the heavy weight of stone

[chose]

She wavers, initially, between approaching Spike and walking away as quietly as possible, hopefully unnoticed. But the pros are quick to outweigh the cons, even though Buffy remains beyond apprehensive about revisiting Halloween. She revisits it each night, despite every effort to the contrary, and not talking about it is slowly driving her crazier than the nightmare itself. For obvious reasons, both Angel and Xander are out of the question, but even if they weren't, Spike is still the one she feels like she can open up to. (It's weird how that doesn't change; in a way, she feels almost guilty for unloading on him so often, for forcing him to shoulder her burden. It's a thought she shrugs away instantly, out of necessity. She doesn't need another reason to back away.)

"Hey," she calls when she steps into the rec room, gracelessly throwing herself into the seat nearest Spike with a slow exhale. "Busy?"