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Chapter 3 – Acquaintances


Planning to get to Wesley’s store earlier than usual the following night, Spike wanted to let his Watcher know that the woman he met was Buffy and she would be patrolling with him from now on. As it was, though, he was running late and ended up meeting Buffy at the front door, waiting for him.

“Hello, Goldilocks,” he said with an easy smile.

“Hey,” she said with a shy smile, glancing down at the ground for a moment.

“Didn’t go in yet?”

“No, I thought I’d wait on you. I don’t really feel like an attempted staking right now, and I figured that was less likely to happen if you were with me.”

Spike had to smile at that. “I think you could hold your own, love.”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t want to hurt your Watcher in the process,” she said, offering him a bright smile as he held the door open for her.

Walking into the quaint store, Buffy stared in amazement. Though it wasn’t the same location, it was almost identical to the Magic Box. There were more shelves lined up throughout the store and fewer magic products, but the layout and the similarities were striking.

“Something wrong?”

Shaking her head as she turned to face the other Slayer, she tried to push away the old memories. “No…just déjà vu, I guess.”

Nodding as he looked at her for a moment, Spike turned to look at the door of the back room as it opened. “Ah, there’s Watcher boy.”

Walking through the door way, Wesley suddenly froze, looking at the couple standing next to the counter. When he spoke, his voice was a strangled whisper. “It is you.”

Looking perplexed as he stared at his Watcher and then turned to face an equally stunned Buffy, Spike’s eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Wes?” she whispered. “Is that you?”

“Buffy?”

Before either Spike or Wesley knew what happened, a blonde blur practically flew into Wesley’s arms. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she whispered, her voice muffled by his shirt as she hugged the older man.

Feeling an absurd surge of jealousy Spike stared at his Watcher hugging the young woman. “Someone wanna tell me what’s going on?” he asked with an edge to his tone.

Pulling away from Wes with a sheepish expression, she slowly turned toward Spike. “Wes was my Watcher…well…kind of.”

Staring at her in disbelief for a moment, Spike turned to level Wesley with an angry look. “And you didn’t see it fit to tell me this last night?”

“William, it wasn’t important. I told you what I knew about her- I just didn’t tell you I knew her.”

“Looks to me like you knew her pretty well,” he countered with a raised eyebrow.

“Not like that, Spike,” Buffy said with annoyance clear in her voice before turning to face Wesley. “Actually, I was a spoiled brat to him. You could say it was hate at first sight,” she added with a fond smile.

“Yes, thank you for that, Buffy,” Wesley said.

“Sorry,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Well, you seem to have gotten over your hate quite nicely,” Spike continued, still not giving them the benefit of the doubt.
“Well, we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms,” she said, turning to face Wes. “I thought I probably got you fired.”

“Um, no, probation. The Watcher’s Council felt that since I couldn’t control you or Faith, I could get one of the older potentials to train after a five-year waiting period. Imagine their surprise when he was the potential who was called.”

“So let me get this straight,” Spike said, ignoring the most recent part of the conversation as he tried to figure out their complicated past. “You hated each other, Buffy got you fired, and you meet years later like long lost family?”

“Yeah…sorry about the big displayage of emotion,” Buffy said. “It was just wonderful to see a familiar face after so long of not seeing anyone but Dawnie.”

“Yes, well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious as to why and how you’re here.”

“Oh, that.” Buffy waved her hand in dismissal. “You have all your facts right if you read Giles’ journals. But if you want the shorter version of a long boring story, Willow decided to bring me back. Pretty soon after, I got vamped by Angelus, Willow restored his soul, and as for me-”

“Slayer’s are supposed to have anchored souls,” Wes cut off in understanding. “Extraordinary.”

“Yep, that’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. Spike can fill you in on all the details.”

“So you’re still the Slayer, I presume.”

“Well, I still do the job, if that’s what you’re asking,” she said, glancing over at Spike. “But if you want to get technical, Spike is the Slayer.”

Offering her a grateful smile for the acknowledgement, he quickly returned the favor. “I think it’s safe to say you’re the original, love. But we should probably be heading out of here. Just stopped by to tell you we’d be patrolling together,” he said to Wes.

“Yes, well, strength in numbers and all. You both be careful, and Buffy, I would like to speak to you in more detail about what you’ve been up to for the past few years.”

“Sure thing, Wes. You’re looking good, by the way,” she said, taking in his scruffier appearance.

“Ah…yes, well…” he trailed off in embarrassment.

“Same old Wes,” she said with a smile before grabbing Spike’s sleeve. “Come on, blondie, we’ve got some vamps calling our names.”





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