Liz launched a spinning kick that Spike barely avoided and quickly followed up with a sweep that landed her teacher flat on his back.

"How was that?" She asked sitting on his stomach with her mock stake tapping on his chest. Spike shifted her aim a bit.

"Good. You're definitely getting better." She let him up and he grinned at her. "Got a surprise for you."

"Oh?"

"Heard some good news. Um, well I suppose not 'good' news, but it'll have to do. A man was killed by a coyote outside Galinas."

"That's good news?"

"They think he crawled quite a distance from the scene of the attack since there wasn't a lot o' blood at the scene. There's a good chance it's a vampire did the killing. Victim might even rise tonight. If we hurry we can probably catch it."

"It's dark now," Liz noted unnecessarily. She had arrived about an hour before sunset and begun her workout. Despite the strenuous exercise she wasn't the least bit tired so she couldn't claim that as an excuse. She swallowed her nervousness and gave him a cocky grin. "Okay. Lets go."

They gathered supplies and headed out back to where his car was concealed. A few minutes later they were headed out of town. The way Spike drove the trip didn't take long, and Liz arrived at the cemetery considerably more nervous than she had been when they left the factory.

"Be alert," Spike warned. "A newborn won't be that much trouble, but the one who made him might be lurkin' about. No telling who it is or how tough they are." Liz nodded, focusing on the task ahead of her. Spike handed her a stake and took out one for himself. "Let's go."

The place was dark and gloomy just as a cemetery should be, Liz reflected as she made her way through the rows of markers looking for the fresh grave. She found it and looked around for Spike. She was about to wave to him when she thought to double check the name.

"Tim Gilbert," she read as she illuminated the headstone with her flashlight. "That's the one." She clicked the flashlight off and rose to attract Spike's attention when the shifting dirt of the grave surprised her. Liz jumped back and stared in macabre fascination as the man, a buff twenty-something, pulled himself out of the ground.

"Geez, that's creepy." The demon looked up at the sound of her voice. It grinned and launched itself towards its first meal. Liz gave a small scream and quickly sidestepped as the vamp charged. It stumbled by with a surprised grunt and turned to face her.

"So I guess I should hit you now?" The vampire wasn't at all interested in what Liz thought she should do. It came at her straight on and was staggered back by a jab to the nose. It stared at her cross-eyed for a second, surprised by the resistance, but then snarled and charged again, its hunger overwhelming any sense of caution.

Again Liz sidestepped the wild rush and grabbed an outstretched wrist. Pulling him toward her so his back was too her, she placed her other hand on the elbow gave a hard twist and shove. The arm snapped and the vamp hit the dirt face first with a howl of rage. Liz leaped on its back and drove her stake home. What had once been Tim Gilbert turned to dust beneath her.

"Well," Liz mused aloud, "that wasn't so bad."

"For who?" asked a peevish female voice behind her. Liz jumped to her feet and spun to face a red head she would have classified as vamp even without the fangs. "He was cute too."

"Personally, I hate a guy who gets grabby on the first date," Liz quipped, trying to mask her nervousness. The vampire chuckled, not fooled by the bravado.

"Well that should be the least of your worries at the moment. I'm hungry." Liz ducked away from the swing and backed up.

"Well that's more or less constant isn't it?"

"True."

"How do you keep your figure?" Liz asked, honestly curious. The vamp laughed good-naturedly.

"I get a lot of exercise killing Slayers." She moved in fast and hit Liz hard in the face. The vamp threw herself on Liz, or tried to. Her intended victim rolled aside and to her feet in time to deliver a solid kick to the head.

"Follow up Liz," Spike called. "This isn't a Sunday social. All being polite'll get you is dead." Liz nodded and squared her shoulders. She met the next charge head on, driving both fists into her opponent's gut and then bringing them up sharply under her chin. The vampire's riposte staggered her and the demon had no trouble following up on the advantage.

Flat on her back, Liz brought her head up sharply, forehead connecting with the bridge of the vamp's nose. Grabbing an ear, she brought the head it was attached to down hard on the grave marker set flush in the ground next to her head and bucked her off. A kick to the side lifted the vamp off the ground.

"Stake," she called. Spike tossed her one and she turned back aiming a kick high as the vamp charged her from behind. The kick connected solidly with her jaw, stopping her in her tracks. Liz stomped down and brought her other leg around in a crescent kick that shattered the vamp's jaw and sent her sprawling. Liz leaped on her and staked her before she could recover.

"How was that?" she asked getting to her feet.

"Pathetic. If she'd had any talent at all you'd be dead," he told her bluntly. "Your basic technique's okay, and shows some promise, but you can't hesitate. You're supposed to hurt them, take the initiative and remember to follow through. Hit as hard as you can and keep hitting." Liz nodded dejectedly.

"You're right. I've never really thought that violence was a solution to anything, but I'm gonna have to get over that."

"Damn right you are," he snorted. "Demons don't respond to sweet reason." He thought hard a moment then sighed.

"I suppose I should've pushed that during training. You held back cause you didn't want to hurt me didn't you?" She nodded.

"Well stop it. You can't hurt me, so stop bein' such a pansy about it. Let those reflexes yer so scared of take over." He stepped forward and poked her in the chest. "Do you understand?" She nodded meekly and he rolled his eyes. "Show me!" he growled letting his demon show and grabbing the lapels of her jacket with both hands.

Liz brought her hands up between his arms and snapped them apart, breaking his grip. Stepping back, she grabbed a double handful of short blonde hair and pulled down and toward her.

Knee met forehead, stunning him, and her grip shifted, grabbing collar in one hand and belt in the other she heaved. Spike abruptly found himself airborne. He had time to be annoyed at himself before he hit the head stone she'd thrown him at. It toppled and he kept going.

He rolled a short distance when he hit the ground, but wasn't able to rise. The Slayer was kneeling on his chest with a stake aimed at his throat.

"You're a bit high," he scolded.

"I didn't want to accidentally kill you if you sat up suddenly or something." Spike nodded and gestured for her to rise.

"Very considerate. Just don't be that way with other vamps." Liz nodded.

"Got it. You made your point."

"Good. Let's go back then." Spike grinned and made a slight bow and sweeping gesture toward the car. His sudden mood shift confused Liz, but his antics made her smile. She headed for the car, remembering to keep an eye out for any other signs of covert movement as they left the cemetery. They saw nothing.

***********************************************************************

Maria opened her eyes slowly, wondering for a second where she was. She was outside, judging by the warm sunlight and the lack of a roof to block it. She was lying on the ground, or rather on a blanket on the ground. Lastly, she wasn't alone. She smiled as she felt Michael stir against her, waking up.

"I think we fell asleep," she said unnecessarily. Michael mumbled something and sat up. Maria scooted away slightly and sat up as well. "Good nap though."

"After that meal I think we needed it." They looked at the remains of the picnic lunch they had brought to the small park. Falling asleep after eating hadn't been part of the plan, but she had to admit she liked waking up with him. "This is nice," he said after a moment, surprising her. "It's nice to do something normal once in a while." Maria let out a small laugh and he looked at her curiously.

"Sorry. It's just that I never would have connected the concepts of you and picnic. If our lives weren't so strange I'd say this is anything but normal." Michael's face closed up and Maria knew she'd said the wrong thing.

"At least I'm trying," he groused.

"I didn't mean it that way. I really enjoyed this. It's a nice change of pace. You're not usually with y'know the romantic gestures." Michael relaxed.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be defensive. I just wanted to do something with you that, you know, a normal couple might do. Not that spying on the FBI isn't a lot of laughs." Maria grinned. It was more than the joke was worth, she thought, but the tension had gone out of the conversation. The last thing either of them wanted was more tension. The last month or so had seen far too much of it

Michael chuckled. Maria looked at him as he lay back and put his hands behind his head. "What?" she asked curiously.

"Just remembering the last time we slept together." He chuckled, but Maria shuddered at the memory.

"It wasn't funny then, and I'm not sure it is now." She managed to smile ruefully though. If it had happened to someone else, she reflected, it might have been funny. "You didn't have to listen to mom freaking out after she caught us in bed together." She looked down at her boyfriend, who was still smiling and seemed determined to be contrary. Maria considered lecturing him on the double standard for women in such situations but decided against it. Michael's smile faded after a moment when he realized this upset her despite the front she put up. He began to search for a new topic, a safe, normal topic.

"What are you thinking?" Maria asked after a moment. Michael decided to go with honesty.

"I'm trying to think of a safe, normal topic of conversation." Maria laughed shortly and lay back next to him.

"Not many of those these days. The only ones that I can think of right off would probably put us back to sleep." Michael made a sound that indicated agreement. He was feeling to lazy to do anything else. After a moment she said, "Um, so how 'bout those Dodgers?" Michael's eyes snapped open and he looked at her incredulously. Both started to laugh.

"You want to head back to the CrashDown?" Michael asked after a bit. Maria shook her head. Time for an awkward topic, Michael realized. "Liz is working now isn't she?"

"Yeah. Things just haven't been the same since this Slayer thing happened, and I don't know why. It's not like it's made this big impact on our lives or anything. She trains with Spike a couple of hours a day, but there's been nothing for her to you know, actually slay since those Vigary guys came through town last month. The women are still here, but we hardly ever see them. So…" she trailed off, at a loss to explain why things were awkward between them.

"Maybe it's because you can't share it? Something you can't have in common? How often does that happen?" Maria didn't know what surprised her more, that Michael would attempt to say something deep and insightful or that he was right.

"I think that's it," she said after a moment. "That's exactly it." Michael shrugged.

"Give it time. You two have been friends way too long to let something little like this get in the way."

"Little?"

"Like you said. It's not like it's had a huge impact on your lives." Maria made a thoughtful noise and considered that. It would be time to head back to the diner soon anyway. She resolved to talk to Liz about it. It was Friday, 2:00 P.M.

***********************************************************************

Spike was bored. He had been cooped up in the factory all day with just a portable TV for company. Roswell didn't have Sunnydale's tunnels or LA's extensive sewer system, so he was trapped during the day. He hated that. When he had agreed to become Liz Parker's Watcher he hadn't realized how painfully dull the job would be in a town with a grand total of 10 demons, himself included. He didn't count the Slayer's friends because they maintained that they were aliens and not demons. To make matters worse, or better depending on one' point of view, he was the only one of those ten demons even remotely violent.

The previous night had been interesting, but there was far too little of that activity in the area to keep him from getting bored. Angelus had used to complain that Spike had the attention span of a mayfly. The aliens had some possibilities. Liz had said they had enemies, other aliens that would be coming to attack them. That was something to look forward to he supposed. The ones already in Roswell were duller than dirt.

At first he thought that Tess girl might liven things up, but she'd disappointed him. He had barely seen her, but when they did happen to be in the same place, she always had a snotty remark that managed to piss him off. She never did anything more threatening though, so no opportunity there for slayage as Buffy used to call it.

There was no way around it. Roswell was dull. The bet he had made with Angel was enough to keep him there for a time, but he knew that eventually he would shrug it off and leave. Sooner rather than later if something didn't happen.

***********************************************************************

The dilapidated Ford pulled to a stop in front of the UFO theme restaurant and the young man behind the wheel looked up at the sign and smiled. "This should be interesting."

"Tourist trap," his female companion surmised. "I give the novelty 10 minutes to wear off." He rolled his eyes and smiled at her.

"Let's find out." He got out of the car and she reluctantly followed him inside. They took a booth and picked up the menu a gray-haired, bored looking woman wearing a set of antennas dropped on the table.

"Will Smith burger? Men in Blackberry pie? Green slime smoothie?" His voice grew increasingly incredulous.

"Okay," his girlfriend grimaced, "the last one. Yuck." He nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Like we don't see enough slime." He looked up as another waitress approached.

Liz smiled at the two customers as she pulled out her order pad. "Hi, I'm Liz. Welcome to the CrashDown. Can I get you something to drink while you look over the menu?" The two gave each other a significant look before glancing down at the menus.

"Just a coke for me."

"Me too. I can't decide what to have though. Everything looks so…"

"Bizarre?" the woman provided. He nodded. Liz giggled and nodded.

"It's a bit corny, but the food is good. Although I suspect I'm a bit biased. Try the burger. The cook knows how to make it just right."

"Okay Liz, burger and fries."

"Me too," his companion piped up handing over her menu. Liz turned and headed for the window to put their orders in. They waited till she was out of earshot. "So that's her, huh?"

"Guess so. Seems nice enough."

"Not much to look at." He shot her a look. Terrific, she was jealous, but he decided to misinterpret her words in order to keep the peace.

"Can't judge by appearances. Too many vamps made that mistake with Buffy." She let it slide.

"Think she's ready for what's coming?"

"We'll know soon enough." It was Friday, 2:30 P.M.

***********************************************************************

After leaving the café, the first order of business was to find a place to stay and then to find temporary work while they got ready. Neither knew exactly how long they would be in Roswell, and they needed to be ready for the long haul.

Two hours later, they saw an opportunity for one of them. "Waitress?" She didn't sound very enthusiastic.

"You've done it before."

"Didn't like it," she pouted. "I can do it though." She went into the CrashDown and took down the help wanted sign that had only been put up an hour ago. The owner cocked an eyebrow at her as she approached him and set the sign on the counter.

"You're confident. Been a waitress before?" She nodded. With Agnes sudden departure they were going to be short for the dinner shift, Jeff Parker reflected. He needed to fill the slot quickly. Alex had volunteered to help out, but Jeff Parker had said jokingly, that he wouldn't look good in the uniform. His wife and daughter had both given him dirty looks for that.

"Well I do need someone fairly quickly. Can you work the dinner shift tonight…?"

"Anya. And yes I can." Jeff nodded and agreed to hire her on a trial basis. It was Friday, 4:00 P.M.

***********************************************************************

After a few quick words with Anya, he drove on alone to a place he had seen earlier in the day. A job was a necessary evil while he was there and he tried for positions that wouldn't take too much time away from his actual mission in Roswell.

The construction site he had seen was hiring day labor and he had little trouble getting on pushing a wheelbarrow and running errands. He had agreed to meet Anya on her dinner break and make plans to approach the Slayer. Spike might be a problem or he might actually help if it suited him or at least amused him. They would simply have to see how it played out.

***********************************************************************

Spike wandered the streets, looking for something to divert him. He never missed a chance to get out, and he had some time before Liz arrived for their training session. She had called earlier saying she needed to be at the café in case the new waitress her father had hired didn't work out.

Jeff Parker was getting curious about where his daughter went in the evenings, but Max had been good about covering for her. He sometimes watched their training sessions, and tried to be supportive, but Spike could tell he wasn't happy with the situation.

Liz had suggested that he and the others be included in the sessions, after all, they had their own abilities to master. Max had said he would think about it, and Spike had to admit that including the aliens would make things more interesting and had encouraged him to invite the others to join in. It might make things a little more interesting anyway, to see what they could do.

He met Liz a block from the CrashDown and they headed for the factory. They were still on Main when they spotted Dodd eyeing them suspiciously, still a little ticked, Liz suspected over the way they'd given him the slip a few weeks earlier. The second time they saw him they had traveled several blocks in the direction of the factory. Liz realized that he was following them with considerably more discretion than he had used before. She motioned to Spike and turned down a side street. He grinned when he realized what she had in mind.

Dodd started to drive by the alley, not intending to turn into the street behind them. That would have given him away immediately. As he passed though, he suddenly hit the brakes, startled by what he saw, or rather, what he didn't see. They were nowhere to be seen. Getting out of the car, he walked down the street, barely more than an alley really, but too long for them to have reached the other end in the short time they had been out of sight. He tried the only doors opening onto the street and found both of them locked. He glanced up at the fire escape, but the ladder was up and it was much too high for either to have reached without a ladder or something to stand on. Those things make a hell of a racket anyway, he realized and knew that he would have certainly heard it. He said something obscene under his breath and returned to his car.

They waited until the sound of his engine had faded in the distance before emerging. Liz dropped from the fire escape where she had been hanging motionless, body pressed against the bottom of the superstructure, just a few feet from the ladder Dodd had been pondering.

Spike pulled himself out of the manhole he'd hidden in. How he had moved the cover without making a noise, she couldn't imagine. He grinned at her and clapped her on the back.

"Sheriff's not going to be happy that I've been playing with Dodd again." Her teacher chuckled and shook his head.

"The boy's got no one to blame but himself. Tell Valenti it'll help his deputies keep on their toes."

She smiled somewhat ruefully, enjoying the game even if she knew she would probably regret it later. "I was sure he was looking right at me at one point. I didn't even breathe." They continued to talk as they made their way to the factory to begin the training session. It was Friday, 8:00 P.M.

***********************************************************************

Liz rubbed at a few new, but quickly fading aches as she walked back toward the CrashDown. Spike had decided that he had been going easy on her. Her performance in the cemetery the previous night had disappointed him, and he wanted her to be ready for anything. Liz knew he was right, but that didn't stop the indignation she felt over being pushed so hard.

Irrational maybe, but it was there nonetheless. What truly disturbed her was his insistence that she let her reflexes take over. The reflexes she had gotten from Faith still scared the daylights out of her. Letting go with a demon or even with her odd teacher didn't bother her that much, but she lived in fear of losing control, that someone would accidentally step on her foot and she would put them in the hospital before she realized what she was doing.

Spike had jokingly referred to it as 'channeling Faith'. Spike, she reflected, could be a real jerk. Her control had been increasing though. Her balance and coordination continued to improve much to her amazement. Her teacher insisted however, that she was not ready to rely on her own control and reflexes in a fight. She had to continue to use Faith's. That thought scared her far more than the prospect of facing any demon. Liz walked the rest of the way to the café, lost in thought and didn't notice the van that drove by her slowly. It was Friday, 9:55 P.M.

***********************************************************************

Spike dropped his keys in his pocket as he headed into the factory. The new training scheme he'd worked up had been fairly effective if he did say so himself. Liz was mad at him, but if it kept her alive during her next fight he suspected she would get over it. The sound of a car engine turning the corner caused him to glance back at the road. It wouldn't do for some deputy to spot him entering the factory. It wasn't a patrol car though, just a van that was moving past on the old road.

He stopped. That road didn't lead anywhere. He turned back for another look. The van was familiar. Searching his memory as he entered the factory, he tried to connect it with a time and place. It was a fairly nondescript vehicle. He had seen others like it around town, but he hadn't seen this one in town he suddenly realized.