Chapter 1:

A large crash could be heard from the living room. Eyes wide, Buffy ran out of the kitchen, knife in hand hoping that she'd be able to find the demon responsible. Unfortunately there was no sign of the guilty party, just the shattered remains of a vase on the floor.

"Oh, Buffy, not Grandma's vase," Joyce said as she came down the stairs.

"Sorry mom, I'll get him next time I swear," Buffy promised. Of course she'd made that promise several times already over the last couple days, but the small demons continued to elude her.

Who knew that the Thort demon would be much easier to kill when it was a seven-foot tall, horned monstrosity? But then no one had warned her that it actually spawned through its blood. Buffy hadn't cleaned the sword she'd used to kill the Thort until she'd gotten home. The rag she'd used had gone down into the basement with the rest of the laundry, and a few days latter her home was infested with larval Thort demons.

They were small things about the size of her fist, but they moved quickly. They looked like shiny grey hairless rodents and Dawn had named them "sludge bunnies" which had terrified Anya until she'd seen one and declared that it was no where near as terrifying as an actual rabbit.

The important thing was that the sludge bunnies were in the walls of 1620 Revello drive, and they were fast. Buffy couldn't' seem to find a way to catch and kill the things.

"It's all right, Buffy," Joyce said wearily as she knelt down to pick up the pieces of the vase that had been knocked over.

It was that weariness that bothered Buffy more than anything else, that made her determined to get rid of the sludge bunnies no matter what. Her mom had been through so much this year, she was just getting better from her surgery and then there was all the worry over Dawn and the crazy hell god who was after her. Her mother didn't need demon rats to worry about too.

And then as if to make her day complete, the front door opened and her immortal pain in the ass waltzed into her house as if he lived there. Spike was carrying some sort of wooden box except that one side had a wire mesh over it like a cage.

"Spike would it kill you to knock? And what the hell is that?" Buffy demanded as he shut the door behind him and made his way into the living room.

"Heard about the Thort problem," he said. "Came to help. Howdy, Joyce."

"Hello Spike," Joyce said, although she was looking a bit warily at the cage that he set down on her coffee table.

Spike opened the door of the cage and reached his hand inside. Buffy half expected him to pull a bloody stump out. Instead a cute and furry face appeared from the dark opening as a small animal scurried up Spike's arm.

"What is that?" Buffy asked at the same moment Joyce asked, "Is that a weasel?"

"Ferret actually. Her name is Muffin and she's going to take care of your Thort problem."

"You have a pet named Muffin?" Buffy asked while snickering.

"No," Spike replied. "You do. As for the name, she came with it. Didn't just run down to the pet store and grab up the first ferret I saw. This is a trained Thort hunting ferret."

By this time Muffin had traveled up Spike's arm and had put her paws on the side of his face as she sniffed his hair. He reached up to grab her about the middle and held her out to Buffy, her head and paws poking up above his fingers.

"Uh, huh, she looks like a real vicious killer," Buffy said skeptically. "Look, why don't you take Muffin the Demon Slayer back to your crypt."

Just then Muffin began to struggle in Spike's hand, kicking her back legs and wiggling her head.

"What's wrong with it?" Buffy asked as Spike released Muffin onto the ground.

Muffin bounded out of his hand and dashed straight for the couch, flattening herself until she could fit under it.

"Is she going to shed in the furniture?" Joyce asked concerned.

Just then Dawn came down stairs. "What's going on? Hey Spike."

"Just here to take care of your demon infestation," Spike told the youngest Summers.

"More like add to the infestation," Buffy said. "What are you waiting for? Lift up the couch and get it."

"Eww. What's in the couch?" Dawn asked.

"Spike's weasel," Buffy told her sister.

"Ferret," Spike corrected. "And she's not mine, she's your sister's."

"Whatever," Buffy replied. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get it out of the couch."

"I'm telling you Summers, just give Muffin a chance."

"Spike," Joyce said trying to calm things a bit between her oldest daughter and the vampire. "I'm really not sure thet we want small furry animals in the sofa."

"I don't know mom," Dawn interjected. "Do ferrets eat popcorn? Cause you know it might be like a little vacuum cleaner. Maybe we should get one for Xander?"

Before anyone could say anything else a strange high-pitched whistling noise came out of the couch before being abruptly cut off. They all stared at the couch for several moments before a tail wiggled out from under it. Muffin reappeared dragging the body of a dead sludge bunny behind it.

"See, told ya," Spike said as he reached into his pocket to pull out a small plastic bag. He took a small pellet out of the bag and gave it to Muffin. "You have to give her a treat each time," he explained.

Muffin took the treat and held it between her two front paws as she ate it.

"Oh, she's so cute," Dawn said as she sat down on the floor in front of Muffin so that she could watch the small animal delicately eat.

Seeing Dawn, Muffin scooted back, clutching her small treasure to her.

"It's okay little guy," Dawn said. "I'm not going to take your treat."

Spike on the other hand was looking smugly at Buffy waiting for her to admit that the ferret had done exactly what he'd said it would do. Buffy just decided to ignore Spike and watch her sister and the critter.

Once Muffin had finished eating she moved towards Dawn, hesitant at first before dashing up to the youngest Summers and then darting back. But the action was not timid or fearful but playful. Muffin made several more such approaches, as if daring Dawn to try and catch her. Giggling, Dawn reached out to pick up the ferret.

Suddenly Dawn yelped, "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" and everyone was rushing to her aid.

Muffin had bitten her hand and wasn't letting go. It was finally Spike who disentangled the teenage girl and the ferret by grabbing the fur around Muffin's neck.

"Oh, my god!" Buffy exclaimed as she looked at Dawns bleeding hand. "Your pet tried to eat my sister."

Joyce quickly pulled Dawn out of the room to clean and bandage the bite marks. Under normal circumstances Buffy might have called her sister a wimp, but considering these were Spike induced injuries she was willing to let her sister play it for all the attention it was worth.

"Look it's not what you think," Spike explained. "Biting's just how they play and show affection. Means she likes your sister."

"You would have a pet that bites," Buffy countered.

"Look she's not meant to be a pet. I'm telling you. . ." Spike stopped. Holding the ferret by the scruff of the neck made it hard to have a serious conversation with Buffy. He put Muffin down on the couch. "I'm telling you that if you want to get rid of those Thort demons, this is the only way."

"I can handle the Thorts myself. I am the Slayer remember?"

"Funny, from what I hear you've been infested for about a week now. Just haven't gotten around to it I suppose?"

"I'll have you kno- What the hell is she doing now?"

Spike turned to follow Buffy's line of sight. Muffin's back was arched and her tail stuck straight up in the air. She was jumping from left to right as her head shook from side to side. Buffy took a few steps back from the mad display.

"It's gone crazy. Make it stop!" she ordered Spike.

"Don't be such a big baby. She's not crazy, she's just happy and excited. She's dancing."

"Oh please."

"Look Slayer, it's simple. Do you want the Thorts gone or not?"

"Yes," Buffy answered reluctantly.

"Fine, then take the damn ferret."

Buffy eyed Muffin for a minute. She hated the idea of taking anything from Spike, especially help. And then she had an idea about how she could both take the ferret, and annoy Spike.

"Okay, but I'm not calling her Muffin. Let's see, she's a crazy girl that bites. I know. I'll call her Dru."

"What?" Spike roared. "You are not calling her Dru."

"I'll call her whatever I want." Buffy addressed the ferret which had stopped its dancing when it was no longer the center of attention. "Do you like the name Drusilla?"

The Drusilla the ferret began to dance again.

"See," Buffy said. "She likes it."

Chapter 2:

Buffy sat cross-legged on her bed staring at the cage that had become Dru's home. The day after Spike had brought the ferret over, Buffy and Willow had gone out to buy a more friendly open cage for the ferret to live in. It had a hammock for Dru to sleep on, and several colorful plastic tubes snaked around the outside of the cage to provide artificial tunnels for Dru to run through.

Buffy watched for a few moments as the ferret ran around her cage before opening the cage door and letting her out. She scooped up Dru and placed her on the bed.

Spike had been right; Dru was good at catching the sludge bunnies. The only problem was, as good as Dru was at getting into tight spaces, she couldn't compete with the demon's viscous bodies.

Buffy wasn't interesting in supervising a ferret hunting expedition today; she was just bored. Her mother was feeling well enough that she'd returned to work at the gallery, and Dawn, Willow and Tara were all in school, Giles and Anya were doing inventory at the Magic Box today, so Buffy was keeping her distance, and Xander was at work. It was at dark moments like this that Buffy considered applying for the summer semester at UC Sunnydale.

"Looks like it's just you and me today, Dru," Buffy said.

Despite her initial misgivings, she was growing quite fond of the ferret. They had mostly broken her of her bad habit of biting, and she was really kind of cute and silly. Buffy played with Dru for a while, until the ferret suddenly looked around alertly and dashed off out of Buffy's room. By now Buffy had learned this meant that Dru had found a Thort, so she grabbed the bag of treats and followed into Dawn's room.

Soon she heard the high pitch whistling that was a sludge bunny scream, and then Dru appeared from under Dawn's dresser dragging the body of her foe behind her. As Dru stood up on her back legs to receive her treat she hesitated, and Buffy could see a wicked looking slash across her belly.

"Oh no, you got hurt," Buffy said.

She decided an injury was worth an extra reward and gave Dru two of the treats before rushing back to her own room to get the first aid kit.

Unfortunately, ferret first aid was not as easy as it sounded, and in the short time Buffy had been gone, Dru had decided to hide her second treat in a secret horde under Dawn's bed, and then she curled up on her back, trying to lick her wounded stomach. Dru obviously didn't want to come out from under the safety of the bed, and the whole thing was further complicated by the fact that Dawn obviously thought under the bed was a perfect good place to stuff things she didn't want to put away.

"Look, I know you're hurt," she told Dru, "but I can make it better if you just come out. I'm really good at this you know. I hope you don't think you're the only demon hunter in the house." Despite her coaxing, Dru wasn't budging. "Poor thing. I bet you didn't ask for any of this. What happened? Did some stuffy old English guy pull you out of your mom's cage one day and say 'Into every litter a slayer is born, yadda yadda?'"

Despite her sympathetic words, it took Buffy almost twenty minutes to fish the reluctant ferret out from under the bed. She finally managed to do it by getting herself bitten, and dragging Dru out by her teeth, but Buffy's problems weren't over. It wasn't Dru's nature to stay still at the best of times, and she didn't seem to want Buffy anywhere near her stomach. Buffy finally settled for scruffing her–grabbing her by the fur behind her neck–which forced her to dangle helplessly. But this also used up one of Buffy's hands, and she found herself struggling to get into the first aid kit one-handed.

Just when Buffy was about to give up, she heard the kitchen door open and slam shut. It was too early for Dawn to be home, and Buffy was suddenly worried that her mother had come home from work early because she wasn't feeling well.

"Mom?" Buffy called out.

"Hardly, Slayer," a distinctly annoying voice called out.

Then she heard thumping on the stairs and Spike quickly appeared in the doorway.

"Hey? Wha'd you do to the ferret?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything," Buffy answered defensively. "Dru got hurt when she got this last Thort. Now be useful for a change and hold her still while I bandage her up."

"Do I look like Ferret Nightingale?" Spike asked, even as he took Buffy's wounded pet in his hands.

"No, you look like the rocker that time forgot. And what are you doing here anyway? Isn't it a bit early for you?" Buffy asked as she began to clean Dru's wound.

"Just came to see how things were with Muffin," he emphasized the ferret's original name. "And point out that I was right about her. Good thing too since if I hadn't someone might have called the RSPCA on you."

"Hello, Dru's a demon hunter. These things happen. And this was all your idea so you're the one who put her in danger in the first place."

Despite her words, Buffy was kind of glad to see Spike, although she'd never admit it. Not only was his arrival timely, but she was getting a little tired of her one-sided conversations with Dru.

"There," Buffy said as she finished her rather unusual bandaging job on the ferret. "All better."

Spike let go of Dru and the first thing she started doing was trying to get the bandages off.

"Hey stop that," Buffy protested, although her tone wasn't as serious as she'd intended because the sight was rather comical as the ferret rolled about the floor on her back, trying to push off the bandages with her paws.

"Those are for your own good," Buffy scolded her, but to no avail.

"Think that's a lost cause," Spike commented.

"No one asked you," Buffy retorted. "Maybe we should put her back in her cage," she said thoughtfully as she scooped up the ferret.

She returned Dru to her cage and then looked up at Spike who was hanging out in the doorway to her bedroom.

"So? What are you still doing here? Don't you have vampire things to do?" she said. But the truth was she regretted the words. She kind of wanted him to stay, just because annoying Spike was better than having nothing to do.

"Bit bright outside right now," was all he said.

Buffy thought that was a pretty lame excuse considering he'd just come in so obviously there was a way for him to get out.

But she didn't say that. Instead she told him, "Well, I'm going to watch a movie, and you better not be a pest or I'll toss you out, sunlight or no sunlight."

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Spike snorted. "Face it, Slayer, you like me too much to get rid of me."

"Do not," Buffy insisted as she brushed past him and headed down the stairs.

Spike took the more direct route, leaping over the banister and blocking her path at the bottom of the stairs.

"Deny it all you like Summers, but I've grown on you."

"If you have, and I'm not saying you have, it's only in a demon fungus kind of way."

She pushed his arm out of her way and moved into the living room to look through the movies they had.

"Guess old Rupes never told you about Phallus Deamonus. Hell of an aphrodisiac. You should try it sometime."

"Okay first of all, how stupid do you think I am? I mean Phallus Deamonus? Come on! Secondly, I don't need an aphrodisiac. And thirdly, ewww!"

Spike flung himself down on the couch and began to count off on his fingers, "First off, there is such a thing. Just ask demon girl if you don't believe me, she's sure to know all about it. Second, if you don't need an aphrodisiac, why did Riley-" Spike stopped himself as he saw Buffy go rigid. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Shouldn't have what? Been a jerk? You're a vampire, it's what you do. You think I care what you think about me?" She tried to keep her tone even, like she really didn't care. But her voice was too cold and her body too stiff to fool him.

"Look, he was a stupid git, and I didn't mean to-"

"Just shut up Spike and watch the movie," she said as she pushed the tape of Lady and the Tramp into the VCR. She figured Disney was the surest way to get rid of a vampire short of holy water.

Much to her disappointment, as the title played across the screen Spike perked up and said, "Oh, I like this one!"

Chapter 3:

"Spike?" Buffy's voice echoed through the crypt.

He hurried up the ladder into the crypt's main room, wondering what could have brought Buffy by. As soon as he saw her, he knew it was something bad. She didn't have that composed cocky attitude that meant she was there to interrogate him about the latest evil in town.

"And what brings you to my corner of the cemetery this evening?" he asked.

"She's gone," Buffy said, her voice filled with concern.

"Dawn? Don't worry-"

"No," she shook her head. "Not Dawn, Dru. I was at the Magic Box, and I got home and Dawn was there looking all guilty. I thought maybe she'd stolen and ruined one of my tops again, but I guess she decided to give Dru a second chance–she never quite got over that biting thing–but she dropped her, and Dru was just gone. I've spent the afternoon looking everywhere, but I can't find her. I thought maybe . . . you could sniff her out for me."

The worry and concern in Buffy's voice was obvious. Spike had numerous fantasies where Buffy realized how useful he could be and needed him to save the day, but none of them had included playing bloodhound to her ferret's fox.

Still the last thing he wanted to do was turn her down. The last few weeks they'd almost become something resembling friends. Every few days he'd stop off at her place and keep her company during the day. He tried not to be too obvious about it, and she teased him relentlessly about how he didn't have any demon friends to hang out with, but she didn't make him leave either.

"I'm not a bloodhound, you know?" he said even as he reached for his duster and pulled it on.

"Good, cause I forgot my snausages," was Buffy's retort. Then in a more apologetic tone she added, "Ready?"

He nodded as they headed out the door of the crypt and back towards Revello Drive.

When they got to the house, Buffy started towards the front door, but Spike stopped her and instead circled around to the back.

"What is it?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, she got out all right," Spike confirmed.

Dru's trail went away from the house towards the bushes that divided the Summers' property from their neighbors.

"This way," he said as he hopped over the small hedge.

"Spike," Buffy hissed at him even as she followed. "What are you doing? Do you have some aversion to sidewalks?"

"No, but ferrets aren't known for taking the straight and narrow. So are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said as she hurried behind him.

The ferret's trail was pretty easy to follow from a sniffing perspective, but much more difficult when you considered all the little places Dru could wriggle through.

As if to emphasize the point, Dru's trail suddenly ended at a broken sewer grate.

As Spike stood there and looked at it, Buffy came up behind him and asked, "She didn't?"

"'Fraid she did," Spike confirmed as he looked around. "This way," he said as he led Buffy to the nearest man-hole cover.

"Crap!" Buffy said as she climbed down the ladder into the sewer behind Spike. "I'm so not in the mood for a sewer outing tonight."

"You want your pet back or not Summers?" Spike asked. He was getting impatient with her attitude; she'd come to him after all. This hadn't been his idea.

"Yes," Buffy said weakly.

"Then follow me," he told her.

He didn't get very far before he heard her call out from behind him. "Hey, slow down. I didn't bring a flashlight."

That's when he realized that he'd automatically vamped so that he could see better in the darkness of the sewer. But behind him Buffy was slowly groping her way through the darkness.

He backtracked to her and took her hand in order to lead her through the darkness.

"Hey!" she protested.

Evidently Spike's sigh of exasperation was enough to stop any further protest.

"Just don't get any ideas," she mumbled as she followed him.

"Yeah, cause holding hands with the Slayer and skipping through the sewers is the stuff my wet dreams are made of," he replied sarcastically.

The truth was though, the moment his hand touched hers a thrill had gone through his body. It was all he could do to not lace his fingers with hers and let his thumb trace little patterns on the back of her hand.

"Ewww," Buffy said. "There will be no more talk of you, me, and wet dreams. Understood?"

When Spike didn't respond, Buffy yanked him to a stop.

"Ow, I'm fond of that arm."

"Understood, Spike?"

"Fine, fine, no more talking about my wet dreams. What about you Slayer. This your idea of a romantic night out?"

"Please, the only romantic thought I've ever had involving you was of me and Angel staking you together. We could, like, kiss through your dust," she giggled even as Spike growled. "Oh, please. We've gone like ten minutes without threatening to kill each other. Someone had to do it."

Spike was glad that in the darkness she couldn't see just how hurt he was by the comment. That didn't keep him from responding with his own comeback.

"Pity your ex doesn't stop by. Be nice to have a white hat around that I could kill."

"Whatever," was Buffy's only reply.

But Spike wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Slayer, what sort of weapons did you bring?"

"Just a stake. Why?" she asked.

"Cause I think I know where Dru went, and I think that first Thort you fought wasn't the only one in town."

Spike led her further into the sewers until they opened up into a cave. Sure enough another silvery Thort demon had made its lair there. Unlike the baby ones that had infested the Summers' home, this one was full grown at seven foot tall, with three vicious looking horns on top of its head.

It also knew they were there.

"Look out," Spike yelled even as he pushed Buffy out of the path of the charging demon.

Buffy rolled smoothly out of the way, coming to her feet facing the demon.

"Think you can keep it distracted? I have a plan" Spike asked.

"Great, that's all we need. One of your plans," Buffy said as she dodged a blow from the demon.

"Trust me," Spike barked at her.

"Fine, whatever. I can keep it busy if you just keep quiet," Buffy responded. "See, there's already a flaw in your plan."

But for once Spike didn't rise to her bait. He understood exactly why she wanted him to be quiet. She couldn't see the Thort demon, but it wasn't smart enough to realize that, so it was making plenty of noise.

Spike had to say he was impressed at how good she was at fighting blind, but he wasn't going to ask her to keep it up for long.

Once the Thort's attention was focused on Buffy, Spike circled around behind it. Then he charged from behind, leaping up and grabbing it by the head. Both he and the demon went crashing to the ground, but it didn't matter. Spike had gotten a good enough grip that he was able to snap the demon's neck.

"Spike? That better have been the demon and not you, cause I'm not carrying you out of here."

"I'm fine. Thanks ever so much for your concern."

"Dru?!" Buffy exclaimed. "Is she here? She didn't get squished did she?"

"Calm down Slayer," Spike didn't have to sniff the air to know that the ferret was here and was also wounded, the scent of blood was too strong. But the tiny rapid heartbeat he heard also told him that Dru was still okay.

He quickly found the crack in the wall where the wounded animal had hidden itself away.

"Come on there," he said as he reached his hand out. "You remember me don't you?" After a moment, Dru limped out of her hiding place and let Spike scoop her up.

"Do you have her?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, but she's hurt. I'm sure she'll be fine though," he quickly finished.

He moved back to Buffy's side and deposited Dru into Buffy's waiting arms.

"Come on. I think we're pretty close to my crypt," he told Buffy as he led her back into the main part of the sewers.

They weren't too far from another man-hole. As he lifted the cover up, he cursed, "Bugger."

"What is it?" Buffy asked from below him.

"It's raining. Still we'll make better time above ground than trying to work our way through the sewers."

Sure enough, it looked like tonight was going to be Sunnydale's one torrential downpour of the year. By the time Spike had helped Buffy out of the sewer he was already drenched.

He slipped off his duster and wrapped it around Buffy so that she could use it to shield Dru from the worst of the weather.

He kept his arm around Buffy's shoulders as they took off in a run towards the crypt he called home.

As soon as they were inside, Buffy was asking him where he kept his first aid kit. He got it out for her, and she began to examine the tear along Dru's front leg.

"I don't think it's broken, but do you think we should take her to a vet? I mean who knows how much blood she's lost?" Buffy asked Spike as she finished bandaging the ferret.

"I wouldn't worry too much, luv. Her heart beat is as strong as ever, so she can't be that bad off. Probably just knackered from that long run from your house to the demon lair."

Buffy nodded.

"We should get you taken care of now," Spike said.

"I'm fine," Buffy called after him, as he disappeared into the crypt's lower level.

A moment later he reappeared with a red button down shirt of his, and a black skirt that belonged to Harmony.

"You need to get out of those clothes before you freeze," he told her.

"Yeah, like I'm putting on that stuff. And why do you have a skirt anyway?"

"Never mind, just get changed before you completely ruin my couch."

Buffy took the clothes and cleared her throat.

"Oh, yeah," Spike said, as if he'd forgotten that he was looking at her. Reluctantly he turned around as she changed. After a moment he said, "Not like you have anything I haven't seen before, unless there's something about Slayers that isn't common knowledge."

"Maybe I don't want you to see where I hide my stakes. Ever think of that?" she said.

Without thinking he turned to look at her on that one, smirking at her as she turned red at the implication of her last quip.

"Now that I'd like to see," he commented, even as he was disappointed to find that she had dressed quickly so he didn't get to see anything.

"Perv," she replied as she sat back down on the couch.

He moved to sit next to her, not sure of what to do next. They could hear the rain hitting the stone roof of the crypt, and he figured she wasn't likely to go anywhere until the storm was over.

"Do you think that was the last of the demons? We haven't really seen any around the house the last couple days," Buffy said.

"Probably," Spike agreed. "Dru must have gotten the last one at your place and gone looking for more."

"Mom thought so," Buffy said, looking down at the sleeping animal in her arms. "About there not being anymore at home. She thinks maybe we don't need Dru anymore, but. . . It seems kind of mean to just get rid of her. You know, thanks for killing all the demons for us. Don't let your tail get caught in the door on the way out."

"Buffy," Spike said as he put two fingers under her chin, and lifted her face so she was looking him in the eyes. "Even if you did manage to kill every vampire and demon in Sunnydale, no one would ask you to leave."

"I wasn't talking about me, I was talking about Dru," she said defensively.

Spike didn't know why, he didn't know what made him think he could get away with it, but he leaned forward and kissed her.

Startled, Buffy's lips parted slightly, and he ran his tongue around the inside of them, before gently pushing it inside her mouth. She let him in, and he felt her relax slightly as he carefully explored her mouth.

He had no idea how long it lasted. How long she let him kiss her, but just like that she pulled back, and before he could process the fact she was gone, the stone door of the crypt blowing open in the wind.

"Bugger," Spike said as he looked at the empty space she'd left.

Chapter 4:

"Knock, knock," Willow said as she stood in the doorway to Buffy's room. She hadn't seen much of Buffy the last few days and figured she should check in on her.

"Hey Wil," Buffy said without looking up.

Buffy was sitting on her bed holding Mr. Gordo in front of her and looking him in the eye as if the mysteries of the universe were contained in his porcine form.

"Heard you got that last of the sludge bunnies. That's good," Willow said as she moved to sit next to Buffy on the bed. "Hello? Earth to Buffy?"

"Hmm. Oh, sorry I was just. . . Hey! I don't suppose you've been doing any spells lately?"

"Spells? What kind of spells?" Willow asked cautiously. She'd been practicing some stuff with Tara, but nothing she thought could have gone awry. At least she hoped not. "If you're hoping I've come up with a make-the-evil-goddess-go-poof spell sorry. Still working on that."

"No, not that. Although that would be great. I was thinking more. . . never mind, it wasn't spell-like."

"What wasn't?" Willow asked concerned. "Did something happen? Your mom and Dawn said you've been kind of sulky lately."

Buffy drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "If I told you something you wouldn't. . . you could keep it a secret right?"

"Hello? Best friend here. Plus for how long did I keep your secret identity secret. I mean I guess I still do but. . . point is, you know you can trust me Buffy."

"Yeah, I guess. It's not so much that you'd tell, I just. . . I don't know what you'd think of me."

"Buffy," Willow reached out a hand to pat Buffy on the shoulder. "Again, remember, you're my best friend. Plus, you've saved my life how many times? What ever it is. . . it'll be okay."

The truth was, Willow was kind of hurt that Buffy needed this kind of reassurance.

Buffy nodded, and Willow got up for a second to close the door. It was obvious that whatever Buffy needed to talk about, she didn't want her mom or sister to know.

"The other day, Dru got out, and I asked Spike to help me find her." Once Buffy started talking, she found it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. At least not if she talked really fast and didn't stop to breathe. "We did, and there was a demon and a fight. And then it was raining. And we went back to Spike's crypt because that was closest and Dru was hurt. And he gave me dry clothes to wear which maybe were Harmony's 'cause I otherwise I so don't want to know why Spike has skirts. But anyway, we were sitting and. . . andhekissedme."

Willow took a moment to sort out what Buffy had said. "Okay, I see the ick factor. And I get the spell reference now. But Buffy, aside from the ick factor, what's the big deal? I mean you probably hit him and left didn't you?"

Buffy shook her head and buried it in her arms. "I liked it," came her muffled reply.

Willow was stunned. "Liked it, as in you want him to kiss you again liked it?"

Buffy nodded her head.

And then Willow got it. It was kind of one of those hit over the head with a two by four moments. And she got why Buffy had been so worried about telling her. She remembered how scared she'd been of telling Buffy about Tara.

Which was totally different and completely the same all at once.

"So. . . um. . ." Willow was really trying to think of something best friend like to say and she was coming up blank. "Okay, help me out here. Is this a talk-you-out-of-it conversation, or a say-it's-okay conversation?"

"You think it's okay?" Buffy said almost hopefully.

"No. I mean yes. I mean I don't know. What can I say, Spike's so not my type in so many ways."

"But you think he's mine?" Buffy asked a hint of panic creeping into her eyes.

"Yes, I mean no. Okay, need to stop doing that."

Buffy smiled indulgently at her friend. "Why don't I like the good guys? I mean, I liked Riley, but I think he always thought he wasn't dark enough for me. And what if he wasn't? That's not what I want. Dark I mean."

"Maybe it's what you need?" Willow asked tentatively. Buffy looked at her questioningly and she continued. "Buffy, your life is kind of dark. Actually pretty dark when you consider all the creeping around in cemeteries. You don't get to pretend the things under the bed don't exist. Maybe. . . maybe the problem with Riley was that he never really believed. At least I think he didn't. I don't know, it sometimes felt like he thought Tara and I were just pulling rabbits out of a hat, you know?"

"So I should just give up on normal?" Buffy asked.

"Give up? I don't know. But normal isn't happening any time soon. I can't tell you how much I don't like the idea of you and Spike, but. . . he's part of your world. And there's a lot to be said for that."

"And he's also evil and dead, and probably just messing with my head."

"Maybe. Probably?" Willow asked seeing if that's the answer Buffy wanted.

Buffy hunched her shoulders. "Do you think? I mean, it's just–it was a really nice kiss. And we've been spending some time together, and it's been nice. And I think maybe I have a . . . crush on him."

"Really?" Willow asked, torn between being excited that her best friend had a crush and majorly squicked by who it was for. Visions of broken bottles danced before her eyes, but Willow chased them away. There would be plenty of other people in Buffy's life to point out the bad. She should have at least one person say her feelings were okay and that was Willow's duty.

"I think so. . . Okay I know so. I haven't been able to stop thinking about kissing him. And not just kissing him. I keep having these flashback-like dreams to when we were engaged and. . . " Seeing the 'I don't want details' look on Willow's face, Buffy stopped.

"And it doesn't feel like that. Like a spell?" Willow asked a little hopefully. But Buffy shook her head and Willow sighed. "You know what you have to do? You have to go talk to him. Figure out why he kissed you, because let's face it. It could be an evil plot. I'm not sure what, but you want to know if it's an evil plot or not first. Before there's more kissing I mean."

Buffy nodded. "You're right. I need to go see him. Find out if this is another crazy-doomed-to-fail-Spike-plan or if. . . Crap!" she said, her eyes going wide. "What am I going to wear?"