---

A little while later Spike and Buffy walked, hand-in-hand, into the library, where Andrew was telling the rest of the Scooby gang about Spike's return. Dawn stood up as they entered.

"Is it really him?" she asked hopefully. Buffy nodded and Dawn ran to Spike and hugged him.

Andrew, Giles, Xander, and Anya remained seated around a big table in the center of the room. Spike, Buffy, Dawn, and Willow joined the rest of the group at the table. Faith had returned to the gym to finish training with the Slayerettes and Wood was in the Principal's office.

"Good to have you back," Giles told Spike, and he nodded at the watcher. As much as Giles didn't like Spike, he still acknowledged that he had saved the world. Plus, if the Power's That Be could forgive Spike's past faults by turning him human, he could try to as well, at least for Buffy's sake.

"You're gonna stay here with us now, right?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"'Course I will, Bit," he told her and she smiled. "If that's alright with big sis, that is." He turned to Buffy.

"Of course," she replied. "You'll probably want a tour of the place, then."

"I'll do it!" Dawn offered excitedly. Buffy smiled, and Dawn grabbed Spike's hand and dragged him out of the library.

---

"As you may have noticed, this is our new Council and Slayer school," Dawn began as they walked down the hallway, trying to sound professional. She had given this tour to many potential Council members. "We named it Summers Academy, as tribute to the best and oldest slayer, and because, well, Scooby School just sounded ridiculous. It seems like a private, all-girl boarding school to the public, which is partly accurate. However, the Slayerettes attend Slayer training as well as their regular classes."

Spike nodded, trying to take in everything Dawn was telling him. She could talk a little fast when she was excited.

"The building is rectangular in shape with two floors, and hallways running along each wall. Another hallway divides each floor in half, and on the first floor leads from the main entrance to the back doors." They approached a set of double doors. This is the cafeteria. It's really just a big dining room attached to the kitchen, which is in here." She led him through the room to another set of double doors on the left hand wall. "There's only about 50 Slayerettes at the school so far. We tried to find more of them over the summer, but we were busy with getting this school ready, too. We're gonna try harder now that it's open."

They made a loop around the kitchen and Spike grabbed an apple off of the center island. Then they headed out a door and back into the hallway. Ahead of them was a hallway which ran across the back of the building and was perpendicular to the one they were just in.

"On your right are the elevators and bathrooms, and on your left we have a laboratory classroom. Most of the classrooms are in the middle of the building and on the second floor."

They walked further down the hallway, passing the center hallway, and came to the Main Office. Inside was a secretary's desk and behind that, a door that led to the Principal's office.

"Robin is in the Principal's office right now, so I'm not sure if you want to skip that or not." Dawn told him, referring to the incident in Wood's workshop.

"Yeah we can see that later," Spike told her and they moved on. They walked to the far left side of the building and outside to the garden area in which Buffy had been earlier.

"There are lots of gardens on the grounds. We wouldn't let Andrew help with much over the summer so he got bored and took up gardening." She motioned to the right of the property where a large three story building sat. "That's the dorm. There are twenty rooms on each floor, and they hold two people each. Right now Willow, Andrew, Faith, and Robin are living in some of the larger rooms on the third floor."

"What about the rest of you?" Spike asked.

"Well, there are two houses on campus," she pointed to the left corner of the campus. "We think they were probably the Principal and Vice Principal's houses from when this was a real boarding school."

They followed a path into a small wooded area, where two two-floor houses came into view. They were fairly small with porches in the front. The one on the left was white and the one on the right was blue.

"Me and Buffy live in the white one, and Xander and Anya live in the blue one. They made up after they saw what Buffy went through when you… you know." There was an awkward pause.

"What about Giles? Where's he live?" Spike asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, he bought a house down the road from here. He said he was too old to be living around young people all the time," she told him doing her Giles impression. "So I guess you'll live with us now. It's only a two bedroom, but I don't think Buffy will mind sharing." She grinned and winked at him, and he felt his face get hot.

"Ooh, you're blushing! Bet that's a new thing for you, since you know, your heart does that beating thing again." He nodded sheepishly.

"Hey, why aren't you in class with the rest of the girls?" he asked, just realizing that she wasn't.

"I'm going to go to normal, public school. It doesn't start 'til tomorrow."

"What, Slayer didn't think her school was good enough for you?" he asked.

"No, it was actually my idea. I mean I love all this Slayer/demon fighting stuff, but I wanted to meet some normal friends too." Spike nodded and the two walked up the stairs to the front porch of the Summers' house and then went inside.Back at the school, the rest of the day continued on much less eventfully.

---

Later that night Buffy slept peacefully for the first time in almost a year. Spike slept on the couch though because, even though she loved him, Buffy wasn't quite ready to sleep with him again.

While the Summers Academy campus was enjoying a peaceful, quiet night, many miles away something very unusual was happening. All of a sudden a purple flash of light appeared against the night sky, and it disappeared just as quickly. However, as it faded a dark figure was revealed. The figure stood for a moment, wavered, and then fell to the ground with a groan.

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