Chapter 4

"Tell me something, pet. Why's a pretty girl like you trying to kill herself?" Alyssa blushed at his comment. She never thought that she was pretty. She thought she was short and way too skinny. She was pale and had long black hair. She wore a lot of black also and people would think that she was a Goth because of the way she looked which led to them thinking she was a freak. If they only knew.

"I just couldn't deal with my life anymore." She told him.

"It's that bad?" She nodded as they continued to walk.

"I ran away from home and I'm not going back. My dad wouldn't even miss me anyway." She said in a sad tone and Spike felt for her.

"I'm really sorry that things are so hard. Why don't you come stay with me? I mean until we figure something else out. I'm sure the lady of the house won't mind." Alyssa was surprised that he would ask her to stay with him.

"Are you married?" She asked him and he laughed and shook his head.

"No, I just live with my girlfriend and her family. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go, so I know she would do the same for you. She's sweet like that." He said with a smile. Alyssa looked at his face when he was talking about his girlfriend and could tell that he really loved her. She wondered if she would ever find that. She then realized that she didn't even know his name.

"What's your name?" She asked suddenly and he looked at her.

"It's Spike, what's yours?" He replied.

"Alyssa," she stated when she thought of something and laughed. He was surprised to hear her laugh all of a sudden.

"What's so funny?" She shook her head.

"It's just that my counselor at school was talking to her boyfriend Spike on the phone today. I didn't think that was a very common name." Spike smiled at her.

"Would that counselor be Buffy Summers?" Alyssa nodded a little surprised and Spike continued. "Yeah, that would be my girl." He told her and she was surprised again that the man that saved her was her counselor's boyfriend. She felt a little better about that knowing that Buffy would want to help her because it was what she did. They finally got to Buffy's house and he opened the door and let her inside first, closing the door after he walked inside. "Honey, I'm home." He said because he knew how much that annoyed Buffy, but he continued to do it anyway. Buffy rolled her eyes as she came downstairs.

"I told you to quit it with that." She said when she noticed that Alyssa was there also. "Alyssa, what are you doing here?" She asked and Alyssa didn't know what to say when Spike spoke up first.

"This one ran away from home and didn't want to go back, so I said she could stay here for right now. That is if it's okay with you." He said and Alyssa was grateful that he didn't mention her suicidal attempt. Buffy nodded as she looked at Alyssa.

"Of course, is everything okay?" She asked her and Alyssa nodded also and managed a small smile.

"It's getting better." She said and Buffy gave her a smile in return when Dawn then came down the stairs. Her eyes grew big when she saw Alyssa there.

"Hey, what's going on?" She wondered and Alyssa felt nervous in Dawn's presence. Buffy explained to her the situation and Dawn nodded and then smiled at Alyssa. "That's cool; you can stay in my room." She said as she put her arm around Alyssa and led her to the stairs. "We can have a slumber party every night." Buffy turned back to Spike when both teenagers were gone and saw the concerned expression on his face.

"What really happened, Spike?" She asked and he sighed before he answered her.

"I found her about to jump off of a cliff. I managed to talk her out of it, but it got really scary for a second there." Buffy couldn't believe that it was that bad.

"Oh god, I mean when she talked to me I could tell that things were pretty hard for her. I had no idea she was that depressed. Do you know what's wrong?" Spike shook his head.

"Didn't get much out of her. I guess it has something to do with her dad. She wouldn't tell me much." Buffy nodded.

"Maybe I should try and talk to her, but that can wait until tomorrow. She's probably really tired right now." Spike nodded also and put his arm around Buffy.

"We should probably head to bed, too." He said as he kissed her forehead and she agreed. They headed up the stairs when Buffy thought of something and smiled.

"So, what was it like to walk in on Xander in the shower?" She asked and Spike glared at her question.

"Now, is that never speaking of it again? I'm trying to get the image out of my head." Buffy laughed.

"I have ways to get the image out of your head." She said in a seductive tone and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Is that right? Well, we better get on that then." He stated as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into their room. Buffy laughed again as he closed the door.