A/N: Hey hey. Thanks so much for the reviews.they keep me inspired g

Oh, and by the way, to whoever it was who asked and anyone else who was wondering, the dog was chewing on the father's tongue. Gross, huh? BTW, ' ' now denotes thoughts. Also, a thanks to John for letting me know that I wrote narcoleptic instead of necrophiliac...*blushes* I was pretty tired when I wrote this, so I must've had sleeping on the brain :)

~

Spike ripped open the door of his newly bought apartment and braced the anger-filled growl that was threatening to emerge from him. He slammed his eyelids shut, hoping it would make his anger go away. But it just came back to him, washing over him like a bad dream. Buffy kissing Angel. Kissing that pounce with bad hair, even when she knew that he, Spike, existed. It was bloody unfair was what it was. He was right back at square one, with Buffy loving Angel with all of her damned soul and him just being...convenient. Shaking violently, Spike pulled out his fags. He lit one and breathed in the sweet nicotine. He felt instantly calmer, but not any less pissed off.

"You must be sure that they do not become involved with one another. That is of greatest importance. He must move to the City of Angels before the 6th day of the 6th month." Spike remembered the words that The Chooser's had spoken to him, just days ago. It felt like months, hell, even years. But he knew that he had to keep Buffy and Angel away from one another.

Easier said mates. He thought, directing his gaze to the sky.

"Spike? Spike, are you up here?" He heard the familiar feminine voice creep up his back.

"Buffy?" He stuck his head out of his door, genuinely confused, "What are you doing here? I thought you'd still be snogging Nancy-boy." Buffy looked down sharply and then back up at him. She felt remorse flood her eyes as she willed something to come out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry." She croaked out, meeting his eyes. They softened for a moment before become steely grates of blue granite.

"What for, luv? So you've got a thing for the Brooding One. Not like it makes you a necrophiliac or anything." He replied, ignoring the screaming voice inside his head. He was not going to just give into her like he did in the old days. He needed to be * sure * that she cared about him. 'Sides, getting Buffy is not my main priority. It's figgerin this baddie out.

"Necrophiliac?"

"Person who performs "sexual activities" on dead bodies. Which, by the way, I really would advise against on * that * corpse. It'll just lead to this whole big mess."

"Corpse? What the hell are you talking about? * You're * the corpse, not Angel." Spike blinked. Angel hadn't told her?

"Buffy, luv, Angel is a vampire." The color drained from her face.

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie? Bloody hell, Slayer, he's my grandsire." Buffy felt herself shake. Angel and Spike were * both * vampires? This is so not happening.

"Does he have a soul?" Spike snorted.

"He got the biggest one in the damned lot. Spends all his time mopin' about how bad and evil he was, 'stead of doin' anything about it. Waste of time is what it is."

"There's a lot?" Buffy was vaguely aware that this may have been a dumb comment, but the numbing shock she felt was more than enough to make her disregard it. Despite his better judgement, Spike reached out and touched her arm.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this. I'm sure Angel will give me a beatin' of a lifetime for telling you instead of lettin' him. Or he'll at least imagine it."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want Angel. I mean, I do, but I don't, ya know?" She looked up at him. Spike bit back the urge to kiss her and cleared his throat.

"Well, pet, you're the one who'd better know. Sides, I just came here to get a book, " Spike lied swiftly, grabbing History of Demonology from off of his bed,

"I'm hopin' this'll give some info on whatever did that." Straining his face into a fake smile, he walked past a greatly confused Buffy.

~

"Ew." Willow snarled the edge of her lip in revulsion.

"I second that." Xander retorted, staring uneasily at Giles.

"Did you say his * intestines *? That's pretty sick." Jesse replied, glancing over at Dawn, who seemed unconcerned. He raised his eyebrows and kicked her leg gently.

"Isn't this grossing you out?" Dawn smiled and waved her hand.

"Oh, I've heard of and seen * way * worse. There was this one time that this guy whose insides were filled with bugs-" Jesse raised his right hand to stop Dawn.

"Forget I asked."

"Jesse has a paranoia of any sort of creepy crawly." Willow teased, jabbing Jesse in the ribs.

"Ow. Hey, you don't have to announce it to the world, Rosenberg."

"I think it's sort of sweet." Dawn remarked, smiling at Jesse. Jesse blinked his brown eyes and smiled back, looking into Dawn's green ones.

"If we are all done with the flirtatious mind-games, may we please go back to focusing on the problem at hand?" Giles deadpanned, glaring pointedly at Dawn and Jesse. The last thing our little, er, research group needs is sexual tension...

"Sorry, Giles." Dawn replied, blushing to a light pink. Willow cleared her throat and opened the first book.

"So, ah, did Spike or, or Buffy see anything that might hint at, um, what this demon thing looked like?"

"No, not yet. It's possible he has invisibility powers though." Buffy said, as she and Spike stormed into the library.

"What makes you say that?" Dawn said, leaning backward in her chair and looking up toward her sister.

"Well, Spike checked the whole damned house and yet the Abby girl ended up dead, anyway."

"Dead, you say?" Giles asked, perking up slightly.

"Dead-girl-in-the-locker dead."

"I'm gonna make a wild guess and say this isn't a good thing." Xander said, looking up at Spike, wryly.

"Nice. Maybe you are good for something." Spike bit his tongue after saying that. He had promised Buffy he'd be nice to Xander. But not in this world. Huh. Maybe there * are * some advantages to not being with Buffy.

"Well, maybe you're just, you're just weird." Xander finished triumphantly.

"Are you talking?"

"Shut up, you guys." Dawn said, giving an extra warning glance to Spike, who responded with a smart-ass "What?" look. Dawn rolled her eyes and walked over to Buffy, who was describing the scene quietly to Willow and Giles.

"Um, Buffy? Can I talk to you a minute, outside?"

"Yeah, sure." Buffy jerked her head back in surprise. They walked out and shut the double doors behind them softly. Buffy turned to Dawn and crossed her arms.

"What's up?"

"It's about Cordelia. She's been...spreading some shit about you lately. Like that you're in a gang and all Hell's-Angels-y and stuff."

"I figured." Buffy replied, not caring at all. "It's better than her telling everyone the truth."

"Well, yeah, but...I just wanted you to know that I don't have anything to do with it. I consider you a friend. I really didn't say anything like that."

"I figured." Buffy said again, only this time, smiling with her eyes. "And I do, too."

"What?"

"Consider you a friend." Dawn fought back tears that threatened to unleash. She hugged Buffy tightly.

"Whoa! Jeez! You're one emotional girl, aren't ya?" Buffy joked, freeing herself from Dawn's grasp.

"I'm sorry, it's just, it's been a weird week for me." Dawn understated.

"I know what you mean." Buffy's eyes met Dawn's identical ones. Buffy remembered noticing that.

"You're eyes...they're just like-" Buffy started to say, until Dawn abruptly cut her off.

"We should really head in. Figure out what did all that. Let's go." Dawn walked quickly back in, leaving Buffy staring after her. There was something weird about Dawn, and Spike. Something the two of them weren't telling her. It didn't take a Vampire Slayer to see that. Or maybe it did, Buffy didn't really know. All she knew was that she was going to figure it out, whatever it was.

Then she walked back through the library doors.

. tbc.

A/N: I know, I know, I'm really dragging out this baddie. But I promise you that next update, you will know what it is and everything with it (the baddie, not the romance, cuz how would that be fun?) will be resolved within the next three chapters.