Spike reached up, and touched his lip, and thought for a second, before nodding.
"Oh, right…Wasn't watching where I was going when I got up a few hours ago…slammed into the door frame…" Alex looked at him for a second, unsure.
"Honest?"
"Yes, Alex…What do you think, I went hunting or something?" She shrugged, but turned, tossing the towel into the garbage can.
"Well, I suppose not…You want anything while I'm all set to prepare someone breakfast?" she asked, wiggling her fingers as though she were going to reach for a gun. He chuckled.
"Nah. I'm fine…Thanks, though," he replied. As he headed out of the room, he turned towards her, and kissed her forehead. She smiled as he left the room. Sighing, she closed her eyes for a brief second…and saw an image of her mother. Her mother covered in blood, reaching out for her, though her once blue eyes were now sharp, and yellow-green, like a cats eyes, and she had vampire teeth. Alex gasped and snatched up a knife off the counter near her, opening and widening her eyes. Buffy held up her hands, stepping back.
"Alex, it's just me…You alright?"
"Sorry…I just…sorry…thought I saw something. Uh…you want some eggs or something? I'm in the mood for cooking breakfast…"
"Actually…sounds good…" Alex smiled, and, leaving the knife on the counter, dug around the fridge, finally pulling out eggs, a thawed pack of bacon, and even some sausage links.
"Cool…call you when it's ready?"
"You want some help?"
"Nah, I can do it."
Alex dished out eggs, bacon, and sausage onto six plates, for Buffy, then Willow, Xander, Dawn, Anya, and Kennedy, who'd woken up to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen. Balancing them very carefully on her arms, Alex cautiously moved into the living room.
"Kay, everyone take a plate…" They reached out quickly, so the plates didn't fall, and sat back down. "Be right back with drinks…" They began to laugh as she ran back in and came back out with glasses of orange juice.
Alex sat on the couch, knees pulled up, a crossword resting on them, with a pen in her hand. Buffy came into the hall, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, and glanced over.
"Alex?"
"Yeah?" she asked, looking up.
"I'm taking Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, and Anya to the cemetery for some training stuff, and dropping Xander off at home…Do you wanna come with?" Alex thought for a second, biting her lip.
"Uh, no, that's alright…"
"You sure?"
"Yeah, positive. I'm alright. Have fun," she said. Buffy smiled, and waved, heading out the door. The others followed after her, waving. Alex waved back, and watched the door shut behind them. Shrugging it off, she went back to her puzzle, biting on the end of her pen.
About an hour later, Alex looked around. It wasn't until then she'd realized she hadn't seen Spike since he left the kitchen. A little confused, she tossed her puzzle and pen to the table, and stood, heading to her room. No Spike. Moving down the hall, she checked each room, but didn't find him. Finally, she placed her hand on the doorknob that would take her to the basement. Pausing for a second, she took a deep breath, and pushed the door open. She headed down, and hesitated again about halfway.
"Spike? You down here?"
"Yeah," he replied, looking over at the stairs. She turned her head, and smiled. "Need something?"
"No…It just occurred to me I haven't seen you since you left the kitchen this morning, and I was kind of worried…" He shrugged. She suddenly noticed he was sitting on a cot-like bed against the cement wall, with a chain going from the wall to his wrist. "Uh...Spike? Why are you chained up?"
"Keeps me from hurting anyone," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. Alex moved across the basement, and sat beside him.
"You think your going to hurt someone?" she asked softly, reaching her hand over and touching the shackle around his wrist.
"Never know…" She shrugged.
"I suppose your right…" They sat there for a second, her hand still on his wrist. "It's good to see you again, Spike." He lifted his eyes.
"You too, Alex…You look good." She smiled.
"So do you…Spike?"
"Hm?" She paused.
"Uh…sorry, forgot what I wanted to say…" He smiled at her, and moved his eyes back to the floor. She shifted herself a bit, and pulled her legs beneath her. After a minute or so more of silence, she leaned over, pushing her lips against his. Spike turned his body, and kissed her back, his hands on her hips. Pulling her around, he lifted his head away from hers for a brief second, just to look down at her. Dropping his head, he kissed her again, and she slid her arms around his neck.
She lifted her head off his chest, hearing a car pulling into the driveway. She quickly stood up, and tugged her jeans on, glancing back at Spike as he laid, half asleep, on his bed. Yanking her shirt down over her head, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, and raced up the steps, shoes in hand. Peeking out the front window, she saw Buffy pulling the car into the driveway in reverse. Tossing her shoes to the floor beside the couch, Alex ran her hands over her face, and moved into the kitchen, flipping on the water. She washed up a few dishes before the door opened. Buffy looked around, and smiled as she saw Alex washing up a few more of the dirty dishes in the sink.
"Hey, Alex…" She looked up, faking surprise.
"Oh, hey, Buffy! Didn't hear you come in…Did you have fun?" Buffy chuckled.
"Yeah…We were helping Dawn work on her fighting skills…" Alex smiled, and finished up, drying her hands. "Spike here?"
"Uh, I think he may be sleeping downstairs…At least, he was when I went to check on him a little bit ago…" she lied, pulling open the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.
"Oh, alright…"
"I'm gonna go lay down, alright?"
"Yeah, sure. You feeling okay?"
"Mmmhmm…Just a little tired…"
"Well…feel better." Alex nodded, and crossed the hallway, closing her bedroom door behind her as she dropped onto her bed. She sighed, smiling, and reached over into the bag she'd brought with her. Digging around inside, she pulled out a picture frame. In it, was a photo of a woman. She had long, curly blonde hair, and sharp blue eyes, with nicely tanned skin in between. She was sort of tall, and thin. She was sitting on a park bench, laughing, wearing a yellow, flowery summer dress, with matching sandals. It was Alex's mother. Sighing, Alex set the picture up on her nightstand, and, leaving her water bottle right beside it, rolled over, closing her eyes.
She looked around the cemetery, surprised. It was a bright, sunny day, and the birds were singing overhead. Alex turned, and froze. Her mother was walking towards her, in that same summer dress from the picture, holding the hand of a little five-year-old Alex. She faintly smiled, biting her lip. Her mother let go, and the little Alex went running thru the stones, towards one in particular.
"Alex, don't run! You may hurt yourself!" her mother called.
"Mom…?" she whispered. The woman didn't seem to hear or see her, but walked right on passed. Her mother kneeled down beside a gravestone, and the little Alex kneeled beside her.
"It's us again, Grandma," her mother said. "Nothing has changed, really, since we came out last week. Hope everything's good for you…"
"Yeah. Love you, Gwamma Balice…" Alex chuckled.
"Grandma Balice…I remember you…very, very faintly…" Little Alex got back up, and wandered around, looking at the graves, peeking inside some tombs, and just being a curious kid. Alex moved nearer to her mother.
"We love you, Grandma…" Alex raised her hands, pushing them against her chest, where her heart is placed.
"I miss you so much, mom…I'm sorry I stabbed you, but I didn't want you to become evil…I'm sorry…I really miss you, mom…And I love you…" Her mother's spun around, her eyes turned back into those cat eyes she'd seen earlier, now covered in blood, her hair in a tangled mess, her dress covered in blood, and dirt and blood deep beneath her haggard fingernails. She reached out for Alex.
"But mommy doesn't miss you, and she doesn't love you, and she'll never forgive you!" she hissed. Alex screamed, falling backwards over a stone. The form of her mother moved closer.
"No! Don't do this, you aren't my mother!" she screamed.
"Mommy does want a word with you, though! Come to mommy, Alex!" she wailed, bending over Alex, hands ready to strangle…
Alex began screaming, clawing at her throat, and finally opened her eyes. She was looking up at Spike. His hands were on her shoulders, shaking her, to wake her up.
"Alex?" he asked. She shoved his hands away, looking down at herself, then around at her room. Her room. She wasn't in a graveyard, being attacked by a being who took the form of her dead mother. She was sitting on her bed, in her room, getting strange looks from Spike. Spike…She looked up at him, and threw her arms around his shoulders. He was surprised for a second, but put his arms around her waist.
"Oh, God…I'm not in a cemetery…I'm okay…" Spike pushed her down on the bed, and looked at her.
"You had that dream again?"
"Not the same one…This one I saw my mother…And she ended up being a demon dressed like my mother…Who tried to kill me…and then you woke me up…Thanks, Spike…"
"Well, I couldn't just ignore you. You were shaking, and flailing your arms, and gasping out and stuff…Hard to ignore…" She looked around, and then back at him, only to realize he wasn't wearing his shirt.
"Were you sleeping in here?" she asked. He nodded.
"Yeah…Well, not really sleeping…More like, laying there and trying to sleep. Buffy and Dawn ran out to get dinner, and Willow is downstairs doing…something." Alex nodded.
"Sorry, Spike," she stated, putting her head into her hands. He put an arm around her shoulder.
"Whatever your sorry for, it isn't your fault. I couldn't sleep anyways…" Alex sighed, and stood up, opening her door. "You going somewhere?"
"Just to the kitchen…I need a drink, and I don't mean water." Spike smirked, and followed her into the kitchen. She crouched down in front of the open fridge door, and rifled through the things inside, finally pulling out a bottle of Michelob, and standing, shoving the door closed. Spike chuckled from the doorway.
"You gonna have that all to yourself, or are you going to grab me one, too?"
"You didn't just dream your mother tried to kill you," she replied, but pulled one out and handed it to him. They stood there, looking at each other, nursing their beers, when lights came thru the window, and they heard a couple of car doors slam.
"Guess they're home," Spike noticed, looking out the window. Alex smiled, and walked passed him, smacking his shoulder. She pulled open the door, and watched Buffy and Dawn walk in with a couple of pizza's and some pop, plus a couple more bags of stuff.
"Thanks, Alex…" She nodded, and finished off her beer, tossing the bottle into the garbage.