Disclaimer: all characters are owned by Joss Whedon

A/N: here's the latest chapter I apologize for a lack of Buffy/Angel but this is were I wanted to go/ I promise to deliver on the Angel romance though.

Guns and Poetry

The smell of smoke and alcohol choked up the room as Dawn woke up. She sat up in bed and coughed, this had to stop she was fed up with doing what ever she wanted just because she could. As she got out of bed Spike didn't even budge. Dawn traipsed around the room throwing away every bottle of booze she could find and threw away every cigarette in the place. She rummaged through Spikes pockets and coat getting rid of all his tobacco. Dawn went into her bathroom and got ready for her Latin class. Looked at her closet and frowned. Who could she possibly thought that wearing all that leather was cool. She threw on a white blouse and black pants grabbed her leather jacket and headed out the door. Dawn walked into her classroom and turned on the lights. She liked the classes they had been provided. Her class room would seat thirty people and was arranged in levels. There were three rows of desks all with computer hookups and microphones. The room was ideal for teaching language.

Dawn sat her jacket down on her desk and booted up her computer. She had just finished bringing up her slide when her students came filling in.

"Jeez Miss Summers did you and Spike break up or something." Came the voice of a student.

"No we did not breakup I just woke up this morning and realized that there is more to life than menial pleasure." Dawn said pulling up her first slide. "Know since Jessica here was kind enough to recognize my change in demeanor then perhaps she can tell us what the symbol on the board represents." The class fell silent and all yes went to Jessica.

"Um isn't that the Greek symbol Alpha." Jessica said biting at the end of her pen.

"That's correct now everyone why would I write a Greek symbol on the board, specifically this symbol?" Dawn said pacing in front of her class. A hand popped up from the front row. "Yes Monica." Dawn said pointing to the girl.

"Alpha stands for the beginning, which correlates with the first letter of the Latin alphabet eI which also means the beginning." She said lowering her hand.

"Very good, now can any of you tell me why these two languages are so similar?" Dawn asked leaning against her desk.

"Because both the Greeks and the early Italians understood that the first letter of the alphabet represented the beginning of rational thought." Jessica said without raising her hand.

"Ok that's good not were I was going but still good. Ok now saying the word Nero under one context meant the letter or the beginning of the alphabet however saying the word in another context could mean the beginning of time or the beginning of the month." Dawn said motioning to her next slide. "What I want you all to understand is that Latin is more than symbols to be translated. You all need to understand context of the language and all of its nuances to be able to properly translate a text simply knowing the alternate forms of the word eI could distinguish between translating text as saying a demons name or decoding the cycle of a ritual." Dawn turned off her screen and turned to the class. Now I want you all to write six hundred words on the importance of lingual sub context and the alternate meanings of eI."

All of her students picked up their things and began filing out of class. A commotion arose at the door as the girls tried to avoid a brooding Spike.

"Hey babe, you seem pissed about something." Dawn said trying to prod him into an argument.

"Yeah well I was until I saw you in that get-up. You make a hot teacher you know that Bit." Spike said walking into the classroom.

"Yes well I got over the whole Billy Idol look. You do know that you aren't a bad boy vampire anymore don't you." Dawn said setting out the material for her Symarian class.

"Yeah I do and hooking up with you was probably the best thing I've done since I was forgiven." Spike said taking off his leather coat. "I just don't know how to act anymore. I keep pushing the boundaries because I'm afraid of getting comfortable."

"You know I called the keeper of your estate the other day." Dawn said resting her arms against her desk.

"Really is that why you're sticking around. You hoping to get some of my mum's money." Spike said with a smile.

"Not at all babe, but apparently your mom didn't die when you thought she did." Dawn said waiting for the news to sink in. "She organized a coven in London but that's not important the important thing is that she married a man working for the government who knew that she was a vampire. I think she was trying to get a foot hold in some serious contacts to keep heat off of her coven. She was killed though slayed by her husband. So her husband was left in charge of her estate and he recently passed away leaving everything to you."

"Who did he know I was still alive?" Spike said his head spinning.

"His granddaughter told me that he had spent most of his life tracking you down until a couple of years ago a friend of his in the Presidium told him that you had allied with the slayer. He decided that because you reconciled yourself that you deserved to inherit what should have been yours anyway." Dawn said picking up her purse from the desk. "At any rate I thought that this was the perfect opportunity for you start over."

"You're the best Bit." Spike said throwing an arm around Dawn's shoulders. "I think it's about time I bought some respectable cloths." Spike said picking at his T-shirt.

The two of them walked out of the building and spent their lunch period about town.

Two hours later Jessica entered her poetry class thoroughly anticipating the intellectual break that Spikes classes offered. She needed it after spending a double period in Oz's class. Oz had set up the week to combine with Willows mythological biology class. It was bad enough having the two of them back to back anyway but sitting through a double period with both of them teaching was torture. Jessica sat down at her desk on the front row and looked up at the dry-erase board. At first she thought that the headmaster had come to inspect her class but when the man up front turned around she nearly screamed.

"Mister Spike is that you?" She said looking at the thin man. His hair had been slicked back and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses were sitting precariously on his nose. He wore a gray tailored suit with gold pinstripes that made him look even thinner than he was.

"Please call me William." He said pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping off his glasses.

"Does this have anything to do with Miss Summers change this morning?" She said getting out her textbook.

"Yes Jessica it has everything to do with this morning." Spike said pulling an ancient book out of his bag. "Here read this and tell me what you think." He said handing her the book.

"Lyrics of Love by William Hurly." She said reading the cover. She opened the book and began to read.

"I opened the day with song

As I walked through a garden green

Nothing I see is wrong

For my life with you is clean

I cannot get the thought of you from my mind

For every thought in my head is yours not mine."

"Wow Mister S, that was pretty good." Jessica said handing him back the book.

"Thank you the girl I was courting at the time thought it was dribble." Spike said placing the book on his desk. "I may not have had the perfect touch for poetry but there were no real models to base myself off of at the time. My contemporaries are now immortalized in book and thought while my book has not been published for nearly a century."

"That sucks Mister Hurly." Jessica said copying down the homework assignment on the bored as the room slowly filled with students.

"That's all right but please don't call me Mister Hurly." Spike said picking up Jessica's copy of the text. He opened to a page and set the text back down.

"We're going over Beowulf?" The girl asked quizzically.

"Yes we are. Tomorrow Miss Summers is going to come by and give you all a quick lesson on the Welsh language." He said returning to his desk to find his copy of the book.

There were hushed tones across the room over his appearance. Slowly they all settled down had pulled out their textbooks.

"Today I would like to cover poetry and its basis in literature. Can anyone tell me where Beowulf was written?" He asked the class.

"It was written by monks in the mountains of Wales." Jessica said.

"Very good, now perhaps someone else can tell me where the book is supposed to take place?" He asked again. A girl on the third row raised her hand. "Yes and your name is?"

"Melanie, Beowulf is set in Denmark right?" She replied.

"Well kind of." Jessica said. "The beginning where Beowulf fights Grendel is set in Denmark because the book says that Hrothgar was the king of the Danes. But the translation of where Beowulf was king is kind of hazy." She said looking up at Spike for confirmation.

"There's more than just the stuff with Grendel?" Melanie said astonished. "Back at my old school my teacher didn't teach us anything other than that."

"Yes well that is what Hollywood has been able to market so therefore it is the only aspect most people read. However without reading the text in its entirety it's impossible to understand the time period and the way of life. You see Beowulf is considered the first piece of recorded history after the fall of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the empire people didn't think it was necessary to record anything on paper so they would tie their history in with legend an tell it across the land from village to village and from grandfather to grandson. These stories were told either in song or in verse hence the birth of poetry, and consequently the birth of literature. Now there is rumor that the works of Homer were written in this same time period. There is no concrete evidence but it would make sense. All Greek history up until its involvement in the Bible and its cross into Egyptian history was oral. Now imagine that a crier is standing on a street corner telling of the history o f the Trojan War and a monk happens to leaning out side his window for some fresh air and over heard the crier speaking. Now it would make sense that he would want to transcribe this story into text right?" Spike said as several girls nodded their heads. "That is what many historians believe. After all in the days of Troy the language spoken was very different than the language spoken in Greece even seven hundred years ago. No one speaks archaic Greek anymore so how could the book have been popular unless transcribed by a man of the church or translated." Spike picked up his book and looked at the pages before him. "All right tomorrow I will have copies of the full text of Beowulf for you they will be bilingual which means that you will be able to read line by line the original Welsh. Have a good day." He stated picking up his copy of the text and walking from the room.

As night fell on the city a group of slayers were preparing of patrol. Spike walked into the room and noticed that the group was no bigger than six. He saw Buffy and approached her.

"Are you sure I'm needed here." He said indicating the group before him looks like your not taking many out anyway.

"Yes I want you here cause if I get killed Dawn would kill you and if any of these girls died she would kill you. That and I don't want Angel here and James insisted that someone with experience accompany us." She said strapping Kevlar gun belts to her thighs.

"Ah, just when we all thought you two were patching things up." Spike kidded slipping on a Kevlar tactical jacket.

Buffy put a hand on his arm and he stopped moving. "Are you ok with all of this?" She asked looking away from him.

"Are you kidding I'm so thrilled you haven't killed me for sleeping with your sister that I could care less what you and watcher boy do." He said with his usual mischievous grin.

"I haven't killed you because it would break Dawn's heart." Buffy said giving him a stare that made the hair on his back stand up. He stammered to come up with something to say but stopped when Buffy burst into laughter.

"Oh go sod off you winch. You're about the only thing I'm frightened of in this world. You, Dawn and God." He said strapping an army issue knife to his right thigh.

"Don't worry I wont kill you." Buffy said holstering her duel hand guns.

Spike strapped a Beretta to his left thigh and looked at the six other Slayers standing in the prep room that separated the armory from the gym. He was dressed like all of the slayers who were equipped with a Beretta a knife and tactical gear. They each wore light yellow tinged Oakley's to eliminate glare and wore Kevlar gloves to prevent fraction burns from there handguns. Spike didn't need the glasses but he didn't need the reading glasses he had worn that afternoon either. From Spikes perspective they all looked like they were part of a military strike force. He checked the magazines in the flack vest to make sure they were all fully loaded. He pulled one of the bullets out and cringed. There was one thing he hated about being a day walker and that was that the sun still hurt like hell. He could walk around in the light if he wanted to but he had to make sure he hadn't just eaten or else he would hurl. James had explained that solar energy eats away at sin and because vampires were living embodiments of sin that the sun would literally consume them. You had to be forgiven by god to walk in the light and even then you had to be sure you had forgiven yourself for your sins or you could end up with third degree burns. Spike grabbed a walkie-talkie off the wall and motioned for the group to follow him. They took the back entrance out of the building so they could escape detection. Once they were out side pike corralled them all in a pack.

"Ok you are all going to need to wear badges when you go out on patrol. Now some of you will be given individual badges and id numbers to identify you to the local police. For know you are all just junior slayers so you will have no form of id. The only way the police can identify you is if you stay with Buffy and I. Right now we are going to split up into groups of four Buffy will take three slayers and I will take three. The idea of this exercise is to learn to work not only as a team but to better familiarize yourself with your role as a slayer." Spike took a silver colored badge from his pocket and affixed it to the left breast of his jacket. "Now I'll take Jessica, Monica and you." He said pointing to a red head.

"Names Jenny." The girl said.

"Ok so the three of you on me the rest of you go with Buffy." Spike said falling out down the ally. He crossed a side street and moved through another ally headed north while Buffy and her team headed south. After an hour they hadn't seen much action at all and Spike was starting to get testy.

"All right pansies lets make one last round before heading back." Spike said holstering his weapon.

They walked down a deserted alleyway that lead to an after hours club. Halfway down the alley a shadow had cast over them. They all stopped and looked about to find the perp responsible. The girls all drew their guns and backed up till they bumped into each other. Spike drew his own weapon and sniffed at the air.

"It's a vampire, at lest a hundred years old." He said scanning the roof tops.

"How can you tell?" Monica asked looking at him wearily.

"Half-breeds can't control dark magic until about then. It takes a lot of blood for a half breed to become demonic enough to harness that kind of power." Spike said holding his weapon with both hands.

"You're over a hundred aren't you? Why don't you just use dark magic to find him?" Jenny said trying to focus her eyes on the rooftop that Spike was focusing on.

"For one thing I didn't like to feed. I only feed when I had to." He said trying to get a bead on the vamp.

"But I thought they used to call you Bloody William." Jessica said looking at her teacher.

"Yes they did, I had the highest body count of any vampire. I was only second to Angelus and Vlad Dracul himself." Spike said he shivered at the thought of all those bodies. "But that doesn't mean that I drank all of them. I enjoyed killing people much more than I did feeding the thirst." He said finally holstering his weapon. "And besides if I tried to use the dark power I would be corrupted totally and be damned to hell again." Spike stated relaxing his posture. "This guys is just playing with us he knows he can't kill me. I can taste his fear; he wants to hurt all three of you he's just afraid of what I would do to him." Spike laughed maniacally. He laughed so hard he had to clutch his stomach. As he laughed the lighting in the alley returned to normal.

"What happened?" Jenny asked looking up at the roof tops.

"He ran away." Jessica said looking over at Spike. He was still rubbing his stomach even though he had stopped laughing. "You frightened him."

"I'm a frightening man luv." Spike said unclipping his walkie-talkie. "This is Spike how goes the hunt?" Spike said into the radio.

"We didn't see a thing. How about you guys?" Came Buffy's voice.

"We scared some of the local vamps but no kills." He said looking down the alley.

"Sorry to hear, I don't like this. There is no reason that the streets should be clean in a city this size." Buffy said her worry coming through in her voice.

"Well this is a hellmouth who knows what kind of evil is lurking around." He said motioning his slayers to move down the alley. "Meet back in ten minutes. Over." He said clicking off the radio. "Radio silence from here on got it girls." They all nodded their heads.

Spike lead them down the alley until they reached a bend that lead to the streets. A shadowy figure was peaking out its head to see down the street. Spike raised his hand and motioned for them to stop. He walked up to the figure slowly and grabbed it around the neck and mouth. Spike jerked back and slammed the man into a wall. The man was wearing a long tattered cloak and had small scar on his face. Spike pulled out his gun and pressed the end of the barrel against the mans head.

"Hey hold on man don't shoot." He held up his hands. "I'm a cop man you don't want that kind of heat on you."

"I know you're a cop." Spike said placing his gun back in its holster. "You didn't work on that cover very well. I could smell your cologne halfway down the block."

"Shit you scared me to death you know that." The man said taking off the cloak. He stood about five foot ten and had dark skin. "So you supposed be some sort of homeland security agents or something."

"Something like that." Spike said pulling a leather wallet out of his back pocket. When he flipped open the ID wallet the officer gasped.

"We were just briefed about you guys this morning. You're some sort of British Special-Ops unit right." He said looking closer at the badge.

"You could say that I suppose." Spike said pocketing the wallet. "We're out on a practice run tonight letting the girls get a feel for the city."

"Good idea." The officer said. "My name is Detective Reins. You wouldn't mind telling me why you guys are here would you?"

"You really don't want to know." Spike said patting the detective on the shoulder. "Names William, if you really want to learn about us come by sometime and speak with the director I'm sure he and the deputy director would love to give you a tour of our instillation." Spike pulled out one of his business cards and handed it to the man.

Spike turned around and lead his girls down the alley. Detective Reins looked and the card and furrowed his brow. The card read-

Prof. William Hurly

English Department.

Watchers Council

1100 Cherry Avenue

Cleveland

Reins leaned against the side of the building and laughed this had certainly been one hell of a day.