Part One

Buffy and Dawn walked in the front door of their house in the wee hours of the morning. They were tired, but exhilarated from a successful night of patrolling.

"It was just so cool when we dusted those vamps back to back at the same instant. POOF! Double combustion!" Dawn was giddy. She loved slaying.

Buffy smiled indulgently. Through Dawn she was rediscovering her own enjoyment for fighting evil in its various forms. "We did four tonight. Not bad." She wrinkled her nose. "Though that is quite a lot for the summer. It's usually slim pickings this time of year."

"That cemetery has been busy all summer."

"I know." Buffy acknowledged, instantly serious.

Dawn noticed the mood change and patted her older sister on the shoulder. "Do you think it's because he's gone?"

Buffy walked over to her weapons chest without answering and began dropping stakes into it. It always amazed Dawn how many tools of the trade she could conceal on her petite frame. Dawn counted six stakes and four bottles of holy water.

"When did you start carrying the sizzle juice?"

"When you started tagging along." Buffy turned to her sister. "If you get into trouble and I'm not close enough, I can fire off one of these to slow down the bumpy guys."

"Oh." The girls exchanged a meaningful look. "Well, here." Dawn handed over her crossbow and a handful of arrows. Buffy placed them in the chest and closed the lid.

"Buffy.?"

"Let's go talk in the kitchen. I'm starving."

"Me too." Dawn smiled and followed her.

Twenty minutes later the girls had demolished the extra large pizza they had ordered earlier in the evening, and were halfway through a boxed cheese cake.

"Dawn, you know." Buffy mumbled between swallows, "this is our last night of doing this together for a while."

"Why?" The dreaded little sister whine had crept into her voice.

"School is starting again in a week, and you can't keep your grades up and still go out on all night patrols with me."

"How about mini-patrols?"

Buffy considered this for a minute. "OK, but only if you get your homework done first."

Dawn jumped down from her stool, happy. "Great!" Her mouth gaped in a huge yawn. "Well, I'm off to brush my teeth and hit the sack. Good night Buffy."

"Night." Buffy smiled genuinely as Dawn left the kitchen. She took a few minutes to tidy up the remnants of their binge before moving back out to the living room. She was still too wired up to go to sleep, and there were some other things on her mind as well.

The summer had been good for both of them. It was just the two girls in the house now and they had grown very close. They both missed Tara, and Willow too. Willow was spending time with the coven of witches in Devon, trying to put her life back together. She called often, but still had a long way to go in her recovery. Buffy had spent the summer teaching Dawn as much as she could about life and about slaying. The lessons often went hand in hand.

Buffy moved restlessly about the room, absently wiping dust from a shelf here, straightening a curtain there, fiddling with things that were fine as they were. If Buffy were honest with herself, and she was making a concentrated effort to do just that, she had to admit that she missed Spike too. She had been busy enough through the season to not let her thoughts dwell on him too much, but Dawn had stirred them up with her comment earlier. And Dawn had been correct. Ever since Spike had left town the vampiric activity had increased, particularly in his cemetery where they had patrolled tonight.

She slowly walked up the stairs and into her room, where she changed into her pajamas. They were blue satin with little yellow ducks. She always found comfort in her PJ's. She sat thoughtfully on the edge of her bed before moving to her closet to open the door. She reached in to touch the sleeve of the long black coat hanging at the far end. She rubbed the worn leather between her fingers and inhaled the scent of stale tobacco smoke. She didn't know where he had gone, or if he would ever return. She wasn't even sure if she ever wanted to see him again.

The last time she had ventured inside his crypt, she had found it stripped of all his belongings. Clem had moved out and had no information except to say that he had received a letter from LA with no return address telling him to box up the personal items for storage and to discard the rest. She was torn between relief that she didn't have to deal with him and what he had done to her, and disappointment that he had left her like every other man in her life.

With a sigh she pushed the coat back into place and closed the door, then turned off her light and went to bed.

Part 2

Clem was sitting at the outdoor demon café reading the comic section of the Sunnydale Herald and munching on nachos. An unexpected hand touched his shoulder and he started violently, knocking his chips and cheese all over the table. He stood and spun around to confront his attacker. His snarl was replaced with a fangy grin as he recognized his old friend.

"Spike! When did you get back into town?" He reached out to pat the vampire on the shoulder.

Spike was carrying a large box, which he sat on the ground. "Last night." He spun a chair around and straddled it as he sat down, folding his arms across the wrought iron back. He looked around. "This place new?"

"Pretty new." Clem nodded, his ears flopping with the motion. "Food's better than Willy's."

Clem glanced around again, then scratched his head. "Hey! Isn't it daytime?"

Spike rolled his eyes upward, then glanced a little to the right and a little to the left. "Yep."

"How come you're not." He flicked his clawed hands open. ".Poof?"

Spike smirked, and then reached out to snag a cheese covered chip off the table. "I seem to be immune." He popped the chip into his mouth and crunched noisily. "They got any tobasco sauce?"

"I think so." Clem motioned for a waitress. She had tentacles. "So, Spike, tell me what you've been up to."

Spike grimaced. "First of all, just make it William." He nodded to the waitress. "Another order of these please, and a bottle of the hot stuff." She shuffled off and he turned back to Clem.

"Spent most of the summer in LA, adjusting to my new. self."

"You went to that African shaman I told you about?" William nodded. "What did he do?"

"Ran me through a bunch of tests, nearly ended me, then gave me what I wanted."

"Wow! I thought he only dealt in resurrections and souls."

"That's right."

"Then what's with the.?" Clem waved his hand around, indicating the daylight.

"Not sure about that one mate. While the gifts were being handed out, it seems I merited a few extras." He glanced up at the waitress as she brought his order and took the five he handed her. She slithered away again. "I haven't seen a Scyllian around here in years." he noted to Clem.

"There seem to be a lot of new demons popping up lately. And you know, lots more vampires around since you left."

"It's why I'm back."

"I thought maybe you and the Slayer."

"No." William cut him off. "I'm here to help her, but I won't be muckin' up her life."

"What are you going to do?"

"Got me a new job. He leaned over to open the box, then reached in and pulled out a small black mask. "Gonna earn a livin' by day and fight the good fight by night." He raised his brows and nodded.

Clem just flapped his ears again. "The things we do for women! Hey, I like what you've done with your hair."