Disclaimer: I realized that I forgot to put a disclaimer on the story when I first posted it. So here it is. Nothing here belongs to me unfortunately. It all belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, ect. ect.


Chapter 1: No use crying of spilt coffee

William Pryce, better known as ‘Spike’ tapped his finger against the hard wooden desk looking over the papers in front of him. He turned his gaze to the window looking at the other buildings surrounding his. The sky was a perfect blue with puffy white clouds scattered across it. All day long he would sit in his office located on the top floor shuffling papers and making important decisions.

Not that he didn’t love his job, because he did, being the owner of a successful company wasn’t bad, it did have its perks. But he had found the saying ‘it’s lonely at the top’ to be quite true. He came to New York with his mom and dad from England when he was still young and his father had started the business putting everything had into making it successful. It had worked but not before his mother had died, they had coped with the death and years later his father had died too leaving him with the company.

He looked back down at the papers but didn’t see what was written there as he drifted of in thought again. And then there was the rest of his family in London, how he missed them. Sure he had countless girlfriends and others ‘throwing themselves at him’ as his friends liked to say but it wasn’t the same and none of them were really special either. He sighed, life really sucked sometimes.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when his secretary spoke through the small intercom. “ Spike, Chris is on line 1.”

“ Why would Chris be calling me?…” Spike muttered to himself. “ ‘Ello?” He spoke picking up the phone.

“ Should I be worried that you’re not here yet?” He heard his cousin chuckle on the other end of the line.

Spike wracked his brain trying to figure out when he had agreed to go back to London and for what reason. As far as he knew no one had died, was someone having a baby? No, Elen was pregnant but she wasn’t due in another 3 months, and no one was getting married… His eyes went wide, that was it! Chris was getting married! ‘ Bloody hell my own cousin is getting married and I forgot about it, some family I am.’

“ No of course not. I just lost track of time, that’s all.” Spike replayed when he noticed that his cousin was still waiting for an answer.

Chris chuckled again. “ Of course, just like you to get caught up in your work. Well you better be here by tomorrow it’s two days before the wedding rehearsal!”

‘Bloody hell…’ “ Don’t worry I’ve got the plane already booked.” Ok, so it was a little white lie. ‘ S’ not like it’s a big deal.’ “I wouldn’t miss my favourite cousins wedding! Tell Emma not to worry, because m’ sure she’s the one that put you up to this.” Spike couldn’t help but smirk as he heard his cousin start talking slightly panicked.

“ So now I can’t call my own cousin without having and ulterior motive?!” Chris said indignantly although Spike heard a hint of playfulness in his voice.

He smiled amusedly. “ See you tomorrow.”

“ You better!” Chris smiled.

Spike hung up. “ Bloody hell.” He sighed running a hand through his hair making it come loose into spiky blonde curls. “ Well at least I don’t have to worry about bringing a date.”

“ Think again blondy.” Spike’s head quickly turned to look at his secretary who was now standing at the door giving him a disapproving look.

“ What are you talking about Anya?”

“ Don’t you remember? You got the invitation two months ago and you got me to R.S.V.P, so I did. But I assumed you were going to bring someone so I said you’d be bringing a date.”

His head dropped onto his desk with a little thud. ‘ What am I supposed to do now?’ Slowly he brought his head up and gave Anya his best ‘love me’ look. “ Anya…”

She cut him off. “ Oh no! I am not coming with you to your cousins wedding because you couldn’t even remember it after I’ve reminded you about it for a month and a half. That is, until you snapped at me to stop reminding you because, how did you put it? Ah, yes ‘ I can remember my own cousins bloody wedding thank you were much!’ So now you can deal blondie. Plus I don’t think Xander would appreciate me going to a wedding as your date.”

He looked at the clock on the wall. Wow, time really did move fast, it was now 6:00. Who was he going to get on a flight to London with him in the next few hours to pretend to be his date so he wouldn’t look like the girl Anya said was coming with him dumped him or that he dumped her?

“ You can always ask someone in the office. You could pay them or something.” Anya said before walking out of the room.

Usually he would never do that, getting involved with someone who worked for him was never a good idea, but then again, technically they wouldn’t be involved they’d only be pretending. And it’s not like anyone else in the office would find out… It was settled then. He got of his chair and walked out of his office and past Anya’s desk to the elevator pressing one of the lower floors.

***

Elizabeth ‘Buffy’ Summers sat at her desk looking blankly at her computer screen. She shook herself out of her state and continued typing. She’d been drifting off a lot like that lately, everything was just going to hell. The rent for her apartment had just been raised, her mom was recently sent to the hospital because she hadn’t been feeling well and was now being examined, leaving her worried and feeling horrible that she couldn’t be there. And now Angel had broke up with her, stomping on her heart by cheating on her and leaving her with no faith in men or love what so ever. Why couldn’t life just be easy for once?

She stopped typing and looked at the finished five page long report along with Harmony’s work and Parkers who she knew had put some of Alex’s in there after telling her he’d do it so that she would think he was a great guy and sleep with him. Well, Buffy couldn’t wait to see how that turned out. Why did she do it? Simple, her work was to easy and she finished it to fast, and it wasn’t like she was going to get a promotion anytime soon. William Pryce rarely gave promotions, especially not to people he didn’t even know existed let alone worked for him.

That was one of the things she really didn’t like about him, she had worked there for almost four years now and she had never seen him come down to any of the lower levels and talk to anyone, it was like he felt that everyone else was beneath him. She’d also heard that he was a womanizer, one of the worst kinds of men in her opinion. She didn’t even know how he looked, and the whole promotion? She’d had the same position since she had been hired, also not by him. Not that she was complaining, much. She was used to her job and didn’t mind that it was easy (well maybe a little) because by now it was like child’s play to her and she got paid for it.

Buffy got up from her seat and left her office to get a cup of coffee from the lounge, she grabbed the work with her. ‘ Might as well give them their work back.’ After she finished pouring her cup of coffee she started to walk towards Parkers desk and gave him the report.

He just stared at her for a minute frowning. “ Took you long enough. Man, Alex isn’t going to go out with me if you keep taking that long to finish the work!”

Buffy just glared at him and started to walk away angrily. ‘ He’s not worth it Summers, he’s not worth it Summers, he’s not worth...” She stopped her mantra abruptly when someone bumped into her, or had she bumped into them? She was still angry at Parker and now she had coffee all over her new blouse and Harmony’s work which was now on the floor. She’d stick to blaming the other person.

“ Watch it!” She snapped turning to gaze at the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. And his blue eyes were amazing… ‘ Stop it Summers, you’re venturing into dangerous territory. He’s just like every other heartless guy.’

Spike raised his eyebrows. “ I think you bumped into Me luv.” He looked her up and down and couldn’t help notice a few coffee droplets glide down her skin where the blouse had been slightly opened and disappear underneath.

“ Typical, right because the woman is always to blame, jeez man are such jerks.” She mumbled the lat part and looked down at her blouse with a sigh.

“ That’s not what I meant pet.” He bent down and picked up her paper noticing that it had Harmony’s name at the bottom. He’d met Harmony a few times, all due to her unwanted advances, but what was this blonde spitfire doing with Harmony’s work?

Buffy snatched the paper away from him and stared down at the brown coffee stain that was now covering the top half of the paper. Well, at least she had it saved on her computer. And it was a good thing she had a second shirt in the bag she brought to work today for a quick change of clothes for tonight.

“ Whatever, just watch where you’re going next time.” With that she left walking to her office.

“ Wait, what’s your name?” He shouted after her.

“ Why do you want to know?” She asked turning around and raising her eyebrows still irritated by the gorgeous Brit.

“ Just curious I guess.”

“ Buffy.” With that she turned around and went back to her office trying to figure out why she had just given a complete stranger her name. She decided to blame it on momentary insanity and the hot coffee on her clothes. ‘ Well at least I didn’t give him my last name too.’ The blonde thought to herself before re-printing Harmony’s work.
______________________________________

A/N: What do you think? The next chapter is when the whole plot kicks off so please review!

Chapter 2: Dinner for two?

Buffy glanced at the clock, 7:00 pm. She started packing up her things ready to go when her office phone rang. Strange, it was past working hours, everyone had already left she had just been working late. She debated just letting it ring but decided against it, could be something important. “ Hello, Buffy Summers speaking.”

“ You know sweetie, you should stop answering your phone like that. Could be some psycho or stalker calling you and if he knows your first and last name…well it’s not a good thing.” The voice on the other end said.

“ Hi Anya. How come you’re calling? Still working?” Buffy smiled ignoring her friends comment. She had known Anya since high school and was happy when she found out they’d be working in the same place even if it was on different floors.

“ Yeah, well I’m just leaving to go see Xander and play a new game he’s going to teach me, it sounded really fun it involves chocolate and…” Buffy cut her off before she could finish.

“ Ok Anya, no details please. No offence but I don’t really want to know about your and Xander’s sexcapades.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“ Fine, just calling to let you know Mr. Pryce wants to see you in his office. And trust me I don’t call him that by choice but he has this whole thing about saying his name so casually to people when I’m his secretary. Gives the wrong impression or something. Anyway I got to go. Talk to you later.” With that she hung up.

Buffy froze. William Pryce wanted to see her? Her boss wanted to see her? Why, after working for him for four years she hadn’t even spoken to him once. Not even for her interview, her department boss had interviewed her. So how come all of a sudden he wanted to see her? How did he even know who she was? This did not sound good for her. ‘Ah, well. This is already the week from hell, getting fired wouldn’t be too unexpected.’

She got up and grabbed her things walking towards the elevator. She punched the top floor and waited impatiently, luckily the buildings elevators didn’t have the customary music. ‘ Thank god.’ Buffy thought before stepping out and walking past Anya’s desk and knocking.

“ Come in.” She heard a deep voice say before she turned the knob.

‘ Let’s get this over with.’ When she walked in however she stood frozen, there was the guy with the bleached hair and the blue eyes from this afternoon, the same one she had yelled at after bumping into and spilling her coffee. This must have been some cosmic joke. ‘ You have got to be kidding me.’ Buffy thought.

***

Spike sat in his office thinking after he left from where he had encountered the petite blonde. The only thing he knew about her now was that her name was Buffy. Which by itself was amusing, how many people actually named their daughter ‘ Buffy’? That was it, he was going to call Anya.

“ Anya can you come in here for a minute?”

Anya walked through the door and stood with her arms crossed. “ What would you like now Spike?”

“ I wanted you to find out about a girl that works here and…”

“ No! Ohh no! I’m not staying here and using up my hours that I could be with Xander to snoop on some girl because you have to find a last minute date!” she interrupted and started to walk away when something caught her attention.

“ But I need to know Buffy’s last name and a little about her!” Spike visibly sighed in relief when he saw Anya halt in her steps and turn around.

“ Did you say Buffy? As in Buffy Summers?”

“ Well I’m pretty sure no one else works here that’s named Buffy.” He paused for a minute. “ Why, do you know her?”

Anya paused before she answered. She knew that Buffy didn’t trust men and didn’t want to get in a relationship because she didn’t believe in love anymore. Well who better to show her it existed then Spike? There was definitely a chance something could happen between them, they were so alike. Screw the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing, opposites also split up just as often.

“ No, not personally. Just talked to her once or twice on the phone in the office.”

“ Ok, well could you please contact her and tell her I would like to speak with her?” Anya just nodded and left the office straight to her phone.

Spike sat back in his chair and waited. What if she said no? What would he do then, he didn’t want to take some random girl of the street, well not like this was any better but at least she worked here so he knew she worked and had an ok life. Or was it worse because she worked here? He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a tentative knock on his office door. “ Come in.”

He smirked when he saw the shocked look on her face. It felt like he was looking at someone that had seen a ghost, but it looked cute non the less. ‘ Wait, no, not cute that’s not something you should be thinking you bloody git.’ He reprimanded himself in his head.

“ Please sit down Ms. Summers.” He watched as she sat down silently.

Buffy sat down and wasn’t sure what to do as he seemed to be studying her should she speak or remain sitting there silently? She started to fidget in her seat when neither of them had spoken for what seemed like eternity but was in fact only a few minutes.

‘ Ugh, why am I sitting here like and idiot nervous to talk to this guy? He’s a jerk anyway and this afternoon he didn’t do anything. If I’m getting fired I might as well be myself and not like brain dead Harmony. Wait, Harmony is brain dead but she never shuts up, scratch that idea.’

“ Look, I’m not going to sit here until you decide to tell me why you called me into your office because I have better things to do. If you want to fire me for this afternoon or whatever reason go right ahead.” She narrowed her eyes getting more courage. “ But I can guarantee that the quality of the work in my department will decrease if you do.”

To her utter annoyance all he did was chuckle at her like she had just said the funniest thing he had heard all week. Well to hell with it, she’d rather be out with Willow then sit here and take this from her jackass of a boss. She stood up and started to walk away when he spoke again.

“I’m sorry luv, please don’t go. And believe me when I say you’re not fired.”

She narrowed her eyes with scrutiny as he tilted his head to the side and gave her a sincere apologetic smile. She sighed and sat down once again.

“ So what did you want to talk about Mr. Pryce?”

“ Spike.”

Buffy’s eyes went wide as she looked at him. “ Excuse me?”

“ The name’s Spike. Mr. Pryce was my father and I don’t much like my given first name.” He grinned when she blushed and ducked her face behind her hair before looking up again.

“ That still didn’t answer my question. What did you want to talk about?”

“ Come to dinner with me tonight.” Buffy just stared at him.

‘ Is this guy completely insane? I don’t know who he is, he doesn’t know who I am and he calls me into his office just to ask me to dinner?’

Spike saw the look in her eyes and immediately back pedaled. “ Not on a date pet. I meant to talk, there’s not one in the building anymore and it’s to stuffy in here. Thought it might be nice to talk somewhere else.”

Buffy just continued to stare at him contemplating what she should do. She had promised Willow that they’d have a girls night, and she hadn’t actually had one of those with Willow in a while but she was really curious about what William Pryce would possible want to talk to her about.

“ Please?”

She sighed. “ Ok.”

Ten minutes later she had grabbed her coats and they were sitting in his limousine. With no surprise, once again in silence.

“ So did your parents actually name you Buffy?” Buffy turned to look at him, had she not been surprised by the brake in silence she would have looked annoyed at the least.

“ No, my actual name is Elizabeth and my mom called me Bethy but when I was younger I couldn’t pronounce it correctly so when someone asked me what my name was my reply would always sound like I was saying ‘Buffy’ so it kind of stuck with me.”

She looked away. Why was she even telling him this? Like he even cared, he was probably just trying to start a conversation and you had to go into a whole long answer instead of just saying no and ‘it’s Elizabeth’.

“ Looks like we’re here.” Spike said as the limo stopped and he stepped out. Buffy was about to open the door when the chauffer opened it for her. She got out and smiled at him saying a quick thanks before she walked beside Spike into the restaurant.

The hostess led them to their table and she sat down looking around. Sure Willow was going to be kind of upset that she wasn’t able to be there for their girls night but hey, she’d love to hear about this and the restaurant was beautiful too. “ Willow!” Buffy slumped in her chair. She had forgot to call her friend.

“ I beg your pardon?”

Buffy looked over at Spike and gave a sheepish smile. “ I need to use the phone I forgot to call my friend and tell her I won’t be able to make it tonight.”

“ Here.” She looked at the small cell phone he handed her and took it giving him a quiet thanks. Ok so maybe he wasn’t being as big a jerk as she thought, but hey, they’d barely even talked so she was sticking to her opinion.

She quickly dialed the number and waited for her red headed friend to pick up. “ Hello?” Bingo.

“ Willow, it’s me. I’m really sorry but something came up and I can’t make it tonight.” She paused to listen to see what her friend was going to say.

“ That’s ok Buff, you’ll tell me all about it later ok?”

“ Yeah, I will. By Wills.” She clicked the phone of and handed it back to Spike pulling her hand away like it was on fire when it brushed his.

“ So I guess you’re wondering why I wanted to talk to someone I haven’t even seen before this afternoon.” He clasped his hands together and put them on the table. She just raised her eyebrows and nodded.

“ I’m just going to get straight to the point, it may sound strange but hear me out. I want you to be my date to my cousins wedding.” He paused to assess her reaction. She seemed to be staring at me blankly and her mouth was slightly open. He decided it would be better to just continue. “ I kind of waited until the last minute and it turns out that I need a date. Basically you’d have to pretend to be m girlfriend for a week or so.”

Buffy just sat there stiffly not knowing how to respond to what had just be said. Wow, this was far from being fired. ‘ Willow so totally won’t mind that I ditched when she finds out about this.’

“ You still with me here luv?” He looked at her nervously. He hoped she would just get up and make a run for it because at this point he wouldn’t be surprised if she did, hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

“ Why would I do that?” She asked simply. This was turning out to be some day.

“ I’d pay you of course. However you’d have to be ready to go at about 1:30 am to London England.”

Buffy paused not saying anything for several moments. This was really, really crazy but she could use the money. Especially now, her mom was in the hospital and she knew that she would need money to pay off the hospital bills afterwards and with the small art gallery her mom owned it wasn’t going to happen unless she helped and she could do that without going into her savings. But if she did this then she wouldn’t have.

She took a sip of the wine that had come and been poured for both of them. “ Ok.”

“ Look I…come again?” Spike looked at her bewildered.

“ I said ok.”

Chapter 3: Changing the future

“And then he just asked you to go with him as his girlfriend to London? For his cousin’s wedding?! Wow, this is so worth not having our girls night,” Willow giggled.

Buffy smiled, she had the phone pressed up to her ear with one shoulder and was talking to Willow while she folded and packed her things in a suitcase. “Yup, and I said yes.”

Willow gasped, “You didn’t!”

“I did. But it’s not like it’s going to be so incredibly horrible. I mean I can really use the money, and my mom is going to need help with the hospital bills and all of it, so it’s actually pretty good timing. But seriously I would have never expected something like this to happen to me.”

“How is your mom doing by the way?” Buffy heard the concerned tone in her friends voice and sighed heavily.

“I don’t know, Wills, I don’t know. I’ve only seen her once in the hospital and after that I just talked to her on the phone and she said everything was fine but I just can’t help but think that she’s keeping something from me. Something’s wrong and I know it, Wills.”

“If you’d like I’ll visit her when you’re in London. Besides, Joyce was always like a second mother to me.”

“Thanks Wills, you’re a great friend and I hate leaving her in a hospital. You know I hate hospitals with a passion. I was kind of even considering on not going so I could stay with mom.”

“It’s fine, Buffy. I’ll be with her, and what’s more, after what Angel did I think you should take a little time off. Besides, Spike doesn’t sound so bad either.”

“Willow no, I know exactly what you’re thinking and it’s not going to happen. I told you that I’m not ready to date yet. And I sure as heck don’t believe in love or romance. At least not like you and Oz have it.” She closed the suitcase and laid down on her bed, sighing contentedly.

“I know, sweetie. But this could be good for you. Even if it’s just pretend. At least he won’t treat you like dirt and there’s no attachment afterwards because you weren’t actually a couple.”

“Well, I guess. But I’m not going to get involved with him, Wills. First of all, I don’t have a very high opinion of him. I’ve never even met him before today and let me tell you getting coffee spilled all over yourself because of the guy doesn’t leave you with a very good first impression of him, and lest we forget he is my boss. Which is reason enough not to do this in the first place.”

“Oh pfft, you’re only seeing the cons here. What about pros? You get to fly in a plane, probably a private one at that if this guy is as rich as you say he is, all the way to England. You get to go to a wedding, and let’s face it, us girls love weddings, and you get to be the pretend girlfriend of a hot guy for around a week and come back with no strings attached and move on and get paid for all of it! Buffy, as much as I love Oz, even I wouldn’t give up a chance to do that.”

“I guess you’re right. Well, I better get going, I need to get some sleep if I’m leaving at 1:00 am to get on that plane. Bye.”

“Bye Buff. Don’t worry, everything is going to be great.”

With that she clicked off the phone and went straight to sleep, forgetting to set her alarm clock in the process…

***
Buffy groaned, hearing someone knocking on her apartment door loudly. Who could it possibly be that didn’t know a woken up Buffy was a grouchy Buffy? Pulling the covers off her bed, she looked at the clock flashing 1:05 at her angrily in bright red letters. Now she was really mad. Who would wake her up at this ungodly hour and for what reason in hell?

They knocked again. She growled and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “I’m coming!” She pulled off her warm bed covers and trudged to the door in her bare feet and her tank top with matching pajama shorts. She pulled open the door, ready to give the person, or people on the other side hell for disturbing her at this time of the night, or day? Didn’t matter.

“ ‘Ello pet.” She froze while Spike raised his eyebrows and looked her up and down, smirking. “Nice outfit, although I’m not sure the security people at the airport will appreciate you walking around like that.”

Buffy just stood there. ‘ Oh god, oh god.’ She glanced at the clock again and her eyes went wide. It was 1:10 and she had forgotten to set her alarm clock to wake her up. “Oh god.” Her eyes went wide as she stared from him to the alarm clock. She was standing in front of her boss with nothing on but her pajamas that didn’t really look so much like pajamas but something you would only walk around in while your closest friends were there, but not complete strangers or your boss! “I have to change. I forgot to set my alarm clock! Wait here.” She started running away then turned around and slid back across to floor. “Or come in.” She started to run away again, then turned around running backwards. “Do whichever, just wait for a few minutes!”

Spike looked at her amusedly and walked in after she disappeared into her bathroom and sat on the couch, surveying his surroundings. He decided to walk around and look at some things, besides, girls always took a long time anyway so it wouldn’t really matter.

The apartment was actually quite cozy, it wasn’t as big as his but then again he never really liked his apartment that much because of the size. Who needed a huge apartment when you were the only person living in it? She had a nice sized telly and a large couch close to the door in front of the television. You could see into the kitchen that was nearby and there was a big window to the left of it. He looked at the pictures standing on a shelf that was lined from top to bottom with books and some movies. It showed a younger looking Buffy along with a redhead and a brunette boy with a goofy grin. Actually he’d seen a picture of that guy somewhere before. Oh, now he remembered, Anya had a picture of him on her desk too. ‘ Must be Xander,’ he thought. There was another picture, this time showing her and someone he assumed was her mother smiling brightly at the camera.

“I’m ready to go.”

Spike turned around to see Buffy wearing a knee length skirt that flowed freely around her legs and a tank top with a jean jacket over it. “You look good, luv.”

“Thanks,” Buffy said awkwardly. Did he just do what she thought he did? Yeah, he complimented her.

She grabbed her suitcase and locked her apartment before starting to walk to the elevator. Spike tried to take the suitcase from her but she just looked at him, frowning. “I can carry my own suitcase, thanks.”

He just held up his hands in surrender. “You know, I would have expected you to bring more luggage.”

“Well, I’m not like every other girl. Sorry to disappoint,” she said in a huff, blowing a strand of loose hair off her face. Spike just stared at her. She was most definitely not like other girls.

Fifteen minutes later they were at the airport and Buffy had found out that Willow had guessed right. He did have his own private plane. She started to look around in awe once she got on. It was of course, white with leather seats and a large flat screen television that was pulled down close to the front of the plane, there were also little cabinets with champagne and some other ridiculously expensive things.

“Take any seat you want, pet.” He tilted his head to the side to get a better look at her reaction, he rarely used the plane and he had never brought anyone else onto it, not even family since he hadn’t used it to go to England before.

To his surprise she turned around with her hands defiantly on her hips. “You know I have a name. It’s Buffy, or Elizabeth. Whichever, but it’s not pet, luv, or any other pet name you have.” She turned around and walked to a seat in the middle, on the right side.

With a sigh he sat down across from her. “You really don’t like me, do you?”

“So far you haven’t exactly given me a reason to,” she replied with her nose defiantly raised.

“And I haven’t given you one to hate me either.” He leaned back in his seat and kept staring at her with a serious expression.

“I’d say getting coffee spilled all over me because of you is reason enough. Besides, don’t take it personally; I don’t like most guys in general.” Now she had her arms crossed and was looking out the window at the starry night sky, the plane already having taken off.

“I’m guessing you haven’t had the best experiences with men?”

Buffy let out an unladylike snort before replying, “You guessed right.”

“Well, we’ll have to change that.” He gave her a genuine smile before doing what she had previously been doing and looked out the window.

Buffy rolled her eyes and looked at him skeptically. “You can try.”

Chapter 4: By the light of the moon

“Would you like some champagne?”

Buffy turned to look at Spike who was currently sitting beside her. They were already about half an hour into the flight and there had been complete silence other than the plane itself. She had busied herself by looking at the Ocean below, even though it was pitch black, the light from the moon occasionally hit the water at the right angle and she was able to see it shimmering and moving. She had also been sitting there the entire time asking herself why she had agreed to this, and feeling like she wanted to go home.

Didn’t most women and teenage girls dream about something romantic happening to them like this? Dream about it so hard that sometimes it hurt because things like this would never happen to them? She used to, until she had been disappointed so many times, one of which she had been tricked into believing that something romantic was happening to her, an ordinary girl, but the next morning the guy wasn’t the same. In fact he was already flirting with other girls on campus. That was more than likely the reason why she didn’t believe in that sort of thing anymore, pure and simple, disappointment. So now she couldn’t help but think that it was all just being wasted on her.

“Yeah, sure.” She took the small glass and stared at the golden liquid swirling inside. Usually she wasn’t a drinker, Buffy and alcohol were two very un-mixy things. ‘ It’s not like I’m going to drink the whole bottle or anything.’

She took a sip of the champagne. “ So, won’t your family expect me to know something about you, seeing as how we’re dating and all. Or do you just have girlfriends for one thing only…” She stared at him blankly although she had been dead serious. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he didn’t bother to find out anything about his girlfriends either.

To her astonishment he just chuckled. “Yeah pet, I wager they would expect you to know something about me. What do you want to know?”

“Well, nothing really. But since I guess I should know some things, how about how you got to be the owner of a successful company?” Her eyes went wide. Wow, she didn’t hide that she didn’t like him very much but that came out harsher than even she had intended. “I’m sorry I didn’t…”

“Hey, no apologies now. Makes me think you’re going soft on me. Wouldn’t want that, would we now?” He smirked as she blushed, knowing it was a rare occurrence and continued to talk. “Well, it was a little more straightforward than I’d have imagined your first question. Was thinking more along the lines of ‘what’s your favorite color’ or ‘did you eat glue as a kid’.”

Buffy laughed. “Pfft, that’s too easy. Your favorite color is black, even though it’s actually a shade. And what kind of a question is ‘did you eat glue as a kid?” She giggled again, then suddenly turned serious. “ Did you?”

“ NO! I was just giving an example, pet.”

Buffy looked at him pout. ‘ Wow, I didn’t know grown men could pout... Wait no, not going there.’ “Looks like someone answered a little too quickly.” She laughed.

Spike just ignored her and went to answer her original question. At least it looked like she was having fun. “Well, me and my mum and da’ came here when I was only fourteen. To give you the quick version, my mum was diagnosed with cancer and died when I was about 19, and soon after, my da’ died after going into severe depression. So, basically I took over the business he started when I was only 21.”

Buffy just stared at him, wanting to bang her head against something hard. ‘Leave it to me to bring up something like this. God, I may not like the guy but now I feel like a major bitch.’ “Look, I’m really sorry for bringing that up. I didn’t mean to make you talk about something you didn’t want to.”

“ S’ all right luv, it was a while back now. And it’s not like you knew any of this anyway so you can’t blame yourself.” He gave her a gentle smile. “ What else would you like to know?”

“I was thinking of sticking to the basics now,” Buffy said still feeling horrible as she slumped lower in her seat.

Spike chuckled. “Ok, might as well tell you who are going to be there. Chris is my cousin, the one who’s getting married and Emma is his fiancé. You’ll recognize Ellen right away because she’s pregnant and her husband is Nick. Let’s see, Giles is my uncle and Wesley is my other closest cousin. Hmm, think you’ll meet them all, no sense in naming everyone else.” Buffy nodded.

“Do you sleep with girls on first dates?” She blurted out making Spike nearly choke to death on the champagne he had been drinking. After he finished coughing he just sat back and looked at her questioningly.

“Excuse me?”

‘ Yeah, could imagine how that wouldn’t sound too good if I were him…’ “NO! No, I didn’t mean…aww jeez.” Buffy sighed, hitting her head against the back of the seat, which was no good because it was cushioned. “I just mean that you can tell a lot about a person by the answer to that question.”

Buffy watched as he tilted his head to the side examining her curiously. “How so, pet?”

“Well, first off, my name is still Buffy. It hasn’t changed since that last time I told you that. And to answer your question, guys who sleep with girls on their first dates are either just in it for the sex or they are the type of guys who tend to rush into things and have a little bit of a rough edge but are very passionate. Usually they’re just big softies on the inside. And guys who don’t sleep with girls on first dates are the opposite, see? They tend to be thinkers, on occasion the silent type but when they do get involved it’s because they have true feelings for the other person.” Buffy put her glass of champagne down once it was empty and put her hands on her lap.

“Of course that’s just my twisted mind.” She giggled nervously.

“Wow. Did you train to be a psychiatrist or something?” Spike just stared at her in awe. There really was more to this girl than how she looked and acted.

She looked down. The carpet (yes there was a carpet on the plane) was suddenly the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. “No, I uh… I don’t know exactly how I know this stuff, it’s just kind of there. Of course it could help that my best friend is super smart. Must have rubbed off on me a little.” She smiled looking back up.

“So if girls sleep with guys on their first dates they have the same kind of personality?”

“No, then they’re just slutty.” Buffy laughed at the expression on his face. “I’m joking, Spike.” She stopped laughing abruptly and frowned.

Spike frowned and leaned forward in his seat. “What’s wrong?”

The blonde just shook her head, her hair swaying from side to side. “Nothing, it’s just…” She tilted her head and stared at him. “It feels kind of weird calling you Spike. For some reason.”

Spike chuckled. “You can call me William then.” She smiled. “As long as…”

‘ Here it comes…’ She thought.

“I can call you pet, luv, and any other pet names I like.”

The smiled returned to Buffy’s face. Hey, it wouldn’t be so bad getting called all those things as long as she didn’t have to call him Spike.

“Deal.”

Chapter 5:Meeting the family

Buffy yawned before snuggling into the warm blanket that was draped over her figure. ‘ Wait, blanket?’ Slowly she brought her hand to her face and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. The sun was shining brightly through the windows making the plane looked even nicer than it had during the night. ‘ And on that note, since when is it daytime so soon?’

“Ah, and she awakes!” She turned to look at Spike who was coming back from the front of the plane, grinning as he looked at her. He had something in his hand.

“Coffee! Gimme!” She stuck her arms out in a childish manner, pouting while she waited for the caffeine she needed so early in the morning, even though she didn’t actually know what time it was, but still…

Spike chuckled, handing her the coffee and watched as she eagerly drank it. “You know, you’re lucky I gave you mine because you would have just burned yourself at that pace.”

That immediately stopped her. “Wait, this is yours?” She took turns looking at the coffee then at him.

“I was jus’ kidding, luv.” Spike put on a fake smile and sat down. ‘ Ha, That was a bloody lie.’

Buffy nodded and eagerly drank the rest of it listening to him grumble something about ‘Americans and coffee’. “So, how long was I asleep and where did the blanket come from?”

He paused and stared at her for a minute, thinking before answering. “ M’ guessing sometime after ‘ Do you sleep with girls on the first date?’ and before 5 am. And when you fell asleep, I got one of the blankets we have on the plane and put it over you. Gets a bit cold in here at night.”

“Oh.” She stared at the cup in her hands. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

‘ Something is off here.’ She looked around the plane and then out the window. She saw other planes taking off and a large airport. “We landed?”

Spike just looked down at the ground sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Yeah, uh, about an hour ago.”

She just stared at him questioningly. “So why didn’t you just wake me?”

“Thought you should get a little more sleep. You did kind of have to get up early.”

“And whose fault was that…,” she mumbled to herself but Spike had heard.

He stared at her, his anger growing. He sure as hell didn’t expect her to be the best girlfriend in the sodding world, (even if it was just pretend), but she could at least try to be nice. “Bloody hell! What in sodding hell does it take?”

Buffy’s head snapped up to look at him in shock and surprise at his outburst.

“Look, I don’t expect you to like me, or even be a good pretend girlfriend but you could at least try to be civil. I mean, all I’ve done from the beginning of this agreement is to be nice to you and you’ve just been a bitch. If it’s all right with you, I’d like my family to think I’m in a good relationship.” Spike ran his hand through his hair and tried to calm down. “The luggage was already sent to Giles house. We might as well leave now.”

Buffy watched, still bewildered as he turned and stalked towards the door of the plane, opening it before turning to her once more. “Coming?”

She managed a weak ‘ Yeah’ before getting up quickly and walked to the door, which he had already exited through.

***

The entire ride to Giles’ house (which was in the countryside) was made in silence. Spike had rented a BMW (that was no surprise) and they had been in the car for an entire hour driving. It felt more like eternity to Buffy though, as she stared at the fields that passed by.

Finally Spike turned the car onto a narrow driveway already packed with cars and turned off the engine, but before he could get out, Buffy stopped him.

“Wait.” She put a hand on his shoulder and watched as he turned to her with a raised eyebrow and a blank expression.

She extracted her hand from his shoulder and clasped both her hands together looking down. “I know I haven’t been the most pleasant of people.”

Spike laughed harshly. “That’s a bloody understatement.”

“I deserve that,” Buffy said still looking at her hands. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t want me to stay here anymore. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” She tried to hold in the tears that were pooling in her eyes. She couldn’t look at him now and embarrass herself any further.

“Look at me, pet,” he said softly. “Look at me.” He put one finger under her chin and tilted her head until she was looking into his eyes. “Don’t cry, luv. I’m not going to make you go back. I want you here, do you understand?” He smiled at her warmly, waiting for her reply. She nodded mutely with a weak smile.

Spike grinned at her and placed a kiss on her left hand. “Good. Because I’m not letting you go back now anyway. Besides, my family already expects…” Suddenly the doors from both sides were opened and both occupants were pulled out of the vehicle and enveloped in warm hugs.

“Speaking of the devils,” Spike chuckled, making his way to Buffy’s side to hug his aunt and to save her from everyone and their smothering hugs.

“Watch it, Spike, you’ll never be old enough for me not to be able to take you across my knee.” His aunt laughed.

Buffy looked at Spike and giggled at the blush that had spread across his cheeks.

“I’m Anna, one of William’s aunts.” The woman smiled warmly at Buffy and enveloped her in a hug.

“I’m Buffy Summers. Current girlfriend.” It shocked her at how easily she had been able to say that. She looked around at the group that had assembled around her and Spike by now. Mostly guys from what she could see.

Spike laughed. “Don’t ask me, never heard of the bloody name before I met her.”

Buffy heard a few people laugh and couldn’t help but put him in his place. “You’re one to talk, Spike!” The guys roared with laughter and Buffy grinned.

“She’s definitely a keeper, Spike. Although I wouldn’t mind having her if you don’t.” One of the guys in the small crowd shouted, laughing.

Buffy felt Spike’s hand went around her waist and pulled her towards him possessively. “Not a chance, mate.” Spike couldn’t help but frown a little. Besides, he shouldn’t be acting like this. It was not like they were really dating or anything.

Buffy smiled lightly, even though she knew that it was probably just for show on his side it actually felt kind of nice having his hand around her waist like that. Like she was wanted.

“Let’s go into the house so Buffy can meet everyone and not repeat herself again,” Anna said, smiling brightly.

Once Buffy stepped into the house she couldn’t stop herself from staring around, awestruck. It was exactly like one of those old houses that she would see on television and love to just stare at the different rooms, except this was the real thing, and it was more beautiful.

There was a fireplace in the living room with pictures on the mantle and old, worn couches and chairs. There were books stacked on the shelves and in the corner of the room stood an old grandfather clock ticking away. But this was just one room. She was almost positive that it would have a back porch too. Buffy ran her hand on the cherry wood banister that had somehow managed to keep a dull shine over the years.

“You must be Buffy! I’m Jennifer, but you can call me Jenny. I’m William’s other aunt. I live here with my husband Giles.”

Buffy turned around to face the owner of the voice. She had long black hair and a pale complexion but she was beautiful. “It’s so nice to meet you! You have a very beautiful home.” She gave the other woman a bright smile.

“Buffy, this is Eric, Colton, Dylan, and Wesley.” Spike pointed out the males in the room and she noticed the one that had called her a ‘keeper’ before was Dylan. She smiled pleasantly at each and beamed when she came to Wesley, whom Spike had told her he was very close to. “You must be Wesley, it’s great to finally meet you! Heard that you were one of the favorite cousins.” She couldn’t help but hug him, something told her he was a really nice guy.

Wesley hugged her back, a little surprised. He then pulled back and raised his eyebrows at Spike in a ‘ is that so’ way, smiling smugly yet still managing to look like the nicest guy ever.

Spike just shrugged sheepishly and continued with the introductions. “Ok, these lovely ladies are Annabelle, Hally, Ellen, and Margaret.” Buffy continued to smile as each woman took turns hugging her except Ellen who was so far along into her pregnancy that her belly was too big to do that.

Spike turned and gave an overly dramatic sigh. “And this, is the happy couple. Chris and Emma.”

Buffy really was enjoying herself and it came as a surprise. She hadn’t had a big family growing up. It was just her mother, father, and herself. And after the divorce, when she was still young it had only been her and Joyce. And now she was surrounded by all these wonderful people, and it made her happy. Slowly everyone started to disperse and it was only her, Spike and Jenny.

“So, where’s ol’ Rupes anyway?” Spike asked, grinning from ear to ear like the grinch who just stole Christmas.

Jenny chuckled at her nephew. “He’s picking up Matthew from the airport and, Nick and Sarah won’t be here for another two days. The kids, if you were wondering, are running around outside in the back. Just a friendly warning, wouldn’t want anyone to have to get stitches like last year when you were playing around with them.”

Buffy stared at Spike. “You made a kid get stitches?!” She said in a playful yet shocked tone.

“Well, uh…” Spike started.

“The kids weren’t the ones who had to get stitches. It was five if I remember correctly.” Jenny said with a chuckle and a wink before walking into the kitchen.

“Really, so that’s how you got the scar on your eyebrow?”

Spike just rubbed the back of his neck. “Bloody hell, yeah.”

Buffy put her hand over her mouth as she giggled. “How did you manage to get a scar from playing around with kids?!”

Spike frowned. “Oi! They’re a rough bunch, I’ll have you know!”

Just then a little girl came running into the room, aiming straight for Spike. “ Uncle Will-yum!” She squealed with delight before he lifted her up.

“ Ello’ niblet.”

The little girl turned to Buffy, holding out a doll she had clutched in her small hands. “My name’s Ariana. Want to come to my tea party?”

Buffy giggled and looked from the little girl to Spike. “Yeah, I can see how this adorable little creature could give you five stitches.”

Chapter 6: Keeping secrets

Spike stared down at Buffy, smiling gently. They had been with his family since the moment they had arrived and now she was peacefully sleeping. At first he had only noticed when he felt the weight of her head resting against his shoulder. He had drawn her closer to him so that it didn’t look too suspicious to his family that he had just let his girlfriend stay like that. Or, that’s what he kept telling himself.

“So how’s sleeping beauty doing?” Spike looked up and saw Jenny standing there smiling with a mug of hot cocoa.

He looked down at her, sweeping back a few loose hairs that had managed to fall onto her face. “ M’ guessing jet lag finally caught up with her.” He chuckled.

Jenny just smiled, sitting down. She wasn’t as naïve as she let everyone think she was. She knew there was more to the story than those two were saying, but she wasn’t going to say anything, not yet.

“I like her. You two look happy together. How did that saying go? Ah, yes, together you two look like the winners of a genetical lottery.” She laughed softly at the look on Spike’s face.

“I really have forgotten just how American you are.” Spike grinned at the indignant look upon her face that soon turned to a playful smile.

“You know, if Buffy wasn’t sleeping on you, I would’ve smacked you!”

Buffy stirred slightly in his lap (where he had moved her, so she could be more comfortable, of course!) and murmured something that was inaudible to Spike and Jenny before her eyebrows creased into a small frown.

Spike, not noticing what he was doing leaned down and kissed the top of her head gently and stroked her hair when she smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer.

Jenny stared at the two quietly, in thought before smiling and getting up with her untouched cup of cocoa. “I think you should take her to your room. It’s getting late and I think I’m going to turn in now too.” She walked up to Spike and kissed him on the forehead before walking out of the room.

Spike just smiled at Jenny’s retreating back. That woman always had something brewing in her head. He gathered the bundle of blonde girl in his arms and carried her up the stairs to their room, laying her down on the bed gently. He took two steps back and stared at her sleeping form, fully clothed and sighed. He couldn’t put something more comfortable on her because she’d be mad and that would probably equal him and a body bag. He chuckled to himself. She most definitely knew how to take care of herself.

Walking over to her form again he carefully took her shoes off and covered her with the only blanket in the room and lay down next to her. He would have put her under the covers but he was afraid it would wake her up, and he didn’t have the heart to do that.

Slowly leaning over he kissed her cheek. “Night, pet.” With that he turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep and not stay up half the night staring at the beautiful girl lying next to him.

***

Buffy woke up from the best sleep she’d had in a long time. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head before realizing where she was. Well, whose house anyway, not the room. She looked over and saw Spike with his head resting against a pillow and his blonde hair in messy curls. And then she froze.

Her heart raced as she looked at her surroundings, she was in the same room - no, the same bed as Spike Pryce. Her boss. She looked down at herself and saw the blanket. Panicking, she quickly put her hand underneath and sighed in relief when she found that she was wearing all her clothes. She looked Spike up and down. And for that matter, he was wearing all his clothes too, and he wasn’t under the covers or anything. She smiled. He gave her the only blanket.

Standing up, she grabbed a change of clothes before smiling at his sleeping form once more she covered him with the blanket and went to take a quick shower before she was going to go downstairs for breakfast. Grabbing her brush, she wiped the mist from the mirror and brushed her hair. She got out of the washroom and went downstairs, suddenly overcome by how early everyone got up, and how loud yet cheerful the atmosphere was. She liked it, and it put her in a good mood.

“Good morning, dear!” Buffy laughed as she saw Ariana running after another little boy, yelling at him to give her doll back. Wow, this seemed like the perfect family. One day she’d love to have kids like that. Oh wait, that’s right. She didn’t believe in love anymore.

Quickly shaking her head to erase those thoughts, she smiled brightly at Anna. “Good morning to you too! I’ve never seen this much activity this early.” She giggled, refusing to let her earlier thoughts ruin her morning. Oh, and what a morning she felt like it was going to be.

“Yes, I’m assuming you’re not from a large family then?”

“Nope. Just me, my mom and dad. Then just me and mom after my dad left us.” She sat down at the beautifully carved wooden kitchen table, expecting to see the same ‘I feel sorry for you’ look from Anna as she had gotten from everyone else. But it didn’t come.

Instead, Anna just smiled, and set down a plate of toast, scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her along with a glass of orange juice. “Well, you can’t cry over spilt milk. People are people after all, we all make mistakes.”

“ Wow breakfast and a wise speech.” Buffy giggled nodding, as she looked down at the large plate of food. “Wow, I don’t usually eat this much for breakfast. Usually I sleep in and don’t have to go for breakfast because I’d be late for work.”

The older woman put her hands on her hips in the way Buffy knew all mothers had programmed into their heads. The same look her own mother had given her so many times. “Well we have to fatten you up then. You’re all skin and bones! And you can’t skip breakfast, it’s an important part of everyone’s day.”

Buffy just nodded, taking a bite of her eggs and bacon.

“Besides, if William gives you heck for being late to work, just give me a call and he and I will have a little chat.” Anna grinned, trying to act like she didn’t notice how Buffy nearly choked to death on her food before taking a large gulp of the orange juice.

“How did you know he’s…he’s my boss?” Buffy’s eyes were as wide as saucers and her face was red from the combination of choking and embarrassment.

“Call it intuition.” She stared at the look on Buffy’s face before coming around the table and giving her a great big hug. “Don’t worry ,dear. I’m practically positive that he started things. And you shouldn’t be ashamed. It’s not like you’re with him to get a raise or anything.”

“How do you know?” Buffy’s mouth went agape. “I mean, I’m not! I wouldn’t do that, I just wanted to know how you figured out all this.”

She shrugged. “I just know things.” She gave a little wink before turning to do the dishes.

The blonde just stared at the woman’s back with a blank look, contemplating their conversation before she squealed, feeling two strong arms wrap around her.

“G’ mornin’ kitten.” Buffy giggled at the new nickname.

“Someone got up awfully cheery this morning.” She laughed.

“Would have been better if you’d been there.” She gulped at the pout he was giving her and those round blue eyes.

She mentally hit herself on the head, of course, it was all an act for his family. There was no reason she should feel weird about it, it was just an act.

“You two should get ready for today,” Anna said, turning around, unfazed by the couple’s proximity.

“How come?” Buffy asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

“You’ll see.”
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A/N: Muahahah, didn't think I'd stay up so late on a school night when I wake up at 6 am so that you guys could finally have an update and not write a cliff hanger? lol Tell me what you thought ;)

Chapter 7: Cotton candy and sweet treats (part 1)

Buffy realized it was well into the late afternoon, almost early evening and she was still waiting for someone to tell her where they were going. She had just been told to put on something she could walk around in comfortably and nothing too fancy.

So now she had slipped into a simple black top that tied around her neck and back, low cut jeans and black runners.

She had yet to meet Giles and Matthew who had decided to stay near the airport yesterday because they found that Nick and Sarah were coming early and there was no sense in coming home just to go back yet again to pick them up.

Buffy put a little bit of lip gloss on before she gave herself a once over in the mirror, slipped through the door and bounced down the stairs like she used to at her own house.

“So, when are we leaving?” She snuck up on Spike and spoke right into his left ear, smiling. She was really giddy. Sure, this was just temporary and all but she had a borrowed family and she was planning on taking full advantage of it. Not everyday you got to be in a house full of people that welcomed you and treated you like you’d always been part of the family. And she had a feeling tonight was going to be fun.

Spike turned around already having his answer half way out of his mouth, but then he saw her, and the words just vanished into thin air. She was absolutely breathtaking. She looked amazing in black and the way her hair fell around her shoulders in soft waves was like silk moulded by ethereal beings. She was an angel.

“William?” She tipped her head to the side and smiled waiting for an answer.

Spike brushed a hair behind her ear. “You look beautiful, pet. We’re leaving as soon as Giles gets here.”

Buffy blushed, ducking her face behind her hair before she heard a knock on the door and the sound of people welcoming others in like they had when she had gotten here. She watched as everyone walked into the living room and spotted four familiar faces.

Spike walked up to the older looking man who was wearing glasses. He looked friendly, with his greying hair and inviting grin. “Uncle Rupe’s!”

“I’ve told you not to call me that,” The older man said, laughing but hugging his nephew nonetheless.

The man Buffy now knew was Giles looked at her and smiled warmly. “ I believe we haven’t been properly introduced yet, have we?”

She walked over laughing a little when he took her hand and gently kissed the back. “I’m Rupert Giles. And you must be Buffy!”

Buffy nodded. “Pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Likewise. This is Matthew, Nick and his wife Sarah, and this is Connor, their son.” Giles pointed out everyone while the rest of the family chatted excitedly around them. The kids however, were especially hyper. Seemed like even they knew something exciting was happening tonight.

At the same time she had noticed this she had managed to shake everyone’s hand, then she noticed Connor staring at her a little longer than the others but shook it off. He seemed like the strong silent type, kind of reminded her of Oz, Willow’s boyfriend. She’d have to think of hooking him up with Dawn, one of her younger friends.

Dawn was now a senior in high school. The two of them had met through their respective parents, Joyce was a co-owner of the Gallery with Dawn’s mother before Buffy’s mom had bought the whole place from them. Connor was definitely her type.

“We should get going now if we want to stay there long enough before the kids get tired,” Elen said, smiling at everyone before they all headed out the door to the cars.

***
Buffy got out of the car and looked at the scene before her with awe and amazement. It was a fair, and it had everything people thought of when they heard of one. Mary-Go-Rounds, a Ferris wheel, stands where you could win prizes, and a mini rollercoaster. It was like a place where her mom had taken her and Willow once when they were small, one of those small town fairs.

“Ready to go pet?” She just turned to look at him with a wide grin covering her face before nodding eagerly.

They joined the rest of his family and proceeded inside, everyone smiling while the kids ran ahead earning yells from their mothers of ‘be careful!’ and ‘slow down!’ while the others laughed.

“So how about you men win us some prizes and show how manly you are,” Emma said sarcastically, not noticing the looks the men were giving each other before walking over to some of the game stands.

“Oh dear god, look at what you’ve done,” Jenny said, rolling her eyes and laughing along.

Spike grinned, catching Buffy’s hand and pulling her to one of the stands. “C’mon, kitten.”

She folded her arms and raised her eyebrows, she had to admit she was having fun. “What, is Spikey going to win me a teddy bear?”

He looked at her, feigning hurt. “Do you doubt my ability at…” He paused and looked at the game. “The game you bloody Americans call basketball?”

“Are you making fun of me and the sports we play?”

“What if I am, Goldilocks?” He smirked at the look on her face.

“Fine.” She picked up one of the orange balls and threw it at him. “Let’s see how you do in one of our ‘bloody American games’,” she mocked, arms still crossed.

“Ok then, luv.” He aimed the first ball and threw it at the basket smiling before it hit the rim and bounced to the ground.

Buffy giggled and held her tongue as he scowled and threw the next one which nearly went in, but unfortunately for him, didn’t. She heard him mumble something under his breath before trying with the last two balls and missing. By the end of the game his face was red and he looked annoyed and frustrated. “Those bloody things are rigged.”

Buffy just smirked at him, putting down a five dollar bill and throwing the balls one at a time getting all four through the top hoop successfully. She picked out the huge brown teddy bear and handed it to Spike. “You were saying?”

He just stared at her bewildered and embarrassed. “Don’t feel bad,” Wesley said, patting Spike on the back before walking off in laughter, earning a dirty look from Spike and a laugh from Buffy.

“Come on champ, let’s go on the rollercoaster.” He just pouted like a large child and went with her, getting on the ride.

Buffy froze up remembering the last time she went on one of these things as they started to go up a hill. Whose idea was this again? Oh, right, hers. “I, uhm… Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Aww, you’re not scared are you, luv?” he teased.

“ I… uh, maybe I…” She didn’t have time to answer as they started to go down on the other side of the hill and she screamed, clinging to Spike.

How did she manage to always get herself into these situations?

Flashback

“Mummy, can me and Willow go on the big ride?” Ten year old Buffy asked her mother with her newly won stuffie (which she had lovingly named Mr. Gordo) hanging from her left hand.

“You mean the rollercoaster?” Joyce said, looking sceptically from her daughter’s bobbing head to the large ride before she sighed. She promised, any ride they wanted today… “ Ok, dear. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The small Buffy grinned, hugging her mom before grabbing the redhead’s hand and running for the ride. “This is going to be so much fun!” Buffy grinned as they sat waiting for the first downfall.

“You sure about this Buffy?” Willow said, looking at her friend, obviously a little freaked out.

“Of course I am Wills!” She grinned…before they started to go down and she screamed her head off.

***
Both girls got off at the end of the ride. Joyce looked at them, surprised neither had thrown up.

“That was great! Can we do it again?” Willow said, grinning.

Buffy’s eyes went wide before she went to the nearest trash can to throw up.

‘Thought too soon.’ Joyce shook her head, pulling Buffy’s hair back.

End Flashback

Looks like history had repeated itself. Buffy got off the ride stumbling as she clung to Spike for support. “You ok, pet?”

Buffy just nodded numbly before letting go and stumbling again before Spike caught her. “I’m fine. I just forgot what happened the last time I went on one of those.” She took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby bench.

“Oh, what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty sight.”

Spike chuckled, kissing her hand. “K’ pet. Let’s get a bite to eat.”

Buffy nodded, smiling. “Good idea, I feel kind of empty after that.”
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A/N:Well, like I said I'm naming all the chapters. Please R&R and thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter 8: Cotton candy and sweet treats (part 2)

Buffy grinned as she took a large bite out of the slice of pizza. And then she noticed Spike staring at her and paused looking at him sheepishly. “ What?”

“ Apparently you were a lot more ‘empty’ then I had anticipated.” He chuckled at the look on her face.

“ But it’s only my…”

“ Third and a half piece of pizza.”

She ducked her head and put the piece down. “ You’re right. I shouldn’t eat this much. I could get fat after all.” She giggled.

He frowned. “ That’s not what I mean, luv. I was jus’ joking around.”

She nodded smiling as they both got up and walked over to the rest of his family. She watched curiously as Ariana stood in front of the carrousel just watching the other kids laugh excitedly on it as it went around in circles.

Walking up to her Buffy crouched down and turned to the small girl. “ Did you want to go on the ride?” She watched the shy girl nod. “ So why aren’t you on it?”

Ariana leaned up to her ear trying to make sure no one else heard. “ I’m scared that I’ll fall off.” She said in a small voice before looking down and shuffling her feet, looking ashamed.

Buffy smiled. “ Would you like me to go with you?” She knew that was the right thing to say when the short brunette girl smiled and nodded vigorously.

She took her by the hand and lead her over to the small gate surrounding the carrousel and was about to go through when one of the guys in charge of the ride stopped her. “ Sorry lady, only 4-12 years of age.”

She frowned looking at the worried look on Ariana’s face. Turning her voice to a whisper she took out her wallet from her purse. “ Look, she’s not willing to go on the ride alone. Can you please make and exception just this once?” She turned on her Summer’s charm and pouted.

The guy just sighed nodding for her to go ahead. Buffy thankfully handed him the fee and went towards one of the black horses. She didn’t know what it was, but something about this girl spoke to her. Maybe it was because she was reminded of how she used to be when she was little.

***
Spike paused talking with Chris and looked at Ariana and his girl one the carrousel laughing. Wait, his girl? Since when was Buffy his girl? Not that he didn’t want her to be, he was starting to feel more and more drawn to her, but he was afraid that he’d scare her off. She was scared of getting into a relationship with anyone and he knew that, and then there was the whole job issue, he was her boss. He didn’t want people talking if they did get into a relationship.

“ Spike?..Spike? William!” Spike had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even noticed Chris had been talking to him.

“ Yeah, what?”

Chris paused. “ So when are you going to ask?”

Spike frowned. “ Ask who what?”

Chris just shook his head like Spike was acting dumb. “ Buffy to marry you.”

Spikes eyes went wide. Why the hell did his cousin think that he was going to ask Buffy to marry him?! They barely knew each other, well; at least him and Buffy knew that. “ What gives you the idea that I’m going to ask?”

“ The way you look at her. It’s like she’s the only thing that matters and there’s nothing else around, it’s the same way I look at Emma.”

Spike looked down then back to Buffy who looked over to him still laughing with her blonde hair swaying from the slight breeze and waved.

“ Bloody hell.”

***
Buffy licked the remains of the cotton candy of her lips and stared at the ground below. Ever since she was little the Ferris wheel had been her favourite ride at the fare. It was the one place she could get away from everyone and everything, it was peaceful and quiet up top and she loved to stare down at the people below. It was even better at night with the stars out.

“ Having a good time, kitten?”

Buffy turned to look at Spike and nodded. “ Yeah, I haven’t been at a carnival or fare since I was little. My mom never had the time when she took on her job at the gallery full time.”

A comfortable silence broke out as they neared the top and stopped. “ Thank you.”

Buffy looked at him questioningly. “ For what?”

“ For acting like you don’t hate me in front of my family.”

Buffy looked at her hands. “ Oh. Your family is amazing; wish I had a family that big when I was growing up. It was only me and my mom pretty much.” She looked into his eyes before she continued. “ And I don’t hate you.”

They sat there, once again in comfortable silence before Spike started to lean towards her. She knew he was going to try and kiss her, and she just about let him but instead turned her head away just before his lips met hers. And god did she want them to, but she couldn’t, it wasn’t right. He was her boss and she wasn’t going to just lead him on, making him think that something could happen between them, because it wasn’t going to. Even if a small part of her wanted it to.

“ We should, uh, probably get back.” She said avoiding his eyes; afraid he would be angry, or even worse, hurt.

Spike sat there for a few minutes just staring at her and contemplating on what had just happened. He knew she might do that but it still hurt. He sat back and looked at the ground below. “ Yeah, you’re probably right.”
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A/N: *ducks from blunt objects* Once again I am really sorry that I haven’t updated sooner but I’ve been working on my site and some other graphics. And right now I have 3 sites that I’m keeping up, two of which are all html coding. Also, I know they didn’t kiss and don’t be mad lol but it wasn’t the right time yet. Remember, there’s a master plot ^.^

Chapter 9: Revelations and unwanted guests

Buffy got out of the car and slowly made her way towards the house, she was really confused and tired and the tension between her and Spike was like a thick fog. Walking into the house and not looking back, she took out her cell phone and made her way out back sitting in a comfy lawn chair.

She let out a deep sigh before dialling the familiar number that was programmed in her brain, she needed to hear a comforting voice right now.

“ Hello?”

“ Hi Wills. I’ve really missed you! Sorry I haven’t called until now, it’s really different, it’s like his family has a whole little world of their own.” She smiled at the squeal on the other end of the phone. ‘Looks like Willow is happy to hear from me’

“ Buffy! Oh my goddess, I’ve missed you so much! You have no idea how lonely it is here now that you’re not around.” The red head sat down on her sofa and smiled to herself.

“ Yeah, the loneliness must be unbearable. I mean with Xander and Oz around, how will you ever survive?” Buffy said sarcastically giggling.

“ Oh pft. Xander is a wonderful friend and Oz is an amazing fiancé but they aren’t girls! You can’t talk with them about how hot Orlando Bloom is.” Willow laughed debating on how she would tell her friend the news, maybe it was best to just leave them for a ‘face to face’ talk.

“ That’s true.” She stared up at the stars, she was already feeling better.

“ So how had it been in England?”

Buffy let out a long deep breath. “ Well, nothing short of exiting, that’s got sure. Willow you would love it here! He has this whole huge family and they’re all so nice. And the house and scenery is just amazing. But…” She pulled her knee’s up to her chest and bit her lip.

“ But what? Buffy come on, we both know you can't keep secrets.”

“ We almost kissed.”

Unbeknown to her, her best friend was doing the snoopy dance and trying as hard as she could not to start yelling at her friend to give her all the details like they used to in high school. “ What do you mean you almost kissed?”

Buffy twirled her hair around her finger. “ Well…I kind of stopped it before it could happen. Willow, I’m not ready to be in a relationship yet after what Angel did, and he’s my boss! And he is extremely smug even if it is kind of sexy but that’s besides the point, and he can’t be trusted yet, even if he is totally sweet on the inside and…”

“ Sweetie breathe!” Buffy sighed and relaxed a bit. “ You were rambling, you always used to do that when you liked a guy or were nervous. In some cases both. All I can tell you is to do what you think is right. If you don’t want to get into anything, as much as I want you to, you don’t have to.”

“ Thanks Wills. How’s mom doing?”

Willow paused for a second. “ She’s doing ok. Hospital still wants to keep her for a while longer. And she misses you.”

“ I’ll phone her soon. For now tell her I love her and I miss her would you?”

The redhead nodded before remembering she was on the phone. “ Yeah, I will. Bye Buffy.”

“ Bye Will’s.”

Buffy clicked her phone off and stared up at the night sky. Why did things always have to be this confusing?

***
Buffy made her way upstairs suddenly getting tense again. Great, now she would feel all weird around him, just what she needed. She entered the room and noticed the shower was running and took her suitcase looking through it.

‘ Oh god…’ “ Oh dear god.” She ran her hand through her hair and hit her head against the wall.

“ S’ there a reason you want to be sporting a bruise on your forehead tomorrow?” She spun around to reply but her mouth went agape instead. Spike was standing in the middle of the room in nothing but a towel around his waist. She had a perfect view of his lean arms and sculpted abs, and his messy blonde hair in curls. She was in heaven.

“ I uhm, I kind of forgot to pack my pyjama’s in a rush. So now, I kind of have nothing to sleep in.” She hadn’t had to worry about that before since she had passed out on the couch and slept in her clothes the night before. Now was a different story however.

“ I could go ask Jenny if she has anything.”

“ Thanks.” Buffy mumbled looking down embarrassed.

As he walked out of the room Buffy sat down on the bed closing her suitcase and trying to get over how tense the room seemed when they were together. Maybe she should have just let the kiss happen, but then she might have regretted it and told him that. And for some reason, being this tense was a lot more appealing then hurting him.

“ Here, it’s the only thing she has right now.” Buffy opened her eyes and looked at the small garment that Spike was holding.

It was a little black silk number with two straps on either side and looked like it ended right at her thighs. And she though it was going to be tense before… “ Are you sure it’s all she has?” She squeaked in a small voice.

Spike sighed putting the lingerie down. “ Look, I’m not going to try anything. You didn’t want to kiss tonight then I understand, but don’t think that I’m going to try something if you don’t want me to.” With that he walked back into the washroom.

“ Who said I didn’t wabt you to?” She sighed pulling the covers over herself before falling asleep.

***
Buffy woke up feeling a warm body next to her. She snuggled closer feeling his arm tighten around her. She smiled still not having opened her eyes, not wanting the bright sunlight coming through the window to hurt them.

“ Good morning.” She sighed happily, feeling her arms up his chest so she could ultimately find his neck and pull him down to her. Covering his lips with hers she waited for him to respond, obviously she had awoken first. Internally grinning as he responded Buffy begged for entrance to his mouth and moaned when he forced his way into hers instead.

And then reality hit her and she stopped. Opening her eyes slowly she stared into the blue ones that were currently burning with desire. She quickly sat up in bed before covering her mouth with one hand and closing her eyes.

Spike just watched her for a few seconds before putting a hand on her shoulder to try to get some kind of reaction. It worked.

Buffy jumped out of bed, her eyes filled with tears. “ God, I’m so sorry, I thought…I… I’m just so used to waking up and having someone there…” She grabbed her clothes and ran out of the room to the washroom leaving a confused Spike behind.

She wiped away the tears that had started falling and put on her clothes, applying makeup to cover the puffy eyes. How could she be so stupid? She was so used to waking up and having him around that she had came on to Spike. And now she looked like a total idiot, probably hurt him…again!

She opened the door and made her way downstairs, unfortunately Spike was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. With the ‘we need to talk’ face. She quickly looked away and continued walking.

“ Buffy, we need to talk.”

‘ See, there you go. Just like I predicted.’ “ I can’t, I didn’t…look, I’m sorry.”

“ Don’t’ say that!”

Buffy started to walk away but felt Spike grab her arm and turn her around. “ Look, it may have been an accident as you put it, but you can’t damn well say you didn’t feel anything!”

“ I…” What could she say?

“ Surprise!” Came a loud voice as the front door was thrust open and the newest arrival walked in.

Buffy stared at him in shock not believing her eyes. “ Angel?”
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A/N:: DUN DUN DUN! *lol* I've been waiting to say that. Anyway, review and ill get typing the next chapter faster!

Chapter 10: Just Relax

“ Surprise!” Came a loud voice as the front door was thrust open and the newest arrival walked in.

Buffy stared at him in shock not believing her eyes. “ Angel?”

“ Liam?” Spike said directly after and then saw the expression on Buffy’s face, and with that, he knew. Just like that he knew.

“ You two know each other.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement, but Angel answered anyway.

“ Yeah, we uhm… We dated a little while back, it’s good to see you again Buffy.” Angel flashed his charming smile as he looked at her for the first time in a month. The same smile that had fooled her so many times.

Buffy just looked away, nodding once before leaving the room in a hurry. Things had been going bad after what happened in the bed but now they just went straight to hell. Angel was here, and apparently he was somehow related to Spike.

“ So Will, what’s Buffy doing here? You two dating or something?” He chuckled and shook his head at the question, finding it funny.

“ Yes, actually, we are.” Angel watched in disbelief as Spike walked out of the room in the direction Buffy had left.

***
Buffy sat down on the worn tire swing under the tree rubbing her arms as if she’d suddenly felt cold. Why did these things always seem to happen to her? If one thing went bad it caused a whole big chain reaction. What was that saying? Oh, right, ‘when it rains, it pours’. She closed her eyes inhaling the cold morning air. She wasn’t going to cry, she had done that enough after he left her. She still couldn’t believe the bastard left her after he had cheated on her. The nerve… She sensed someone sit beside her and let out a deep sigh.

“ So, how do you know each other?” He already knew the answer, he just needed to hear it from her.

Buffy opened her eyes and looked at the dreary grey-ish sky. Clouds were scattered all around and it looked like it was going to rain sometime in the day. She couldn’t just ignore the question, but she could try… “ Is the weather always like this here?”

“ Buffy…”

“ I mean, does it always fit your mood perfectly or something?” She kept looking up, her legs starting to sway the swing back and forth gently.

Spike just waited for her to continue, but it was several minutes before she did. “ We dated. I was young and stupid.” She let out an ironic laugh. “ Except that lasted about 3 years before I realized it. After that…” She paused looking at him for a few moments, her face blank. She turned away again. “ We met in high school, he was a sophomore and I was only a junior, but we dated not caring what people said.” She shivered from the combination of the cold weather outside and reminiscing painful memories.

Spike immediately took off his coat and put it around her shoulders. “ Cold, kitten?”

She nodded slowly before realizing how intimate the moment seemed. “ Can we just not? I can’t talk about this right now. Not the Angel thing and not…the other thing.” She stood up and started to walk away when Spike grabbed her hand.

“ Give me a chance…please.” Buffy stared at the look on his face. He seemed so sincere, but how could she? How could she give anyone another chance after Angel did what he had done, all the pain… She just looked away and kept walking.

Spike just watched her leave in misery. He couldn’t lose her now…

***
Buffy sat at the elegantly decorated table solemnly and took a sip of her wine. She was currently dining with Spike and his family, including Angel, at a four star restaurant. All she could do was sit there the whole night quietly, only answering questions when someone asked her something. Everything had been tense since this morning, since Angel came.

“ So Buffy, you’re awfully quiet tonight. Is everything all right?” Giles asked, giving her a gentle smile.

She just smiled back weakly. “ I’m fine Giles, thanks.”

Spike’s frown intensified. She was lying, he had been watching her the whole night. She wasn’t fine, she was far from it. Ever since his poof of a cousin came she had been acting more distant then normal.

“ Would you like to dance?” Buffy looked at Spike who had gotten out of his seat and was holding out one hand to her, smiling. She took it, not wanting to make the rest of his family suspicious.

“ Sure.”

He led her to the dance floor and put one hand on her hip and kept hold of her right hand. Not having danced to the classical music much before the blonde just looked at Spike nervously. Leading her as the music played he leaned in close to her ear.

“ Relax, luv. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to, just have fun tonight.” With that he gently kissed the side of her neck and looked back at her smiling as they danced.

Buffy visibly relaxed in his arms. She was happy right now, even if she could get out of not talking about Angel or anything else that made her tense for one night, she would be happy. She leaned up, smiling and kissed him on the cheek. “ Thanks.” He grinned, twirling her around the dance floor more enthusiastically, making her giggle.

Buffy frowned slightly when she saw Angel come up to Spike and tap him on the shoulder. “ May I cut in?”

“ Actually…” Spike started. But before he could finish Angel took his place and started dancing away with Buffy who was looking confused and scared.

“ What are you doing?” Buffy hissed angrily. She really didn’t want to talk to him.

“ What does it look like? I’m dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room.” He gave her a devilish grin.

Her frown intensified. “ Angel, cut the crap. That may have worked on me once but it’s not going to work on me again. Don’t you remember the saying? Believe you once, shame on you, believe you twice, shame on me…or something like that. I’m not about to prove that true.”

Angel’s grin turned to a sneer and he gripped her tighter. “ Who are you kidding, Buffy? You know you’ll never have anyone better than me.” He sneered. “ Especially not with my cousin.”

That was it. She had had enough. Slapping him across the face she ran out of the restaurant, too afraid to look over at the table with Spike’s family to see if they had witnessed the event.
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A/N: So what do you think of this chapter? I know I haven't updated and I feel bad so here's a little teaser for you ;) The next chapter has the following: Buffy + alcohol ;)

Chapter 11: Under the glow of the moon

_Buffy continued running until she had burst through the door in the lobby and the tears finally fell. This was hell, all the pain, it was as raw as if she had been hurt only yesterday. She wrapped her arms around herself like she had that morning and choked back a sob, all her life she had only been with two men, Riley Samuals and Angel O’Connor. She had only slept with Angel, and that proved to have been a mistake.

She walked out to the curb and tried to hail down a cab on the busy streets but only managed to get honked at a few times, the cars just continued to pass her by. She would have smiled when a cab finally stopped for her but she really wasn’t happy right now, she was about to get in when she felt a hand on her arm.

***
Spike’s anger grew as he watched Angel dance away with his girl. There was nothing he could currently do without drawing a lot of attention to himself in a bad way so all he could do was walk over to his table and sit down with his family, silently fuming.

Chris patted his shoulder comfortingly. “ Don’t worry cuz. Liam’s not her type.”

Spike tried to laugh at the comment and make the situation light but the laugh never came. Instead he just continued to stare intensely at the dancing couple. It wasn’t Buffy he didn’t trust (not that they were together so it wouldn’t really be cheating…) it was Liam he distrusted. He and Angel never had gotten along but they had managed to be civil most of the time, now however things were different. They had something in common. Buffy.

He managed to look away for just a minute and heard an ‘oh dear’ from Ellen. Looking up he saw Angel standing on the dance floor with an angry expression on his face and one very red cheek while Buffy ran out of the restaurant. He knew something like this was bound to happen.

Giles put a hand on Spike’s arm. “ You should go see what happened. She seemed very distraught.” Spike just looked at Giles gratefully and got up quickly, heading for the door.

***

“ Luv, please don’t leave. Don’t let that bastard get to you.” The calmness in his voice soothed her, just enough to make her halt for a moment and turn around to face him.

“ I can’t. Spike I can’t do this, go through all of that again, I’ve been trying to get over what he did ever since it happened. I just I can’t…” She trailed off in a desperate sob. She wasn’t sure when she had decided to call him Spike instead of William like she had originally said but it just felt more personal right now and she needed that.

Spike’s heart broke, seeing her in so much pain, and crying like that… It was too much. He wiped away the tears from her eyes and kissed her forehead. He couldn’t continue putting the thought off to the side anymore. He was falling for this girl, no, he was already past that point. He was in love with the broken angel in front of him.

“ And your family, after that they’ll probably hate me.” Somehow that hurt her even more, to imagine someone like Jenny or Ann looking at her with anger or hatred in their eyes. She had to admit they felt like a family to her and she couldn’t bear it if they didn’t like her anymore.

Spike quietly shushed her, placing his finger on her lips. “ They don’t hate you sweets, I promise.” He placed his hands on her face and looked into her eyes trying to get his point across. “ C’mon pet, let’s get out of here.” Buffy gratefully nodded and got into the cab with Spike right beside her.

Buffy leaned her head against Spike’s shoulder as he spoke to the driver telling him a destination. Spike smiled when he felt the weight of her head and put his arm around her. He was happy that she was allowing him to be that close to her but he was also perturbed because he had never seen her this vulnerable.

“ Where are we going?” She asked him quietly, her breath steady on his neck.

“ I have a place here near Jenny’s house that I come to get away from everything sometimes.”

Buffy’s brows creased. What if they came? Even though Spike said that they weren’t mad she was still nervous about seeing his family, she wasn’t ready yet. As if he read her mind, Spike stroked her hair gently. “ Don’t worry, no one knows about it except me, and now you.”

“ How did you know what I was thinking?”

Spike just smiled and rested his cheek on top of her head. “ Jus’ did.”

Buffy listened lazily as Spike had to give the cab driver some directions since his place was so discreet. She watched as they entered a road surrounded by trees as far as you could see. The cab stopped and Buffy sat up quietly and got out of the cab before Spike had even paid the driver yet.

The place had an ethereal beauty about it at night with the moonlight coming down on it, casting small shadows. There was a large house up ahead with a large deck on the second level. She smiled when she realized that there was a large lake with crystal blue water sparkling in the open under the moon. She knew that tonight Spike would make her forget about Angel and her worries.

“ C’mon pet, you can go sit by the lake and I’ll be right back.” Buffy nodded and watched him walk towards the house for a few seconds before she walked up to the lake and just stared at it. Picking up a smooth, rounded rock she skipped it across the water like she had when she was only a little girl, watching as it bounced along the water six times sending ripples as it went.

“ I brought some blankets.” Buffy turned around to see Spike standing there with two large blankets piled in his arms.

Laying them out on the ground he gestured for her to join him, covering them both with the second blanket. “ Thanks.”

Spike turned to look at her. “ What for?”

“ For not making me stay there. For bringing me here.” Buffy looked away as silence took over and quickly changed the subject. “ This place is beautiful, have you brought anyone here?”

“ Told you, my family doesn’t know about this place.”

She looked up at the moon shifting positions. “ I wasn’t talking about your family.” Buffy said quietly. Somehow thinking of him bringing another girl with him here and laying with her like they were now didn’t sit too well with her.

Spike turned to her slightly alarmed that she would think that he just brought any girl here. “ No Buffy, I haven’t brought anyone but you here.” The blonde turned to look at his deep blue eyes and smiled. She knew there were feelings there, there was no more denial, she felt something for him.

“ You know, under the whole tough guy image thing you’re just a big softie.”

He just chuckled, not denying it. “ I’m not like this with everyone.” He suddenly switched on his side and propped himself up on one elbow watching as the girl he was so completely in love with turned to look at him. “ You do things to me that I can’t explain. I can barely understand half of them myself.”

Buffy looked up at him, her breathing slow and shallow as her heart wildly pounded in her chest. She watched for the second time as he leaned towards her. She closed her eyes when his lips came down upon hers gently, this time she wasn’t going to run, not like before. She moaned when she felt his tongue tease her bottom lip before slipping into her mouth and gliding along hers sensually, wrapping her arms around his neck as she moulded her body against his, kissing him back before they had to breathe.

Spike leaned his forehead against hers lightly, smiling. “ You’re amazing, you know that?”

Buffy kissed him lightly on the lips. “ I’m not ready to start anything too serious right now Spike, but I really like you, and I’d like to. Just not yet, under these disguises we’ve been putting up for your family.”

He nodded in understanding. “ I’ll wait for you. Forever if I have to.”

Buffy smiled. “ You won’t have to.” With that she laid her head down on his chest for the second time that night and smiled as he pulled her closer.
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A/N: Ok I know I said there'd be alcohol and Buffy in this chapter but i just couldn't do it quiet yet because this idea came to my head. But I now promise to put the alcohol and Buffy in next chapter! Thanks for the reviews guys!

Chapter 12: The Rehearsal

Buffy yawned, stretching her arms before opening her eyes and waiting for them to focus. Wherever she was it wasn’t where she had fallen asleep. She remembered how she had slapped Angel (rightfully so) and ran out of the restaurant. And then Spike had brought her to his private property where they had been laying under the stars on the blanket.

She sat up and looked around. And this was definitely not outside. She was currently sitting in a king size bed with midnight blue silky sheets, the room itself was large with a window that had a ledge full of cushions that you could sit on, and there was a dresser straight ahead with a large mirror.

“ Looks like kitten woke up.”

Buffy looked over at Spike and smiled. “ Did you carry me inside after I fell asleep?”

Spike put the tray of food down on the bedside table and gave her a light peck on the lips. “ Yeah, and I was a perfect gentleman.”

He stared at the blonde girl, startled when she started laughing. “ Spike, the term ‘perfect gentleman’ would mean there would be no thoughts of doing certain things either.”

“ Oi! I resent that!” Buffy raised her eyebrows, smirking in a way Spike didn’t know she could. “ Fine, but I’ll have you know I’m a man and I’m not gay so it’s more of a good thing than bad.”

She giggled, snuggling into him as he sat down beside her on the bed. “ Good save Captain peroxide.”

“ Hey! I hope you still realize I’m still in a position to fire you,” he joked.

Buffy closed her eyes smiling as she sighed contentedly. “ Yeah, and like I said, you’d lose one of the best workers you have. And besides, as the woman in this relationship I can put you in the dog house, if you catch my drift. Whether we live together or not.” She giggled.

Spike pulled her to him before kissing her neck and shoulder. “ Sassy little minx you are.”

She giggled, pushing him away. “ And you love it. Now shoo, I need my food.” With that she grabbed the toast and took a bite.

“ Tease.” He laughed, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing it. “ You better get dressed, the wedding rehearsal is in two hours and we need to stop at Giles’ house an hour early.” She put the toast down and suddenly started playing with her fingers, her whole posture and expression screamed ‘nervous’ to Spike. “ What’s wrong, luv?”

Buffy stopped and looked at him with nervous and worried eyes. “ Do we really have to go? Can’t we like, call in sick or something…permanently?” She put her arms around his neck and snuggled closer to him. “ Please?”

Spike un-did her arms from around his neck and took hold of her hands gently. “ Pet, don’t worry. They love you. Nothing is going to happen…well other than me possibly getting in a bit of a tussle with Mr. Tall, brooding, and gel for hurting my girl.”

Buffy grinned, attacking his mouth with her own. Granting him entrance when he nibbled on her bottom lip, their tongues duelled in a steamy battle before she pulled away, still grinning.

Spike ran his hand through his hair panting slightly. “ What was that for? I mean, m’ not complaining but I’d just like to know so I can do it in the future.”

“ You called me your girl. I mean, I didn’t really expect you to start calling me that or anything. I actually don’t know what I expected you to do.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “ Silly, I don’t think you’re my girl.” He grinned at the sad look that suddenly came over her face. “ I know you are.” She smiled again. “ Now get dressed, we’re leaving soon.”

She nodded, getting out of bed and going straight to the closet on instinct. Then she paused. “ Uh, Spike?”

“ Yeah, kitten?”

“ I don’t have any clothes with me here.”

“ Don’t worry about it. Just go to the closet.” He grinned and left the room.

She opened the closet and gasped. He never ceased to amaze her. The closet was full of clothes that were not only gorgeous but also exactly her size. She giggled. ‘ Must have measured me in my sleep or something.’ She shifted through the different clothes and paused on a leather strapless short…short dress. ‘ Kinky bastard.’ She started laughing as she continued to sift through the clothes, contemplating on whether Spike would have a heart attack if he saw her wearing that in front of his family or if he would just take her there and then. ‘ Looks like he’s not the only kinky person…’

***
Buffy sat in the car wringing her hands nervously. No matter how much Spike tried to convince her that his family would still love her she couldn’t help but still be nervous.

“ We’re here.”

Buffy watched the house appear closer as they continued to drive towards it. Well, it was now or never. She got out of the car and smiled at Spike as he put his hand around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

Walking into the house she tried to act normal as Anne came up and hugged both her and Spike in turn. “ There you two are. We thought you wouldn’t be back in time for the rehearsal.” She smiled, pushing Buffy up the stairs. “ Buffy needs to get her dress on and you need to get your tux.”

Buffy walked into Jenny’s room and took the dress, taking it to the washroom that was attached to the room. Once behind the door she heard Jenny start to talk. “ Buffy we can both tell that you’re really nervous and you don’t have to be. We all know that Liam can be quite an ass sometimes and we’re not holding anything that happened last night against you.”

Buffy smiled, slipping into a nicer dress and walking out the door to face the two. “ Thank you. There’s some…history between us and it’s not the good kind. On a better subject, where’s our bride to be anyway?”

“ I’d wager her and Ellen are off talking somewhere. She’s been really nervous lately. The jitters I think.”

Buffy nodded and put on some heels. “ Shall we?” She smiled as the two women nodded and hooked arms like high school girls and walked out of the room.

***
Buffy couldn’t help but smile widely as the wedding planner went over all the details of the next day and how everything was going to happen. She loved weddings, ever since she was 13 she had been planning on what kind of dress she wanted her bridesmaids to wear and what kind of dress she would have. Even the fine details of what people would drink and how the wedding cake would look like.

“ And then they’ll kiss and we’ll proceed to the wedding hall where everything will be waiting and ready. Shall we try it?” Tony, the planner said.

Everyone got into place, Buffy hooked arms with Spike and smiled. Until she noticed that Angel was right beside them and staring right at her with an expression she didn’t recognize. Quickly replacing the frown with a smile as they walked down the aisle Buffy separated from Spike as she went to stand beside Emma. Letting out a sigh of relief she listened as Tony continued to talk.

“ And this is when the priest says everything and you would start to walk back down the aisle and outside to the waiting carriage. Now that we’ve got everything understood you are free to go and enjoy the courtyard.”

Buffy walked over to Spike and started to walk with him. “ Isn’t it all so romantic? I mean, we’re in a church that just happens to be in the countryside and we’re surrounded by flowers and …” She stopped at the look Spike was giving her. “ Sorry, I sound like such a cheesy chick flick.”

Spike laughed. “ No luv, it’s jus’ that you’re amazing when you’re this happy. You make the whole room light up.” He leaned down and kissed her deeply before pulling away.

“ Get a room you two!” Wesley yelled, grinning at the dirty look his cousin sent him and the blush that covered Buffy’s cheeks.

“ I’m going to go use the ladies’ room, I’ll be right back.” She kissed him once more on the cheek and started to walk down a long corridor.

She turned and walked up a flight of stairs she thought she saw Jenny walking up earlier when she said she was going to the washroom but only ended up getting lost. Turning around to try find her way back and use the washroom when they got back home, she was shocked to see Angel standing there smirking at her.

She put her hands on her hips. “ What do you want?”

“ Now, now. That’s no way to talk to your previous engagement.” He chuckled. “ No pun intended.”

She flinched. “ Why bring up the past now? Why are you doing this?!” She hit herself mentally at the slightest hint of vulnerability in her voice.

“We haven’t seen each other in a while.” He paused, walking closer to her and running the tips of his fingers down her arm. “ Thought we’d reminisce a little.”

She quickly pulled away and crossed her arms. “ I don’t think so Angel. Not after what you did. And not when I’m with William.” She saw him quickly turn angry at the mention of his cousin and her.

Grabbing her by the arms, Angel pushed her against the wall. “ Do you think you can just be with anyone you want? When I met you I took pity, do you really think that he’ll want you for more than a quick fuck? Do you really think anyone will? I mean look at what happened with us. After a while I got sick, you were bad in bed and other than that there was only talking, why else do you think I went to Faith?”

That was it, she couldn’t take it anymore. Pushing him away she ran down the stairs and out the door past Spike. Jumping into a cab that someone had obviously called for, she gave him the directions and finally let the tears fall. “ Take me to the nearest bar.”

***
Buffy sat down and waited for the bar man to get to her. “ Give me the strongest thing you’ve got.”

Buffy watched as he nodded and gave her an unknown drink. She quickly swallowed the shot and made a face at the taste and the way it burned her throat as it went down. Slapping down more money she ordered another shot.
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Chapter 13: Getting Drunk

She stared around the club, her head spinning as she got up slowly walking to the dance floor. The alcohol did a pretty good job of making her forget what angel did, hell it did a pretty good job of making her forget who he was. But she still did, and at this point she was willing to do just about anything to forget, standing in the middle of the dance floor she began to sway seductively to the music that was playing.

A few guys moved to dance beside her and she smiled, it was good to know she could still dance good even when she was intoxicated beyond any point in her life. She raised her arms above her head and felt someone grab her around the waste, she liked having power over these guys but she hated it when they got grabby.

Turning around she frowned at the tall brunette guy who was currently smirking at her and pulling her closer. “ Ok buddy, I’m all for the dancing but you can’t go around just grabbing an unsuspecting girl.”

“ C’mon baby, you were asking for it. Dancing there with your tight little body just swaying like that.” He tightened his grip and pulled her closer.

Buffy tried pushing him of but it was no use, he was bigger and stronger then her. “ Get off!” She slurred stumbling away when he let go of her due to the arm that was currently on his shoulder.

“ I believe the lady told you to let go.”

Buffy smiled. “ Hi Willyum!” She grinned at Spike who released his hold on the other guy and was standing before him.

“ Don’t think so, got here first, and she doesn’t mind.” He walked over to Buffy and grabbed her roughly around the waist.

Buffy scowled at the guy. “ Yeah, I do!” She stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the ribs. Hard.

“ You bloody bitch!”

He raised his hand to hit her but Spike stepped in front of him. “ Wouldn’t do that if I were you mate.”

“ Is that so?” He brought his arm back and swung at Spike narrowly missing him as her moved out of the way and punch him in the stomach.

“ Go Spike!” Buffy cheered and stumbled to the floor. She then winced as the other guy hit Spike on the left eye effectively making him fall to the ground.

In one swift motion he was back up. With one last swing he knocked the guy out and walked out to her lifting her up by the waist. “You all right, pet?”

She paused contemplating her answer. “ Physically, yes.”

“ C’mon kitten.” He picked her up and took her to his car that was parked just outside the door. It wasn’t too hard to figure out where she had gone. Other then this place there wasn’t any decent bars around and she couldn’t have gone anywhere else but to Jenny’s and he was betting she would go there because she was obviously upset about something.

He set her down on the hood of the car before opening the passenger door and putting her in. Walking around to the other side he got in and started to drive.

***
Buffy giggled hysterically, stumbling through the door. If anything the effect of the alcohol had gotten even stronger. For the second time in two days she found herself in his private house. She walked over to the couch and plopped down.

Spike walked in after her and sat down staring at her carefully, wondering what had gotten her so worked up, enough to drink. He had a feeling though. “ Pet, what made you drink?”

She scrunched up her nose and had a look of disgust on her face. “ Angel, the big meanie.”

Spikes look quickly changed from concern to anger. He knew it, the big poof had done something to his girl. “ What did he do, luv?”

She pouted like a small child. “ Why should I tell you? You’re a guy too and guys are all bad.” She stuck up her nose defiantly.

“ Kitten, you need to tell me.”

She giggled. “ Are you gonna hit him too? Cuz, you know, he’d deserve that. I mean, you don’t just call of an engagement by dumping a girl and get away with it. Nope.”

He froze. What was she talking about. “ Buffy, luv, what are you talking about?”

“ We were engaged but he…do you have anything to drink?” She got up and stumbled towards the kitchen grabbing onto the island as she moved along. She opened a few cabinets before holding up a bottle of JD and grinning. “ Eur..urek...” She huffed, how did you say eureka again? “ Success!”

Spike walked into the kitchen and took the bottle from her setting it on a higher shelf. “ What were you saying before?”

She pouted and jumped up trying to reach the bottle, only managing to slip and fall. Luckily Spike caught her before she could hurt herself. “ You’re strong.” She wound her arms around his neck and buried her face in her shoulder. “ And you smell nice too. Aftershave and somethin else.”

Spike groaned as she stuck her hands in his front pockets. “ You’re going to have to stop that, kitten.”

Spike watched as she took her hands back and took a shaky step back, her bottom lip trembling. “ Don’t you like me?”

One look at those deep hazel eyes and he was done. Walking up to her he grabbed by the waist and pushed her closer to him. He leaned in closer to her ear. “ Course I like you. You’re a hell of a woman Buffy and if I had my way we wouldn’t be talking right now.” He whispered huskily.

Buffy pushed him up against the counter and kissed him hungrily. “ Then why talk?”

He pulled away and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. “ Pet, we can’t. You’re drunk, I’m not some git that would take advantage of you.”

“ I’m sober enough to know what we’re doing, it’s not taking advantage, and it’s not brain surgery. Simple as you want, you take.”

He picked her up in his arms and carried her up to the bedroom putting her down on the bed. “ You sure about this?”

“ Yeah.”
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A/N:Ok, I'm thinking I might let you guys give me your opinion for what direction you'd like this to go to and I'll try my best to at least put in some of it in the next chapter!

Chapter 14: Morning After

Spike stared at her for a moment before cupping her cheek with the palm of his hand and bringing his mouth down on hers gently. He heard her moan softly and slipped his tongue into her mouth, running his hands down her sides. He stopped when he felt her hands go for the zipper of his pants. He stopped her hands and moved to sit beside her, slightly hunched as he ran his hand through his hair. “ I can’t, luv, not like this.”

She pouted and climbed farther onto the bed, leaning against the headboard she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “ Fine. Guess Angel was right.”

Spike immediately frowned and went to sit beside her. “Pet, what happened between you two?” He knew it wasn’t right to pry when someone was this intoxicated and very likely to run their mouth about something they usually wouldn’t. But he had just done the right thing by not letting things get too far so he figured this was a lot less worse.

Buffy looked at him timidly before tucking stray hair behind one ear. “ We were high school sweethearts and as the story always goes we fell in love. Or so I thought.” She giggled remembering everything that had happened. How stupid she had been to believe all the sweet little nothings he had whispered in her ear. “ I was young and naïve, in some ways I still am. Anyway, he proposed and we got engaged. Now when I think about it he wasn’t all that enthusiastic about it. Probably figured we had been together long enough and he was expected to propose. Well I was at my wedding shower with my friends and decided to go back to our apartment early because I was tired.” She stopped and Spike could see tears in her eyes before she quickly wiped them away.

She looked up at him, vulnerability shining in her eyes. “ Could you just hold me?”

He nodded and scooted closer to her, he wrapped his arms around her as she laid down and put her head on his chest urging her to continue with a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“ I found him in bed with one of my best friends, and that’s not all. When I came back the next day to talk to him he told me it wasn’t the first time. He broke it off with me! But he made sure to tell me how insufficient I was before he said it was over.”

Spike sat there not moving a muscle. He had always disliked Angel, but what he did… Now he just had a pure hatred for the sad excuse of a man that was his cousin. “ Luv, you’re not insufficient. You’re absolutely…” He looked over at her. She was visibly more relaxed and her face looked so serene. “…perfect.” Just his luck for her to pass out before he got to say that. Taking the blanket from the corner of the bed he spread it over her and kissed her forehead.

***
Buffy stretched her arms over her head before quickly bringing them down to cover her head which was currently throbbing as it felt like there was a million little hammers hitting away at the inside. She opened her eyes and was grateful that the curtains were drawn and that there was a glass of water and some pills beside it. Swallowing them she got out of bed and made her way downstairs where she found Spike at the stove cooking. Well, wasn’t this a cute domestic picture. Sitting down at the kitchen island she ran a hand through her hopelessly messy hair.

“ Morning, pet.” Spike gave her a glass of orange juice and toast with bacon before sitting down across from her.

“ So uhm, I’m guessing I did something last night I should probably regret right about now?” She cupped the glass between her hands and looked at him timidly.

Spike chuckled. “ Get drunk often, pet?” Buffy glared at him before starting to get up.

Spike quickly stood and grabbed her hand. “ I didn’t mean it like that, luv.”

Her face softened and she sat back down. “ I just don’t like…”

“ How vulnerable alcohol makes you?” He tilted his head to the side and waited for her reaction.

“ Yeah. What did I say?…Oh god, what did I do?”

“ Don’t worry, we didn’t sleep together.” He decided not to give any specific details about that part of last night.

Buffy looked down at her hands confused. She was happy she hadn’t slept with him while she was drunk, but then why did she feel a little…disappointed?

“ We did kind of talk though. Well you mostly.” He watched as her head quickly shot up.

“ About what?” She asked cautiously.

This was it, he wasn’t going to lie, he was going to be straight about this subject. “ Angel.”

Buffy closed her eyes. Great, now he would definitely go running scared, he’d figure there was something wrong with her if she was dumped during an engagement and he’d think what Angel did was for a reason. Stupid, stupid alcohol… “ What did I say exactly?”

“ Pretty much everything. Buffy, why didn’t you tell me before?”

She sat there, just staring at him before she looked down at her hands. Did it matter now? “ I was scared, insecure. Figured no guy would want me after that.”

Spike stared at her bewildered. Did she really think that? Angel had really pulled a number on her. He walked around to her side and crouched down before her. He took her hands in his gently and kissed each one. “ Buffy, pet, look at me.”

She looked down hesitantly, afraid that she would see something she wouldn’t like in his eyes. “ I don’t care what that ponce says about you. You’re absolutely amazing, everything from the way you bite your lip when you’re concentrating or nervous to the way you always tuck your hair behind your ear. That idiot made a huge mistake in letting you go and I wouldn’t change anything about you. I don’t know if you’re ready to hear this yet but," He paused and took a deep breath. " I love you.”
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A/N:I know some of you did want them to sleep together but the majority did pretty much ask for none of it. Oh lol and look! Another cliffhanger. By the way guys, I started another fic 'Misconceptions' go check it out ^.^ Thanks for the reviews!!

Chapter 15: Hells Bells (Part 1)

Buffy sat there staring blankly at him. What was she going to do? A man, an incredibly sweet, caring man, had just told her that he loved her. And for the first time in her life she believed him.

“ Luv, this might be a good time to say something.” He looked at her nervously, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. But he did love her, he loved everything about her, everything she was.

Buffy smiled. For once she was going to do something she hadn’t done in a long time, she was going to leave herself open for whatever came next. Winding her arms around his neck she fell into his arms giggling with happiness.

“ So I should take that as a good sign?” Spike asked cautiously, still a little shocked. He hadn’t expected her to react like that, he figured she would just run again.

She nodded crushing her mouth to his in a needy kiss. “ I’m not saying that I’m quite ready to say what you want to hear yet but I really want to start something with you and I’m ready to open myself to it completely.”

Spike grinned still holding her in his arms. “ That’s all I’m asking.” He lowered his mouth to hers in a gently kiss, his tongue slowly tracing the edge of her lips seeking entrance. She gladly complied tangling her fingers in his hair as theirs tongues mingled.

Pulling away Spike kissed the tip of her nose slowly carrying her to the door. “C’mon princess, we have a wedding to go to and your dress is back at the house.”

***
She smiled giddily slipping into her bridesmaid dress. She was actually still shocked she was even a bridesmaid. Somehow Emma had taken a liking to her ever since she’d gotten there. They had only talked a few times but somehow managed to connect on a level she had only known with Willow. Maybe not quite that level yet but close, and she had known Willow for quite a while now.

“ Buffy? Can I talk to you?”

Buffy turned from talking to Elen and Jenny and smiled at Emma. “ Sure, everything ok?” It was one of those rare moments where Spike was off with the guys playing football and talking leaving her to talk to the other woman. She actually liked it, she didn’t have this many friends, only a few close ones back home and it was a nice change from the usual. And Emma reminded her of Willow.

The long haired brunette just nodded smiling and pulled her gently away from the rest of the group into a room the looked like a small library. “ I know we haven’t known each other long. I mean, only a few days, but I feel like I can connect with you on a level that I haven’t connected with many people and I’d like you to be one of my bridesmaids. You know, if you want to that is. Because if you don’t that’s fine too…”

Buffy stared at her. Then un-like herself she started to laugh making Emma look at her curiously. “ Sorry, I’d love to. It’s just that, you sounded more like we’ve been dating then friends and I only know one other person who babbles like that.”

Emma giggled, her cheeks turning a light pink colour. “ I guess I did babble a little. And not to be rude, but your really not my type.” They both laughed before returning to the group.

“ Buffy. Are you ready? We need to start getting our shoes on to leave!”

She grinned, putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup she looked herself over in the mirror. “ I’ll be right there!” She yelled back at him. She knew it sounded conceited, but if she didn’t knock him out with the way she looked in that dress she didn’t think it was possible.

Spike sighed looking at his watch. He really did love her but if she didn’t move her cute little behind out the door and into the car they would be late for the wedding. Ok, maybe he was twisting the facts a little, they wouldn’t be late but he still didn’t like waiting. And he definitely couldn’t wait to see Angel and beat him to a pulp. Chris’s wedding or not.

And then he looked up and saw her walking down the stairs. She was breathtaking. She was wearing a strapless silver dress that accented her curves, her hair was elegantly messy and she was…she was absolutely beautiful.

Buffy smirked, one hand on her hip. “ See something your like blondie?”

Walking up to her he grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a needy kiss. “ That about answer it?”

She looked at him as he pulled away, smiling. She hadn’t been this happy for a long time. “ It really does.”

He took a deep breath. If they kept doing this they would never get to the wedding. “ C’mon, pet. We better leave.”

***

Stepping out of the car she looked in awe at the quaint secluded spot. The church wasn’t overly large but it was beautiful. It was surrounded on each side by trees and she could see a small courtyard in the back where she expected that the reception would be held afterwards. convenient. she thought.

She smiled at Spike as he joined her and gave her a small peck on the lips. “ You look gorgeous.”

She beamed. “ Don’t look so bad yourself. Unfortunately I have a bride to tend to.” Wit ha little seductive wink she made her way down the path towards the church doors.

Spike stood there in awe. “ Minx.”

Walking through the church entrance she soon realized the it was a lot more complex then it looked from the outside. The main doors did not directly lead to the main church where the ceremony would take place but rather to a small area that separated into two separate paths. In front of her was a small elegant table with a vase full of white lilies, also her favourite flower.

Walking a little ways forward she gazed at the ‘fork in the road’ as it would usually be called and decided to take the simpler looking one seeing as how the other had lots of other smaller corridors. I’ll take door number 2 Bob. She thought sarcastically.

Lifting her skirt so that she didn’t trip on it and fall on her face she walked through the quiet hallway and stared at the different pictures of weddings that had been held here, all framed and put on either side of the wall like a small tribute. If Buffy had been claustrophobic she definitely wouldn’t have survived these hallways, they were very small. As she turned a corner she realized must have lead to the grooms dressing room she bumped into someone. Unfortunately.

“ Angel.”
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A/N:This update has been long time comming, and I just want to let you know that I am still planning on finnishing the story and I think im finally ready to continue! Thanks so much for the support guys, please continue to review! If you're curious on how Buffy looks in this chapter click HERE