[Scene: The Summers' House - the next morning]
Buffy: (comes down the stairs of the basement with a mug of blood) Spike?
Spike: No, don't come any closer, I-I don't want to, don't want to hurt you again. (huddles in a corner)
Buffy: (goes up to him) Spike you don't have to hide down here. (kneels beside him)
Spike: I don't want to hurt anyone else, I can't, I can't deal with it, please, just go, please.
Buffy: Okay. (puts the mug down, gets up and starts to leave)
Spike: Buffy?
Buffy: (turns around) Yeah?
Spike: I'm sorry.
Buffy: I know. (goes back up the stairs)
Cut to upstairs in the kitchen
Willow: Is he okay? (pours a cup of coffee and hands it to Dawn)
Buffy: I don't know. I don't think so. He's feeling. . .
Dawn: Guilty?
Buffy: He defiantly has major guilt feelings.
Willow: (pours another cut and hands it to Buffy) Well that's good right? I mean if he's feeling guilty. . .(pours another for herself)
Buffy: Yeah good for us, but I know it's not good for him.
Dawn: Well he was killing again, maybe he deserves this.
Buffy: Dawn he had no control over his actions. He was being controlled by evil. The strongest evil, of all times. It's not his fault. I mean he has a soul now.
Dawn: You keep using that excuse, "Spike has a soul now" but that doesn't seem to stop him form-
Buffy: No.
Dawn: I'm just saying that, you know, just because someone has a soul, it doesn't stop them from being evil. I mean the killers that are in prisons, they have souls. It doesn't seem to stop them. You can't change people Buffy.
Buffy: No, but that doesn't mean that people can't change. I believe in Spike okay, I do. And it doesn't matter what anyone says, I'm not giving up on him. He wants to do good, he can. He can be a better man, a good man, if people would stop looking at him and treating him like he's a killer.
Willow: But Buffy he is.
Buffy: So are you, you changed.
Willow: (looks down guiltily) I. . .
Buffy: Look Will, I'm sorry okay. . .but it's true. You made some bad choices, and you changed. You turned it all around.
Dawn: But Willow was good to begin with.
Buffy: And so was Spike. He didn't choose to become a monster. It was done to him, just like the chip. But guys, he got the soul on his own.
Dawn: For you, not because he wanted to make it right. I mean sure he does now because it's haunting him, but he did it for you.
Buffy: (defensively, getting angry and annoyed) And I believe in him! You guys may not see it, but I do. I have faith in him.
Willow: Good, that's good. Let's just hope that that's enough. (Buffy grabs her jacket and leaves)
[Scene: Sunnydale High School]
Principal Wood: (comes into Buffy's office) Buffy.
Buffy: Principal Wood, what's the what?
Principal Wood: I'm sending in a student. She's. . .well let's just say that she's very quiet, eccentric. She needs someone to talk to, so be very open all right.
Buffy: Sure. (Principal Wood goes out for a second and comes back with a girl. She has black hair and is very skinny.)
Principal Wood: Stephanie Mills, this is Buffy Summers, Buffy this is Stephanie. I'll leave you two alone. (leaves)
Buffy: Hi Stephanie. (Stephanie doesn't answer) Um, come and sit here, let's talk. (Stephanie goes and sits down) Is there anything in particular that you'd like to talk about? (Stephanie shakes her head no) Okay, um. . .are you having any trouble? In class, home, work maybe? (Stephanie shakes her head yes) Okay, where? What's the matter?
Stephanie: It's. . .m-my dad. He's been acting. . .strange.
Buffy: What do you mean strange?
Stephanie: Well, h-he was gone for a while. . .and when he came back, h-his face, like around here ( rubs the bridge of her nose) was messed up. It was like all bumpy.
Buffy: Was he um. . .did he have. . .sharp fangy teeth?
Stephanie: Yes, a-and he was acting really scary. He scared me and my mom and my brother. He tried to come in the house after us, but something was blocking him. S-something that we couldn't see.
Buffy: Okay, Stephanie, you have to listen to me all right. (Stephanie shakes her head yes) Okay, whatever you do, do not invite him in all right, no matter what. He's dangerous now. Just don't invite him in.
Stephanie: Okay. . .what. . .what is he? (Buffy looks unsure if she should tell her)
[Scene: Summers' House]
Willow: (on her computer) Come on, come on.
Xander: Hey Will, Whatcha doin'?
Willow: I'm trying to break the police's unsolved cases password file. I need to know if there have been any really strange things going on lately.
Xander: As opposed to. . .praying mantises and killer robot demon boyfriends?
Willow: Look, something is making Spike act crazy. I need to know if it's affected anyone else. If other people are affected too, then maybe the first has a plan.
Xander: Figure out the plan, and we stop it from happening. Stop it from happening no horrible death, all right.
Willow: If I could just. . .there, I got it.
Xander: Way to go computer genius.
Andrew: (walks into the dining room from the kitchen) Do you realize that you're all out of doughnuts?
Xander: Andrew please, we're trying to figure out a massive evil plan here. . .wait all the double fudge chocolates are gone? Man!
Willow: Guys look. (they all look at the computer screen)
Xander: Help us out here Will, what are we looking at?
Willow: There's other cases, n-not like Spike exactly, uh. . .domestic stuff.
Xander: But why would that be under lock and key?
Willow: Because they're murder cases, lots of them.
Commercial Break
Buffy: (comes down the stairs of the basement with a mug of blood) Spike?
Spike: No, don't come any closer, I-I don't want to, don't want to hurt you again. (huddles in a corner)
Buffy: (goes up to him) Spike you don't have to hide down here. (kneels beside him)
Spike: I don't want to hurt anyone else, I can't, I can't deal with it, please, just go, please.
Buffy: Okay. (puts the mug down, gets up and starts to leave)
Spike: Buffy?
Buffy: (turns around) Yeah?
Spike: I'm sorry.
Buffy: I know. (goes back up the stairs)
Cut to upstairs in the kitchen
Willow: Is he okay? (pours a cup of coffee and hands it to Dawn)
Buffy: I don't know. I don't think so. He's feeling. . .
Dawn: Guilty?
Buffy: He defiantly has major guilt feelings.
Willow: (pours another cut and hands it to Buffy) Well that's good right? I mean if he's feeling guilty. . .(pours another for herself)
Buffy: Yeah good for us, but I know it's not good for him.
Dawn: Well he was killing again, maybe he deserves this.
Buffy: Dawn he had no control over his actions. He was being controlled by evil. The strongest evil, of all times. It's not his fault. I mean he has a soul now.
Dawn: You keep using that excuse, "Spike has a soul now" but that doesn't seem to stop him form-
Buffy: No.
Dawn: I'm just saying that, you know, just because someone has a soul, it doesn't stop them from being evil. I mean the killers that are in prisons, they have souls. It doesn't seem to stop them. You can't change people Buffy.
Buffy: No, but that doesn't mean that people can't change. I believe in Spike okay, I do. And it doesn't matter what anyone says, I'm not giving up on him. He wants to do good, he can. He can be a better man, a good man, if people would stop looking at him and treating him like he's a killer.
Willow: But Buffy he is.
Buffy: So are you, you changed.
Willow: (looks down guiltily) I. . .
Buffy: Look Will, I'm sorry okay. . .but it's true. You made some bad choices, and you changed. You turned it all around.
Dawn: But Willow was good to begin with.
Buffy: And so was Spike. He didn't choose to become a monster. It was done to him, just like the chip. But guys, he got the soul on his own.
Dawn: For you, not because he wanted to make it right. I mean sure he does now because it's haunting him, but he did it for you.
Buffy: (defensively, getting angry and annoyed) And I believe in him! You guys may not see it, but I do. I have faith in him.
Willow: Good, that's good. Let's just hope that that's enough. (Buffy grabs her jacket and leaves)
[Scene: Sunnydale High School]
Principal Wood: (comes into Buffy's office) Buffy.
Buffy: Principal Wood, what's the what?
Principal Wood: I'm sending in a student. She's. . .well let's just say that she's very quiet, eccentric. She needs someone to talk to, so be very open all right.
Buffy: Sure. (Principal Wood goes out for a second and comes back with a girl. She has black hair and is very skinny.)
Principal Wood: Stephanie Mills, this is Buffy Summers, Buffy this is Stephanie. I'll leave you two alone. (leaves)
Buffy: Hi Stephanie. (Stephanie doesn't answer) Um, come and sit here, let's talk. (Stephanie goes and sits down) Is there anything in particular that you'd like to talk about? (Stephanie shakes her head no) Okay, um. . .are you having any trouble? In class, home, work maybe? (Stephanie shakes her head yes) Okay, where? What's the matter?
Stephanie: It's. . .m-my dad. He's been acting. . .strange.
Buffy: What do you mean strange?
Stephanie: Well, h-he was gone for a while. . .and when he came back, h-his face, like around here ( rubs the bridge of her nose) was messed up. It was like all bumpy.
Buffy: Was he um. . .did he have. . .sharp fangy teeth?
Stephanie: Yes, a-and he was acting really scary. He scared me and my mom and my brother. He tried to come in the house after us, but something was blocking him. S-something that we couldn't see.
Buffy: Okay, Stephanie, you have to listen to me all right. (Stephanie shakes her head yes) Okay, whatever you do, do not invite him in all right, no matter what. He's dangerous now. Just don't invite him in.
Stephanie: Okay. . .what. . .what is he? (Buffy looks unsure if she should tell her)
[Scene: Summers' House]
Willow: (on her computer) Come on, come on.
Xander: Hey Will, Whatcha doin'?
Willow: I'm trying to break the police's unsolved cases password file. I need to know if there have been any really strange things going on lately.
Xander: As opposed to. . .praying mantises and killer robot demon boyfriends?
Willow: Look, something is making Spike act crazy. I need to know if it's affected anyone else. If other people are affected too, then maybe the first has a plan.
Xander: Figure out the plan, and we stop it from happening. Stop it from happening no horrible death, all right.
Willow: If I could just. . .there, I got it.
Xander: Way to go computer genius.
Andrew: (walks into the dining room from the kitchen) Do you realize that you're all out of doughnuts?
Xander: Andrew please, we're trying to figure out a massive evil plan here. . .wait all the double fudge chocolates are gone? Man!
Willow: Guys look. (they all look at the computer screen)
Xander: Help us out here Will, what are we looking at?
Willow: There's other cases, n-not like Spike exactly, uh. . .domestic stuff.
Xander: But why would that be under lock and key?
Willow: Because they're murder cases, lots of them.
Commercial Break