Previously on Grey Lines: Four months have passed since the end of season 6.
Buffy’s back to a normal life living with Dawn and a recovered Willow, but
misses something… Xander and Anya are still fighting and Giles has decided to
stick around Sunnydale. Spike is back in town but refused let his presence be
know, asking Clem to keep a secret. Buffy thinks she is going to have a night
off, but unfortunately bumps into a group of spaced out vampires. Confused she
goes to Giles to try and solve the puzzle. Dawn goes to see Tara’s grave
regularly and in one of her visits she’s attacked by a demon. She holds her own
in the battle but eventually need a hero to save her skin. Enter Spike. Chapter 2 - Spaced Out He outstretched his arm, offering her a helpful hand. She
accepted and leaned on him as rose to her feat. Without warning the back of her
hand came flying at him and struck him over the chest. “Dawn, I’m sorry I-“ before he could finish his statement,
the young girl had her arms around his neck and griped him tightly. If he wasn’t
a vampire he would have suffocated. “I’ve missed you so much.” She finally spoke. At first, he was surprised by the sudden outburst, but soon
he was returning the gesture, wrapping his long arms around her small torso and
lifting her off the ground. He was so glad to see her. She had grown. She was
taller and her hair, which had been cut short, dangled over her shoulders. He
hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed her until that very moment. “Um… Spike?” he heard her call. “Spike!” her voice seemed
desperate somehow, so he opened his eyes. “Oxygen. Need. Now!” “Oh! Sorry!” he apologized, letting her out of his deadly
grip. They stood there and smiled at each other. “It’s good to see you.” She spoke calmly. “It’s good to be seen, Nibblet.” He replied, resting his
hand on her shoulder, he took a lock of her hair between his cold fingers. “You
cut your hair.” “Yeah. You like it?” she asked. “I love it.” He smiled at her. “Buffy’s going to die when she sees you.” Dawn said
happily, but her smile crumbled when she saw the change on the vampire’s face.
“What?” His head was tilted, his gaze dropped to the ground at his
feet. “I don’t want her to know.” “Why not?” she asked. “It’s complicated.” He tried to avoid the subject, but she
wouldn’t have any of it. “Is it because of what you did? Before you left?” she spoke
calmly, without any accusation in her voice. “What?” he looked at her surprised. “I know, Spike. She told me. Well, actually it was Xander,
but… we talked about it.” Dawn stared at him. The way her eyes showed nothing
but concern and forgiveness made his heart break. “I understand. Things got out
of control and…” “I tried to rape her.” he finally spoke. His voice was
barely a whispered and his tone was filled with regret. “You stopped.” Dawn pointed out. “She stopped me.” Spike corrected, walking away from her. She quickly followed. “She couldn’t have stopped you if you wanted… to hurt her.
You stopped.” She tried to explain. “There is no excuse for what I’ve done, I-“ “Spike!” Dawn cut in. “Dawn, I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want her to
know I was here.” Spike put a stop to their discussion. “Were here? Where are you going?” Dawn asked, stopping in
mid stride. “I just came by to collect my things. I’m leaving in a
couple of days.” Spike answered, coming to stand in front of the young teenager. “But you can’t leave without at least…” Dawn trailed off
when she saw the look of resolve in his face. “Something between me and your sister broke that night. I
went away thinking I could fix it, but I didn’t. I only made it worst.” He began
walking again. “Spike!” she called out. He stopped and turned to face her. “Don’t go.” She begged, closing the distance between them. “I have to.” He answered, with a weak smile. “At least stay for a while longer.” “I can’t-“ “Stay. Just for a couple of weeks. Then you can go wherever
you wanna go.” She looked at him. She knew she still hadn’t convinced him. “Come
on, what are a couple of weeks against eternity?” Spike sighed in defeat and nodded. Suddenly the little girl
was dangling off his neck once more. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the Magic Shop. Don’t want you
running into any other nasties. Bye the way, where in the world did you learn to
kick demon ass like that?” he asked with a grin on his face. “Buffy, taught me! Pretty cool, huh?” ************************************************** “Where is she?” Buffy asked for the one hundredth time
that afternoon as she paced around the shop. “She probably just, went out with Janice for a going back
to school celebration.” Willow offered with a sweet grin, but when she saw the
look that everyone else in the room gave her she added. “Ok, fine. So I still am
a geek. I liked going back to school. Summer used to get very boring and school
was fun.” That last statement earned her a new look, one that shouted You’re
an alien, right? “Ok, shutting up now.” The ringing of the bell was heard as the door was flung
open and a very smiley Dawn came through it. “Where have you been?” Buffy asked crossing her arms over
her chest. “And why are you so happy?” “I was out with Janice. And why wouldn’t I be happy.
School’s back.” Dawn lied through her teeth. “Well, I’m not actually lying.
Not in a world where Janice, school and Spike are synonyms.” “A-ha! See!” Willow said triumphantly. “Whatever.” Buffy dismissed the thought and sat down next
to Willow. “So, Giles, what’s the verdict?” “Hum?” “What’s the reason behind the vamp gang?” Buffy rephrased. “Well, I’m sorry to say there is no… verdict as of yet. I’m
still researching. Are you sure you didn’t find any other demons?” Giles asked. “Nop.” “Well, actually I just ran into a really nasty one back at
the ce…” she paused but it was clear she had been caught so she continued.
“metery.” “Dawn!” Buffy sighed in frustration. “I went to see… Tara.” She gave a quick glance in Willow’s
direction. “And it’s daylight so – no vampires.” “None except for Spike”
she added in her thoughts. “Even so, I don’t like you going near the graveyards by
yourself.” Buffy commented. “What kind of a demon was it?” Giles asked. “I don’t know. Though it was pretty ugly.” Dawn offered “Well, that cuts the list short.” Xander finally spoke
sarcastically. “Hey!” Anya protested. “Vengeance demon here.” “Oh, sorry forgot.” Xander apologized unconvincingly. “Right. You are really asking for-“ “Anya!” Giles warned. “Yeah, Anya!” Xander imitated. “Xander.” The librarian called. “Yes?” “Shut up!” Giles said flatly and turned his attention to
Dawn. “You were saying?” “Well, it was scaly, tall, big horn coming out of his
forehead and I killed it by snapping his neck. Nothing else seemed to work.” She
sat down when she finished speaking. “You killed it?” Buffy asked as her face lit up with
sisterly pride. Dawn nodded. “You go girl!” Xander congratulated her and patted her on
the back. “That sounds like a Juanola demon.” Anya offered. “Juanola?” Willow asked. “Yeah. Though it’s strange it would be around these parts.
Lives in the tropics. You know, heat and lots of rain. Mostly around the Amazon
river.” “What would it be doing here?” it was Buffy’s turn to
inquire. “Beats me.” Anya shook her shoulders. “A Juanola demon in Sunnydale.” Giles said to himself. ******************************************************* “No, Dawn. How many times do I have to tell you? Right,
left, right, kick, then left.” Buffy sighed in frustration, her head peeking out
from behind the punching bag. “Sorry. First kick then left. Got it.” Dawn tried to
memorize. “Ok. Now let’s give it another try.” Buffy said holding the
bag against her chest. Dawn threw three swift punches, alternating between her
right and left hand, then she twisted her torso, bringing her leg up high,
connecting with the bag almost at the same time as her left fist hit the lower
end of the training device. “Good.” Buffy congratulated. “Finally!” Dawn breathed heavily as she began to unwrap the
pieces of protective cloth she had over her knuckles. “This is really hard.” “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.” Buffy reassured
her as she came to sit next to her sister. “Hum… Buffy?” “Yes?” “I know this it taboo and everything. And if you don’t want
me to talk about it I won’t bring it up again, I promise.” Buffy could sense the
nervousness in her little sister’s voice. “What is it Dawn?” she asked with a soft smile. The younger girl drew in a deep breath and finally blurted
out: “Do you miss Spike?” Buffy choked at the sound of his name. She coughed
uncontrollably. “Are you ok?” Dawn asked, patting her on the back. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Cough. Eventually the coughing subsided and the two stood in
silence. “Do you? Miss him?” Buffy pondered what she would say and finally simply
answered: “Yes.” Dawn smiled sweetly, pushing back a lock of her wild hair
behind her ear. “I miss him too.” “Dawn, he’s not coming back.” Buffy spoke quietly. “What?!” the younger Summers asked confused. “I talked to Clem, he said he talked to Spike and he said
he’s not coming back to Sunnydale.“ Buffy’s eyes were buried in the floor in
front of her as she spoke. “Do you want him to come back?” Dawn inquired after a brief
pause, but Buffy didn’t have time to answer as she heard a loud scream coming
from the back door. She immediately jumped to her feet and went into Slayer
mode. “Dawn, go inside and call the others. I’ll go see what’s
happening.” The young teenager nodded as she saw her sister run towards
the back exit. Buffy was dumb struck by what she saw. The entire street
was filled with all sorts of demons. Tall, short, thin, fat, horny, not horny,
peeling, flaky and… “Clem!” Buffy called out but he didn’t seem to notice her,
so she jogged her way between the crowd of demons. “Clem!” she called again
grabbing the flabby demon by his right arm. When she turned him around she noticed the spaced out look
on his face. In fact, know that she thought of it, all the demons around them
seemed to be that way. “Clem! What going on?” when she didn’t get an answer she
shook the life out the demon and that seemed to do the trick. “Slayer?” he asked confused. “Clem, what are you doing here?” she questioned as she
looked over her shoulder and saw Giles and Xander coming up behind her. “Buffy, what’s going on here?” the young man asked. “That’s what I want to figure out.” “Well, whatever this is we better get inside. We never know
when these demons are going to snap out of their trance.” Giles offered. As they entered the Magic Box, Giles stayed behind and
carefully locked the door. “Do you mind explaining to me what you were doing in the
middle of the street in broad daylight? You do remember you’re a demon, right?
You’re not supposed to go around fraternizing with the whole town.” Buffy asked
a dazed Clem as he sat down. “I don’t know. One moment I’m comfortably chatting with
Spi…ders, “Clem caught himself just in the nick of time. “next thing I know I’m
in the middle of the street and you’re pulling at my arm. By the way, you better
watch that grip. That hurt.” The demon protested as it rubbed the flabby skin
under his forearm. “Spiders?” Xander asked confused. “You talk to spiders?” “Xander! That’s not the point.” Buffy interrupted before
the demon had anytime to answer. “The fact is we have a bunch of seriously
spaced out demons wandering in the middle of the streets and we have absolutely
no idea why.” “Buffy has a point. This can’t be good.” Giles noted out. “Why is this happening, Giles?” Willow asked. “I don’t know. Maybe some dark mystical energy is drawing
everything that is of demon nature to Sunnydale. Maybe the Hellmouth has
increased its pull over them.” Giles proposed. “Then why isn’t Anya all stoned out too?” Willow
questioned. “She is a vengeance demon after all.” “I-I’ll have to research this.” Giles finally admitted. “Well, in the meantime what to I do about our doped out
friends outside. If I could snap Clem out of it they are bound to wake up sooner
or later.” Buffy pointed out sitting next to Clem, who seemed a little more
awake. Giles was about to answer when Anya spoke. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. They’re gone.”
The vengeance demon informed as she stared out the window at a now empty street. “Gone? They can’t be.” Xander refused to believe, walking
towards the window. “They’re gone. I’m telling you, but you never believe me,
do you?” Anya snapped. “I don’t believe in you? How can you say that?” Xander
never made it to the window, instead he turned to follow Anya around the Magic
Shop as she nervously dusted the various bookshelves in the place. “Because it’s true.” She said matter-of-factly. “I do-“ “Will you two stop fighting and focus on the matter at
hand. This is very serious. We need to find out what this is. Now!” a very
pissed off Giles interrupted. “Sorry!” the two said in unison. *********************************************************** “There you are.” Spike sighed in relief as he saw Clem
enter the crypt. “Where were you? We were talking and you just stood and left. I
know you must be a little tired of listening me yap on and on about the Slayer,
but that was just bloody rude, mate.” “I was at the Magic Shop.” The demon answered dropping its
entire weight on the couch. “What? You told her? I told you not to tell her! What’d she
say? Does she know about the… you know… Soul?” Spike rambled on and on nervously
at the thought that the Slayer might know of his presence in town. “Calm down, I didn’t tell her anything.” Clem finally
spoke; his eyes never left the TV set. “Oh.” There was a hint of disappointment in his voice but
he quickly disguised it with a question: “So why’d you go there?” “I didn’t. Well, not of my own free will anyway. I just
woke up in the middle of the street and the Slayer dragged me to the Magic
Shop.” Clem explained. “I don’t know how I got there.” “Well, as far as I can tell, mate, you did it with your own
two feet. You walked out of here more dazed out that a Beatle on LSD.” Spike
commented, taking a cigarette and lighting it. “I wasn’t the only one. There were a bunch of us demons in
the middle of the street. The Watcher thinks it might have something to do with
the Hellmouth’s pull on us, or something.” “Well, then we didn’t I get a happy too?” Spike questioned
curious. “Beats me. Oh,oh… Felicity’s on! I love this show.” Clem
smiled as he turned up the volume on the TV set.
**************************************************************** Buffy twirled the axe in her hand as she walked between the
headstones of the graveyard. Giles had decided it was best for her to took extra
armour on patrol that night and so she was stuck with carrying it plus two sharp
knifes, one tucked on the inside of her boot and the other right next to her
trusty stake, behind her back. She walked around for hours and nothing. It reminded her of
the patrol she had gone two nights before. She didn’t like this quiet. She
preferred the heat of the battle, where she could actually see her enemies. A
cold chill travelled down her back as she felt eyes on her. She turned around
and scanned the perimeter. There was nothing there so she continued to walk.
Four more steps and she sensed it again. Once more she stopped. She felt her
heartbeat accelerate and her palms begin to get damp and slippery because of the
small beads of sweat that slowly formed. In the shadows, hidden in the safety of large and thick
bushes he watched her. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her and he
caught an unneeded breath at the sight of her. Her hair had grown back and she
worn it loose over her shoulders. He frowned when he noticed her wardrobe. She
wore snickers, comfortable jeans and a baggy sweater. It was so strange. She
usually dressed up for everything, even patrolling. Spike wondered why the
sudden change of heart concerning fashion choices, but the thought seemed to
melt away as he saw her stop and turn to face him. She sensed him and he knew
it. He watched her as she scanned the perimeter like a wild cat searching for
its prey. “God! She’s beautiful.” He thought to himself. Buffy moved towards the bushes; slowly at first but
gradually gained speed. As she reached the foliage, she jumped high in the air
and landed on the other side of it. She was surprised to see no one was there.
She was sure she felt a presence there. It was so intense it was actually
overwhelming. She felt strange, uncomfortable, she felt… him. Spike continued to observe her every move from his new hide
out behind an abandoned crypt. She had been quick on her feet but he had gotten
away just the nick of time. “She’s still got it.” He smiled at the
thought. In the meantime, Buffy struggled with her senses. Every
bone in her body told her he was there. She could almost smell him but her mind
denied it. Finally, she gave up and turned away from him heading home. In the
distance he heard her murmur to herself. “It’s not him. There’s no one here. Don’t start going all
wacky.”