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Banner by xoChantelly


Dark circles lined Buffy's eyes the next day. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately; Spike's nocturnal visits and now the vivid dreams she was having had her going on practically no sleep. Still, she couldn't just sit back and rest while her friends did all the work. She tried to put on a happy face and do her part, after all, she was the one who insisted on taking on the house.

Buffy, Willow and Xander were working in the kitchen again. It was like one in a hotel; it was huge. Willow was especially happy with it, since she loved to bake. She promised them a big batch of chocolate chip cookies once everything was hooked up and in working order.

They were cleaning to the music on Xander's boombox. This time, he was playing his 'Dance Mix'. Deee-Lite's 'Groove is in the Heart' was playing.

Xander was groovin' and singing along again:

"The chills that you spill up my back
Keep me filled with satisfaction when we're done
Satisfaction of what's to come

I couldn't ask for another
No-No-No, I couldn't ask for another
I couldn’t ask --“

"XAN!" Willow interrupted him.

"What? I'm just gettin' my swerve on," Xander said with a boyish grin, wiggling his hips.

"Try a little more cleanin' and a little less swervin'," Willow waggled her finger at him, a small smile touched her lips. "We need to replace those tiles...get busy, mister.

"Xan, the electricians are coming the day after tomorrow," Buffy said off-handedly. "Why don't you go down to the basement and make sure there's a clear path to the box."

Xander paled, his mouth went dry. “I...don't want to."

Willow sighed. "Come on, Xander! What are you afraid of?"

"What am I afraid of, she asks... Where do I begin? There's...something down there. I can...tell," Xander said, looking fearfully at the door to the basement.

"Like what?" Willow asked, putting her hands on her narrow hips. "Bugs? Maybe some vermin?"

"Those things and much, much more, I'm sure," Xander said.

"Hey, Xander," Buffy attempted to bribe him, "I bet there's all kinds of neat things down there...bikes, perhaps bottles of wine, old toys... You can have whatever you find."

Xander seemed to consider this for a moment.

"And I'll bake a whole batch of cookies, just for you," Willow added more incentive.

His eyebrows raised and he licked his lips lightly. A whole batch of chocolate chip goodness all to himself was too tempting.

"Alright."

Buffy and Willow smiled triumphantly.

"But...if something kills me, I'm soooo going to haunt your asses," Xander said, trying to sound funny rather than scared out of his wits.

"Oh, you big baby!" Willow laughed. "I'll come down and help just as soon as I finish taking down this cabinet."

Xander picked up the biggest flashlight they had, a big yellow B&D with an extra wide beam. He took a shaky breath and opened the cellar door. He looked back at Willow and Buffy, but they were already back to work, not paying attention to him anymore.

'Shit...I have such a bad fucking feeling about this...'

Xander gulped and started down the stairs.





It was spooky as hell down there. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Xander took one last look up at the door and the precious light before moving further into the cavernous basement.

Xander shone his flashlight all around. There were dozens of wine racks and kegs. He smiled, hoping that some of the stuff was still good. It would be great if they could find an expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate with when they finished the house.

Xander sang 'Groove Is In The Heart' under his breath to take his mind off of his fear. There were piles of junk scattered around the room. He was anxious to go through them and pluck out the treasures that he knew would be waiting, but that would wait until the power was turned on. There was no way he was going to spend any more time down here than he had to right now.

Xander exhaled in relief when he finally found the fuse box. There were only a few obstacles in the way, which he swiftly moved aside. It only took him a few minutes.

"There, that wasn't so bad," Xander laughed nervously then turned and started walking back to the stairs.

His flashlight went out.

He had to bite back the shriek that wanted to explode from his mouth. He frantically tried switching it back on, then hit it with his hand. It still wouldn't work.

"Okay--Okay! It's okay! I'll just...feel my way back," Xander said to himself, his heart going wild in his chest. "Just some...bad batteries...that's all..." He put his hands in front of him and went in the direction of the stairs, at least he hoped that he was going in the right direction.

He started to sing to himself in a tight, anxious voice, stuttering the lyrics:

"Your groove...I do d-deeply dig
No walls, only the br-bridge, my supperdish
My succotash wish
Singin', b-baby

I couldn't ask for --"

Xander stopped walking and singing when he heard what sounded like someone laughing. His eyes started from their sockets and shot around, searching the inky darkness of the cellar.

"Who...Who's there?" Xander's blood ran cold.

"Who's there?" a low, gravelly, rasping voice mocked him then giggled insanely.

"Oh fuck--oh fuck--oh fuck," Xander whispered, moving his feet again. The voice made his hair stand on end; his skin crawled like a thousand ants had descended on him at once.

A scraping, dragging sound came from in front of him. He stopped again, afraid he'd run into whoever -- or whatever -- it was.

"Willow! Buffy!" Xander yelled, his heart felt ready to explode from fright. "Guys! Come down! Hurry!"

"Shhhh!" the voice said, coming closer. "It's just you and me, beautiful. Leave those bitches up there where they belong..."

"What do you want?! Who are you?!" Xander walked clumsily backwards. "Leave me alone! Please!"

"Leave me alone! Pllleeeaaasseeeee!" its croaking voice mocked.

Xander felt something icy and clammy brush against his face. He screamed and flung himself backwards, waving his arms in front his face.

"BUFFY! WILLOW! HELP!!" Xander screamed, landing on his backside.

"They can't hear you," it chuckled gratingly, scraping the ground as it walked towards him. "No one will ever hear you again..."

Xander swung his flashlight in panic from side to side, hoping to hurt whatever it was that was after him. He screamed when he felt the icy fingers touch his cheek again. At that moment, his flashlight stuttered back to life. He could see what it was; he wished that he hadn't.

It was hideous, the stuff of nightmares: its skin was purplish-blue and flaking off of its face; its eyes were black, evil marbles; its purple lips were pulled back in a grin, revealing its rotten teeth; a black, sludge-like substance oozed from its mouth; its hands reached for him.

Xander's testicles shriveled up into his body as he let out a blood-curdling scream. "N-NOOOOO!"

Suddenly, the grotesque creature was flung away from him. Xander scrambled backwards, swinging the flashlight beam around to keep track of where it was.

Another person (thing?) stepped in front of him, facing the creature that had attacked him.

"Leave him be," the other said in a firm, accented voice.

Xander looked at the newcomer. He could almost see through him, like he was there but not all the way.

The attacker hissed. "This is MY place! You have no say here, boy!"

"Wrong. My cousin owned this place. You only worked here. I have the run of the house," the British specter said. "You know I can hurt you. I suggest you leave all of them alone."

"Go...Go into the light!" Xander yelled, remembering stuff from ghost movies.

The bleached blonde ghost looked at Xander over his shoulder. "There's no light for him, mate. He's stuck here, or it's off to the bad place for him."

The other one growled and advanced on Xander again. Just as Xander was ready to let another scream rip, the British ghost stepped between them and shoved the shuffling attacker away.

"I said leave him alone, pillock!" he snarled. "You couldn't be a good spook and just rattle some chains, you had to try to hurt him. Get the fuck out of here before I really get pissed."

It looked at Xander then back at the blonde ghost, making a decision. It wailed in rage and frustration then faded away to nothing.

Xander was breathing heavily, making him wonder if he was going to pass out. He quickly felt the front of his jeans to make sure he hadn't wet himself; he was happy (and surprised) to find that he was dry.

The helpful ghost walked over to Xander. "I'd offer you a hand, but..." He held up his hand, opening and closing his fist. "I'm not substantial enough for ya to grab onto."

"You...won't hurt me?"

"Nah. That's not my style, mate."

"Tha-Thanks...for... What was that thing!? What are...you?!" Xander asked, standing on his wobbly legs.

"It's gone now. And I think you can guess what I am. Have Buffy get a priest out here. That one could cause you problems, as you witnessed. I didn't know he was that strong or I would have warned her."

"Y-You... know Buffy?"

"Yeah...she's a nice chit..." Spike hoped Xander couldn't see the blush that was creeping up his face. "Hey, you should get back upstairs now. Come on, I'll lead the way." Spike turned around and walked slowly toward the stairs, checking behind him constantly to make sure that Xander was close.

Xander followed. "Why didn't they come help me when I was screaming my head off?" Xander asked angrily. He was deathly pale and his body trembled all over.

"The guy -- the thing -- that was after you made it so they couldn't hear. Not their fault. And they couldn't have guessed that something would jump you like that. Especially not Willow, her bein' a skeptic an' all."

"How do you know us?"

"I've lived here for a long time. I was curious about the new folks movin' in. I overheard you lot talking now and then."

Xander shivered. "I can't believe this is real...it's fucking crazy! I almost got killed by one ghost and got saved by another...whom I'm having a conversation with. Though I gotta say, you're a lot easier on the eyes than the other...guy," Xander fell back into joking to cover his real emotions.

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, sorry, mate. I know it must be a bit overwhelming for you. Something like this would've sent me packing when I was alive, too. And...here we are," Spike said, gesturing at the stairs.

The door had closed at some point.

"Go on," Spike said. "Remember about the priest. Have one come out and cleanse the basement."

Xander nodded and swallowed, his blood was still pumping furiously in his veins. He started up the stairs but stopped and turned back to Spike.

"What about you? Won't it get rid of you too?"

"No. This isn't my usual place. I just came down because I sensed that you were in trouble."

Xander gave him a weak, but grateful smile. "Where is your usual place?"

"Upstairs...the second floor mainly. I can't stay any longer... I used up a lot of juice fighting off Rufus." Spike started to get more transparent.

"Rufus?"

"Yeah, that was his name. Nasty bloke."

"Th-Thanks again..." Xander said then turned, walking quickly back up to world of the living.





There were many animated and heated discussions that afternoon following Xander's emergence from the cellar.

At first Willow hadn't believed Xander's harrowing tale. But Buffy confessed to 'knowing' Spike and having conversations with him, too. Willow didn't know what to think; her firmly held beliefs were hard to penetrate. No matter whether she believed him or not, Willow could see how frightened and shaken up Xander was. He wasn't joking around this time and Xander never lied to her.

Xander was still thoroughly shaken by his experience. A warm blanket was wrapped around him; he huddled under it. He could still feel that thing's icy fingers touching him.

Buffy was frightened that Xander had been attacked by one of the spirits, while at the same time bursting with love and pride for Spike. He had kept his word and saved Xander from...who knew what fate.

As per Spike's instructions, the three of them drove into town and talked to the local priest about their problem. They had expected him to be skeptical or dismissive. But when he heard where they lived, he merely nodded knowingly and said he'd be out first thing in the morning to bless the cellar and tell the spirits there to move on.


That evening, they were gathered in the living room. Several lanterns and candles lit up the room. All of them, even the still doubtful Willow, wanted to have as much light as possible.

"Can you call him?" Xander asked Buffy.

"He...can't always come. But I'll try," she replied. "Spike? Can you hear me?"

They waited in silence for a few minutes.

"Spike? Maybe he's feeling shy..." Buffy said.

"You guys realize how nuts this is, don't you?" Willow asked, fidgeting.

"You don't think we know?" Xander asked, his voice tight with tension. "A fucking ghost almost killed me today! I know exactly how nuts this is."

Spike could hear them calling and talking. He was still feeling a bit weak from his exertions that afternoon and there was the ghostly instinct to stay hidden from others. But he couldn't ignore Buffy. He drifted into the living room.

Buffy felt his presence before she saw his vague form. She broke out into a large smile.

"Spike! He's here!"

Willow and Xander stopped arguing and looked at Spike. Willow was speechless; her mouth opened and closed. Spike concentrated hard to appear more clearly to them.

"It's okay, Wills," Xander said taking her hand. "He's the one that helped me, he's not dangerous."

"Spike, thank you for helping Xander," Buffy said.

Spike smiled and nodded curtly, “It‘s s‘alright...”

"What... Who was that guy?" Xander asked.

"He was a caretaker here, in the 50s I think, a little before my time," Spike said, his voice soft. They had to strain a little to hear him. "Name was Rufus. He was pretty much as evil a bloke as they come. Did terrible things to people... I don't think you want me to go into detail."

Xander shuddered.

"He won't leave the basement, so no worries for tonight, yeah?" Spike said to Xander.

"Yes worries! Big, fat, hairy worries! I can't sleep with that thing running around!"

"You...can sleep with me," Willow said, then added, "Not in a sex way, so don't get any ideas," she tried to joke through her fear, hugging Xander.

"Why could that thing touch me?" Xander shook off the tremors that wanted to shake his body at the remembrance. "You couldn't touch me, so why was it able to?"

"I am a ghost, but I'm not an expert," Spike explained. "I don't know the why's or what for's. All I know is that for some reason, we're getting stronger. Not just me, the others are too. Maybe it has something to do with all of you moving in, maybe your energy is feeding us. Now, most of the others, you don't have to bat an eyelash about. They can't or wouldn't hurt you, they're harmless...but there are some like Rufus, down there, that are quite mad and brassed off. I'll keep 'em off of you as best I can."

"You can hurt them?" Buffy asked. "Xander said you shoved that thing around."

"Yeah, being ghosts, we're on the same plane of existence...they don't teach this shit in science classes... I can't kill them, obviously, but I can put a hurtin' on them, they know that. And they don't want to fight me, I fight dirty." Spike smirked.

"But it touched me. Can you touch people too?" Xander asked.

Spike and Buffy exchanged a flirty glance then looked away bashfully.

"Uh...yeah...sometimes," Spike answered.

Xander caught the glance. His eyes widened.

"Are -- Is -- Have you two..." he trailed off. "Holy shit...are you...involved?"

Buffy blushed furiously. The cat was out of the bag.

"Buffy? Are you and...Spike having a --" Willow struggled for an appropriate word.

"Don't wig out..." Buffy said. "We...We're...close..."

"Don't wig out?!" Xander said in disbelief. "You tell us you and a ghost are -- I don't even know what to call it -- and you don't think we should wig?"

"I know it's weird," Buffy protested. "But he's also the one who saved you today. He's a wonderful man...just a little...life-challenged."

Something clicked in Willow's mind and her eyes got bigger.

"Oh my god! That night I thought I heard you...with someone...it was him? You said 'Spike'... I didn't know what that meant at the time..."

"I'm so embarrassed." Buffy put her face in her hands.

"They're right to think it's strange, pet." Spike went over to her, wishing he had enough energy to touch her. "It is." His hand petted the air just above her head.

"Spike...are you sure the priest won't banish you, too?" Buffy asked nervously.

"Not a 100%, no. But you can't have dangerous ghosties roamin' around your house."

"A-fucking-men!" Xander said.

Buffy bit her lip. She couldn't take it if something happened to Spike.

"It's necessary, luv. Don't worry about me."

"I can't help it," Buffy said looking up at him with watery eyes. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

Spike laughed lightly. "I'm already dead, Buffy. That's pretty much as bad as it gets. I'll be fine."

"Okay...but you have to...stay far away from the priest tomorrow. And...I'll stay with you while Willow and Xander show him around."

"If that would make you feel better...okay." Spike smiled.





The next morning, the priest, Father Callahan, came out as promised.

A very jumpy Willow and Xander led him to all the spots that Spike had pointed out. The spots that the potentially dangerous spirits resided.

Meanwhile, Buffy sat on her bed with Spike. They talked about safe topics: music, art, etc. She showed him her sketches that she'd made of him over the years.

"That's a nice one," Spike said, pointing to a sketch. “Damn, I am a good lookin’ sonuvabitch, ain’t I?” Spike smirked, trying to get a laugh out of her.

She had colored the sketch in. In the sketch, his blue eyes sparkled with mischief, a sly smirk was on his face.

"Yeah, I...always liked that one too..." Buffy said absently.

Her hands were shaking slightly. She was still terrified that he would be yanked away from her.

“Luv," Spike made his hand solid and touched her lightly, "it'll be okay."

"I-I want to believe that, but --" Buffy looked into his eyes. "I don't know what I'd do without you... I love you."

Spike smiled broadly, his eyes twinkled. "I love you, too. God himself would have to come down here and drag me away by my hair to make me leave you, pet." He squeezed her hand. "Even then, I'd go kickin' and screamin'."

Buffy smiled back. "Can you hold me?"

"Let's see," Spike said, feeling a surge of energy run through his body.

Buffy put the sketches aside and slowly leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. Spike put his arms around her, using every bit of strength and will he had to become more substantial. There was enough resistance for the embrace.

Buffy sighed happily. "It feels so good...being in your arms. I want to stay here forever."

"Forever's a long time, pet." Spike's eyes slid closed at the sensation of having her pressed delicately against him.

“I gave the Playboys to Xander, he needed something to take his mind off of...what happened in the basement. To say he was pleased would be an understatement...” Buffy said, then giggled. “You should’ve seen his face when he saw the Marilyn issue -- like a kid on Christmas morning.”

“Nice to know they’re going to someone who’ll appreciate them.”

"Spike?"

"Hmmm?"

“I had more dreams about the house, about when you lived here. I had two of them in a row the other night.”

Spike swallowed. “What did you see?”

“In the first one, you and Darla were having dinner with her boyfriend, Angel. In the second one, you were talking to Ethan and Percy in the kitchen.”

Spike pulled away and looked at her, fear on his face. “You’re seeing it... You’re seeing what really happened.”

“Spike, tell me what happened. It’s becoming pretty clear that I’m going to see it eventually. I’d rather be prepared.”

Spike opened his mouth to respond, to begin to tell her what was in store for her, but the memories were wrenched away from him. He looked confused.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"I...can't remember... I knew it a minute ago. But it's gone now..." He got up and paced back and forth.

"Are you sure you just don't want to tell me?"

"Pet, I don't want to have to tell you, that's true. But you do have the right to know... I honestly can't recall..." He ran his hands through his hair.

"It's okay," Buffy soothed. "I'll go into town to the library after Father Callahan is finished. I want to read the newspaper accounts of what happened. You can tell me when you remember."

She knew that he might not remember before she had the dream. The last date had been awfully close to the day of the murders. Tonight was probably going to be the night.

"Come here," Buffy extended her hand to him.

Spike walked back to her and took her hand, kissing it gently.

For the next two hours, Buffy and Spike stayed close, talking about anything and everything. There was still a prevailing fear that Spike would be banished along with the other spirits. They were relieved when Xander came up and told them that the priest was done cleansing the 'hot spots'.

Assuring her that he was just leaving to rest and regain some energy, Spike disappeared. Buffy felt the same crushing loneliness she always felt when he left her.





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