buffy. "So," he said, still being quiet, "What's the deal?"
"I don't know. She says she's after Amelia and her boyfriend killed her family. She knows where Hattie is, too."
"Gotta a name on her?"
"January. Ever heard of her?"
"Nope." He said after a considerable moment of thought. "What about her boyfriend?"
"Ryan maybe?"
"Is there anyway we could look them up?"
"I may be able to get on the computer or something…we don't exactly have any Watcher's Diaries to look through either." She let out a nervous laugh.
"Buffy, can we talk?"
"Research now, talk later. I'm sure-,"
"No. Now." She could tell by his tone she'd better give in.
"What do you want to know?" she sighed.
"Well, I wanna know where Red and her girl are. And I wanna know what happened, because I could sense something…wiser about Xander. Like he's been through a trial. I-,"
"How could you sense something like that?"
"I just can. And where Anya is. And why you never meet at the Magic Box anymore."
"Ok." She thought for a moment. "Let's make a deal. I'll tell you all that, if you tell me where you went this summer. And what you were doing there. And what's different about you. You're not the same; I can tell you're not really that much of a vampire anymore."
"Fine. You first."
"Let's sit down. I'll make some hot cocoa." They moved to the table in the kitchen and began their much needed talk.
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"What do you think they're talking about?" said Amelia moving her yellow bear two spaces ahead.
"I don't know. You, probably." Dawn answered, rolling her die and picking a card.
"There was some weird lady before we came home. Spike said not to look at her, so I didn't."
"Why didn't he want you to look at her?" She said, finally moving her red bear three spaces.
"I don't know. I think she knows about my mommy and daddy though."
Dawn was silent. She didn't really know what to say. "Your move."
"Do you like Spike? He said you used to but now you don't."
"I'm not sure. He did some mean things to Buffy."
"Like what?"
She struggled on how to put it. "He just…he uh, said some mean things. And he scared her."
"But why? He's my friend."
"Sometimes people do weird things. Your move again." She said, handing her a card.
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Buffy and Spike sat in silence, their mugs half full, each lost in their own thought. He's got a soul. He got a soul. He got a soul for me. Were along the lines of Buffy's thoughts. Tara died. Willow went evil. The only two I could stand. And Xander saved the world…all while I was away. Were Spike's. A branch from outside scratched against the window bringing Buffy out.
"So. What's it like?"
"What do you mean?"
"Having a soul. Is it…hard? Like with Angel?"
"Well, I stopped feeding from humans long ago. I was used to that. But, I'm not that…different. I mean, to be honest, I already was a better man…because of you. But the first few months after I got back, all I could do was think about what I'd done to you. To all those people…I couldn't sleep, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing death. And pain. That I had caused. All I did was drown my sorrows. It's not quite as bad now…it's still hard to…look at you, though."
She nodded. She didn't really know what to say.
"How's Willow doing?"
"Good, from what I hear. I've talked to Giles a couple times since she went over with him."
"So what is Anya's new job again?"
"She places demon orphans with parents in Asia. She's set up a school system and everything."
"That's good…that's good. Glad to hear she's doing well."
"Uh huh." Silence. "You talked to Clem lately?"
"Oh, yeah, when I got back. He got engaged a couple of weeks ago. Some Moka demon named Sally. She's nice."
"That's good. Oh, man! What time is it?" She whipped around to look at the clock. It's glowing numbers read 7:13. She groaned. "I was supposed to be at work at 7! I gotta get ready…um, have Dawn fix something, ok?" She ran upstairs and got ready as quickly as she could. She threw on her clothes, fixed her hair in a ponytail, applied some lip gloss and flew down the stairs.
"Bye Dawn!" She called out with a wave. She slammed the door behind her and outside a car could be heard starting up. Meanwhile, Spike still sat in his chair sipping on his cocoa. After a moment he tipped the mug back, finished it off and grabbed the two mugs from the table. He walked over and sat them in the sink. He paused again, going over what he had just heard. Then he made his way into the living room.
"Mind if I join you, ladies?" He asked grabbing up a blue bear.
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After they had finished their game they put it up and decided to watch a movie.
"Are you gonna watch it with us?" Amelia asked Dawn when she started to go upstairs. She started to say no, but the look on the little girl's face was too much.
"I guess I will. What is it?"
"Well," said Spike, holding two movies in his hand, "The movies that she could actually watch that I found are Harry Potter and the Princess Diaries."
"Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" She squealed. "I like the part when he-,"
"Shhhh! I haven't seen it yet!" Spike chuckled as he put the tape in.
"Ok. I won't tell you." She giggled. He sat in between the two girls and all seemed well again.