Part 9

The moon was full and bright as the two slender figures made their way along the riverbank. The water lapped a short distance away from their feet, filling the companionable silence as their eyes perused the darkness. His were much better at picking out shapes and movement in the dimness, but her intuition was more highly attuned to possible attacks. In the few weeks since his return, they had fallen comfortably back into patrolling together. It was the only time they were at ease with one another.

"You getting anything?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "No. You?"

"Nada." She stopped walking and looked at the sky. "Full moon. It's possible we could encounter a werewolf."

"You know," he cocked his head to the side. "I haven't seen one of those around here for at least two years."

"Me neither, now that you mention it." She walked over to the edge of the water. He followed.

"William?"

"Hmm?"

"Your soul, when you got it...?"

"Yeah?"

"Did it... hurt?" She rushed to qualify her question. "I mean, when Angel got his, before I stabbed him, he bent over and seemed to be in pain."

His jaw clenched as he looked out across the stream. "It burned like a hundred suns."

"Oh." She picked up a rock and skipped it across the surface of the water. She couldn't see the splashes, but she heard its plop plop plop.

"Go ahead and ask me Buffy."

She put her hands in her pockets and glanced up at him. "Why did you do it?"

He grinned ruefully and uttered a dry chuckle. "For you pet. I wanted you to have what you deserved."

"What I deserved?"

"You didn't deserve to have a monster sniffing around your pants all the time, forcing himself on you, now did you?" He shook his head and dropped down to sit on the ground. She followed. "Funny thing is that I never really sussed out exactly what it would do to me."

"What do you mean?"

"After what happened at your house I could finally see myself the way you saw me. Soulless, violent, no better than an animal." He glanced sideways at her. "I really thought I would never hurt you - that I could control myself." He looked down again. "Now I know that all I ever did was hurt you."

She shifted uncomfortably. "That worked both ways." She said softly.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter." He caught her inquisitive look. "This new thing inside of me, it has made me see what I really am. No matter what I do, I am still a beast, an abomination. You have been chosen for a higher calling. There is no room in that for a creature of darkness. I will never forgive myself for trying to pull you into that darkness."

Buffy searched for a way to respond to his honesty, but was distracted by a suction-cup-covered tentacle that had reached out of the water and wrapped itself around her leg. "William!"

"Hmm?"

"Knife!"

Before either of them could react, another tentacle wrapped around Buffy's other leg and yanked her into the river. She disappeared beneath the rolling water. William, with knife firmly in hand, dove in. His night vision served him well in the murky darkness. The beast holding Buffy looked like a huge eel with a dozen or so long tentacles protruding along both sides of its slimy body. He swam toward its head and wrapped his arm partway around it. He attempted to stab the knife into where he guessed its brain would be, but it thrashed the vampire with its tail, stunning him. He dropped the knife and it sank to the bottom.

For her part, Buffy was kicking and punching as best she could, but the water slowed her and dulled the impact of her blows. William knew that she only had a few minutes before she ran out of air. In desperation he used the only weapon he had available. His face grew hard and ridged as his long, sharp fangs emerged. He sank them deeply into the flesh behind the head of the monster and tore deeply into the tough oily flesh. The water was filled with slick, blue blood. Finally the thing went limp and rolled over. Buffy was free. She weakly kicked her feet. William grasped her under her arms and swam for the surface. They crawled up to collapse on the riverbank. Buffy choked up mouthfuls of foul, blue water. Finally she flopped over on her back and inhaled the fresh, clean air.

"What was that thing?" Buffy finally gasped.

William spat out a stream of bitter tasting demon slime. "Hell if I know!"

Buffy dissolved into peals of laughter.

"What?"

"You should see yourself!" She giggled. "You look like a skinny Smurf."

He joined in with her laughter. "I have to admit pet, you have a bit of the Mystique going for you as well."

"Ah!" She held up her arms. "I'm blue too!"

"If that wasn't the nastiest piece of piss I've ever bitten into..."

They lay side by side, laughing in the moonlight. Finally, laughter spent, she glanced over at him, admiring the new tint in his hair. "I suppose my hair is as blue as yours. Do you think this stuff will wash out?"

He leaned up on his elbow and reached out to lift the strands that lay across her forehead. He rubbed them between his fingers, his brows drawing together in thought. "It's hard to tell love, I suppose we'd better try to find out." He glanced down at her to find her eyes looking up into his.

Their smiles faded. She reached a tentative hand out to him, as if to touch his hair. He sat up abruptly, then stood. "Well then, why don't I drop you off at your house?" He reached down. She nodded and allowed him to pull her upright, then broke the contact. They silently headed back toward town.

Part 10

Dawn and Janice sat at the dining room table with books and papers spread around them. Janice was typing on Willow's computer while Dawn read from her book and jotted down notes. Janice was becoming a fixture at the Summers' house in the early evenings. Dawn appreciated the company while she waited for Buffy to get off work. Giles had called earlier to tell her that Buffy had gone out patrolling tonight. Dawn was hoping to finish her paper early, then maybe she could go out and slay with her sister after dinner. The doorbell interrupted the girls.

Janice looked up from the keyboard. "Were you expecting anyone?"

"No." Dawn looked surprised. "We really don't get a lot of visitors." She made her way to the front door. Chelsea West was standing on the front porch, looking around at the house and yard. "Chelsea? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Dawn." Chelsea put on her best yearbook smile face. "Are you busy?"

"Just homework." Dawn moved out of the way to let the girl in.

"Quaint!" Chelsea commented as she looked around. "Oh, hello Janice."

Janice scowled. "Oh give me a break. What are you doing here? Some boy kick you out of his car on the wrong side of town?"

"Charming, as always." Chelsea replied with a smug sneer.

Dawn rushed to intervene. "Um, Chelsea, I appreciate your stopping by, but did you need something?"

"No." She walked into the dining room and picked a chair - the one Dawn had been sitting in.

Dawn sat across the table and reached over to gather up her book and report notes. "We were just working on our English papers."

"Oh English!" Chelsea smiled, more genuinely this time. "It's becoming my favorite subject. As a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd bring that up."

"English?" Dawn was mystified.

Chelsea leaned across the table. "No. I was hoping we could talk about a certain English teacher."

"Oh cripes!" Janice leaned back and fixed the girl with a nasty stare. "What is the deal with you? We don't know anything about Mr. Browning, and I don't care to feed your stupid crush."

"Oh yeah?" Chelsea looked toward Dawn coyly. "Then why was he looking so cozy with Dawn's sister at school today? And why did they leave together?"

Dawn grappled for an explanation. "They just... they just had a meeting about... about me and how I'm doing so much better in school this year. Yeah! I'm getting good grades and Buffy's happy and she wanted to tell Mr. Browning that. And he's really a gentleman, you know. He... he probably offered to walk her to her car."

"I didn't think your sister drove." Chelsea was cool, her eyes speculative.

"What are you getting at?" Janice just wanted the girl to go.

"I'm thinking Dawn has an inside edge with the new teacher. Maybe that's why her grades are so much better."

"Hey!" Now Dawn was getting mad. "I'm working hard this year. Mr. Browning isn't giving me a free ride!"

"Then why don't you just spill what you know about him? All the girls in school are wondering where he came from and where he lives. It seems like you must know something. At least your sister does."

"Oh, I get it." Janice stood up "You're going to pump Dawn for information, then go into school like you have the inside scoop. You're trying to use her to get more popular. Why don't you just go back to that rock you crawled out from under? Dawn's my best friend. If she knew something about him, she would have told me. There is no way her sister is dating him."

All three girls turned as they heard laughing voices approach the front door. Dawn's mouth dropped open as a blue-tinged Buffy walked into the house, closely followed by her similarly hued English teacher.

"Now, isn't this interesting?" Chelsea commented.

"Dawn!" Buffy's eyes widened. "I see you have company."

"Buffy, what's going on?"

"Oh, this." Buffy looked down at herself. "There is a perfectly logical explanation. We were, um..." She looked at William. "We were playing paintball."

"On Wednesday night?" Chelsea walked forward to get a better look. "Those must have been some big paintballs."

"Huge." Buffy verified. "Do I know you?"

"This is Chelsea West, from school." Dawn looked pointedly at the girl. "She was just leaving. Weren't you Chelsea?"

"No way!"

"Miss West." William nodded cordially.

"Are you two dating?" She asked bluntly.

"Us?" Buffy's eyes widened. "No! No dating going on. You can play paintball with someone without dating."

"Along with a bunch of other things, apparently." Dawn muttered. Buffy glared at her. William smiled.

"Did you hit him in the mouth?" Chelsea asked Buffy.

"When?"

The girl looked confused. "Tonight, duh!" She pointed at him. "His teeth are blue."

Buffy looked at William. Panic was beginning to show in her eyes.

"Yes." He stated calmly. "As a matter of fact one of her shots went high and she did indeed get me in the mouth." He nodded. "You know, her aim is quite bad." He turned to Buffy. "You see Miss Summers, it will be quite impossible for you to help coach the, um, archery team this year. But you just keep working on your aim there, and we'll see about next year."

Buffy's face was red beneath the blue goop, and she was starting to sputter.

"Hey Buff." Dawn walked over to her and grabbed her arm. "Why don't we get you upstairs and see if we can get this stuff cleaned off." She pulled her toward the steps and turned to the other to girls. "I'm sure you two can let yourselves out. I'll call you later Janice."

"And I'll be on my way too." William called up after the girls. "Don't forget to do your paper Dawn."

"I won't!"

*****

Buffy drained the water from the tub, finally clean. It had taken two showers and one long bath, along with three ruined wash cloths, to get rid of all the monster blood. "Hey Dawn, bring me the Soft Scrub." Buffy indicated the blue ring that had formed around the inside of the tub.

"How about Mom's polka-dot dress?" Dawn asked brightly? Buffy looked at her quizzically. "Sorry, just a lame attempt at some Dr. Suess humor. Willow would have gotten it." Dawn left to get the cleanser.

After the tub had been scrubbed and the myriad of wet towels put in the washing machine, Buffy and Dawn retired to the kitchen for some hot chocolate. Dawn stirred hers slowly, looking unhappy.

"What is it?" Buffy wanted to know.

Dawn sighed and laid her spoon down. "I called Janice while you were in the tub. She's mad. She thinks I've been keeping stuff from her." Dawn took a sip from her mug. "I know that I have, but just because I have to. It's hard to have friends and a secret life."

"Tell me about it!"

"Buffy, can't I please tell her? You told Xander and Willow, and she would be totally cool with it. Remember, she had a date with a vampire last year too, and she saw Giles kick its butt."

"I'll think about it."

"Tell me what happened tonight."

Buffy related the events of the evening, from Giles' information to the attack of the giant eel-squid. Dawn's eyes were huge and round. "Wow Buffy, you would have died if you'd gone out alone or just with me."

Buffy nodded thoughtfully. "You know, it's nice - patrolling with him again. We've always fought well together, even in the very beginning against Angelus." She smiled wistfully at Dawn. "I guess I've come to rely on him to watch my back. That's why it hurt so much when he..." She broke off and looked down into her empty mug.

Dawn looked concerned. "Do you think he will ever do anything like that again? Do you think you can trust him?"

"He's changed so much... I don't want to think that he would ever try to force anything again. As a matter of fact..." She trailed off and shook her head.

"What?"

"Well, tonight, after the eely thing, he could have..." She glanced up to gauge Dawn's reaction. "But he didn't."

"You would have let him?"

"I think so." Buffy stood and took her mug to the sink and ran water into it to melt the marshmallow stuck to the sides. "Maybe not. I think I would have been pretty squicked afterward."

"You sure sounded like you were having fun when you came home."

"Yeah." Buffy smiled. "We were."