Chapter 14: Get Busy Living

Las Vegas…

A girl in the empty streets of Las Vegas ran as fast as her little legs could go, but being human and being in the dark gave her a disadvantage. Three vampires ran behind the girl, acting like she was there next meal but in fact they weren't planning on killing her at all, they just wanted her heart to keep racing and get her tired her out.

Once the girl got to the end of the street she turned a sharp corner and came in contact with a man's chest. The man grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her. The girl looked up and saw Angelus looking at her with fake worried eyes.

"Are you alright?" Angelus asked, sounding much like he had a soul at the moment.

The girl in his arms was breathing heavily from her chase. She looked behind her to see that the two demons were gone.

"There…there was someone…someone chasing me." She said while panting.

Angelus pretended to look confused and then looked behind her shoulder and then back at her, "Well whoever it was are gone now."

The girl turned around and tried to look into the dark corners to see if the attackers were hiding, getting ready to pop out at her. As she kept looking around Angelus from behind her began to smirk. As the young woman turned around to face him his smirk instantly went away and was replaced with a worried look again.

"What are you doing out late at night anyway…it's not safe." Angelus said in a tender voice.

"I—I'm on vacation…I just got here when all of this happened…" the girl explained.

"I see…what's your name?" Angelus asked.

"Jessica…" she asked.

"I'm Angel…" Angelus gave his other 'good name'. He knew that 'Angel' seemed more appropriate to use so she would start to trust him, maybe take it as a sign that he was her angel.

"Angel?" Jessica breathed out.

"I help people…" Angelus said with a little smile.

Jessica looked relieved, "You're a cop?"

"Nah..." Angelus shook his head but continued to play his charming attitude, "Just a random guy, helping the helpless…it's what I do."

The smiled up at him, "Well how can you help me?"

Angelus's smile grew a little bit more.

Across town few members of Angelus's staff were gathered outside the main entrance of The Crypt Casino talking business and strategy. They all stopped talking and looked up when they saw a big black limo pull up to the curb in front of the casino.

A vampire driver came out and went to open the door for the backseat passengers. After a moment two regular looking guys in classy clothes exited the limo. They looked around at their surroundings as if they never seen Vegas before. A member of Angelus's staff walked up to the two guys.

"We've been waiting for you." Angelus's employee said to the two.

"Well we're here now. So…shall we see Angelus?" one of the men asked.

"He's out for the moment." The employee said.

"Really?" the guy asked, "Where is he?"

"Doing what he does best…" the employee smiled.

In the distance the scream of the woman named Jessica could be heard. All the demons and vampires that were surrounding the entrance of the casino looked towards the sound of the scream and smiled.

Angelus's staff member turned back to the two classy gentlemen and continued to show his evil smile, "….he's just helping the helpless."

Sunnydale….

Buffy sat on the edge on the bed in the same room she smashed her fists through the mirror. She was staring down at the floor, making her hair fall in her face. She really didn't know what happened to herself a couple of minutes ago; she didn't know what made her instantly snap inside.

Spike walked into the bedroom from the hallway carrying some bandages and medicine for Buffy's hands.

"You're a lucky girl…found some bandages in the bathroom…" Spike said as he walked towards Buffy and kneeled down so he could tend to her hands.

Spike took both her hands and looked at them for a moment until he looked up and met Buffy's eyes. He seemed like he wanted to say something to her but he could find the words, he just looked back down and started to grab some bandages for her hands.

Buffy raised her head a little, making her hair fall away from her face.

"How'd you find me?" Buffy asked softly.

Spike didn't look up at her, "I have my ways…"

There was a moment of silence between them. Outside they could hear the crickets of the night chirping.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Buffy asked, breaking the silence. Spike look up at her. "Why don't you…go?"

"I got no place else to go…." Spike said softly, "Besides…a friend of mine is in trouble…she needs help…" Spike pointed out.

Buffy looked down, knowing what he was talking about her.

"I'm a worthless cause…" Buffy got up off from the bed and walked to a different spot in the room.

Spike stood up, "Buffy—"

"I am!" Buffy turned around and had tears in her eyes, "There is no one left to live for here…my sister…my friends….their all gone…" she said the words as if they were breaking news to her.

"I know…" Spike whispered and looked away.

"I feel like I don't even know myself…" Buffy said.

"I know the feeling…" Spike said.

"How! How could you possibly know!" Buffy shouted.

"You think you're the only one that lost something! Those friends…your sister, they were close to me too…hate to admit, but they were." Spike said, "I traveled for almost a century around this bloody awful world and I found nothing compared to what I had back here…with you…with those Scooby pals of yours…"

Buffy was surprised that Spike was actually say these words, 'I thought…I thought he hated my friends' she thought to herself.

"The best years of my undead life…" Spike shook his head and then looked back at Buffy, "You think I didn't want to walk out in the sun, drink some holy water, or running into a stake over the years? I can't even count the times I wanted to…but you know what kept me running…what made me make it to tomorrow?"

Buffy stood silent, waiting for the answer.

" 'Be brave…live…for me.' " Spike stated.

Buffy exhaled the breath she was holding. He just threw the words she said to Dawn the night she sacrificed herself right back at her. She thought it was unbelievable that Spike still remembered ever word even though she never said it to him.

"I know you probably weren't applying those words directly to me…but I told them to heart…I pretended they were from you to me." Spike said honestly.

Buffy had tears in her eyes as he walked forward to her. She stared at him as he raised one of his hands to brush her tears away.

"I know you hate me saying it but…I love you…and I will not lose you again." Spike whispered, "You asked for help…so…I'm going to help."

"And what if I'm beyond helping…will you give up?" Buffy whispered.

"Would be easier to do that huh? However…once I get started on something…I never stop." Spike said softly. Buffy knew it was true; Spike wasn't one to give in easily.

"So…what now?" she asked.

"We start from the beginning..." Spike said.

It was about an hour later that Buffy and Spike walked through the old broken down Magic Box and into the backroom. Buffy looked around at the room that was once her training room to see it wasn't totally destroyed, some of the equipment looked useable.

Buffy turned to Spike with questionable eyes.

"I fixed it up a little." Spike shrugged.

Buffy looked back around at the room for a second time and examined more.

"So…" Spike started, Buffy looked at him, "Shall we get started?"

Buffy thought for a moment that this whole situation wasn't such a good idea and just wouldn't work. However, Buffy knew that there was no other way; it was either get busy living or get busy dying.

"Let's get to work." Buffy said to Spike.

TBC…