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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know the first two installments have been short, but they get longer, I promise =). Please review!
Chapter 1

“Welcome to The Magic Box, would y- oh, it’s you,” Anya grumbled, cutting her welcome greeting short at the sight of Willow, who was now trying not to roll her eyes at Anya’s rudeness.

“Yes, it’s me!” She agreed cheerfully, wondering if Anya would catch onto the sarcasm.

She didn’t.

“What can I do for you? Would you like to spend lots of money? Because I can help you with that.”

Willow bit her tongue to hold in either a laugh or a bitchy retort, she wasn’t sure which.

“Well, I’m not exactly Miss loaded with cash here, but there is something I’m after.”

“You name it, I’ll find it, then you can pay for it,” Anya said eagerly.

Willow could practically see the dollar signs flashing in her eyes.

“I need a small piece of obsidian.”

“What do you need that for?” Anya asked nosily, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

She had been thinking lately that Willow may be getting in over her head with the magics, but no one else had said anything about it - except for Xander, who had actually agreed with her for once.

Willow narrowed her eyes in return, tempted to tell Anya to mind her own business. But she didn’t want to raise her suspicions anymore, so she told a half truth.

“To wear. I had a beautiful piece that went missing a few weeks ago and since I haven’t been able to find it, I thought I’d come and purchase one all [b]shiny[/b] new.”

She was sure to put extra emphasis on the word “purchase” to sidetrack Anya’s thoughts with money again (which was never much of a challenge).

Anya nodded with relief, already counting the dollars in her mind.

“Of course, we have some nice new necklaces made with various crystals. They came in yesterday. I remember seeing a couple done with obsidian. They’re right here…” Anya cut herself off.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just could’ve sworn we unpacked two of these yesterday and I haven’t sold one yet, so I don’t see where the other once could have gone… Dawn helped me out, maybe she dropped one. Grrr… this is why child labour is wrong, it’s not because of their “rights“, it’s because they just can’t handle the pressure of retail. If you want something done right, you just have to do it yoursel-”

“Heh-hmm,” Willow cleared her throat, desperately wanting to make it out of the Magic Box before midday.

“Oh right, yes, here it is anyway. You can wear it on the leather string, or take that out and remove the gold ring here and use it ornamentally. It’s rather nice to look at, on person and on furniture and it’s thirty dollars,” Anya concluded her sales pitch as she walked over to the register and rung up the sale.

“Thirty dollars?” Willow raised her eyebrows. “For a stone that size? It’s not gold plated or anything… is it?”

Anya frowned. “No it’s not, it’s just a very high quality piece of merchandise. But if you’re going to get all huffy, I suppose I can do it for twenty-nine fifty.”

“Gee, thanks Anya, that is mighty generous of you.”

Anya, once again, missed the sarcasm.


* * *

Buffy strolled in the general direction of the Magic Box, having just walked a reluctant-to-learn Dawn to school. She had listened to her younger sister’s whining all the way there.

“But I have a ginormous math quiz that I didn’t get to study ‘cause we were freaking singing all night!”

“That doesn’t mean you get to skip school Dawn, it means you use your free period and lunch break to study up.”

“Pfft, yeah, like you ever did that. You so would have cut,” Dawn mumbled under her breath.

Buffy raised her eyebrows indignantly, protesting her innocence.

“Hey, I so did study during my breaks for tests… once or twice,” she corrected herself. “And I never cut either!”

Now Dawn was looking at her disbelievingly, her own eyebrows raised.

“Ok, so there were a few misunderstandings. But I never just cut for the sake of cutting or to avoid a test, I cut to save that stupid school from vampires, or-or swimming pool demons! A-and ghosts and… stuff, only for them to punish me for not being in class…”

Buffy was lost somewhere down memory lane, as Dawn rolled her eyes.

“Why is it that whenever you do something wrong, it always happens to be because you were out ‘saving the world?’” Dawn complained, making air quotation mark gestures with her hands.

“Because it usually is because of that and because I’m the slayer and bec- just shut up and go learn,” Buffy had snapped as they approached the gates of the school yard, ushering Dawn inside.

Now, as she trudged to the Magic Box, she felt the weight of her responsibilities pushing down on her shoulders relentlessly. When had it all become so hard? Oh right, when Willow had decided to pull out of her heavenly vacation and bring her back from the dead. How could she forget. It had been a daily struggle since. Life on earth seemed so brutal after being where she had been.

Her mum was gone, she had to provide for Dawn and she was certain that she was doing a shitty job in that area. She was so snowed under with bills, she had actually almost reconsidered her earlier comment about burning down the house and collecting the insurance. She was trying to find a job she was actually qualified enough to do, preferably one that didn’t involve flipping burgers at the Double Meat Palace. Although money was getting so tight now that she was even reconsidering that option.

Then there was the ‘Spike’ issue. The way he had climbed under her skin and made himself at home there. When they had kissed two nights ago it had been the first time since being back from being dead that she had felt the ebb of pain stop flowing. Even if it had been only for a couple of minutes, it had been a heavenly reprieve. He had been the only one she could count on for support since being back. He was the first person she had told about not being in hell, about how it felt to be back. About how detached and depressed she was feeling. About the nightmares that woke her up every night, where she was trapped in her coffin beneath the earth and had to claw her way out. About the constant pressure from the Scoobies to be normal and happy and the way they watched her like hawks. She didn’t know why Spike was always around when she needed someone, why he was always there when she was alone and desperate to talk to someone other than the scoobies - but he was. She hadn’t even realised how he’d become more than an ally to her in recent weeks, until she noticed the way he showed up to patrol with her almost every night. Until she experienced the genuine compassion he showed her throughout her torment; the patience, the understanding, the love… Then they had to go and make with the kissage and now everything was screwed up even more. Buffy didn’t know how she wanted to handle her Spike situation. She didn’t know what she felt for him, only that being with him chased the pain away, albeit temporarily. But she realised she had better figure out how to approach the subject ASAP, as Spike was running towards her, a blanket over his head, attempting to stay within the shady confines of the sidewalk. She would’ve laughed at how ridiculous he looked if it weren’t for the sense of impending doom.

“Buffy!” He panted, a few metres away from her. “Oi! Stop!” He increased his pace in frustration of the way she ignored him and continued onwards.

“Bloody bint,” he cursed under his breath, before finally catching up with her.

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around to face him.

“What’s that all about Buffy?” He questioned, searching her eyes for anything other than the tired, vacant expression he saw there.

Buffy, not feeling up to facing a confrontation, feigned unknowing innocence.

“What’s what about?”

“Oh, don’t be daft slayer! The bloody deaf routine you just pulled. If I actually needed my lungs I might’ve found myself in trouble when they both collapsed.”

“Sorry, guess I kinda vagued. Besides, if you needed lungs you‘d be screwed anyway, what with all the smoking.”

Buffy kept her eyes on the ground, a piece of lint on Spike’s shirt, anywhere but his eyes, so as to not allow him to see the truth: that she was having a major case of avoido girl.

“Nuh uh, not good enough Buffy,” Spike said gently, but firmly, tilting her chin up until she reluctantly faced him.

She said nothing.

“We need to talk luv, you know it well as I do. We kissed Buffy.”

“So?” She retorted defiantly.

Spike let go of her face like it had burnt his hand.

“So, what does it mean?”

“It means our lives had turned into a musical and it was a part of that. It means we had no control over our actions when we did… that thing. It means that for a minute in time I was criminally insane. It wasn’t real Spike and it wont happen again. Ever.”

She saw the flash of hurt in his eyes and regretted her words. She didn’t know why she was being so horrible to him, but she couldn’t seem to stop. When all she really wanted was to kiss him again and see if the major sparkage extended beyond the Musical atmosphere. She was pretty sure that it would. Instead she watched as Spike resurrected the walls around his unbeating heart, putting his trademark smirk into place to cover the way she had so obviously hurt both his feelings and his dignity.

“So, gonna be like that is it? Just gonna deny what’s goin’ on here? Well, news for you pet, it’s not all about you, much as you’d like it to be. You can play the ice queen if that’s the way you want it Buffy, but I know it’s not what you want. I know what you really are, who you really are. I’ve tasted it slayer.”

Spike whispered this last sentence with malice, staring her down, doing that annoying (ly sexy) thing with his tongue behind his teeth. It totally turned her on, which only intensified her unjustifiable anger towards him.

Buffy stepped into him, raising her face to his, only inches away. She could sense his anticipation, his hope that she was going to bring her lips to his again. She was glad for his eagerness. It made the smashing of his pride that much more satisfying.

“You know nothing of me Spike. You never will. I don’t love you, I won’t ever love you. Get over the kiss Spike, ‘cause it was a one time experience and it was a mistake.”

Trying to maintain the unaffected visage, she turned on her heel, tossed her golden tresses over her shoulder and continued on down the road, leaving Spike standing under the tree on the sidewalk.

“This won’t go away Slayer, we’re gonna talk this out properly!” He yelled indignantly after her retreating form. “Maybe when the sodding sun isn’t out to play bloody peek-a-boo-pile-of-dust,” he grumbled to himself, before pulling the blanket back over his head and making a dash in the opposite direction.





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