One month later...

"Where's Willow again?" Buffy put the report back down on her desk. She glanced at the clock. 6:25. Almost time...

"Somalia. Out of contact," Neil reminded her, his eyebrows raised in silent commentary of her dazedness. He was still new to the job, though, so he didn't dare make any actual comment.

Buffy sighed. Willow was gone. So were Giles and Xander. "Well, send Sofia. She's up on the magics and can definitely hold her own. Make sure she has some of the girls with her, though. We don't want this guy getting out of hand. Well, anymore than he already has."

Neil nodded. "I'll let you know on our progress there."

"Yep." Buffy was already reaching into her desk drawer for her purse. She barely looked up as Neil walked out.

Her purse retrieved, Buffy left, not forgetting to lock her office door behind her. She took the familiar trip down the stone corridor to the training room where Spike was giving the new recruits a good sparring. He'd already stopped for the day by the time she arrived, otherwise she would have taken the opportunity to pause and admire.

He nodded at her entrance and grabbed his jacket from a chair. He tossed off a casual wave as several of the girls said goodbye.

"Long day?" Buffy asked, trying for conversation.

He shrugged in a noncommittal answer.

That had been their pattern since he'd arrived in England. Oh, he'd spent about a week healing from his injuries. During that time, Buffy had tried to give him some space so he wasn't feeling smothered or - what was that word he had used before? - coddled.

After he'd recovered, though, Buffy had expected to get to the happy togetherness part of their new claim, but that apparently wasn't to be. Spike had been hesitant to even talk to her. He had accepted her offer of staying with her - somehow the thought of him being too far away still unnerved her - but he'd ended up sleeping on the couch instead of in her bed.

The whole thing left Buffy feeling empty.

"We're sending Sofia to that warlock dude. It's a little outside our jurisdiction. Human, after all. But given that incident last week, we think it's best to nip it in the bud. He's not evil. Just distraught. Sofia's nice so she can hopefully talk him down from whatever he's going through."

Last week had seen a panic in town as a previously unheard of warlock named Lance had appeared and began to wreak havoc in the form of crumbling buildings and random combustion of vehicles. He'd managed to disappear before he could be contained, but after some research her watchers had been successful in finding him. Too bad Willow wasn't around now. They needed somebody reasonably proficient in magic to deal with him, and they were coming up a bit sparse.

Spike nodded in acknowledgment, but didn't make any comment of his own.

Buffy sighed. "How are the girls coming along?"

"Pretty sloppy. Don't know who taught them initially, but they did a piss-poor job of it."

His words were like an arrow to the gut. Buffy felt the sting. "That person would be me, actually."

No response.

She unlocked her door in silence, leaving it for Spike to close it as they entered.

"I'm going out with Dawn tonight," Buffy said quickly. Okay, so that hadn't been a planned thing, but she didn't think she could tolerate a night in with Spike again.

He was already moving to the fridge to heat up some blood. His words may be arrows, but his silence remained a steam engine crushing her.

* * * * *

"I don't know what's going on."

The ice in her drink bobbed at the surface. She stabbed at it with her straw, but it only slipped around to get to the top again. Futile, just like everything else she tried to do.

Dawn took a sip of her own drink. "I can talk to him."

"No," Buffy said. "No. We're all claimed and stuff. We're supposed to work this out together, right?"

Dawn gave her a skeptical look. Buffy moaned and put her head down, narrowly avoiding the water ring left by her drink.

Nights out at Felipe's Diner with Dawn weren't unusual nowadays. Staying in meant being stuck in her apartment with an unresponsive Spike. Buffy couldn't deal with that. After the big climax of rescuing him and the hope and optimism that came with it, each day getting the cold shoulder chipped away more and more at her heart. Avoiding the situation entirely was the only way she could cope.

Buffy lifted her head slightly. "I can't take this, Dawn. I don't know what to do."

Their usual waitress - Emily - brought their dinner, studiously avoiding any small talk as she judged the private conversation. Still, Buffy had to sit up all the way and the interruption allowed her to regain her composure.

Dawn waited until Buffy had started eating. "I can do some research, then."

"Research?"

"On the claims. See if maybe there's some adverse reactions that could be happening. Oh! Or maybe since you claimed Spike on top of Angel's claim - "

Buffy shook her head. "When I claimed Spike, it got rid of Angel's claim. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to kill Angel."

"Still, maybe it caused some complications. It's not exactly the standard claiming situation, is it?"

"No, it's not," Buffy admitted. Her pasta had become unappetizing. Her stomach had soured, and she pushed the plate away. This, too, wasn't unusual. "I guess some more research couldn't hurt."

Dawn nodded. "Whatever it is, we can take care of it."

"Yeah."

Buffy didn't want to tell Dawn about her actual fear: That there wasn't any complication with the claim at all. No. It had worked perfectly. Spike just didn't want to be with her for eternity. He'd agreed in the panic of the moment, swept up with the big romance and the setting. Now, though...

Now he didn't want her.

* * * * *

The evening found Buffy returning home late. Her apartment was dark, and Spike was already asleep on the sofa when she entered.

She tried to be as quiet as possible, edging around furniture carefully.

In her mind, Spike woke up and greeted her with a sleepy smile. His hair was tousled - sexy. She told him about her day, and he groused about his. Then he'd suggest a soothing backrub with a raised eyebrow to hint at more. They'd retreat to the bedroom where Spike would show off his magical hands in a myriad of ways, and they'd fall asleep together.

Okay, so Buffy didn't fantasize that much anymore. Years of dealing with the harsh reality of life as the slayer had trained her out of it. Ever since this claim, though, she'd found that her brain went off on its own tangents when life wasn't measuring up. The flashes of would-be worlds were intense, so much that the blink back to reality left a sore throb in her gut.

She gave up on making it to the bedroom. Instead, she sighed and sat down in the armchair next to the sofa. The battered springs made a small noise, and Buffy tensed in anticipation of Spike waking up.

He didn't. He shifted position, stretching one arm over his head and tilting his face towards the back of the sofa.

She should try to talk to him about all of this. Better than keeping it bottled up. After all, it was obvious that something was wrong. Communication was supposed to be important for a couple, and neither Buffy or Spike had been holding up their end as of late.

Tomorrow was a day off for both of them. Well, ostensibly. "Days off" didn't happen frequently, but Buffy had insisted on it for once back when she'd thought she and Spike would be busy making with the happy coupleness. Now, the thought of a whole day dealing with Spike filled her with a guilty dread.

Still, the slayers could get along without them for a day, and Buffy could take the opportunity to get things sorted out between them.

Buffy smiled as she watched him sleep, lost in her imaginings of what might be tomorrow. Her heart burned.