Three days. Usually it was only a few hours. A day, tops. Three days since he slammed the door. Three days since she'd smelled blood heating in the microwave. Three days since she heard the deep British timbre of his voice. Three days since she felt his cool hand on her cheek.

Tori accented each thought with a hard punch or kick to the heavy bag in front of her. She had his cell phone number. But she hadn't tried to call him. It wasn't in her nature to give. She kicked high and hard. She took. Another quick jab to the center. She took lives and had no regrets. Left, right, roundhouse kick, jab. None at all.

"Spike."

She heard the female voice behind her and stopped her assault on the heavy bag. Buffy walked slowly across the training room, geared up to train herself. She took one look at Victoria's angry posture and well-aimed hits and knew that she could name that tune in one word.

"What?" Tori asked, turning toward Buffy.

"Only Spike could get someone this pissed off," Buffy told her, setting down her ruck sack. "Trust me, you're not the first to nearly tear that bag off its hooks because of something he did."

Tori nodded and walked over to the mats. She sank down into them and grabbed her water bottle.

"I was just finishing up," she told Buffy. "I'll be out of your way in just a moment."

Buffy tried to smile. She watched as the new Slayer chugged down half of the water in her bottle. She replaced the cap and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"No hurry," Buffy told her, trying to sound friendly as she wrapped her wrists.

There was a strained silence between them as Buffy continued prepping for her workout and Tori came down from hers. Buffy stole a few glances of the sweat-sheened girl sitting across from her and realized that one of them would have to give a little. She was sure that it wasn't going to be Tori.

"Listen, Victoria," she began. "About the other day--"

"It's Tori," she told Buffy. "No bother."

"I just wanted to..." She took a deep breath and turned to face the other woman. "I'm really sorry about Merrick. About your dad. I... I didn't know him for very long. But he was really great. And I understand why he did what he did. I wouldn't want my kid to be a Slayer either."

Tori seemed to be taking in what Buffy was telling her and turning it over in her head.

"I didn't know him very long either," she admitted. "I mean, very well. He wasn't around much. We thought it was because he was involved in some top-secret government group. But, you know how that turned out."

She did.

"What's it like?" she asked as Buffy began stretching.

"It?" Buffy asked, not sure what she meant.

"You've been the Slayer for seven years," Tori tried again. "What's it like?"

Buffy thought about the role she'd played for a large part of her young life. Only one word came to mind.

"Lonely."

Tori watched the younger girl warm-up and thought about that word. Lonely. She could relate. In the military there was a certain esprit de corps, but in her little niche as a sniper there was a loneliness that she had never been able to shake.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I get that."

Buffy looked at her and saw a flash of sadness in her dark eyes. Something about her hardness reminded her a little of Faith. Faith's slayer side had always been strong due to the fact that she was pretty much alone in this world. Buffy had been lucky enough to have a mother, a sister, friends. She had Giles. And Angel. She even had Spike.

"Are you close with your mom?" Buffy found herself asking.

"I was," Tori told her. "She died when I was 14. Cancer."

Buffy stared at her trying to read if there was any emotion on her face. Tori's face was cold and hard. It was as if she had trained it into a mask of indifference.

"You close with yours?" Tori asked.

"I was," Buffy sympathized. "She died a few years ago. Aneurism."

The two women looked at each other realizing that they had more in common than either was ready to admit.

"What did he do this time?" Buffy asked.

"Who?"

"The bleached big mouth," Buffy clarified, positive that Tori's beating of the bag had come from something Spike-induced.

"He, uh..." Tori thought about what had gone down between them before he left. "He didn't do anything. It was me. I tend to come off a little, uh... I have a hard time... I..."

She was so bad at this. She looked up at the younger woman and shrugged, wishing to just end the conversation. But she saw something in Buffy's eyes that she needed. Understanding.

"I pushed him away," she finally sighed. "Yeah. I mean... if I can just piss off all the demons as much as I've pissed off Will, this whole apocalypse will be cake."

Buffy gave her a puzzled look. Will? She called Spike by his Christian name? She tried to brush it off so that she could find out just how pissed off... Will... was.

"Um, what... what happened?" she asked cautiously.

Tori thought about how to answer. She figured telling the Slayer that she'd been bitching about her was probably not the best explanation.

"I was running my mouth, venting... and he wanted to help," she told Buffy. "I, uh, I'm not real good at letting people help."

Buffy smiled. She could relate. People. Tori called Spike people.

"You do realize he's a vampire, right?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm? What?" Tori shrugged. "Vampire, yeah. I know that he's a vampire."

"It's just, you... you called him people," Buffy pointed out.

"Right. People. Yeah. I mean, well... you've known him longer than I have. He's not exactly your run of the mill demon, you know? He's... he's people," Tori asserted. "Definitely people."

Buffy thought about her past relationship with Spike. There were times he definitely could have been considered people. And there were times that he made damned sure that she'd never forget just what a monster he was.

"I'm sure he'll come around after awhile. I mean, give him a few hours to himself and he'll remember just how stupid he's acting," Buffy told her.

Tori's face darkened as she pushed herself up off the mats. She grabbed her seabag and rummaged through it for her cell phone. No calls. No messages.

"I'm not so sure he's acting stupid," she told Buffy. "It's been three days."