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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you to both the loyal reviewers and the people who came out of the woodowork to say something about the last chapter. It's amazing to look at something I've written and see that many reviews. I had no idea so many people are enjoying my story.
Spike wasn't sure why he'd agreed to do this. Personally, he'd thought his plan of chaining Buffy up until she agreed to listen to him would work just fine, but Dawn insisted that would get him, at best, a punch in the nose, and he'd be damn lucky if that was all.

So instead he was standing on the Summers' front porch with flowers. Dawn had said he had to be romantic. Give Buffy flowers. She liked that apparently. He had to prove he was in love with her by being romantic… Spike took a deep breath, feeling the air hit his dead lungs. He could do this.

Buffy threw the door open then paused in shock. "Spike?"

"Um, hi, Buffy," he said, his tone reminding her scarily of a teenager on his first date. "I, um, brought you these." He thrust the roses forward.

"Thanks," Buffy said warily as she took the bouquet. The last time she'd seen Spike he'd been drunkenly yelling at her. Now he was bringing her flowers? What was he up to?

"Buffy, honey, who's at the door?" Joyce asked, coming in from the kitchen.

"It's Spike," Buffy replied. "With…roses…"

"Oh, how nice," Joyce said with a smile. "Come on in, Spike." She took the flowers from Buffy. "I'll go put these in water."

When Joyce had left again, Buffy faced Spike, her arms crossed. She wanted to run to him, to beg him to hold her the way he had when they were Elizabeth and William, but she wasn't about to open her heart just to get it broken even more. Instead, she kept her stance defensive, kept her guard up. "Why are you here?"

"To bring you the flowers. Oh, and to ask you to go out with me tonight."

"Go out with you? Like on a date?"

Spike shuffled his feet. "Yeah…If…if you want to."

"What about what you said before? In your crypt?"

"I'd been drinking," Spike said. "I wasn't thinking clearly. Didn't mean any of it." He met her eyes. "Just like I know you didn't mean what you said either."

"Spike, I don't…"

"Spike! What a pleasant surprise!"

Buffy and Spike both turned to see Dawn bounding down the stairs. "Uh, hey there, nibblet. Just came by to try to talk your sister here into going on a date with me."

"Really? That's so sweet. And romantic. Buffy, don't you think so?"

Buffy glanced between her sister and the vampire, who were now standing side by side. "I think you've both gone a little insane."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "You should go. You need to get out of the house more anyway." She grabbed Buffy's jacket from the coat rack and thrust it at her before all but pushing her out the door.

"Dawn, what are you…" Before Buffy could finish her sentence, Dawn had guided Spike out, too, and was in the process of shutting the door.

"You kids have fun!" Dawn called right before the door closed and the lock was bolted.

"I…she…I don't have my keys," Buffy said with a frown.

"They'll let you back in later," Spike said, offering Buffy his arm. "Are you coming with me, pet?"

Buffy eyed his arm skeptically for a moment before accepting it. "This better be worth the trouble, Spike," she muttered as he led her off the porch.

Back in the house, Dawn smiled brightly, barely able to contain her excitement as she saw the pair walk off together. Things were going perfectly. Just like she and Spike planned.

"Where's Buffy?" Joyce asked, walking back into the living room.

"She's out with Spike," Dawn said happily. "On a date."

"A date? With Spike?" Joyce asked, surprised. "I guess that would explain the flowers…"

"So he did bring the flowers, huh? Roses?"

"Yes… Dawn, do you have some part in all of this?"

"Just a little. Isn't it wonderful?"

"I'm not sure 'wonderful' is quite the word…"

"It is, Mom. Trust me. Spike is a totally great guy, and Buffy loves him a whole bunch. They'll be such an awesome couple!"

Joyce frowned, thinking about the reasons why she'd wanted Angel out of her daughter's life. Spike should invoke the same feelings in her. It would be her daughter getting involved with another vampire… But she couldn't seem to find the same dislike she had for Angel. Maybe it was because Buffy was older now, and Spike seemed more like someone her own age as opposed to the letch she'd felt Angel to be. But still, the general idea of her daughter dating a vampire didn't sit right with her. "I don't want to see Buffy get hurt again," Joyce said.

"She won't. Spike totally loves her, too. He'd do anything for her, I know it."

"I just…I wanted Buffy to have a normal life, with someone…"

"Um, Mom?" Dawn interrupted. "Your kids are a mystical Key and a vampire Slayer. Normal isn't happening. Come on, let's pop some popcorn and watch corny movies on Lifetime."

Joyce glanced out the window once before following her youngest daughter into the kitchen.

*** *** ***

Buffy looked down at the spread in front of her. "We're having a picnic. In a cemetery. Could you possibly be any creepier?"

Spike clenched his jaw for a moment, trying to keep himself from snapping at her. Dawn had said over and over that he had to be nice to Buffy, no matter how much of a bitch she was being. He hated this whole thing. He felt anxious, out of place, even though he should feel right at home there in Restfield. "Have a seat, Buffy." He gritted his teeth. "Please."

Buffy gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine." Spike started to walk off, and she sat up straighter. "Where are you going?"

"Just here," he said, kneeling by a tombstone and pulling a bottle of champagne and two glasses from behind it. "Drink?"

"God, yes," Buffy replied as Spike sat down and poured her a glass. She downed it almost as soon as he handed it to her, and Spike quirked an eyebrow.

"Thirsty, kitten?"

"Yeah. Another?"

Buffy drank the second glass quickly, too, coughing as the bubbles threatened to go up into her nose. She hoped the alcohol would help to calm her frazzled nerves and twisting stomach. Being this close to Spike was sending her into overdrive. Her mind and body were both a wreck, her emotions sent into turmoil. She wanted to be with him again, wanting things to be like they were in the book.

"You look really beautiful tonight, Buffy," Spike said softly. Dawn had told him to compliment her, but he didn't have to force this one. It was true. Bathed in moonlight the way she was, she looked almost ethereal.

Buffy looked up at his words. He was looking at her so intently, so much like William… "Spike, I… Demon!"

"Demon?"

"Over there!" Buffy said, pointing.

Spike jumped up, turning to see a large, snarly beast coming right for them. "Great, a ludash demon. Just what we needed," he muttered, falling into a battle stance. Buffy stood beside him, the look of the Slayer back in her eyes.

The fight itself was over quickly, the ludash no match against Slayer and vampire. However, Spike knew the aftermath would not be something so easily dealt with…

Buffy tried in vain to shake off the green goo that covered her. "You've fought these things before, Spike?"

"Um, yeah."

"So you couldn't have thought to maybe toss out a warning like, 'hey, Buffy, punch it real hard in the stomach, and it'll explode into green slime?'"

"Sorry… I forgot about that little part." Buffy glared at him, and Spike added, "But you killed it, so that's a good thing, right?"

"When it gets me dripping in demon guts, no." She turned around, walking off.

"Wait!" Spike called, going after her. "Where are you going?"

"Home. I need a really, really long shower."

Spike tried to ignore the images that immediately conjured in his mind. "Buffy, I know tonight was a bust, but…"

Buffy stopped, turning around on her heel. "Look, I don't even know what you were trying tonight, but it's not going to work. We're not in that damn book anymore. We're in the real world, and here, we're not in love. So no more flowers or moonlit picnics, okay? Just…just stay away from me."

Spike looked down at her, tilting his head slightly, and the pain Buffy saw in his eyes made her heart break. "Buffy…luv…you can't really mean that."

"I do, Spike. It's what's for the best. At least…at least until we can get rid of whatever weirdness that book stirred up."

"Buffy, I can't do that. I can't stay away from you. I love you."

A part of Buffy wanted to believe that. She wanted Spike to love her more than she could ever even admit. But she also knew that it couldn't happen. "You can't love without a soul," she spat at him.

Spike took a step back. "I loved you in the book. I didn't have a soul then either, and I loved you."

"The book made you. It was just…part of the script."

"No! Dammit, Buffy… I love you. And not because of some stupid book. I love you because you're you. I can stand here and look at you covered in slimy demon guts and still think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. You're all I think about, all I dream about. You're on my mind all the bloody time! You're everything to me, Buffy. Everything."

"Stop it! Just stop it! You're a vampire—a soulless vampire. You can't feel that way for me. You can't. Just let me go." She turned around and started to walk away again, not wanting Spike to see the tears that were forming in her eyes.

He ran after her again, grabbing her shoulder. "Buffy, please…"

"Leave me alone."

"I can't. You have to listen to me. You have to believe."

Buffy grabbed his hand from her shoulder, throwing him off her. When he came towards her again, she struck, punching him hard enough to knock him to the ground. He looked up at her in shock, blood coming from his nose. Buffy's hand went to her mouth as she saw what she'd done. "Spike…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

He reached out for her. "Buffy…"

It was too much. She wanted to believe that the love he said he felt for her was more than an after effect of the book, but she couldn't. She knew that would only get her hurt again. "I'm sorry," she said again before running back home.

Spike sat in the grass, wiping the blood from his face.

Apparently the romantic approach wasn't going to work with Buffy after all…

*** *** ***

Buffy pounded on the door to her house until her mother finally opened it. "Honey, what happened?" Joyce asked as she looked at the tear-stained face of her slime-covered daughter.

"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy said. "I just want to take a shower." She pushed past her mother, running up the upstairs to the bathroom and slamming the door.

Dawn came in from the living room. "Date didn't go well?"

"She was crying and covered in slime," Joyce replied.

"Oh. Yeah, those would be bad signs." Dawn sighed. "I guess Spike and I are going to have to come up with something else."

"Dawn, I want you to stop meddling in your sister's life."

"But, Mom! I'm not meddling! I'm helping."

"I really don't think you are, sweetheart." Dawn started to open her mouth to speak again, but Joyce didn't let her. "I know you're trying, and you just want Buffy to be happy, but things are not going to work out between her and Spike. They're too different to ever have anything real."

"She loves him, Mom. I know she does. And it's breaking her heart that she thinks she can't be with him."

"Honey, you're just too young to understand. Being in love isn't that simple."

"I'm not too young!" Dawn snapped. "I'm what, a few thousand years old?"

"Dawn…"

"No! I'm going to bed."

"Dawn, sweetie…"

Dawn ignored her mother, storming up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door behind her.

*** *** ***

Buffy could hear her mother and Dawn fighting downstairs, and though the words were muffled, she knew it was about her. It reminded her too much of when her parents had fought all those years before.

She turned on the water as hot as she could stand it, discarding her ruined clothes before stepping into the shower. She sighed as she felt the slime washed from her body, closing her eyes and letting it all rush down the drain.

She knew Spike had genuinely tried that night, and she couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had done the best he could, she was sure, but, seeing as he was who he was, he hadn't been able to quite get it right. Still, she'd been touched by the gesture, even if she didn't want to admit that to him.

But that wasn't what mattered. Whatever was going on in that bleached head of his now, it was only temporary. Some sort of hangover effect from the book. He'd gotten so used to loving her as William that he thought he still did now that they were back in Sunnydale. He'd be over it soon, and then where would that leave her? Dumped yet again? She couldn't go through that, not now with so many other things weighing down on her.

Knowing that didn't make her stop longing for him. She wanted to go to him, pretend for a little bit longer. She wanted to be wrapped in his arms again, even if it was just for a moment. She wanted to feel what she'd felt as Elizabeth, that all-encompassing love that she knew she'd never have to doubt.

Buffy sunk to the bottom of the shower, her tears falling even long after the water had grown cold.

*** *** ***

I really wasn't trying to blackmail everyone with the notes in my last chapter. I was just wondering if people were either bored now that they're out of the book or having a hard time keeping up with my rapid updates. I wasn't threatening to cut back on anything, although all the reviews I got for the last chapter were greatly appreciated (thought I do have to wonder where many of you had been for the last sixteen chapters…lol).

Also, just so you know, I've been updating the way I have, because I had a bit of a lull in my usually hectic and crazy life, and I figured I should try to finish up some of these fics I've had in progress for a while. Pretty soon, I won't be able to update my fics daily like this, although I'm hoping to have this one and Daylight finished before that happens. Then I'll go back to work on my other fics and hopefully start posting something new I have in the works as well.

And please review. Even if it's just a few words to let me know you're reading and like what you see (or don't like, if the case may be) it means a lot to me. Reviews are the only sort of reward I get for all the time and energy I pour into fanfiction.





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