I don't want to be old and sleep alone (backdated to Valentine's Day)
I stayed with Grace most of the time she was in the hospital but we didn't talk too much. At least, not about us or anything. We mostly just talked about kids, throwin' names around and stuff like that. I was already feeling better about the whole dad thing now that I knew I was gonna have a son and not a daughter. No offense to girls or anything but the idea of dealing with things like boyfriends and bras and tampons kind of makes me wanna run screamin' for the hills. Boys are much better. We could play catch or something, I could show him how to ride a motorcycle when he got old enough. Alright. Maybe scratch that last part. I had the feeling that Grace wouldn't really like the idea of me teaching our son how to ride a motorcycle.

When she was released from the hospital she went straight for the Hyperion with her sister. I couldn't exactly blame her for that and I knew that at least, Faith and Harry would keep a good eye on her. Plus, I was living right across the street still and I'm known to be a little big of a stalker from time to time. I knew she was okay, and as long as there was that than I was okay, right? That was the whole point of running away in the first place.

Speaking of, good ol' Alec got himself in a bit of hot water with that little number I pulled. Lydecker and his posse wasn't exactly thrilled that I took off in the middle of a mission but I explained to them that the war was in full swing and I'd changed my mind. They were gonna win it. And hey, look at me, I was right. Donald was a dick about it but I don't really expect anything less from the guy. So here I am, back to my original mission. Operation Slayer Spying. Easy enough except for the fact that none of the slayers were really speaking to me. Sometimes Buffy would swing through when I was hanging out with Spike but that was really as good as it got these days.

It was all that I could do to keep Grace and Max off of Manticore's radar. The last thing I wanted was for Max to get pissed at me. Nicole is bitchy but she ain't got nothing on Max. So when Max came by to offer me a job as a bouncer at the bar she was working at I had to turn her down. It was a lot easier when I got a load of Droopy Forehead skulking around behind her. Zack. Wow, I missed that guy. Except, not really. Plus, he gave me an even bigger reasons to keep my whole little Manticore deal a secret and keep Max out of it. I really didn't want the guy ripping my head clean off my neck anytime ever.

No job, no girl, no real life. Just a guy, his bike, his beer, and Spike hanging around every night. Buffy was really putting her foot down about how much time Spike and I were spending out every night drinking and doing our guy thing so she was making him stay home cause Valentine's Day is some kind of girly holiday. She didn't even back down when I gave her the puppy face that chick's all fall for.

"You want my advice, Alec?" She said to me last night when I was standing in her kitchen. "Go and win your girlfriend back, because I'm not sharing my boyfriend with you."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know. It's Valentine's Day. Go and buy her flowers, show her that she's special. In other words? Don't be you." She smiled at me, in that mean way that bitchy little blonde slayers do. Right before she closed the door in my face.

I hated to admit it, but Blondie was right. I needed to win my girl back before Kennedy wised up and tried to do it for me. There were ways to keep her and my son away from Manticore, right? I'd find one.

I'd just approached the Hyperion when I heard a dark snickering from the shadows. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was laughing at me when I saw the ember of a lit cigarette before my eyes focused in on Faith.

"What? I'm trying." I said, frustrated as I walked over to her.

"I know you are." She said, her voice almost sympathetic for a quick second. "Flowers, huh? You really fucked up."

"Yep, sure did. Is Grace here?"

"Yeah, she's in her room I think."

"Great. See ya, Faith." I muttered as I headed for the door.

"Hey, Alec." She called to me, forcing me to pause and turn around to look at her. "Take it from someone's who's made a living fucking things up. Try just...I dunno. Apologizing."

I stared at her for a minute before the corner of my mouth turned up into a slight smirk. "You slayers are all full of advice these days. Didn't figure you for a bunch of romantics."

"Y'know what they say. 'Tis the season." She shrugged. "Whatever that means." She tossed her cigarette away and I heard the crunch of the ground beneath her boot as she put it out. "Good luck."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Heading inside I was surprised to see that the whole place was pretty quiet. Surprising, but I didn't really care. I went straight for Grace's door and knocked. In the moment it took for her to open the door I took stock of the situation. Here I was, wearing somewhat nice clothes and carrying an armful of flowers.

I am a giant tool.