Part One: Shadows on the Walls

Bright lights were surrounding her. Screams sounded in her ears. A terrifying monster was shaking her. The thing was laughing crudely at her.

"Buffy...Buffy!"

Buffy yelled as she lashed out at the thing shaking her with her leg.

"Oh my God, Mom!" Realization struck Buffy in an instant. She panicked as
she knelt down by her Mother.

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry!"

Joyce propped herself up on one elbow. "Uh...which one, the fowl language or
the kick?"

Buffy smiled weakly. "Both."

Joyce grunted at she tried to sit up.

Buffy grabbed her by her the arms and helped her up.

"You know, I almost prefer the yelling myself." Joyce grimaced. "Next time, could you please revert back to the yelling?"

Buffy smiled. "I'm so sorry for that," Buffy looked down at her bare feet
on the hard, cool wooden floor. "I was just having a nightmare."

Joyce frowned. "That's the third night in a row now." She looked out the open window, almost as if suddenly being able to see something that Buffy
couldn't.

Buffy cleared her throat, and Joyce's attention flickered back to her.

"Oh, sorry dear."

"It's okay...I'm okay." Buffy looked toward the window too. Birds were
singing outside in the bright morning sunshine. Buffy noticed that the window was open when the semi-fresh morning air drifted through the window.

"I just came in here to wake you up," Joyce looked back at the open window.
"So I opened the window, and you started moaning." Joyce looked back at
Buffy.

"I can't remember anything." Buffy muttered. "It's okay, I'll go make
breakfast."

Joyce headed towards the open door. Then she stopped, and turned back
around to look at Buffy.

"Aren't you going to visit with your friends today?"

Buffy tore her gaze away from the window.

"Yeah," She walked over to her closet. "At Giles'."

Joyce nodded. "Are you going to be alright by your self for a few weeks?"

Buffy turned around. "What?"

Joyce looked surprised. "I'm going away for a few weeks, for the gallery,
didn't I tell you?"

Remembering the big long discussion again, Buffy smiled. "Oh, that...yeah,
you did. I just forgot."

Joyce smiled back, and left the room, walking slowly down the stairs, thinking about how quite and closed up her daughter was now that Riley was
spending the summer in Iowa.

Buffy sighed, thinking about how much her world had been blown out of
proportion this year.

*Oh well, at least it's summer now.*

Trying her best to mentally convince herself, Buffy grabbed a blank white baby doll t-shirt and a simple pair of blue denim jeans out of her closet,
then headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

~~~

Buffy took a long shower, than gulped down a small breakfast, and sprinted
out the door.

She stopped for a moment, illuminated in the sun's golden rays. Taking in a deep breath of morning air, she started to jog in the direction of Giles'
house.

After a few minutes, she quickened her pace. She was sure that something
was near by. As she ran, she looked all around her. Nothing.
Except for the shadows. Car shadows, mailbox shadows, tree shadows... Somehow, they seemed to be stretching, reaching out for her, slowly. Buffy broke out into a fast run. Even though she was going full speed, and it was
a warm day, she felt shivers running up her spine.

After what seemed like ages, she finally reached Giles' house. She strode
into the courtyard, slowing down. She bent over, and just stood there,
panting for a few minutes.

As she approached the door, she spotted two more shadows on the wall. She almost turned right back around to run, when the little voice in her head
spoke up.

*First you hide under the blankets, now you hide from shadows...Honestly, I
thought you were more than that.*

Gulping, she walked briskly over to the door, and knocked three times in
quick succession.

"Giles, open up."

There was a shuffling noise from inside, then the door opened.

"Buffy, glad you could make-."

Buffy strode into the room quickly, without letting him finish. Sighing
with relief, she looked around, and saw Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara
sitting around the living room.

"Or you could just barge right on in." Giles closed the door.

Buffy turned to look at him. "Sorry Giles, I was just...paranoid."

Xander laughed. "So that's code word for the apocalypse is coming...*again*?"

Anya glanced up from a magazine she was reading. A sudden look of panic
came over her. "No, no, no and no! The apocalypse can't come now!" She
looked around wildly. "There are so many things I haven't seen, so many
things I wanted to do...so many different ways we haven't had sex yet!"

Willow snorted, Tara coughed, and Xander blushed.

"I mean, we still haven't done it in a bathtub, we still haven't done it on
a café table, we still-."

"Anya! Remember how we talked about *over sharing*? Xander had clapped a
hand over Anya's mouth to make her shut up. He slowly removed it.

"Yes...I just thought that I should-."

"Can we get to the matter at hand, *please*?" Giles had stepped into the
center of the room, and was blushing too.

"What exactly is the matter at hand?" Buffy asked, as she sat down on the
couch next to Xander.

"Well," Willow looked at her friend anxiously. "Um, it's about Spike."

"What about him?" Buffy tried to pretend like it didn't bother her at all,
but ever since that marriage spell...things between them had been odd.

"To be quite honest Buffy, we think it best if he were to stay at your
house, you know, while Joyce is away."

Buffy leapt up off the sofa. "You've gotta be kidding?!" She looked around
for support. When it was clear that he was serious, she sat back down,
defeated.

"Why then?"

"Because Xander can't take him!" Anya said suddenly. "We weren't able to
have sex once when he was there."

Giles looked away. "What a pity." He muttered. Then, he looked back at Buffy. "We think it best if you had someone to look after you, just to make sure that no more minions of Adam's are coming, and
that filthy dump of his has flooded."

Buffy snorted. "In case you forgot, *he* was one of Adam's minions."

"That may be so, but he isn't anymore, and we want to be as careful as
possible."

Buffy chuckled. "Right, so just let the big bad wolf into my house to make sure I'm *safe*. If anything, he'll attract a bunch of his demon buddies,
and come to attack me."

Anya piped up. "Oh no, he is *not* staying with Xander again, and I doubt
that Giles will take him...it's your turn."

Sighing heavily, Buffy hung her head. "If he kills me, it's your fault."
She looked up at Giles. "When's he coming."

Surprised that she had given in so quickly, Giles got up from his desk
chair, and went into the kitchen for a drink. "Tonight, actually...tea anyone?" Xander, Buffy, Anya, Willow, and Tara all looked at each other.
"No thanks!" They cried out in perfect unison.

Turning back towards the coffee table, Buffy saw yet another shadow on the wall. Cringing, and almost screaming, she looked around for it's source. Apparently, nothing was. Standing up quickly, she turned toward the door.

"I think I'll go." She said to everyone.

"You sure Buff, if Anya starts *over sharing* again, we could use a slayer
to make her shut up." Xander smiled up at Buffy. "Hey!" Anya looked at
Xander. "Sorry An, but sometimes you just get...-"

"Over the top." Willow quipped up. Anya looked at Tara for support. "Sorry,
but I'm going with Willow on this one." Anya scoffed. "That's a big
surprise. I mean, you two have got your whole lesbian thing going on."

Willow turned her gaze to Xander. "You told her?" Xander suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "I didn't know it bothered you so much." Tara narrowed
her eyes at Willow. "It's not like that..."

Grinning slightly, ready to avoid the big fight that was sure to come,
Buffy walked over to the island separating the kitchen from the living room. "I'm going Giles." Giles looked up at her from the floor, where he was trying to find the kettle. "Take care Buffy." Buffy nodded, and went
over to the door.

~~~

Buffy was waiting at home nervously. She started pacing, and was just
thinking about going to look for Spike, when the door banged open. She
jumped, landed on her ass, then swore.

"All hail the princess of clumsiness!" Spike smiled wickedly, and came in
as Buffy got up. Ignoring him, Buffy glared. "Don't you knock?"

Closing the door behind him, Spike turned back to her, and leered. "What's
the point when I'm not trying to be polite."

Buffy leered back. "You're a pig , Spike." Spike rolled his eyes. "Like we
haven't heard that one before," He looked around. "So...where do I get to sleep?" Buffy grimaced. "Basement." She muttered. "Any beds down there?" Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You can use towels or something." Spike frowned. "Not much for making you're guests comfortable." Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Who says you're a guest?" Spike grinned, and walked over to the basement.

He looked back at her. "I don't like this damn arrangement any more than you do, Slayer." Buffy didn't move. "Not my fault your place is flooded."
Buffy shot back. Spike ignored her, and went downstairs.

Grinning with what had been suppressed interest, Buffy slowly climbed up
the stairs to her room. Stopping for just a moment, Buffy turned, and stared at the basement door, feeling certain that this was going to be a
very interesting two weeks.

~~~

He listened hard, trying to make out if she was asleep. When he was certain that the floorboards far above his head had stopped creaking, he slowly got up. Spike stood there for a while, just to be sure. Then, he crossed the
small, dank room, and went up the basement stairs.

He then slunk up the other stairs, like a cat on the prowl. He crept down
the hallway to her bedroom, and creaked the door open.

The bright moonlight flooded in from the window, making the already white bed glow. And there she was, a small rising and falling lump in a sea of glowing white. He tried hard to contain himself. Ever since that witch had made them fall in love, odd feelings, and ideas ran steadily through him,
ones that hadn't dared to entertain...until now.

She looked so damn beautiful, like a sleeping angel. Not even caring if he made noise now, he crossed over to her bead. He hadn't forgotten what it was like to love her, to kiss her, to touch her. It was all too much. He'd
get staked before he ever let it show that he wanted her more than
anything.

He knelt down to her, so that their faces were barely inches apart. It took
all of his control not to reach out, and stroke her golden hair.

He leaned closer to her, so that he could feel her warm breath on his face.
"Oh Buffy..." The whisper was so low; he could barely hear it.

Then, without warning, he spun around, almost falling over in his haste. At the exact same moment, Buffy twitched in her bed. He had sensed, no felt something in the room with them, yet when he turned, he saw nothing, just a
long shadow on the wall. Except that there was something odd about that shadow. There was no light, no shape to cast it. It was long, and seemed to
be moving, moving towards them.

Spike tried to fend it off, but it was too quick, in an instant, it leapt out at him, shadow-like fangs extended. It somehow sunk them into his arm. In almost an instant, Spike wavered, and fell over just on the right side of Buffy's bead. His vision blurred, and he felt himself drifting off into
sleep. With his last ounce of strength, he reached out for Buffy's hand over his head, before falling into a deep sleep, he laced his fingers in
her's.
~~~ The shadow kept moving, closer and closer to Buffy's bead. It slithered up the wooden frame like a snake, until it came to Buffy, who was moaning and
twitching. "Sweet dreams Slayer." It hissed, in a voice metallic and neither female nor male, as it too, sunk it's shadowy fangs into her arm.
She gave one last twitch, before she fell fast asleep.

The shadow thing slithered back to the wall, and became a billowing column
of darkness, before it faded into nothing more than shadow.