DISCLAIMER: The characters don't belong to me. All of it belongs to Mutant Enemy, Joss, and all the rest.
DISTRIBUTION: Let me know if you use it anywhere, otherwise I don't mind.
FEEDBACK: It's my first fanfiction. I'd love feedback.
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She nerviously checked the bag one more time to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. After double-checking the contents against her mental list, she took a deep breath and took the last few steps to the crypt's door. She paused there for a few moments in internal debate before softly knocking on the door. The knock ended up being no where as loud as she had intended, but she hoped it was loud enough. She felt a bit foolish to be standing outside a crypt door in the mid-morning sun, holding a grocery bag and knocking, but stood nerviously outside waiting for an answer anyway. After waiting for a few minutes without hearing anything except the quiet drone of the television from inside, she risked knocking again, a bit louder. She waited patiently outside for some sort of response and was just about to knock again when the door propped open a crack. A harsh voice came through the small opening, fading as it retreated from the door, saying, "Oh. It's you. Whada you want?" The door continued to swing open on its own as the voice faded as its owner walked away. She cautiously took a few steps inside, holding the door as she did so, intently watching where the beams of light fell, keeping it as far closed as possible while still being able to come inside.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to make sure you knew this was here before anything went bad." She indicated the bag in her arms before nerviously continuing, "The blood was my last stop and the butcher said it was fresh. I wasn't sure if you liked it warm or refrigerated, so I brought it straight over. There's a few other things in here for you too. If you don't like any of it, you can just get rid of it or something. I won't be offended or anything. I just thought you might like it." She nerviously shifted the bag between her arms before setting it on the ground far inside the door. The vampire simply sat on a battered recliner in front of the television, watching her with a confused look on his face. "Anyway, I'll stop bothering you now and let you get back to whatever you were doing before I interrupted. Sorry again about bothering you." And with that she backed out, tightly closing the door behind her. Once outside in the early-morning light, she paused and took a deep breath to steady her nerves before walking back to campus for her classes. Whatever Spike's reaction would be, it was no longer in her hands.

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He had been staring at the television, bored out of his mind when he had felt her presence outside. He felt her standing outside the door and heard her timid knocks. At first he had ignored it, expecting her to simply walk in like everyone else, but she had waited outside politely and patiently, even knocking a second time, while waiting for him to answer. No one knocked and waited to be let in. They always just marched into his crypt and demanded whatever they wanted before marching back out. She had surprised him even more when she had been so careful about watching where the sun fell as she opened the door, making sure to stop when she could barely get inside with her bag, yet when the sun was getting close to his seat. True, she didn't move too far from the protection of the sun, but that was to be expected.

At first he had figured that the bag was something of hers and she had been sent by the others to ask him for something, but through the entire time she was there, she'd never once mentioned the others or being there because she wanted something for herself. She had simply told him about the bag and left. The blood had been a surprise. She had gone out of her way to go to the butcher's and made sure it was fresh. Then she had made sure he knew about it so it didn't go bad or anything. He had watched, intrigued, as she rambled a bit before setting her package down and carefully shutting the door tightly behind her. She had stood outside for a moment, for no reason he could understand, before she had walked off into the morning. He sat, eying the bag for a few more minutes before his curiosity got the best of him. He quickly took the few steps necessary to reach where she had left the gift and peered inside. There were indeed 2 or 3 packs of fresh blood sitting on top. Grabbing one, he noted that they were cool, but not cold. He ripped one open and began drinking as he took the bag with him back to his chair. TV forgotten, he began unpacking the rather full grocery bag. The blood was the first thing to be removed and set aside. Just below that he found a bag of what appeared to be herbs stuffed inside a coffee mug. He picked it up and noticed a note in her delicate script and read:

"Don't worry, the packet only has a few seasonings and some crushed wheatabix. I was told you liked it for your blood. Here's the list of the herbs I used:"

and was followed by a short list of the seasonings he had used when he had stayed with the Watcher and the Whelp. He sat the mug and herbs aside with the remaining blood and continued through the bag. Next he pulled out a carton of cigarettes. This too had a note attached,

"I wasn't sure of your brand. I thought this was the kind I've seen you smoke."

Indeed, it was his brand of cigarette. He set that aside and fished out a can of black spray paint. The now-expected note read:

"I thought this might be helpful to make sure that light didn't get in through the windows during the day. If you want, I can get you some curtains and help you hang them up to keep out more of the light. I know it would probably work best to make sure they block all the light if you hung them during the day and if you wanted help then you wouldn't have to worry about accidentally burning yourself or anything."

He allowed himself a small grin as he set the can aside and went reaching for the next item in the bag of goodies. It was a pack of bandages. The note was:

"Just in case you get hurt. I wasn't sure about antiseptics, so if you need anything else, let me know."

They were followed by a couple of books. The titles seemed completely unrelated to each other or anything he could recall discussing around her, so instead of thinking too much about it he opened the cover of the top one and read the note.

"I didn't know what you liked to read or if you'd already read these or not. I thought they might give you something to do during the daylight hours. It must get boring just watching TV and sleeping while being stuck inside for all those hours. I got these for one of my classes last semester. They're yours if you want them. If you don't mind the whole returing-them-when-you're-done thing, I can get you some others from the library. All you have to do is ask."

Beneath these was a book of cross-word puzzles with the simple not of,

"For the long daylight hours."

The small grin that had slowly been spreading across his face turned into a smile at the girl's thoughtfulness. He really hadn't been expecting this many thoughtful gifts from her when she had left the bag inside his door. He was almost at the bottom. He pulled out a thermos with a baggie of marshmallows attached. The note read:

"The hot chocolate was made fresh this morning before I went out for the blood. Hopefully it's still warm for you. I know you like marshmallows. Enjoy."

He glanced in the apparently empty bag to make sure he hadn't missed anything and noticed several sheets of folded paper at the bottom. One was her class schedule. Another was a map with directions to her dorm on campus, the room number and her phone number. The third paper was a longer note.

"If you ever wan to talk or need anything, feel free to give me a call or something. I never did properly thank you for everything you've done for me. Thank you.

Tara."

He smiled as he glanced at everything spread around him and back at the note. He noted that she had been inviting, but had made sure to not directly invite him into her dorm room. He carefully put everything away before taking one of the books and the hot chocolate and settling back into his recliner, enjoying one of the best days he'd had in quite a while.

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She returned late to her dorm room, tired and exhaused from a busy day. She had been much later than usual and had nerviously treked across campus from the library as quickly as possible when she had emerged after nightfall. She had been kept too busy throughout the day to think about her trip to Spike's trip that morning and was abruptly brought back to that morning when she turned the last corner for her room. In front of her door was the thermos. She slowed as she approached and knelt down. Attached to it was a simple note in a beautifully flowing script. It simply said:

"Thanks."

She smiled, picked up the thermos, and went into her room, locking the door behind her.