SUNNYDALE, SEPTEMBER 2ND, 1991

William Pratt was holding his mother's hand, looking at the screaming and playing children in front of him.

"Do I really have to go mummy?" He asked wide-eyed.

His mother smiled down at her slip of a son. He was so small and shy. "Yes, William. You'll make new friends in no time."

"I don't like it here, mum. It's all sunny and bright. I wanna go back to Bristol." Tears started to form in his blue eyes.

His mother picked him up and looked him in the eyes. "You need sunshine to grow into a healthy strong boy. Don't you want that?"
The boy nodded, tears streaming down his face.

"Why are you crying?" When they looked a tiny blonde girl with friendly hazel eyes was looking up at them.

She put her son down and bend over to the little girl. "William is a little bit scared. What's your name?"

"El-el-li-la-buth." The girl struggled to pronounce her name, "But the teacher calls me Lizzie."

The older woman smiled. "Well Lizzie, do you want to show William around?"

The girl nodded and grabbed the little boy's hand. He looked a little uncertain, but went with her anyway.
________________

SUNNYDALE, 25TH OF JULY, 2000

"Lizzie..."

"Hmm?"

The two teenagers were lying head by head in William's backyard, staring at the sky.

"Will we still be friends in high school?"

Lizzie giggled, "Of course silly. We're friends forever, right?"

"Right." William said contently, all worries forgotten.
________________

SUNNYDALE, 15TH OF DECEMBER, 2002

"Lizzie! Did you hear?" Cordelia strode up to her blond friend. The girl looked up from her locker.

"Hear what?" She asked with a confused face.

"William and his buddies are informing the entire school that you have VD."

Anger, frustration and vengefulness were immediately going into battle to gain control of Lizzie's brain.

"He did what?"

Cordelia pointed at the mouse brown head in the middle of the crowd. Everyone who would listen was gathered around him, talking animatedly about the supposed disease Lizzie had.

The girl in question snorted, "Mister Pratt is in for a world of hurt."
________________

SUNNYDALE, 2ND OF FEBRUARY, 2003

Over Christmas break most people had forgotten the VD incident. Lizzie however had not. She had used her time thinking of a way to get back at William Pratt. He was a dick and deserved to be punished.

A lot of girls thought that Mr. Pratt was a 'dreamboat'. He had curly brown hair, high cheeks bones, bluer than blue eyes. He was rich, wrote poetry and extremely well toned due to being on the swimteam.

It made him more than popular with the ladies. He wasn't a notorious playboy, but it couldn't help to make other girls think he was a sleaze bag.

Liz had played with the notion of posting nude pictures of his 5 year old self around the school, but she felt like that was a bridge to far. What was in the past shouldn't be dragged into their vendetta.

So on Monday she marched right up to him, slapped him across the face. "How could you do that?!"

William half expecting he was getting it for the whole VD thing and was surprised when she started yelling about Harmony and how he'd broke her heart by cheating on her multiple times and lying to her face about it, even though she had pictures to prove it and he knew that. Her friend Harmony confirmed the story and the pictures of him with someone other than Harmony.

In truth he and Harmony never dated and the pictures were him photo shopped with some girl they'd found on the internet.

It worked however. He couldn't get a date for the next 3 months.
________________

SANTA MONICA, 1ST OF JULY, 2004
11:30 PM

Her lips crashed into his with passion. Hands were everywhere. They didn't know which ones belonged to who.

He broke away to look into her hazel eyes. "This changes nothin', love."
She rolled her eyes, "Preaching to the choir."

He smirked and continued. He slowly removed her blouse and hiked up her skirt. His fingers grazed her panties. She gasped a little, unbuttoning his pants.

He removed her panties. He was on the verge of slipping a finger into her when she stopped him. "We agreed no foreplay, only penis and vagina sex. So no meaningful staring into each other's eyes while cumming or whatever."

He shrugged. He'd wanted to torment her a bit, since he was so good at it. But this way had its perks too. Otherwise she would've tortured him right back. And he wasn't a big fan of that.

He pulled out his erection and put a condom on. Then he pushed her back and started kissing her neck. Eventually he sank into her.
________________

SANTA MONICA, 2ND OF JULY, 2004
0:45 AM

They were lying head by head, staring at the sky.

"I can't believe we did that," She sighed, "if you ever tell anyone...!"

"What then, princess?" He smirked, obviously amused.

"I'll make you wish you were never born." She simply said.

He shrugged. It didn't matter anyway. She was going to Brown in Rhode Island, while he was going back to the mother country, to attend Cambridge. It's not like they would ever see each other again.
________________

NEW YORK CITY, 3RD OF MAY, 2011

Spike looked at his phone. The adress Willow had texted him, made no sense. When he asked around it turned out he only needed to cross the street. A lovely middle aged lady let him in. Willow had told him the spare key was on the hallway lamp next to her door.

He pried it off carefully, but wasn't surprised when it turned out the door was unlocked. She had also told him her roommate might be there.

He put down his bag near the door and looked at his watch. Red would be working till 5. It was only 2 now. He decided to sit down on the couch, maybe take a nap.

Somewhere in the apartment the shower was going. After about 5 minutes it stopped. 10 minutes later a tiny girl with dark brown hair came out of the bathroom, clad in a fluffy blue robe.

She looked a little surprised when she saw a man with platinum blond hair sitting on her couch. But Willow had informed her that her guest would arrive today.

"You must be Spike," she smiled, extending her hand.

He looked up and shook her hand. "You're Buffy, right? Red can't talk about anyone else."

The found something familiar in each other's eyes, but neither of them could pin point what it was.

NEW YORK CITY, 3RD OF MAY, 2011
5:15 PM

Willow looked at her watch. Shit, she thought to herself. She was already late and nowhere near her apartment.
She had been excited when Spike had told her he was coming to live in New York. He had been by far her favorite cousin and she had barely seen him since he moved to Cambridge. Not that she saw him on a regular basis before that (only on holidays really), but then she'd seen him at least twice a year.

And now she felt really bad that she was running late. She couldn't have helped it. Today was her last day before her two week holiday and of course that was the time to dump really important cases on her desk.
But that was all behind her for the moment. She was going to spend 2 weeks with Spike, helping him get settled and showing him the city. She couldn't wait.

It was 5.45 PM when she finally reached the apartment. She figured that Spike and Buffy had made each other's acquaintance by now, so they could go straight to dinner and drinks.
______________


When she came in though, Buffy was reading a magazine in her favorite chair, but Spike was nowhere to be seen. And she had the feeling her roommate wasn't entirely comfortable.

Buffy looked up from her magazine. "Hey Will, how was your day?"
"Fine..." Willow said, "Where's Spike?"
The other girl waved her hand into the direction of the windows. "On the fire escape, I think. Smoking." Buffy made a face and again concentrated on her magazine.
The red head nodded, still getting a weird vibe. Then she went to the window and found Spike sitting right outside it.
"Spikey!" She grinned. He had looked annoyed, but when he saw her his face lit up.
"Red!" He got up and climbed through the window, after Willow moved aside. They hugged excitedly.

"It's been too long!" Willow muttered. He smiled, "I know. But that's about to change, pet."
"I know. It's great you're moving to the city!"
Behind her sounded something like a snort, but when the two looked at Buffy she was simply coughing.
"So what do you say to dinner?"
"Get into my belly?"
Willow laughed, "That's my boy. Let me change and we can all go."
Spike nodded and sat down on the couch. Buffy didn't look up from her magazine, but mumbled, 'fine, Will.'

Willow dissapeared into her bedroom, got out of her work clothes and decided on a lovely blue dress.
When she returned not 10 minutes later, she was bit astounded by the sight. Buffy was sitting straight up, her arms folded over her chest, staring at Spike.
He had made himself comfortable on the couch, right a cross from her, and he was staring back. They didn't seem to notice their friend standing on the threshold from her bedroom, looking wholly uncomfortable.

"Guys?" She finally offered. In unison they looked at her. "Dinner?"
Spike nodded and got up, but Buffy said, "I don't feel to good. I think I'll skip."
This got Willow's blood boiling a bit. "Spike, can you wait in the hall?"
He shrugged indifferently and left.

"Buffy! You promised!"
The brunette shrugged. "I just don't feel good."
"Buuuff." Willow drew out, "I can tell you don't like him. But you promised to at least be civil. And once you get past his whole bad-assery facade he is really a great guy!"
"Sure," Buffy said sarcastically.
"Dude."
Buffy sighed in defeat. "Fine."
Willow clapped her hands. "Yay!" she squealed, "It's gonne be great."
The brunette really doubted that.
______________

In their attempts to be civil, Buffy and Spike barely spoke two words to each other. They were all smiles and friendliness towards Willow, but to each other they were all secret scowls and underwater jabs.

Willow noticed it and it was frustrating the hell out of her. What had happened in that time I wasn't there?
She didn't want to ruin the evening so she glossed over most of it, ignoring the body language the two of them were giving off.

They were in a tiny restaurant called Off the Wall. It was so small in fact it only had 3 tables. Normally this kind of place was intended for romance. The owners of Off the Wall decided the interior design should be very eclectic. Nothing matched with anything, but all these jumbled things made for a happy and relaxed atmosphere. Willow liked it, because it was quiet but nice. And they had awesome deserts.

She looked at her cousin and her friend and noticed that because of her the conversation had fallen by the wayside.
"Buffy," she finally said. Her roommate turned her attention to Willow.
"Yes, Willow?"
"Any fun stories?" The red head asked hopefully.
Buffy shrugged and smiled softly, "Not really."

"Spike?"
The man put his hands together and looked intently at Buffy. "I have no stories, but I do have a question."
"Do tell!" Willow said, eager for any type of distraction.
"Buffy, pet... could you ask your mother if it hurt giving birth to devil spawn?"
"No, but if you really want to know, you could ask yours," Buffy replied sweetly, taking a bite from a bread roll.

He leered at her. Willow didn't like where this was going. In her desperation she shouted, "I'm gay!"
The other two looked at her, quite surprised. "Willow, we know." Spike said with a friendly tone.
"I-I know, but that sentence is a great way to relocate awkwardness." The girl was almost as red as her hair. Finally she relaxed a bit and let her hands fall on the table. "Could you tell me why you two don't like each other?"

"A vibe thing," Buffy replied vaguely, shooting a glare at Spike, who was incidentally looking at her.
He moved his gaze towards his cousin, "Yeah... that's it," He smiled, but then his eyes went back to Buffy and his tone grew colder. "A vibe thing."

Willow gave up. She waved over a waitress so they could order and have the evening over with. This wasn't going to work. The only she could do now is keep the two apart for the time Spike was staying with them.
______________

Around dessert Willow had left for a bit to go the bathroom. When she returned, she saw Spike and Buffy have an intense debate in hushed whispers, which abruptly stopped when she returned to the table.

She didn't know what they had said together, but the underlying hostility lessened considerably after that. If she didn't know better she could've sworn Buffy and Spike were becoming fast friends. It irked her a little, but relieved her as well. If they could keep this up, at least in her prescence, her cousin staying might actually work out okay. She smiled at them and tucked into her brownie pie.
______________

When they got home, Buffy went to bed almost immediately, claiming to have an early day tomorrow. Willow helped Spike set up his bed and then turned in as well.

In her bedroom she called her girlfriend Tara, to inform her of the night's events.
"What do you think happened?" Willow asked after laying out every detail.
She could hear Tara sigh. "I think they're just two very different people and they got into an argument of some kind."
Willow nodded. "That must be it."
"Don't worry about it, sweetie," Tara said in her soft voice, "Everything will work out fine."

After Willow hung up, she lay back down in bed, mulling over everything. She got startled when she heard a loud noise from the living room.
"Spike? You okay?" she called from her bed.
"Fine," he replied, a little muffled, "Just dropped some things."
"Night,"
"Night, red."

NEW YORK CITY, 3RD OF MAY, 2011
2:30 PM

After Buffy had introduced herself to the new guest she'd wen to get dressed. She had told Spike to just make himself at home, get the lay of the land.
She'd finally settled on a white top and a black skirt. When she was all good and ready she went back out. Spike had unpacked his bags a little and was reading a book.

Buffy smiled and sat down in her chair. "So... You're Willow's cousin right?"
"Yup. Our mothers are sisters," he replied, putting a marker in his book and closing it.
"How come you have an accent and Willow doesn't?" She was playing with the hem of her skirt. He smirked a little, "I've lived in England until I was 5. Willow's lived her all her life."
"Makes sense, " she replied, "So where did you live before Cambridge?"
"California."
She looked up, "Really? Me too! Grew up not far from L.A. Sunnydale." Buffy didn't really think it would ring a bell, but hey, you never know right?

Suddenly he looked at her really intensely, his eyes reduced to slits. She stared back. And then it hit her. It all came to her in flash. She'd seen that look a thousand times over. She gasped, her eyes grew wide as saucers.
That look made realisation dawn on him.
"William!"
"Elizabeth!"

"You're related to Willow?" Buffy asked him.
"Duh, I just told you. I can't believe you're her roommate," Spike snapped back, looking a little disgusted. Then he started chuckling, "Oh. You're good."
She was confused, "What?"
"One last trick, ey? Ruin my life completely."
She snorted. "Are you on drugs? Like I'd go through an elaborate ploy to spite you, 7 years after high school!"

He had to admit, that was very far fetched. But still...
"You were supposed to go to Brown!" He accused.
"I lied!" Spike got up and started pacing around.
"Un-bloody-believable."
Buffy followed him with her eyes. "You tell me."
"The last person I want to see! And of course she shows up when I'm trying to get my life in order." He wasn't talking to her anymore. He was looking at the ceiling while pacing around. She assumed he was having a one-sided conversation with god.

Buffy got up and went into the kitchen to get something to drink and to get her head in order. With the discovery all the feelings she had about him, good and bad had come rushing in. She always assumed she was over it. It had been years since she'd had violent fantasies about him. She only used his head when she was kickboxing. If that wasn't closure, what was?

Spike was furious with the universe. He'd come to New York to recreate a new life and to be near his favorite family member. He'd come here to get away from everything in his past, so of course the past just had to be best friends with Willow. Perfect sense! Not.

He was still pacing when she came back in, a coke in hand. She took a sip and put it down on the coffee table.
He turned around to see her sitting, staring at him. He sat down across from her. When he started really looking he noticed she was nothing like the scrawny chit she was in high school. She'd become more round and curvy, her clothing style was a little more mature and gone were the sunny locks. Instead it was a chocolate brown.

She noticed that he'd become broader since high school. More muscles. His curly brown hair was now slicked back and peroxide blonde. And gone were the surfer like clothes. He was now all black and 'punk'.

They stared at each other for a long while. Buffy was going over the things she wanted to say to him in her head; insults mostly.
Spike was doing the same. He was also thinking about why some higher power was fucking with him this way. At these moments he always believed in a deity, because in an uncontrolled world this shit didn't happen.

Finally, Buffy was thinking of what to do. Willow was supposed to be home in a few hours and she didn't want her friend to suffer under their animosity.
"I have a proposition."
"Big words. I'd almost think you're smart."
"Shut up, dillhole," She said, irritated, "Willow can't know that we know each other."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" He was leaning forwards now. His elbows were on his knees and his head was leaning in his hands. His eyes were fixed on her.
"Willow is my best friend and your... best cousin. Just because we're mortal enemies or whatever doesn't mean she has to suffer. It's best if we just avoid each other and try to be civil."

He nodded slowly. As much as he hated to admit it, the bint did have a point. "Fine. But don't expect us ever to be friends."
She let out a throaty laugh that contained nothing but disdain. "Like I could ever be friends with you."
Spike snorted, "Like you're such a great catch."

All of a sudden her facial expression changed. She was smiling, but it wasn't friendly. He could only describe it as plain evil. With a low voice she said, "You didn't seem to think that in Santa Monica."
He winced. She just couldn't leave that one mistake alone. They were drunk, it was a thing, get over it.
Buffy watched him get up and reach into the pocket of his dusters for something. After a few seconds he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a zippo.
"Outside, fire escape," she immediately ordered.

He shrugged. Up tight bitch.
_____________________

5:45 PM

Buffy was reading a magazine. Spike was still out on the fire escape. He'd only come back in to grab a book and something to drink. It was nice out, so it didn't bother him.
She followed him with her eyes whenever he was moving around her, like he might kill her or rob her blind. He wouldn't be surprised if she actually thought he would.

Buffy on the other hand was going over all the pieces of information she'd gotten from Willow about him and didn't understand she hadn't realized it sooner. Willow had told her that her cousin had lived in a small town near L.A. That he used to be this really popular kid, but changed when he went to Cambridge. Not to mention that he had a feud going on with some girl at his old high school.
And she remembered seeing this tiny red haired girl at Christmas many years ago, William's cousin.

Finally Willow came in and Buffy felt relieved. She was going to tell her that she felt sick and didn't want to go to dinner with her and Spike.
_____________________

Buffy should've known. You couldn't say 'no' to Willow. It was physically impossible. Everything went okay though, up until the devil spawn remark.

Spike couldn't help it. It felt unnatural to say nothing offensive towards Buffy. Sure they'd made subtle remarks and all that jazz, but that wasn't quite as satisfying as saying it outright to her face. Buffy got a flustered, but that only made him enjoy it more.

When Willow went to the bathroom, she kicked him hard in the shins. "You ass!" she hissed.
Spike looked pained and rubbed his legs. "What was that for?" he whispered back.
She kicked him again, but this time not out of frustration. Just because she wanted to. "We're not supposed to act like that in front of Willow!"
"I'm sorry, pet, I let myself slip up. I won't do it again."
Buffy pressed her lips together and seemed to be thinking. "I know it's hard, but let's just make with the friendlies. I don't want Willow to be as uncomfortable as she was before."

"Yeah... we were so mean she came out a second time." Spike chuckled when he thought of it, but abrubtly stopped when Buffy shot him her famous death glare.
_____________________

"I'm going to bed, early day," Buffy declared as soon as she stepped over the threshold. Neither Spike nor Willow tried to stop her.

She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and in her room she quickly replaced her clothes for her cotton payama's, the ones with cows. She crawled in bed and closed her eyes. But Mister Sandman was nowhere near.
Her brain kept going over the entire surrealistic day. She still couldn't believe that William was in her apartment. She hated him, still. He was also still really attractive. Actually, he had grown to be sexier over time. The whole vintage 70's look worked for him. And she didn't mind his clothes were old, because that meant it was easier to rip them off. Oh, how she wanted to.
_____________________

After Willow and Buffy had left, Spike had settled on the couch. He turned on the TV and flipped the channels. He finally settled on Casablanca, one of his all time favorite movies. He couldn't concentrate however. His thoughts kept wandering back to Buffy. He hated her, yes. But that didn't stop him from finding her unbelievably hot. Although he thought the brown hair didn't suit her, she had become more curvy over the years. It made his mouth water and his jeans feel a hell of a lot tighter.

He was contemplating on going to the bathroom to do some self loving when he heard behind him, "Casablanca? Again?"
"It's a great movie, pet." He replied, keeping in a groan of frustration. Buffy sat down next to him. She pulled in her legs and leaned to the side.
Jesus, he thought to himself, she makes cow pajamas look sexy.

Buffy looked at him, eying his abs and his shoulders. Then she moved a little upwards to his neck. It looked so good she wanted to sink her teeth into it. She couldn't help but lick her lips.

"What?" He asked a little annoyed. He didn't know what to do. Keep watching his movie or jump her.
"Nothing..." she replied. Little did he know, she was thinking pretty much the same thing. Eventually she turned away from him and focussed on the screen. It was really hard. And did she imagine it, or was it really hot in her livingroom?

Spike shifted around uncomfortably. The erection in his pants wasn't getting any less and Buffy sitting next to him all sexy and flushed wasn't really helping. He looked at her from his periphery, but glanced away quickly, when she did the same.

"Why you up?" He asked casually.
"Couldn't sleep." She replied. She started playing with the locks of her brown hair. He knew that move. That was the move that made Santa Monica happen.
Sod it, he thought.

Spike turned his head to her casually, like nothing was going on. She did the same. Their eyes locked. In the blink of an eye, he had scooted over and smashed his face into hers. She gasped a little in surprise, but started kissing him back. Hands were every where. After a while, he pulled her on top of him. She tried to move onto his lap, but in the process of moving and furiously making out she knocked something over, which landed with a loud thud! They both cringed.

"Spike? You okay?" sounded from Willow's bedroom.
"Fine," Spike replied, feeling out of his wits, "Just dropped some things."
It was quiet for a bit. But then his cousin said, "Night,"
"Night, red."

Before he could do anything, Buffy was back in her bedroom. Spike also came to his senses. This was stupid and didn't want to go down that road again.