Two hours later, Buffy found herself back home bruised and in need of a nice relaxing hot bath.

She hadn’t had such a tough patrol in a long time: a nest of fledgelings, a lizard monster, a mugger (who would no doubt rethink his next attack on diminutive blondes) and, of course, a fungus demon.

If only she had paid attention to what Giles was trying to teach her last night, she would have known to aim for the eyes before getting completely smeared in fungus.

She laboured up the stairs. *Since when do we have so many stairs? Oh, yeah--they multiply every time I have a tough night. Ugh*, and went to her bedroom to grab her PJs. She made her way to the bathroom and ran herself a steaming bath.

Closing her eyes she slid into the tub and pushed all thoughts from her mind; no Giles, no mom or Dawn, no patrols or fungus demons, not even a certain peroxide vampire. No thoughts penetrated the Slayer’s mind as she let the day’s stress float away with the steam from her bath.

Well rested and more than ready for a nice long sleep, Buffy slipped out of the tub and into her pyjamas.

On her way to bed, she peered into Dawn’s bedroom and saw that Spike was sleeping soundly. She crept towards the bed to pull his blankets back up, as they’d slid down to his waist; as she did this, the resting vampire started to purr again.

Buffy smiled as that little voice from deep within spoke up, *Why don’t you just slip into the bed with him? No one’s around to judge, and you know you want to! You remember what it’s like to wake up in the arms of someone you care for--and who cares for you; I know you miss that feeling. Anyway, he’s purring again--don’t you wonder what that feels like, to have him purring and pressed up against you... Bet you wouldn’t have any trouble falling asleep.*

Buffy felt her Slayer object, but she quashed it.

Yes, it had been way too long since she’d felt the comfort of sharing a bed. Now that she finally admitted to herself that she felt something for Spike, this didn’t seem so wrong.

She walked to the other side of the bed, pulled the covers back and laid down. Cupping herself behind Spike’s sleeping form, she lay her arm over him, holding him close to her. Instinctively, the vampire pressed back into her, took her hand and threaded his fingers in hers. Asleep in each other’s arms, both vampire and Slayer profited from a deep, undisturbed rest.

Author’s note: Yes, I know this is a short chapter, but what you guys have been clamouring for
is coming up in the following chapter, which is much longer. And thanks to everyone who’s been reviewing. It makes it much more worthwhile getting up a bit earlier in the mornings to get the next chapter up for your reading pleasure...