Second Chances

Title: Second Chances

Author: Princess Joyce

Rating T for this chapter M overall story

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. A few scenes actually have word-for-word dialogue of the original episode.

Summary: 7th Season Spike goes back to 2nd Season. This is basically my idea of how the episode ‘School Hard’ would have gone if Spike had had all of his memories through season 7. (Please read the Prologue, as this will not make much sense by itself.)

Chapter One: School Hard

Buffy laughed as she followed Xander onto the dance floor, dragging Willow behind her. Yes, a break from studying was just what she needed. Not that they had been studying long or had even made any real progress.

She determinedly pushed all of these thoughts from her mind and allowed her self to get lost in the music. Her body swayed on its own to the beat and she could feel several pairs of eyes on her. One set in particular seemed to burn through to her very soul. She gasped and looked around anxiously, rhythm broken by the intense feeling she was sure someone had directed at her.

She saw a flash of platinum blond hair and heard a man’s voice announcing that someone was having trouble in the back alley behind the Bronze.

“Duty calls,” she muttered to her friends and made a dash for the back door. Her earlier discomfort was completely forgotten.

All in all, this particular vampire killing wasn’t much different from others she had endured. Pull vamp off of victim, tell stupid girl walking alone in a dark alley at night to run. Exchange a few punches and witty insults with vamp, catch stake (finally) thrown to her by Xander, send vamp to dusty after-life.

Only this time, there was applause as she got to her feet, brushing off her clothes. She was surprised to see the blonde man, er vampire, that she had glimpsed earlier. Was he the one who had practically burned her with his gaze? And what was with the Billy Idol fetish?

“Nice work, love.”

She did her best to hide a shiver at his sexy accent.

‘Vampire Bad!” she told herself mentally.

“Who are you?” She demanded, hoping her voice sounded stronger than what she heard.

“You'll find out on Saturday.”

“What happens on Saturday?”

“I…” he stopped and blinked at her.

“You… what?” she asked, confused.

He glared at her and repeated, “Saturday.”

Buffy just stood there and watched him leave. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something significant had just happened.

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“Spike. That's what the other vampire called him? That's a little
unorthodox, isn't it?” Giles asked, flipping through an old book.

“Maybe he's reformed,” Buffy quipped, rolling a stake between her hands.

“Perhaps he went by another name in times past.” Her watcher suggested, ignoring her comments, as usual.

“Well, whoever he is, we'll need all the help we can get come Saturday,” Jenny Calendar helpfully pointed out.

“So, this night of St. Vigeous deal. If they're gonna attack in force, aren't we thinkin' vacation?” Xander asked making Buffy smile.

He was always the first one to suggest running, but the last one who would leave anyone else in danger.

“We can't run, that would be wrong. Could we hide? I mean, if that Spike guy is leading the attack, yesh!” Willow said with a shudder.

“Well, he can't be any worse than any other creature you've faced.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. Leave it to Giles to jinx the whole thing.

“He's worse. Once he starts something he doesn't stop until everything in his path is dead.” Angel said emerging from the stacks.

Angel! Buffy had been so caught up with figuring out whom this “Spike” was, that she had completely forgotten about Angel. He was the reason she had decided to study at the Bronze. He hadn’t shown up though. She frowned.

“Hmm. So, he's thorough, goal-oriented,” Xander said in answer to Angel’s ominous statement.

“We were at the Bronze before. Thought you said you might show,” Buffy said, trying to sound casual.

“You said you weren't sure if you were going,” Angel said, defensively.

“I was being cool. C'mon, you've been dating for, what, like, two hundred years? You don't know what a girl means when she says that maybe she'll show?” She asked, smiling to let him know that it was okay.

“Wow, two centuries of dating. If you only had two a year, that's still, like, four hundred dates with four hundred different... Why do they call it a mace?” Willow quickly changed the subject at Buffy’s threatening look.

“Uh, we do have slightly more urgent matters to discuss,” Giles interjected.

“Yeah, like keeping my mom away from Principal Snyder tomorrow night?” Buffy asked with a sigh.

“And not dying Saturday.”

Jenny Calendar had a knack for pointing out the obvious. Did she really think that they were all that stupid?

“Angel, do you know if this Spike fellow goes under any other name?” Giles asked.

They all looked in time to see the library door swing shut.

“Okay, that's it. I'm puttin' a collar with a little bell on that guy.”

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“For three nights the unholy ones scourge themselves into a fury, um, culminating in a savage attack on the night of St. Vigeous.”

The group was again gathered in the library the following evening preparing for the big event. To Buffy, that meant Parent-Teacher night that was about to start in a little while. To everyone else, it meant preparing for the night of St. Vigeous.

“Does anybody remember when Saturday night meant date night?” Xander asked, looking up from the stake he was whittling.

“You sure don't.” Cordelia scoffed, working on her own stake.

Buffy just couldn’t seem to make her self care about St. Vigeous. She had to get through tonight first. She wished more than anything that she could be one of those people who were just born smart and didn’t have to work at it. Like Willow, maybe. That should be another slayer power. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have the time to put in the work required to make good grades.

The worst part about the whole thing was the disappointment she caused her mother. She wished that she could just tell her mom everything. Joyce would probably be proud of her, after ten years of shock and locking Buffy in her room, that is.

Buffy sighed and put the finishing touches on her vegetable tray. She would just do the best she could. That was all anyone could ask.

“Parents start arriving in an hour. Okay, so, um, banners are in place, the lounge is comfy... What am I forgetting?”

“Punch?” Willow offered.

“Punch. I need, I need punch!” she said heading for the door.

“My fingers are cramping. How long have I been doing this?” Cordelia complained.

“Three minutes,” Xander responded, exasperated.

She glared at him.

“So, can I go now? She doesn't need this many stakes. I mean,
if this guy Spike is as mean as you all said, it should be over pretty quickly…

Buffy stopped, one hand on the door.

“We're still all rooting for you on Saturday. I'd be there for you myself if I didn't have a leg wax,” Cordelia said quickly, trying to cover her faux pas.

Buffy just rolled her eyes.

“You guys hold down the fort. I'm punch bound.”

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Two hours later, Buffy was crawling through the air ducts in the ceiling cursing her luck. Not only had Principal Snyder given her mother an earful, that annoying blond vampire, Spike had decided to come early. Stupid vampires. Stupid principals.

“Would it be considered murder if I threw Principal Snyder at Spike and just looked the other way?” She asked herself grinning at the carnage in her mind.

Carefully, she lifted a ceiling tile to see an empty hallway. Where were all the vampires?

She jumped down to the floor and held still, listening.

Nothing.

She turned down one hall then another. All was clear, until she made one more turn. There he was. Long black coat billowing a bit as he walk, bleached blond hair, dark blue eyes. Ok, so he was hot, she’d give him that. But he was evil. So why did that fact seem to make him even more appealing?

“Slayer,” his voice was raspy, like he had just woken-up.

“Spike.”

She decided then that the name suited him perfectly.

At first they just stared at one another. Buffy, over-anxious, decided to throw the first punch, which he easily blocked. She threw herself into the attack punching, kicking, flipping, everything that she had been taught. For every offensive move she sent his way, he blocked, ducked, and delivered one of his own. There was no pain as neither one landed a single blow to the other. He seemed to know every move she would make before she made it, and his retaliations were easy to block. If she didn’t know better, she would say that they were dancing.

They both stopped, and stared at each other again.

“Who are you? What the hell is going on?” she demanded, freaked out at the obvious connection she had with this vampire.

He gave her a crooked smile, and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“Consider this a gift,” he said, handing the paper to her.

“Go there after sunrise,” he warned then turned on his heel and strode away.

There was an address of a warehouse on the paper. Obviously a trap.

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“So, what did you and Principal Snyder talk about anyway?” Buffy asked her mom as they walked toward the car later.

She just couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. Joyce sighed.

“Principal Snyder said you were a troublemaker.”

Buffy looked down in shame.

“And I could care less.”

Buffy looked back up, shocked.

They stopped walking and turned to face each other.

“I have a daughter who can take care of herself. Who's brave and resourceful and thinks of others in a crisis. No matter who you hang out with or what dumb teenage stuff you think you need to do, I'm gonna sleep better knowing all that.”

Buffy had to blink back tears. For the first time in her slaying career Buffy felt like her Mom might actually be able to handle finding out about her ‘night’ job.

“About how long till this wears off and you start ragging on me again?” She asked, wanting to laugh after the hell that this day had been

“Oh, at least a week and a half,” her mom said with a smile.

“Very cool!”

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Buffy quietly climbed out her window, moving quickly in the pre-dawn light. It was Saturday so with any luck she could thwart whatever evil scheme Spike had up his sleeve and still make it back to the house in time to cook breakfast before her mom got out of bed. Joyce always slept late on Saturdays.

It didn’t take long to find the warehouse. She climbed inside through a high window, and was shocked to see Colin, the vampire kid that had led her to the Master last year ‘holding court’ with a few vampires. Spike was one of those vampires.

The blonde vampire sent quick wink in her direction.

He walked over to Collin and knelt before him.

“You failed,” the coldness in the child’s voice made Buffy shiver.

“I, uh... I offer penance,” Spike said, not looking Collin in the eye.

“Penance?! You should lay down your life! Our numbers are depleted, the feast of St. Vigeous has been ruined by your impatience!” A vampire yelled out, suddenly.

Spike smiled, coldly.

“I was rash, and if I had to do it all over again...” he breaks off with a laugh and shakes his head.

“Who am I kidding? I would do it exactly the
same, only I'd do this...” he stands up and grabs Collin.

“ No!” the child-vampire yells.

“...first!”

He carried Collin over to a cage. The other vampire tried to stop him, but
Spike kicked back and knocked him out. He stuck Collin in the cage and closed and locked the door. Buffy watched in shock as Spike pulled a chain, lifting the cage up from the floor.

Buffy could do nothing but stare as Spike gave the chain a final strong pull, and lifted it into a beam of sunlight coming in through a high window. Collin screamed as he disintegrated into ash.

Next Spike walked over to the fallen vampire who had tried to stop him, whipped out a stake, and sent Collin’s loyal servant to join the child in the vampire afterlife.

A thoughtful look crossed his face as he stared down at the pile of dust.

“I wonder if Alice will be assigned to them as well?” he muttered to himself.

“Okay, what is going on? Why did you just kill your leader?” Buffy asked as she stalked over to him.

Spike’s eyes seemed to search hers for a moment. He sighed when he was unable to find what he was looking for.

“I’m on your side, Slayer. I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but maybe if I showed you…”

“How stupid do you think I am? Just because you killed two vampires in front of me does not mean you are on my side! You could have killed them to make yourself the leader,” she pointed out, crossing her arms across her chest.

Spike narrowed his eyes at her.

“Leader? Of who? All the others are dust or long gone by now,” he insisted.

Buffy’s hard expression did not waver.

He smiled and walked right up to her, smiling wider when she refused to step back.

“I didn’t expect your trust from the beginning. All I am asking is the opportunity to earn it. Don’t tell me you can’t use someone as strong as me help you and yours keep this town from being completely over run by demons,” his voice was little more than a whisper, and his face was now perilously close to hers.

Her eyes slipped shut and his scent seemed to grow stronger, reminding her of their ‘dance’ from the night before. That is what it had been after all. A dance.

Suddenly her eyes flew open.

“Angel,” she whispered, taking a step back.

“I have Angel for that,” she said her voice cracking a bit.

Spike scoffed.

“Right, old soulful. You know, when he…” suddenly he trailed off and looked at her.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” she demanded, shifting uncomfortably.

Spike swallowed, and looked a bit pained. His eyes darted back and forth, and it was clear to Buffy that he was conflicted about something.

“Why do you look so brooding? You don’t have a soul… Or do you?”

He looked her in the eye.

“No. Would you trust me if I did?”

She thought about it.

“No. Even Angel had to earn my trust,” she responded, finally.

“You are the Slayer. And there are things that will happen to you, bad things, but I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Don’t you think it would be wise to have more supernatural back-up than just a brooding, soulful vampire that isn’t always around when you need him?”

“Angel has..”

“Sod Angel! This isn’t about him. Things are going to happen, and it’s going to hurt you and those you care about. I can help. I want to help. But I can’t unless you let me!”

He was breathing hard, even though he didn’t need to breathe.

Buffy had always considered herself a pretty good judge of character, and this vampire in front of her seemed genuine. But it just didn’t make sense!

“I have no reason to believe you. And I don’t have time to give you the opportunity to earn my trust. I’m sorry,” she said, sincerely.

Spike’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“If that’s your decision…” he trailed off and the briefest smile crossed his face before a look of dread settled over him.

He grabbed her hand, and Buffy felt a tug on her heart. She stood, helpless as his gaze mesmerized her once more.

“You are the Slayer, and eventually you will come to a point where you have no one to turn to. Please remember me then. Whether you believe me now or not, I am on your side. And there is a very good reason for this. I will tell you, when you are ready,” he lifted her hand to lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back.

As Spike turned and strode off into the shadows she heard him mutter.

“I have to let things play out the way they are meant to…”

End Chapter 1

AN: Still looking for a beta, any takers?