Disclaimers: All the characters in this story belong to Joss Whedon.

Chapter 14: Stabbed

Everyone was talking about it. The cordettes all distance themselves from Drusilla for the day but by the end of it they were talking to her. Angel had come into school looking like a walking bruise. A lot of people asking him what happened and he said "It's obivous what happened," got in a mood and walked off. He should of stopped it before it had chance to begin but he wasn't man enough. Spike, on the other hand had cheered up a tiny bit. It gave him great amusement to see the other jocks shunning him, well all of them except Riley. He never really liked farm boy much. But the tiny bit of happyness disappeared every time he saw them together. Spike fought the urge to go and teach him another lesson but he couldn't. He was in school, which meant he couldn't step out of line once more or he would be out that door faster than you could say abracadabra.Every second he had chance he stayed in the library, with his dad. Giles asked him if he was ok a hell of a lot which annoyed him. And last but not least Buffy turned up without her glasses, which shocked her friends alot. Cordelia made fun of her saying that she would never fit in. The blonde just ignored her.

Giles had decided to lift Spike's grounded status and to his surprise the bad boy teen decided to tag along on patrol. Buffy was getting restless feet again, sitting on the grass. Giles was reading from a text book and Spike was lying on top of a tomb. Unbeknown to any of them, the vampire that attacked Buffy, Jonus was watching them in the distance. The master had ordered that he find out as much as he could about this new slayer. Who her friends were, what her fighting was like etc. He knew that with her being new to the mix that once he got his wrinkly hands on her that it wouldn't be so hard to kill her. So Jonus just sat back and watched the trio. Spike had gotten so bored that he begun to play I spy.

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with...T,"

"Tree," Buffy answered

"Nope, try again love," he smirked

Buffy groaned inwardly at him. She didnt see much of him at school, just in english really and even then he hardly said two words to her and when he did he was still being a bit funny with her. Giles was constantly rolling his eyes at them. They were suppose to be concentrating on looking for vampires to dust, not playing some stupid children's game.

"Will you two stop and please focus!" he expressed his annoyance to them.

"Giles, there is no vamps to be seen, keep your hair on...Tomb,"

"Yeah dad she is right and it's not often I agree with her, ok you beat me this time...your turn," Spike pointed out to his dad, which was rewarded with a groan

"Ok, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with...Vampire," she said as she spotted a Michael Jackson wannabe vampire heading towards him and she stood up off the ground and Spike looked at her perplexed.

"Uh Buffy, you're not meant to say the answer,"

Buffy had turned to him and scowled.

"Shut up Spike!" she exclaimed as she went off to fight the vampire.

Jonus watched in the distance as the slayer and vampire threw nurmerous kicks and punches. He was impressed with her fighting skills, but she was still new. She took out her stake and plunged it deep into his heart. Buffy turned around to face them, smile on her face.

The Master and Lucas were in the hell mouth when Jonus appeared with a semi-smile on his face. The master looked at him quizzically.

"How was it?"

"She is good Master, better than any other slayer I have ever seen but she is still new...If I were you-" Jonus was interrupted by the eldest vampire.

"You are not me...you never will be,carry on," he insisted

"Master might I suggest we act now while she is at her most vunerable," Jonus put forward to his leader.

The Master pondered over this for a few minutes. A sinister smile spread across his lips.

"I will send The Three,"

Both vampires eyes grew wide and chuckled along with The Master.

Three tough guys were lighting up cigarettes The Three came come around a corner at a steady, deliberate pace. The men saw them coming and left. A cockroach was being chased along the floor of the bronze. It was the annual fumigation of the bronze to rid the club of the crockroaches and if you got one you got a free drink.

"Get it! Go get it, right there!" a boy shouted

"I got it!" the girl next to him shouted back at him.

She held the roach up to the bartender and dropped it into his jar.

"Free drink, please," she stated

The bartender nodded his head and went to get the drink.

"Ah, the fumigation party," Willow said

Buffy and Willow were sitting at a table.

"Hmm?"

"It's an annual tradition. The closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches? Please don't tell me you forgot about the last time," Buffy wasn't paying attention to her friend. She was scanning the crowd for Spike.

"Oh," came her absent minded reply

"It's a lot of fun... What's it like where you are?"

"(looks up and smiles) I'm... sorry, I was just... thinking about things..."

"So, we're talking about a guy?"

"Not exactly a guy. For us to have a conversation about a guy, there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about. Is that a sentence?" Buffy's voice sounded very confused and she raised her brows slightly.

Willow smiled at her.

"You lack a guy,"

"I do. Which is fine with me, but..." she trailed off.

The red-head's eyes were popping out of her eye sockets. Buffy has a crush!!! but who?

"You've got a crush on someone, haven't you?so what is he like?" Willow narrowed her eyes and asked Buffy curiously about this guy. Buffy went into a dream-like state.

"When he is around... it's like the lights dim everywhere else. You know how it's like that with some guys?"

"Oh yeah!" Willow exclaimed. She was looking at Oz. The boy of her dreams and he looked back at her, smiled and waved. She nervously smiled back and waved lamely. Xander was on the dance floor, making a fool of himself. He danced up to a girl.

"Hey, Annie! (sees her boyfriend) Dino, just leaving!" he said nervously skitting his eyes around. As he backed away he bumped into Cordelia.

"Ouch! Please get your extreme oafishness off my two-hundred- dollar shoes, you moron!" She stated with annoyance.

"I'm sorry, I was just..."

"...getting off the dance floor before Annie Vega's boyfriend squashes you like a bug?" she filled in

"Oh, so you noticed," Xander hung his head, sheepishly.

"Uh-huh,"

"Yeah, thanks for being so understanding,"

"Sure,"

"Y'know, hey, I don't know what everyone's talking about. That outfit doesn't make you look like a hooker!"

He left the dance floor, laughing and leaving Cordelia looking herself over and she was frowning. He headed to his friends.

"Boy, that Cordelia is a regular breath of vile air. What are you vixens up to?" Xander inquired.

"Just sitting here, watching our barren lives pass us by. (sees a roach) Oh, look, a cockroach. (stomps it)"

Buffy lifted her eyes to see and then turned them back down.

"Whoa, well, let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun! I'm dizzy!" he said as he flopped down next to Willow.

" Alright, now I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me. I'm gonna call it a night,"

Buffy got up to leave and they both looked disappointed.

"Oh, don't go!"

"Uh, yeah! It's early! We could, um, dance!" he said, pointing to the dance floor.

"Rain check? Good night,"

Buffy left them alone. Xander let out a breath. Willow held her shoe up to him.

"Want a free drink?"

Buffy made her way out of the Bronze looking bummed. She passed the stairs. Spike was watching her go.

Buffy was walking home. She sensed something and stopped to look behind her. Nothing. She continued and walked past an alley. She heard a breath and stopped.

"It's late, I'm tired, and I don't wanna play games. Show yourself,"

One of the Three roared and dropped down to the sidewalk behind her. She reached into her coat, pulled out a stake and quickly spinned around to stake the vampire. Another of the Three grabbed her arm as she swung.

"Wuh!" she exclaimed, surprised.

The third member came up on her other side and grabbed her other arm.

"Ooo! Okay, okay, nice..."

They pulled her into the alley and up against a fence. The first one approached her

. "Okay, okay... Look, I really don't wanna fight all three of you... unless I have to," Buffy stated as she began to fight them. She snap kicked him in the crotch, elbowed the third, and tried to punch the second. He blocked her swing and thrusted his knee into her gut, slamming her into the fence. The other two recover and grabbed her again. The second one slowly approached her with death in his eyes. Buffy was terrified and struggled to get away. In the alley. The vampire came up to Buffy, grabbed her head and moved in to bite. Spike came up behind him, grabbed him by the hair and pulled him off of her.

"Good dogs don't... (punches the vampire) ...bite!"

Buffy was surprised, but quickly regained her head. Using the support of the two vampires holding onto her arms, she kicked up with both feet and hit them both in the face with a straddle kick. One of them grabbed her again and held her against the fence. Spike continued to fight the other two, punching one and snap kicking the second. One of them pulled a knife out of his pocket.

"Look out!" Buffy screamed as the vampire made his way towards the bleach blonde.

Spike turned around, only to be stabbed in the shoulder with the knife. Buffy shoved an open palm into her assailant's chin, pushing him off of her, punched him once in the gut and then slammed both fists into his head. Spike was bent over in pain and was about to be stabbed again. Buffy quickly side kicked his attacker in the face, and he fell back away from Spike. She helped Spike up.

"Run!" They came running out of the alley. The Three got up and gave chase.

Buffy's street. She and Spike Jumped over the bushes in front of her house and ran onto the porch. The Three were hot on their trail. Spike was clutching his shoulder and grimacing in pain. Buffy got the front door open.

"Get in! C'mon!"

She rushed him and herself inside. Spike was right behind her. Buffy slammed the door on one of the vampire's hands. He struggled for a moment, but pulled his hand back out. She slammed the door and locked it. One of the three looked through the glass and another looked through the window. Spike was panting hard and struggling a bit to breath.

"It's alright. A vampire can't come in unless it's invited," he stated, breathlessly.

"I've heard that before, but I've never put it to the test,you okay?" she replied. Buffy leaned on the door and saw his hand was covered in blood as he removed it. Her green eyes ran over him in concern.

"Oh... I'll go get some bandages, just... take your jacket and your shirt off,"

She headed into the kitchen. He looked out the window one last time and followed her. He took off his jacket and his T-shirt. His eyes widen as he noticed the hole in his leather duster.

"The grimy weasels! They ruined my duster! When I get my bloody hands on them..." He exhaled and frowned.

Buffy looked at him from behind and saw that luckily for Spike the knife hadn't gone all the way through to his back. She brought over the first aid kit, frowning at his comment. Was he crazy? He was stabbed and all he was worried about was his precious coat!

"You could have been killed tonight and all you're concerned with is your coat? (exhales) I was lucky you came along. (looks up at him) How did you happen to come along?" she questioned him as she bandaged him up.

"I was just out walking," he said with a shrug and then gritted his teeth as the pain shot through his shoulder.

"So, you weren't following me?" Spike smiled at her and scoffed.

"Now why would I do that?"

"You tell me,You always seem to appear out of nowhere,I'm not saying I'm not happy about it tonight, but... if you are hanging around I'd like to know why,"

Buffy raised her brow at him and finished bandaging him off. He was in a pickle. Truth be known he was on his own at the bronze and he saw her at the table with her friends. She looked pretty tonight but he soon pushed those thoughts away when he saw Dru and Angel again. Finally he got fed up and was on his way home.

"I was at the bronze, saw them so decided to go home and the rest you already know," he explained and smiled softly. He watched her for a while as her fingers played with the edge of the bandage. Spike took his hand and gently placed it over hers, causing her, for the first time to look him straight in the eyes. He was taken aback with how much concern that was showing in her eyes. Relief. Anger. Worry. They were all swirlling around in her green orbs and he found himself lost in them. Buffy heard the door open and quickly went to intercept her mom. Spike was secretly disappointed that she pulled away from his gase. Buffy was also still worried about The Three. She pulled her mom inside and closed the door. Buffy looked flustered.

"Hi! What are you doing?" Joyce eyed her daughter suspiously.

"There's a lot of weird people outside at night...where's Dawn?"

"Oh she is staying at Janice's,"

Joyce started towards the kitchen and Buffy follow her, hot on her heels.

"...I just feel better with you safe and sound inside. You must be beat," Buffy tried not to sound like she had done something but it failed.

"I am. We're a little gallery. You have no idea how much...," the blonde interruped her mother.

"Well, then why don't you go upstairs and get into bed, and I can bring you some hot tea?" she suggested.

"That's sweet! (suspiciously) What'd you do?" Joyce's eyes narrowed on her again and Buffy had crossed her arms over her chest.

"Can't a daughter just be concerned about her mother?"

Spike came into the living room behind Buffy, t-shirt now back on. Joyce saw him and smiled. She noticed his shirt was ripped.

"Hi William, what happened to you?" voice covered with concern.

"Oh Hi Mrs Summers...um-," Spike started but Buffy jumped in.

"He was mugged! yeah...uh after his coat, cut him, but nothing really to worry about, right?" she elbowed him lightly, out of sight of her mother and he jerked.

"Yeah that's right,"

Joyce gasped. Hand covered her mouth as she looked him over.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, thanks, Buffy patched me up good and proper," Spike smiled and Joyce smiled back.

"Well I'm off to bed, and Buffy?" she said as she started up the stairs.

The teen rolled her eyes and groaned a little bit.

"I'll say good night and do the same!" she finished off.

Joyce looked back down at her daughter and nodded.

"Good night,"

"Night mom,"

"Night Mrs Summers,"

The teens made their way back into the kitchen. Spike's eyes were firmly focussed on her. He noticed the time. It was late and he would have to get back before his dad took another fit like the other night. He sighed deeply.

"Look, I don't want to get you into any trouble so I'll make my way home,"

Buffy glared at him.

"No you won't! (Spike frowns) I don't wanna get you dead, your dad would have my guts for garters, plus they could still be out there...hey I'll call Giles and tell him to come and get you, how does that sound? ...uh we could even have some hot chocolate while we wait?" she suggested, brows raised, smiling slightly but coyly. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine, go call my dad and get his pouncy, tweed self to pick me up (pauses) do you have those lil' marshmellows?" She giggled and threw the pack of mini marshmellows at him.

Hey guys what do you think? Thanks for the reviews o far keep it up! What is your favourite bit of this chapter? Please tell me in your review so i know what works and what doesnt (sorry for spelling mistakes in the last chapter!)