Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Buffy cast/crew/characters/plotlines/etc. A couple of the lines of dialouge are taken directly from the episode "Sleeper". I write the opening poems, so blame me if they suck. I did not, however, write the line on Willow's valentine to Xander - that line belongs to "Hallmark", who used it in a Sweetest's Day card which I bought the other day.
Author's Notes: Ah, the joys of working at the desk during the night: there's plenty of time to write. Unfortuantly I forgot to bring the transcript of "Sleeper" with me, and it's been a while since I've seen it, so I apologize in advance if this first part (i.e. Dawn and Willow's dialouge) doesn't follow the episode exactly. I will go back and double-check a few lines when I get home, but mostly I'm doing this from memory. If there's any glaring errors, point them out and I'll fix them. And as for Willow asking about the incorporial thing, in my head she reached out and grabbed Cassie's hand and couldn't touch it.
Yet More Author's Notes: I have recently become Lady Stupidia of Stupidom. This is how slow I am, folks. I've been glancing though the summaries of episodes several times, trying to figure out the timeline of events, and I just now realized that Caleb doesn't get introduced to the Scooby Gang for a long while so there would be no way Xander would hear 'creepy priest' and think 'Caleb'. My bad. I've gone back and fixed that. Sorries.
Even More Author's Notes: I'm starting to run out of ideas for Spander moments about which to write a poem. If there's any moments you want to see me write a poem about, please tell me in the comments. Thanks!
Warning: Unbetaed, so point out mistakes and I'll fix 'em

"""

Chapter 9: Even if it's a lie, say it will be all right and I shall believe...

Never Betray You

Your eyes burn into me, your
fingers paint bruises that ache
and feed the fire raging within.
Your breath suffocates me.

Alpha to the core, protecting
your chosen pack. Fierce,
dangerous, and gorgeous.
I'm putty in your hands.

Unwelcome interruption breaking
the moment that could have been.
Skin removed like apple peel,
nails dig deep and blade stings.

And all I can think of is the heat
of your hands, pushing me against
the wall, the pleasure of your body
against mine, pining me there.

Your face so near.
Can't breathe, can't think.
Can't resist for much longer.
Take me, save me, I'm yours.

"""

"Did Wills get her own house?" Jesse asked as he followed Xander's lead through the dark streets.

"Nah," Xander replied, "She's staying at Buffy's right now. It's cheaper than a dorm room and not too far away from campus."

"She's going to Sunnydale U?" At Xander's nod, Jesse whistled. "I can't believe it. With her test scores, I would've thought for sure that she'd get into Oxford or something."

Xander grinned. "She did get into Oxford, and M.I.T., and Yale, and Harvard, and pretty much every college with a name and a stamp, but she decided to stick close to home." Although, perhaps things would've been better if she'd gone to Oxford. She would've been free from the Sunnydale hellmouthyness and trying-to-end-the-world, but on the other hand she would have never met Tara.

"Something wrong?" Jesse asked, noticing the shadow that had fallen over Xander's face.

"Hm?" Xander responded as Jesse's words registered. "Oh. No, nothing wrong, I was just thinking."

Jesse wanted to know why the thought of Willow had made Xander unhappy, but decided to drop it for now. "Buffy? Wasn't that the new girl? Transfer from L.A.?"

Xander nodded, reminiscing. "Yep, that's her."

"It's cool you guys are still friends." Jesse said, "I thought she would've been more Cordette material, but looks can be deceiving." He hesitated over the next question, "How is Cordelia?"

"Cordy?" Xander repeated, surprised. He hadn't thought about Cordelia in ages, but then he remembered Jesse's crush on her. "I think she's doing okay. She moved to L.A. after graduation and has been doing pretty well over there."

During the rest of the short trip to Buffy's house, Jesse quizzed Xander on the fates of various classmates. Xander answered his questions as best as he could, feeling a little upset when he realized that although a few had lived though graduation, there were several pre-Buffy friends that had disappeared without notice over the years as casualties of Sunnydale's night life. He'd never really stopped to realize how many people he'd been friends with before Buffy's arrival, that he'd lost touch of. Arriving at Buffy's house, he used his spare key to open the door and step inside. He left the door open but didn't offer an invitation to Jesse, just in case.

The wreckage of the house made Xander freeze, and Jesse bumped into him. "Woah." Jesse said, looking around at the splintered wood and shattered glass scattered everywhere.

Xander spotted Dawn crouched in the corner and he ran over to her, kneeling by her side. "Dawnie, are you okay?" He noticed several small cuts on her face and hands. "Oh shit, you're bleeding." He glanced over his shoulder to Jesse. "There's a first-aid kit upstairs under the sink in the bathroom. First door on the left." Jesse nodded, and Xander returned his attention to Dawn.

She was shaking, holding her knees as she stared into space. "What happened, Dawn?" Xander asked, resting a hand on her shoulder. The contact broke the stupor she was in and she turned wide scared eyes on Xander. "I saw Mom," she whispered, and burst into tears. Xander held her and rocked her gently as she cried.

He heard somebody run inside the house and gasp at the destruction. Willow hurried into the living room and visibly relaxed a little when she saw Dawn and Xander were okay. She stepped carefully over the broken glass to crouch on the other side of Dawn. "I saw the door open and panicked. Where's Buffy?" she asked Xander softly.

"She's not here." was the muffled reply from Xander's tear-soaked shoulder.

"She saw Joyce." Xander told Willow, and she made a sympathetic sound, stroking Dawn's hair.

"Oh sweetie, I saw something tonight too, but I don't think it was them. I think tt was just the Big Bad that's coming, you know?" Xander frowned. Could being with Jesse again all have been a figment of his imagination?

"But, that's what she said." Dawn replied, "Mom, she said that things were coming, that things were on their way, and that she loves us. So, it had to be her, right? I mean, her warning was true."

Willow whook her head. "I don't know. I just don't think we can trust anything right now. Did you see anything weird tonight, Xander?"

"Funny you should ask that." Xander said, hearing footsteps coming down the stairs. Jesse came into the living room, first-aid kit in his hands.

"Found it." he said, handing the kit to Xander, who opened it and gently pulled Dawn away so that he could treat her cuts. "Hey Wills," he said, recognizing her. "Nice hair."

"Jesse?" Willow whispered, staring at him. "Can you guys see him too?"

Dawn nodded and Xander smiled sheepishly. "I kinda brought him back with me." His voice took on a child-like tone. "Whaddya say, Ma? Can I keep him? I promise to feed him and clean up after him."

"Can you touch him?" Willow asked Xander, who raised an eyebrow.

"As much as I support your orientation, that doesn't mean I'm going out touching guys I meet on the street."

Willow blushed a little. "That's not what I meant... It's just... mine was incorporeal. She could move inanimate objects, but my hand went right through hers."

"Nah, Jesse's solid." Xander said, unwrapping a antiseptic cloth and wiping the traces of blood away from Dawn's cuts. "And he's got body-heat and a heartbeat, didn't react to touching a cross, and he was able to enter without invitation."

Willow continued her critical evaluation of Jesse. "You're not some kind of shape-shifting demon, are you?"

Jesse gulped. "Shape-shifting demons? There are such things as shape-shifting demons?"

"We've had all kinds." Willow shrugged, still wary. "Tell me something that only you and I would know."

Jesse frowned, glancing between Xander and Willow. "You sure you want me to say it out-loud?"

"Yes."

Jesse shrugged, and said the secret he knew Willow would never tell in a million years on pains of torture. "You've had a crush on Xander for years."

"Everybody knows about that." Dawn snorted as Xander unwrapped and applied bandaids.

Jesse's jaw dropped as he gaped. "What? You finally got up the nerve to tell him?" Willow and Xander shared a glance as they remembered their 'fluke', which made Jesse wonder. "Then why aren't you two together?"

Xander's earlier remark about orientation clicked just as Willow said, "Long story. Tell me something else."

"You almost told him in fourth grade on Valentine's Day in a love letter that you took hours to make with construction paper and glitter and lace. The poem went something like, 'You're innocent yet kinda kinky, your breath is sweet and never stinky...'"

It was Xander's turn to color slightly as Dawn giggled. "I don't remember getting that card."

Jesse smirked. "That's because she chickened out. She was going to give it to you attached to a big box of expensive chocolates, but then she saw Harmony put a valentine in your shoebox and so she held on to the letter and that night we ate the candy together at my house while I listened to her gripe and pine over you for hours. It wasn't until the next day that she found out Harmony had mistaken your box for Larry's, but by then she'd lost the courage to confess."

Xander glanced at Willow, "Well? Is he or isn't he?"

"He's Jesse." Willow admitted, "Only Jesse would know that."

"That's all on the assumption that if this is a shape-shifting demon, it doesn't have access to dead people's memories." Dawn said, making Xander and Willow turn to look at her. "It could happen."

Willow nodded. "We don't really know anything about the coming evil for sure." She looked up at Jesse, "I'm sorry to say this, but we have to treat you evil-until-proven-innocent. There's an apocalypse on its way, and people coming back from the dead has not resulted in goodness before."

"That's an understatement." Xander muttered quietly, applying the last bandaid and cleaning up the wrappers. Tears began to well up in Dawn's eyes again as she remembered Buffy singing about Heaven and Spike warning her about the badness of bringing her mom back to life.

Jesse held up his hands in defense, "It's okay, Wills. I understand. Well, not really, but I trust you guys."

Willow smiled, "Thanks, Jesse." She turned to Xander. "Can you guys clean up a little? I'm going to put Dawn to bed."

"Sure thing." Xander said, and grabbed a broom, gloves, and a trash bag from the kitchen. With Jesse's help the downstairs was clean and devoid of broken furniture and appliances by the time Buffy got home.

"Xander! There you are. Do you know where Spike is?" Buffy walked into the house and took in the sight of Xander with a broom in her living room. "What happened? Where's the TV?"

"The television decided to commit suicide and join its radio brothers and toaster sisters in appliance heaven." Xander replied with a smile. "Badness struck and the TV needed to be slayed."

"Badness?" Buffy's expression went from confused to worried in 0.2 seconds. "Is Dawn okay?"

"She's fine." Willow said, coming downstairs to join them, "She just went to sleep. But we were both visited by not-so-nice Caspers. I saw Cassie and Dawn saw Joyce. Did you run into anybody?"

"Just a vampire who tried to psychoanalyze me." Buffy replied.

"Do you think he was a ghost too?"

"Dusted real enough," Buffy shrugged. "But he said he was sired by Spike. I think Spike might be killing people again."

"That's not our only problem." Willow said, and gestured to a figure in the living room behind Xander that Buffy hadn't noticed when she'd come in. "Buffy, you remember Jesse?"

"""

TBC...