Chapter 1
“Hurry up! We’re going to be late for the first pitch.” Buffy was practically running towards the entrance to the bar in front of her two friends.

“God, Buffy,” Cordelia rolled her eyes at the antics of her roommate. “You’d think this was a life or death situation here. It’s only a game. And there’s nine innings. If we miss the first pitch, there’s only going to be a gazillion more.”

“It’s not only a game.” Buffy was severely perturbed by the brunette’s attitude. Didn’t she know how important this game was? “It’s the first Red Sox-Yankees game of the season. “

“Like that’s supposed to mean something to me.” Cordelia looked over to their other friend Willow for some help, but didn’t get any.

Shrugging her shoulders, Willow replied, “Give her a break. You know how much she likes baseball and this is one of the biggest team rivalries in sports history.”

Willow was right. This was one of the biggest, if not THE biggest team rivalry in sports history. It all started back in 1920 when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Up until that time, the Boston team had won five of the first fifteen World Series, with Ruth pitching for the 1915, 1916 and 1918 championship teams. According to Beantown lore, the Sox were cursed ever since the fateful trade of one of the best players in the history of the game. While the Yankees went on to play in 39 World Series, winning 26 of them, twice as many as any other team in Major League Baseball, the Red Sox played in only four World Series and lost each in the maximum seven games. Sure, some Yankees fans will retort with “what rivalry” considering the lop-sided numbers of the feud, but they won’t deny there’s no team they like to beat more than the Red Sox.

For Buffy, it was frustrating watching her team come in second place to the Bronx Bombers for nine years in a row in the AL East Division. If the Sox won 95 games, the Yankees won 98. Even when they finished with the same number of wins, the Yankees squeaked out the division win because of the head to head record, winning 10 to 9 of the 19 regular season games against their rivals. There always seemed to be a Yankees home run waiting to snatch the hopes of the Red Sox World Series dreams, whether it was in the 7th inning by Bucky Dent in 1978 or the 11th inning by Aaron Boone in 2003.

That’s why it was just a little sweeter when the Red Sox did finally win the World Series in 2004 that they had to go through the Yankees first to get there. Down three games to none after a horrific loss of 19 to 8 in Game 3, the Sox were one game away from elimination when the miraculous happened. Down 4 to 3 in the ninth, a walk led to a stolen base, which led to an RBI single off the best closing pitcher in baseball to tie the game and then a two run homer in the 12th inning to win game four. The Red Sox would go on to win the next three games against their rivals, becoming the first team to overcome a 3-0 deficit, to win the series. The look of utter defeat on the Yankees players’ faces in the dugout was enough to keep Buffy smiling for a year after the event.

So yeah, even if the numbers were a little one-sided, the two teams always made the regular season series very interesting. With bench-clearing brawls, amazing catches, crazy comebacks, the Red Sox-Yankees games were the ones to watch. And if you were an actual fan of either one of these teams, they took on an almost holy aura.

Despite the bitter history of the two teams, Cordelia couldn’t care less about the baseball game. “Angel’s going to be here, right?” Cordelia asked while fluffing up her long, perfectly shiny hair. The last thing she wanted to do was be at a sports bar with a bunch of beer guzzling wanna be jocks. It was so not her scene. She was more of a club girl, dancing until the wee hours of the night dressed to the nines in the expensive clothes her daddy’s money bought her.

Cordelia was only there in the hopes of snagging a serious date with Buffy’s co-worker, Angel. She had picked Buffy up outside of the Senate building where they both worked, and she knew she wanted him as soon as she saw him. Angel was tall and ruggedly handsome, with the thickest brown hair she had ever seen. What she wouldn’t give to be able to run her fingers through that hair.

Buffy’s voice snapped Cordelia out of her day-dreaming. “Of course, he’s going to be here. He’s a die-hard Red Sox fan. He never misses a game if he can help it.” Pulling out her wallet to give the bouncer her license, she continued, “He’s the one who told me about this place.”

The place in question was a bar called the Lion’s Den situated on M Street in the heart of Georgetown. According to Angel, the owner was originally from Revere, Massachusetts which made him a huge Red Sox fan. When his wife got a job with the government twenty-five years ago, they relocated to Washington, DC and he couldn’t find anywhere to watch the game. He rectified that predicament right quick by buying his own bar with a satellite dish and lots of big screen televisions. It soon gained a reputation with all of the displaced New Englander’s as the premier place to watch Boston play ball in the nation’s capital.

Stepping inside, Buffy looked around the crowded bar for Angel. Finding him sitting at a round table right in front of one of the tv’s , she called his name and waved to get his attention. With Cordelia and Willow in tow, she hurried over and immediately asked, “Did I miss anything?”

“No, not yet. Just the usual pre-game build up.” He replied, never taking his eyes off the screen.

“Thank God. I was afraid I wouldn’t make it in time.”

“Hhm, hhmm.” A throat cleared behind her.

“Oh, sorry.” Buffy looked back at her friends with an embarrassed shrug. “Angel, this is my roommate, Cordelia and my other friend, Willow.”

Angel, finally noticing the beautiful woman with Buffy, turned to give his full attention to the newcomers. “Hi, I’m Angel.” Taking Cordelia’s hand, he gave it a little extra squeeze with one of his thousand watt smiles.

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Cordelia flirted back while batting her eyelashes.

“So you’re a Red Sox fan too.” Angel asked looking at the borrowed Ortiz shirt Cordelia was wearing.

“Absolutely, I just love baseball.” Cordelia chirped, taking the seat next to her new prey.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other with a shared eye roll.

“So, Cordelia, are you a Hill staffer like Buffy?”

“God, no.” She replied with disdain as if working in politics was worse than scrubbing toilets. “I’m an event organizer.”

“Remember the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball last year.” Buffy interjected. “Cordy planned that.”

“You’re kidding me?” Angel said in a bit of awe. “I heard they actually had live bulls in the Marriott lobby. How’d you pull that off?”

Seductively, Cordelia leaned in close to his face. “I always get what I want. I can be very persuasive.”

“Please, your dad is Walter Chase. You mention his name and anyone in this town will do whatever you want.” Buffy supplied, bursting her bubble of mystery.

“Your dad is Walter Chase? THE Walter Chase, Representative of California?” Angel was even more impressed at this point. He knew that Representative Chase was one of the most respected politicians on the Hill. “How’d you meet this one, Buffy?”

“Cordy, Willow and I all went to UCLA together.” Buffy answered through a mouthful of peanuts. “She’s the one that convinced me to move to DC. Told me I was wasting my poli-sci degree working with special interest groups in California.”

“It was the best advice you ever got.” Cordelia said pointedly.

“I can’t say that you’re wrong. I love it here, and I’m getting so much more out of my career working in DC rather than California. It’s nice being right in the thick of all things political.”

“I’ll agree with you on that. I was with the state government in Rhode Island before getting the job at Senator Kerry’s office and nothing beats the experience you get here.” Angel responded before turning his attention to the redhead. “What about you Willow? Where do you work?”

“I work at NIH doing medical research, mostly working with new medicines for people inflicted with HIV.” Willow replied shyly, happy to finally be noticed.

Angel let out a small whistle. “Buff, I had no idea you had so many beautiful and intelligent friends. I would have asked you to hang out with me a lot sooner.”

Just then, an older man with salt and pepper hair and a cute little beer belly came walking over to the table, slapping Angel on the back. “Angel! How are you, my boy? Ready to watch Schilling take down these damn Yankees?”

“Damn straight, sir. Schilling’s been looking great since his bad start. Looks like he’s got his control back.”

“I would say so. We’ll call that first game a fluke due to the cold weather.”

“Dave, I want you to meet my friend Buffy. This is Dave, he owns the bar. Buffy here is from Falmouth.”

“Buffy, it’s nice to meet you.” Dave shook her hand lightly.

“Nice to meet you too.”

“Falmouth, huh? The beginning of the Cape. I love it there. We used to spend Fourth of July week down in Sandwich every year until we moved down here.” A complacent look came over Dave’s face as he told the table this slice of nostalgia. “Now we go to Ocean City. It’s just not the same. ”

“I completely understand. There’s nothing like Cape Cod in the summer.” Buffy smiled back at him, thinking of her own childhood. “These are my friends Cordelia and Willow.”

“Ladies,” Dave nodded to the two. “First round is on me. What can I get you all?”

“Cosmo,” Cordelia replied.

“Smirnoff Ice.” Willow piped up.

“Sam Adams.” Buffy put in her order.

“Ah, a girl after my own heart.” Dave put his arm around Buffy’s shoulders to give her a hug. “This one’s a keeper, Angel. Your drinks will be right out. Enjoy the game.”

Buffy blushed at Dave’s positive appraisal of her and his obvious misinterpretation of her and Angel’s relationship. Truth was, she had no interest in Angel. Yeah, he was cute, but she had gone through a bad break up with her boyfriend out in California before she moved east. Riley was in the army and wanted Buffy to stay in California close to where he was stationed. But Buffy knew Cordelia was right in that she would be better off career wise in DC. In her mind, she thought he could either get a transfer to the East Coast or they would try the long distance relationship for a little while. He would have none of it though – she either stayed or nothing. Buffy was ready to give in to his wishes to stay when she found him cheating with one of the women in his unit. After getting her heart broken like that, she really wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone.

“Oi, Captain Forehead. Where did you find this guy?” A British voice yelled from behind her. Coming up to stand next to Angel was the most gorgeous man Buffy had ever seen. High cheekbones, piercing blue eyes, slicked back bleach blonde hair. A one word sum up would be yummy. “He’s too cheap to park in a lot, but he can’t parallel park for shit. We’ve been driving around for thirty minutes looking for a spot big enough for Xander to fit into.”

“Hey, Spike.” Angel chuckled, standing up to greet his friends with some complicated hand shake. “Xander.”

“Ugh, I swear. I’m never driving into Georgetown again. There really needs to be a metro stop in this neighborhood.” A frazzled looking Xander sat down at the stool next to Willow. “Well, hello, lovely ladies. I’m the Xanman. Friend of Angel.”

“Cut it out, Xander. Could you be any less cool?” Spike hit Xander upside the head before turning towards the beautiful blonde. “Ignore him. I’m Spike.”

“Buffy.” She introduced herself with the biggest smile she could muster, trying to look as sexy as she could with a baseball cap on. She may not have been looking for a man right now, but maybe one just found her. She had to consciously keep herself from drooling as she looked him up and down. Besides, just because she didn’t want a serious relationship didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun. And he looked like he could be a lot of fun.

That was, until he took off his coat to reveal none other than a Yankees shirt.

Chapter Two
It wasn’t just any Yankees shirt; it was the dreaded ‘Got Rings?’ one. A play on the ‘Got Milk?’ ad campaign, it was simple in the front – just plain navy blue with white lettering asking the two word question above the Yankees team symbol. It was the back that was infuriating. On the right side were twenty-six rings with the dates of all the Yankees World Series wins; on the left was just six for the Red Sox. It didn’t seem to matter that the Red Sox side had the latest date on it, which was won after the biggest choke in sports history on the part of the Yanks, allowing the Sox to win four straight after being down three to none and one game away from elimination.

“Angel, why would you invite a Yankees fan to this little outing?” The other team’s name rolled off Buffy’s tongue with so much venom, you’d think she was a spitting cobra.

“Don’t ask me, he came with Xander.”

Turning her head to the accused man, she stared daggers at him, awaiting his answer.

It had better be a good one to ruin her night like this. She wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the game with someone at her table cheering for the wrong team. ‘Oh God, what if the Sox lose?’ Buffy blanched at the thought. ‘He’s going to rub it in our face the whole game.’ This was just her luck; the first guy she found attractive in a long time was undoubtedly an obnoxious jerk.

“Hey, Yankees fan, Red Sox fan.” Xander’s voice interrupted Buffy’s internal musings. “It doesn’t matter to me.” Xander shrugged in explanation, bringing his beer bottle up to his lips for another sip. “I’m an Orioles fan. I hate both of you.”

A hearty laugh rumbled from Spike’s chest at Xander’s easy sum up of the situation, but Buffy just folded her hands over her chest unsatisfied.

“He’s a good guy, Buffy, despite his lack of taste in baseball teams.” Angel tried to placate her. “He’s just here to watch his team play baseball, just like us. Give him a break.”

Buffy pursed her lips together in a sulk as Angel continued. “Besides, don’t you want to be able stick it to him when we beat the pants off the Yankees.”

Buffy’s eyes widened in surprise as she blushed thinking back to her earlier idea of ‘sticking it’ to Spike.

Cordelia noticed Buffy’s deer in headlights look at Angel’s comment, which meant her mind was in the gutter. She saw her friend’s easy perusal of the guy in question earlier and the big flirty smile that came across her face before he took off his coat to reveal his team orientation. It was about time Buffy took notice of a guy since her breakup with Riley, and Cordelia was going to help her friend along. “Ooh, I have an idea. Let’s make a wager to make this game a little more interesting.”

“I like your thinking.” Spike tipped his beer towards the girl. “What do you have in mind?”

“Okay, if the Red Sox win, Spike takes us out to this club I know down the street. You’re buying the drinks all night and paying for the cover charge.”

“Whoa, hold on. The Whelp here just admitted he’s an Oriole’s fan and I don’t know what team Red here routes for. Why should I buy for them?”

“Fine,” Cordelia huffed, acting annoyed although he was really playing right into her hands. “Since Buffy has the biggest issue with you, you just pay for her. Plus, you need to do whatever she says, like a slave for a night – if that means get her drinks or dance with her to a song you hate, you still have to do it.”

“Or wear a Red Sox shirt for the rest of the night, you need to do that too,” Buffy interjected, knowing she had an extra one in her gym bag in Cordy’s car that would be perfect.

“Sounds fine to me.” Spike really didn’t think he would be upset if he lost. Having to be the little blond spitfire’s slave for a night sounded like something right up his alley. How he would love to get her on the dance floor with that luscious body of hers rubbing up against him; he didn’t care if he had to wear a dress while doing it, as long as it provided a possible chance to get her to come home with him that night. “What do I win if they lose?”

“Hmm, let me think.” Cordy put her brain to work to figure out a way to stick them together, but still have it be something awful for Buffy. “I know! Buffy has to go over to your house tomorrow and clean it for you.”

“In nothing but my Yankees t-shirt.” Spike added with a raised eyebrow.

“Done,” Cordy replied, putting out her hand to Spike in order to shake on it. This was even better than she thought. His addition surely meant he was interested in Buffy also.

“Cordy!” Buffy yelled at her friend. “I didn’t agree to that!” There was no way she was putting on a Yankees shirt. That would jinx the whole season. And she hated to clean. That was one of the best things about living with Cordy; they had a maid service that she didn’t have to pay for.

“What’s the matter, luv?” Spike drawled. “No confidence in your team? I mean, I know you can’t contain A-Rod, but I didn’t think you would admit to it.”

That did it! Buffy saw red. She hated A-Rod; hated him with the depths of fiery passion. He of the bush league play during the division series in 2004, slapping the ball out of the pitcher’s hand to avoid the out; he of the homeruns, with the most this year in all of baseball. He’s all the sports media had been talking about – how hot Alex Rodriguez was right now. She was sick of it!

“That little bitch slapper, Mr. April?” Buffy squinted her eyes into the most menacing facial expression she could muster. “He might be hot right now, but he can’t do shit in October when it counts.” This was true. Rodriguez always played fantastic during the regular season, but he notoriously put up paltry numbers in the post-season. “The Sox have the best pitching staff in baseball. Schilling will have no problem shutting him down. You’re on.”

Spike smirked at her bravado. Her cheeks were flushed with anger; her chest was heaving with unbridled passion for her team. Yes, he didn’t think he could lose either way.

“Now that that’s settled, will you two please shut up?” Angel interrupted their staring contest. “Schilling’s about to throw the first pitch.”

CHAPTER 3

“That’s right. Sit down, Damon.” Buffy extolled while watching the first batter walk back to the dugout after grounding out to first. “Traitor,” she mumbled under her breath.

Willow looked at her friend in surprise. “I thought you loved Damon. You always say how cute he is whenever we watch Fever Pitch.”

“Well, if we’re talking about him when he was on the Red Sox, yeah, I love him. I mean he helped win us a World Series, what’s not to love.” Buffy shrugged before her voice went cold, “but if we’re talking about him in pinstripes, he’s dead to me.”

Just then the camera panned to a sign in the crowd that read ‘No hair, no beard, no soul, no Nation,’ which Angel pointed out to the others at the table. “I think that sign pretty much sums it up.” And it did. Damon was beloved by just about every fan in Red Sox Nation as the heart and soul of the team, but then he signed with the Yankees once he became a free agent after the 2005 season. This move was unacceptable to the fans, which was evidenced by the fact that Damon still got booed every time he came to the plate at Fenway Park two seasons later.

“Please, like you wouldn’t have taken the deal.” Spike interjected between sips of his beer. “The Yanks offered him $12 Million more, showing more interest in him.”

“Hey, I’m not saying it wasn’t management’s fault.” Buffy said, defending her stance. “Personally, I think he would have stayed with the Sox if they offered him a five or six year contract at less money. But he couldn’t honestly believe that he wasn’t going to be hated if he went to the enemy. I mean we don’t boo Millar when he comes back to Fenway with the Orioles or even Pedro – who left for more money - with the Mets. It’s just because he went to the Yankees. That’s just spitting in our faces.”

As the talk of Damon had been going on around the table, two more Yankee batters came up to the plate, resulting in two more outs. A quick inning for Schilling even though one hit was a fly ball deep to centerfield caught at the warning track.

With the Red Sox up at bat, everyone waited to see what they could do against the returning Andy Pettitte, the Yankees ace who won four World Series with the team back in the late 90’s before leaving to go to play with the Houston Astros.

As Lugo approached the plate, Cordelia scrunched her nose up in disgust. “Why are they wearing these ugly green uniforms? That is the most unflattering color I have ever seen.” Leave it to Cordelia to critique the fashion of the baseball uniform.

“It’s Red Auerbach day.”

“Who?”

Angel was happy to impress his knowledge on Cordelia. “He was the legendary basketball coach of the Boston Celtics, leading them to nine championship titles.”

“But this is baseball.”

“Well, they’re honoring him today in Boston. We take our sports history very seriously.” Buffy was getting exasperated because her friend wouldn’t shut up. “Now be quiet. Manny’s up.”

There were two men on base with Youkilis at second after being beamed off the head by a pitch and Ortiz was at first after Pettitte walked him. Manny Ramirez was up with only one out - the Sox number four batter who was known for hitting home runs. Although he was starting this season very slow, with a terrible .200 batting average, he had finally hit his first home run the night before against the Toronto Blue Jays, which tied the score up in the eighth inning and allowed the team to come back to win the game. Buffy was hoping his momentum from the night before would carry over into the series with the Yankees.

As Manny grounded into an inning ending double play, Buffy let out a frustrating groan as she realized her hope wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

“He’s been doing that a lot lately.” Spike smirked over at her with a gleam in his eye, knowing he was riling her up. “Not so much with the home runs as with the double plays.”

Buffy tried her best not to rise up to Spike’s obvious goading. “It’s still early. He just hasn’t found his swing yet. He’ll be back to being Manny in no time.” She really hoped that was true because by all accounts it seemed like he was slumping.

The second inning went quickly for both sides. All three Yankees got out on deep fly balls caught at the warning track, and the Red Sox were out on a double play and a grounder to first.

“You know, one of those fly balls is eventually going to make it out of there.” Spike was back to provoking Buffy, but he really couldn’t help it. No woman had ever had such an effect on him so fast. Already, he loved seeing her flushed with anger, noticing that her beautiful green eyes went a shade darker with her fury. Spike shifted in his seat, his dick getting hard as thoughts about her naked body bouncing above him ran through his mind. Judging by her passion, he knew she would be a wildcat in bed and he really hoped he got to find out if he was right.

“The score is still 0-0, hot shot.” Buffy retorted, glaring at him. “You shouldn’t get ahead of yourself. You might end up sticking your foot in that big mouth of yours.” She really wished said mouth didn’t have that full bottom lip; she kept wondering what it would be like to suck on it mid-kiss.

‘Bad Buffy,’ she thought to herself whenever these more pleasant ideas rushed into her head. ‘He’s a fan of the Evil Empire, thus off-limits. You should be fantasizing about beating him, not kissing him. Remember that shirt you pride yourself on – Real Woman Don’t Date Yankees Fans – stick to that motto.’

Suddenly, a little devil Buffy popped onto her shoulder. ‘The shirt says don’t date them, it doesn’t say anything about not fucking them.’

“Grrr,” a small growl escaped from between Buffy’s lips at her warring inner musings of the sexual frustration she was feeling.

Even as he wondered if he could elicit that same delicious snarl from her during sex, Spike misinterpreted the sound as aggravation with her team as two men were now on base for the Yankees as a result of two singles to the outfield. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist just because we are about to score, luv. I think you’ll look lovely on your knees …” his tongue flicked seductively along his lips before fixing a sexy smirk on his face as Robinson Cano crossed home plate, scoring the first Yankees run, “…scrubbing my kitchen floor.”

Oooh, this guy really knew how to get under Buffy’s skin. He should know better than anyone that you can’t count the Red Sox out too quickly. It was only 1-0 in the third inning; surely he didn’t think this game was going to be a shut out for the home team. “You must work for one of the Republicans up on the Hill.” Buffy quipped back. “Declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ a little too early in the game, don’t you think?”

‘Well, well, she is a little spitfire. Just the way I like them,’ Spike thought as he laughed at her joke before setting her straight. “Actually, luv, I happen to work for Senator Clinton. My specialty is health care reform.”

Wow, Buffy wasn’t expecting that at all and the revelation actually left her impressed. Having a job with Clinton meant he was working for someone in the Presidential race, which was the best experience you could get as a political underling. It provided for a huge window of opportunity if your boss actually won since they often brought the people they thought were main contributors to their platform with them to The White House. If Spike’s expertise was health care, you could bet he was moving on up with her since that was one of her main issues. Of course, Buffy couldn’t let him know that she was a bit envious. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as a guy who could take his orders from such a strong minded female.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, pet. I happen to like bitches.” Slowly, he perused her body up and down before meeting her gaze with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “I don’t mind letting a woman dominate me as long as we both get some mutual satisfaction in the end.” Spike’s husky voice caused goose bumps to prickle along Buffy’s skin as he planted that cocky smirk firmly on his face again.

Pretty sure that he wasn’t talking about politics anymore, Buffy’s body heated up as a bolt of electricity ran through her body straight to her now sodden core. Feeling the need to gather herself, she awkwardly excused herself to the bathroom so she could throw some cold water on her face just as Ortiz grounded to first to end a scoreless third inning for the Sox.