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The tension surging inside the crypt was so thick it was almost suffocating. Spike stood in the center of the room forcing himself to stay put. He wanted to escape into the tunnels, but he knew running away was pointless. The Bit had seen him. She would only follow him, hunting him down, until she got her explanation, and worse yet she’d tell big sis of his return.



“When did you get back?” the girl asked.



He was caught off guard. Her tone was firm, but not accusing. He knew Niblet wouldn’t be happy about him leaving Sunnydale, but he also expected her to be furious about what he had tried to do to Buffy before his departure. Perhaps she didn’t know. It really wasn’t something he could see the Slayer sharing, especially with her younger sister.



“Not too long ago,” he answered carefully. She wasn’t too happy with him to begin with, why push the issue by letting her know that he’d been holed up in this crypt for days without making his presence known.



“Why didn’t you let me know you were here?” She placed her small hands on her hips as she waited for answers. He hadn’t been back long, but she was fairly sure he had been here, hiding in the shadows, while she had talked to Clem. After she had mentioned how much Buffy had missed him, why hadn’t he revealed himself?



“I didn’t think I’d be too welcome,” he shrugged leaning over to retrieve his cigarettes from the chair trying to avoid meeting her gaze. He wished it was his bottle—he could have used a drink or five to get through this discussion.



“I wasn’t really happy that you left. We really could have used your help when Willow went all Wicked Witch of the West,” Dawn replied. Her face cringed a bit recalling the events that had transpired during the last would be Apocalypse. “I wanted to see you again though.”



“Yeah, I am sorry about that, Bit,” he told her as he lit his cigarette. Clem had filled him in on the happenings while he had been gone. He had felt guilty about his last encounter with Buffy, and this just made him feel a million times worse. He would have killed Warren himself for what he had done to Buffy and Tara no matter how excruciating the chip would have made it. “There was just something I had to do.”



“Something more important than helping us save the world again?” Dawn tapped her foot impatiently.



“Yeah, it was,” he answered quietly his gaze glued to the cigarette he rolled restlessly between the tips of his slender fingers.



Dawn’s gaze drifted over the vampire standing a few feet in front of her taking in the roots that were showing in his hair, the downcast eyes, and the slight trembling in his hands that made the occasional ash fall from the cigarette and flutter to cold stone floor. He was hiding something from her. That much was obvious. She knew him well enough that if she tried to push right now, he was only going to close up.



“Okay,” she replied slowly working out another plan of attack in her mind as she spoke. “So why didn’t you tell Buffy that you were back. I know you were here when I talked to Clem. So you know she misses you.”



“She doesn’t miss me,” he scoffed. “Not after…after …I…”



“I know what you did, Spike,” Dawn cut in.



“You know?” he gave her a blank stare. The Niblet knew what he had done, and she was standing here trying to convince him to see Buffy again. She must have hit her head pretty hard when she had fallen into that hole in the cemetery.



“Yeah, I know. Xander told me.” Anger flickered over his face. He should have known. He didn’t know how the whelp had found out, but leave it to him to air out all the nasties to the Bit. “And before you threaten to pull out his tongue or something, he didn’t mean to tell me. It was when we were running from Willow. We were all scared and upset, and it just came out. Besides, I would have found out sometime. Things have been going pretty well with Buffy and I, no more secrets. That includes the not so nice ones too.”



“So you know,” he sighed flicking his half smoked butt into the shadows in the corner of the crypt. “That means you know why I can’t go back.”



“But she misses you,” the girl objected crossing her arms over her small chest. “She was upset about it for a while, but she’s over it now. I know she would like to see you.”



Spike flopped back down on his chair and stared at the TV, speaking to her over his shoulder. “It’s not that easy, Bit. What I did…There’s no excuse for it. She doesn’t want to see me, not really anyway.”



“How about you let her decided that?” she insisted the frustration in her voice becoming more noticeable as she carried on the conversation with the back of his blond head. “If you’d just talk to her.”



“I can’t, Niblet,” he growled.



“No, you won’t,” she sighed. He could almost hear the look of disappointment she shot him in her voice. “You’re almost as stubborn as Buffy, but this is Sunnydale. She’ll find out eventually.”



He nearly turned to refute her claim, but Spike knew the girl was right. Sooner or later, Buffy was bound to find him, but right now he preferred that meeting to be later, much later. Instead he kept his blue eyes focused on the old set in front of him letting the girl know that the argument was over. It was pointless to continue. Nothing he could say would change her opinion. After a few moments, which seemed like hours to the vampire, he heard her sigh and then the sound of her footsteps as she left the crypt slamming the heavy door behind her with all the force that she could muster.



Spike sat stiffly in the chair while the sound of the closing door echoed softly off the stone walls of the tomb. He waited a moment wandering if she might come back. Exhaling a long unnecessary breath as he reached for his cigarettes for a second time, he silently cursed himself for getting caught. That was not the way he had expected their reunion to go. Actually, he had planned on there not being a reunion at all. He had only come to Sunnydale to keep an eye on them, make sure the two Summers girls were safe, but he never had any intention of revealing himself to either of them. Dawn was right though. Buffy would find out about him eventually, and he strongly doubted that their meeting would be nearly as amiable as Dawn’s had been.





***





Buffy looked about the porch scanning the bushes for any sign of intruders. She had been in the kitchen preparing something for dinner before Dawn returned home—okay, it was one of those prepackaged just add water deals, but it still counted. Just as she was opening the plastic bag of pasta, she had heard someone knock on the front door. She had played with the idea of staying in the kitchen hoping her visitor might decide to give up and go away, but she never knew when someone from Social Services might stop by to check up on them. It would be nice to be caught doing something domestic and responsible for a change, rather than trying to explain why her house was filled with lovesick vampires, lesbians, and magic herbs.



She had swung the door open plastering her most pleasant smile on her lips only to find no one waiting on the stoop. The porch was empty, and after further observation the judged the yard to be relatively people free.



“Jerks,” she grumbled shrugging her slight shoulders as she closed the door and returned to the kitchen. It must have been some kids with nothing better to do. Most demons in didn’t come within blocks of the Slayers home, and salesmen tended to keep their routes as far away from Sunnydale as possible.



She entered the kitchen and came to a sudden stop in the doorway. Her eyes grew wide as she looked about the room. It was empty and fairly quiet, save for the meat still sizzling on the stove where she had left it. The door was closed, and she could see no sign of any force. She would have heard the noise of it breaking off its hinges had someone tried to break in.



Satisfied that the room was empty, she approached the counter slowly, every muscle in her body tense just waiting for someone or thing to jump out at her. Everything seemed normal enough and the room was definitely empty, but that didn’t explain how the large spray of red roses had gotten on her counter.







TBC…





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