Chapter 2: Images of you fill every thought, life meaningful only when your happiness sought.

Xander sprawled out on top of his bed, browsing through the poems while propping his cell phone between ear and shoulder. The phone barely rang once before it was answered.

"Grand Central Station, how may I direct your call?"

Xander's voice betrayed how excited he was. "Listen to this: 'Images of you fill every thought, life meaningful only when your happiness sought.' God, isn't that beautiful?"

"I see you got the book." Faith said, amused. "I won't even ask if it's any good."

"Good?" Xander mock-gasped. "Good? It's one of the best collections of poetry ever collected! It turns the English language into a work of art that surpasses Shakespeare himself!"

She laughed. "Okay, now I know you're being sarcastic. Nobody's better than Shakespeare to you."

"It's close." Xander grumbled. "I mean, you try to find a modern poet that can used the word 'effulgent' properly. Most of the stuff at open-mic has rhyming so forced it makes your ears bleed. Take this for example: 'My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it, inspired by your beauty, effulgent.' There's nothing forced at all! You can't get better flow than that."

"Mary had a little sheep who often went with her to sleep. That sheep turned out to be a ram and Mary had a little lamb." Faith dead-panned.

Xander burst out laughing. "You are so twisted."

He could hear her smirk. "I know. That's why you love me."

"Yeah." Xander trailed off, becoming engrossed in the poetry.

There was a long pause, before Faith finally said, "Well, I'll let you get back to reading, then. Don't stay up too late, okay? You've got work in the morning."

"Yes, mom." he said, half-listening.

"Hey, I'm not the one who knocked over a full can of teal paint 'cause I was tired from reading all night."

She had a point, but Xander didn't like admitting it. "There's no painting yet - we're still building the stairs and the loft."

"Sleep, Xander. It's a good thing."

"Soon, Faith. Just one more poem."

There was a dramatic sigh on the other end. "Fine. One more poem, and I'll bring over some mocha to wake you up in the morning."

Xander grinned. "Thanks, Faith. You're a doll."

"Whatever." There was a click as she hung up, and Xander turned his own cell phone off, plugging it in to charge.

"""

"This feels so wrong." Spike said, reading over the computer printouts.

Buffy shrugged, browsing through a few printouts as well, making notes and highlighting sections. "It's not wrong. All of this stuff is information Willow was able to find on the 'net." Spike quirked one eyebrow, and Buffy raised her right hand. "No hacking, I swear. Just experienced Googling."

Spike sighed. "I guess it's all right then." He read through the high-school transcripts that Wills had found. Apparently this guy had been one of the real introspective types. Head of the yearbook staff, wrote a bunch of articles for the school newspaper. Got suspended for a month for starting up a reading club for vampire books. Hobbies included reading, writing, volunteering at the local library, and donating blood. "You got any recent info on him?"

"Yeah. An 'Alexander Harris' was listed as the Stage Manager for several Shakespeare in the Park productions over the last few years." Buffy said. She glanced at Spike. "You two have such similar interests, it's scary."

"Lots of people enjoy the Bard." Spike said defensively, then took the papers from Buffy's hands. "Are there any performances this summer?"

She tried to scowl at him for stealing her papers, but he wasn't paying any attention to her death-glare. "They were playing "Much Ado About Nothing" earlier during the summer, but that's over now. There will be a few performances of Twelfth Night in a couple months, though."

"Then they're probably still rehearsing, and building the stage." Spike murmured to himself. He looked up. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"On my one and only day off this week?" Buffy replied. "I thought I'd take a long bubble bath and watch soaps all morning, and maybe buy that black leather skirt I've been eyeing for the last month. And then I thought I might go clubbing and try to score tonight." Spike turned on the puppy-eyes and she threw up her hands in surrender. "We're going over to the park to try to catch a glimpse of your cute guy, doofus. What else would we be doing?"

"Thanks, luv." Spike kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah. You owe me one." She grinned. "And if he turns out to be straight, I get first dibs."

"Of course." Spike was practically bouncing with anticipation. How the hell was he going to get any sleep tonight?