A/N: Still set in "School hard" written by David Greenwalt, props to him. Thank you Luxferi for the advice and beta on this one! I just can't thank you enough



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Xander was ushering the parents down the hall and into an empty class room. Willow tried her best to help him, but it wasn't easy. Among them were Joyce Summers and the principal, Mr Snyder, who was currently complaining about being ordered around by a kid. Xander told them to barricade the door and not let anyone in unless it was him, Willow or Buffy, before he and Willow ran towards the school library.

As soon as they came in, they could see both Jenny and Giles standing up, clearly worried. Cordelia was sitting at the table with a bored expression on her face, scrutinizing her nails.

”What’s going on?” Jenny asked.

”That thing you said was worse than St. Vigeous? It’s here. Now. With an army.”

”How many?”

”Five, I think,” Xander said, and Willow nodded in agreement. ”Five.”

”No. Not again! I can’t believe this! I surround myself with freaks! How come there’s always some monster around when-” Cordelia, who had stopped examining her nails, was interrupted.

”Is Spike with them?” Giles asked, walking straight to his weapons, and started to hand them out to the others.

”Guys?!” Cordelia stood up screaming, trying to get their attention.

”I don’t know what he looks like,” Xander said at the same time as Willow said, ”Yes.”
They were both ignoring the cheerleader.

”How do you know?” Xander asked.

”He is. I mean he has to be. Didn’t you see that bleached guy? I... I bet it’s him.”

Giles turned to Xander “There's an old boarded up-cellar behind the stacks. You can get out that way.” He held the boy by the shoulders, trying to make him listen. “Find Angel. He knows about Spike. We need him.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere until I know that Buffy is all right,”

“Xander! She’s the slayer!” Willow said.

“No one will be all right if we don’t get some help,” Giles said seriously.

Xander gave in and rushed out.

* * *

In the school lounge, a pair of blondes were staring at each other intently. The vampires behind the bleached one were confused since neither Spike nor the Slayer made a move. One of the more impatient ones grabbed a parent that was running by and was just about to sink his fangs into the terrified man’s neck when Spike, not taking his eyes off Buffy, said calmly:

“Get back. And let him go.” He added, ”We’re here for the Slayer.”

She was her. The Slayer. There was no doubt about it. He could tell by the way she held herself. Proud and without fear. The girl was older, but he could still see the insecure fourteen-year-old in her eyes. Even her scent was the same.

Of all annoying teens in the world, it had to be her?

Spike was embarrassed, something very unusual for a vampire. Partly because he had met her twice and not been able to kill her and partly because she had found out about what he was.

The vampires didn’t dare to do anything but what Spike had told them to. The impatient one let go of the man he’d captured and watched him run down the hall. Spike and Buffy continued to stare at each other. Silence filled the room.

“You’re a vampire,” Buffy said finally. There was a knot in her stomach. She felt sick. He was a monster. “I’m sorry.”

The first thing she’d said, Spike had expected, but the apology? Not so much. He was caught off guard.

“Sorry ‘bout what?!”

“That I couldn’t save you.” Of all the people, of all the people, it had to be him? Her angel. Buffy knew very well that turning a person into a saint, even in one’s mind, was foolish and would presumably only lead to disappointment, but she had done it anyway. He was her savior. She was more than disappointed.

“Save me from-” Spike stopped himself, realizing what she was talking about and chuckled.

“There’s nothing to save me from, pet. Other than myself.” He chuckled again. “Just the same ol’ Spike. I’m a little disappointed you haven’t heard about me, though, I’ve been around for ages – and like I said: creature of the night.”

Buffy didn’t say anything. She was trying to understand the things he was telling to her. Spike continued:

“I can't imagine why you would get chosen. Oh wait, probably cos you could dust a vamp through excessive crying!”

Buffy ignored him. He’d been a vampire when she met him at that time in San Francisco? No, that couldn’t be... But Angel had said he was a vicious killer. Maybe he had...

“Do you have a soul?”

“A soul?!” Where the hell did she get that from? Oh right, Angelus. “I have no soddin’ soul!”

She couldn’t find an explanation that fit. The pieces of her puzzle were too big, too sharp and too pointy. If he’d been there with her in that hotel room, why hadn’t he killed her? She’d slept in his bed, talked to him about how she felt, if he didn’t have a soul, how come he’d been nice to her? When she thought about it, nice was an exaggeration, but still, he had comforted her and told her what she needed to hear.

Spike watched with amusement at the puzzled look on her face.

“So you kill people?” Buffy asked suddenly. It was a stupid question and she knew it, but after meeting Angel, she had to know.

“Do I kill people? No, I knit sweaters for them every Christmas!” Spike said sarcastically. “I’m a vampire, of course I kill people!”

At this point, Giles and Jenny rushed in, him armed with a crossbow and her with cross and stake. Willow followed soon after with a large cross and a bottle of holy water. Cordelia had apparently stayed in the library or slipped out the same way as Xander.

“Buffy! Run!” The Englishman shouted, not noticing the lack of violence between the vampire and his slayer. Buffy stayed put.

“What’s this? The cavalry?” Spike mocked, looking at the watcher. “I best be leaving then,” he said sarcastically.

“He’d killed two slayers in the past!” Jenny shouted, standing behind Giles.

Buffy turned and looked at Spike in surprise. This time, he didn’t brag. She was even more confused.

“So tell me, luv. Still crazy? Last time I saw you, you were in the loony-bin.” Spike walked over casually to the table with the lemonade, which had survived the attack.

“I fooled them,” she said automatically.

The words had just slipped out of her mouth. Had he really been there? Until now, she had convinced herself into believing that he’d been a hallucination, her own mind telling her what she needed to hear. She was wrong. He had been there. Buffy’s eyes went wide in surprise when she realized: he’d kissed her.

Spike put down the cup of lemonade that he had picked up. He couldn’t remember he’d actually told her that. When he saw the look on her face, he knew immediately what she was thinking of. The kiss. *Bollocks!* He knew it would come back to bite him in the arse sooner or later!

Both Giles and Jenny were stunned. This didn’t look like the usual punch lines the Slayer normally exchanged with her slayees. Willow kept quiet at the back.

“Buffy-“ Giles wasn’t really sure of what to say, but since he was interrupted he didn’t have to think too much about it.

“Why?”

Spike knew exactly what she meant, but he decided to try and make her look stupid.

“Why what? I’m not a mind-reader you know? Though my girl’s fairly good at that, gettin’ inside of your noggin-“

“Was it some kind of a sick game?”

Spike didn't get the chance to answer. Suddenly the doors swung open and Angel came in, holding Xander around his neck in a firm grip with his arm.

“Angelus,” Spike greeted. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Spike!” Angel said.

“Angel!” Buffy saw how he was holding her friend. “What are you doing?! Let go of him!”

“Isn’t this a nice little gathering? Angelus, have you come up against the Slayer yet?” Spike gestured at Buffy.

“She's cute. Not too bright, though. Gave her the puppy dog 'I'm all tortured' act. Keeps her off my back when I feed!” He laughed.

“What?!” Buffy was rightly upset. What was going on?

Xander, who was squeezed underneath Angel’s piped arm, obviously believed in Angel’s charade.

“I knew you were a lying, undead liar guy!”

“Nice one, mate,” Spike praised his grandsire, but he knew what Angel was playing at. He quickly changed his tone. “Now put the boy down.”

“I thought we could have a bite before we kill her?”

Buffy was about to march over to Angel and release her friend, but was stopped by Spike grabbing her arm.

He chuckled before punching Angel in the face, making him stumble backwards and let go of Xander ”You think you can fool me? You were my sire, man! You were my... Yoda!”

“Yoda?” Buffy, who had ran over to take care of Xander, gave him a doubtful look and just for a second she was back in that hotel room with him, taunting his efforts of showing her he was evil. It didn’t last long.

“Things change”

“They bloody well have!” Spike said, and as he glanced at Buffy he knew it was true. He wished it wasn’t, but somewhere along the way things had changed.

“Leave,” Buffy said. Whether she meant Spike or Angel was unclear, but the younger vampire answered:

“Not really planning on doing that. You see, I came here to kill the Slayer.”

“And that’s not gonna happen. I’m giving you this chance to get out.”

“Buffy!” Giles said, clearly not approving.

“Or what Slayer?”

Buffy had made up her mind. There was only one way out of this and she knew it. She had to kill Spike.

“I’ll have to kill you.”

Spike snorted. “You get to try.”

With that, her fist connected with his face and the fight had officially started. To the onlookers, the fighters, who both used their super speeds, looked like one big mess of flying fists and legs. No one could really tell who was actually on top. Besides Angel, maybe. When Spike had knocked Buffy down to the floor, Angel grabbed him from behind, throwing him into a nearby wall.

“Stay out of this, Angel!” Buffy shouted while kicking Spike, who had gotten up, in the chest.

She did not appreciate the older vampire’s so-called help. Even as Spike’s minions joined in the fight occasionally, she would rather fight alone. The fledgings were not nearly as good fighters as the bleached blonde Master Vampire and when Giles had dusted two of them with his crossbow, Buffy could easily take out the other two with the stake that Willow had thrown her. Spike and Buffy were the only fighters left.

It was around this time that Willow decided it was best to get the parents out of the school. They were still locked in the classroom where she and Xander had left them. Spike seemed to be too engrossed in the fight with Buffy, that he probably wouldn’t notice if they slipped past the lounge to the library. Willow whispered to Xander, standing next to her:

“I’m gonna get the parents.”

“Good idea.”

They sneaked away to the classroom where the adults were hiding and told them to follow them quietly. Spike didn’t seem to notice, and if he did, Angel stood in his way wearing a grim look that said ’leave it’.

Since fighting was close to killing, which Spike had on his list of the things he enjoyed, this was his idea of having a great time. This girl, this slayer, was stronger than anything any other he’d ever fought. She might have looked like she was easy to break, but there was a certain fire in her eyes.

Spike picked up one of the chairs in the lounge, throwing it at Buffy, making her fly across the room. He smirked.

“Have you gotten any experience yet, luv? Cos I might just take you up on that offer.”

It was clear to Buffy what kind of ‘experience’ he was talking about, and it made her, if possible, even more pissed off than she already was. This was, according to Buffy Summers, one of those ‘act first, talk later’ situations, those which occured when she couldn’t come up with a smart comeback. Hence the outburst of violence and a right hook that knocked Spike off his feet.

"Do you still cry over mummy and daddy's divorce?" Spike said mockingly. Another fist connected with his face.

To the humans watching it looked like both the Slayer and the vampire were fighting for their lives. Truth was, Spike was merely fighting because it was fun, his intentions of killing her had of course not been forgotten, but let’s just say that they’d been put aside when he realized who she was. Buffy, on the other hand, was fighting because she was angry. Mightily pissed off were the words. She was probably going to stake him if she got the chance, but that wasn’t the reason why she fought.

Just as Spike was about to hit the Slayer with a large piece of wood he’d gotten out of the hole in the wall, the result of Angel punch, Joyce hit him on the head with an axe.

She had been on her way to leave the school campus with the rest of the parents when she saw her daughter fighting and just couldn’t leave her there. Luckily for Buffy, she helped out instead.

“You get the hell away from my daughter,” Joyce said, ready to hit again.

Spike got up and muttered “Women!” before heading towards the broken window. Just before he jumped out, he turned and looked at Buffy saying:

“See you around, Slayer.”

Joyce exhaled and dropped the axe when he disappeared into the night.

“Nobody lays a hand on my little girl,” she said, embracing her daughter.

Giles walked up to them, as well as Jenny. Angel kept in the back.

“Are you all right, Buffy?” Giles asked as he took her to the side.

“Peachy.” She gave him a weak smile.

“I’m not quite sure what happened here, but it seemed to me like you’ve fought him before, yes?”

“I’ve met him. Twice. He didn’t call himself ‘William the Bloody’ then.”

“I see. Well, there are some things that-“

“Giles, could we talk about this tomorrow? I’m tired. I just wanna go home and sleep.”

“Of course.”

Angel stepped forward. “Buffy, I-“

“Get out of my face, Angel,” she said coldly. Whatever he’d been up to, she didn’t have the energy to argue with him about it tonight. It had to wait until morning.

As the humans in the lounge were about to leave, Xander and Willow rushed in, having showed the parents and teachers out to their cars.

“You did it Buffy! You killed him!” Willow said excitedly, since she couldn’t see the blonde vampire anymore, assuming he was dust.

“Go Buff!” Xander cheered.

“Hey, guys,” she greeted tiredly. “He’s not dust.” She saw the disappointed looks on their faces and added, “Sorry.”

“Oh, but you’ll get him next time,” Willow reassured. “You will..get him next time, right?”

“Don’t worry, Wills.”