CHAPTER 4 - Life Goes On

Xander awoke with a groan and turned over, letting out a startled yelp of surprise when he felt himself fall onto the floor with a thud. Groggily, he forced his eyes open and blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Oh yeah. Anya. Dinner. Argument. Couch. Turn over. Fall off. Ouch.

Gingerly, he sat up and stretched out his stiff muscles while yawning widely. Damn, he ached. Getting up, he plopped himself down on the couch and wearily rubbed his hands over his face before letting them drop to the cushions.

God he hated sleeping on the couch. No matter how he lay, nothing seemed to fit on properly. He yawned again then looked over to the closed door of his bedroom and sighed. He was going to have to grovel but good today. Standing up, he glanced towards the kitchen debating whether to put some coffee on. Not only would it please Anya if he had a cup ready for her, but it would double as a successful delaying tactic.

Decision made, he headed over and put the kettle on then got two mugs out of the cupboard and set them down on the side. Turning, he leaned back against the work top then noticed a small plastic container sitting in the middle of the table. Walking over, he picked it up and pulled back the top to reveal sandwiches and a packet of chips. His lunch.

With a frown, he closed the box and dropped it back on the table before heading over to the bedroom. Opening the door, he was met with the sight of a perfectly made bed and no Anya.

Checking the time, he saw it was still early and sighed heavily. Anya must have got up and left without waking him which meant she was still blisteringly angry with him. Leaving the bedroom, he headed back to the kitchen and put one of the mugs away. Pouring himself a coffee, he sat down at the table and eyed his packed lunch consideringly. Despite her anger, she still cared enough to prepare him food.

Smiling, he knew that, although she was pissed, Anya was ready to forgive.

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Dawn trudged down the corridor preparing herself for another long, boring day at school. Janice was off sick which was bad enough, but the fact it coincided with a day full of classes she didn't really like, it made the time ahead seem interminable.

"Hi Dawn," greeted a young, dark-haired man from across the hall.

The brunette looked over and smiled. "Hey Rick," she replied, walking over to where the boy stood by his locker. "Having trouble with your locker again?" she asked, handing him the books she was carrying.

"Oh…you know," Rick shrugged, as he stepped back to allow Dawn better access. "Stupid thing keeps getting stuck and you have the magic touch."

Smiling, Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever, Rick, I think you just use it as an excuse to have me near you," she teased.

Behind her, the bespeckled boy reddened slightly and swallowed nervously. "Yeah, t-that's right. Y-you caught me," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Hah! There you go," an oblivious Dawn announced triumphantly as she deftly turned the lock and the door swung open. Books came tumbling out at her feet and she nimbly hopped out of the way at the usual occurrence before turning to Rick and taking her books back with a smile. "See ya," she said and with a little wave, walked away.

Rick stood and stared after her longingly until she disappeared into the throng of milling students then turned back and looked down at the mess at his feet with a sigh. With a tut of self disgust, he firmly pushed his glasses back up on his nose and crouched down to pick up his stuff. He'd ask her out tomorrow. He would. Definitely. Absolutely.

Maybe.

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Anya rearranged the scented candle shelf for the fourth time that morning, still not satisfied with how the display looked which wasn't surprising considering she was still upset about the previous night.

With a weary sigh, she reached out to begin again and then faltered as a wave of dizziness struck. Closing her eyes, her free hand came up to her head as her outstretched one grabbed onto the glass shelf for support.

When the worst of the feeling had passed, she opened her eyes and moved over the table then shakily sat down on one of the chairs. Leaning forward, she folded her arms on the table and rested her head on top, taking deep breaths.

Not enough sleep, she decided once her head had stopped spinning enough to let her think. Lying awake the whole night long then getting up and leaving without even so much as a cup of coffee was enough to make anyone feel a little light-headed. Maybe she should have eaten something when she'd prepared Xander's lunch. That probably would've helped.

She pushed herself back up into the seat and frowned. Of course, this was all Xander's fault anyway. If he'd come in to the bedroom and apologised like she expected, then she would've actually got to sleep and not felt so awful this morning.

The thought of her husband brought a wave of fresh annoyance with a hint of despondency to the fore. She knew he could be a blockhead at times, but to have him practically agree that the rest of the gang treated her differently because she was an ex-demon was just too much.

Her past was exactly that, her past. She couldn't change it and, in all probability, wouldn't even if she could, because it'd mean she wouldn't have met Xander. Although, at this particular moment in time, she did just wonder if that might not have been a bad thing.

With a tired sigh, she forced herself to stand and walked over to the shop's door and unlocked it. Rowan had said she'd be in to see her today…maybe they could talk again. She seemed happy to listen and offer advice the day before and right at that moment, it's what she needed most. A friend to talk to.

Walking back to the counter, she turned on the cash machine and prepared herself for the first customer of the day, hoping against hope that the shop would be busy.

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Entering her history classroom, Dawn was still smiling about Rick. The locker thing had become a running joke between them over the past few months after the first time she'd seen him struggling. Being the helpful soul she was, she'd immediately gone to his aide and had managed to open it within seconds causing them both to laugh.

Since then, they'd become friends…of sorts. Naturally, Janice wasn't pleased that Dawn had befriended one of the 'Nerd Herd' as she called them, but Dawn liked him and so made a point to say hello whenever she got the chance.

Dumping her bag on the desk, she sat down and pulled out the appropriate reference book and a pen. Dropping her bag on the floor, she let out a sigh then leaned forward and propped her head up on her right arm, tapping the pen against her lip as she waited for the teacher to enter.

"Good morning class," Mr. Drake greeted jovially as he walked in with his usual flourish. "Before we start, I'd like you all welcome a new pupil to the class, Rufus Foxwell." He gestured to the door and all heads turned to look at the young redheaded man standing there who raised his hand in salute to the class.

Dawn glanced over dispassionately and then straightened up in her seat and did a double take. "Wow," she breathed, her eyes widening at the sight of Rufus. "Yummy."

As if he heard her, Rufus' gaze suddenly shifted and locked with hers, a slow smile lighting his features.

Dawn felt heat begin in invade her cheeks and quickly looked down, trying to control the sudden rapid beating of her heart. She heard Mr. Drake talking again and then next thing she knew, Rufus was standing by her desk and gesturing to the empty one next to her.

"Okay if I sit here?" he asked with a friendly grin.

Dawn looked up in surprise, her mouth dropping open as she struggled to get an affirmative out. "Uh…y-yeah…," she stuttered before emitting a girlish giggle.

"Thanks," he said, as Dawn cringed inwardly at her pathetic behaviour.

By the time he was settled, Dawn had given herself a stern talking to and felt more in control. Turning to him, she produced her most winning smile and leaned towards him a little. "Wanna share?" she asked, holding up her history book.

"That'd be great, thanks…?" he paused and she looked at him blankly for a moment before realising he was waiting for her name.

"Oh! Dawn…Summers, My name's Dawn Summers," she informed him quickly.

"Dawn Summers," he repeated slowly as if testing the words out. "That's lovely…suits you."

The brunette felt the flush return to her cheeks. "Thanks," she said with a shy smile.

They continued to stare at each other for a few seconds until their teacher began to talk, drawing their attention to the book between them. Suddenly Dawn's day wasn't looking so boring anymore.

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Buffy hummed to herself as she emptied the last of the cereal into a bowl and poured over a generous portion of cold milk. She had a rare day off and was going to spend the majority of it with Spike. Tucking into her breakfast, she mentally reviewed her day and smiled contentedly. Life was good at the moment.

She had an attentive, and insatiable, boyfriend who made her feel like no other man or vampire ever had.

She'd given up her dead end job at the Double Hell Palace and then found herself a nice nine to five at a local counselling office. She'd only been there three weeks when she'd realised counselling was a career she'd like to pursue and had asked to be put on the appropriate courses. Her boss had agreed and she was now shadowing a full-time counsellor at Dawn's school, learning the ropes.

Her friends all seemed happy in their respective relationships and lives…well, except Giles who, for some reason, wasn't pursuing Emily when it was obvious they both liked each other. Hmmm…she'd definitely have to do something about that.

The nightly patrols seemed to be reasonably quiet…definitely a lot less vamps around in that last couple of weeks. She stopped mid crunch and frowned. Could that be a bad thing? She shook her head and continued eating. No. Just meant that her and Spike were doing their job right. No big apocalypse coming or anything.

She hoped.

Breakfast over, she dumped the empty bowl in the sink then went upstairs to shower and get dressed. She had arranged to meet Willow and Tara at the Magic Shop that evening as usual but first she was going to meet Spike at the Mall and shop till she dropped…or run out of money, whatever came first. Probably the money, but she didn't care. All that really mattered was that she was going to spend some time with Spike and they were going to have so much fun.

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Emily stood at her kitchen sink and tipped up the small vial that contained the sleeping draft she'd bought from the Magic Shop. Staring blankly, she watched the yellow contents spill out then flow towards the plughole and disappear. Raising her hand, she turned the faucet to help flush the rest of the liquid away, then switched it off and sighed.

Pushing away from the sink, she turned around and headed back into her rented apartment's sparsely furnished lounge and sat down. This wasn't working. It was taking too long. If she didn't find a way to make Rupert notice her soon, everything was going to be lost.

Leaning forward, she reached out and picked up a dog-eared photo that lay next to her cup of now cold tea. Relaxing back into the couch, she stared hard at the picture and felt the usual rush of emotion surge to the surface, sending one lone tear to track slowly down her cheek.

Had it only been six months ago that she had held Peter to her chest as he'd took his last breath? It felt like six years. Each day she awoke and automatically reached out in bed for her husband, but he wasn't there. He wouldn't be there ever again. His life ripped from him before he'd even had a chance to live it.

Once the pain of his passing had deadened sufficiently, Emily had sought revenge. Researching anything and everything, she then gave up her job and home and moved to L.A. to begin her search. It had taken a while, but her patience had been rewarded and she'd found that all trials led to Sunnydale. Deciding she'd be better off there, she packed up again and situated herself slap bang in the middle of a Hellmouth.

Now that had been a surprise.

Monsters and bogey men were one thing, but a Hellmouth? And in California? Just didn't compute.

What hadn't been a surprise after that, was that there was a magic shop and it appeared to be the real deal. She'd taken to going there in the hope that she might find out a few things, but she'd soon realised that the owners were reluctant and often, downright cagey, when it came to sharing information.

When Rupert had started to give her strange looks, she'd stopped quizzing him and began to turn on the charm. Visiting weekly, she hoped to become a regular and therefore, trusted. So far, it hadn't worked. And to make things worse, she'd actually come to care for Rupert. A lot.

Thinking back to the previous afternoon, she recalled how she hadn't even had to fake her hurt when he'd pulled away and let out a sigh. 'The best laid plans and all that,' she thought to herself wryly and shook her head. Falling in love again so soon definitely hadn't been a part of hers.

TBC IN CHAPTER 5