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DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. You know who they belong to.

****

Spike settled into his favorite chair and searched for something decent to watch on television. Monday was always his day off. Tomorrow, he would need to start planning his next review. With a chuckle, he remembered his recent column. He hadn't seen a band that horrible since the old days when he would review any band. The Initiative got a royal thrashing. Shaking his head, he thought that Buffy didn't have anything to complain about.

Buffy. She could be a real spitfire. He hadn't talked to her for more than ten minutes, and she showed him three sides to her. Of the naive schoolgirl, seductress, and fiery bit of a girl, he enjoyed the last one the most.

The phone rang, bringing Spike out of his thoughts. "Hello," he said, picking up the phone.

"Hey, it's me." His manager, Clem spoke from the other end. "I've got some bad news."

Spike sat up. He didn't like the sound of that. "What is it?"

Clem sighed. "Nobody wants to carry your column anymore. They've gotten too many complaints."

"All of them?"

"Yes." Clem paused. "They're all dropping your column, affective immediately."

"What? This is bullshit!" Spike jumped to his feet. A feeling of dread draped over him. "What really happened?"

"You got too many complaints."

Spike rubbed his temple. "No. I've always had complaints - usually by the bands themselves. Something else happened."

Clem paused. "Okay. I heard that Maggie Walsh of Walsh Incorporated wasn't too happy with your column yesterday. It's seems her son, Adam, is the lead singer for the Initiative."

"He was awful. They deserved that review." Spike rubbed his forehead, which was beginning to throb.

"Well, Walsh Incorporated threatened to pull their advertising out of every paper that had your column. Do you know much money these papers would lose without the ads? Nobody wanted to risk that."

Spike flopped on the couch. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, you have a contract, so the papers will still pay you until it runs out."

"That's in two months! What am I going to do after that?"

"You can probably get another job."

Spike groaned. "I don't want another bloody job! This column was more than money. It was my life. I need to critique bands."

"Maybe you could start a column on the Web, or maybe go to an underground paper that isn't touched by Walsh Incorporated."

"I can't make a living on that, and nobody reads those things." His column had millions of readers. He loved knowing that he pissed off or enraptured complete strangers. Now, he couldn't affect anybody.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. Do you want me to come over? We could eat hot wings."

Spike closed his eyes. "No. I'll be alright." He hung up the phone and threw it across the room. He needed a drink.

****

"Did you notice that Spike's column wasn't in the paper yesterday?" Buffy tried to act nonchalant as she took a bite from her hamburger.

Willow smirked and sat across from her in the diner. "I thought you said his column was trash. You're still reading it?"

"I just wanted to see if he trashed another poor band," Buffy lied. She secretly had been looking forward to Sunday to read his column, and was terribly disappointed to not see it. She had completely agreed with his review of the Initiative last week, but she wasn't going to admit it.

Willow expression sobered. "I heard his column was dropped."

Buffy's heart began to pound. "Why?" She was hoping that Spike was just taking a vacation.

"Too many complaints."

Buffy shoved the disappointment and pity to the pit of her stomach. He deserved this, she tried to tell herself. "Well, good riddance."

Willow slowly shook her head, but didn't say anything. Instead she talked to Buffy about the Scoobies.

"Excuse me, did you say you were in the Scoobies?" A tall man with sandy brown hair from the next table asked.

Buffy smiled. One of the perks to being in a band was that good looking men would talk to her. "Yes, we are. I'm Buffy. This is Willow."

"The lead singer? I've heard you are very good." He held out his hand. "I'm Riley Finn by the way."

She shook his hand. "Heard? So, you haven't caught a show?"

"No. I'm helping out a band, myself, in my spare time. Have you heard of the Initiative?"

Buffy's smile froze. His face was lit up, so she didn't have the heart to tell him what she really thought about the band. "I saw them last weekend. They're interesting."

"I think they're the greatest." Riley paused and smiled cheerfully. "Though, I'm sure you guys think the same way about the Scoobies."

Willow glanced at Buffy before addressing Riley. "What do you do for the band?"

"Oh, I just help out during their shows - setting up the stage, helping move instruments. That sort of thing."

Buffy remembered briefly seeing him moving a microphone onstage last Saturday.

Riley sat down at their table when Buffy indicated an empty chair. "Thanks. I'm Maggie Walsh's assistant at Walsh Incorporated. She asked me to help them out."

Buffy didn't understand the connection. Then she remembered the rumor that Adam was related to someone at Walsh Incorporated. "Is she related to the lead singer?"

"She's his mother."

Buffy's eyebrows rose at that. "Well, maybe you can come to one of our shows and see us play."

"I'd love to, Buffy." Riley glanced at Willow. "And Willow," he amended.

"We'll see you then." Buffy thought he was nice. Probably tone deaf, if he thought the Initiative was good, but he seemed nice. It had been a long time since Buffy was involved with someone. She really needed to start dating again. Maybe then, she could get Spike off of her mind.

****

Spike hung up the phone in disgust. Clem had just told him that another paper rejected the column. For the past month, Clem had been calling various newspapers, television studios, and radio stations trying to get them to buy Spike's column. So far, he hadn't been successful.

In another month, he would stop getting paid. He wasn't looking forward to getting another job. In fact, he hadn't started looking for one. He kept hoping that Clem would be successful in getting his column sold somewhere.

He glanced at his desk and saw the review he wrote for the Scoobies. Buffy had surprised him that night, and he thought she really had potential. Smiling, he remembered how she protested the column, and huffed away when he told her to take it as free advice. Really, if she would just listen to him, the Scoobies would become unstoppable.

Spike paused. Wait a minute. His advice was valuable. Maybe what he needs to do is go directly to the bands. Why give away what he could charge?

Spike smiled. Things were starting to look up.

****

Buffy always had an excuse to miss an Initiative gig - either it was the Scoobies or homework. Riley had come to a few of her practice sessions. Soon, she and Riley were going on dates on their free nights. He was a perfect gentleman, interesting, and nice.

Tonight, the Initiative had a show, so he had to be there. Part of Buffy was relieved to have a night without him. She liked him, but she never found herself looking forward to seeing him. She did, however, look forward to getting away from her mom and sister. She felt trapped living with them and wanted the freedom to do what she wanted without guilt that her friends had. Maybe it was time she looked for a place on her own.

Giles came into the back room holding a piece of paper. Usually, he worked on the books with Anya during their practice. He used to help coach them, but they moved beyond him and his experience. Buffy still considered him her mentor, though.

"There is a Battle of the Bands contest in about four months. I think you guys should enter it." Giles handed Buffy the flyer for the contest. "Two major record labels will be present at this. Even if we don't win, we could impress them."

"Oh, yes!" Buffy jumped in excitement. This was the break they'd been looking for. With a record deal, she might make enough money to move out of her mom's house.

Giles smiled, but didn't take delight in the news as the band did. "This contest won't guarantee a record deal, even the winner only gets a monetary prize."

"How much?" Xander glanced at the flyer in Buffy's hands. "Five thousand dollars? Yes!"

Willow glanced at Giles. "What's wrong?"

Giles sighed. "I've got bad news. The club canceled tomorrow's show. I tried to get a replacement gig, but nobody had any openings this late."

Buffy looked at him in confusion. "This is the third time that happened this month. What's going on?"

Giles pinched his nose and looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "I don't know. Something strange is going on right now. Three bands have broken up because their best players quit. Rumor is that they joined the Initiative."

Willow furrowed her brow. "This doesn't make any sense. The Initiative is a horrible band. Why would they want to be a part of that?"

"Maybe Walsh Incorporated is paying them a lot of money." Xander shook his head.

"That might be, but they are drawing more and more people to their shows." Giles pulled a chair over and sat down. "We need to work harder to improve, so these clubs won't drop us. I can't do more to help you, but I think I've found someone who can help."

Buffy looked at him in surprise. "Who?"

"Do you remember Spike from the newspaper column? Well, he approached me the other day and wanted to.."

"No, no, no," Buffy interrupted. "He can't help us."

"He happens to have a lot of experience working with bands. His father was in the Smooks. He spent his teenage years touring with them. He's used that experience in his columns. Yes, he was harsh, but I think he always told the truth. Now that his column is gone, he's looking for work in the same field."

"We can't afford to pay him a salary." Buffy couldn't work with Spike. She just couldn't.

Giles nodded his head. "I explained to him that we were low on cash, but he agreed to help us for the next month for no money. After that, if we get more and better gigs, he'll take a percentage."

"Why does he want to help us?" Tara hesitated and spoke in a soft voice.

"He told me that we were the only band with potential." Giles looked away from them. "He also wanted revenge on Initiative. Maggie Walsh is the reason he's without a column."

Buffy laughed. "Oh! So, he doesn't really want to help us. He just wants to see another band suffer."

"I agree he's not altruistic, but this is a good opportunity that we shouldn't pass up."

"Let's do it. If we don't improve in a month, we can fire him." Xander stood next to Buffy.

To Buffy's astonishment, Willow and Tara agreed with Xander. She couldn't come up with any more excuses to why Spike should not work for them. She just didn't like him, and she refused to admit that he stirred things in her that scared her. Reluctantly she agreed to allow him to help.

"Okay, let's get back to practice." Buffy raised her guitar strap over her head and stopped. Turning to Giles, she asked, "What do you mean Spike always told the truth?"





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