A/N Thanks for reading. I know things have been a little angsty in this story so far, but it will get happier, just kind of building up the story at present.



Chapter 3

Buffy quickly dressed and left the house early deciding a walk to work was exactly what she needed to wake herself up. It had been a little after two when she had finally fallen asleep only to awaken two hours later by the sound of her alarm clock going off.

A call to the hospital just before she left went some way towards quelling some of her fears for her sister. Dawn had had a good night, but Buffy wished more than anything that she could be there for her sister when she was going through her ordeal. She had a genuine smile on her face as she left the house and walked down the street, with the feeling that maybe things were going to be okay after all.

As Buffy arrived at her workplace, the lights were already on in the diner. Xander was usually the one to open up and she could see him working in the kitchen as he got the grills and ovens going. Buffy smiled at him through the window, he smiled back, and seemed little surprised to see her if his expression was anything to go by.

She opened the door and walked in.

“Hi and what do you think you are doing here young lady?” he asked.

“Working, I think,” replied Buffy.

“Uh, uh, Giles already got Harmony in to cover your shift, Willow was supposed to call you. We figured you needed the time to be with Dawn, with full pay of course,” said Xander.

Buffy smiled at him. “I’m gonna be here whether you want me to or not, besides I need a little distraction,”

“If you are sure? You know an extra pair of hands is always welcome. How is Dawnie?” asked Xander.

He was fond of Buffy’s little sister. She was a regular visitor to the diner and often came in after school and did her homework on one of the vacant tables until her sister finished her shift. Dawn would frequently ask them all questions when she got stuck on her assignments and would occasionally help out if things got a little busy or they were short staffed.

Buffy gave Xander a weak smile. “Oh you know Dawn, she puts on a brave face, but I think she’s really scared,”

“Kinda like someone else I know,” said Xander quietly, not fooled for a moment by her bravado.

Buffy took off her coat and tied her apron around her slender waist. Faith arrived a few moments later, also surprised to see Buffy there.

“B, why aren’t you getting some rest, you look exhausted,” said Faith.

“Is that another way of saying I look a hag?” asked Buffy dryly.

“Would I say something like that?” asked Faith trying to look innocent.

“That’s exactly the sort of thing you would say,” replied Xander.

“How well you know me Xander Harris,” teased Faith.

They all turned towards the door as Harmony Kendall came through it. The three of them let out a collective sigh as the blonde-haired woman advanced on them. She was wearing three-inch high heels that clicked on the floor with each step. Buffy tried to repress the smile that was spreading across her face. Give it half an hour and the girl would be wishing she had never showed up that morning, she thought to herself.

“Harmony,” Faith greeted her.

Hi so where do you want me?”

“Is that a trick question?” asked Xander.

Harmony giggled at his comment.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the hospital with your sister?” asked the blonde.

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as the first customer of the day entered the doors. She walked off to take his order before she strangled Harmony where she stood.

“I’ll give you an A for tact Harmony,” said Faith sarcastically.

“What did I do?” she asked, confused.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Spike checked the answer phone for any messages, he sighed his way impatiently through a couple of females asking Angel to call them until he got to the oily tones of Ethan requesting that he meet him in the diner at nine. Spike checked his watch; it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. He went to the kitchen, poured himself a mug of coffee from the percolator, and sat down. Angel opened the door to his room, he came out in an immaculate business suit.

“Morning Spike, anymore of that?” asked Angel as he glanced at Spike’s mug.

“You can get it yourself, I’m not your bloody slave,” Spike replied.

“While you’re under my roof is that much to ask that you help out a little?” asked Angel.

“A roof I pay well for living under,” snapped Spike.

“Touchy this morning aren’t we? Take no notice of me. You know what I’m like until I’ve had my early morning coffee,” grinned Angel. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“Well, I have an appointment with a publisher that might be interested in my manuscript, and another meeting with Ethan,”

“Sounds like a blast,” said Angel as he drank down the remains of his coffee. He picked up his car keys and brief case and exited the apartment.

“Have a nice day you git,” Spike replied.

He got up; enjoying the silence of the apartment for the whole five minutes that he was there, before putting on his leather jacket and following the same path that Angel had taken. He took the short walk to the diner in less than five minutes; it was already thriving with activity. Spike looked around the diner, Ethan was nowhere to be seen yet, but he was early. He managed to find a vacant table, which still had the remains of the previous occupants meal on its surface.

Buffy saw him the moment he entered the diner, the strange feeling of breathlessness she had felt the other day returned. Faith saw Buffy’s reaction to the new arrival. She smiled to herself as she walked over to her friend.

“Well look who it is,” Faith breathed in Buffy’s ear. “That table looks kinda messy, wanna take care of it?”

“What about you or Harmony?” asked Buffy.

“There’s no one else, I am in the middle of the coffee rounds and Harmony is serving one of the tables. It’s a dirty job Buffy, but somebody’s gotta do it,” teased Faith.

“Fine,” said Buffy as she walked off with a cloth towards his table.

“Go get him girl,”

Buffy’s colour rose at Faith’s parting shot. Spike was staring out of the window when she arrived at his table and began to clear up the mess. He suddenly turned around to look at her. The coffee cup that she held in her hands slipped from her fingers and fell into his lap. Spike winced a little as the cold coffee dregs soaked into the fabric of his jeans.

“I’m so sorry,” Buffy wiped at his thighs automatically with her dishcloth.

“I think I can take care of that,” he grinned at her, stilling the movements of her hands.

“Oh, yes…sorry,” she apologised again.

Faith breezed by on her way to another table. “Buffy you are supposed to handle the customers, not handle the customers,”

Spike looked at Buffy. “She sounds a real card,”

“I really am sorry, maybe I could get you something on the house?” asked Buffy, flushing as she realised that she had just apologised for the third time.

“Don’t sweat it, what’s a little spilt coffee between a customer and his favourite waitress?” he grinned.

Buffy flushed at the use of his words favourite. At that moment, Ethan entered the diner and all conversation was at an end. Buffy walked off, keen to get away from those observant blue eyes.

“Early Spike? You must be eager,” drawled Ethan.

“Eager to have my business with you over and done with yes,”

Spike fumbled about in his inner jacket pocket and took out the envelope that held the cheque for the amount Ethan had requested. He slid it across the table to him. Ethan’s eyes darted around the busy diner. When he had satisfied himself that no one had seen the exchange, he picked it up and stowed it away inside his coat.

“Just tell me where and when,” Spike requested.

“St Mary’s, October 9th. Ten a.m. sharp. I’ll call you if there is any problem before then,”

“Wait a bleeding minute! That’s a church,” said Spike.

“How very observant of you,”

“I thought this was going to be some quickie ceremony at city hall,”

“No can do, Immigration are clamping down on this sort of thing. A church has that little bit more of a truthful ring to it,”

“I’m not even religious,” Spike informed him.

Ethan chuckled. “You don’t have to be dear boy, you just have to show up, and besides the priest is an old friend of mine,”

Spike eyed Ethan distastefully. He was a rogue to the core, just how many other pies did he have his corrupt bony fingers in, Spike wondered.

“See you in two weeks then,” Spike got up from the table and walked towards the exit, leaving a very smug looking Ethan in his wake. Ethan was a shady character, but one that seemed to deliver, he had to give him at least that, thought Spike cynically.

As he opened the door, he looked across towards the counter and saw Buffy watching him. She quickly looked away; he smiled at the action without really knowing why.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


The heat of the diner was getting to her, or maybe she was just tired Buffy thought as she went out the back for a short break. She had found Spike’s presence as disturbing as she had the day before. What was wrong with her? Now was not the time to be developing some schoolgirl crush over a total stranger. She leant up against the wall behind the diner, closed her eyes, and sighed. The gentle breeze went a long way to cooling the heat of the Californian sun.

Buffy opened her eyes and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Mr Rayne standing in front of her line of vision.

“Hello dear girl,”

“Hi, I’m on my break,” said Buffy suspiciously

“I didn’t want service Buffy. I heard about your recent troubles and wanted to offer my sympathies,” he replied smoothly.

“Oh er thanks,” Buffy answered awkwardly.

“Look, I know that you haven’t had things easy these last few months and I wondered if there was anything I could do to make things a little easier?” he queried.

Buffy frowned, wondering just what he was getting at exactly. Faith’s revelation of the day before came back to her, she shuddered inwardly at her friend’s assumptions. Mr Rayne had always looked at her with polite indifference nothing more. Buffy looked back at him waiting for him to continue. She watched as he reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small black card and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“My calling card,”

Buffy took the card and read it to herself Rayne enterprises. It looked harmless enough, but explained nothing.

“And?”

“Lets just say I help people that help me. Money…employment…accommodations etc for people who come to the land of the free and decide they want to stay and don’t have time to cut through the red tape,”

“Illegal aliens?” Buffy blurted out.

Ethan looked around the deserted alley uneasily.

“In a manner of speaking. I offer them a quick route to a green card, they pay me very well, and I pay the Americans who help me help them very well in return,”

“Your point is?” asked Buffy.

“How do you feel about marriage?” asked Ethan.

Buffy’s throat almost closed up in shock.

“You mean you and me marriage?”

Ethan chuckled at her misassumption. “No, no. Tempting thought, but I am old enough to be your father,”

Buffy breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. “Well, me and whom then? Not that I would consider it for a moment,” she replied.

“Does it matter? You would not to have to live with your paper husband. All it takes is a few minutes in a church for $25,000. Good pay for a morning’s work wouldn’t you say. How long would it take to earn that kind of money here?” he asked pointing at the diner.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” said Buffy sarcastically as she tried to give him back his card.

“Keep it,” he replied as he turned and walked away.

“I’ll never need your kind of help, ever!” called Buffy after him. She screwed the card up in her hand, but instead of throwing it on the street, she absent-mindedly tucked it into her apron.

“Buffy! Break is over could you give me a hand in here?” asked Faith as she poked her head out of the door.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Buffy stood in the corridor of the hospital, a nurse at her side and a doctor standing in front of her. He was talking, she could see his lips moving, but the words had stopped making sense. He had just informed her that Dawn had leukaemia and needed to begin a course of chemotherapy as soon as possible. Before she had had time to recover, the next bombshell hit her as the nurse handed her a list and the costs of treatments already received.

“There must be some mistake we are covered,” said Buffy as she looked at the long list.

“Not since the eighth of last month. It seems that Dawn was on your mother’s policy along with yourself, but that has now expired. I‘m sorry to heap more on you at a time like this, but it has to be dealt with,” said the nurse sympathetically.

Buffy stared at all the numbers on the page before her. She cursed herself for her ignorance. Her mom had been gone a little over a year now and her kindly employer had offered to keep their insurance going until Buffy had gotten back on her feet. He had obviously decided a years grace was long enough. Why hadn’t she paid more attention to household matters? She asked herself. Because you were too busy being, mother, father and big sister to Dawn Came back the reply. Oh, God Dawn Buffy’s hand flew to her mouth as she thought of her sister, what was she going to tell Dawn? She couldn’t think on that now, her sister was all that mattered, and she might lose her…. Buffy cut the thought off before it could finish its self.

The only good thing to come out of the doctor’s mouth was the fact that she could take her sister home with her that night. She would wait until they got home before speaking to her sister and Dawn deserved to know the truth.

TBC