Spike woke up giving a mock salute to the vamps as he headed out to search for Buffy. He had left behind some dust in the kitchen from a vampire who refused to move out of his way but he was quite sure, they would open their doors to him again anyway. Today was his lucky night he could feel it. He wandered the streets finding a guy pick-pocketing an innocent girl and drained him on the spot. He had no issues with draining innocent people but for some reason, knowing the people were evil, made the blood taste even better.
He wandered down the street, finding a big muscular man beating up a younger, skinny man, he drained him as well. He was feeling pretty strong and ready for some serious searching when he spotted a demon bar that seemed to be full of action. He could hear the loud music and smell the booze before he entered the place. As he glanced around the bar, he remembered going there with Dru before and figured it was a great place to start his search in L.A.
Before Spike had left the vampire nest earlier, he had taken the time to ask about the Slayer. No vampires seem to know anything about a slayer in town and they had laughed at his blonde hair, green eyes description of Buffy saying it fit about half the population. This had made his night start out discouraging but he was determined that he had the whole night to search and something had to turn up. He was feeling optimistic and eager to start.
He strutted into the bar, climbing onto a stool to appear cool and collected. He hoped it would get him the information he needed. He ordered a glass of O negative with a shot of Jack as he questioned the locals. He didn’t really need the blood but wanted to fit in.
He drank a bit of the glass before asking “Anyone heard anything about a Slayer being in L.A.?”
The demons mostly ignored him or declared that they knew nothing. Spike felt discouraged until a demon approached him on his way out. He offered a suggestion, “There is a big vampire named Lawsen who knows everyone in town. If there is a slayer, he would know. He might have even offed her already. I suggest you start there. He resides in a large warehouse on the outside of town. If you take this road straight, you can’t miss it. Good luck to you.”
Spike nodded and thanked the demon waltzing out of the bar feeling a bit more confident. He got in his car keeping the volume down in case he needed to hear and drove to the front of a large warehouse where the demon had said Lawsen was staying. He sniffed the air not smelling anything but that doesn’t always mean no vampires were there. He glanced at the opened door and let himself in finding the place empty. The place was covered with vampire dust but no live vampires. He realized he reached a dead end and kicked a dust pile in frustration.
He sat in a large chair in the center of the room to think of a new plan, “Dust means someone dusted these vampires. Could that someone be Buffy? Would Buffy dust vampires while running away? She’d be upset about killing the poofter and probably not up to her normal fighting self….”
He debated back and forth stating out loud, “Yes, Buffy’s kind heart would cause her to dust vampires while hiding. I think this means I’m on the right track and in the proper city. Now I just have to find her since I arrived too late! Bloody Hell! Why am I always too late lately? First Bloody Dru and her running away and always getting there a few seconds too late and now in this warehouse with Buffy.”
He pulled out a cigarette realizing he was wasting time sitting here in an empty warehouse. He took a drag of his cigarette as he frowned at the fact the sun would be rising soon. He had wasted his night without even realizing it. He took another drag of his cigarette before throwing it into a dust pile. He made a decision that he would just stay here for the day and start out fresh the following night. If he went back to the vampire nest now, he’d probably end up dust and be no use to Buffy or Joyce. He didn’t fancy following Dru’s idea of being one with the sunshine. He settled further into the comfortable throne-like chair to get some rest. His last thought before he drifted off to sleep was that he was glad he was getting closer to finding the missing bloody slayer.
Buffy woke up feeling rested as she hopped into the shower for a quick rinse. She felt clean as she climbed out and heard Lucky meowing reminding her, he was hungry. She refilled his dish noticing he had about two more days left of food. Watching the cat eat for a moment, she felt her stomach growl and reminding her that she was hungry. She took out the second to the last piece of bread smearing the jelly, which she had split in half for enough for tomorrow as well as some peanut butter. Things were getting tight but tomorrow was payday so she was not too worried. Since she had saved the owner from being robbed, she should still get a paycheck. She didn’t want to think about that too much so she quickly walked into the living room removing her towel to change into her diner outfit. She adjusted her nametag as she leaned down giving Lucky a hug. She opened the back door a crack so Lucky could come and go as he pleased as she went out the front door. If Lucky really did wander during the day, he was always home at night to sleep with Buffy on the couch while they both fell asleep to the television. Buffy frowned as she really felt like an old lady with a cat. She shrugged it off realizing it was better than being Buffy.
She opened the door to the diner eager to start the day as she flipped over the open sign and started to fill the sugar and creams. Same thing everyday was good. She liked routines and enjoyed the fact that there was never anything new at work. The menu never changed except for the daily special, the orders never changed and most people frequented daily and ordered the same thing making her life easier. Sure she could do without the whole vampire slaying by night but that wasn’t so bad. She was realizing that saving people made her feel good and it was great to work off some energy.
Henry interrupted her thoughts as he wrapped his arms around Buffy in a big hug. His voice sounded sincere and thankful as he squeezed Buffy a little not letting go of her,
“Thanks Anne for your help last night. Not sure how you did it but she was home safe and sound. I owe it all to you.”
He finally released her to hand her a big personal check for $5,000. Buffy looked down at the check curiously “What is this?”
Henry smiled proudly, “A thank you for saving my little girl. It is what I would have had to pay those creeps but you made them go away. So the money is yours if you want it.”
Buffy shook her head as a few pieces of hair escaped from her ponytail. She handed him back the check back and quietly explained, “Just pay me my paycheck tomorrow. We will call it even.”
Henry patted her back, “You’re a good girl Anne. I hope you realize that.”
With that he went back into the back office leaving Buffy to handle the first customer of the day.
It was a young girl who appeared to be the same age as Buffy. Buffy put on a false smile as she asked, “Can I help you?”
The young blond hair girl handed Buffy some quarters looking nervous as she asked, “Will this pay for a sandwich?”
Buffy looked at the collection of quarters and saw it did indeed equal a cheeseburger. She barely looked down at the girl as she nodded, “It will.”
The young girl smiled at Buffy and replied, “Thanks, Anne.”
Buffy didn’t say anything as she headed back to the kitchen to hand in the order realizing she missed her name at times. When Henry had called her a good girl, it seemed weird to hear Anne attached to it. In fact it almost seemed like he wasn’t even talking to her. Now this girl was doing the same thing. Buffy shook her head as she took a few more orders then heard the bell signaling the cheeseburger was finished. She looked at the girl as she handed her the cheeseburgers but said nothing. The girl looked up at Buffy meeting her eyes. Buffy could see the nervousness and embarrassment in them as she explained, “Money’s tight. You’re lucky to have a job. I’d give anything for a job. But for now, this sandwich is good. Thanks, Anne.”
Buffy shook her head slightly as she went to help another customer with that girl still on her mind. In fact that girl stayed on her mind all day. Long after the girl was gone for the day, Buffy kept thinking about her. She didn’t really feel pity per se but instead identified with her. That could easily have been her. She refused to think more on it as she flipped the sign to closed again after saying to herself, ‘She was Anne and Anne wasn’t lucky. She did own a cat named Lucky but she wasn’t lucky and Buffy Summers definitely wasn’t lucky.’ She had stayed until 10 and closed again still not having anything better to do and thinking the extra money might come in handy if she was settling.
She picked up the tray of lasagna and filled a bowl with that and the leftover breadsticks, tossing the rest away as she yelled out back, “See you tomorrow, Henry.”
He answered, “Thanks again Anne. See you tomorrow.”
Buffy walked down the road in silence until she got to her apartment. She was so preoccupied with telling herself not to think that she almost didn’t notice the door was opened and that Lucky wasn’t there to greet her. She longed for a stake but settled for getting into fighting stance. Her mind was going crazy with panic as thoughts filled her mind, ‘Did something happen? Am I responsible for my cat’s death as well? Why do things always happen to me?’
Buffy entered the room quickly and turned on the light in her living room to find the girl from the diner sitting on her couch and Lucky was on her lap. She let out a sigh in relief at the fact there was no trouble until she realized a strange girl was in her house. She put her hands on her hips demanding, “How’d you get in here? How’d you know how to find me?”
The girl shrugged looking less nervous than Buffy was sure she felt, “Lucky break?” then the girl sighed, looking guilty as she admitted, “I saw you yesterday coming out of the diner. I was in the warehouse. I was taken originally thinking I was from a rich family but I’m homeless so not worth any money. I was supposed to be killed that night but you saved me.”
Buffy realized she felt a bit of sympathy for the girl as she replied, “Lucky break for you then.”
The girl nodded, smiling happily, “I’m Kim. You’re Anne, right?”
Buffy nodded not wanting to say yes and lie to the girl and figured nodding was less of a lie.
Buffy let out a sigh realizing this girl didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon so she would have to deal with her for now, “Like lasagna? I have a large amount tonight by chance. I was running low on bread and was worried I’d need breakfast. You are welcome to some if you want.”
Kim smiled at Buffy replying in a chipper voice, “I’d love some.”
So Buffy and Kim sat down, the cat sat between them, and they ate their leftover lasagna and breadsticks sitting in silence while the television played Grease.
Spike woke up and saw the sun was just setting so he set out into the night. He had perfect timing but knew that was vampire instinct more than luck. He stretched as he stood up frowning at the wrinkles in his shirt. His back ached a bit from sleeping in the chair all night. Usually he avoiding sleeping on chairs and preferred stretching out, even his car was often times better than chairs but last night he had little choice as the sun had risen without him paying attention to it. He glanced at the opened window in the main room of the warehouse and grinned. He knew the Slayer had to be close. She had to be close enough to have dusted this vampire nest in the last two days. He could still smell her scent of vanilla as he walked out of the door.
He heard his stomach growl reminding him he was hungry and saw a man running holding some money in his hand and decided to eat him since he didn’t seem to be an upholding citizen anyway. He couldn’t be sure but money was money after all. After draining the man dry and taking the $2,000 he was carrying, Spike set out wandering the streets. Buffy couldn’t drive as far as he knew so therefore she had to walk everywhere. This would limit the amount of places she could visit. If she could walk to this place enough to dust the vampires, then she couldn’t be too far away. This is what he told himself, anyway.
He wandered past a convenience store, two apartment complexes and finally found himself in front of a diner. As he peered inside the diner, he noticed it was closed for the night but he had a really odd feeling about the place. A voice in the back of his head told him that this place was important. He wandered around back wanting to find a way into the place only not knowing why. He heard the voice in his head speaking, ‘Why do I want to get into this place? I can’t figure it out. There’s something about it though. Perhaps I have a craving for human food instead of just blood. Could be, I do enjoy it from time to time.’
His voices continued until he found the back door open and the scent of vanilla coming from the building. He knew that scent anywhere. Buffy had been in this diner within a few hours because the scent was so strong it was almost overpowering. He went around the front again and took a whiff and caught a very faint scent of vanilla so he continued sniffing as he wandered down the street knowing he was finally on the right track.
As he walked he thought, ‘What will I say to her when I see her? She kind of told me to get out of town last time we talked. Then I sort of left her to almost get killed by Angel. But she’s alive so she did well. Will telling her that her mum misses her work? Perhaps offering my help until she comes to terms with them to keep her safe is the best bet.’
Spike let out a deep breath even though he didn’t need it, realizing he was in over his head. He was so lost in thought, when his nose finally picked up the scent, it was overpowering. He paused and glanced around where he was standing. He found a falling down building, which appeared to be condemned, or at least it should have been.
He found himself thinking, ‘Surely Buffy isn’t living in this dump.’
He tried the door, noticing it was unlocked and opened it. He tried to enter the door but found a barrier that suggests a human lived there and called the place home.
He roared at the barrier, “Buffy!” and quieted down as Buffy and another girl stood just inside the door looking at him and Buffy was holding some tabby cat with her green eyes wide and he heard the single word spoken softly, “Spike.”