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Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I am so glad people are still enjoying this!
"Buffy," Willow whispered as they were led along a corridor. "Is Spike the one you know, who got you the tickets?

"Yeah." Buffy ducked her head shyly.

"That is so cool! Will you introduce me?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course." They had just entered a room full of people, all rushing around and talking loudly. Buffy looked over her shoulder to tease her new friend. "And I'll make sure you meet that 'adorable' guitar player, too!"

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled, luv." An amused male voice sounded from a few feet away, one that sent shivers down Buffy's spine. She looked up, straight into Spike's simmering blue eyes. Those eyes captivated her, swirling with emotions she couldn't understand, and suddenly Buffy couldn't breath. Without a thought, acting on pure instinct, she crossed the distance and threw herself into his arms.

Spike was beyond shocked when he suddenly found himself with an armful of Buffy. He automatically embraced her, and closed his eyes briefly, reveling at the way she felt, smelled...soaking in every single, bloody thing about this moment.

He had invited her here with the best of intentions. He imagined she would come with her husband, and hopefully Spike would discover that Angel wasn't quite the prick Spike imagined him to be. Then he could, hopefully, move on, content to have Buffy as a friend. But instead the husband was nowhere in sight, and Buffy was here in his arms, looking even more luscious than he remembered. When he had seen her in the front row, in those tight leather pants that left absolutely nothing to the imagination and that green scrap of a top that matched her eyes, he hadn't been able to contain himself. He had gone right to her as if magnetized. And when she gave him her hand and he had automatically kissed it, he felt the electricity zip along the whole length of his body. By her reaction, she had felt it too.

Relucantly releasing her, he held her at arms length. "You look absolutely amazing, pet," he said sincerely.

"Thanks. You don't look bad yourself," she smiled back at him, green eyes sparkling.

Unable to resist, he captured her waist again, and she went to him uncomplainingly. Friends could hug, right?

"So, who's your date?" he smiled and nodded at the redhead who was standing quietly back, waiting to be noticed.

"Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. I was just excited at seeing you again," she blushed and then quickly made introductions. "Willow, this is Spike Giles. Spike, this is my new friend, Willow."

"Hi," Willow said shyly, her pale complexion turning as red as her hair.

"Nice to meet you, Willow," he said disengaging himself from Buffy to shake her hand. "Any friend of Buffy's is always welcome. Now," be began, trying to figure out how he could wrangle a few minutes along with the blonde vision who had just linked her hands around his arm. Was she trying to drive him insane? Every flick of her fingers fed his growing arousal. "Willow, did I hear something about you wanting to meet my mate, Oz?"

Willow nodded excitedly, momentarily lost for words.

"Oy, Oz!" Spike called in the general direction of where he thought his friend to be. "Come here! Got someone for you to meet."

"No more reporters, Spike." Oz said, a little warily, coming up from behind the group.

"Nah," Spike smiled. "Just some beautiful women."

"Well in that case..." Oz walked over and smiled at the girls.

"You remember Buffy..."

"Of course. Nice to see you again," Oz nodded at the blonde.

"And this is her friend, Willow. She's a fan of yours."

"Yeah?" Oz frankly appraised the redhead, his eyes lighting up with interest. "Want to get a drink?" he asked her, nodding in the direction of the refreshments.

Willow glanced at Buffy, who nodded eagerly at her. "Okay, yeah sure." Oz casually loped an arm around her neck and they headed off further into the room.

"Will she be okay with him?" Buffy asked, with just a touch of concern.

"Oz? Of course." he brushed the matter off. "I want to talk about you, though. Not that I'm not happy to meet your friend, pet, but where's Angel?"

Buffy ran a hand through her blond curls and rolled her eyes. "Guess."

"Oh. So sorry, luv.." Spike trailed off helplessly.

"Don't be. I don't care tonight. I'm tired of always worrying about where he is and why he isn't where he should be. I just wanna have fun tonight. Please, Spike?" she turned pleading green eyes up to him.

He knew Buffy had to care more than she was letting on, but who was he to insist on talking about her husband? Truth be told, he was more than happy to forget, too. With Buffy here with him- warm, soft skin under his fingers, sparkling eyes and a smile that lit up his world- all of his good intentions flew out the proverbial window.

"I'm sure you can show me a good time, right Spike?"

Her seductive tone startled him, and he swallowed hard, but couldn't keep the lust from flaring in his eyes. "Right, luv. One good time with no worries, coming up. Let me grab the guys and your friend, and we'll head out."

As he headed away from her, Buffy's conscience tried to download one last complaint. She was practically-no she was definitely flirting with Spike. And judging by the look on his face, he was enjoying it. This was so not a good idea. Mentally, Buffy squelched the opposition. She wasn't going to do anything. Just have fun and not worry. And if she wanted to bask in her very hot, male friend's approval, then why not?

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Two hours later, much basking had been accomplished. At all of the different nightspots the group had hit, Spike and Buffy had been inseparable. After getting past the inital whallop that seeing one another had been, the two laughed and talked as easily as they had by email and on the phone. That wasn't to say that sparks weren't flying every time their fingers brushed, or even when their eyes locked in a certain way.

Buffy was exihilarated. She hadn't had this much fun in years. Couldn't even remember the last time. She and Spike were currently sitting tucked away in a corner of a tiny nightclub Willow had brought them to. The redhead and Oz were currently fighting their way to the bar to refresh the drink supply, and Buffy and Spike were huddled close, foreheads nearly touching, debating the merits of French food versus Italian.

"There's just something so comforting about pasta," Buffy was saying. "And I don't think I've ever had a French meal that didn't make me feel awkward at some point. All those sauces and "treatments." And they don't even translate the dishes." Without either of them really noticing, his hand crept to cover hers on the table.

"You have obviously never had the right kind of French food, pet. The Americanized versions just don't get it right. See, they concentrate on the presentation and ignore the flavors." Now his thumb was slowly stroking circles on her skin.

"Well, we can't all be world travelers!" she admonished teasingly.

"Pet, I promise one of these days I will see to it that you get a proper French meal. We have to do something about rounding out those Yank sensibilities!" He was baiting her on purpose. Their banter made her eyes flash, and he felt he would do anything to see that devilish smile on her face.

He was rewarded with just that same grin, but before she could answer, a voice blared through the music. An annoyingly high-pitched voice that Spike had hoped to never hear again.

"Blondie Bear!" None other than Harmony Kendall, the girl he had dallied with on their last New York appearance was pushing through the crowd as fast as she could.

"Blondie Bear?" Buffy asked, sotto voce.

Spike thumped his head on the table and groaned. "A huge, huge mistake, pet. Can we hide before she gets here, do you think?"

Buffy was rather enjoying his discomfort, although a tell-tale zing of jealousy was also making itself known. "Too late, I think."

"Oh, Blondie Bear! I never thought I'd see you again!" Through an efficient use of her elbows, the other blonde girl had reached their table in record speed.

"Hi, Harmony." Spike replied wearily.

"I'm so - " she broke off, seeing Buffy's and Spike's linked hands. "Is this your new girlfriend?" she asked petulantly.

Following her gaze, Spike jumped as if burned, and tried to pull away, but Buffy held on tight to his fingers and threw him a mischevious look. She could help him out here.

After all, it was the duty of a female friend to a male friend right, to rescue him from unwanted female attention?

"Maybe," she told Harmony coyly.

The other girl looked nonplussed. "Well, if it's nothing serious..."

Spike decided to take full advantage of this situation and pulled Buffy up and onto his lap. She raised her brows at him, but nonetheless settled comfortably. She didn't

even want to think about how wonderful this felt.

"Oh, we're serious, all right. Very, very serious," he told Harmony.

"Well, then. I guess you will be missing out!" she huffed and spinning on her heel, flounced back across to the bar.

Spike and Buffy exploded into laughter. "That's what you hang around with?" Buffy spluttered. "We have got to do something about your taste in women!"

"I think my taste is improving." He tightened his arms around her and their laughter fell away as quickly as it began. Buffy's pulse was racing, and she was spiraling down, down into his darkened eyes.

"Buffy!" An insistent voice to her left prodded her out of the spell, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Willow was standing at her elbow trying to get her attention. Oz was behind her, arms laden with drinks.

"Sorry, what?" she asked fuzzily.

"There's a man asking about you at the bar," the redhead frowned. "I thought I should tell you in case he was a creepy stalker or something."

Buffy looked up sharply. Standing about ten feet away, dark eyes boring into her, was Angel.

She jumped as if as scalded. Forcing her feet to move, she mumbled something about "being right back" to the group and plunged into the crowd.

"Who was that?" Oz asked.

Spike had followed her gaze and his heart plummeted. "I'm pretty sure that's her husband," he said, not even noticing Willow and Oz's shocked stares.

"Angel?" Buffy had finally reached his side. "What are you doing here?" For some reason, she was shaking. Why? She hadn't done anything wrong. Not really anyway...

"I could ask you the same thing," his tone was clipped. "A friend gave me a call, said you were here and I should check it out. What is going on, Buffy?"

"Angel, please keep your voice down." Even in the noisy bar, they were beginning to attract attention. Seeing the curious stairs, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the corridor leading to the back room. It was empty and relatively quiet, and the cool air leaking through the exit door cooled Buffy's hot cheeks.

"There's nothing going on," she told him quietly but firmly. "I went to the concert and Spike invited me to come out after. I knew you wouldn't be home, so I didn't see the harm in it."

"You didn't see the harm?" Furious, Angel backed her against the wall, his large frame looming over her smaller one. "Look how you're dressed! I told you I didn't want you wearing that outfit. And the way you were acting! What are people going to think?" Angel grabbed her arm and gave it a small shake.

Buffy, refusing to be cowed, started to answer, but was cut off by another female voice.

"Is everything all right here?" Anya had been headed to the ladies room when she heard the raised voices. Not wanting to interfere, she hung back, but when Angel gripped Buffy's arm, she knew she couldn't just leave it alone. Briefly, Anya considered getting Spike, but she was pretty sure that would only make things worse.

When Anya spoke, Angel had immediately released Buffy and backed off. Eyes not leaving her face, he spoke more gently. "We're fine, thanks."

"It's okay, Anya." Buffy said. "Angel, this is Anya Jenkins, Blue Flame's manager."

"Nice to meet you," he replied tersely. "We have to be going."

He turned on his heel and started for the door. Buffy hurriedly followed him, waving goodbye to her friends, hoping Spike would forgive her abrupt departure.

Anya reluctantly watched them go, again wondering if she should tell Spike about the little scene she had witnessed. The dark man's behavior made her nervous, but she was afraid that Spike's reaction would be more than was warranted. It was definitely not a good idea for him to get more involved than he already was. So she decided to keep quiet, for now at least.





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