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Buffy handed Spike her favorite childhood sheet set trying hard to fight down the blush rising in her cheeks when he glanced down at the embarrassing print and shot her one of his cocky grins. She still hadn’t managed to find the guest sheets her mom had tucked away somewhere in the house. It had been bad enough breaking them out for Giles, but getting them out for Spike made her want to find the nearest rock, crawl under it, and die.

She was tempted to tell him to go without—he did have his duster after all—but she knew Dawn wouldn’t stand for it. The last thing she wanted to do was give her sister a reason to blow up again. The evening had gone well after the first incident, although Buffy had sat quietly on the couch munching on her pizza for most of what was left of the evening. Unlike her sister, she couldn’t forget who Spike was—correction, had been.

Luckily, Willow had understood about their new houseguest when she arrived home. It had actually been Buffy who had brought the topic up. Surprisingly, when the Wicca had gotten home, helped herself to a slice of pizza, gave everyone her usual chipper hello, and headed up to her room to study. Buffy had expected at least a “What’s he doing here?”. It wasn’t like finding Spike at their house munching of pepperoni pizza was an every night occurrence, but apparently, Buffy was the only one having trouble accepting the vampire’s newly found humanity.

“Cute,” she heard him mutter as he tucked the sheet around the couch cushions.

“Sorry,” Buffy snapped, “I couldn’t find the big people sheets.”

“It’s okay, luv,” he laughed. “They are cute. You know, I find everything about you cute, if not down right…”

“Spike.” She placed a hand on his chest keeping him at arm’s length. A familiar tingle shot up through her fingers. It was simply the feeling of a beating heart under her hand, nothing more, she insisted silently. “You know this is only temporary, and there will be no physical contact.”

“Well, actually…” His blue eyes flickered down to her small hand still resting on his chest.

Buffy snatched her hand back with a growl. “You know what I mean!”

She quickly walked to the other side of the coffee table in an attempt to put a little distance between them. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to make any attempt to follow her she sat down on one of the chairs facing the couch sitting on the very edge of the cushion ready to dart for the stairs if she needed to.

“I’m sorry, if you think there’s going to be anything more,” she started out slowly really not wanting to have this conversation, but knowing she couldn’t let this go too long, “but this is only temporary. I know Dawn wants to be one big, happy family, and you think your getting a soul makes everything okay between us, but it doesn’t. It’s only a matter of time before that wish you made backfires, and I don’t even want to think what will happen when it does. You didn’t even think about that did you?”

“Buffy,” he sighed deciding to take a seat on the couch rather than try to touch her. He knew better than to push his luck when she was in this type of mood. She was apt to start sparing with him, and he had a feeling her kicks and punches would hurt a lot worse now that he was human. “Did you ever think that there might not be consequences? Hallie took the wish back, kind of like when she took Dawn’s back and left us get out of the house. I haven’t seen any side effects of that one yet.”

Buffy had to admit he did have a point. She really hated when he was right, but it still didn’t clear things up. They might not have to worry about any mystical kickbacks, but that didn’t mean there weren’t going to be any other problems.

“Okay, so say nothing does happen,” she replied, “what about Dawn’s caseworker? Remember her? I still have child services breathing down my neck. I barely was able to explain why you were here the first time. It’s going to be just a little tough to explain why you are living here.”

He grinned at her again and she knew she wasn’t going to like his answer before he even said it. “Well, we could always get married. Dawn could use a strong male role model…”

“That is not even close to funny,” she growled her fingers clenching the arms of the chair in an effort to keep herself from punching him. “Not to mention, I have Warren and his little friends to worry about. I really don’t have room to fit taking care of you into my schedule too.”

“You don’t have to take care of me! Halfrek didn’t turn me into a soddin’ baby!” he protested. “Besides, I can help you with your little want to be villains. I still have my connections in the demon world.”

“Connections that could easily kill you now that you’re human,” she reminded him. “I’m not going to have you going out there and getting yourself killed because of me.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that the wish wasn’t a total waste,” he sighed.

“What?” Buffy asked a look of confusion taking over the angry one she had been wearing.

He gave her a small, satisfied smile as he leaned back on the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table. “You might be too damned stubborn to admit that you have feelings for me, but at least, it finally got you to admit that you’re concerned.”

“I did not…” she quickly cut off her denial. She was concerned for him, and she had already said as much. It was too late to take it back now. She hated how he always seemed to know the right buttons to push to make her angry. She never was good at keeping her mouth shut when she was upset. “Fine, I don’t want to see you dead, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have a problem here.”

“It’s only a problem because you want it to be, Slayer,” he pushed. “Why don’t you just accept that this is something you can’t change? Maybe it would help if you’d just stop worrying about every little thing that comes along, and…”

“And what?” she snapped jumping up from the chair. “Fall deeply in love with you? I’m sorry, but that might make you and Dawn happy, but it’s not going to pay the bills, keep a roof over our heads, or keep Warren and his friends from doing whatever it is they’re planning on doing. If I don’t worry, nobody else is going to do it for me!”

“Buffy,” he called after her as left the room. He wanted to take her into his arms, tell her everything would be all right, but she had more than let him know that now was not the time. Instead he forced himself to be patient and remained on the couch. “I’m just asking you to give me a chance.”

Buffy paused at the foot of the stairs and looked back at him over her shoulder. “I am giving you a chance Spike. I’m letting you stay in my home, but that’s as far as it goes. I’m sorry if you thought being human would solve all our problems, but it doesn’t. I’m the Slayer, and I have to take care of Dawn, meaning I can’t be involved with anyone, not you, not anyone. I think my past track record proves that my relationships only tend to lead to more problems, and I have more than enough now as it is.”

Buffy didn’t wait for him to reply. Instead, she darted up the stairs before he was able to voice yet another argument. Spike waited until he heard the door to her room thud shut before he moved. Slowly, he stood up and returned to making his makeshift bed. Their little conversation had gone far from well, but it had gone better than most discussions they had had in the past. She had actually admitted that she cared for him. Okay, she had admitted she didn’t want him dead, but he’d take what he could get. Best of all, she hadn’t kicked him out, which meant he still had a chance.





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