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Author's Chapter Notes:
sorry it's a day late...TSR wasn't working for me yesterday and I couldn't update then. I also posted a chapter of JaT today and a collection of drabbles (nine to be exact)...please read them?
Chapter 27

Five Weeks Later

Spike was home.

Except that it didn’t feel so much like home anymore. He missed having Buffy around. Stupid, yeah--especially with all she'd put him through--but it was true.

Everything seemed so lonely and quiet now. It was like he'd had a few weeks of having a family, of being a part of a family again, and now he was back to being alone. And that was how he was going to stay--at least for a while. He hadn't told any of them where he was going--not Rupert, not Joyce, and certainly not Buffy. Joyce had his cell phone number but that was the only means any of them had of contacting him.

He'd decided that a clean break would be better than a drawn out, painful separation.

And boy was he glad that he'd chosen the 'better' option; he'd hate to see what he'd feel like if he'd done differently.

He was glad that he was so close to the City as it gave him something to do--distractions, really--during the day. So far he'd been to ten museums and four art galleries. And he had spent days and days at the local library reading books other than the ones he had to review, something he had not done in months.

And he'd gotten a second job as well. He was working four days a week at a used book store. It was just a few hours a day really, not so much that it would disrupt his book reviewing. But it was nice. It kept him busy.

And lately, busy was his favorite thing to be.

"William? Could you please help these young ladies?" It was Anya, the young owner of the book shop.

Spike looked over to find two young women who looked incredibly bored but who seemed to brighten as he turned to look at them.

"How can I help you beautiful ladies?" Spike figured that going on a few dates wouldn't be so bad, and he couldn't go on those dates if he didn't flirt a little.

The taller of the two, a beautiful brunette, spoke up first, "Her," she pointed to the blond, "Boyfriend wants some book...some old one or something and someone at Borders told us to come here." Spike held back a smile at how blatantly she batted her lashes at him, deciding that maybe this dating thing wouldn't be so hard. She seemed like a nice enough bird...

"Well I'm sure Miss," he waited appropriately for her answer.

"Chase. Miss Cordelia Chase," she provided.

"Well, Miss Chase," he started again, "You ladies can call me Spike...and I'm sure that I can help you out."

"So you can you like tell us where the book is or not?" Harmony interrupted, confused by the angry look Cordy shot her way.

"Chill, Harm," Cordy started. "I'm sure he's going to help us. Just be a little more patient."

"I want to get the book for Mark, okay?" she asked again.

"Well, let's let Spike show us where it is then." Cordy was trying to continue talking with him as long as possible.

"I'd be happy to," he told them. "Just let me know what the title is."

"It's this like, it's some sort of military thing...about like the world war or something," Harmony answered.

"Do you know which World War?" Spike tried to clarify and Cordelia tried to side with him, rolling her eyes at Harmony's stupidity--though, to be honest, she didn't know herself.

"Like the second one I think....it's by some guy with a weird name...like, uh...oh, it's Rupert something," she finally remembered.

Not only did that actually let Spike know what book she was talking about, it gave him an unwelcome reminder of Buffy. He decided that he was definitely going to try to get Cordelia Chase's phone number before she left the shop.

Or actually, he suddenly changed his mind, maybe he could get Harmony's number. Yeah, sure, she was the most annoying chit he'd met in a long time, but....she looked kind of like Buffy.

He hadn't noticed it at first but just a second ago when she'd actually smiled, not that ditzy one, but a real one--happy that she'd remembered something--he'd seen it.

Cordelia was flirting her ass off but he had changed his goal, now, he was going to get Harmony to go out with him.

"This sure is an attentive girlfriend thing for you to be doing," Spike looked at Harmony and smiled after catching her eye, nearly overjoyed when she blushed under his attention. “This Mark must really love you."

He didn't expect to see her look so disappointed all of a sudden. "He doesn't!" she whined, throwing herself unexpectedly into Spike's arms. "That's why I was going to get him a present, to show him I can be a good girlfriend! I'm going to be old soon," She pouted, sniffling against his shirt, "And I need a boyfriend!"

"Then I don't think you should be buying him any presents...not if he's not appreciating you," Spike soothed, rubbing her back lightly.

"But then I won't have a boyfriend," she pointed out.

"I'd be willing to take you to dinner," Spike offered, amazed at how easy this was becoming.

"Really?" she asked tearfully as she pulled back and looked up at him.

"Of course, anyone would be happy to have a girl like you," he lied, hoping he'd be able to put up with her.

"Oooh!" Cordelia whined. "You...I'm leaving."

"Why?" Harmony asked and Spike saw just how clueless she truly could be.

"Oh, never mind." Cordy was becoming exasperated with her friend. "I'll see you later; I'm sure Spike'll give you a ride home."

"Really?" Harmony asked him, acting as if he'd been the one to offer.

"Uh, yeah, sure. I get off work in about twenty minutes, why don't you go find some book to buy so my boss doesn't kill me for losing a sale and then I'll take you home."

"Okay!" Harmony smiled and Spike felt ever so slightly bad for what he was doing--breaking the poor girl and her boyfriend up just so he could hang around someone who reminded him of Buffy.

Cordelia left during their last exchange and Spike wondered if he was choosing the wrong girl to ask out, but decided that he was willing just this once to sacrifice personality for looks.

He was going to date a complete dolt. And just because she would remind him enough of Buffy to make him pretend that he hadn't really left her.

TBC........please, please, please review......new chapter day after tomorrow hopefully





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