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Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay so this is fresh off the presses, if you see many mistakes i apologize. And if it is hard to read let me know.
Also, thank you all for the reviews and for still reading this fic!

Finally, my muse has been a bitch lately with this story. I JUST made my deadline again and ugh i just hope you all enjoy this chapter! (P.S. I recently wrote a oneshot which i had started a while ago, but i finished it and posted it yesterday as an attempt to get away from this fic and maybe therefore refresh my muse. Didn't really work but if you're interested you can check out Red Bloody Lipstick (a mating fic)!
The loud unfamiliar sound of a telephone blared throughout the house.

The occupants awoke with six tired groans, heads throbbed and were lifted while others got buried beneath pillows to ignore the threat of wakefulness. Curses were muttered, tired protests uttered in foreign or nonexistent languages.

"Why, in the name of every-fucking-thing ever, is that phone ringing?" Blake's statement was preceded by a moan.

"I didn't even know the bastard had a telephone," Rex growled.

"First, the guy gets a cat, then a house phone. We're his only friends, who could possibly be calling him?"

"And at eleven AM." Dylan's statement raised three more groans from those surrounding him on the floor of the living room.

Ace finally lifted his mussed head, anger and retribution clear in his half open eyes as he glared in the direction of the kitchen.

"Ace..." the caution filled inquiry held a tone of tired begging, "It's too early to get that look on your face, please don't hunt down the person on the other end of that phone and give them the flu."

"Why the hell not?" Ace snapped, eyes still fixed on the kitchen entryway.

"Because I'll kill you, now shut up and go back to sleep." Spike's voice, rough and curt, shot through the room just as a blurred shape in nothing but jeans dashed by to answer the ringing device.

Blake raised one curious eyebrow, his expression bored but a little more alert as Ace's head fell back down with a humph.

"I bet you money it's the chick."

Blake glanced at Rex and then to Dylan, a question in his mocking, derisive gaze. "Why would she ever actually call him?"

Grabbing Dylan's pillow to cover his ears, Ace snarled, "Shut the hell up, all of you!"

"Better question is, why would she call at eleven?" Dylan's frustrated brown eyes landed on the thief, and he swiped back his pillow to rest his head again. "We're not normal. We're asleep at this freaking time," he grumbled.

Blake barely noticed when his own pillow was snatched, as he and Rex were both busy focusing on the single voiced conversation in the kitchen. Even when Stevo ambled tiredly down the steps from the guest bedroom, his eyes scolding as they landed on the two eavesdroppers, neither bothered to turn his way.

"What are you-"

"Shh!" they both ordered. Begrudgingly, the gypsy propped himself against the wall and closed his eyes... then opened his ears.

><

"Buffy-"

"It worked," her frantic questioning continued."Why did it work? I know enough about my sleeping habits to know that I didn't just get lucky, Spike. And when I woke up, it was glowing!"

He scratched his head. "What was glowing?"

"The stone! The amber stone on the bracelet that you gave me."

Spike winced at her tone, it was panicky and accusing at the same time. "I told you what it was... I told you it would keep nightmares away, Buffy. S'not my fault you didn' believe-"

"Spike, you told me that your friend who's a GYPSY made me a special bracelet that would keep away bad dreams."

Her reiteration confused him, and he slowly raised an eyebrow. "Yeah..."

He heard her sigh. "Nobody would believe that!"

"But now you do."

"Well- I-..." Her throat tightened up, catching on her words, and Spike could practically see her forehead wrinkling. "I don't know what the hell to believe! I just- I go to bed, have a peaceful night's sleep, and then I wake up and the freaking stone looks like it's on fire. I threw it off so quick, Spike-"

"Buffy, relax." He rubbed his forehead, inwardly cursing Stevo and his witchy ways. "Sometimes charms like the one I gave you can glow and sparkle or whatnot, but they never harm you. I promise." He sighed, trying to think calmly and clearly- Not an easy thing to do right now. "Is it still glowin?" he asked.

Silence, for a moment. Then, "No. It stopped after it hit the wall."

He frowned. "Hit the what?"

"Well... I kinda threw it INTO the wall after I woke up."

Spike shook his head quickly. "Why the bleedin hell would you-"

"I told you, it was glowing, Spike! I freaked out, and you can't really blame me because you never told me about its little trick!"

Jaw clenching, hand running through his hair, he fought not to yell. "Alright, alright, look... Is the stone broken?"

"No," she said.

"Good." Spike thought for a moment... Then, an idea- not favored, but still -popped into his head. "Look... can you come over today? You can talk to the bloke who made the bracelet... Or enchanted it, rather. And he can make sure it's still workin properly."

A beat.

"Y-You want me to... to come over?" she stuttered. "Even with your friends there?"

"Yes." He idly scratched his chest, wondering if this plan would work out at all well. "Stevo, he's the gypsy fella I told you 'bout; he's one of the friends who're stayin with me. He can explain to ya how he made the charm, and even though ya might not believe what he tells you... You can try."

Silence rested on the other end of the line for a couple of seconds before she said, "Try to believe it?"

He nodded, both to reassure himself and out of response. "Yes."

"Spike... I don't know-"

"You said you didn' have any bad dreams last night, right?"

She puffed a sigh. "Right."

"Then the bracelet did exactly what I told you it was s'posed to."

He heard silence again, and just when he was ready to tell her to believe him, to relax and to trust HIM, he didn't have to.

"Alright. When do you want me?"

Spike actually smiled a little before giving her directions to his place. "Come by within the hour if you can. If not, that's fine, too. I'll be here all day."

"Okay. I'll be there soon, then."

"Bye now, love."

"Bye Spike."

He returned the receiver to its cradle, smothering a groan as he planted his forehead against the wall. Resisting the urge to bang it.

He couldn't believe the charm had actually upset her, it was supposed to help, not make Buffy load up on questions.

She was uneasy. Why? Because surprise, surprise the bracelet had actually worked! No bad dreams. Now she was doubtful and confused. She wanted to give it back, and Spike needed her to keep wearing it. She had to.

He didn't think he could handle the thought of her thrashing around in her bed every night. He'd checked on her last evening after doing a quick patrol, and all was peaceful. But she wanted to give the thing that supplied that peace, up; her stubbornness was going to hurt her. Which most of this WAS stubbornness, a desire NOT to be helped or "pitied."

Add that to her dubiousness, and you had one alarmed girl who needed to be reassured.

So, he'd invited her over to meet the gypsy in charge of her trinket's makeup.

Consequently, that also meant meeting the rest of the crew.

"We entertaining?"

He cast a disgruntled glance at the smiling empath in the doorway, who was shadowed by a grumbling Stevo. Spike grabbed the coffeepot and muttered an affirmative to the asked question, his jaw clenching.

"Well, well... Maybe getting woken up after five hours of sleep was worth it."

Spike ignored him as the brunette strode through the room and sat at the island, followed by Stevo who, dark and disheveled, looked ready to pounce on the open container of coffee grounds and eat them raw.

A yawn from the doorway caught everyone's attention, and Rex stood there looking tired but much less irritated than Dylan, who shoved past only to plop into a lone chair. His eyes were closed, his dark blonde hair askew and his face begging for anything that would help him feel even half alive.

"Ace still asleep, I presume?" Spike asked as he turned on the stove, magic black caffeine ready to be perked.

An angry shout came from the living room. "No!"

Blake snorted, his laughing eyes no longer fogged with sleep. "That answer your question, buddy?"

Spike sighed. Stevo grumbled softly from the corner, Rex yawned again, and Dylan sniffed a silent laugh.

The man still standing in the doorway asked, "So was that your diner chick who woke all of us up?"

"Yeah," Dylan griped, "was it?"

Spike grumbled something that sounded confirming, and his friends took it as such. Rex smirked, Dylan's interest peeked and his eyes finally fully opened, Stevo remained silent but watchful. Blake grinned.

Spike ground his teeth together when he caught the look, trying hard to ignore the impulse to physically remove it from Blake's face.

"So when's she comin over?" he asked.

"Soon." Spike stared again at the coffeepot, willing it to perk. "So once this caffeine is in your systems, clean up, and when she gets here don't-"

"What?" Rex interrupted. " 'Bother' her?"

Spike turned to him, his jaw tight. "Actually I was gonna say embarrass yourselves, but yeah, don't pester her either."

Rex, and even Dylan, managed halfhearted glares at that before Blake asked, "She's human right?"

"Yes, and she's only comin over to talk with Stevo and me."

Dylan scoffed, his heavy head resting on an open palm. "Good luck with that."

"What now?" Stevo asked, distracting Spike from that last comment.

"She wants to know more about the charm."

"Charm?" Blake inquired with cheery interest.

The vampire sighed, this time the sound long and drawn out, starting from the tips of his toes. He noted that the coffee had begun doing its little gurgling before turning to the gypsy. "It worked, of course, and now she's..." he sighed again, waving vaguely with one hand. "She's skeptical and just wants ta ask you a few questions, that alright?"

Stevo studied him, considering something behind shrewd dark eyes. After a moment or two, seemingly coming to an unknown conclusion of his own, he nodded. "It's fine by me. Though," he cast a glance around the room, "the rest of them will have to keep any supernatural conversations or jokes out of her earshot, I take it?"

Avoiding eye contact, and inwardly grimacing, Spike replied, "Yes."

Suddenly, all attention was on him. Blue-green and brown and yellow eyes focused on the stiffening of his shoulders, on the clenching of his fists at his sides.

It would take a while to explain to a bunch of superbeings why they would have to hide who they were from a human who was going to be in their midst, one that didn't know a thing about the demon world.

Especially when she was kind of dating the vampire of the group.

*This should be fun,* Spike thought with a groan.

><

Buffy threw on a heavy sweater over a T-shirt, grabbed her bag and then sighed very loudly before striding through her front door. Her nerves were sizzling beneath her skin, and not in the good way.

She'd showered, dried her hair, and then applied as much makeup as fifteen minutes would allow. Her mind was blanking every other moment and her heart felt like a sledgehammer hitting drywall.

The bracelet glowed, she hadn't woken up in a cold sweat, Spike invited her over to talk to the guy who'd "enchanted" the amber stone (like this was some freaking movie), and he had a bunch of friends at his place. She was scared and she was freaking out and she was nervous, today already kind of totally sucked Buffy decided, and she couldn't catch her breath.

Pausing in her stride, placing one hand against a nearby tree, leaning forward, she focused on breathing. In and out, in and out. Slowly... There, good.

She swallowed, and allowed herself a moment of mental reprieve.

Just thirty seconds of quiet, a pause from mental whirling and worrying.

Okay... better.

Now. Everything would be fine. It was okay to be freaking out a little. She felt overwhelmed, for sure, but she needed to get herself together because Spike would never give her anything to harm her, it was just a bracelet, and his friends (no matter how strange they might turn out to be) would not try and do anything to hurt her either.

A magic bracelet was not... the craziest thing she'd ever heard of, she just didn't know if she could believe it.

And she needed to seriously open her mind, Buffy realized. Before she got to Spike's place, right away, she needed to be calm but prepared for anything.

Now.

She breathed out, slowly, evenly again... Okay. She could do this. Walking once more, this time determined and with confidence, she headed in the direction Spike had told her. Luckily he didn't live too far at all.

She stopped almost every three minutes, though, wishing for more time and gathering courage or trying to hang onto it, she wasn't sure.

Until finally, she was there.

Her feet crunched on dry leaves as she entered a clearing, the wind played delicately with the ends of her haphazard ponytail, and Buffy exhaled.

The place was white brick and two stories tall. It had healthy vines growing up on one side, their leaves still turning to reddish colors, outlining a couple of black framed windows. There were steps leading up to a maroon front door, two windows covered by thick curtains to the left of that.

As a matter of fact, all of the windows she could see were covered by dark, blackish-purple curtains. They gave the house an elegant, closed off feel. Buffy almost wished there were iron gates protecting this place. It had something about it that let an onlooker believe someone with money and power lived inside.

She shook her head. She didn't know where her brain was going, and realized yet again that pesky butterflies still fluttered around in her stomach. What she would give to make them go away.

Taking a quick breath, she approached the door and knocked. Once, twice. Then, the entryway was opened for her and there stood a familiar, cocky countenance.

"Hey, dollface."

Buffy blinked. A frown immediately appeared between her brows.

And the next thing she knew, she was being tugged inside a warm toned hallway by a dashing man wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. His chest was shiny and his eyes were so glittery she could've sworn they were turquoise gems. Blake's hair was jet black and dripping, he looked like he'd just gotten out of the shower and Buffy felt distracted because his giddy mood was infectious and she did not want to be infected.

"We've been expectin you," he said, with a still brightening grin.

"I- I-" Buffy swallowed. "Spike asked me to come over."

"Oh I know," he placed a hand at her back to guide her through the hallway. "Your phone call woke all of us up way before we were ready to leave our beds."

That was not something she wanted to hear. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about it, we had some coffee, we'll be fine. Besides, you're worth a little lost sleep." He winked, and Buffy tried not to wring her hands anxiously. "And I'm pretty sure even Ace will see that once he meets you."

Her frown deepened. "Ace?"

"There are five of us livin under Willy's roof."

"Willy? Who's-"

Her question was cut off by another voice, one she hadn't before heard. It was deep, direct and sharp, but luring all at once. "So's this the waitress chick?"

Buffy had a feeling of exposure as she turned to face the man who'd just uttered that last inquiry. He was tall and large, his hair severely cut and his eyes a startling shade of... yellow? Wow.

Blake smiled wider as he looked down at her. "Elizabeth, right?"

The question, and looking at the two men focused on her, both so freaking tall, she suddenly felt very... crowded. "Um... Yes, but..." internally, she made a quick decision and said, "you can call me Bu-"

"Buffy. Yeah, we know." Rex pointed a thumb behind his shoulder. "Spike let it slip."

Her brows rose. Then, the feel of a hand at her back yet again made her shiver. She wasn't a very touchy person with people she didn't know, especially men. And all at once, Buffy's mind centered on one question: Where was Spike?

"Spike. Right," she said mostly to herself, before edging closer to the wall. "Where is he?"

Suddenly, a very loud pounding of steps was heard just before the person in question appeared as if by magic. In a doorway to the left, there he stood, and he didn't look happy.

"What the hell are you morons-"

"Well will you lookie here, Spike." Blake waved a hand at Buffy, his grin brighter than a spotlight. "I just answered the door and on the other side," he locked eyes with her, "was this cute little thing."

"Shut up, Blake," Rex announced, with a hint of boredom in his tone, casting an impatient look at the glowering Brit by his side. "You wanna piss him off anymore than you already have today?"

"Why not?" Blake didn't chuckle, but he looked like he wanted to. "It's fun."

Spike, nostrils flaring and eyes like stone, approached Buffy but kept his stare on the pillock with a smile. He reached for her and she quickly took his hand as he pulled her after him.

"Don't bloody follow," he warned the other two, something in his voice that the girl had never heard before.

Not shocked, but slightly amused, the two superbeings held up their hands and sent friendly grins to Buffy, which she indecisively returned.

Then Spike was murmuring in her ear, "I'm sorry about them. They're like children, give em someone or somethin new and they get all curious 'bout it."

He pulled her through a living room with a fireplace and comfy looking couches. She spotted an area she guessed must be where his guests' were sleeping, because a large mattress in the middle of the floor with rumpled sheets and pillows stuck out like a sore thumb in this room. "I didn't realize I was something to get curious over," she responded belatedly to his last statement, as she was finally tugged out of the living area.

He almost said "Have you looked in the mirror lately," but that would have made her nervous and knowing Buffy, she already was.

The point that Spike gave a damn about her was one thing that had his friends so interested and sniffing around like hounds on the hunt. The fact she was beautiful just added to her pull.

Instead of explaining any of that, he said, "Believe me..." His hand settled on her back, and slowly, slid to the indent of her waist as they turned a corner. "You're PLENTY to get curious over, pet."

She leaned into him. Before she could reply to what he'd said, they entered a different room; and she was assaulted by open novelty.

There was no hot sunshine, only indirect light that splayed itself not three feet from the two opened windows on the right, and no further. Dark curtains were drawn back to let air in. The walls were cream colored where white paneling ended halfway up, and the molding was deep brown. A long wooden table with matching eggshell chairs rested in the middle, and the room looked so clean and fresh that Buffy never would have guessed Spike to have such a... feminine area in his home. There was a china cabinet holding empty jars and some books, and a couple of empty vases that really looked like they needed flowers, but the whole room was just welcoming. Spirited.

She liked it immensely. The only thing that didn't match were the three large strangers talking- or arguing, rather -in hushed tones, and standing over an open book with wrinkled pages.

As one of the men's attention was drawn away from the conversation long enough to let loose an eye roll, he noticed Spike and her standing in the doorway. A pointed throat clearing and a nudge to one of the other men's arms was enough to silence the room. She felt Spike squeeze her waist, and Buffy edged closer.

She let go of a silent breath she hadn't realized was in her chest, and clamped her jaw tight to have a sense of control over.. something.

God, she didn't know why she was so nervous. She shouldn't care what they thought of her at all.

If it weren't for Spike, she wouldn't.

He glanced her way. She sensed his stare on her skin, beneath it; her heart fluttered. Then he faced his friends again.

A pleasant looking brunette, his eyes black but alight with greeting, stepped forward, a hand outstretched. "So you're Buffy I assume?"

She offered her own, and nodded.

"That's right," Spike answered, his face unsettlingly tight and withdrawn as Ace took her hand. He gestured to the group of three, all obviously enraptured. "Buffy, this is Stevo, Dylan, an the one who can't seem to let go f'you is Ace."

With a friendly chuckle, his smile easy, the latter stepped back and released Buffy's appendage. He looked over his shoulder at the two men behind him and said, "It's a pleasure. Isn't it Stevo?" His gaze returned to Buffy.

A tall man with golden brown eyes and obsidian hair nodded respectfully at her. "Nice to meet you."

"Same," she said with a gentle nod of her own.

"I think you've already met Dylan here," Ace pointed to the dark blonde in the back. Buffy had recognized him the instant he'd called attention to her and Spike's presence not a minute ago, and those puppy brown eyes looked welcoming and sweet. She waved a hello. "Hey. Yeah, I remember you from the diner."

He grinned with an openness that was soothing, and approached her, passing Stevo and coming to stand beside Ace. "Same here. It's nice to see you again." He blinked a few times suddenly, long lashes flickering over eyes that glanced Spike's way, as if he wasn't sure he should mention something that was bugging him.

He took a small chance anyway, and offered Buffy an apology, awkwardly scratching his head. "I'm sorry about Blake by the way. The guy I was with at Leonard's? He can come on pretty strong sometimes."

She blinked wide, surprised, but grateful all the same. He'd found... sort of familiar ground with her, something small but significant in this situation. She smiled. "It's fine," a shrug, "He seems like he makes sport of that kinda stuff."

"Oh, believe me, he does."

Ace leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Can ya blame him in this case?"

Even before Buffy could blush, the look in Ace's black eyes lost their admiring glint. Spike strode up, grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him to the door.

"Hey, what are ya doin man?!"

"Out."

"Well, he's starting the caveman talk," Dylan spoke up as he followed the two to the doorway, fidgeting with a pair of glasses in one hand. He looked back at Buffy. "Which means it's time to leave before *I* get dragged out of here next."

"He'd be gentler with you at least!" Ace stumbled into the wall when Spike let go of him, dropping the immortal a good two inches back to the floor. Ace rubbed his neck and glared.

Buffy's eyes widened. "Spike!"

He turned to her, an innocent look on his face that actually confused her. He wasn't the least bit abashed. "What?"

"You're treating your friend like he's a ragdoll!"

He glanced at Ace, who was quickly standing up taller with his own perplexed expression starting to form.

"Relax," Stevo entered in, "Ace deserves some rough treatment from time to time."

The deep timbre drew Buffy's attention, and she suddenly felt like a mother surrounded by misbehaving children. "Well that doesn't mean-"

Abruptly cutting off her own sentence, the girl closed her eyes and counted to three. Releasing a breath, she met Spike's wondering blue eyes and said, "Don't be mean just because I'm here, alright?"

Spike, obviously just as bewildered as the others who weren't female were, blinked and said, "Buffy, m'not bein mean, I just-"

"Well then what do you call throwing him out for no reason?" Her hands went to her hips.

Spike was frowning now, wrinkles in between his brows. "You're not here to talk with him, I was just-"

"Throwing him out for no reason." She set her bag on the table and released an aggravated sigh, as she believed his friends would hold it against her for his actions. She didn't want to be a reason Spike treated them in any bad way. That would just cause major badness.

Plus, her nerves were clawing at her.

A nearby chuckle from Stevo had Spike gritting his teeth. He ignored the expressions he saw on his friend's faces, and looked at Buffy again. One risen eyebrow on that pretty face, both annoyance and expectation directed at him. She was beautiful. And he was lost. "Have you gone barmy on me?"

"No! I have not gone 'barmy' on you! I just think it's not something friends do, ya know, throwing each other into walls and stuff."

"Oh," Stevo interjected, his eyes both amused and proud for some inane reason Buffy couldn't decipher, "you'd be surprised."

She humphed.

And then, Spike was suddenly so surprised that she'd actually let her fire out at him in front of his friends, that he smiled. He smiled wide and was so close to laughing that it caused Buffy to glare even harder at him. Before she could yell, Spike gently touched her arm and her lips clamped shut. He said, "I'm sorry, alright?"

She scowled. "Shouldn't you be telling him that?" She pointed a thumb at Ace, and her eyes widened when she saw that now Rex and Blake had joined the party; they were staring at her with something close to bewilderment, mixed in with joy.

As a matter of fact... All of them were staring at her in that way... "What?" She looked at Spike, suddenly worried all over again. "What'd I say?"

"Nothin, love." Spike shook his head and ignored the mocking "you're whipped" stares he was getting from his friends. He couldn't care right at that moment, because Buffy was too damn cute for her own good and he was ready to give Ace fifty bucks if it would just make her happy.

Hopefully, though, he wouldn't have to do that. With a resigned sigh, and a chuckle, he turned to his friend and said, "I'm sorry."

Spike could not believe he'd just said that.

And apparently, neither could Ace, because he looked at him like he'd grown a second head and replied with, "What?"

Stevo clapped his hands to get everyone's attention, and they all focused on him. He wore an... oddly pleased expression. "Alright, well that's certainly something we don't see... ever. But enough, I need to talk with Buffy and Spike. The rest of you," he waved a finger at the group, "leave, please."

She glanced up at the platinum blonde in the room. "See, was that so hard? He even said PLEASE."

Spike burst out laughing at her mumble, and then so did everyone else. Buffy cracked a little reluctant smile. Dylan wasn't silent in his joy, Stevo chuckled, and the others left with a unanimously felt "I like her!" before the door was finally shut.

The tension which had until this point been invisible, lifted.

Stevo smiled at Buffy, and his tone was warm and friendly when he asked, "So, the charm then?"

The girl internally sighed, having almost forgotten. She offered a small closed lipped smile and went to her bag to retrieve the stone. She dug inside, then walked back over to Spike and handed him the bracelet. He then handed it Stevo.

The gypsy examined it, his eyes knowing and relaxed. Something about the way he looked at it told her he was neither a fake nor a liar, that the bracelet he held really was what Spike had said it was.

Magic.

"Well," the honey eyed man murmured, "there should be nothing wrong with it if it isn't broken. And it's not, but, as I understand you wanted to know more about it?"

Buffy nodded, and braced herself for either lies or truth.


Chapter End Notes:
Reviews are desired! Next chapter will be up within two weeks. *hugs and kisses!*



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