By Heather Martin

Spoilers- Set during and after Smashed. I borrowed a few lines from Wrecked as well. Has spoilers for everything up to that point. Goes AU after that

Summary- B/S T/W A/X Something goes funky with Spike and Buffy after their coupling in the abandoned house. Meanwhile, a demon and a mysterious girl come to Sunnydale from the future.

Chapter Six- Enigma

Buffy stepped into the living room. She turned her head over toward Dawn. Her sister was sitting on the couch with a bag of Doritos, chomping away. The television was on some station with cartoons.

"Hey, Buffy!" Dawn greeted.

Buffy went over to settle beside her. "Do you have your homework done?" she asked.

There was a moment of silence. Dawn crunched into another corn chip.

"Dawn?" Buffy repeated.

Dawn sighed. "It's only a little bit," she confessed.

The older of the two grabbed the remote. She pressed the red power button. The TV screen went black. "Then . . . it will only take you a 'little' bit of time to get it finished."

A groan came from Dawn. She got up and headed to the stairs. "You become more like a mom everyday," Dawn commented. Then she was out of sight.

Buffy stood there, a little shocked. Mixed emotions clouded her brain. She was glad that she gave Dawn discipline so the teen wouldn't run wild. And, besides, that meant not having her sister get taken away. But her a parent? It scared her somewhat. And, not to mention feel regretful. She didn't want to take her mother's place. She was very confused and didn't know whether to be proud or upset with herself.

That was when the doorbell rang. Buffy took a second to clear her head before answering it.

The door was flung open to reveal none other than Spike. Annoyance came over her. She had known he would show up sooner or later, despite her act of avoiding him.

Sudden panic hit her. She tried, desperately, to push the memory from downstairs away. It wouldn’t seem to disappear, though. She become angered, and not at him, which made her even more angry. It had been her that initiated the act. She had lost control, letting her urges take over, not him. But it was done now, and had been a big mistake. She looked at him and a rush of guilt flowed over her. She knew it had meant much more to him. He loved her. And she could honestly believe that now. He had a soul.

She wanted to apologize. To tell him he wasn‘t a thing, and she hadn‘t meant to use him. Instead what came out was,” Spike.” Then she noticed the girl next to him. "Who's this?"

The two females met gazes. An eerie feeling passed through her. There was something about this girl, familiar somehow. She was positive that they had never met before, however. The girl was almost as tall as she was, with dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were piercing orbs of crystalline blue.

"Buffy!" Spike took a step forward, concern etched on his face. “Are you all right? You didn’t come across any nasties tonight did you?”

“Huh? No. I haven’t gone out on patrol yet,” the slayer answered.

"I think you should call the scoobs. This girl is spoutin some rot about how you sent her here from the future."

Buffy's eyes widened. "The future? As in time travel? Like that Back to the Future movie?"

Spike laughed. "You‘d have to ask her."

The mysterious girl watched them, smiling the whole time. "Actually it was a spell,“ she clarified. “A car would have been much cooler. I have my permit.”

“A spell?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah. Call a meeting and I‘ll tell you everything. What I need to say should be for everyone."

Buffy nodded. "Let me call Xander and Anya. Willow is out somewhere with Amy. I’ll tell Dawn to send her over when she gets back." She took a last glance at the girl before turning away.

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The three of them headed toward the Magic Box. Buffy was deep in thought as she led the way. Her pace was quick, oblivious to the others as she moved. Spike, however, sparked up a conversation.

"So, you know me?"

The girl kept walking, not even glancing his way. "Yeah."

"So I can count on not biting the big one for awhile. What year are you from?"

“2016,” Alexis answered.

“Okay, at least I know now I won’t die for another fifteen years at least.”

Alexis shook her head. She glanced over. “You are scared of death, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah. When you’ve been undead for over a hundred years, and then suddenly develop an expiration date, it does that to you.”

“You are very healthy. I doubt you’re gonna die anytime soon.”

“Right then.” He paused. “So, how do you know me and the slayer exactly?”

Alexis averted her eyes. “I’m not allowed to say much.”

“Just tell me one thing, pet. Is she happy?” He motioned his head in Buffy’s direction. He stopped, gazing intently at Alexis, waiting for her response.

“Yes. She’s very happy.”

Spike shut his eyes, letting that sink in. She was happy. That was all he needed to know. That was all that mattered.

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They finally had arrived at their destination. Xander and Anya were waiting for them. A sinking feeling came over Buffy. The gang had been reduced tremendously. Willow hardly seemed to be around anymore. Buffy felt abandoned a lot of the time. Everyone was swept up in their own lives. And Giles. . . No, she wouldn’t think about that right now.

Heads lifted as the group entered.

"So, Buff, what's the sudden get together about?" Xander wanted to know. He was sitting next to Anya at the round table as usual. She appeared to be miffed about something.

“Yeah, I want to know why Xander and I had to be interrupted from our fun,” Anya commented.

Xander glared at his fiancé. “Ahn, remember that conversation we had?”

“But, I didn’t say it outright,” she defended.

A long exasperated sigh escaped Xander. He had given up. Anya would never learn when to stay quiet. He would just have to get used to it if he planned on spending the rest of his life with her.

Buffy seemed to suddenly become reintroduced to the real world. She gestured to Alexis. “This is Alexis. She claims to be from the future.”

“Jiminy Christmas,” burst out Xander. “Do they have the floating cars yet?”

The teen smiled, shaking her head.

“Darn,” muttered Xander.

“Xander, we don’t even know if she is telling the truth,” Buffy pointed out.

Everyone locked eyes with Alexis. They seemed to be accusing her of some crime. She fidgeted, nervously. The atmosphere choked her.

“I can prove it,” she defended.

“How, ducks?” Spike asked. He went over to the counter and hopped up.

“I know stuff,” she said. “Remember? I knew you used to be a vampire.”

“She knew you used to be a member of the undead?” Xander questioned.

“Yeah,” Alexis declared. She looked over at Xander. “And I know that Anya used to be a vengeance demon. Dawn was a mystical key. Giles is in England. Willow is a witch. She brought Buffy back from the dead after . . .”

“Oh my God,” murmured Buffy. She sat down in a chair across from Anya and Xander. She hadn’t really believed Alexis until now. The girl knew everything. Well, everything important that is.

Just then Willow burst into the store. Her friends knew instantly that she was upset about something.

“What’s wrong?” Buffy asked.

The red-head sighed. “If Amy comes around tell her to go away. She isn‘t my friend anymore,” she told them.

“Oh!” exclaimed Alexis. “Amy used to be a rat!”

Willow’s head snapped over toward Alexis, noticing her for the first time. “Um. . . Hi.”

“Hey!”

Willow surveyed the others with confusion.

The slayer pulled out the chair next to her. “Sit down Willow. You’ve missed a lot.”

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