June 12, 1988

Sunnydale highs gym had been turned into a ballroom dance floor for senior prom. All the girls had big billowing dresses in all colors and they boys in tuxes. Once you walked through the double doors from the outside you felt like you were in a different world. Even the walls were replaced with mirrors for the night. And in the middle of the dance floor stood William in his black tux with blue silk shirt and Elizabeth with her light blue dress swaying to the slow music playing over the sound system. With one hand on Elizabeth’s hip and one holding her hand over his heart he leans his face down into her golden hair and inhales the familiar vanilla and a scent that’s uniquely hers. Her head is resting on his chest and she too is doing the same thing as William. Loving the musky scent mixed with tobacco that is always him. Both have their eyes closed and loving the moment they’re in. Beside them is their closest friends Xander and Willow also dancing and losing themselves in the moment. Beings this is the last dance they will be at together as high school students. Sighing against his chest, “William, I think tonight is the night. My mom is gone for the whole weekend at some gallery event and Dawn is staying at a friends. I have the whole house to myself. If you come home with me tonight, I want to give you all of me.”
Without ever opening his eyes he asks her, “So what are you saying exactly?”
“Come home with me tonight and make love to me William.”
Looking down at her lovingly, “Are you sure? Because we can wait till your ready sweetheart.”
Meeting his eyes she answers “Yes, I’m very sure. We’ve been waiting a long time now and I feel ready.” With a little grin, actually, more than a little ready.”
“Of course, I too am ready my sweet Elizabeth.” With that said they leaned into one another for a very soft kiss. Then beside them they hear, “oh, you guys look so sweet together. Don’t you think they look sweet Xander?”
“Yeah, really sweet Willow. Now, can we look that sweet together?”
“Of course silly.” She leans up to kiss Xander on the lips softly just the same as the other couple. When the music ended they all walked back together to their table. After a few moments William decided he needed a drink. “Anyone else here need a drink? I’m going up to get some punch. Elizabeth?”
“Yeah, I can definitely go for some refreshment right about now. I’ll come with.”
“Ok, anyone else?”
“Coke for me, Will how bout you?”
“Coke is fine for me to.”
“K, we’ll be back in a few.”
Walking over to the refreshment stand hand in hand when one of Elizabeth’s ex friends comes running up to them she immediately addresses William, “Huggy bear, where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you after the other night.”
“Harmony, what ever are you going on about? We have never even said more than two words to each other before.” Glaring at Harmony Elizabeth asks,” William, what is she talking about?”
“I have no idea, what are you talking about?” With a sickly sweet smile on her face, “how could you forget so soon? I thought it meant something to you. You said so yourself it was the best you’ve ever experienced.”
William just looks confused but Elizabeth was now looking at William with hurt and unshed tears in her eyes. “What is she talking about? Is it true? Why would you do that to me?”
“I have no idea what she’s talking about. You know I would never do anything like that to you. I love you. You know they never wanted us together from the beginning. It’s just another sick and twisted mind game they’re playing at” Looking directly in her eyes he tries to get her to see the truth. That this girl is just lying and trying to start trouble between them. After all her and the other cheerleader never did like him from the beginning beings he was seen as a nerd and she being a cheerleader should never be dating someone other than another popular. “I don’t know, that’s not what he told me the other night.” A giggling Harmony could see she was getting what she wanted and that’s to hurt the girl. Slowly she started to back away from the two of them. “I can’t do this right now William. I don’t know what to think now.”
“Liz, please. You have to believe me.” He reached out to touch her arm and she jerked away.
“NO! Just leave me alone right now; I just need to be alone.”
“Where are you going? It’s after 11pm. Let me walk you home at least.”
“No.” And with that she turned and fled the gym with tears running down her face. When William turned around to face off with Harmony he saw her walking in the direction of the table with all the other popular kids. He stormed over to their table and came face to face with Harmony and Elizabeth’s other ex friend Cordelia. By now he was really pissed. “What the hell was that about? She was your friend for years, why would you want to hurt her like that? Do you really hate me that much?”
With that he had the attention of the whole room. Willow and Xander looked just as confused as William had earlier. Cordelia spoke up at that point,”Oh come on. You know she’s a drama queen! If she’s that easily persuaded that you’ve been fooling around with someone else then maybe it’s the best you two not be together. I mean please, trust issues or what?”
“If anything happens to her, just remember, pointing directly at Harmony, it’s your fault.” At that he shook his head and proceeded to turn around and run after the only woman he’ll probably ever love.
Running into the night was probably not the smartest thing to do. Halfway to her house she started thinking to herself “Maybe I should have let him walk me home. I should have let him explain.” She stopped and turned around to start back when a lone figure stepped out of the dark alley. “Well, what do we have here? What’s a pretty little thing like you walking all alone at this time of night?”
Stopping dead in her tracks she looks up at the stranger and gets a bad feeling about this guy. Gulping she tells him,”um, I’m just getting some air; my boyfriend is coming right behind me with the car.” She hopes he believes her cause there is something definitely wrong here. “You hear that Dru darling? Her boyfriend is comin to pick her up. What do you think?” Turning back to her, I think you’re lyin to me darling. I don’t think anyone is comin for you.” Stepping out beside the man is who she presumes is Dru. “Oh daddy, can we keep this one? She looks like such fun.” Elizabeth turns to run but the big guy is much faster and is right in front of her before she can take a step. She gasps when she finally gets a good look at his face. “Oh god, what are you?”
“Let me introduce myself, I’m Angelus and I’m about to change your life forever.” With that said he strikes and sinks his fangs into her neck. She screams and flails around but discovers he’s much stronger. As she slowly becomes aware of feeling faint she says out loud before she passes out from being drained “William, I’m so sorry. I will always love you.” And then everything went black

June 12, 1989

Standing in a graveyard at sunset William stares down at the gravestone of his once beloved Elizabeth Summers. It had been one year ago that they had laid Elizabeth to rest. It had been one year ago her lifeless body had been found in an alley not too far from the school with a neck injury. Of course given the recent events in the city morgue of bodies with the same type of injury going missing she was laid to rest within a 24hr. time period. They didn’t need anymore unwanted attention from the local newspaper on the subject. The man seen running away from the scene at the time of her discovery had escaped. After that night less people seemed to be disappearing and ones with neck injuries were far and between one another.

He was just standing there staring at the grave site; a lone tear runs down his cheek at the same time he chokes back a sob. Unbeknownst to him a lone figure is standing only a few feet away hiding in the shadows watching him.

Talking to no one in particular he says out loud, “why Liz why did you have to run out on me that night. If only you would’ve just waited to hear me out.” Tears were now running freely down his face and into the ground below. “How could you have ever thought I’d do anything to hurt you?” He fell to his knees into the damp ground of her grave now outwardly sobbing.

The dark figure watches this, closes her eyes and inhales deeply to smell the salty tears and unhappiness just coming off this man in waves. She lets the scent wash over her and expecting great satisfaction over it. For some reason his scent is familiar somehow and it’s not having the desired affect on her which is sort of pissing her off. Instead there’s something else. Something felt where a heart used to beat and pump life through her.

She jerks open her eyes and slowly emerges out of the shadows to get a closer look at this man. Looking at him from behind she can’t quite place him but his scent is known to her somehow. He has bleached blond hair but everything else seems to be black. Slowly approaching him from behind she makes certain to not get his attention just yet.

That scent, it seems to have a mixture of cigarettes and alcohol with a little bit of musk. “I know him” she thinks to herself. Getting closer still she can now see a side profile of his face and gasps lightly. He thought he felt someone watching him earlier but thought nothing of it. Now he definitely heard someone gasp beside him but when he turned his head slightly it was not what or who he was expecting.

With a gasp of his own he jerked up from his position on the ground crawling backwards quickly staring her in the eyes the whole time. Shaking his head he just keeps repeating to himself in a low whisper “no, no, no, this isn’t real. You are not real.” Hearing this she herself snaps out of her trance and now knows exactly who he is.

“William” is all she says in a voice barely audible but loud enough for him to hear her. Tilting her head to the side she gets a good look at him with a sly grin on her face and says louder “William.” Lifting her chin up she suddenly remembers what she is now and starts walking a slow circle around him taking in all of him. He’s still sitting in the same spot on the ground staring wide eyed at her and not believing what he’s seeing. She can hear his heartbeat speed up and his breathing coming in short and quick. “Stop breathing so fast before you pass out. I want to get a good look at you William and I don’t fancy doing it while you’re out cold from a panic attack.”

Taking a deep cleansing breath he slowly lets it back out before he really does pass out. Seeing he wasn’t going to be very talkative just yet she continues on.
“So, William, you look different. Very thin, wearing all black and what is up with the hair? Looking down her nose at him, I think it fits you.” She may remember him and remember loving him at one time but she is a demon now she reminds herself. I shouldn’t be feeling these odd emotions inside for a human now. What the hell is wrong with me? “Are you going to say anything or just stare at me all night cause I do have other things to do around here.”

That got his attention. Wow, he thought, not the same girl anymore. Gathering up courage he stands up in front of her and asks “what happened to you? Where have you been? We buried you a year ago today here where we stand.”

“Oh William, she spat, are you really that naïve. Come now with all the happenings in this town over the years you really can’t figure it out?” He just continued to stare at her with a confused look on his face. “Christ William, here, let me show you.” And with that she shifted into her game face which made William start breathing too quickly again. She stared at him with yellow eyes and fangs and became a little aroused from all the fear he was suddenly projecting.

She then shifted back to her normal visage and let out a little chuckle at the look on his face. But then she suddenly stopped because while in game face she picked up on another scent coming off him that was female. One she didn’t recognize and became a little, what was that feeling, jealousy. With a sneer she asks, “So, where’s your little girlfriend huh? Waiting at home for you playing Suzie fuckn homemaker? I guess you didn’t love me as much as you said you did moving on as fast as you apparently have.”

Ok, that pissed him off! “See, that’s why you’re where you are now sweetheart. You never would take the time to actually ask questions and wait for an answer but jump to you own conclusions! And by the way, it’s Spike now, not William so stop calling me that. William died on the same day as you.”
Her eyes widened in surprise and anger and before he knew what happened she had him pinned up against a nearby tree with her hand around his throat. “Don’t take that tone with me, Spike. She hissed. I could drain you dry right now, right here and make you one of us.”

“Then why don’t you!” With that she threw him down and turned to walk away.

Grabbing his throat and gasping for air he stood up and yelled at her, “some things never change do they Elizabeth? Always running away when things don’t go your way or you know you’re in the wrong.”

She stopped and turned back to him at that. “Oh, I’m not running away this time Spike. I’m just taking my leave for now. I’m hungry and if you know what’s good for you you’d better be getting back home to your new toy before you never do again.” And with that she did walk off leaving a bewildered Spike behind.

He was stomping his way out of the graveyard feeling angry, hurt and just downright confused at this point. “What the bloody hell just happened back there! Who the hell does she think she is just popping back up here after all this time?” Abruptly he stopped and remembered not who she thought she was, but what she had become. “Oh my god, she’s a vampire! Is that what really happened last year? She wasn’t attacked by a random mugger she was attacked by a vampire.” He suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe, actually he was breathing way too fast and started to feel light headed. “Oh Christ, not now.” Was his last thought before passing out.

*Flashback*

Running out of the school gym he stopped and looked around for her. “where did she run off to at this time of night. She knows it’s not safe out here.” He called out her name and waited for a response. When he didn’t hear anything he started walking away from the school in the direction he thought she may go.

“Elizabeth!” Still no answer and he suddenly had a very bad feeling in his gut. He started jogging down the street and thought he had seen a few people down an alley way. Turning into the alley he noticed a big guy holding what looked to be a limp girl in his arms. When he came close enough to see the dress the girl had on he yelled and the man immediately dropped the girl to the street.

“Hey you, stop!” He yelled. He thought about running after him but noticed the girl wasn’t moving. He dropped down on the ground next to her when he noticed who it was laying there in the alley.” Oh god Elizabeth, talk to me sweetheart. Come on, wake up.” He slowly picked up her head and its then he noticed the bite marks on her neck. “Oh no, not you, please wake up.” He went to feel for a pulse and couldn’t find one. “I promise I’ll be right back. I have to get to a phone to call for help. I hope you can hear me Liz. I love you.”

*End flashback*

“Spike! Wake up! Come on it’s time to wake up.” He heard someone yelling his name and slapping him on the cheek. He was a little disoriented at first but then remembered where he was.

He bolted upright and noticed a very worried looking Willow in front of him. “Oh Spike are you alright? I was walking through and seen you just pass out. Did something happen?”

“I seen Elizabeth and she wasn’t the same. She wasn’t even human anymore Red she, is a bloody vampire is what she is.” He was rambling and it even sounded crazy to him but he had to tell someone; actually all her family and friends needed to know immediately.

“What are you talking about? She looked at him a little odd. Vampires are not real Spike and you and I both know that.” Wow, he must’ve really hit the ground hard she thought to herself.

“I know it sounds crazy but I’m telling you the truth! I was up close to her face when her facial features changed and she threatened me Red. She threatened to drain me of all my blood and I’m telling you she really meant it.” Thinking back on it now was starting to be a little scary.

“Oh goddess; are you sure cause it could’ve been the lighting out here you know making you think you’d seen something else.” Even she knew of all the odd occurrences happening here in the last few years. “Come on, we need to talk to the others because this cannot be of the good.”

She helped him to his feet and they started walking towards 1630 Revello Dr. to warn the others and to find out what has really been going on around here.

When they made it to the front porch of Elizabeth’s old house it was nearly midnight. Still they pounded on the front door till they heard footsteps coming towards the front door. They immediately started calling for her to answer the door. “Joyce, open the door it’s an emergency! It’s about Elizabeth and we have to talk to you.”

With that she swung open the front door and stood rooted to the spot. “What about Liz? What’s happened, did someone do something to her grave?” With tears in her eyes she hoped to god not. Why can’t they just leave my baby alone?

Willow spoke first, “please let us in and we will explain as soon as we call the others over.” They slowly made their way into the living room and Willow excused herself to make the necessary phone calls.

“What is this William? Please, you have to tell me.” She pleaded with him. “I don’t think I can take much more at this time.”

“I assure you Joyce I will tell you anything you need to know but I think we need to have the others here first before jumping to conclusions that would only end up getting everyone upset for nothing.” He really didn’t want to be the one to tell her what’s been going on in this town.

“Giles and the others are on their way over now. He said to wait here and he didn’t sound too surprised about what I told him.” Willow looked at Joyce and Spike with a sad look on her face. She had a bad feeling about this.

They all sat in the living room in an uncomfortable silence until Joyce couldn’t handle it anymore. “I have to do something other than just sit here and wait so; I’m going into the kitchen to make hot cocoa. Anyone else want some?”

“I’ll take some Joyce. As long as you have those little marshmallows I love so much.” Spike always loves Joyce’s hot chocolate since the first time he had it.

“Ok dear. Let me know when the others get here if I’m not done before they arrive.” She felt like she had to do something before she went crazy just sitting there.

Spike and Willow just sat looking at one another in the other room not saying anything at first. Willow broke the silence first. “Are you sure what and who you saw was in fact Liz? Cause you know you did seem pretty upset before passing out. Maybe you were hallucinating?”

“Good god woman I know what I saw and who I seen was in fact Elizabeth! Do you think I could make something up as crazy as seeing vampires?” He said through gritted teeth.

“Well, you have seem pretty distant lately and you have to admit went through some drastic changes in this past year. Maybe you just, I don’t know, needed to see her in some way.” She knew she was grasping at straws here but didn’t want to believe what he was saying.

He just sat staring at her like she was the one crazy. “I hope you are not serious when you say that. Changes or no I have not become a schizophrenic over night.”

Just as she was going to say something else there was a knock at the door and Joyce came running out of the kitchen to answer it. Spike and Willow heard who was at the front door and sat in the living room waiting for the others to join them.
“Ready Red? Cause I plan on telling them exactly what I saw and experienced tonight.”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Just make sure before you upset Joyce and Dawn anymore than they already are.” She knew by the look on his face he was dead serious and it wasn’t a dream or a desperate attempt on his part for some sort of attention.

Giles, Xander, Anya and Spikes new girlfriend Tara walked into the living room. Giles remained standing while everyone else took a seat around the room. Taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose he went on to ask, “well Spike, now tell us exactly what and who it is you think you saw in the graveyard tonight.”

Unnecessarily gasping for air, Elizabeth had stopped not too far away from where she had left Spike and hid behind a tree and watched him stomp away. “What the hell was that all about? I’m not supposed to argue with humans just kill them.” She slowly slid down to the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Angelus was right, I’m never going to be a good vampire.” Lowering her forehead onto her knees, “I don’t know why he ever turned me.”

“William, I’m so sorry. I will always love you” Was the last thing she remembered before everything went black. Waking up she felt odd, cold and something smelled really yucky. “Uch, what is that awful smell?” She slowly moved her head to the side and her eyelids fluttered open to, darkness? At that she opened her eyes more fully and still nothing but darkness. “What the? Just as she tried to move she seemed to hit a wall to her side. Maybe I need to sit up and feel my way around till I can find a light switch.” But when she went to sit up her head hit the top.

“Okay, I’m not panicking here! I must be on a bunk bed?” Trying to swing her legs off a bed she again hit something solid. “Oh. My. God! Where the hell am I?” She was starting to hyperventilate and quickly found she was in some sort of box.
“Hello. Is anybody out there? I need some help here. But no answer and her voice seemed hollow like she was, Oh shit! I am not buried in a coffin!”

Screaming she called out again “Help! Oh god somebody help me.” She could feel the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Instinct must have taken over because she started clawing at the top of the box she found herself in. As she tore at the wood she could smell the blood forming on her fingers. Once she got through and hit dirt she really began to panic.

Holding her breath she kept digging upwards till she could feel the cold night air hit her fingers. Then someone grabbed her hand and helped pull her the rest of the way up. When she finally got her head out of the ground she took in a deep breath and gasped for more air. She climbed the rest of the way out and lay on the ground for a few moments to gather herself. Then someone spoke to her in a familiar voice. “About time you woke up. Dru’s been waiting on you for hours.”

That voice, now she remembered where she heard it before. In the alley just before he grabbed her and his face changed. She then unconsciously lifted her hand to her neck to feel the bite marks. At that she closed her eyes tightly and hoped this was just an awful nightmare.

“Come on, I know you’re awake and we have other things to do tonight including leaving this shite place.” She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and slowly turned toward the voice. Once on her back she looked up at him and noticed he again was in his game face. Closing her eyes again she slowly lifted her hand to rest on her chest where she knew her heart should be beating. As she was laying it across her chest she kept chanting in her head “please don’t let me be dead, please don’t let me be dead.” Her eyes suddenly popped open as she realized she in fact had no heart beat.

“Yes darlin, you are indeed dead and now a vampire so lets get up and go for Christ’s sake! He yelled at her. Reaching towards her he grabs her hand and yanks her up, “I said lets go. I don’t have time for you to figure out what happened. For now, you need to feed so we can go.”

Looking at him with wide eyes she suddenly became very hungry. In fact, she was famished and he was starting to look really tasty. Looking at where his jugular should be pumping blood she licked her dry lips and without knowing it was closing in on him. “Not here, not yet. He growled at her. First, you need a real kill and then sire blood.” With that she jerked back from him not even realizing what she was doing and brought her hand to her mouth and nicked her fingertip when she felt her incisors. Jerking her finger back from her mouth she noticed the blood trickling and immediately went to suck it off.

“I need to eat.” Her eyes turning yellow and taking in her surroundings for the first time she noticed a young girl tied and gagged at Angelus side. Looking up at him she asks, “Is that for me?”

She knew it was wrong but something primal in her craved the girl’s blood. And the smell she was giving off was almost intoxicating. Growling lowly she advanced on the girl with one thing on her mind, food. “Maybe Dru was right after all in choosing this one” Angelus thought to himself as he watched with fascination how quickly this girl was catching on and the control she was showing as a newly risen vampire.

The girl just closed her eyes as Elizabeth came up to the girl and lowered her head to her neck. She took her time in taking in the scent of the girl’s fear. As she was nuzzling her neck she felt her canines extend and she slowly sank them into the neck of her first victim. Drawing deeply from her she could feel herself growing stronger and strangely aroused at the same time. She felt the girls heart speed up and then slowly falter the more she drank from her. She held her in her arms drinking till girl took her last breath then dropped her to the ground.

Licking her lips she suddenly felt sick and upset at what she had just done. Gasping she snapped her hands in front of her mouth and turned startled eyes to Angelus. “What did I just do? Oh, I just killed a person by draining her blood. What the hell have you done to me?”

He looked at her shocked at first and then rolled his eyes as he said out loud to himself mainly, “I knew this was not going to be that easy. Why do I listen to that crazy bitch about who she wants as her play mate.” Sighing loudly he grabbed her arm and dragged her to where Dru was waiting for them in the car. “Come on now we can talk about this later.”

“But you never could explain what I had become could you Angelus.” She stood up from the ground and made her way over to the crypt she had obtained earlier in the week. As she walked in, closed the door and looked around she knew she could never get used to this. This is why she came back to begin with. “I will never be a normal vamp and I still don’t know what exactly happened when I was turned. Well, tomorrow is another day, or night or, rolling her eyes, whatever” she muttered to herself.

Lying on top of a Sarcophagus she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Hoping she could dream about the good things to come instead of what happened in the past.

Giles, Xander, Anya and Spikes new girlfriend Tara walked into the living room. Giles remained standing while everyone else took a seat around the room. Taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose he went on to ask, “well Spike, now tell us exactly what and who it is you think you saw in the graveyard tonight.”

All eyes were on him, waiting to hear what he had to say. Tara walked over and sat beside Spike on the sofa while the others all took seats around the room. Joyce on the other hand was too nervous to sit down at the moment so she remained standing behind the recliner leaning on the back of it.

Tara reached over and placed her hand on top of Spikes that was currently drumming on his thigh, and gave him a reassuring squeeze to show her support. He turned to look at her and gave her a small smile happy for the support. Of course he didn’t think she was going to be too happy when she found out who was back.

He turned back to all the expectant faces and took in a shaky breath before looking directly at Joyce as he told them. “I saw Liz tonight in the cemetery.” He heard the room of people all gasp at this and felt Tara squeeze his hand a little tighter. When he turned to look into her eyes he saw fear and a little bit of sadness in them.

Joyce had come around and plopped down in the chair just staring directly at Spike and then asked him, “How did you see her when she’s been gone a year now?” He just looked at her and knew what he was about to say was going to upset her. But he had to tell them and hope for the best.

“I was at her gravesite when I saw her. I know this is going to be hard for you to hear but, she’s a vampire.” Nobody said anything at first; they were just staring at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. He thought maybe they didn’t hear him by the way nobody was saying a word. But then finally Giles broke the silence with, “Oh good lord you can’t be serious Spike.” With that he once again took off his glasses and started to clean them.

Joyce let out a small gasp and started to say something but then closed her mouth. She looked around the room and then back at Spike her eyes pleading with him to tell her different. When he just looked back at her with sorrow she shook her head then looked at the ground with silent tears running down her cheeks. Spike didn’t know what to do for her at that moment because god knows he had a myriad of emotions running through him. He felt he needed to say something though so he said the only thing that came to mind. “I’m so sorry Joyce. I wish I were wrong but trust me when I say she’s out there err undead so to speak.”

She slowly looked up and gave him a small humorless smile. The room was still and quiet for what seemed like forever. Tara was still holding Spikes hand trying to show her support but knowing at the back of her mind this was going to end badly for her and Spikes tentative relationship they had. Looking around at everyone waiting for someone to speak or make some sort of noise she finally couldn’t stand it anymore and broke the silence. “So, what do we do from here and what does this mean for everyone? I mean, are we going to go out and hunt her down to stake her or leave her be?”

That got Spike to react. He leapt off the couch and spun around on her before looking in her eyes and exclaimed, “god NO! We are not going to hunt her down to stake her or kill her in any other way.” Tara was kind of taken aback by the abrupt behavior as was the others in the room. “Honey, I didn’t mean we should go and stake her it was just a harmless question. I mean nobody else seemed to be saying anything so I just thought I might break the silence and get someone here speaking.” She could feel the tears coming and fought to hold them in. She glanced around at the others in the room still waiting for someone to jump in and say something regarding this whole situation but so far, nothing.

Spike took a deep breath and let it out slowly while closing his eyes and trying to get his emotions under control a bit. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to yell at you I’m just under a bit of stress right now yeah. Shaking his head and looking at the ceiling, “I think this whole thing has shaken me up a bit.” Looking back at Tara and seeing the conflicting emotions behind her eyes he sits back down beside her and takes her hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Xander finally decides to add something to the mix. “What are we going to do man? I mean we can’t just let her run around and eat everyone in town. Oh god! Is she going around and eating people because I don’t want to be her next midnight snack if you know what I mean.” His girlfriend was quick to de-escalate the situation. “Honey, let’s not worry about that right now and I highly doubt she’ll be coming over to have you as a midnight snack.” Even she could feel the tension getting thicker in the room.

Joyce was really upset about hearing that. “Xander do you have to bring something up like that I’m not finding this situation very funny, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t joke around right now.” Even in the back of her mind she too was wondering the same thing. Should she worry about her coming to the house and trying to eat her and Dawn or worse yet turn one of them.

Everyone must have forgotten about Dawn in all the hustle and bustle because they were all getting pretty loud and woke Dawn. Curious as to why everyone was at her house so late at night she slowly and quietly snuck down the stairs to listen in. When she heard her sister’s name come up she came to stand behind her mom but nobody noticed. Not until she wrapped her arms around Joyce’s’ shoulders did anyone remember the teen in the house.

“Oh Dawnie I’m sorry did we wake you?” She really didn’t want to discuss what was really going on right now and hoped she hadn’t heard too much. “Don’t worry mommy, everything’s going to be ok now.” Oh god, Joyce thought, she did hear and I don’t know how to explain this to her. Hell she didn’t even fully understand herself right now.

Giles finally spoke up, “I think we all need to go home and get some sleep and discuss this further come tomorrow or should I say later today.” Everyone slowly got up and silently agreed with him that yes they needed some rest after hearing this. “I suggest we all meet up here later, say around 3pm, and by then everyone would’ve had some sleep and eaten.”

Giles, Anya, Xander and Willow left first giving Joyce and Dawn a reassuring hug and promising to see them tomorrow. Spike took his girlfriends hand and helped her off the couch giving her a small smile. She smiled back but felt something was different or off somehow in the feeling she got from him. They slowly walked to the door to say their goodbyes to Joyce and Dawn. Spike gave Joyce a firm hug before saying, “don’t worry Joyce, I’m sure we can figure out sumthin and just remember you and the bit should be fine as long as you don’t invite her or anyone else in you don’t know. Don’t know if she brought anybody with her or not so to be on the safe side just don’t invite anyone new in ok.”

“Of course dear, don’t worry about us we’ll be just fine for the few hours you all will be gone. Looking over at Tara who looked absolutely lost at the moment, “Tara honey take care of him right now okay he really needs it.” And with that she shut the door and turned to Dawn just giving her the look that said not right now. Dawn nodded and turned to go back upstairs with Joyce trailing behind after double checking everything was indeed locked.