Kennedy sighed as she followed Buffy and Spike down the abandoned alley. She struggled to suppress a very strong urge to yell "Just have sex already!!" at the pair, who had spent most of the evening pretending they weren't hitting on each other, and the rest of it hitting a variety of vampires and demons. Suddenly, she saw a face she had avoided for the last 2 years, spent about two seconds contemplating the most logical and effective course of action, and turned and ran like hell in the opposite direction.
The sight of this pretty much maxed out Buffy's "what the hell" brain processes, which were already struggling with what her boss was doing out here at this time of night. "Principal Wood! Hi! How's it going?" she brightly exclaimed. Small talk and stuttered out explanations on the parts of both parties were made, until Principal Wood (very unsubtly) asked, "Was that a student who just ran off?"
"Oh, Kennedy? No, she's just a friend that's staying with Dawn and me for a while," Buffy answered.
"Ah, I see," responded Principal Wood, "well, I should be going, school in the morning and all."
"Yep, school, in the morning, that's right," said Buffy, "so, um, I'll see you, then, tomorrow at, uh, school. Bye."
Buffy spun around, grabbed Spike, and hauled ass back home at top speed.
Upon returning, Buffy ditched Spike and headed upstairs, where she found Willow comforting a severely shaken Kennedy. Buffy pulled Willow aside, and once they were just outside the bedroom, began querying her as to the source of Kennedy's agitation.
"I don't really know," said Willow, "she just seems all upset and she won't tell me what's going on." Buffy sighed, "Well, just make sure she's ok, and I'll see what I can get out of her in the morning." With that, she prepared to make a final round of the house to be sure all the potentials were safe and asleep, or at least headed quickly in that direction. Heading through the kitchen, she noticed movement outside and stepped out to investigate, only to find Spike leaning against the tree he had spent many a previous night lodged next to, back when he was still in stalker mode, smoking a cigarette.
"What's up?" she asked, only to receive a muffled grunt as a reply. "Spike, what's wrong?" She stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm. "Come on, you're the one thing not going crazy right now, well, except for the occasional possession by the first, don't wig out on me now." As he still didn't reply, she continued, in a slightly softer tone of voice. "Spike, please, I need"
"Don't." He broke in, "God, Buffy, just don't." He shrugged his arm away from her as he stamped out his cigarette and moved to go into the house.
"Spike? Spike, please, what's wrong, what did I do?"
She sounded so forlorn and helpless that he couldn't ignore her regardless of how much he knew he needed too. "Damn it, Slayer, I can't take this. Hate me, love me, I don't know if I even care which any more, but don't treat me like one of your bleedin' pals. I'm not, I can't be, so just, just don't," he fumbled, and shuffled to the door, leaving a hurt and bewildered Slayer to follow him in a few minutes later.
