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Chapter 9- Can you Keep a Secret?

Buffy stayed with Spike for a few hours before he went back to sleep. Buffy couldn’t tell him about his sister being back. Not yet. She had to figure out a way to keep them separated until she knew that Spike was well enough to know she was back.

"Maybe Spike’s sister will be gone soon, and I won’t have to worry about telling Spike at all." Buffy thought. She proceeded to go down stairs, telling the Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Anya that she wanted to talk to them. Emmy and Kennedy stayed in the living room and talked themselves, while the Scoobies went into the dinning room to talk.

"Xander, I want you to take Emmy for tonight. Take her to your place to spend the night." Buffy said.

"What?!" Anya said just a little to loud, causing the group to make "shushing" sounds at her. She then lowered her voice. "Xander can’t take her."

"Why not?" Willow asked.

"Because… well…" Anya didn’t have a good, sound reason why, but she had to come up with something, "Because he only has one bedroom."

"I’ll sleep on the couch." Xander replied.

"No!" Anya was starting to sound upset. Once she saw the looks thrown in her direction, she added, "Your back gets sore when you sleep on the couch, remember?"

"Anya," Dawn piped in, "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Me? No! What reason would I have to be jealous? I mean, come on. It’s not like I still love Xander or anything. I don’t even like him that much anymore." Anya said with a nervous laugh. She was trying to convince them, but was failing.

"Right, so, Xander you’ll take her tonight?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. That’s fine."

"Willow, do you think you can keep her busy tomorrow?"

"I think I can. Did they have movies back in the 19 th century? I don’t want to scare her or anything." Willow said.

"No. They did not." Giles answered Willow, then turned to Buffy and asked, "Buffy, why do you want to keep her away from here? Did you not tell Spike?"

Buffy sighed a defeated sigh, "No, I didn’t. I don’t know how to tell him yet, and I don’t want to shock him. But, she may not be here that long and I probably wont have to tell him."

"Buffy, that’s wrong. You’re going to have to tell him." Willow said.

"I know. I just don’t know how. I don’t want to do it yet anyway. Not until he’s much better."

"What about coffee shops?" Willow asked.

"Maybe you should just keep her inside and out of the main part of town." Dawn suggested to Willow.

"Maybe Buffy is right," Giles said, "We don’t want to shock him. Not yet."

"Great," Xander said, rubbing his hands together. "Sleep over at Xander’s."

"Can I come?" Anya asked hopeful.

"No." Xander said, getting up and heading into the living room leaving Anya to pout in the Dinning room with the rest of the group.

(<>..<>)

Nearly and hour later Xander walked into her apartment and turned on the first light that lit up the dinning room.

"This is my humble home," He said to Emmy who walked in behind him.

"It’s nice," she said, "And clean. Most men don’t keep their homes clean."

"Well, just call me Mr. Clean man," Xander said walking into his bedroom.

"Okay, Mr. Clean man," Emmy replied with a smile on her face following Xander into his room.

"You’ll stay in my room tonight. I have to get to work early tomorrow, but Willow will be here sometime before noon to pick you up."

"Thank you Xander."

"You’re welcome. Here," Xander pulled out a long t-shirt from his dresser. "You can ware this tonight."

"Thank you Xander, for everything you’ve done."

Xander smiled at her and went to turn to go back into the living room when her voice stopped him. "But, why does Buffy want me to stay here. Why can’t I stay with William?"

"Um… I think that Buffy just wants to tell him first so that he’s not to shocked when he sees you for the first time."

"Oh. Thank you."

"Your welcome. Good night, Emmy."

"Good night Mr. Clean."

(<>..<>)

When Emmy woke up, she woke with a start. "Where are these images in my head?" She though. She sat up in Xander’s bed and thought. Then she remembered. Dreams. They were called dreams.

"I hate this," Emmy said, getting out of bed and putting her dress that she arrived in back on.

As Emmy entered the living room of Xander’s home, she heard a knocking at the front door and went to answer it. She found Willow standing on the other side.

"Good Morning Emmy," Willow said cheerfully.

"Hello Willow."

"How are you this morning?" Willow entered Xander’s apartment and closed the door.

"I’m okay."

Willow gave Emmy a look that said that she didn’t believe her. "You don’t look okay."

"I… I had a dream. I’m not used to that."

"I supposed you wouldn’t be. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

"Good. But first, there are a few things that I have to tell you."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Okay. First, we have these fast moving transpiration thingys called cars. It would be best to stay on the side walk."

"Xander told me about those last night as we were walking here." Emmy explained to Willow.

"Oh, good. Okay." Willow thought a minute, "I don’t think there’s anything else, so, let’s go." Willow and Emmy left Xander’s apartment. Willow locked the door with her key on the way out.

(<>..<>)

It was now dusk. Willow had taken Emmy all over Sunnydale. Emmy had seen everything from every park in Sunnydale to every graveyard in Sunnydale. Emmy told Willow many times that she wanted to go back to Buffy’s home to see Spike, but each time Willow came up with an excuse so not be there. Finally, Emmy was able to convince her.

As Emmy and Willow walked into the Kitchen of the Summer’s home, Buffy looked up to see who had walked in, thinking it was Xander and Dawn coming back from the store.

When Buffy saw who it was, she grabbed Willow by the arm and pulled her over into the hallway. "Willow," She whispered, "What are you doing? You can’t bring her here. Not now, I haven’t told Spike yet."

"Well, Buffy, I couldn’t keep her away. She kept insisting. I couldn’t keep coming up with excuses." Willow replied, using the same tone Buffy had.

"Hey girl, how’s the evening?" A voice said behind them.

"Spike!" Buffy said, turning around surprised. "I thought you were asleep."

Spike stopped his walk to the kitchen and gave Buffy a curious look. "Uh… yeah. And eventually everyone wakes up. I decided it was time to wake up." He went to take a step to continue into to kitchen, but Buffy stopped him and stood in front of him.

"Spike," she said, "Why don’t you go lay down for a little while longer. You still look tired."

"No, actually, I’m hungry. Need blood." Spike said trying to get past Buffy.

"Buffy?" Emmy said from behind her.

Buffy cringed, then looked at Spike who looked up at the young girl in the kitchen with a confused look on his face.

Emmy looked at Spike and smiled at him. All he could do was look back at her with a shocked, disbelieving look on his face.

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