Spike shot up, covers falling around his waist, breath coming in heavy pants, despite the fact he didn’t require air. He loved her... Buffy Summers...The Vampire slayer chit who he’d been attempting to kill for the last few years. Turning his head he noticed Harmony was sleeping soundly. He had to think, had to be somewhere else.

Throwing on his jeans and tight black t-shirt he made his way out of his crypt and through Restfield Cemetery, already knowing where his feet would take him.

Twenty minutes later and he was downing bourbon and Willy was giving him the look that suggested the words: ‘Rough day?’ Were about to squirm their way out of his mouth.

“Rough day pal?” Willy cleaned a beer glass and Spike suppressed an eye roll.

“Yeah mate, could say that.”

“Let me guess, girl troubles?” Willy topped up the glass of bourbon.

Sighing Spike contemplated whether or not to have the classic bar conversation, then again he was in a room filled with demons and if word got out that he was making moon eyes for the peppy blonde then his reputation would go even further down the drain than it already was.

“Sod off mate” Spike downed the rest of his glass and strode out of the bar.

~/~/~/~

“Here Vampires, come out come out wherever you are” Buffy turned abruptly as something came out of the bushes to her side, raising her stake in anticipation she tried to hide her disappointment as she identified her boyfriend.

“Riley, what are you doing here?” Oops, harsher than intended, Buffy thought before smiling to soften the blow.

“I thought I’d ease your load, come spend some quality time with you.” He grinned and she suppressed a sigh, Riley was well...an annoyance when he tried to patrol with her. Always acting like she needed saving, stepping in front of her to fight the bad guy. The whole hero routine was amusing at first but now it was just...pissing her off.

“Oh well that’s sweet but actually it’s deader than....dead out here” cringing at her own bad pun she hoped that Riley wouldn’t get upset “and besides honey I think Dawn wanted some help with her algebra homework and you know me and mum, two minutes of this squared and that squared drives us crazy.”

Riley smiled, obviously chuffed that Buffy had called him intelligent “Well I guess I’ll go save Dawnie from the evil that is math class” he moved closer to her “and maybe later we could...you know” He gave her a kiss.

“Oh yeah totally, I’ll just do a couple more cemeteries and then I’ll be back home.” Buffy smiled and watched as Riley walked away.

She didn’t know what was with her mind lately, one minute she was crazy about Riley, the next minute the spark was gone. She groaned and leant against a tombstone, why couldn’t she ever have the normal, perfect relationship with the normal, tanned boy from Iowa that was probably willing to move out to Iowa with her and plant a cornfield with their five kids.

‘You need the danger Buffy.’ She listened to her inner monologue, it was sad but true, what she’d had with Angel had been ten times more thrilling than what she had with Riley. Hell even her brief and unsettling engagement to Spike had thrilled her.

“Well well, if it isn’t the slayer.” the rough English accent made her turn.

“What do you want Spike?” She gave him a bored look.

“You’re out the front of my crypt slayer.” Buffy looked up and realised he was right.

Realising she didn’t actually have an explanation for why she ended up in front of her nemesis’s less than humble home she quickly thought on her feet “Tonight’s deader than you, know of any nests around?”

He smirked “You need my help findin’ the big bad? You must really be losing your touch love.”

Glaring she took a large step forward and socked him in the nose; smiling perkily she turned and walked off.

“Some woman to be in love with” he muttered as he wiped away the blood.

“Blondie bear! Is everything ok?” Harmony came to his side and he shrugged her off.

Spike slung his duster over his favourite arm chair and took a bag of blood out of his bar fridge, ignoring Harmony’s endless chatter about shopping, killing the slayer and other nonsense.

“Harmony...” she stopped talking “Get out.”

She made a sound of shock “Excuse me, tell me you did not just say what I think you said...I have been carrying you through this whole chip thing and OW-OW Spike get off me!” He’d interrupted her mid-rant by grabbing her arm and chucking her out of his crypt.

“You’ll be sorry when you realise you can never get me back!” She looked like a lost puppy as he slammed the door shut.

Now that she was taken care of it was time to start figuring out this slayer thing.

~/~/~/~

When Buffy arrived home she tried to hide her relief that Riley had left soon after helping Dawn with her homework. She smiled at her mother and Joyce handed her a cup of tea.

“Buffy, how are things with you and Riley going?” Her mother sipped at her own hot tea and gave her the knowing look that all mothers can pull off.

“We’re great mum, really...Kind of” Joyce sighed and gave her another look and then Buffy was spilling her heart out.

“It’s just, he’s always so needy, he needs to be with me when I patrol and even then he acts like I’m the one that needs saving all the time. He even tries to do simple stuff for me, which don’t get me wrong is nice...sometimes but every day, no that’s just annoying oh and treating me like I’m his simple domestic wife to be. I don’t even want to live in Iowa, and five kids, way too many!”

“Buffy, calm down, look Riley is a nice boy and I would love it if you stayed with him and settled down but that being said it’s your life and it’s ultimately up to you when it comes to who you do and don’t want to be with” Joyce sipped her tea “I mean even a nice boy like Spike.”

Buffy spluttered “Mum, Spike is far from nice and he isn’t even a boy, he’s an undead vampire with no soul” Joyce pursed her lips.

“And tell me, how is that any different from your relationship with Angel?”

“Well for starters, Angel had a soul, he was good” Her mother interrupted.

“Buffy, Angel had a soul yes, but when he lost that soul he hurt you more than anyone ever has and probably ever will. He completely ruined your trust for all men and not to mention caused all that havoc all over town.”

“But” Buffy tried to defend her ex love but her mother interrupted again.

“In my opinion Spike is a better man and vampire than Angel will ever be, in fact he’s very attractive and whenever we have our talks he’s the perfect gentleman, charming and funny.”

Buffy sat on the bar stool stunned, her mother was recommending Spike to be her next lover.

“Ok mum look, I’m going to ignore you’re views on Spike because that’s just wigging me out but you’re right about Riley, I’m going to talk to him tomorrow and end it. Thanks...I think.”

~/~/~/~

Three hours it had taken him to come up with this ingenious plan. Spike looked over his notepad. He’d decided that he would go about his love for Buffy in a different way, rather than just screaming his adoration for her from the roof tops.

He knew what Buffy saw him as, a cold dead monster with no capability of love. Spike, dead set in changing this opinion she had formed of him, put on his duster and once again strode out of his crypt, he had a plan and it was going to work. By the end of this, the slayer would see him for the man he really was on the inside...William.

TBC ......

Buffy stretched and rolled out of bed. Last night had probably been the best sleep she’d had in weeks and to top off her good mood for the morning she realised that she felt at ease with the idea of breaking up with Riley.

Buffy hummed along with her radio as she got dressed and did her makeup for the day, smiling brightly at Dawn when she noticed her sister leaning against the doorframe.

“You look like Mary Poppins on crack.” Dawn stated before moving to sit on her sister’s bed.

“I just feel good today, things are going to be different now” Buffy finished her mascara and grabbed her bag, bouncing down the stairs as Dawn watched her confused.

~/~/~/~

“Buffy!” Riley smiled at her and shoved a to-go coffee in her face.

“Thanks...Look...Riley, there’s something that I need to talk to you about” she took a deep breath and sipped her coffee, almost spitting it out again “Riley this is...what is this?” she opened her coffee and looked at the black liquid.

“It’s just how you like it, no milk, no sugar, and no cream.” He gave her a smile.

“Ok, this makes things so much easier already; Riley...you don’t get me. I mean I’m a sugar maniac, I hate coffee without milk and cream is one of my favourite things in the world.”

“Buffy I can get you another coffee...” Riley gave her a completely blank look, showing that he had no idea where this conversation was going.

“Riley I don’t want another coffee; I want you to listen to me. This relationship isn’t working for me anymore.”

Riley looked at her upset “...Buffy I, I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me.”

“Riley come on, lately you’ve been smothering me, it’s like you’re trying to overpower me. I can’t be with someone that doesn’t want me to be who I am because it freaks them out or makes them feel inadequate. I can’t be with you anymore, it’s over.”

~/~/~/~

“Well it’s over with me and Riley!” Buffy announced as she walked into her living room, plopping down onto the sofa next to a concerned looking Willow holding a bowl of popcorn.

“What? What happened?”

“It just wasn’t right, the way he was acting around me, the way that I was always the little girl that needed saving. I mean, I’m independent I don’t need to be saved.” Buffy sighed and took a handful of the buttery snack.

“I thought that was what you wanted? To be in the normal relationship with the normal guy and be the normal girl."

“The key word there being was. Look for a while it was great with Riley but you know me, I wouldn’t be able to live with normal forever. I’m not exactly the definition of a normal girl” Buffy commented dryly as her best friend nodded.

“Wait if you broke up with Riley then who are the flowers from?” Willow pointed to a vase in the corner of the room with ten dark red roses and a white note in front of them.

“Ooh pretty” Buffy walked over and read the card out loud to Willow “Buffy Anne Summers, every single rose here represents the number of days until you find out my true identity, today marks day one.”

“Buffy this is so cool, I can’t believe you’ve got a secret admirer, very romantic” Willow leapt up and read the card herself.

“Yeah I can hardly believe it either...but who would be my secret admirer I mean...I only talk to you, Xander, Dawn, Mom, Giles, Anya, Tara...and that’s it, I mean it’s not like I get random guys on the street coming up to me and going, wow you’re so beautiful I’m in love with you, I mean even Riley didn’t do this kind of stuff.”

Willow smiled “Yeah I guess, oh and don’t forget about the certain blonde haired vampire you talk to on a regular basis or rather pummel for information on a regular basis.”

“Oh please Willow you can’t even be considering Spike as a candidate he’d be the last person to be in love with me. Are you telling me you don’t remember the other day when he tried to get his chip out and rip my throat open? Not exactly what I’d call smitten kitten behaviour.”

“Well you are a bit of a vamp magnet” the red head smiled cheekily, she knew it wouldn’t be Spike but stirring Buffy up was still amusing.

“You can say that again, but still, there is no way in hell that Spike has any feelings towards me besides hatred and even if he did, there’s not even a smidge of feelings from my side, I mean come on...it’s Spike.” Buffy walked into the kitchen, trying to squash the thoughts that popped into her head of Spike doing sweet and romantic things for her.

~/~/~/~

Spike downed a whiskey at Willy’s bar, he wondered if Buffy had looked at the flowers yet. Ignoring the stare that Willy was giving him Spike stood and strode out of the bar. He’d have to make it to the shops through the drain system if he wanted to complete the next part of his plan.

Ten minutes later Spike climbed up through the grate at the back of the mall where no one could see him; luckily it was clouded over today so no sun rays would catch him and make him burst into flames.

Spike walked into Lady Fortunes Inc, one of the better chocolate manufacturers in Sunnydale’s only mall. Picking the giant fortune cookies in caramel lovers and cookies and cream he turned around to make his purchase.

“Spike...?” His eyes widened.

“Anya...” he froze, not knowing whether to hide the cookies behind his back or to make a run for it.

“Mind telling me what you’re doing at Lady Fortunes Inc?” She eyed the cookies in his hand critically.

“Just....Buying some stuff for home.”

“You don’t eat?”

“Sod it, why couldn’t you have just been the whelp then I would have just told you to bugger off” Spike ran a hand through his hair and chucked the cookies on the counter, paying for them and ignoring Anya’s stare.

“Alright what is going on? You’re out in the middle of the day – last time I checked, you don’t tend to do that. You’re buying cookies from Lady Fortunes Inc and actually buying them instead of stealing them and you actually look like you’d be producing sweat if you could.”

Spike smirked, had to love the girl’s honesty “Look you’re an alright bird, I like you better than most of the Scoobies and if I tell you what’s going on...Can you do me a favour and not let anyone else in on the plan love?”

She nodded and waited for him to continue “Right...so the thing is....I’m in love Buffy.”

“Go on” Anya looked at him expectantly as he tried to stop his mouth from falling open and looking like an idiot.

“You know about this?”

“Well I kind of guessed, I mean it was bound to happen, ever since Willow’s spell gone awry you and Buffy have been looking at each other differently. However this being said, I don’t think that she feels quite as strongly about you.” She gave him a sympathetic look, she knew what it was like to fall for someone who thought what you were - or in her case used to be - was wrong and evil.

“Well yeah pet I guessed that, but I have a plan” his eyes lit up like a little boy on Christmas day “I’m going to send her a different gift for ten days and then on the tenth day I’m going to tell her that I’m her secret admirer, I’m gonna show her the man I really am, the man that I could be for her...Will you help me out?”

Anya gave him a smile “Yes I will help you out with your conquest towards getting Buffy to love you and then having lots of passionate sweaty sex with her! Just tell me how.” She beamed and Spike chuckled. If he did this right, it just might work.

TBC