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Buffy played absently with the ear of her stuffed pig. She made no sound, but the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She made no attempt to stop them this time. She was too angry to care at this point.

He actually had the nerve to search her out after the little scene she had witnessed in the training room. She had hoped that he would have given her some time to calm down, but she knew that was too much to hope for. Spike always had a gift for being there when she didn’t feel like talking.

She could hear the thud of his heavy boots as he made his way up the stairs and knew that it was useless to hope he might just bypass her room. There was no way he’d just go to bed and let her have some peace for the rest of the night. She should have told him to get out before she had run and hid in her room. Hadn’t that been part of the plan when she had been gorging herself on mint chocolate chip? She had been so furious when he had sat down across from her, but she just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t send him away. If she had, she knew this time he would leave for good.

Buffy didn’t even raise her eyes when Spike knocked lightly at her bedroom door. She expected it really. She knew the vampire well enough to know that he could never leave well enough alone.

“Buffy, please,” he called through the wooden door, “you’ve got to talk to me.”

“No, I don’t” she answered angrily slamming the stuffed animal on the bed next to her. She really wanted to hit something, break something, and the knowledge that Spike was right about her jealousy just made her all the more angry. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”
She could hear his growl of anger even through the door. “Right then.” He answered so low that she had to strain to hear him, “I, bloody, will leave you alone!”

She forced herself to stay seated after that comment, her whole body tense until she heard the door to his room shut behind him. What was she doing? What happened to not wanting to get hurt? But wasn’t she hurting now? All because she might lose him.





“Honey, could you take the bags upstairs?” Dawn asked placing the last piece of luggage next to the couch. She hadn’t realized how carried away with the souvenirs they had gotten until she had packed their things. “I want to call Buffy and let her know we’re home.”

“You know,” Andrew told her hefting a second duffel bag over his shoulder, “if we had come back next week like planned, you wouldn’t have to all her in the middle of the night.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” Dawn replied kissing her husband lightly on the cheek. “There’s something wrong. I couldn’t just sit there worrying. I’ll call Buffy, and then I’ll meet you upstairs, and we can finish the honeymoon.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied with a smile as he grabbed two bags in each hand and headed for the stairs.

Dawn did feel guilty for cutting their trip short, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong in Sunnydale. She wasn’t going to feel better until she had a chance to speak with her sister.

Dawn held the receiver to her ear with her shoulder as she dialed. She only got to the fourth number when there was a knock at the door. She nearly dropped the receiver as she fumbled it back onto the cradle. No one knew they were home, and it was way too late for salesmen. The second knock, more forceful this time, let her know that whoever it was had no plans on leaving anytime soon.

“Coming,” she called over the sound of the third knock as she made her way to the door and swung it open. It took her a moment to recognize the person who stood before her, but her eyes grew wide when realization finally sunk in. “Riley?”

“Dawn? Is that you?” the man before her smiled sweetly. “You’ve grown so much.”

“Riley?” she repeated the shock of seeing him slowly wearing off. “We thought you were…”

“Dead?” Riley finished the sentence for her. “Had a couple of close calls, but I’m back.”

“After all this time?”

“Well,” Riley shrugged, “you know the government. Got stuck in South America longer than planned. Then there was debriefing after debriefing, but I’ve come home.”

“Have you seen Buffy yet?” Dawn tried to cover up the tenseness in her voice. “I’m sure she’d be happy to see you.”

“Not yet,” Riley answered. “With the way things went when I left, I wasn’t sure she’d be too gung-ho to see me. I thought maybe we could talk. Maybe you could help smooth the path?”

“Yeah, well” Dawn hesitated. Something felt strange, but this was Riley. He wasn’t exactly a prizewinner when it came to being a boyfriend, but he was harmless.

“Dawn, can I come in?” Riley pushed.

“What? Oh yeah, come in,” Dawn answered moving back from the doorway so Riley could enter.







Buffy hesitated taking a deep breath as she held her fist in the air only inches from the door. She had been so ready to do this when she had left her room, but now she really didn’t know if she could go through with it. What was wrong with her? She just wanted to talk to him, try to at least make some sort of peace between them. She couldn’t afford to have him angry with her or take the chance that he might leave, not with a new Slayer to baby-sit and vampires hunting her down. They were just going to talk that was all. So why was she so nervous? She was just being stupid. He probably wouldn’t even answer her knock anyway!

“Buffy?” the sound of his voice behind her made her jump in surprise as she spun around to face him. “Did you want something?”

Buffy just wanted to melt into the wall, but instead she just stood there her mouth opening and shutting in a perfect fish impression. The door to the bathroom was open behind him and the light was still on inside. So wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn’t even heard him leave his room. Now he stood before her his hair still damp, wearing nothing but a towel draped loosely about his waist. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the small droplets of water that still clung to his chest as she felt her cheeks begin to burn. She wasn’t prepared to see him this way.

“Buffy?” Spike repeated.

“Huh, what?” Buffy asked quickly forcing herself to make eye contact. The moment their eyes met she knew she had made a mistake. The ability to actually form a coherent sentence was long gone.

“I asked,” Spike said slowly grinning slightly at the Slayer’s discomfort. “if there was something you wanted. I’m sorry if I disturbed your sulking with all the noise while I took a shower.”

“What? No you didn’t disturb me,” a glare came to her eye when she finally realized what he had just said, “and I wasn’t sulking!”

“That’s what I would call it,” Spike shrugged and Buffy couldn’t help but wonder how many more times he could repeat that action before the towel dropped. Quickly, she pushed that thought from her mind, making a point of listening to what the vampire had to say.

“Now, was there something you needed?” Spike asked once more.

“I, um, I just wanted to say, I’m sorry,” Buffy took a deep breath and continued quickly before she lost her nerve. “I didn’t mean to… I mean, I know you were just training…I…”

“Apology accepted,” Spike shrugged again. “Now, if I could be in my room? Sun will be up soon, and I was never a morning person.”

“Spike?” she asked softly.

“What Slayer?” he sighed knowing he wasn’t going to get into his room until she got her little speech out of her system.

“Don’t leave me…” Buffy replied softly, barely a whisper.

“Wh…” Spike’s question was cut short as the Slayer fell into his arms and pressed her lips tightly to his. Her arms snaked around him, and he nearly cried in surprise when one hand ventured lower yanking the towel from his hips. He didn’t understand what had brought on the change. He had learned years ago, he’d never understand Buffy, but he knew enough that this particular moment was not the time to ask questions. Instead, he pulled the Slayer tight against his body, one hand roaming upwards to tangle his fingers in her long golden hair. He picked her up slightly, carrying her towards his bedroom door, and used his foot to kick it open. He’d worry about questions later.





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