It hadn’t taken long before her heartbeat had slowed its steady rhythm, telling him that she was fast asleep. It surprised him. He would’ve expected her to lie awake, pondering over the events that had happened tonight, but then again, she was probably exhausted. They hadn’t said very much after he’d told his story, no more than agreeing on patrolling together the next night. He was so happy she hadn’t backed out.
He’d thought the Slayer would be more spooked over everything. After that moment in the cemetery when he’d closed the wound, she’d just become calmer, more relaxed, with him. Maybe, maybe she did trust him. Maybe she would soon be ready to take on Angelus. The latter was just wishful thinking, but he still couldn’t help but hope. Spike wanted it all over with. Sighing, he stood.
Walking across the yard so he could take a look at the Slayer’s window, he smiled a little. She’d actually hit Angelus tonight. Even if the whole meeting seemed to have been a disappointment, there was still that. He definitely took it as a step closer to the light, literally speaking of course.
“Goodnight, Slayer,” he said, turning around and heading towards his crypt.
He had hated speaking of the past, but he supposed he should have guessed it would rear its ugly head. Even if they hadn’t shared their memories tonight, she would probably have asked about it sooner or later anyway. The memories were still painful and even though he felt like he’d moved beyond it, he couldn’t let it go. His dream girl encouraged those thoughts. He still remembered the first dream, over six months ago.
”Hello, William.”
A female stood around teen feet away. Her face was covered by darkness, but still he’d no doubt that she was staring at him. He didn’t like it. A low growl rumbled through his chest and he flashed her some fang. The female didn’t even seem to notice as she took a step forward.
“I know what you want,” she said.
That made Spike laugh and he shook his head in disbelief. There was no way that she could have a clue about what he wanted. Deciding to ignore her, he turned his back on her and took in his surroundings. There were none. Nothing. Black void surrounded them.
“I know the one who will help you.”
He refused to listen to her and turned around, searching the darkness with his eyes for some kind of light, a small star, a sparkle. Anything. Suddenly a small hand was placed on his shoulder and he flinched, fighting an impulse to run for his life.
“Tell me, William,” The voice was suddenly scarily close to his ear. “Don’t you want to kill them?”
He’d woken up gasping that night.
Spike gave a small chuckle, so many dreams had followed that one, would she even leave him alone after he’d taken his revenge? Then he frowned. What if she didn’t? He sure as hell didn’t want to have her lurking in his head for the rest of his existence. She had to disappear – along with the Slayer.
There was a girl leaning against her locker. She was short, dressed in a black shirt and black jeans and her hair was cut above her shoulder. She didn’t look older than seventeen, but there was something about the way she rested against the locker, with her hands buried in the pockets of her jeans and eyes closed. If sunlight hadn’t been shining in through the windows, Buffy would’ve thought the girl was a vampire.
Hesitation in her step, Buffy walked closer. When she was just a foot or so away, she coughed a little. With a slow, lazy movement the strange girl tilted her head to the side and looked at the Slayer, who just wished the ground would open up and swallow her. It wasn’t often she wished she was… well, more somehow, but right now she couldn’t help but glance down at her boring white top and wish she’d worn anything else.
The girl didn’t look at her top though. She was staring into her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips. Buffy cleared her throat, clutching her books tighter against her chest.
“Um... that’s my locker,” Buffy said.
A flicker of surprise in the girl’s eyes and, ridiculously enough, Buffy felt herself stand a little straighter.
“Right,” the girl said, stepping aside to lean against the next locker instead.
Glancing at the brunette out of the corner of her eye, Buffy fumbled with the combination lock before she managed to open it. Her movements were clumsy when she pushed the books in and she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. A slight chuckle from beside her.
“You need help with that?”
“Eh... no. No thanks.” At last Buffy just forced the books in and slammed the door shut. The girl gave a whistle when the whole locker rocked and the Slayer drew in a deep breath. All she wanted was to run away for some reason. Why? This was just another girl. She was the Slayer. She’d dusted hundreds of vampires; she was perfectly capable of walking away from a girl at a slow pace. She hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps when a hand on her shoulder halted her. A hand with slovenly-painted red nails.
“Hey, maybe you can help me find my classroom?”
Slowly Buffy turned around and the hand let go. The black-haired girl was smiling a little sheepishly at her. She was new here. Of course! Otherwise I’d have seen her before! Shaking her head at herself, Buffy found herself smiling back.
“Sure. Can I see your schedule?”
It was handed to her and Buffy could immediately tell where the room lay. The relief on the girl’s face after she’d explained the easy directions almost made her giggle.
“You think it’s funny my sense of direction sucks?” the girl said, raising her eyebrows.
Buffy’s breath caught in her throat and she found that she really didn’t want to offend the girl. Hastily she opened her mouth to apologize and noticed the mirth sparkling in the grey eyes meeting hers. Without thinking, the Slayer rolled her eyes and the sparkling turned into a short peal of laughter.
The laughter abruptly made the girl completely human. Suddenly Buffy saw that she was not perfect; she was too skinny and her mouth a little too large for her face. Just a new student.
When the laughter died, she offered her hand.
“I’m Buffy.”
Fingers with red-painted nails curled around hers.
“Alex.”
To say that Giles was fascinated was an understatement. He was acting as if the President had painted the moon pink.
“So, you shared memories, you say?” Giles said.
Buffy would probably have found his interest funny, if this wasn’t the third time he’d asked the same question. She sighed. “Yes. Again. Mega pain and memories, then we have our voices back.”
In fact, Giles hadn’t even scolded her for patrolling with Spike, but she supposed that would come when he was over his fascination. Not like she’d get any reward for being patient with the intrigued Watcher.
“And you can’t recall the memories?” he asked, “Not anything at all?”
“I told you, they were just flashes,” she said, looking down for a moment.
She didn’t want to tell him about them. The memories and her talk with Spike – it was private. Not something for her Watcher to study, and she was sure the vampire would agree. She was certain he didn’t want her to tell the world; it was something he’d confided to her alone.
“I find is quite remarkable,” Giles said.
Oh, really?
“I never would’ve thought breaking point meant...” Suddenly the man stood and began walking towards the office, calling over his shoulder, “If you’ll excuse me.”
“What?” Buffy rose to her feet as well. “What’re you gonna do?”
Giles was already inside his office and he only poked his head outside the door long enough to say three words.
“Research, of course.”
With a grimace, Buffy picked up her bag and headed for the doors, only to stop when Giles called her name.
“What now?” she asked, turning her head with one hand on the door.
“That nice boy, who you were talking to a couple of days ago,” Giles smiled a little. “He asked for you earlier today.”
Owen had asked for her? After she’d run away from him with another guy, she wouldn’t have thought him to so much as look at her again. Especially after their date had been so awkward.
“So what did he say?” Buffy asked casually.
“He just asked if I had seen you here today, and I said that I hadn’t.” With that Giles vanished back into his office.
Slowly Buffy walked out of the library and started towards the exit. She didn’t have anymore lessons that day and she really wanted to spend some time with her mother. The confusion on her mom’s face this morning when Buffy suddenly could speak again had been amusing. The woman had shaken her head and asked for an explanation. When Buffy said she couldn’t give her any until she’d spoken to Giles, her mom had nodded and finished her coffee. Her mother’s calm acceptance was one of the greatest gifts Buffy had ever had gained.
Now, slowly walking along the corridor, she wondered if she should tell mom about her patrolling with Spike tonight. She definitely didn’t want to tell Giles about it, but it felt good sharing stuff with her mom after their previous conversation. But on the other hand she really didn’t want Joyce to sit up half the night worrying.
Buffy broke off her train of thought as Willow came into sight, carrying two large books in her arms.
“H-hi, Buffy,” the redhead said, then swallowed.
“Hey.”
Then there was an uncomfortable silence. And out of nowhere Buffy realized that she had nothing to say. So she just nodded at the other girl and then walked past her, out into the sunshine.
TBC