Back Before Dawn
by Annakovsky
Part 8/11
See part 1 for disclaimer, rating, etc.
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Andrew: 5:11 am, Wednesday, February 19, 2003
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I was making myself some warm milk when Spike came staggering through the back door. He smelled like he'd been drinking all night and was covered in some kind of weird mucus-y stuff. It's funny how some people can still be, like, really hot, even when they're all gooey.
"Hey Spike!" I said to him. He seemed like he was in a pretty good mood, really energetic. "You have a good night?"
"Not bad, yeah," he said, nodding to me. "What're you doing up this time of night?" See, the cool thing about Spike is, he might be a super-neat-o vampire with a soul and everything, but he still cares.
"Oh, I kind of had a nightmare. But I'm making myself warm milk to get back to sleep. You want any?"
"Er, no thanks, I'll leave you to it," he said, starting to leave. Then he poked his head back into the kitchen. "By the way, you have any ideas of how to get this gunk off me? Took out a Sokisba demon earlier and I think I got internal organs all over myself."
"Hmmm… well, you might want to try hosing yourself down to get most of it off, then I'd recommend Downy Stain Stick for the worst of it on your clothes."
"Hose myself down?" He was looking at me like I was crazy.
"Well, sure. I could help you if you want."
"No, that's all right," he said, giving me a weird look. "I'll do it myself, thanks." He headed back out the door. I heard him turn the water on, then he yelped really loud. It was kind of a girly scream, actually.
"It might be a little cold!" I called out to him.
"Yeah, thanks a bloody lot for the warning, mate."
"No problem!" A potential opened the window upstairs and yelled at us to be quiet, though, so I just went back to my warm milk.
I know, you might not think that super-villains like me would drink warm milk, but it really helps. Actually, we super-villains probably need it more than other people do, even. You know how people sometimes say "How do you sleep at night?" to people they think are, I dunno, oppressing the poor or selling out their artistry for money or stuff like that? People who do bad things? Well, they kind of have a point. About the not being able to sleep. Actually, Buffy said that to me the other day, she was like "You killed your best friend! How do you sleep at night?" I guess she hasn't realized that the reason we're always out of milk is that I wake up, like, every single night and can't go back to sleep until I have some.
I try not to think too much about that, though. Focus on the present, that's what I say, and after all, now I'm a good guy seeking redemption. I like living in Buffy's house. There's always people around, and most of the Potential Slayers think that it's pretty cool that I was Buffy's arch-nemesis all last year. And it's nice to be part of Buffy's team of Superfriends, even if they do tell me to shut up an awful lot. I'm used to that, though, it kind of makes me feel at home.
Spike came stalking back through the kitchen from the backyard, all wet, with his shirt off, and went down to the basement without saying anything to me.
He has really nice abs. I wonder how he keeps in shape when he's living in Buffy's basement all the time? Maybe he does chin-ups on some of the pipes down there. Xander'll be pissed if he finds out about that, because he's getting really annoyed about having to fix stuff in the house all the time. I broke the coffee-pot by accident last week and Xander gave me a stern talking-to about being more careful.
Stern Xander… mmm… what? Nothing. Wow, this warm milk is good. So, you'd think that at 5:30 in the morning, nobody else would be around, but the great thing about this house is, you're never really alone. That means there's always stuff going on to distract you from thinking about stuff you don't want to, and if you're never alone, you can't be lonely, right?
Willow walked into the room a second after Spike had, and started rummaging through cabinets.
"Wow, you're up early," I said to her. Willow's okay. She tried to kill me once, but now sometimes she makes pancakes and lets me have some.
"Never really went to sleep," she said. "I've been researching."
"You find anything?" I asked.
"You know, I think I may just have. Hey, do you know where the spices are? I need some thyme."
"Yeah, they're over here." I showed her. No one knows the kitchen like I do! I made a really delicious angel-food cake the other day, and even Buffy said it wasn't bad.
"Thanks," she said. Then she looked at me speculatively. "Andrew. Hey, could I ask you some questions?"
"Sure," I said. "Always glad to be of service." Then she started asking me some really weird stuff about last year, what happened with me and Warren and Jonathan. She said she wanted to get the arch-nemesis perspective on it, but some of the stuff she was asking was, like, about what she herself did. That was a little strange, but pretty soon I had just gotten into the story and was telling her all the details. She also was asking about Buffy and Spike, and Xander and Anya, and it was pretty cool to give her my whole perspective on their relationships and everything. A lot of times I hear stuff because people don't realize that I'm in the room with them and that I'm paying attention, but I usually am.
After she was done asking questions she took a bunch of the spices she was looking for earlier and went into the dining room and shut the doors behind her. By this time it was pretty much morning, so I decided to forget about sleeping and just make breakfast for everybody. I had whipped up my famous waffles and everybody seemed to really enjoy them, even Giles. After that everybody had pretty much drifted off to go do their daily things, and I decided to leave the dishes for later and go read the latest comic books I'd picked up the day before. Xander let me come to the comic store with him. He's really cool like that. Willow hadn't come in for breakfast, but there were some strange smells drifting out from the dining room. Buffy was giving the door these dirty looks, like she was about to be really mad about the smelly stuff.
Then, as I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business, I heard some angry voices. It sounded like Buffy was kind of chewing out Willow, not that that's unusual, but then there was running and yelling and it sounded like a kid crying in the kitchen. Me and all the Potentials in the living room got up to see what was going on, along with pretty much everyone else in the house. That's when we saw Willow acting all weird and threatening to break that kid's yo-yo. I thought that was pretty mean at first, 'cause people's toys are sometimes really important to them and you shouldn't break them, but then the kid got all demon-y and I realized what was going on.
Buffy and Spike started wrestling the kid down to the basement, and he was yelling all this stuff about what a bad Slayer Buffy was and everything.
"Hey, Buffy's a good Slayer!" I said. "Don't say that stuff about her." The kid rolled his eyes at me.
"Oh, shut up," he said.
by Annakovsky
Part 8/11
See part 1 for disclaimer, rating, etc.
*
*
*********************************************
Andrew: 5:11 am, Wednesday, February 19, 2003
*********************************************
*
*
I was making myself some warm milk when Spike came staggering through the back door. He smelled like he'd been drinking all night and was covered in some kind of weird mucus-y stuff. It's funny how some people can still be, like, really hot, even when they're all gooey.
"Hey Spike!" I said to him. He seemed like he was in a pretty good mood, really energetic. "You have a good night?"
"Not bad, yeah," he said, nodding to me. "What're you doing up this time of night?" See, the cool thing about Spike is, he might be a super-neat-o vampire with a soul and everything, but he still cares.
"Oh, I kind of had a nightmare. But I'm making myself warm milk to get back to sleep. You want any?"
"Er, no thanks, I'll leave you to it," he said, starting to leave. Then he poked his head back into the kitchen. "By the way, you have any ideas of how to get this gunk off me? Took out a Sokisba demon earlier and I think I got internal organs all over myself."
"Hmmm… well, you might want to try hosing yourself down to get most of it off, then I'd recommend Downy Stain Stick for the worst of it on your clothes."
"Hose myself down?" He was looking at me like I was crazy.
"Well, sure. I could help you if you want."
"No, that's all right," he said, giving me a weird look. "I'll do it myself, thanks." He headed back out the door. I heard him turn the water on, then he yelped really loud. It was kind of a girly scream, actually.
"It might be a little cold!" I called out to him.
"Yeah, thanks a bloody lot for the warning, mate."
"No problem!" A potential opened the window upstairs and yelled at us to be quiet, though, so I just went back to my warm milk.
I know, you might not think that super-villains like me would drink warm milk, but it really helps. Actually, we super-villains probably need it more than other people do, even. You know how people sometimes say "How do you sleep at night?" to people they think are, I dunno, oppressing the poor or selling out their artistry for money or stuff like that? People who do bad things? Well, they kind of have a point. About the not being able to sleep. Actually, Buffy said that to me the other day, she was like "You killed your best friend! How do you sleep at night?" I guess she hasn't realized that the reason we're always out of milk is that I wake up, like, every single night and can't go back to sleep until I have some.
I try not to think too much about that, though. Focus on the present, that's what I say, and after all, now I'm a good guy seeking redemption. I like living in Buffy's house. There's always people around, and most of the Potential Slayers think that it's pretty cool that I was Buffy's arch-nemesis all last year. And it's nice to be part of Buffy's team of Superfriends, even if they do tell me to shut up an awful lot. I'm used to that, though, it kind of makes me feel at home.
Spike came stalking back through the kitchen from the backyard, all wet, with his shirt off, and went down to the basement without saying anything to me.
He has really nice abs. I wonder how he keeps in shape when he's living in Buffy's basement all the time? Maybe he does chin-ups on some of the pipes down there. Xander'll be pissed if he finds out about that, because he's getting really annoyed about having to fix stuff in the house all the time. I broke the coffee-pot by accident last week and Xander gave me a stern talking-to about being more careful.
Stern Xander… mmm… what? Nothing. Wow, this warm milk is good. So, you'd think that at 5:30 in the morning, nobody else would be around, but the great thing about this house is, you're never really alone. That means there's always stuff going on to distract you from thinking about stuff you don't want to, and if you're never alone, you can't be lonely, right?
Willow walked into the room a second after Spike had, and started rummaging through cabinets.
"Wow, you're up early," I said to her. Willow's okay. She tried to kill me once, but now sometimes she makes pancakes and lets me have some.
"Never really went to sleep," she said. "I've been researching."
"You find anything?" I asked.
"You know, I think I may just have. Hey, do you know where the spices are? I need some thyme."
"Yeah, they're over here." I showed her. No one knows the kitchen like I do! I made a really delicious angel-food cake the other day, and even Buffy said it wasn't bad.
"Thanks," she said. Then she looked at me speculatively. "Andrew. Hey, could I ask you some questions?"
"Sure," I said. "Always glad to be of service." Then she started asking me some really weird stuff about last year, what happened with me and Warren and Jonathan. She said she wanted to get the arch-nemesis perspective on it, but some of the stuff she was asking was, like, about what she herself did. That was a little strange, but pretty soon I had just gotten into the story and was telling her all the details. She also was asking about Buffy and Spike, and Xander and Anya, and it was pretty cool to give her my whole perspective on their relationships and everything. A lot of times I hear stuff because people don't realize that I'm in the room with them and that I'm paying attention, but I usually am.
After she was done asking questions she took a bunch of the spices she was looking for earlier and went into the dining room and shut the doors behind her. By this time it was pretty much morning, so I decided to forget about sleeping and just make breakfast for everybody. I had whipped up my famous waffles and everybody seemed to really enjoy them, even Giles. After that everybody had pretty much drifted off to go do their daily things, and I decided to leave the dishes for later and go read the latest comic books I'd picked up the day before. Xander let me come to the comic store with him. He's really cool like that. Willow hadn't come in for breakfast, but there were some strange smells drifting out from the dining room. Buffy was giving the door these dirty looks, like she was about to be really mad about the smelly stuff.
Then, as I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business, I heard some angry voices. It sounded like Buffy was kind of chewing out Willow, not that that's unusual, but then there was running and yelling and it sounded like a kid crying in the kitchen. Me and all the Potentials in the living room got up to see what was going on, along with pretty much everyone else in the house. That's when we saw Willow acting all weird and threatening to break that kid's yo-yo. I thought that was pretty mean at first, 'cause people's toys are sometimes really important to them and you shouldn't break them, but then the kid got all demon-y and I realized what was going on.
Buffy and Spike started wrestling the kid down to the basement, and he was yelling all this stuff about what a bad Slayer Buffy was and everything.
"Hey, Buffy's a good Slayer!" I said. "Don't say that stuff about her." The kid rolled his eyes at me.
"Oh, shut up," he said.