The following morning, Buffy checked in at the competition and followed the directions she was given before walking to the work station she was assigned. Anya and Willow showed up minutes later and began helping Buffy prepare things before it was time to start cooking.
“Spike and his friends just showed up,” Willow said, putting on an apron. “He seems to be ready for action, so to speak.” Buffy raised an eyebrow at her friend.
“Xander’s definitely good when it comes to action,” Anya chipped in, grinning dreamily. “You should see him in bed… He’s like a stallion.”
“Yuck!” Buffy said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Now I’m going to have that mental image burned in my brain for a while.”
“Me, too,” Anya replied, smiling proudly. “What did you expect? I came, I saw, and I… came a whole bunch of times after that.”
“Feel free to leave any time,” Buffy said, shooting a pointed look at her. “Now, can we focus on the mission at hand?”
“The mission is what matters,” Willow replied, sighing. “We’ve heard this speech a couple of times now, Buffy.”
“I just want to make sure everything is okay and set to go,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I can’t lose, girls. There’s a lot more riding on this whole thing than you think.”
“Your pride?” Anya asked, and Buffy nodded, looking away. “Well, if it’ll help, maybe I can make some obscene and sexual gestures in Xander’s direction to throw him off of his game.”
“Whatever helps,” Buffy said, managing a weak smile.
* * * * *
“My head bloody hurts,” Spike said in a low tone as he walked to his work station with Andrew and Xander in tow. “I shouldn’t have had so much to drink last night.”
“If you wouldn’t have taken Buffy’s comments to you so personally, then maybe you wouldn’t have felt compelled to drink half of the liquor in the bar,” Xander replied.
“If you hadn’t left me to go shag Anya, one of our enemies by association, I wouldn’t have kept drinking!” Spike shot back. “You know I drink a lot when I’m alone.”
“Guys, can we start getting ready?” Andrew asked, looking between his two friends. “We only have twenty minutes before this kicks off.”
“Fine,” Spike said, taking a deep breath and beginning to look at the supplies they were given. “So, the plan is still to make a key lime cheesecake?”
“And go to town with the decorations,” Xander agreed, nodding. “Andy and I’ve got that covered. Just make the cheesecake as quickly as possible.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Andrew asked. “I mean, Buffy will be making a cheesecake, too, don’t you think?”
“That’s the point,” Spike replied. “If we both make cheesecakes and I win, then the whole town will know I’m better than her at making them, something she considers to be her specialty.”
“And what if hers is better and we lose?” Andrew asked, crossing his arms.
“Then we hang our heads in shame, leave the building, and get properly snockered,” Spike answered, looking across the room and focusing on Buffy, who was talking to Willow and Anya. “But that’s not going to happen, right?”
“Right,” Xander and Andrew said in unison, even though they were beginning to have doubts.
* * * * *
“Alright, the cheesecake is in the oven and all set,” Buffy said triumphantly, setting a timer. “That’s the quickest I’ve ever whipped one up before.”
“And hopefully it’ll taste like you didn’t rush to get it done,” Anya replied, ignoring the glare Buffy shot at her. “Willow and I have the strawberry filling all set, so once the cheesecake cools, we can put it on top and you can cover it with creamy strawberry frosting.”
“Is the sugar set for me to work with yet?” Buffy asked, looking at a pot on the stove.
“It needs to warm up a bit more, and then you should be able to spin it into twirls,” Willow said. “I can put them on top of the cheesecake once you finish with it.”
“We’ve got more than enough time,” Buffy said, trying to settle her nerves. “We still have about two and a half hours left, don’t we?”
“Want us to make something else?” Willow asked. “An extra perk or something?”
“How about some strawberry-filled cookies?” Buffy asked, and Willow smiled.
“Sure,” she answered. “We can give them to the judges as parting gifts.”
“Great idea,” Buffy said, smiling gratefully when Willow began to gather supplies to make cookie dough. “We might have this in the bag after all.”
“Especially since I think Spike just ruined something he made,” Anya said, causing both Willow and Buffy to look over at Spike, who was throwing his arms up and looking angry.
“I wonder what that’s all about,” Willow said, raising an eyebrow.
“Who cares?” Buffy asked, grinning. “One man’s loss is another man’s… well, a woman’s gain.”
* * * * *
“Damn it!” Spike said loudly, staring at the bowl of cheesecake batter in front of him. “There’s too much sugar in this!”
“It’s alright, man,” Xander said, taking the bowl and disposing of its contents before washing it out quickly. “We can start over.”
“And be set back half an hour?” Spike asked, upset. “Maybe we should do something else.”
“Like what?” Andrew asked. “We’ve been talking about cheesecakes for days and you want to do something else?”
“What other choice do we have?” Spike asked, trying to lower his voice so other competitors wouldn’t hear him. “We can make a simple chocolate cake and decorate it absurdly well so it looks twenty times better than it is. We’ve done it before and we can do it again.”
“It’s risky,” Xander said, sighing. “But I have faith in us to succeed.”
“And Buffy will feel even more inadequate when we kick her ass with a chocolate cake,” Spike replied, beginning to look around at what supplies he had left. “Are you guys with me on this?”
“We’re with you until the end,” Andrew said. “Even if we lose to Buffy.”
“Will you be positive?” Xander asked, nudging Andrew’s arm. “We’re going to win, Andy, and you know it.” Despite the fact he was beginning to believe they’d lose, Andrew nodded and began to help Spike get ready to make a chocolate cake.
Xander looked across the room at Anya and smirked when her eyes settled on his. She blew him a quick kiss before helping Willow put cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. He took a deep breath and turned around to help Spike before realizing what the girls were doing.
“Umm, guys?” he asked quietly. “I don’t think Buffy’s making a cheesecake.”
“What makes you think that?” Spike asked, confused.
“Anya and Willow are making cookies,” Xander answered. “Maybe Buffy’s going to do something creative with cookies instead.”
“Then she’s definitely going to lose,” Spike said, grinning. “Guess my favorite amateur doesn’t realize how ridiculous a cookie creation is.”
“We can make something simpler then, can’t we?” Andrew asked. “If our biggest competitor is just making cookies?”
“Guess so,” Spike agreed, shrugging. “Looks like we’re still in the game.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for all of the reviews after chapter 4! I'm happy people are still enjoying this, and I promise there will be Spuffyness and fluff down the road- we just need to muddle through the angst. If I get enough calls for it, I'll start posting daily instead of every other day, but that's only if people want it:)