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Prologue:
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Mrs. Kroger wasted no time after her enforced vacation ended. She phoned Mr. Hank Summers in Spain, where he currently resided, and informed the missing father about his youngest daughter’s recent behavior. He agreed that a stronger hand was needed than his college age daughter, Buffy, seemed able to provide.

Mr. Summeres tsked when told of the fall in Dawn’s grade point average. He seemed properly horrified when told of the odd goings on at his deceased ex-wife’s home. He won Mrs. Kroger’s heart with the tale of how he had sacrificed his natural desire for having his youngest with him in the interest of keeping her school and friends as much the same as when her mother had been alive. He had been assured that Buffy was up to the task, but now he sadly had to agree that she was not.

After being reassured by Mrs. Kroger that his financial obligation to his offspring, in the form of child support, would not be required once he assumed guardianship of Dawn, Hank made arrangements through his attorneys to rescind the custody arrangements with Buffy. Dawn was henceforth removed from Buffy’s custody and rapidly shuttled to her new home in Barcelona. Hank assured his daughter that she would love the food and the culture there and that she would eventually come to love her new stepmother and toddling stepbrother. Dawn was excited about seeing Europe and the prospect that could earn spending money with the baby-sitting duties she would have with her not-yet-met sibling, Cody.

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Buffy was reeling when Dawn was removed from her care. True, she hadn’t spent much time with her sister and was not enjoying the extra responsibility, but she was so very tired of people that she loved leaving her.

First was her dad. Now Buffy doubted she’d get so much as a Christmas card since his small monthly check for Dawns support and brief, obligatory note were terminated. She had missed her dad a lot, but that loss was tempered by having her mom with her. Joyce had been more betrayed by Hank’s leaving than Buffy had been, after all.

Losing Angel had furthered the descent into constant abandonment and loss that made up Buffy’s world. He hadn’t even bothered with a goodbye kiss, merely looked at her across the smoky distance, turned, and walked out of her life.

The few times they had met since then had only served to show how much distance there now was between them.

Her mother’s death had nearly killed Buffy. She had never realized how much she had relied on Joyce, how much she had loved her. Buffy regretted every weekend she had not gone home to visit and every missed phone call when she was away at college.

True, Buffy and Joyce had gotten closer again that last year, but the whole Glory thing had kept it from being the blessing it could have been. Buffy had lost the only "normal" part of her life and any semblance of childhood along with her mother. She had been forced to assume the responsibilities of Dawn and the household that had grown during her absence. This was in addition to the usual duties of holding the fate of the world, and maintaining the balance in the war of good vs. evil, in her tiny hands. Buffy was crushed long before that jump from the tower.

She had finally found rest and peace in Heaven, only to lose that too. Her friends demanded much from her. Buffy loved them dearly, but they were really high maintenance in many ways. She had so much to live up to in their eyes. "If they knew about Spike!", Buffy shuddered in fear. She just knew she would be left alone in reality if they ever found out the truth.

Giles, her real father in all the ways that counted, was gone too. He had known the pressures she was under, knew how she had been pulled from Heaven, and still he left. He seemed to think she needed to grow up and handle things on her own.

God, she couldn’t even figure out her own heart. How could she be expected to handle the mountain of duties and responsibilities she had before her?

Buffy knew she should be grateful that her responsibilities regarding Dawn were over and her little sister was safe and cared for, but it just felt like another loss.

The only being in her life she couldn’t seem to lose was Spike.

No matter what she did or said, she just couldn’t get rid of the vampire. Part of her held that thought close to her heart and cherished it, the secret part of her that she didn’t acknowledge even to herself. Her fear outweighed it though, so she didn’t examine how she really felt about Spike at all.

When she did think about it, she remembered how at ease she was with him since her return to life.

Actually, that feeling had started to take root not long after Spike had protected the Key from Glory at great personal cost.

Since Buffy’s return, however, she had really started a friendship with him that held the potential of much more.

Naturally, the idiot had to ruin that by pushing her into a physical relationship. Buffy usually stopped analyzing her feelings at that point. It was a good spot to blame Spike, get angry, and ignore any development of tenderness she might be having.

With the money from Hank no longer a factor at Casa Summers, Buffy began to work extra shifts at the Doublemeat Palace. She was going to have to look for a better paying job if she expected to keep her home and pay the outstanding debts that had been piling up. Buffy was tired, tired and numb. She began to plan another visit to Spike after her shift ended tonight. At least the numbness would be physical then and she’d have good reason for the tired.

~~~

Spike was on his third bourbon when the red-eyed, four-foot-high demon approached him at Willie’s.

He had been drinking more than he would have ever expected to, considering he was involved in a very intense affair with the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately, having Buffy in his bed had not equated to having himself in Buffy’s heart. Bourbon took the edge off the pain of that realization, so Spike drank.

The demon, a Ravnar if Spike was not mistaken, had been quite nervous in his approach. Spike could feel the fear rolling off the little guy in waves. Ravnars were not particularly known as fighters and were usually inclined to avoid trouble, so Spike was not worried when it tapped on his shoulder. The Ravnar turned out to be male (impossible to tell with that species) and identified himself as Argot of the Reavenoir. He said he had a business proposition to make to Spike that could make the vampire a tidy sum of money with little effort.

"Yeah, well, vampire here. I take what I want. Why should I do some job for you to get some ready? And why me specifically? Lots of Vamps and demons in here tonight", Spike asked. He eyed the demon suspiciously and drank down his glass of Jack.

"You are well known in demon circles as one who deals with the humans and fights his own kind. You have a reputation of years as a Master Vampire with a long and bloody history. You are famous! Indeed, I am humbled in your presence", he groveled. "One is needed to do harm to demonkind, in the service of a human. Who but the storied William The Bloody should I approach?", he asked.

"What’s the job then? Can’t say I’ll be takin’ it, but you’ve got my interest", Spike said. He then motioned to a booth in a corner and ordered another bottle of Jack Daniels. "My little friend here’ll pick up the tab, won’tcha buddy", he said to the bartender, indicating the Ravnar.

In a matter of an hour, Spike had accepted a commission that would pay enough for his Slayer to get her bills paid, pay off the mortgage and finally be able to get a job she actually liked with hours that didn’t kill her slowly.

All he would have to do is store a few Ferrisite demon eggs, milk the hatchlings for the poison they had in a sac in their abdomen, and hand the venom over to Argot to be given to a human doctor working on a cure for some rare blood disease.

Seemed like a win-win situation to Spike. He would get to help his ladylove, the doctor could possibly cure lots of people in some Southeast Asian country and Argot would get a nice fee for putting the deal together.

Spike knew the Ferrisite demons were nasty little buggers. They were insect-like and ugly as sin. Their venom wouldn’t kill a human, but would sting like the devil. It would take the speed and skill of a vampire such as Spike to be able to do the job quickly before the little bastards scampered away after hatching. Spike agreed to take delivery from Argot as soon as the eggs were laid and begin egg sitting until time for the milking job.

Now all he had to figure out was how to get Buffy to accept the money. He’d figure that part out after he had the cash in hand.

Too much planning usually didn’t go well for Spike.