Merry Christmas! Hope you guys enjoy chapter 5 part 1! This part was originally 14 pages, but after editing, it's now over 16 - go figure.

Bit more of Aisling's past is revealed here. Bit more of Prague.

Warning: Implied broken bones, mentioned torture and blood. And SPOILER! A technical child being killed is mentioned in passing)

Disclaimer: I don't own.


"Close your eyes, Sweet," Spike yelled out to her. Aisling covered her eyes with her hands, she could hear the sounds of growling and fighting. The sounds of fists hitting flesh, and glass breaking. Bodies hitting the concrete walls so hard the room shook.

And then…

Then there was a moment of silence and Aisling was tempted to open her eyes before…

Crack!

The woman screamed, and Aisling flinched back terrified, she backed away until her back was against the wall. She heard more cracks and more screams and then just the pained moaning of The Woman.

Then there was the sound of a body hitting the floor and footsteps coming toward her.

A year stuck in this place made her very good at telling the difference between Spike's footprints and… Her's. She reached her arms out toward Spike.

"Bit." She heard Spike say to her and felt a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to carry you out. Ok?'

Aisling nodded and started opening her eyes but before she could Spike's cool hand was covering them

"No, keep 'em closed. I'll tell you when to open them alright?"

"Ok," Aisling said. "Where are we going?"

"Out," Spike said.

"We're leaving?" Aisling said unable to keep the wonder out of her voice. "Where? Home?"

"Somewhere safe," Spike said. "She'll be out for the count for several hours. Possibly days. Long enough for us to get you somewhere safe. Ok?"

"Ok," Aisling said. "Can we get my box?"

Spike sighed, "I'll get it. After I get you in the car alright?"

Aisling nodded and held out her arms and Spike lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his torso and she buried her head in the crook of his neck, arms wrapped tightly around him.

"You won't leave me, will you?" She said, for the first time since Aisling had been there, the woman sounded almost scared.

She could feel Spike turn his head. He didn't move for a long while and then he walked away with her in his arms.


Aisling, along with Willow and Xander, watched as Buffy walked out of the school, speaking with a girl who had short black hair. "We can work on the banners at lunch tomorrow, and figure out refreshments then?" Buffy told her.

"Yeah, Sure whatever." The girl said as a car honked. Sheila walked away shouting after the car. "Hey Meat Pie!" She shouted walking away.

Aisling, Willow and Xander walked up to Buffy.

"Snyder's got you guys making party favours, huh?"

Aisling winced. "Tough luck. Got put in charge of PT Night back when I lived in Cleveland. Not. Fun."

"I thought you lived in Vegas," Willow asked.

Aisling nodded. "Moved around a lot. We stayed in Cleveland for around 6 months before we left."

"Just six months?"

"Aye," Aisling said putting her hands into the pocket of her leather jacket. "Let's just say things happened and Da' an' I had to move."

"Expelled?" Buffy asked.

Aisling shook her head. "Nah, never been expelled from school." She said. "Get the feeling the meetin' with Snyder would've gone a lot worse if I had been expelled."

"Then why were you put in charge of PT Night?"

"I never said it was for a punishment."

"Kind of heavily implied it.," Buffy said. "You know with the whole 'Not fun.' And 'making each word its own sentence' thing.

Aisling grinned. "Was defendin' a boy from a bully. All three of us ended up in trouble for instigatin' a fight."

"That's not fair."

Aisling shrugged. "I did break the bully's nose."

"I mean-"

"Then he called me a bitch, and… well…" The look on Aisling's face explained everything.

"But why make all three of you do PT Night?"

"I don't know. Bully claimed the nerd attacked him, and since the teachers didn't have time to figure out who the actual culprits were they just punished all of us."

"Your dad must have been so upset."

Aisling shrugged. "He was upset that I went overboard. He stopped sparring lessons for a month after that. Wasn't so much upset that I punched someone, more that I proceeded to overdo it. When it was clear the guy had stopped."

Buffy pouted. "Your dad sounds so cool. Sparring lessons, demon hunter. If I'd been adopted by him, he would totally understand the whole 'I'm a slayer' thing. Instead, I get a mother who thinks I'm another Sheila." She said nodding to Sheila who was making out with some guy.

"Why not just tell your mom?" Aisling asked.

Buffy snorted. "Oh yeah and get put into a psych ward again. No thanks."

Aisling winced; she'd been put in a psych ward too when she was younger. It might have been helpful… had they treated her actual problems instead of the ones they thought she had…

"Again?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, mom and dad put me there when they found my diary. Was only there for a few months. It… wasn't a good time."

Translation: I don't want to talk about it.

Immediately Aisling jumped in and changed the topic. "So, what's Sheila's issue anyway?" Aisling asked while she watched Sheila get into a car with 'Meat Pie.' A guy with long blonde hair.

"She's intense. The guy she's with? That's the guy she can bring home."

Aisling highly doubted it. She'd definitely befriended people who could be far more dangerous than some human guy.

"She was already smoking in fifth grade. Once I was lookout for her."

"You are bad to the bone," Xander said.

"I'm a rebel." Willow quipped back.

Buffy pouted. "It's not fair, I'm the Slayer that requires a certain amount of cutting and fighting. What's her excuse?"

"Homework. She won't do it. And most teachers respect that now," Xander supplied. "And you might wanna keep away any sharp implements when your working with her."

Buffy pouted. "Do you think any other slayers ever had to go to high school?" She asked.

"It's no biggie. You'll have a nice soiree. The parents will love it. As long as no-"

"No good will come of you finishing that sentence Xander." Aisling cut in.

"She's right. It's the ultimate Jinx." Buffy said.

"Nothing will happen." Xander defended.

Aisling shook her head. "Murphy's law. If it can go bad. It will. All your doing by saying otherwise is tempting fate."

"You don't know that," Xander said.

Aisling smiled. "Your right. I don't. But do we really want to be proven otherwise?"


Aisling paused when she got to her apartment. Her eyes widened when she recognized the red Ferrari parked beside the Desoto.

She immediately ran as fast she could into the building. Up the stairs and jammed the keys into the lock.

She saw her father sitting on the couch, beside him was a woman with long brown hair, and a white peasant blouse and blue jeans.

For a moment she was just drinking in the scene before she ran and hugged the woman as hard as she could.

"Nanny Kat!" She said.

"Said I'd come by," Kat said. "Needed to make sure this idiot wasn't making himself worse." She elbowed Spike lightly in the arm when she said 'idiot' to emphasize who she was talking about.

"I've been very good," Spike said in the sing-song way that children do when they're asked to recite something from memory.

"Mmm," Kat said with pursed lips. "Has there been much change?"

"Slightly more energy due to the proximity to the Hellmouth," Aisling said. "But outside of that… no."

"Strength?"

Aisling and Spike stared at each other. Aisling walked over to Spike and pushed him immediately Spike fell backwards onto the couch.

Aisling turned back to Kat with a raised eyebrow. "He wants to go to PT night."

Kat turned to Spike. "Think that's wise?"

"Oi. I haven't been fighting demons. The Night of St. Vigious is in a week, which means Thursday night there will be practically nothing to fight. I can handle a couple of hours speaking to Ash's teachers."

"Bet you, it's so he can make one of them cry again. Or wet their pants." Ash said.

"That's not fair," Spike said. "I only scare your teachers when they're being un…fair." Spike winced at the use of the same word twice.

"Great poetry Da'" Aisling said holding back a snicker.

"Oh, Shut up, you."

Aisling grinned and shook her head. "I have homework," She said.

"Oh! Did you get the class you wanted?" Kat asked.

"Yep!" Aisling said. "I'm in Choir, it's a lot of fun."

"Good," Kat said. "Why don't you sing one of the songs you're doing?"

Aisling rolled her eyes. "I just said-"

"And practicing these songs is part of your homework, right?" Kat said. Aisling nodded and Kat smiled satisfied. "Good. Sing. I haven't heard you do that in a while."

Aisling rolled her eyes. "Fine. There's, 'Think of Me,' and 'Edelweiss'. Which one do you want to hear?"

"Edelweiss?" Kat smiled. "From Sound of Music?"

"I saw that when it first premiered, back in 1959," Spike said. "Dr- My ex and I had a ball then."

"Mmm," Aisling said clutching the arm that had its scars. (Though now the arm was covered by the sleeve of the leather jacket she was wearing) "Shall I sing?"

"Sorry," Spike said. "Yes, please sing. Haven't heard you sing in a while."

Aisling's face fell for a fraction of a second before she smiled and started to sing.

"Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me…"


"'Ello," Aisling said walking over to where Buffy and Willow were leaning over one table painting one banner and Xander was leaning over another table painting another banner. Reading upside down she could tell the one Buffy and Willow were working on read: "Parent-Teacher' the one on Xander's said: 'Welcome'

"Hey, Ash," Xander said.

Aishling perked up and reached into her backpack and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and handed it to him.

"What's this for."

"Getting my name right," Aisling said before grabbing a paintbrush. She bent down over Willow and Buffy's table and started painting in the letters.

Xander looked at the cookie and took a bite out of it. "You make these yourself?"

"No. Store-bought, I'm weird. I prefer store-bought to homemade." Aisling looked around. "Where's Sheila? Isn't she supposed to be helpin' out?"

"She hangs out this rank bar called 'The Fish Tank'. Occasionally it gets raided and other things that can make you late."

Aisling winced. "Ouch. Travis was constantly doing stupid things like that too. Though it was less 'bar raid' and more 'risking getting killed' in the nearest Suck House."

"Suck House?"

Aisling stared at Buffy. "Yeah. Places where vampires are paid to bite humans."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Why would anyone…"

Aisling shrugged her shoulders. "Supernatural world can be addicting."

Buffy looked ill for a moment before she turned to Willow. "Can you help me with my French? I don't want Mr. DeJean telling my mother I'm an imbecile." Evidently, she decided she did not want to think about it.

Fair enough.

"I thought we were going to the Bronze tonight. 'Cause of how you thought Angel might show?" Willow asked.

Aisling wrinkled her nose. "Count me out."

"You don't like Angel?" Buffy asked.

Aisling shrugged. "We just don't mesh well," Aisling said. "Besides, an old friend came to town, she'll only be in town for a couple of days."

Willow nodded in understanding though Buffy tilted her head in confusion. "Does she like nightclubs? Why don't you bring her along?" Buffy asked.

"She's my old nanny," Aisling said bluntly. "When I left this morning she was talkin' to Da'

"You mean there's a girl here that doesn't think the sun shines out of Angel's ass?" Xander asked clearly still on the whole 'Aisling doesn't care for Angel train' "Hallelujah!"

Aisling rolled her eyes.

Willow shouted indignantly, "I don't think the sun shines out of Angel's, uh, you know what!"

"Maybe we should go to the bronze." At Willow's look, she amended her statement. "To study! I can study, party, do parent-teacher night and make my mom proud just as long as I-"

Giles appeared. "Buffy" He called.

"Don't have to fight vampires." Buffy finished now looking dejected.

Aisling looked at her confused. "You weren't planning on dealing with the night of St. Vigeous?"

"The what?"

"You already know?" Giles asked as came around the table with the 'Parent-Teacher' Banner.

"The bloodbath that happens one year?" Aisling said. "Yea. The lead-up to the day has dad busy for a week before the actual night. So the numbers are greatly depleted; which is great cause the week before has vampires prepping for the night by, fasting and chanting. Catching them unaware when they're attacked."

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"It's a night commemorating St. Vigeous who lead a crusade of vampires. They swept through Edessa, Haran and points east."

"Didn't leave much behind." Jenny cut in.

"Well if I survive Parent-Teacher Night, I'll see what I can do about Saturday."

"Being a tad flip aren't you? This is serious."

"And being kicked out of school is laughs-a-plenty?"

"Come on Giles she's a kid like us. We'll help her prepare. I have a bunch of weapons at home that I can bring in." Aisling said.

Buffy looked at Aisling. "Won't your dad mind?"

"Nah, he knows I hang with the Slayer. Just so long as I don't bring you his favourite weapons it'll be fine. Besides most of the weapons, I'll be bringing will be mine."

"And I can research!" Willow said.

"And I can whittle stakes while I whistle a jaunty toon."

"While your help will be greatly appreciated when it comes to battle. Buffy must fight alone." Giles said.

"That's such bull," Aisling said. "Who said that the-"

Giles cut her off looking at something beyond her. "I understand it might be difficult to comprehend but it's all right there in your history textbook." He said. Aisling looked behind her to see Principal Snyder walking toward them.

"He's right," Jenny said.

"Yes," Giles said. "He turned to Jenny shall we go."

Jenny nodded. "Yes. Let's," before they turned and walked away.

"Wow." Aisling mouthed unimpressed.

"You three wouldn't be helping her in Sheila's place, would you?"

"In her place?" Aisling asked with a glance at Buffy's worried face. "Nope!"

Xander laughed nervously. "No"

"We're hindering," Willow said.

Snyder wasn't fooled. "She ditched." He took a deep breath.

It might have been Aisling's imagination, but Snyder almost looked giddy at the prospect.

"Sheila went to get more supplies," Aisling said fighting to keep the absolute disgust out of her voice.

"Yeah!" Buffy said. "Paint, she went to get more paint."

'Course that was when Sheila walked into the lounge. Sunglasses covered her eyes, but with the way she was walking, Aisling could tell she was wasted.

Buffy hurried toward her. "Darn, no teal?" Buffy asked. "Well, I know you wanted everything to be perfect, but let's just go with what we have."

"Red looks better anyway," Aisling said.

"Just make sure everything is perfect for Thursday," Snyder said before he turned and walked away.

Aisling bit her lip to hide a smile. Schadenfreude was great when the other guy deserved it. Too bad he was an authority figure - she'd have enjoyed punching him in the face.

"Thanks," Sheila said. "Guys a rodent."

"Worse," Aisling said.

"No problem."

"Did you really burn down the building that one time?"

"Yeah," Buffy said looking embarrassed.

Sheila didn't think it was so embarrassing. "Cool!" She said with a grin.


"How's New York?" Aisling asked as she scooped out a spoonful of chocolate ice cream and put it into her mouth.

A pale hand reached out toward her bowl, but Aisling pulled it out of reach. "Nice Try, Da'."

"It's going well," Kat said. "So far the classes I've subbed for have been going well."

"Have anyone worse than I was?" Aisling asked with a smile. Spike sighed and reached out to hug.

"You weren't bad," Kat told her seriously. "You were a traumatized child. Of course, you were going to lash out."

"That doesn't mean I was easy. Or the things I did were Ok." Aisling said.

"No," Kat said. "But as the adults in the situation, we should have done better. It took us way too long to find you a proper therapist."

"Therapists who specialize in the Supernatural are rare," Aisling said. "There's a reason I did a lot of sessions over the phone. I'm just lucky both Vegas and Sunnydale both happened to have one."

"Speaking of – how are the sessions going?"

Aisling shrugged. "She believes me."

Kat and Spike turned to stare at each other. "Anything else?" A few years ago, having a therapist that believed her would have been a hallelujah moment. Today it was the barest requirement for a therapist working on her.

Aisling shrugged. "She's nice, non-judgmental, and believes me when I tell her everything I went through. We meet every Monday and Friday after school." Her eyes widened and she turned to Spike. "Totally forgot to mention this. She wanted to meet you, but I told her that your too injured to make long trips."

"That's probably a good idea," Kat said. "When was the last time you went to therapy?"

"I've phoned my old therapist from Vegas just last week," Spike said. "I'm fine Kat. You worry too much."

"I'd say I worry, just the right amount considering what you've been through," Kat argued.

"Thanks again," Aisling said. "For helping out when he went missing… I don't know what would have happened otherwise."

Kat shook her head. "I just found him- you were the one who got him out."

Aisling smiled. "Still. Thank you."

Kat reached out and grabbed her hand. "I still maintain that you shouldn't have gone there on your own… but waiting the extra twelve hours would likely have made things worse."

"Since it was nighttime, it was emptier," Aisling said. "Only a couple of guards I had to sneak past."

"You also tortured another." Spike cut in.

"Only so he'd give up the keys to release you," Aisling argued images of the blood both her father and her victim had shed passed through her mind. She looked down and clutched at the arm of her chair, knuckles turning white. "I didn't know what else to do." She whispered,

Kat squeezed her hand. "Is your therapist helping you through it?"

Aisling nodded. "Yea. Among my plethora of other issues."

Kat smiled. "Good." Then she turned to Spike. "And you?"

"I told you that I'm in contact with our therapist from Vegas," Spike said. "I call her twice a week. We're dealing with it."

"Good," Kat said.

"Great." Aisling cut in. "Who wants to hear 'Tier Abhaile Riu before I go do homework?"

"Oh yes please," Kat said.

"I always like hearing you sing," Spike said.

"Téir abhaile 'riú!

Téir abhaile 'riú!

Téir abhaile 'riú Mháire !

Téir abhaile 'riú 's fan sa bhaile,

Mar tá do mharghadh déanta…"


"Don't. Move." Aisling said as she shouldered her backpack the next morning. She took a look in the mirror, making sure her leather jacket properly covered her scars, when she was satisfied, she gave her reflection a smile and turned back to her dad. "You know how your strength is, if you waste it now, you won't be able to go to PT Night tonight." Aisling paused to consider that then grinned. "Second thought, do whatever you want."

Spike levelled her with a glare while Aisling just grinned at him cheekily.

"I'll be good," Spike said. "Was I this annoying whenever you got sick?"

Aisling raised an eyebrow. Spike sighed, "Yeah ok fair enough. In my defence though, you had been psychologically and occasionally physically abused for a good year."

Aisling blinked at him. "Mmm, yeah, and the fact that you were tortured to the point, where it took you a month before you realized that the blood I was feeding you was my own, means fuck all to you apparently,"

"I'm fine."

"I believe that you believe that," Aisling said.

"Don't worry Aisling, I'll make sure your father doesn't strain himself."

Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. "I don't need a babysitter."

Kat hugged Spike with one arm. "Oh, I know, but it's fun to tease."

Spike turned to Aisling his gaze stern. "Is there anything you want to tell me before I go there tonight?"

Aisling scrunched up her nose. "Can't think of much. Snyder's caught me with Buffy a few times, who he dislikes. He might believe that I was involved in an abandoned building burning down…" At the look on both Kat and Spike's face, she raised her hands in defense. "It was already burning by the time I got there." She insisted. "I swear."

"Uh-huh," Spike said. "This why you came home smelling like smoke last week?"

Aisling winced she'd hoped she had been able to wash the smell out before he could tell what it was. "Maybe?"

Spike turned to stare at Kat before turning to stare stared at his daughter. "We're talking about this when you get home. No hanging out with friends later, you are going to tell me about everything that happened, so there are no surprises at PT Night – alright?"

Aisling sighed. "Yeah… alright." Aisling caught a look at the time. "Got to go," She said. "We're getting a bit low on blood, so I'll go buy some after school. Should last you until tonight though."

"No need," Kat said. "I can make a quick trip today."

Aisling bit her lip.

"Oh, come on. I did the first few weeks just fine before Nanny Kat showed up, give me a bit of credit."

"I know," Aisling said. "But…"

"The most I'll be gone in half an hour," Kat said. "Trust me."

"Hospital hear has the same set up as in Vegas," Aisling said. "Good chunk of vamps usually wait around just after sunset, but the orderlies tend to start to set up around an hour before sunset."

"I've told her she didn't have to bother with the human blood," Spike said. "She doesn't listen."

"I'll get what I can," Kat promised. "Now get going. Didn't promise Buffy you'd help with set up?" Kat reached into her wallet and handed her a few bills. "Maybe this will help." She said with a wink.

Aisling nodded with a smile. "Yeah, see ya!" She said before she turned and hurried out the door.

"Woah someone's happy today," Xander argued as Aisling entered the library before Class started.

"Friend visitin' means the weight is off for a few days," Aisling argued, she looked around and saw a sea of sad faces. "What's with the doom and gloom?" She winced when she noticed that Buffy had a few scratches on her. "What happened?"

"I did that thing you suggested," Buffy said. "After the Bronze, I made a detour through abandoned buildings and the factory, in the hopes of lessening the workload on Saturday…"

Aisling winced. "It go wrong?"

Buffy shook her head. "I was able to kill The Anointed One, but…"

"But…?"

"There was this new vampire woman. She had this ability…" Buffy shook her head. "I don't know what happened but one minute I'm going to stake her and the next minute I'm in front of my house."

Aisling stared at her wide-eyed. "What… did she look like?"

Buffy stared up at Aisling. "Umm, thin, brown hair that went just past her shoulders. A white dress that looked like it came straight out of pride and prejudice. Blue eyes."

Aisling forced herself to calm down. Many vampires had hypnotic abilities. It didn't mean that She was here in Sunnydale.

"What's strange is that… I've seen her before. For a few minutes last year. She ran away after Angel killed Darla. I guess she must have decided to come back. Night of St. Vigious and all." Buffy scoffed. "Angel seemed to know her, but he told me that she was nothing to worry about…"

"Darla?" Aisling asked surprised. The way Spike talked about Angelus and Darla the two of them had been madly in love… or as in love as two creatures like Angelus and Darla could be towards each other.

They'd abandoned each other before but had never been able to bring themselves to kill the other before.

"Yeah. Darla tried to kill me. Angel staked her to save my life." Buffy smiled happily. "Killed his Sire for me."

Aisling winced. She'd heard of Darla from Spike. Darla had created Angel to be a companion and they had been companions for over a hundred years. That kind of bond was hard to break.

Especially when you brought vampire blood into the mix.

Vampires could make two different kinds of vampires. Minions and Childes.

Minions were basically cannon fodder, they weren't designed to last (though some could) they were designed with the specific purpose of fulfilling a role and leaving them as a human was not an option. They were given just enough blood to turn but not enough beyond that. The lack of vampire blood at transformation meant that they were weaker in mind, so they could be easily overpowered. They depended on their maker to tell them what to do, and how to survive. And should they not know their maker- then a leader of some kind.

Some Minions grew out of that, but it was rare. Especially since many Minions never made it beyond their first year.

A Childe however was different. A Childe was when a vampire meant for the vampire to last. Wanted to see them survive into the next century. When the vampire who made them cared for them so much to have them last. Childes kept their human personality. They were stronger than minions both in body and mind. And given that Childes was given a lot more blood for the transition the Sire and the Childe were always bonded.

To destroy that bond was painful. Whether through death or choice, it was never an easy decision to make.

For Angel to kill his sire when they'd been together for so long (especially if they'd taken to exchanging blood). He'd have had to have been desperate.

"And the Anointed One is dead?" Aisling asked. The idea of killing a child even a vampire… seemed dark, even for a Slayer.

Though given Vampire hierarchy and the rumours she'd heard killing the Anointed One was necessary to bring down the Minions.

Minions without a leader – especially newborns – were utterly useless.

Buffy nodded once. "Hated killing a child but…"

"It wasn't a child Buffy," Giles said. "Just a demon wearing a child's face."

That's not how that works. Aisling thought to herself but kept it to herself. It wasn't like the soul was gone and the personality left with it. Even if you bought the whole 'completely different being' part. Those memories were still there. They still affected the demon.

If they didn't… Dr- She would never have been so badly affected after she had been turned.

Will Pretty little dolly sing another song for me?

The suddenness of that memory hit her so hard, she visibly flinched.

"Aisling?" Buffy asked. "It's ok, the vampires are evil. I had to kill him otherwise his followers…"

Aisling shook her head. "No, I know that. Thoughts spiraled, I remembered something from a very bad time." Aisling said shaking herself back into the present.

"Want to talk about it?"

Aisling shook her head. "I'll talk about it with my therapist Tomorrow," Aisling said. If I remember. When your adoptive father was a demon, a two-second flashback memory to something that happened almost 9 years ago seemed almost unimportant.

She had more important things to deal with.

Like Prague-

Shit. She thought as her mind decided to assault with images of her father in the horrible chair. Poisoned spikes came out of the chair and pierced every inch of his skin-

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Anyway! Parent-teacher Night. How's that going?"

"Was able to convince mom to buy a bunch of fruits, veggies and cheese and crackers," Buffy said. "Since Snyder is…"

"Horrible?" Aisling said. "You have to deal with everything on your own."

"I could borrow things from the art room," Buffy said. "But food… I had to buy my own."

"Oh!" Aisling said reaching into her backpack and pulling out a few boxes of snacks. "Figured either you could use these for PT Night, or I could save them for home/lunch."

Buffy looked at them with surprise and sighed and walked up and pulled them from her hand. "Thank you!" She said with relief. "Thank you, thank you, thank you"

Aisling smiled. "You're welcome."

"Chocolate chip, Oreos…" Buffy said will she riffled through the boxes. "Even Brownies!" Buffy took a deep breath. "You think Snyder will be moved with Cookies."

Aisling pulled out another box. "Oatmeal raisin." She said. "His favourite."

Buffy stared at her. "How…?"

"His secretary happens to like coffee and bein' treated like a human bein'. Give her both and she'll happily reveal small things about him to get you on his good side." Aisling told her. "Course if he asks tell him you thought there should be some semi-healthy cookie options too."

Buffy nodded once. "Right."


With the revelation that there was a new vampire in town that had abilities that sounded very familiar. The last of Aisling's good cheer fell.

She went through the class as she normally would. Raised her hand the most during history class, (It helped to have a dad who was born and died in the Victorian Era and then travelled the world afterwards) she sang her heart out during Choir class, (She tried to pretend that Devon was giving her looks throughout the entire class) and during Lunch, made a quick detour home to gather a lot of her weapons.

"What are you doing?" Spike asked as Aisling came home. He and Kat were sitting on the couch a mug in each of their hands.

She couldn't tell what the drinks were but knowing Kat her mug likely had tea. And knowing Da' it could be either Hot Chocolate or blood.

Aisling packed several stakes a couple of small axes and several bottles of holy water into a second backpack. "St. Vigeous is this Saturday. Buffy might need a few extra weapons." Aisling looked at Kat. "Think you can put a bit of a glamour on it, so if someone decides to look in they won't see a bunch of weapons?"

Spike winced. "I forgot the day was coming up. I want you inside this Saturday." He said while Kat grabbed the knapsack.

"You know Buffy is only a few months older than me," Aisling argued. Kat chuckled from her seat.

"Buffy has a sacred calling, super strength and bunch of other supernatural gifts," Spike argued.

Aisling rolled her eyes. "She should have help," Aisling argued. "Sacred calling or not, St. Vigeous shouldn't be taken care of alone."

"She has a point," Kat said. "Also, she's been out before at night."

"I know," Spike said. "I know, but potentially running into a couple of vampires is different than dealing with a massacre…" He sighed. "Ash if something happened to you-"

"I know," Aisling said. "I know. But I stand by what I said. Buffy shouldn't be alone."

"I have a few spells up my sleeve," Kat said. "I'll offer my services to Buffy tonight. Should probably be there anyway, to make sure that my spell doesn't wear off." She handed Aisling back the knapsack full of weapons.

Spike and Aisling had asked Kat to put a cloaking spell on Spike so that Buffy's slayer senses didn't go off when the two of them inevitably met.

"Don't you have to be back in New York?"

"I'll be fine," Kat said. "I can take a week off of substitute teaching."

"Ok, but what about your other students?" Aisling asked.

"You know I hold that class once a week. They'll be fine, so long as I'm back by Monday."

Aisling shrugged. "Fine. I'll stay in." Aisling argued. "I should return the favour after all the St. Vigeous' Nights you've stayed in for."

Spike smiled. "Thank you for your sacrifice."

Aisling rolled her eyes. "I've got to go."

"Don't forget you have to tell me everything when you get home. Especially regarding that…"

"It's no big deal, a couple of nerds thought they'd try to be Dr. Frankenstein and make a girl for one of the nerds' brother they brought back to life. The building was burned down, to destroy the body before they could kill a girl to get their head. That's it."

Spike blinked. "What?"

Aisling nodded, in sympathy. "Yea" Aisling said. "Gotta go." She paused and turned. "I told her you're a demon slayer. Seemed the safest way to explain how I know what I know. I also told her that I'm adopted, but never stated what are you were when you adopted me."

Then before Spike could say anything positive or negative about it, she slipped out the door with two backpacks in her hands.


Aisling... has a ton of issues.

Thinking of doing a christmas one off. WOuld you like if I posted one? IDK if I'll do it, but I'd like your opinion.