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~*~ Chapter 5 - New Friends ~*~

Spike arrived early the next morning.

"You should really get out of that 'walking in the morning sun' phase," she told him when he burst into the kitchen under his sizzling blanket.

"I'll think about it. In the meantime, I think I found a solution for your furniture. But I need you to trust me."

She frowned.

"Ok, I don't like it when you talk like that. That means you're up to something evil."

"Well, that's what I am, right?" he said with a smirk. "But no, not this time. Uh, not ever, in fact. But we're digressing. I need you to put a sign on each piece of furniture you want to sell."

Buffy put her breakfast dishes in the sink.

"Ok.and then what?"

"Then that's the part where you have to trust me. I'm waiting for a confirmation, that's why I can't tell you now."

"But I'm working this afternoon. I won't be here."

"I know. So, do you trust me with this?"

"I so don't like the sound of this," she sighed. "But I guess I don't have much choice.and people are not exactly banging at my door to buy them so.Ok."

He smiled.

"Good.you won't regret it. I think," he added, to Buffy's horror.

"Spike."

"Kidding. Bye!"

And then he was gone.

Did I just accept to trust Spike with my furniture? Oh my God. That's it. I'm crazy.

She took some pieces of paper and started to put them on the things she wanted to sell. It was a difficult choice, because her mom had bought all of them. They even had bought some of them together. Her mom's room was the hardest. She sat on the bed, fighting tears.

"I'm sorry, mommy. I didn't want it to happen that way."

She shook herself and went back to her room to put on her uniform. She had no house, currently no sister, soon no furniture.but at least she had a job, so she should better make the best of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Two days passed and no sign of Spike. When Buffy had come home the night before, all the furniture with a sign was gone. The house looked horribly empty. There was only some pieces left, and boxes Buffy had put their personal stuff in.

She had walked in the house slowly. Only the kitchen had remained the same, so that's where she had spent most of her evening. The other rooms were too ghost-like.

Willow was gone for a few days on a retreat; something Buffy knew had to do with magic, or rather how to deal with it. A sort of Magic Addicts Anonymous. But Willow wasn't allowed to talk too much about it. When she would be back, she would be moving into the dorm.

The phone rang. It was Xander.

"Hey Buff. How are you doing?"

"Hey Xander. Are you sitting down? If not, you'd better."

She proceeded to tell him the last events. But she carefully left out the whole Spike part.

"Wow.So I guess no parties at Casa Summers anymore. I'm so sorry, Buffy. When are you gonna move?"

"As soon as I find a new place. I had appointments tonight but they called to say it was sold. I have another one tomorrow."

"Call me as soon as you know your new address. You know, if you need me I can arrange some stuff here and come back for a few days."

"Thank you, Xander, but no. I've got some help here, there's Willow and."

And Spike, who came back but in the meantime, vanished with all my household goods.

".and friends from work. I'm gonna be ok. I'm more worried about Dawn."

"You're sure? If you change your mind, just tell me and I'll be there."

"I will, promise. Thanks for calling, Xander."

He sounded so much better than a few weeks ago that she didn't want to involve him in all her problems again.

So it was almost 6 o'clock that day, a little bit before the restaurant got busy again. Buffy was preparing the table for the evening when she heard the doorbell.

"We're not open ye.Spike! Where have you been? I was so worried!"

"You were? That's so sweet."

"Not about you. About my furniture!"

He smiled. He could see she was furious, and he liked nothing like to put her in that state.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Slayer. In a few minutes I'll be your best friend. Do you have five minutes?"

"Yes. So, what did you do?"

"Well, I heard there was that auction outside Sunnydale.a special kind of auction, for demons and such. So I took your furniture, with the help of a few friends, and went there, hoping to sell most of it."

Buffy slowly sat down.

"You mean you sell my furniture to a bunch of demons and.vampires?"

Her face was the image of incredulity. But the anger seemed to be gone.

"What? You have to go beyond your prejudices, Slayer. All demons don't live in creepy sewers. Some of them like a nice, comfy place."

"I can't believe this," she muttered.

"Maybe you'll believe this, then," he said while handing her a roll of banknotes. A very thick roll of banknotes.

"It's a pretty sum," he said. "It will help you to face the first couple months rent."

She took it.

"I have to visit an apartment tomorrow," she said in a hoarse voice. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure. What time?"

"Uh.Pick me up at seven?"

"I'll be there."

"Spike, I.thank you," she laughed. "That sounds lame, but I don't know what else to say."

He would never cease to amaze her. He had just almost saved her life. Again.

She gave him a bright smile, the first she had in weeks.

"Did you take your commission?" she asked.

"Your smile is my commission, Slayer."

And he left, leaving her much richer - and not only with money.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Today was an awfully rainy day but Dawn was happy, relaxed and rested. Connor's gift had proved to be a blessing and after a lazy day off yesterday, spent in bed, in the comfort of new sheets, catching up on overdue sleep, she felt great.

She was cleaning up the table at the restaurant. It was surprisingly quiet, today. The boats were out at sea and the other potential customers were chased away by the pouring rain. Most of the other waitresses were complaining about the slow day and the lousy tips, but not Dawn. She kept herself busy and didn't think too much about the tip she could have had.

She had already cleaned up half the tables when the old lady walked in. Dawn still didn't know her name, only that she was a regular visitor. She always sat at the same table and Martha had assigned her to Dawn. The other waitresses didn't like the old woman, but Dawn did. And not only because she tipped very generously.

"Good morning! How are you today?" asked Dawn while bringing her a cup of coffee.

"Dawnie," said the old woman smiling. "You sure look rested today, and happy I might add. What's going on?"

"My boyfriend," said Dawn. "He bought me a new set of sheets, and a comforter and a bed cover, and they are * so * comfortable."

"That is very thoughtful of him."

For a reason she couldn't understand, Dawn had felt like opening up to the old lady and had told her about Connor, referring to him as her boyfriend. When did I start thinking about him that way? she wondered.

"Dawn, it's not busy, today. Why don't you fetch me my breakfast and come sit with me?" "I'd love to, but I don't know if I can," she said, looking at Martha behind the counter.

"Martha!" yelled the old lady.

"Yes, Miss Annigan?"

"I want this young lady to keep me company during my breakfast,"

"Yes, Miss Annigan."

"And don't you dare dock her pay check!"

"Yeah, yeah," answered Martha, walking back to the kitchen.

"See, now you can, child. Go get me that breakfast then we will talk."

Dawn left and came back a few minutes later with Miss Annigan's breakfast. Finally, Dawn could put a name on the old, nice lady.

"So, Dawn," said Miss Annigan once Dawn was sitting down. "Where are you from?"

"Sunnydale, California."

"Oh, really? What are you doing so far away from home? I know you're on your own with your boyfriend, but aren't you a little young?"

"I'll be 17 in a few months."

"So young.I wish I was your age again," said Miss Annigan dreamily. "So, what made you come to Seattle? It rains all the time, here."

"So I noticed," smiled Dawn. She hesitated a mere second before adding," I left because my sister was having enough problems as it is without me around."

"And your parents?"

"My mom is dead, and my dad.well, he's as good as dead."

They spoke for about one hour and Dawn told Miss Annigan about Tara's death, Spike's departure (leaving aside the him-being-a vampire part), Buffy losing the house, her meeting with Connor and moving in with him. She felt so relieved afterwards that she realized all that stuff had weight heavily on her without her even noticing it.

She also learned that Miss Annigan's first name was Mathilda and that she was a widow. Her husband and her son had been lost at sea about fifteen years ago, and she had no family left. She came to the restaurant everyday because she used to come and eat here with her husband and son before they would leave for the boat.

Dawn thought that Miss Annigan' story was incredibly sad, but the old woman had also hilarious anecdotes about her life. Dawn did not understand why the other girls didn't like Mathilda and never took the time to see beyond that grumpy attitude she had at first. But it was all for the best because so she was the one to take care of the old woman.

"So, Dawn, when am I going to meet this young man of yours?"

"Oh.I don't know," answered Dawn, taken by surprise. "I can ask him to come and have breakfast before he goes to work one of these mornings."

"I would like that. I would love to meet him.

Dawn smiled.

"I'll ask him and let you know tomorrow,» she said.

"Good! Now I've got to go. It will be lunch soon and I'm sure Martha will need you," said Mathilda, standing up.

Dawn stood up too and took the empty plate.

"Yes, I guess. But it was nice talking with you."

"Oh, well, thank you dear!" said Miss Annigan smiling. "Now, go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Dawn left and when she came back to clean the table, she found 20$ on it.

Wow, she thought. At this pace I'll be soon able to buy the restaurant itself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Son, come here!" called Roger, Connor's boss.

Connor came running. The rain had poured down all morning and he was definitely glad that his boss had given him some rain clothes on his second day of work.

"Do you know how to drive that thing?" asked Roger pointing to a small vehicle that looked like a golf cart.

Connor nodded. Simon, another employee, had shown him a few days ago.

"Ok. I want you to take it to go deliver all that fish to the market."

"Where is it?"

"Third alley that way, you turn right and you'll see it. Stay in the alley, don't go on the road and be careful, there's a lot of pedestrians around."

Connor got behind the wheel. He got to the fish place in no time and was impressed by the activity at that stand. People, workers to be more precise, were yelling and throwing fishes all over the place. Someone saw him and yelled,

"Delivery from Roger's here!"

"Delivery from Roger's here!" yelled two of the other guys behind the counter.

"Nick's the volunteer!" yelled the first one again.

"Nick's the volunteer!" yelled three other guys behind the counter.

A guy came running to Connor. He was tall with blue eyes and short brown hair.

"Hi! I'm Nick," he said, offering his hand.

"Hi. Connor."

"So, what have you got here?" said Nick looking at the back of the cart. "Good! Salmon. That's exactly what we were missing. Derek!" A guy turned to look at them and Nick shouted,

"One flying salmon!" and he threw one of the big fishes to Derek.

Amused, Connor smiled.

"You want to try?" asked Nick.

Connor shook his head negatively.

"Come on, don't be shy," said Nick smiling. "We all do it here."

Connor took one fish in his hand.

"Don't forget to yell," said Nick before Connor could throw the fish.

"One flying salmon!" yelled Connor, throwing the fish to the awaiting Derek.

"See, that wasn't so bad," said Nick, picking another fish.

By the time they were done, Connor was smiling happily. That surely was a lot of fun.

"Hey Connor, tomorrow the guys and I are going out to relax. You wanna come?" proposed Nick to Connor who was getting back behind the wheel.

"I.I don't know," said Connor shyly. "I got to check with my friend."

"Fine. If you can make it, we'll be at the tavern out there," said Nick, pointing to a building with a sign that said 'The Fisher's Tavern'. "If you want to join us, we should be there by 6.3O pm tomorrow night."

"Ok," said Connor. "Thanks."

Still a little surprised by the offer, Connor left to go back to work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"It's not very big, but there is a small garden!" said the real estate agent with a commercial smile. What she called pompously the garden was a two square meters green space with a little bush and three dying flowers. "Isn't sunbathing one of the nicest activity?" she asked again watching Spike with a look that said ' and you sure seem to need it'. Spike returned her look and said,

"It's situated on the north."

"Uh.sure, but you have sun in the morning."

Buffy didn't pay attention to the exchange. She was walking around in the apartment - which didn't take too long. There was one bedroom with a little bathroom. The living room was rather big, probably because the kitchen was included in it. It was clean, but not really welcoming. And the small windows didn't let much light shine through. So it was rather sinister. But of course it was all empty. Maybe with some furniture and decoration it would look better.

"Miss Summers? What do you think?"

Buffy turned to the woman.

"Can I.Can I take a few minutes?"

"Sure. I'll wait for you outside."

Buffy stood at the entrance of the bedroom.

Spike looked at her. Her attitude was a little bit odd.

"Pet?" he asked, using the term for the first time since he was back.

"I wish I could take a two-bedrooms apartment, but I can't afford it." She said in a toneless voice.

Spike walked towards her.

"If the Nibblet decide to come back you will share that room. And maybe by then you'll be able to move into a bigger place."

Buffy nodded, looking around her.

"Don't you think it's kind of.I don't know.creepy?"

"I live in a crypt." He pointed out, happy to see a smile appearing on her lips.

But the smile stayed very briefly.

"I wish she would at least let me know she's ok," she said, and suddenly she started crying. With horror, Spike saw a sudden wave of tears flooding her cheeks.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, before going to her and putting his arms around her.

She didn't push him back. She even put her head against his shoulder, although Spike was conscious that she was probably not realizing exactly what she was doing, lost in her sadness like she was. So he simply held her.

"Why the tears? Dawn or this apartment?" he asked softly, gently caressing her back.

"Both. I don't want to come live here, but I have no choice."

He put his hands on her shoulders.

"C'mon, Slayer, don't fall back into that depressive state of last year. Chin up, luv."

He let her go and she dried her tears.

"I'm ok."

There was a light tap at the door ant the woman appeared.

"Miss Summers? Are you done, here?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll take the apartment," she said quickly, before changing her mind.

She met Spike's blue eyes but his face was expressionless. The woman went to fetch some papers.

"What do you think?" Buffy asked him.

He shrugged. "Nothing. It's your decision."

His indifferent tone hurt her. But what had she expected? He had stayed to help her, and that was all. He would be gone soon. He didn't really want to be involved in her life anymore. And she couldn't really blame him for that.





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