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A/N I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who voted for this fic in the weekly poll! You all continue to amaze me and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!





Chapter 7 – Playing Games


It would have been a lot easier to stay in a good mood about the kissing situation if Spike hadn’t gone above and beyond the call of duty to avoid her. It had been two weeks and she hadn’t seen him once. Not at the Scooby meetings, not at her home, and not even at his crypt when she had stopped by a week ago.

Even then, Buffy would have been able to hold onto a sliver of happiness at the fact that they had been so close. That was until she had followed Aubrey out on patrol the other night and seen her meet up with him. Her heart had dropped into her stomach at the mere sight of them doing something that Buffy used to take for granted. She always thought she would be the one to patrol with Spike, but apparently the daughter of a vampire couldn’t compare with the vampire Slayer.

That’s when she told herself that things would change…again.

* * * * *

Walking through the streets of Sunnydale, Buffy tried to remain upbeat as she talked to her date. Brad had been asking her out, off and on, for the past year and she had always remained adamant about not taking him up on any offers, but that was before the ‘New Buffy’ took effect. Now, she didn’t see the harm in going to a movie and getting something to eat. She was only moderately surprised that she was actually having a good time. There was nothing bad about her date, but she definitely didn’t see any future possibilities.

‘You’re seventeen,’ she thought to herself as they walked in the direction of her house from the Espresso Pump. ‘You don’t need to be worried about future possibilities- just be worried about current possibilities.’

“Hey,” Brad suddenly broke into her thoughts with an excited voice. “Have you ever been to a cemetery at night?”

Looking up at him, Buffy let a soft smile play on her lips. “I can’t remember,” she said with seeming innocence.

“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her across the street to one of the larger graveyards.

Buffy was moderately relieved that Spike didn’t live there, but she did know that there was usually some kind of vampire activity in this particular cemetery.

“I-I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” she said, keeping an eye on her surroundings and subtly double-checking that she had a stake safely tucked away in her pocket.

“You’re not scared, are you?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll protect you.”

Her lips tightened at the sexist remark, but she kept her mouth shut, choosing to ignore it.

“There are just a lot of weird people who hang out in cemeteries,” she said, trying to make him see that this idea wasn’t a very good one.

“It’ll be okay,” Brad replied with an easy smile. “Come on.”

Leading her in a winding trail through the tombstones, Buffy made sure to watch every movement and listen to every rustle that sounded around her.

“This place looks good,” he said with a smile.

“L-looks good?” she repeated, feeling unsettled when he gently placed his hands on her hips and pushed her against a mausoleum. “Brad…what are you doing?” she whispered, tensing up when she felt his lips on her neck and raising her shoulder to ward off his advances.

“What does it look like?” he asked, pulling back to look at her with a smile.

Forcing herself to relax, Buffy took a deep breath. ‘This is a right of passage,’ she thought to herself, stopping any urge she had of pushing him away. ‘This isn’t going to go any farther than you’re willing to let it go…you can beat this guy to a bloody pulp if he tries to push you into something.’

Nearly smiling at the thought, she relaxed against him, trying not to think that the simple feel of Spike’s lips barely brushing against hers was more exciting than anything Brad could do for her.

Feeling him move toward her again, Buffy gently pushed him away, offering a soft smile when he gave her a questioning look. “I don’t like people touching my neck,” she said softly, thinking that this was a valid point, considering she was the child of two vampires…of course she wasn’t going to tell him that.

When his lips brushed against hers, Buffy forced herself to relax and go with it, immediately tensing up a few moments later.

“Buffy?”

Slowly pulling away- and feeling an immediate sense of relief- she turned toward the familiar voice, seeing Spike standing in front of her, obviously sizing up the man with her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in a cold voice.

“What’s it look like?” Brad spoke up, obviously becoming intimidated when Spike’s icy gaze turned toward him. “Is this your dad or something?” he whispered to Buffy.

She would have laughed if it didn’t flash through her mind that Spike was a very unchipped, soulless vampire. A fact that she continuously forgot since he chose to fight the good fight, but with the look of murder in his eyes, Buffy knew she would have to handle this carefully.

“Or something,” she replied softly, stepping between the two men. “Can you wait here?” she asked Brad, who hesitantly nodded.

Spike waited until Buffy walked past him before tearing his gaze away from the other man and following her.

“What are you doing?” he asked when they were a few feet away.

“I’m on a date,” she whispered, crossing her arms over her chest.

“In a graveyard?”

“No,” Buffy replied. “At the movies. This was…a detour,” she finished with a smile.

“Detour?” he questioned, arching an eyebrow at her casual reply.

“Yes, now if you’ll excuse me,” she said, turning away from him, only to have him grab her arm. Quickly pulling free from his grasp, Buffy turned back to him with an irritated look. “What? You want to play the angry father now?”

“I told you not to call me that,” he said in a low voice.

“Yeah,” Buffy said with a shrug. “I guess there would be kind of an ick factor, what with the kissage and all.”

“It was-”

“A mistake?” she interrupted, giving him a bright smile as she patted his shoulder in a condescending manner. “Right there with you, big guy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date.”

Taken aback by her obvious dismissal, Spike turned to watch her as she walked back to her date.

“We should probably go,” she said with a bright smile that was obviously for Spike’s benefit. “I forgot that I promised to be home early tonight.”

“Alright,” Brad said softly, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her through the cemetery.

“Buffy,” Spike called after her with frustration evident in his voice.

“Don’t worry about me, Spike,” Buffy replied, turning around to walk backwards and look at him, giving him a huge smile. “I’ll be fine. See you around.”

Spike stood in shock as Buffy turned around without another glance. He didn’t want to question why it hurt that she would just ignore him and ignore the moment that they had shared a few weeks ago.

‘That’s what you wanted her to do,’ he thought to himself. ‘It was wrong…that’s why you’ve stayed away for so long. You were the one who wanted her to not make a big deal about it.’

Then why did it bother him so much?

* * * * *

Buffy’s good mood had quickly evaporated by the time she reached her front porch. After practically playing Twenty Questions with Brad about who Spike was and lying through the majority of the answers, she was ready to curl up with a movie and enjoy some alone time.

Leaving him with a chaste kiss on the cheek, Buffy practically ran into her house, wanting to forget all about her date and really wanting to forget about running into Spike.

‘He’s everywhere,’ she thought as she walked into her bathroom and began washing off her make-up before shaking her head. ‘No, he’s everywhere that you don’t want him to be. When you want to see him, he’s nowhere to be found.’

She did feel a twinge of regret that she had lied to him. She did consider the kiss to be a big deal, but if he wanted to play the game this way, then she was more than willing to up the stakes.





Thanks so much to: gypsy_jin, Caatje, Elanor, Scarlet, Ash, Amanda, Juanita, spuffette, Danie, Ashly, bex makes u fly, Rana, Alicia, Cordykitten, H, willowmouse, Tasha, melissa, Caitie, Renee, shelly, Celestria, pj, blondiebear, Spikes Sweety, stace, TammyAsh666, dreamgirl4eva, Lala, starhawk, Laine, buffster1985, phantomwriter, nightengale1824, BuffyRat for reviewing!!








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