"You okay Liz?"

"A little freaked but otherwise just great." Liz said as she studied her stake.

"Just wait till Giles teaches you to use the crossbow." Buffy said.

"A crossbow?" Liz asked, a wide-eyed look on her face.

"Yep. But first we need to work on just your fighting skills. You don't have many right?"

"No, not many really, no" Liz replied, halfway wishing they had come to town sooner, it would have really helped to have had fighting skills when Pierce came to town.

"That's okay. Neither did I. Now I can kick ass with the best of them." Buffy said.

"Good to know there is hope!" Liz said doubtfully.

"We'll probably start training once Giles gets the garage set up." Buffy said before looking curiously around her.

"Buffy? You okay?"

"I thought I heard something."

"Probably just the wind."

"It's never just the wind." Buffy saw a flash of black behind a tree. "C'mon."

"C'mon?"

"Well yeah I mean I'm not leaving you here and you should get some up close and personal experience so c'mon."

"Okay." Liz followed slowly behind Buffy. They came to a clearing and just as Buffy was about to turn around something leaped out at her. Liz backed up against a tree and watched as the fight began.

"Ow!" The creature whined as soon as it threw a punch.

"Spike?"

Spike groaned, "Yeah, slayer, it's me."

Buffy sighed and got up brushing herself off. "It's cool Liz. He's harmless."

"Hey!"

"Well you are."

"Yeah thanks to your boyfriend."

"I take it you two know each other?" Liz asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," Spike and Buffy replied in unison.

"But I don't understand. Isn't... "Spike" did you call him... isn't Spike a..." Liz looks around then whispers "a vampire?" She didn't know HOW she knew it, but she did.

"Yes but he's been fixed." Buffy said with a smile.

"Hey!!" Yelled Spike. "That's a horrible way to put it! I can still fight demons, now can't I?"

"Wait! Hold on a sec! If he's a vampire why aren't we killing him?"

Spike looked at Liz closely for the first time "We? What are you, the newest member of Buffy's Scooby Gang?"

The Scooby Gang? Liz thought to herself.

"She's Liz, she's the new slayer."

"Oh so Faith finally bought it?"

"Faith?" Liz asked hesitantly. She wondered why they sounded so nonchalant about her death.

"She was the slayer before you." Buffy explained.

"A real pain in the ass." Spike added.

"That she was," Buffy agreed quietly.

"Back to my original question. Why aren't we slaying him?"

"Well..." Buffy replied, "That's a toughie... I mean he certainly deserves to be killed, I mean he IS evil and all. But in the state he is in, he can't defend himself. And that just goes against our code of ethics I guess you would say. See he has a chip in his head that won't allow him to hurt humans. So he can't fight us, and he can't do us any harm."

"Oh. So like you said, he's been fixed?" Liz said.

"Stop that already!" Spike yelled. "It's bad enough having Slayer #1 saying it without Slayer #2 joining the chorus!"

"What kind of name is Spike anyway? How'd he get it?" Liz asked, crossing her arms.

"He used to torture his victims with railroad spikes." Buffy explained.

"Friendly little demon isn't he?" Liz asked.

"His other moniker is William the Bloody."

"Charming."

"Will you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

"Oh but Spike, what fun would it be to talk about you if you WEREN'T here?" Buffy said with a smirk.

"He'd be kinda cute if I went for blondes." Liz said. "And the Billy Idol look."

"I'm not cute!! I'm vicious!! I instill fear into women!" Spike said proudly.

Liz laughed. "I'm sure you do. Does he have anyone waiting up for him?" she asked Buffy.

"You'd have to ask him that right now... Did you get Druscilla to come back to ya Spike?"

"Wouldn't take her back if she begged me." Spike muttered.

"Dumped?" Liz asked.

"Repeatedly."

"Well, it couldn't have happened to a cuter vampire." Liz said sweetly.

"I am not cute!"

"Gotta go with him there." Buffy said. "Angel's much cuter."

"Angel?" Liz asked.

"Oh no! I am not going to listen to you rehash your relationship with Peaches!" Spike practically shrieked.

"Peaches?" Liz said with a bewildered look on her face.

"Spike didn't like Angel. Kind of disrespectful considering Angel's his daddy."

"His daddy?"

"Angel sired Spike. Made him a vampire." Buffy explained.

"Wait he mentioned your RELATIONSHIP with Angel. You had a relationship with a vampire?!" Liz gasped.

"He's got a soul. Some gypsies cursed him and gave him a soul."

"Till Miss Happy Pants decided to let Angel into them and he became soulless again." Spike sneered.

Liz just stared at them both with a startled expression on her face. She had no response.

"You know you're a pig Spike."

"So where is Angel now?"

"LA. He does the protecting the innocent thing there."

"But I thought you said he became soulless again!!" Liz said, fully bewildered by now.

"We returned his soul to him right before I sent him to hell after he opened Acathla."

Liz was becoming paler by the minute. All of this was just way too much to believe. "You sent him to Hell... and now he is in LA?"

"It's a long story. One better left for tomorrow. Which it is." Buffy said looking at her watch. "Not to mention it's almost daybreak."

"Well pets, its time for me to head home then, thanks for another fun filled night!" he said sarcastically.

"Spike? If you need any blood Giles and I are on the east side of town." Buffy said.

Liz looked at her incredulously, but decided it was none of her affair.

"Thanks Slayer." Spike said before walking away.

"So do we call it a night?" Liz asked.

"Yes, we do. You must be exhausted."

"A little. Haven't been sleeping much." She said as they started to walk towards the gate, neither one realizing they were being watched.

Michael Guerin stood up straight and watched his friend's ex and some girl he didn't know walk out of the cemetery.

Liz yawned as she got her books for her morning classes out of her locker. She'd been training for about a week now and she was aching in places she didn't know she could. Retrieving her last book she closed her locker and turned around. Looking up she caught Michael staring at her from across the hall. Again. She frowned at him before taking off for homeroom.

Michael watched Liz walk down the hall and rubbed a hand over his face. For the last week now she'd been doing the same thing. After school the blonde from the Crashdown would pick her up and they'd drive to some big old Victorian house on the east side of town where they would go in through the front door and then three hours later they'd come out through the garage, Liz in her uniform for the Crashdown and the blonde in a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt. They'd get into the same old beater of a car and drive to the Crashdown where Liz would get out and go into work like nothing was happening.

This whole thing made no sense whatsoever. After work Liz would go upstairs, do her homework, say good-night to her parents, and then come out onto her balcony and do some weird form of dancing or something.

But last night something had changed. Liz had gotten a phone call and from what Michael could hear tonight they were going to St. Paul's cemetery after dark. Maybe tonight he'd finally get some answers.

Michael looked at Max when he sighed for the umpteenth time since sitting down.

"What's with you?" Michael asked.

"Nothing."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Liz still ignoring you?" he asked knowingly.

"It's not that. It's that she's acting weird. Skittish. Yesterday I heard she's been spending her lunch periods in the weight room or climbing rope in the gym."

"The weight room? You don't say." Well that explained why Michael hadn't been able to track her down the last couple of days. "Any ideas as to why?"

"Not a clue. But when it comes to Liz these days that's the norm for me."

Michael nodded. "Sorry man. I wish I could help." By the end of tonight I might be able to, so keep it together. he added silently.

"Thanks. I gotta go."

"Bye." Michael watched his friend walk away before he saw a tired and disheveled looking Liz walking over to where Maria and Alex were sitting. She sat down and greeted her friends. What's your secret, Parker? he asked himself silently. Well, whatever it is it won't be secret for long.

Liz nervously knocked on the door to Buffy and Giles' place. Tonight was to be the first time she was expected to fight. She wasn't sure she was ready for this.

"Coming!" Buffy's voice called. Then the door was opened. "Oh hey Liz. You know you don't have to knock. You can just come in."

"Oh! I'll try and remember next time. The only house other than my own that I just walk into is my best friend Maria's house." Liz replied. Maria is really gonna kill me soon. I have flaked on her two times this week.

"Cool, so you ready to patrol?" Buffy asked as they walked into Giles' part of the house, which included the garage, the rec room above it which was his office and the closest bedroom to it. Buffy had taken the master bedroom for herself.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess. You sure I am who you think I am?" Liz asked with a hopeful expression.

"If the way you kicked the crap out of my boyfriend yesterday is any indication, I'd say you are exactly who we think you are." Buffy said.

"Yeah, how is Riley? I'm sorry about that but his just being there when I got here sorta scared me and I reacted. Did I mention the sorry part?"

Buffy laughed, "Yeah, I think you mentioned that. You remind me a bit of my friend Willow right now. I think you guys would get along great."

"Cool. If you ever come back you'll have to bring her with." The girls walked upstairs to Giles' office. "Hey Giles."

"Hello. Liz, you prepared for your first active patrol?" Giles asked with a serious expression on his face.

"Yeah I think so. Tell me again why climbing rope during my lunch period is an essential part of my training."

Giles just directed his best "stern face" at her.

"Where's Riley?" Buffy asked.

"Soaking in the tub. He is as he put it, 'a walking bruise'."

"Aww, poor baby." Liz said, feeling a little proud of the fact she had bested him, despite her guilt about his pain.

"I think I'll go see if I can ease his pain a little. Liz, there's dinner downstairs if you want." Buffy sauntered off down the hall.

Giles turned and looked at Liz after Buffy had left the room. "I know you have realized that Buffy and I won't be staying here permanently. But I don't think we have told you about your watcher."

"Wesley Wyndam Pryce. Recently reinstated and currently residing in LA with Buffy's ex, Angel, a vampire who was cursed by some gypsies and given a soul which he lost during a moment of pure happiness and then got it back right before he was sent to hell, Cordelia, former schoolmate of Buffy's, and Doyle, a half-demon who was recently resurrected." Liz recited. "Do I have that all down?"

Giles eyes widened for a moment, and then he shrugged, "Yes, I do believe you've got it."

"Good. Buffy told me about Wesley during the training sessions we had solo."

"Oh, well then. Wesley should be here in a few weeks to take over your training. We, of course, will always be available if you need us."

"Thanks I appreciate that." Liz said. "Oh, hey Riley. How are you?" she said once Buffy and Riley had rejoined them.

Riley puffed up despite his pain, "Doing good!"

"Good. Just wanna apologize once again but you really shouldn't scare people like that."

"Yeah, I'll definitely remember that." he said, trying to hold back a grimace as he sat down.

Liz hid a smile. "I'm going to the kitchen for some water. Anybody want?"

"No, that's alright. I've already got a water bottle ready for patrolling." Buffy held up the bottle.

"Riley? Water? Painkillers?"

Riley couldn't help laughing a little realizing the humor of the situation, then he groaned and held his side. "Yeah, maybe that would be a good idea."

"Painkillers are in the cabinet above the sink right?" Liz asked.

"Ah I see they have been giving you a workout!" Riley replied, somewhat relieved that Liz had had to use painkillers herself.

"Actually they were for Giles. I accidentally hit him in the head when Buffy and I were sparring." Liz admitted sheepishly.

Giles pretended he hadn't heard that, acting extraordinarily interested in a book he had picked up off the table.

"It'll be dark soon. We should get going." Buffy said.

Liz gave a sigh, she had been hoping she could prolong the wait longer, "Alright, let's get this over with."

"Shall I wait up for you my sweet?" Riley teased.

Buffy grinned seductively, "Yes do, I have faith that Liz will be able to do this, no sweat."

"I'm glad somebody has faith in me." Liz muttered before she and Buffy left the house.

Michael gulped as he watched Liz Parker, Liz Parker, beat the hell out of some thing in the cemetery. She kicked it in the stomach and then jabbed at it with a pointy stick and it exploded into dust.

Buffy stood up and clapped as the demon disappeared. "See Liz? You're a natural!"

"Just tell me I'm not gonna be as sore as Riley is tomorrow."

"Oh, well I would love to tell you that... but you will be. However, as a slayer you do have the added perk of healing fast. So it won't be too bad for too long."

"Goody." Liz rolled her eyes. "You know all night I've had this weird feeling that we were being watched."

"Well, don't ever ignore that feeling. Being a slayer means relying on your instincts for a great number of things. If you feel like we are being watched, then we probably are." Buffy reminded her.

"You think it's a demon?"

"Could be. Where do you get the vibe the strongest?"

"Over there, by that tree." Liz said, glancing over there again. Was that a figure hiding behind it?

Buffy studied where Liz was indicating then she silently motioned that Liz go one way while she went another and together they circled the tree and just as a shadow moved they both lunged at it tackling it to the ground. Buffy rolled it over. "State your case."

"Uh pain." it moaned.

"Michael?" Liz said.

"Liz!" Michael groaned, Busted.

"Let him up Buffy. I know this guy. He's okay, sorta."

"What do you mean 'sorta'?" Michael asked indignantly, brushing the dirt off his clothes as he stood up.

"You know what I mean. You're not exactly normal."

"Oh, and you are? Miss Hanging out in Graveyards?"

Liz closed up at that. "What are you doing here Michael?"

"Well, I was just passing through and I heard some noise so I investigated."

"At 11 at night? Try again." Buffy said.

"Fine, I wanted to know why Liz has been acting all secretive lately, and spending all her free time with the new girl in town instead of her friends." Michael blurted, glaring at Buffy.

"I joined a cult. Isn't that the rumor floating around school?"

"Come on, I know you. Your studies have been slipping, that isn't like you. What's up with spending all your free time at school in the gym?"

"Vampire." Liz said suddenly pushing Michael aside before sweeping her legs and knocking the vamp off its feet before staking it.

"Nice job Liz." Buffy said.

"Thanks." She looked at Michael. "Anymore questions?"

"Vamp... vampire!?" Michael stuttered, his mouth dropped open.

"Somehow I'm thinking this might be a good time to bring him to Giles?" Liz asked

Buffy nodded, "Yeah, think so."

"So what you're telling me is that this friend of yours has been following you around and now knows that you kill vampires?" Giles asked.

"That's exactly what I am saying. Michael is a suspicious person." Liz replied, He certainly has reason to be, she mumbled to herself, before raising her voice. "He always investigates things he finds odd."

"And he found me odd?" Buffy asked. "I think I should be offended."

"It's just that it's a small town and new people tend to set off a radar of some kind. It's nothing personal. Are you sure it's a good idea to leave him and Riley alone downstairs?" Liz said.

"Sure! Riley's an easy going guy... he gets along with everybody!" Buffy paused. "Well except Angel."

"Well Michael's kind of abrasive and gets along with no one except for Max, my ex-boyfriend, oh my God."

"What?"

"Michael knows what I am. He'll tell Max. He tells Max everything." Liz was starting to panic. "Oh God this is bad. This is very bad." Liz was pacing up and down, biting her lip

"Liz calm down. You just have to explain to Michael that he can't tell anyone." Buffy said reasonably.

"Explain to Michael? You don't explain things to Michael. You shout and argue and have nasty thoughts about killing him but you don't explain."

"He can't be that bad. C'mon, we'll go downstairs and see how he and Riley are getting on."

"Okay." Liz took a deep breath and followed Buffy down the hall to the main staircase. They went downstairs and darted into the living room where Michael and Riley were talking.

"So Liz did that to you?" Michael was saying.

"Oh no!" Liz groaned

"Hi guys. Everything okay?" Buffy asked.

"Fine. Michael was just telling me how shocked he was that Liz could wail on some guy like she was tonight." Riley said.

"Yeah, I'm full of surprises." Liz muttered. "Listen, Michael. You gotta keep this a secret. I mean from EVERYBODY. Especially Max."

"What a minute Maria doesn't know about this? Alex?"

"No, nobody knows Michael. And you need to help me keep it that way. You owe me that much." Liz replied with a hard look letting Michael know exactly what she was talking about.