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It's so interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on the fight from the last chapter. I had a lot of people siding with Buffy, a lot of people siding with Spike, and a whole lot of heart break. As I've said before this is a generally fluffy fic, but we all know from the series just how stubborn and pig headed the two of them are.

This chapter is dedicated to Sibb because of her obvious emotional investment in this fic. As always a big shout out to my regular reviewers, you guys always put a smile on my face and if it wasn't for every single one of you this story would have died off a long time ago.

I literally re-wrote this thing six different times so I'm sorry about the wait, I hope it's worth it.

Chapter 25.

Buffy walked out of the green room and rushed blindly past the sea of faces that all seemed to have their eyes trained on her. She knew that she was being ridiculous, these people definitely had better things to do with their time than stare at her, but that's what vulnerability will do to a person. She walked around to the side of the stage and made her way toward the bar where Amy and Chris were sitting. They motioned for her to join them at the small table they had somehow managed to snag and she quickly jumped at the opportunity.

"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard," Glory's voice rang out through all of the speakers in the venue, "but I think... OH BONDAGE! UP YOURS! ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!"

Buffy watched for the last time as the lights flew on and Glory Wire was presented to the crowd of onlookers they called an audience. Glory was front and center and, as always, demanded all of the attention from her fans. Andrew was in his normal spot to her left and Darla the one to her right. Buffy noticed instantly that Darla wasn't nearly as lively as she usually was but she didn't really think much of it, they had had a long day and she knew tomorrow would be even worse.

She turned her attention back to Amy and Chris and was just a little bit surprised when she noticed that one of them had taken it upon themselves to buy her a drink. "It's a fuzzy navel." Amy said as she saw the confused look on her face.

"I know what it is," Buffy said, "I was just trying to figure out where it came from." She looked up and saw Chris sheepishly looking around with a hand rubbing the back of his neck in a very conspicuous manner. "Chris!"

"What?" He asked innocently. "It's your last night, you shouldn't have to buy your own drinks on your last night."

Buffy smiled as she took the glass in her hand, gave him a quick salute, and promptly moved the glass to her lips. She was very happy when she realized just how little alcohol was in the concoction, another round of heavy drinking was the last thing that she needed right now, and proceeded to drink it at her leisure while she listened to Amy and Chris talk about everything and nothing as long as it wasn't about work or a certain bleached blonde that was due to take the stage any minute. Buffy had already decided that when Passions took the stage she was going to excuse herself from the table and keep herself occupied outside where she wouldn't feel as if she was constantly under his icy blue gaze, the only reason she was even in here now was to support Darla.

She turned around in her chair as stealthily as she could and sure enough she could see him standing across the room with his arms folded over his chest. He was pretending to be intently watching the stage, but as she continued to gaze at his from a distance she slowly saw his head start to turn and glance over at her.

Buffy whipped her head back around to face Amy and Chris as her heart pounded away in her chest. She made a big show of nodding along with whatever they were talking about as she waited for a spot to join in on their conversation. The act didn't last long and she soon found herself finding any reason she could to glance back at the stage, even for a second.

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He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

He had seen her make her way toward the back of the venue earlier in the night and had swore to himself that he would turn a blind eye in that direction and not give in to the temptation of staring at her from across the room. That promise had worked out for about five minutes before he found himself curiously glancing over ever couple of minutes. He had been nervous the first couple of times, he didn't want to be caught being playing the creepy ex boyfriend routine, but each time he got a little bit braver.

Her hair was still as perfect as it always was as it bounced around her head in loose curls. The outfit she was wearing wasn't at all revealing or risque, but the way the fabric hung from her body left room for no question about her darling physique. She had a drink in her hand, he couldn't tell what it was from way over there, but he knew that she was hardly touching it and that she had never ordered another. She had a smile on her face and would laugh along with the other two people she was sitting with but the expression never quite reached her tired eyes.

He sighed as he turned his attention back toward the stage. He wanted to talk to her, more than anything he wanted to make things right between them, he just had no idea how.

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From her spot on the stage Glory had the perfect vantage point to see everything that was going on. There were a table of boys at the back of the venue trying to pick up on the girls at the table next to them. There was a man at the side door of the club getting escorted out by security and a lonely girl standing next to one of the large pillars singing softly to the music. The thing she was most interested in, however, were the two blondes that were trying so hard not to be seen staring at each other.

She thought the way that they were acting was just so stupid, they were fighting over practically nothing and Buffy was about to leave over it, but her heart went out to them nonetheless. She didn't know what it was about the situation that had made her think on it so much, she wasn't even sure why she really cared, but she felt the overwhelming urge to do something, any bit of anything, to help them stay together.

She wasn't blind, quite the opposite actually, and she saw the way the two of them looked at each other. She had heard the late night conversations Spike had been having with Darla throughout the first leg of the tour when they thought that she had been sleeping. She had accidentally come across them sharing a bit of affection on numerous occasions and one thing had been perfectly clear from the start; those two were absolutely crazy about one another.

She wasn't sure what had made her decide on what she was about to do, but she hoped that it would be worth it.

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"I'm going to get going." Buffy said as she stepped toward Amy and opened her arms for a hug.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, if you wanted to wait until the end of the show one of us could ride with you." Chris offered.

She smiled sadly at her two soon-to-be-former-coworkers. "No, that's okay. This place is just feeling a little too uncomfortable for me tonight."

"Alright." Amy said as she put her arms around her. "Keep in touch, okay? You have my number."

"I will, I promise." She said before moving on to Chris and giving him a quick hug.

"Shoot me a text when you land." He whispered.

Buffy nodded. "Absolutely. Thanks for being so awesome, you guys. I hope I see you again soon."

"Us, too." Chris said.

"Be careful."

"I will." She said as reassuringly as possible. "I'll see you later." With that Buffy turned and began the journey over to the doors of the venue. She had just managed to make it over and was about to disappear down the hallway when she heard something unexpected.

"Um, I don't usually do this," Glory said from the stage, "but we're going to do a cover song tonight." Buffy ceased her travels momentarily, Glory never engaged the audience during a show like this and she never did covers. It immediately caught her attention and put a stop to her travels as she leaned against the wall behind her. "Okay, so there are these two people on tour with us right now, we'll call them Brad and Janet."

Hoots and hollers rang from the crowd as they noticed the obvious nod to Rock Horror Picture Show.

"They're usually one of those couples, you know the ones, always touching and flirting and only truly happy when the other one is around." Buffy listened as the woman on stage obviously described the relationship she had had with Spike. "Well, they had a fight over something not being said, someone's reaction to it, and then a couple of unmeant statements and are about to call it quits. This song goes out to them."

Buffy's eyes shot over towards Spike and she wasn't surprised to see him staring up at Glory as well. Her brows furrowed together and she momentarily thought that he may have put Glory up to this, but when she saw that the look on his face mirrored her own confusion she was almost positive that he was just as surprised as she was.

"Brad, Janet, just listen to this song and hear what it has to say." Glory said as a piano was pushed out from backstage and over to where she was standing. She sat down on the small chair that accompanied it and quickly found her place at the keys. "This song is called The Scientist and it's by a band called Coldplay." The crowd cheered loudly as Glory began to skillfully play the large instrument at her fingertips.

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you, tell you I need you,
And tell you I set you apart.

Tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions,
Oh, lets go back to the start.
Running in circles, coming in tails,
Heads on a science apart.

Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard.

Oh take me back to the start.

Buffy's eyes found his from across the room and she was surprised to see that he had finally shed the sunglasses. He was staring back at her now with nothing but raw emotion emitting from his watery depths and she could hardly choke back her own tears as she looked at him. Gone was the visage of the rock super star that he had been trying to pull off earlier with his late entrance and prince of darkness demeanor, this was her Spike looking back at her. It was her Spike that looked as if the pain of the world had been thrown directly in to his heart.

I was just guessing at numbers and figures,
Pulling the puzzles apart.
Questions of science, science and progress,
Do not speak as loud as my heart.

And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me,
Oh, and I rush to the start.
Running in circles, chasing tails,
Coming back as we are.

Nobody said it was easy,
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be so hard.

I'm going back to the start.

The music continued as the two lovers continued to stare at one another, no words were needed to convey the emotional rollercoaster they were both taking a ride on at the moment, their eyes were simply saying it all. Glory's wordless singing took the song to an end and as the crowd clapped Buffy and Spike were seemingly torn from their shared trance. Buffy looked down at the ground and Spike repositioned his sunglasses as one of the roadies walked up to him, said something in his ear, and quickly ran off. After one last glance back at Buffy he turned and made his way backstage.

Buffy felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach as she turned on her heel and practically ran to the outside of the venue. She was slightly taken aback to see that it was lightly drizzling outside but quickly decided that making her way out in to the rain was better than staying where she was. She made her way quickly down the sidewalk without paying a bit of attention to her surroundings and soon found herself at the gate to the bus lot. She turned and was about to walk away, but the sound of the heavy back door squeaking open and a pair of fast, heavy footsteps caused her to turn her attention back to the lot.

She hardly had the time to process what was going on before she felt a pair of strong, familiar arms wrap around her middle and pull her harshly to him as his mouth crashed down to hers in a feverishly desperate kiss.

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Spike was the first to pull away and as his senses slowly but surely came back to him, he finally began to register what had just happened. He had had no idea what he was doing but the second he had gotten backstage it was as if something had triggered his brain in to hyper drive and every nerve in his body was screaming at him to go after her. He had hardly noticed himself pushing through the crowd of various stage hands and was only partially aware of his body storming through the back door. The moment his eyes had fallen on her form he had automatically made a mad dash toward her and, almost as an instinct, pulled her to him and kissed her as if his life depended on it. As his eyes drank in the sight of her face, flush with cold and confusion as her lips trembled slightly, he couldn't help but want to do it again.

"Spike," she whispered finally, "what are you-"

"We need to talk."

"You just-"

"You were ignoring me," he said with a smirk, "had to find some way to get your attention."

Buffy moved the now fully saturated hair out of her face with one hand before pulling her coat just a little tighter around her. "You have show to do."

Spike sighed as he rolled his eyes and cocked his head to side. "You're about to leave, Buff, I don't give a damn about the sodding show."

"Spike that not fair, your fans are in there waiting for you."

"They'll wait." Spike said simply. "I'm the singer, they kind of can't start without me."

Buffy sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, a slight shiver running down her spine as the wind blew and the rain picked up its pace ever so slightly. "Fine," she said, "if we're going to talk can we at least do it somewhere dry?"

Spike nodded shortly as he turned and made his way toward the Passions bus. Coming back to the scene of their previous fight may not have been the best idea but it was the only place they could go right now to be alone. They walked in to the living room portion of the bus and Spike motioned for her to sit down on one of the long couches as he settled himself on to the one directly across from her. She was slightly surprised when he didn't sit next to her but she understood why he would choose not to.

They sat in silence for a few moments, neither one entirely sure who should start. Spike was leaning forward slightly with his knees spread and his hands clasped firmly between them as if he was going to start praying. Buffy, on the other hand, sat straight up with one leg crossed over the other. She nervously twiddled her fingers together as the uncomfortable silence droned on.

"Well," Buffy said as she began to rise from her seat, "not that this hasn't been fun and all, but it's getting late and I've got a plane to catch in the morning."

"Sit down, Buffy." Spike said authoritatively.

"Why?" She asked. "You said you wanted to talk but we've just been sitting here saying nothing for five minutes."

"Excuse me if I'm trying to be a bit careful with my words, pet." He said angrily. "Don't want you to go frolicking off to another club because I get your knickers in a twist. I expect that kind of rot from Darla, not from you."

"And you think you're Mr. Perfect?" Buffy shot back. "You hid the fact that you had been hanging out with your ex girlfriend all day-"

"I was not hanging out."

"-and then you get upset when I react badly to it. You didn't even try to stop me when I told you I was leaving."

"I shouldn't have to come running after you all the sodding time!" Spike yelled as he quickly got to his feet. "What we have, it's a two way street, Buff. I'm not gonna be some whipping boy who comes chasing after you, tail between my legs, every time we have an argument. Yeah, I was wrong for not telling you about Cecily, but I don't see how that gives you a free pass."

"I never said that it did."

"You've implied it." He shot back. "This may seem like some type of vacation to you, Buff, but it's still a business. When you ran out on your job to get drunk with your gal pal instead of doing what your here for that was putting my ass on the line. You don't go running off like a child every time you get a little upset."

"I know, alright?" Buffy said as she let herself drop back down to the couch. She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands as she took one deep, calming breath after another. "I got upset and the opportunity was just there. I just wanted to get out for a little bit and calm down but it didn't work out like that. One thing led to another and the next thing I know I'm three sheets to the wind and laying on a sidewalk."

"But why?" Spike asked as he moved to sit beside her and reached a hand out to gently rest on her back. He felt his heart leap when she didn't pull away and couldn't help but feel a bit of hope when she leaned in to him slightly. "Why did you get so upset?"

"I've been cheated on before, Spike." She answered quietly. "I was lied to, over and over, and eventually everything came out and I sat there looking like a complete idiot for not seeing it sooner."

"Let's be fair, pet, you ended up looking like a complete idiot last night as well."

He felt her shoulders shake as she let out a soft laugh. "I know, and I am beyond embarrassed about that. I never get that bad, you know I don't."

"It's Darla," Spike said, "she's a bad influence on everyone."

"Don't blame her." Buffy said quickly. "She didn't make me act like that. She was just trying to be a friend, trying to help me out of an uncomfortable situation in the only way she knows how. I knew it was wrong from the beginning and I have no idea why I did it. I let my stupid emotions get the best of me and I feel terrible about it now. I'm sorry, I really am. I wasn't thinking and now I've gone and screwed everything up."

"You've bollocksed it pretty well, that's for sure," Spike said lightly, "but it's not too late to fix it. Amy and Chris didn't care and I don't even think Anya noticed what was going on. I'm not the only one that had to entertain that cheeky chit last night."

"What about us?" Buffy asked as she raised her face to meet his eyes. "Do you hate me now?"

"Could never hate you, pet." Spike said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. "I'm mad as hell right now, yeah, but it doesn't change the way I feel about you."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." He answered as he felt her rest her head against his chest. "Half the reason I'm so brassed off is because of how terrified you had me. All night I had sodding horror stories running through my head of things that could have happened to you two."

"You'd have to be pretty stupid to mess with Darla."

"You'd be surprised how often stupid coincides with dangerous."

The two sat together for a few moments, Spike idly playing with a lock of her hair as she closed her eyes and simply reveled in the feeling of being with him like this again. Buffy didn't want to bring it up, she was somewhat afraid of the response she might get, but she couldn't stand letting the question hang in the air any longer. "Do you still want me to go home?"

"Oh, Christ, Buffy." Spike said as he sat up and turned to look her straight in the eyes. "I never wanted you to go home. When I said I did it was a heat of the moment type deal and I only said it to piss you off."

"Well it worked."

"A little too well, I'd wager." He said with a light smirk. "Today has been hell on Earth, Buff, for the both of us. I've never felt more alone than I did after you left the bus this morning." He reached his hand out and lightly brushed it over her cheek. "I don't want to do this without you, baby. I could if I had to, but I don't even want to try."

"I know." She said as a single tear made its way down her cheek.

Buffy saw him dig in to his pocket and couldn't help but glance over to see what he was up to. When she saw the ring she had thrown back at him resting gently between his pointer finger and thumb she felt her heart speed up and couldn't stop the second tear from escaping her eyes. "Still my girl?" He asked quietly.

Buffy nodded. "Still your girl."

He slid the ring snugly back on to her finger and raised her hand to his lips. "Good." He placed a gentle kiss on the soft skin he found on the top of her hand before lacing his fingers with hers and quickly standing up. "Now come on, I've got a show to do."

Buffy let him pull her to her feet and over to the bus door as she quickly dried her eyes on her already soaked coat sleeve. "I've got to get my stuff off of the Glory Wire bus and let Darla know I'm staying."

Spike opened the door to the bus and Buffy heard him let out a soft chuckle. "Something tells me she already knows."

Buffy wasn't sure what he meant until she stepped off of the bus and turned her attention to the back door of the venue. Standing there with her luggage at their feet was Darla, Andrew, Oz, and Bob. They were all smiling and clapping as Buffy and Spike made their way off of the bus hand in hand.

"I KNEW IT!"

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"Good," Xander said as he stood behind the bar talking on his cell phone, "I hope you never come back."

"Xander!" Buffy yelled in surprise.

"Kidding, totally kidding." Xander said quickly. "We miss you here, especially Will, but no one was looking forward to sad Buffy coming home so I'm glad you're staying."

"I'm sure you are," Buffy said with the usual spark lighting her voice again, "you were dangerously close to having a me shaped blob hibernating on your couch for the next month."

"That's not the reason." Xander said as he handed his current customer his drink. The man gave him an aggravated look pointed toward the phone at his ear, but he paid for his drink and quickly walked back to one of the five occupied tables in the bar.

"Oh, yeah?" Buffy asked. "Give me another."

"Well, you know," Xander said as he rubbed the back of his head before continuing in an obviously sarcastic tone, "you two kids are perfect for each other. We all want you to get married, have a bunch of kids, and die old and in bed together."

"Lame." Buffy answered.

"Would you believe it's because we're friends and I genuinely care about the health of your heart?"

"Not really," she said, "but we'll pretend I do."

"Sweet." Xander said with a goofy grin on his face.

"So how is everything at the bar?" Buffy asked. "Anything you should tell me about?"

Xander's eyes involuntarily glanced over toward the newest member of their staff. He watched them serve their table the drinks that they had ordered before walking off and moving on to the next one. Xander shook his head slightly as he tore his eyes off of the one person Clem never should have hired.

"Everything's fine," he said almost convincingly, "nothing to write home about."

On the other end of the phone Buffy was feeling a bit skeptical but decided not to pursue her suspicious feelings. She had had a hard day and the stress from that could easily be clouding her judgment and the last thing she wanted was to argue with Xander. "Okay, cool."

Xander closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, she had believed him and that was a good thing. He didn't want to further ruin her time out there by telling her about something that he hoped would be all sorted out by the time she got back. "Listen, I've got to go. Some of the customers are getting testy about my lack of conversing with them."

Buffy laughed softly. "Alright, tell everyone I said hi."

"Will do." Xander said. "Talk to you later."

"Bye."

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By the time Passions hit the stage everyone could tell that something had drastically changed in the past half hour. Where Spike had been quiet, slow, and brooding all night he was now back to being his energetic self as he strut across the stage and sang his heart out. It seemed as if the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders and everyone in the know knew who was to blame for that.

The two beautiful blondes sat together at the bar talking and laughing the way girlfriends did. One was throwing back Vodka Tonics like it was her job while the other sipped slowly on a coke. After they had moved her things back on to the Passions bus Darla had insisted that it was time to celebrate Buffy's not leaving and Amy and Chris were quick to second that idea. Having learned her lesson from the night before Buffy had let them buy her a single small Fuzzy Navel before switching over to the virgin drinks.

"I knew you weren't going to leave." Darla said loudly.

"Really?" Amy asked. "I was pretty sure she was going home."

"No way," Darla said with a shake of her head, "Buffy's just dramatic. I love her to death, really I do, but sometimes she thinks with parts other than her brain."

"I know the feeling." Chris said quickly.

"I'm not talking about her dick." Darla said with a sarcastic eye roll. "I'm talking about her heart."

"Can we stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

"I mean come on," Darla continued, "if she would have taken two seconds to actually think about the entire thing with a clear head she would have realized how ridiculous it was. He picked a fight with her after she had been out drinking all night-"

"Thanks to you."

"-and she overreacted. Common occurrence in the female world. I know a lot about Spike and the kid gets pretty hot headed, he does," Darla said as she took a sip of her drink, "but I know two people who are going to be having all kinds of wonderful make up sex in that hotel room tonight."

"Darla!" Buffy yelled.

"It's true!" Darla responded. "I'm such a good friend that I'm not even going to stay in my room tonight so you won't have to worry about anyone hearing your naughty sounds."

"I can not believe you are saying this." Buffy said as she raised a hand to partially cover her reddening face.

"Come on, it's me we're talking about." Darla said as she raised her drink in the air. "Here's to dirty sex!"

"TO DIRTY SEX!"

Everyone around her tipped their heads back as they finished their drink in honor of one of the most ridiculous toasts Buffy had ever heard. She glanced back up at the stage and gave the Passions front man a long and lingering once over.

Maybe it was a good thing that Darla would be giving them their privacy tonight.

Buffy noticed the door that led back stage open and was more than a little bit surprised to see Glory make her way through it. Buffy watched as she made her way around the barricade and over to the bar and was completely shocked to see that not one of her security people were escorting her over. She turned back to the rest of the group and noticed that they were all looking off in the same direction with looks of confusion on their faces.

"She never comes out here." Darla commented.

"I know." Amy said.

"This is really weird." Andrew said nervously. "Maybe it's not really Glory, what if it's some kind of alien or something dressed up like her?"

"I've seen this movie," Chris said as Glory continued to walk toward them, "it doesn't end well."

"Hey, Glor." Darla said cheerily. "What brings you out here to mingle with the commoners?"

"I wanted a drink." She answered.

"Don't you usually send one of your lap dogs after that?"

Glory ignored the question and instead went about ordering her drink of choice from the bartender. Buffy wasn't sure if she had noticed that every eye in the small group was on her but if she did she sure didn't mind it. The man behind the counter gave her the drink and everyone expected her to simply walk back to her green room or leave the venue entirely, the last thing they expected was for her to turn her full attention to Buffy.

"You two had better not pull that kind of crap again," she said strongly, "we don't need a Ron and Sam on this tour."

Buffy stared at the woman before her with her eyes wide in shock. She had never even spoken to her before, she wasn't sure that Glory had even known she existed, and here she was talking to her as if it were normal. "We won't."

The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Buffy was fully aware of the look of surprise Darla was giving them and the almost fear strewn across Andrew and Chris' faces could be seen from a mile away. "I'm glad you're staying." She said finally.

"Thank you." Buffy answered.

Without another word Glory turned and made her way back to the stage. She disappeared through the same door she had come out of and everyone sat in silence for a moment as they tried to deal with the pure weirdness that had just unfolded.

"Hold on," Chris said after a few moments, "did she just make a Jersey Shore reference?"





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