"Faith, you mind if we swing by the Bronze?" Cassie asked casually, "It's my turn to walk Beth home." Her feet automatically took a path towards the nightclub before the dark haired Slayer could answer.

"Fine by me," Faith replied. She followed behind the blond Slayer. "Can I ask a question though?"

"Go for it."

"Why are we walking this girl home?" Faith quickened her pace to keep up with Cassie. She hadn't said anything, but she thought the Slayer and her friends were more than a little strange. She was confused as to why Cassie's Watcher allowed her to associate with the other teenagers. Faith's own Watcher had told her that she wasn't allowed to have friends.

"Xander promised Spike he'd keep an eye on her. Since Xander's out on a date with Cordy tonight, he asked me to fill in." Cassie turned into the alley behind the Bronze. She hopped up on an empty crate to wait for Beth to come out the service door. She saw the curiosity on the dark haired girl's face. "You're dying to ask. So, just ask."

"Spike's a vamp. I get that, but why are you, a Slayer, being friendly with him?" Faith asked, "And what in the hell is the Specter chick?" The Specter had rubbed Faith the wrong way the moment they laid eyes on each other. She knew if anyone could see through her carefully erected facade, it would probably be the black clad female warrior.

Before Cassie could answer, the service door opened and Beth, along with Jack, stepped into the alley. The pair quietly greeted the blond Slayer, and then, both nodded politely to the dark haired Slayer. Faith found herself walking beside the bartender while they followed the other two females.

"Did that boy, Scott, ask you out?" Beth asked. "He's kinda cute, you know." She laughed when Cassie rolled her eyes.

"I told him I wasn't ready to date yet. Not after the mysterious disappearance of my last boyfriend," Cassie answered. "Besides, his friends are a tad freaky." She scanned the darkness for any signs of demonic activity.

"How are the sessions with Mr. Platt going?" Beth knew that Giles had advised Cassie to seek out the high school counselor for some one-on-one therapy.

"He's nice enough, I suppose." Cassie waved her hand in front of her nose. "He smokes during our little talks and then sprays the nastiest air freshener imaginable to cover up the smell. It was positively ghastly." She said the last in a fair imitation of Giles' snootiest tone of voice. Cassie was interrupted from saying anything further by Dalton.

Dalton stepped out of the shadows. He was a little leery about dealing with two Slayers, but he knew that telling the blond Slayer, Cassie, about the return of Angelus the night before was probably important. It was never good to have a Slayer mad at you, not to mention either of Spike's girls.

"Slayer and Miss Beth," Dalton said softly while he kept an eye on the new dark haired Slayer. "The Souled One returned yesterday after you left the mansion. H-he is not himself. I-I had to chain him up." He stepped back when Cassie advanced on him.

"What do you mean returned?" Cassie demanded. "Is this some kinda joke?"

"No, Slayer!" Dalton exclaimed. He put his hands up as if to ward the young girl off. "A portal opened and he fell through it. He didn't speak or anything and acted feral-like."

"I'm not sure how to react to this, but thank-you for telling me, Dalton," Cassie said quietly. "I think you need to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't escape. I need a chance to talk to Giles." She motioned for Faith to follow her, and the two Slayers left Beth, Jack and Dalton behind.

Faith quietly walked beside Cassie. Her thoughts whirled in her head. Things in Sunnydale were a bit strange for the independent Bostonian Slayer. She'd let Cassie strong arm her into moving in with the blond slayer and the watcher. Cassie had spilled her life story, and Faith found it a bit surreal that their lives prior to becoming slayers had mirrored each other. The dark haired Slayer felt a deep kinship with the older girl. Faith found it a little strange that Cassie hadn't staked the vampire minion that had shown up with the message, but at this point she was more worried about her new friend than a vampire.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Faith asked.

Cassie shrugged as she twisted her face up in a slight grimace. "Yeah, I'm good. I just need to talk to Giles about Angel and all of this before I decide what to do." She turned the grimace into a smile. "Race you home."

The two girls took off running towards Giles' apartment. Neither one managed to get the advantage over the other, and their laughter rang through the night air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beth threw her keys down on the end table while she dropped wearily to the couch. Her day had been long and difficult. First, she'd discovered entirely by accident that the Mayor had a new head minion. A vampire by the name of Thor had brought along his own gang of eight minions that were now integrated with the ones already roaming Sunnydale doing the Mayor's dirty work. Then, on a routine patrol before she was due into work, she discovered a plot to kill the Slayers. When the Specter went to warn Cassie, she discovered that the blond Slayer and Cordelia were already embroiled in the plot and she and Faith had raced to help them. Last, but not least, it being Homecoming night, many of the teenagers came to the Bronze for a little post-dance partying. Dang, but dancing teenagers were a thirsty bunch.

Beth contemplated getting up for a drink of pig's blood when the telephone rang. She picked up the receiver and uttered a greeting. Her entire countenance changed from moments before. She smiled with delight at the voice that poured through the line.

"Hello, luv."

"Spike," Beth squealed. "I've been hoping you would call. So much has happened! Jack and Clem are definitely a solid item now. I got a raise at work." She babbled from one topic to another in a racing litany of sentences. "Angel's back. He just appeared in the mansion one day last week. Dalton came to tell Cassie while she was walking me home. Dalton's keeping himself really low key."

"Whoa there. Slow down, Beth. What's this about Angelus?" Spike gritted his teeth on the other end of the phone.

"Dalton still lives at the mansion. He said that Angel just fell out of a portal in the sky all feral like." Beth twirled the phone cord with her fingertips. "I wouldn't have known about it if Cassie wasn't walking me home that night."

"Bloody Hell." Spike growled. "Can't that wanker stay dusted?" He leaped to his feet to pace back and forth.

"He was sent to Hell, Spike. She didn't stake him." Beth rolled her eyes. She knew her vampire was pacing right about now. He was so predictable when he was upset.

"Hell should be full of nice fiery flames right? He couldn't have tripped into one head first?" The visions in Spike's head made him smirk gleefully.

"Spike!" Beth laughed despite trying not to. "That's not very nice. I will NOT tell Cassie that you said that. She's conflicted enough right now." She remembered the look on Cassie's face when she spoke about the cursed vampire to both Beth and the Specter. Beth was soft-hearted despite her true natures, and she wished there was something she could do to make the other girl feel better.

"Sorry," Spike tried to sound contrite, but failed miserably. So, he huffed instead, "No really, I'm not sorry. I feel bad for the chit, but I hate the wanker." He flung himself back down on his bed.

"Nothing better be wanking him, or we are going to have Angelus to deal with all over again." Beth frowned. "I swear you can cut the tension between those two with a knife. I don't know how someone like him could have gone without sex for decades." The melancholy turn of the conversation started to remind her how she'd felt before he called. "I can sympathize with her there. I know I miss you."

"I miss you, too, pet. I don't know why, but Dru's adamant that I can't come back to you yet." Spike sighed. He leaned against the headboard of his bed. He had finally got a silencing charm surrounding his room. "She's worried that you won't be able to 'bloom' with me around."

"Bloom? I'm not the flowery type." Beth pouted. "And I just want my boyfriend to come home! I want to go out on dates, and go make out at Lover's Lane afterwards. Have our friends over for parties. Have some fun along with school and work."

"Pet, vampires aren't like other normal folk." Spike was beyond frustrated that he couldn't wrap his arms around the woman he loved. "Although we can do all of those things, it isn't what we normally crave. We aren't like everyone else."

"But I really want to be, Spike." Beth sniffled. "I may be a vampire, but I'm still just a girl who wants to share with friends and be loved."

"You are loved, Beth. Don't ever doubt that," Spike growled. He rubbed his forehead while he calmed down and collected his thoughts.

"I love you, too, Spike," Beth said softly. "I'm sorry I'm not a normal vampire and want stupid, childish things."

"I never said they were stupid or childish, pet. Don't even think that wanting love makes you stupid. A vampire has a right to love just as much as any pulser." Spike sighed. "Why don't you invite the Slayer and her girly friends over? It might do you all some good to have a little party. I'm sure she needs to get her mind off Angelus, and you can make some more friends of your own. I think I need to talk to Dru again about this mess. I can't just sit here twiddling my thumbs."

"I'm scared to be around the Slayer so much, Spike. I like her, but what kind of Slayer can't tell that I'm a vampire?" Beth's worry filtered through the phone line to Spike. She'd noticed that Faith didn't seem to have a clue about her vampirism either.

"You are special, pet, and if I was there I could show you just how special you are." Spike's voice soothed and caressed Buffy's mind as easily as his hand would have caressed her cheek.

Being undead didn't diminish the survival instinct in the human half of a vampire's psyche, and Beth was afraid to find out. "What happens if she finds out what I am?"

"Who you are pet, not what. Vampires may be creatures of the night, but we are not its or whats." Spike reaffirmed his solid beliefs in the rights of vampires to exist. "After everything that has happened already, I'm sure the Slayer would see that you are a good person."

"I hope you're right, Spike because this could get really ugly if you're wrong." Beth worried her bottom lip with tiny fangs that sprouted in her nervousness.

"Stop chewing on your lip, luv. You'll ruin your pretty shirt with your dribbling blood." Spike knew Beth's habits already, and he could picture the nervous young vampiress as if he was standing right in front of her.

Beth sucked her lower lip in and licked off the traces of blood. "Smart aleck know-it-all vampire."

"Just call 'em like I see em, pet," Spike baited. He knew exactly how to get a rise out of his girl.

"You can't see me!"

"I always see you. Every time I close my eyes, I see you." Spike smiled warmly. "When I wake up in the evening each night, I see you. You are always with me." The romantic poet of his past leaked out through his present counterpart's affections.

"Wow, I wish I could make it sound as pretty as you do." Beth teased. "I bet I'd make it sound all stalkery instead."

Spike laughed gently. "It's the thought that counts." He was interrupted by Beth yawning. "Tired, luv?"

"Yeah, it was a long day." Beth yawned again. "The Specter found out the Mayor has some imported minions that made an attempt on Cassie and Faith's lives and it was Homecoming today. The Bronze was packed until closing. I'm pooped, even for being a vamp."

"I'll let you get to bed then. I'll call you in a few days, let you know what's goin' on down here." Spike closed his eyes. His heart already ached with loneliness. "You have fun partying with the Slayer."

"Okay," Beth said sleepily. "I love you. Bye."

"Love you, too, baby. Bye." Spike pushed the off button, and he tossed it onto the table next to the bed. He closed his eyes while he decided that he was his own vamp, and he didn't need the permission of his sire to go to the woman he loved. Spike jumped to his feet. He opened the dresser drawers, and he started to toss his clothes onto the bed. Then, he grabbed the duffel bag out of the closet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A FEW DAYS LATER

"Can you believe that Post woman tried to tell us that she was sent by the Council?" Cassie asked. "She must've thought we were a bunch of hicks or something because we're not from jolly old England." She looked up from where she was painting Faith's toenails.

The group of females that had gathered were as diverse as one group could possibly be. Jack, the bartender from the Bronze, was by far the oldest of the group, being in her twenties, but the other girls all seemed to be in the same age range. Cassie found Beth to be a bit baby faced and a bit of an enigma. She wondered how such an innocent girl could attract and keep the attention of one of the worst vampires in history. Well, keep her innocence around said vampire, who instead of trying to corrupt the young woman, had gone against his very nature to be with her. It was thoughts like this that made Cassie have doubts about her relationship with Angel. She gave herself a quick mental shake while she remembered her promise to herself that she'd have fun with her friends.

"Yeah, the Specter took one look at Post and began to giggle," Faith commented. "I've never seen anyone so pissed off in my life, and I'm a master at it. Maybe I'll like this Specter chick yet."

"What color was it exactly that Post turned?" Willow mused. "Puce, maybe. Or maroon." She smiled at Jack, who was painting Willow's toenails a brilliant shade of green.

"Well, it was a particularly unpleasant shade, whatever it was," Cordelia announced. Her grin turned sly. "Now let's talk about boys."

"Yes, tell us how things are going with Xander," Cassie said in return. "Did you let him get lucky yet?" She finished Faith's toenails and switched places with the dark haired Slayer. Cassie picked out a glittery shade of blue to have her tootsies done up in.

"Mr. Xander Harris still has much training ahead of him before I succumb to his advances," Cordelia answered haughtily. "There's 'How to Make Queen C Happy 101' and 'What Makes Queen C Pissed Off 202'. Those are just the beginner courses."

"What about you, Beth?" Willow asked. "Any special courses that Spike needs to take when he gets back?" She closed the bottle of nail polish she was holding, and she put it on the table.

"If there are I better come up with them quick," Beth chuckled. "He called this morning to tell me that he slipped his collar and is on his way to Sunnydale."

"You mean you guys have never done the horizontal limbo?" Faith stared at Beth. "I thought that vampires were all about wild blood-filled orgies." The dark haired Slayer blinked in confusion at the thought of a soulless vampire not being interested in the things she'd read about in the Council's books. Her other watcher had touted the book knowledge as the gospel truth.

"I don't know about most vampires, but Spike's been a total gentleman," Beth said. "Our first kiss was at the skating rink after the assassin tried to kill me. It was heavenly." She got a faraway look in her eye. "All that yummy experience."

"Yummy experience?" Willow asked. She recognized the dreamy look on Beth's face. She'd seen it in her own mirror enough times over the past six months.

"Well, he was turned in 1880, I'm sure he's got lots of yummy experience," Beth grumbled. She knew that Spike had been faithful to Drusilla, but she also knew that the blond vampire enjoyed learning new things.

"Hate to break it to you Beth, but I don't think he and Drusilla played checkers every night for 100 years." Cassie hated to bring up Spike's previous lover. She had no idea that the insane vampiress fully condoned the relationship between Beth and Spike.

"I don't think Dru is sane enough to understand checkers," Beth drawled. "She'd probably babble about the red tiles looking like blood and the black ones looking like her Daddy's heart." Beth rolled her eyes, hoping that Cassie wouldn't be offended with the vague mention of Angel.

"Or she'd start asking Miss Edith which one to move first." Cassie rolled her eyes along with Beth. The two girls had talked in depth about the Aurelian vampires over the summer. Cassie knew that Beth had some secrets of her own, but she was starting to respect the other girl too much to try and ferret them out.

"Don't ever mention that doll to Spike. He's absolutely positive it's possessed." Beth turned to Willow. "So, we've heard about Xander and Spike. Your turn. Tell us what's on the horizon with Oz the werewolf." She grinned when the red-haired girl blushed a fiery red.

"Still doing the smoochies. For a band member, Oz is a bit shy." Willow pulled a paper from her backpack laying on the floor next to her. "In fact, next Friday the Dingos are playing an out of town gig and Oz wants me to go with him. It's overnight, and I'm sorta excited and sorta scared."

"Just remember, he's probably just as nervous as you are," Jack said confidently.. "He just doesn't want to look uncool and announce it. Before anyone asks, Clem and I are doing just fine." She grinned when the others giggled at the thought of such a statuesque beauty like her dating the floppy skinned demon, but Jack knew looks didn't count for anything. Her last boyfriend had been as handsome as sin, but his cheatin' heart was as black as the devil's. "Anyway I got some mixers, no alcohol though, and I thought I'd show you gals how to make some mixed drinks."

While the other girls got up to follow Jack to the bar, Beth pulled Cassie to the side. The two girls watched as the bartender started to explain drink making basics. Then, Beth leaned over and said very quietly, "How are things with you and Angel really?"

Cassie mutely shook her head. She had no idea how things were going with the ensouled vampire. She'd never really been friends with him because of her crush at first sight, and they couldn't be lovers. The curse prohibited that idea, even if Cassie was so inclined to shower Angel with her favors again. They'd tried to talk, but things were awkward and stilted. More than anything Cassie wished that her relationship was as easygoing as all of her friend's were. She smiled sadly at Beth. "I don't know."

"We're all here for you," Beth said softly. She wrapped an arm around the other girl's shoulders. "Let's join the others. We can brainstorm on how to fix you and Angel tomorrow."