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Author's Note: This is a flashback. Buffy's remembering stuff. It's set directly after "Blood Ties".

--= * =-- --= * =-- --= * =--

Xander, Willow and Tara, Anya, and Giles all took their separate ways home after Buffy had insisted that she and Dawn were okay. Buffy had covered up most of the wound with her jacket and its dark colour helped conceal the amount she was bleeding. She didn't want her friends to worry so she acted fine, and walked with her back straight. Her act worked and her friends went home.

But Spike could smell the blood. He knew that the wound was deeper than Buffy was letting on and could see in her eyes that she knew too. But she didn't say anything, so he didn't.

"Why are you following us?" Buffy asked when she noticed Spike was walking in the same direction as her and Dawn. Dawn turned around and looked at Spike.

"Um. . . Buffy? He lives this way," Dawn said, giving her sister and odd look as Spike raised an eyebrow. Spike sped up his pace so that he was walking next to Buffy.

"Oh. Right."

They walked on in silence until they were next to the graveyard.

"Right. Night Nibblet. Slayer," Spike said and headed into the cemetery.

"Bye Spike," Dawn said.

Now that there were only two, the demon took aim. Hopefully, her plan would work and the Slayer would be dead. She had practiced for months. Being ambidextrous, she trained both hands to have deadly strength and aim.

In each hand she had an ominous looking knife with an incredibly sharp blade. Just another minute. The Slayer and her sister took a few more steps. And then the demon threw the knives, one after the other.

Buffy's instincts shot her hand out and grabbed the knife that was flying at Dawn's chest, inches from impact, so when the second knife flew out of nowhere and plunged into Buffy's own chest, she didn't have a chance to react.

Buffy dropped the knife she had prevented from skewering Dawn with a clatter on the sidewalk and looked down stunned at the knife lodged a little below her heart.

"Buffy!" Dawn cried as her sister fell to her knees. Her eyes started to tear.

"Spike!!" Dawn screamed. "Spike!! Help!!"

The demon dropped her invisibility shield and stalked toward the wounded Slayer and the screaming girl.

Dawn leant toward her sister protectively, though she knew she was useless in a fight.

But the demon didn't get within three feet of Buffy and Dawn before Spike showed up behind it and snapped its neck. He then ran toward Buffy.

"Buffy!" He yelled, falling to his own knees in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders.

Spike took one look at where the knife was and realized that the wound was fatal. Dawn was looking down; she was crying.

"Buffy!" he yelled again.

Buffy's eyes had been staring blankly at the ground but as Spike yelled again, they rose to meet his. She gasped in some air.

"Spike?" she said quietly. Her eyes were slipping closed. She would have tumbled onto the ground had Spike not still had his hands on her shoulders.

Dawn's tears stopped suddenly. Everything would be okay now, she knew.

"Spike," Dawn started.

He managed to tear his eyes away from Buffy to meet Dawn's.

He didn't say anything so she continued.

"Sire her," she said boldly.

"Bit, I can't. The chip," he replied.

"That's not true. The chip only goes off if you're intending harm, which, in this case, you're not. You told me that. Why won't you sire her?" Dawn said, angry.

Buffy's breathing was slightly irregular now.

Spike looked down for a second. "She'd hate me for it," he said quietly.

Dawn's features softened. "No she wouldn't."

Spike looked up.

"Please," Dawn said, almost begging. "Save my sister. I need her."

"Do it," Buffy breathed out, barely audible. Her eyes were now closed.

Dawn and Spike both looked at her. Spike looked at Dawn, then back to Buffy.

"Okay," he said defeated and slipped into his demon visage.

He tilted her head sideways gently and brushed her hair out of the way. He leaned over.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly in her ear, before sinking his fangs into her neck, draining what remained of her blood.

Dawn watched on as Buffy's head drooped sideways as Spike extracted his fangs. She picked up the second knife from the ground and handed it Spike who quickly sliced a cut in his wrist, drawing blood.

He held his arm up to Buffy's mouth and let the damning liquid slide down her throat. When she finished swallowing, she collapsed, limp against Spike.

He caught her and then turned her over, so she was supported by one arm. With the free hand he gripped the knife handle and in one swift motion, pulled it out.

Then he slid that arm under her knees and picked her small body up effortlessly. Feeling her cold and hearing no breathing and no heartbeat from her was unnerving Spike.

Dawn looked on hopeful. "She'll be okay now," she said quietly.

"Where should we go, Bit?" Spike asked.

"Back to our house. Mom'll be worried."

"Shell need her soul restored."

Dawn frowned. She had forgotten about that. "Right. How long will it take for her to wake up?"

"Few days," Spike said standing up with Buffy in his arms. "Should be enough for the witches to get everything in order for the soul spell."

Dawn nodded and they began walking to the Summers house, leaving the demon corpse to rot on the sidewalk.

--= * =-- --= * =-- --= * =--

Buffy's first thought when she managed to crack her eyes open was "I'm hungry". Her second thought was "where's my sire?".

She sat up and looked around, vaguely aware that she had her demon face on. She was lying on the couch in her living room. Her enhanced hearing picked up the voices of Giles, Joyce, Spike, and Willow in the kitchen. And, if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could make out the heartbeats of another four people, Buffy assumed to be Anya, Tara, Dawn, and Xander.

For a second she wondered how she was in here, what with the no-invite, no- entry rule but then figured they must have brought her in before the house recognized her as a vampire. She was just a dead body to the entranceway.

Buffy swung her legs over the side of the couch. Well, she was hungry and there were seven people for her to choose from. She licked her lips and stood up.

She started to head for the kitchen but just as she got to the doorframe, she came face to face with her sire.

They both stopped. He hid the momentary surprise of seeing her in game face. She however, was delighted that she had found her sire.

She broke the silence.

"Hey Spike."

"Hey Sla-Buffy," he replied.

She gave him a smile and then turned and headed back into the living room. Spike followed her.

She turned to face him.

"Spike," she said seductively. He eyed her warily as she leaned close to him. He stood still as she slipped a hand up so that it was resting on the back of his neck and leant over the other side so she was whispering in his ear.

"I'm getting hungry. It'd be so easy. I could take them all out. You could have them too. How long has it been since you've felt the sensation of warm, human blood on your tongue?"

He looked down. She smiled and moved closer to him.

"You could have me. I know you wanted me," she continued, her voice lowered more, and began rubbing herself up against him.

"Sunnydale could be ours. And I could be yours," the last word was barely a whisper and Spike probably wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't been equipped with vampire hearing. She rested her forehead against his neck.

Spike was tempted. God, was he tempted. He could have everything; Buffy, rule of Sunnydale, maybe even get the chip removed. It's not like he had much loyalty to these

But an image of Joyce and Dawn flashed through his head and immediately, he regretted even considering Buffy's offer. They were the only two who treated him like a person. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let Buffy hurt them. And besides, she just wouldn't be Buffy without her soul.

"Buffy. . ." he said and put his hands on her arms.

"Mmm?" she said and nipped at his neck.

"Sorry, luv."

He stepped back, holding her away from him. She looked at him with a pout.

"Why not?"

"Why not what?" Xander said as he entered the room, followed in turn by Joyce, Dawn, and the rest of the Scoobies.

"Nothing," Spike said, never taking his eyes off Buffy's. Xander recoiled slightly at Buffy's face but he didn't show it. He knew he'd get used to it soon.

"Buffy! You're awake!" Dawn said. She almost ran toward her sister to give her a hug but then remembered Spike's warning about how hungry newly risen vampires are.

She looked at everyone in the room and bit her lip. She was hungry. Spike led her back to the couch and pushed her down so she was sitting. She eyed everyone in the room like she would doughnuts at a bakery.

Spike stood near Buffy with his arms folded and everyone else stood or sat in random places around the room.

"Willow, do you and Tara have everything you need for the spell?" Giles questioned.

"Yeah. Everything's set up in the other room," Willow replied.

"Get to it then."

Willow and Tara headed out of the room to begin the spell.

"What spell?" Buffy asked from the couch.

"The one to restore your soul," Giles said.

Buffy stood up outraged. Joyce put her hands on Dawn's shoulders. Anya inched closer to Xander. Spike uncrossed his arms and Giles watched her carefully.

"What?! You can't do that!" she yelled.

"Sit down, Slayer," Spike said commandingly.

She didn't listen but there was a twisting feeling of uneasiness in her stomach.

*You should obey your sire. You're being a bad childe.* part of her brain was whispering to her. She did her best to ignore that feeling and concentrated more on her anger. With vampire and Slayer powers, she was the strongest vampire on earth. Or so she wanted to believe. If she had taken a moment to think, she would have realized that her strength was relatively the same and her agility been improved, but not by an outstanding amount.

"I am the most powerful vampire on earth-" Buffy started in protest.

"And I am your sire," Spike said dangerously, cutting her off and slipping into his demon visage on the word "your". He took a step toward her.

Buffy bit her lip in nervousness this time and, slipping out of her own demon face, looked down.

Giles and the rest watched in stunned fascination as Buffy then timidly raised her eyes to meet the glaring yellow ones of her sire. She swallowed. *Bad childe* the voice whispered again.

"Sit. Down." Spike growled.

Buffy ducked her head again and sat down quietly; then proceeded to stare at the floor for the rest of the meeting, a little ashamed that she had been told off by her sire.

Spike went back to where he was standing, his face slipping back to normal, and crossed his arms again, his eyes still on his childe.

A few minutes later, Buffy's eyes glowed a swirl of white and she stumbled off the couch to the floor with a gasp.

--= * =-- --= * =-- --= * =--

Spike murmured in his sleep. Buffy smiled.

He was incredibly strong to have turned her down. She wondered why he did it. She had been offering everything he could have wanted: her, Sunnydale drenched in blood.

And she had always tormented him about not having a soul. Well, in cases like Spike's, Buffy thought, maybe, you didn't need one.

She sighed happily and settled against Spike's chest, enjoying the feeling of his hard muscles against her back. When she had opposed to getting her soul back, she had been partly ticked off about not being able to have sex, because of the true-happiness clause. But Willow knew that Buffy would have been pissed about that so she altered the spell.

When a thought about the night she and Spike had claimed each other came to her mind, a smile came to her face.





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