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Spike smiled at the vengeance demon as she walked about the room absently examining various objects that caught her eye. He was well aware of her fondness for branching out of her chosen field. He recalled one wish that had turned out quite nicely—much better than the birthday party that would never end. He didn’t mind being locked up with Buffy, but he could have done without the Scoobies milling about.

“So, what’s it going to be, William?” Halfreck asked as she raised a candle to her wrinkled nose to test the scent. “I’m sure we could think of some kind of punishment for taking your feelings for granted. I know, how about a nasty case of boils every time she thinks bad thoughts about you?”

“Hallie, I love the girl, remember?” he sighed. She always did have an enthusiasm for her work.

“I suppose boils wouldn’t make her all that appealing,” she agreed. “I’m in the punishment field, but I guess I could make an exception for such an old friend.”

“Yeah, thanks for the offer, luv,” he replied, “but there’s one thing I haven’t got, and I’ll always be a monster in her eyes without it.”

“Oh yes, her excuse for loving the other one,” Hallie added with a snort. “Like having a should makes you worthy of love…”

“You know about the pouf?” he growled. Why did his grandsire have to turn up in the conversation every time he discussed his relationship with Buffy?

“I told you. Anya and I had a long talk,” she replied examining another candle. “Was there a sale on these things? You know, just because it seems to be a bargain, doesn’t mean you need to buy out the store!”

“Hallie!” Spike growled.

“What?” she asked with an innocent smile. Well, as innocent as a smile can look on a vengeance demon.

“What do you know about Angel?” he demanded.

It was no wonder she and Anya were such good friends. Trying to get information out of either of them was like pulling teeth!

“Oh, keep your pants on! I’m getting to it!” she laughed enjoying how irritated the vampire had become and being the cause of it. “She told me about the relationship our little Slayer had with the vampire with a soul. So, you think if you has a should, she’d love you too?”

Spike shrugged his shoulders snubbing out his cigarette in a dusty metal urn next to the bed before he spoke. “She’s the one always saying I’m a monster because I don’t have a soul>”

“So, you want me to give you back your soul?” she asked.

“Well, it might work…”

“It’s all or nothing, you know,” Hallie warned the vampire. “I’m not a gypsy. Besides, I’d hate to curse a friend.”

“You’d love it,” he contradicted. “How do I know you could even do it?”

“Oh, I took it away,” she assured him. “I can give it back.”

“Actually,” he reminded, “that was Dru’s doing.”

“And how do you think that crazy little vamp found you?” Hallie asked. “London’s a big place. Meeting up with her wasn’t just a lucky break.”





XXXXXXXXXX





The kitchen filled with a thick cloud of steam as the water made contact with the pan. Small black blobs, which ere supposed to have been pancakes, bobbed about in the pool of water. Buffy knew she should have just gone with the microwaveable kind, but Tara had made it look so easy!

“Buffy?” Dawn asked as she entered the room squinting her brown eyes to see through the hazy room. “What are you doing?”

Buffy sighed in frustration as she turned from the sink. “Well, I was trying to make some breakfast before you went to school, but it got a little crispy.”

“That’s okay,” Dawn gave her older sister a smile as she took in the mess on the kitchen counter.

Cooking had never been Buffy’s strong point. She had always been so caught up with her Slayer duties to worry about such mundane things as housekeeping. She’d done the best she could after their mother died, but there still were some chores—like making pancakes from scratch—that she had yet to master. Dawn held back a giggle as Buffy pushed back a stray lock of hair smearing pancake batter across her forehead in the process.

“I could make you some toast,” she suggested. “The toaster isn’t all that complicated.”

“I’ll just grab something at school,” she replied continuing quickly at her sister’s defeated look. “I’m really not that hungry.”

“Well, okay,” Buffy sighed, “but I want you to come straight home from school. I thought we could do Chinese, maybe rent a couple of movies.”

Dawn looked at her sister in surprise. It was pretty rare that Buffy was home when she returned from school. If she wasn’t at work, she was in bed sleeping. She couldn’t help but feel happy that Buffy was finally remembering that she had a little sister, but there was a nagging worry in the back of her mind.

“Don’t you have to work?” she asked.

“Nope,” Buffy smiled. “Called off. Thought we could use a little girl time. Besides, it’ll be nice to not smell of grease for one night.”

Dawn fingered her textbooks, looking down at them as if they were suddenly extremely interesting. “Can we afford that?”

“Let me worry about that,” Buffy replied softly. “You’d better get to school. I’ll get this place cleaned up. I have a couple of errands to run today, and than I’ll meet you back here. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Dawn gave her sister a broad smile as she headed towards the door. “See you tonight!”

“Yeah, great,” Buffy sighed as she turned towards the mess she had made in her failed attempt at breakfast.

Things were going well, barring the pancakes. She had a day off work, she and Dawn were getting along, but she still really didn’t feel happy. She could pretend to be on the outside, but she still feel empty on the inside. She worked on gathering up the ingredients on the counter and placing them back in the cupboard. She wasn’t going to sit around wallowing in self-pity anymore. There were more important things to worry about than her happiness—like Dawn. She had a full day ahead of her, and she didn’t know which she dreaded more—talking to Anya about Dawn’s stealing or confronting Spike and telling him it was over. It was bad enough she had to leave Dawn alone at night while she went out on patrol, but it was another to leave her alone while she was with him. She wasn’t supposed to be with him to begin with, and she was just going to have to make him understand that.





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