They entered the kitchen and Isabel walked towards the kitchen while Thomas walked to the opposite end of the room and stood by the pot-bellied stove.
Spike frowned and when towards Willow, who was watching an interesting adaptation of monopoly, he bent down and whispered in her ear.

"Have you noticed anything weird between Isabel and Thomas?"

"Not really, only the fact that they appear to be best friends and yet they cannot stand to be within a ten metre radius of each other." Spike's proximity was making Willow nervous and so she became a bit catty and sarcastic.

"Relax, luv, I've noticed the same I'm gonna go talk to Isabel,"

Spike left Willow and he was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even feel Willow's eyes on his butt.

When he made it over to Isabel he found her filleting the fish, she was quite skilful with the knife and he found himself transfixed but her graceful and deadly strokes.

"Hey Spike."

"Hi," he said shaking his head bringing himself back to life.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, you're pretty good with that for a lass," he said adding the mortal in his head.

"Practise, I've been filleting fish since I was old enough to know when mum would not be able to see me."

"Sneaky are you?"

"Somewhat, gotta be."

"Why?"

"No reason, just gotta be…mainly to keep one over those boys," she added the last bit quickly hoping that he would not notice the slight pause.

Spike however did notice and put it with the pile that was becoming large, all of these strange points led to one thing, Isabel was…

"Langer's out for 57, next up to bat, Gilchrist." The loud voice of the commentator stopped Spike's thought patterns mid-assumption.

Spike turned around to see the TV was on and the boys were suddenly glued to it.

"I forgot this was on," Ben said getting more comfortable.

"That's coz I hid everything that would tell you it was, excluding Thomas here." Jasmine sighed.

"Sorry, Jaz. But we are about to cream England, as per usual," Thomas threw the last comment over his shoulder to Spike, curious to see whether or not
it would bait the Englishman.

"Mate, England's been playing the game longer than Australia's been a country so don't even try it."

"Sorry Spike, did I hit a nerve?"

"No."

"Okay," Thomas had had a bit of fun so he turned back around and watched the game.

"Can you give me a hand Spike?" Isabel hoped to get his mind away from it Thomas could be the most stupid bastard at times.

"Sure."

"Thanks, just keep an eye on the fish while I make a salad."

Spike watched the food as he noticed that she was again very good with a knife.

The fish were finished and the salad was made, Isabel called Dinner and everyone came over except the boys. Xander and Riley were now to hypnotised by the game.

Isabel walked over and stood in front of the TV.

"Okay you have two choices, one, go over and I leave the TV on, or, I turn it off and throw it out the bloody window."

The boys scurried over to the table faster than anyone thought, all except Thomas.

"What makes you think you can order us around?"

"Because it works," she said gesturing over to the table and the boys.

"Well it doesn't work with me."

"Just go eat," she said suddenly exasperated.

"No!"

"Fine."

She walked past him and straight out the door, he swore and followed her.

"Let's eat," Jasmine said as though the exchange had never taken place.

Spike thought it would be the best idea to just go with it so he reached for the fish and began to eat. Willow looked at the door for a moment before turning and joining the others eating.

"This is lovely," Xander said between mouthfuls. He successfully got everyone's mind off what had transpired and a conversation ensued. Willow however remained quiet; she thought she might have an idea what was going on.
 
 

Isabel and Thomas re-entered the kitchen an hour later, Willow looked up from the game of Uno that she was playing to see who had walked in. When she
saw them she wondered if everything was okay then she realised that they were acting as though nothing had happened. Thomas walked over to the seat
he had vacated earlier and sat back down to watch the game of cricket. Isabel made her way into the kitchen and without saying a word to Jasmine she got out the two plates that the former girl had made up and put in there while the pair had been gone.

Isabel removed the cling wrap from the plates, she grabbed two cans and put one in each hand then she balanced the plates on top and walked over to the
TV. She gave Thomas one plate and carried the other over to the table the girls were sitting at. She sat and got dealt into the game, playing with her right hand and eating with the other.

Willow looked over at the TV and noticed that all the Australian players were jumping around like idiots, she assumed that they had won. She remained
watching as Isabel was dealing. She watched as Spike stood up and turned on his heel, he walked out the door and made a slight motion for Willow to follow.

"I..I just need to grab a jumper can I sit this game out?"

"Sure," Isabel said picking up the cards she had dealt Willow and putting them back in the pile.

Isabel turned around and caught Thomas's eye, Buffy noticed that they seemed to be carrying on a silent conversation, suddenly Isabel turned back around
and finished dealing as if there had been no pause.

Buffy was curious to know why everyone here was acting so strangely, but then again maybe it was just the people here in Australia they did always seem to be strange in anything she had watched. She thought though over all of those movies, they had always spoken very strangely, the people she had meet so far though had spoken normally. All that they had was a slight accent, she had not once heard someone say g'day or speak of shrimp and barbies. She shook her head and continued with the game.

Willow did indeed go into the dorms to grab a sweater before making her way over to the campfire that Spike was playing with.

"You shouldn't play with fire."

"I'm not a five year old."

"Really?"

"Was that sarcasm, luv?"

"Yep."

"I believe that the response to that question is supposed to be sarcastic too."

"Oh well. What did you want."

"What is the deal with these people?"

"I don't know, but it does seem odd."

"Here's what I have come up with, Jasmine and Ben nice normal people, Isabel and Thomas, aliens from a far and very bloody strange planet."

Willow laughed heartily and Spike joined in.

"Okay, so seriously, do you think maybe this is just normal behaviour for Isabel and Thomas or something to do with all of us being here and them hiding something?"

"I'd go with the latter luv, but we'll talk later the posse has arrived."

Willow turned around and saw that everyone was coming out of the kitchen and making there way over to the fire. Willow hoped that they did finish the
conversation, it was a nice feeling to be the only one that Spike was discussing something with. Willow blushed at the thought but hoped that the fire hid the light blush.

Spike noticed her blush and had a faint hope that it had something to do with him, he doubted it though, she was way out of his league. When the others arrived he said that he felt like a walk down to the river. He made slight contact with Willow to make sure she understood not to let anyone down, he needed to feed and he didn't want to freak out the people that we would be spending a lot of time with.

He walked away his true form coming forth he began to hunt with the thought of Willow in his head.
 
 

Isabel walked around the corner looking for Thomas; she wanted to let him know that they were all heading to the pub for dinner. She saw Spike and Thomas looking under the hood of his pride and joy, a HR holden, in all truth she liked the car she mainly mocked it to get a rise out of him. She walked up behind Thomas and tapped him on the shoulder; he didn't turn around and just spoke.

"What do you want Isabel?"

"We're going to the pub for dinner, can you get ready you smell all fishy," she replied in a snobby voice.

"Hey!" he smelt his t-shirt and had to agree with her, but that was what a day of fishing would do. "How long?"

"Half hour, k?"

"Sure." Isabel turned and walked into the nissen hut to grab a drink.

Meanwhile Spike was listening to Thomas tell him about the car, when his mind wondered back to the way Thomas and Isabel acted around one another. It
reminded him of a couple he had known in Paris back in the twenties, nice pair. They were a comedy duo, funny as all hell; in fact that was the only thing that stopped him from killing them. But they had all this sexual tension that they never resolved, now that he thought about it maybe they hadn't known. Eventually they couldn't work together because of all the problems it had created. Spike mind changed topics and he began to wonder what had happened between Isabel and Thomas.

"Thomas?"

"Yep?"

"What's the deal with you and Isabel?"

"What do you mean?" he said looking up. They both moved away from the car and Thomas put the hood back down.

"The two of you are obviously great friends but I have to ask why there is always a sort of bloody hell what's the word..."

"Barrier?"

"Yeah barrier between the two of you. Why?"

"There is nothing like that between us we just haven't been talking much lately."

Suddenly Thomas began to walk away. "I have to get ready you better too."

"Sure."

Spike stared after him for a second sure that he had hit on something, the way Thomas had known the right word and his abrupt exit all lead to fuelling Spike's curiosity. Spike headed in a different direction to Thomas, he needed to find Willow.

Spike ran into Anya before he could get to Willow, he attempted to brush her off but she would have none of it not letting Spike go until he was safely in the bathroom having a shower.

Once she was sure that Spike was out of the way, she set about making sure their plan worked.

Earlier that day.

The girls were playing Monopoly while the boys were out fishing, again.

"I'll buy it," Anya said handing over the money to Isabel, who was the banker.

"You know you don't have to buy everything."

"I don't? I thought the object of the game was to gain properties until you are finally able to squash the self esteem and bank balance of the other players."

"Not quite, but close, no squashing of self esteem and it's just a friendly game."

"But it is a game, so the objective is to win."

"Well yes but."

"But nothing then I shall be squashing."

Jasmine laughed as she took her turn and landed on a chance card. Ohhh she had just come runner up in a beauty contest, ten dollars.

"Ten dollars thank you."

"Why does she get money?"

"Because I just came second in a beauty contest."

"I don't remember you entering one."

"I didn't I got it on a chance card."

"I don't think you should get money if you didn't even enter what about all of the poor people who did enter?"

"You're right, but for now let's go with what the card says and we'll bring it up with Xander later," Buffy intervened before this became really bad.

Jasmine jumped in with a change of subject. "So, how long have you and Riley been dating?"

"Three months."

"How about you Anya, you and Xander?"

"Oh. Approximately six months, one week and four days."

"Approximately," Isabel said in a sarcastic tone. The girls were a little surprised to hear her she had barely said anything all morning.

"And Willow how about you and Spike how long have you two been cosy?"

"What!"

"Yeah, Willow how long," Anya said finally interested.

"We are not dating."

"You aren't. I just assumed you two seem to be so totally smitten."

"Yeah they are totally smitten kittens," Buffy said quoting a phrase from 'Friends'.

"We are not smitten nor are we kittens.even if Spike has purred once or twice."

"Really?" Anya said truly not caring about the game anymore.

Isabel hoped to stay out of the conversation, so she kept quiet but remained listening to everything they were saying.

"Alright Wills we believe you."

Anya turned to Jasmine and asked, "What about you and Benjamin?"

"About eighteen months I suppose."

"Wow," Buffy sighed.

"What about you and Thomas, Isabel I have seen the sparks fly."

Isabel didn't answer instead standing. "Willow would you like to go for a walk down to the bay?"

"Sure."

The two girls left, the remaining three sat and continued their discussion.

"Listen can I ask you two a favour?"

"Sure."

"Well can you not talk about Isabel and Thomas like that there are a lot of open wounds there."

"Did they used to date?"

"No, but I really shouldn't talk about it, if the time comes they will tell you."

"Okay, so Willow and Spike, they definitely need to have lots of sex."

The other two girls laughed, Anya smiled.

"Good way of putting it.in fact I have a plan, it just might work, but it will mean going to the pub tonight. Yes it will work I know it."

"Umm, problem, too young for the pub."

"Not here your not, you are both over eighteen right."

Both girls nodded.

"Well, it's fine then, now here is my plan." The girls all huddled together discussing Jasmine's plan, giggling and formulating, the perfect action.
 
 

Everyone was ready and all the boys were gathered in the carpark, discussing manly things.

"I think that black is the only nail polish to wear, I mean all the others just make you look like the bloody poof."

"Who?"

"Buffy's ex, Angel, he was a total poof."

"Why Chubs are we agreeing on something."

"Yeah but don't tell anyone."

"So what's this pub like?"

"Like most I suppose, though it is quite laid back."

"Good, where are the bloody girls."

Just as Spike said the words Isabel rounded the corner. Spike looked her up and down appreciatively, she was wearing a pair of form fitting blue jeans and a loose woollen sweater, and a pair of doc martens, he definitely approved.

"Hey, why don't you guys get going in Ben's car, and we'll follow in your car, Thomas."

"What makes you think you can drive my car."

In response Isabel stood there with her hands on her hips and watched Thomas, he in turn stared back for a minute or so before giving in and tossing the keys at her without warning. She moved quickly and caught them easily; Spike frowned before putting it down to her knowing he was going to do it.

"We'll see you there," she said before turning and smiling.

Spike got into the car and thought about the exchange, it was the first time that he could say that they acted like actual friends, it was just another thing he would have to discuss with Willow. He wondered what Willow would be wearing although he could guess something bright and fuzzy, but he didn't cringe at her fashion sense as he had used to he now excepted that they made her look even more adorable. Spike shook his head and looked out the window concentrating on the scenery.

Isabel watched the boys drive away, she turned and shook her head she could tell that this was going to be a bad idea. She knew that Spike and Willow
had the hots for each other and she could see why, I mean Spike is a hornbag, especially in the clothes he was wearing that night. He had on a pair of black slacks that fitted quite nicely, and a midnight blue shirt, the only downfall being his battered docs although she couldn't say much, her other pair might actually be worse. She turned on her heel and walked away, she wanted to see this. She hoped it worked, but she hoped that's where it stopped she did not need them trying to set her and Thomas up.

"I like what I'm wearing."

"So do I Willow but I was just thinking why not go for something a little more.fun."

"I don't wanna be fun I want to be comfortable."

"Please?"

Willow stared at Buffy's puppy dog eyes, she scowled Buffy knew she couldn't resist those eyes. Willow stomped her foot and grudgingly agreed.

"Alright, we have the perfect outfit," Anya said pulling some clothes off of the chair next to her and handing them to Willow.

"Hey, you had these all along come on this isn't far," Willow pouted as Buffy and Anya pushed her towards the bathroom. Just then Isabel walked in and Willow looked at her as if she was her saviour.

"What?" Isabel didn't like how Willow was looking at her.

Buffy and Anya let go for a moment as Willow's mind ran into overdrive. If she said something maybe they would start on Isabel too and she would definitely disagree then I could get out of it.

"What about her, she's single too."

With those words, Buffy and Anya's eyes lit up; Isabel smiled apologetically at Willow before turning and walking out the door. Buffy and Anya turned back to Willow and began leading her into the bathroom again.

Ten minutes later when Jasmine, Anya and Buffy walked out of the kitchen Isabel looked away from the fire and tried to see Willow, she knew that she was standing behind the other girls she just couldn't see her. Finally the other girls moved away leaving Willow standing there looking uncomfortable, but she did look good.

Isabel walked over and made a decision, she had to help the poor girl. Willow stood in a pair of tight jeans and a tight green singlet.

"She's gonna freeze how about I get her a jumper."

"Okay, as long as it isn't one of her's they are fuzzy and don't fit."

"Alright." Isabel walked into the dorm and found the perfect jumper in her bag. It was also green and would cover enough to make Willow comfortable and
the other girls still would think it was okay. She walked back outside and handed it to Willow, the other girl silently thanked her and put it on. Buffy eyed it sceptically and finally agreed that it would be okay.

"We had better go."

They all walked towards the car and drove off, Isabel hoped this wasn't a bad idea, Stacey and Melissa could be worse than vipers.
 

The girls turned into the carpark and turned the car off; they all got out of the car and made their way into the pub. Isabel noticed that as they got closer to the entrance Willow became more and more uncomfortable. Isabel walked over to her and gave her the jacket; the she had been carrying.

"Thanks, but I think they might yell at me if I don't at least make an appearance in these clothes."

"Well it's here if you need it."

"Thanks, um.can I hide behind you when we go in?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Buffy, Jasmine and Anya walked in, and seconds after the entire pub let out a great cheer and Willow and Isabel rushed in to see why. All of the patrons
had their eyes on the large screen off to the right of the bar. Willow's eyes turned to the screen not sure what to expect, the action was happening in slow motion obviously a re-play. One guy in a black jersey with a red diagonal strip had just jumped onto the shoulders of another guy wearing a black and white striped jersey. The one that had jumped stayed there and caught a ball before falling back to the ground that was when she saw the shorts that they were wearing, they looked like they should be on eight-year-olds.

"They're short shorts."

"Yeah, they are but all the teams have to wear them, although they are bigger than they were last year."

Isabel walked off and Willow wondered if the shorts could get any smaller.

"Hey."

"Hi, where's Willow?" Spike said looking around her. His eyes set upon her and he was pretty sure he must have died and gone somewhere nice, coz she
looked amazing, he just couldn't take his eyes off her.

"She was contemplating if the shorts could get any smaller."

"They look tight enough to me," Anya said ogling the player that was bent over picking up the ball.

"Sure do," Buffy said agreeing.

"So," Xander said changing topic. "Do you think Giles is having fun on the lurve boat?"

"Hopefully," Anya said.

"I'm gonna get a drink, Spike will you give me a hand?"

"What? Oh sure luv."

Spike and Isabel made their way over to the bar and ordered.

"So, you like Willow."

"No!"

"Then why had you been mentally undressing her since she came in, though she hasn't been much better."

"I have not.was it really that obvious?"

"Yes it was, why don't you just do something?"

They got their drinks and made their way over to the table.

"Coz the bloody slayer would stake me," Spike answered without thinking halfway to the table, Isabel stopped in her tracks and almost dropped her glass. She shook her head and walked over to the table, she sat between Riley and Thomas and slowly sipped her drink.

The game ended, and the patrons all calmed down, they sat and drank waiting for another game to begin.

"Are you okay?" Thomas said leaning over to Isabel and whispering in her ear.

She turned her head and was centimetres away from him, she moved backwards at the same time that he did causing there to be an overly big gap, all of
the other members of the table watched their exchange.

"Fine, I need some air."

Isabel stood up and walked towards the door, Xander stood up and went to check on her, he thought that I he didn't no one would, Thomas seemed dazed
and confused, and Spike seemed weird too.

He got outside and found her seated on the bonnet of Thomas's car.

"How are you doing?" Xander slipped onto the bonnet as well and waited for an answer.

"Fine, now I was a little hot and flustered but I feel much better now," she smiled at him.

They stood up and walked back inside and he cracked a joke about the game and Isabel laughed, more than she had in a long time.

Inside a commentator was announcing another game; Isabel and Xander made their way over to the table as Ben was giving everyone a very brief run down
of the game.

"Why didn't you do it earlier?" Willow asked trying to follow.

"I knew another game was coming so I thought I would explain it properly."

"Okay," Ben looked at their confused faces and wondered if he should start again. "Should I start again?"

At the collective nod he began again.

"Okay, so this is football, also known as AFL. In a game of footy there are two teams and in the last game these two teams were Essendon and Collingwood. This game is between Hawthorn and the Eagles, my personal favourite team. Anyway there are 38 members in a team and from them 22 are picked and of them 18 are allowed on the ground at once. So there are two goals, one at each end, and they consist of four white metal poles, the two in the centre are taller than to two outer ones. A goal is when the ball is kicked between the two tall goalposts and they are worth six points and a point is if it hits the goal posts and still goes through or if it goes between the little goalpost and the big ones. Oh, a point can also be made if the other team sends the ball over the line. There are two types of passing, kicking and handballing, It's easier to show those but they are pretty obvious, if you receive a handball then the opposition can tackle it away from you. If you catch a kick and no one else touches it first and you don't drop it then you have marked the ball, that's what happened when you girls walked in, if you mark the ball then the opposition can't tackle the ball away. However, if someone else touches the ball first or you drop it then the opposition is free to tackle. If you are running with the ball then you have to bounce it once every ten metres. I think that's just about it,
if there is anything else I'll explain as we go."

"How on earth do you bounce a ball like that?" Riley asked looking at a ball that was sitting on the bar, it looked a little like a gridiron ball but it was more slender and a bit longer. He wasn't sure, so he'd go have a look later.

"It's easier once you get the technique down, tell ya what tomorrow we'll get a small game started and me and Isabel can teach you some basic ball skills."

"You and Isabel?"

"Yeah, she can do most of it, why? You seem surprised."

"No I just assumed that Thomas would be helping you."

"Nah, he has to go visit some relatives tomorrow."

Thomas smiled at them then turned to the screen as the game was just starting, he smiled a small smile at the shock they would get when they saw just how good Isabel was with a football, the only person better was Luc, and he wasn't down yet.

Everyone sat and watched the first quarter everyone but Spike asked at least one question.

"Spike, you seem to get it," Isabel said as she glanced at the pool tables.

"Yeah, I came and lived down here once, but the game was a bit different then and the commentators are explaining most of it."

"Okay, does anyone wanna play a game of pool while the tables are empty?"

All of the girls nodded their agreement and left the boys to watch the remainder of the game. The girls played for a solid hour and just as the third term buzzer was heard the door to the pub opened and Melissa and Stacey strolled through the door.
 

No one noticed as the two girls made their way through the doors, until they made their way over to the table that the boys were sitting at. Stacey slid into the seat that had previously been occupied by Isabel and said something to Thomas. Melissa stood back for a few moments, her eyes going over to Ben
before she noticed that Jasmine was here, she looked at the new meat and set her sights on the bleach blond out of all of them he seemed the most
interesting. Willow had watched the entire scene from the moment that the two girls had walked through the door, one was tall and pretty looking with
shoulder length deep red hair and a dark tan, the other was shorter and paler with dark blonde hair, that was the one that had attached herself to Spike.

"Who are they?" she asked Jasmine who was also not playing this round.

Jasmine turned around and her eyes narrowed at the site of the two girls, she knew that this was part of the plan but she still didn't like those girls. She turned to Willow and asked, "Did the blonde eye Ben?"

"Yeah, then she looked over here at you and went for Spike instead."

"Good, then she got the message."

"Huh?"

"Well up until last year she used to be draped across Ben like Stacey, the other one is over Thomas."

"What changed?"

"I knocked her out."

"Oh."

She looked at the way the girl was staring daggers at Melissa and wondered if this might have been a brilliant plan, the girl looked about ready to knock Melissa out, again.

"What's the other's name?"

"Melissa."

"We should go say hello."

"How about we wait for them to finish the game, it looks like Isa is about to beat Anya again."

"Okay."

Willow watched as the game finished, she watched Isabel as she saw Stacey and wondered again what was going on there, it was obvious that there were
feelings shared, she just didn't get why they hadn't done anything about it.

The girls made their way back to the table and when to two girls sitting there saw them they stood and walked to the bar to get another drink.

Spike looked up at Willow and noticed that if looks could kill then that Melissa girl would be very dead, but the same could be said about the other one, if Isabel had her way. He thought about whether or not to push this, on one hand if he got her jealous enough she could go after him, then the slayer might not kill him, but on the other hand it might hurt Willow and he didn't want to do that, and on yet another hand if Willow thought he was interested in someone else then she might not come after him at all. He decided to just watch her the next time that Melissa came around he knew she would, if he thought it was the right time to do something he would if not he'd just let it be.

The siren to signal the end of the game was heard from the TV's speakers and some of the bar's occupants stood and left, a few were annoyed that the
Eagles had won and the rest were all celebrating. Spike looked around the room curious as to whether of not the two women from earlier were still hanging around, his eyes set upon then and he turned back to the conversation. He knew that Melissa had seen him looking and that was all she should need to make her way back over then maybe he could sent his plan in motion.

Anya saw that Melissa and Stacey were heading back over to the table so she nudged Jasmine who in turn signalled Buffy, the three girls excused
themselves to 'freshen up'. Once in the bathroom they began to discuss their next course of action.

"Well we know that Willow is jealous and we know that Spike is helping us." Anya stated.

"How is he helping us?"

"Well he looked around for them and I believe that he initiated they trip back to our table, which could mean two things. One, he is trying to make someone jealous, Willow, or two, he is actually interested. But, if he were merely interested I think he would have gone over there because I can tell that he likes Isabel and she looked ready to rip some head off."

"Jeez, how did you pick all that up you spent most of your time kissing Xander?"

"Oh, it's easy to do both, when I need air then I survey any changes."

"Our very own PI, so what are we going to do about it?"

"I think it's easy, we simply need to exploit the situation that Spike has already given us."

"How do we do that?"

"We don't, if I know Melissa and I do then we don't need to do anything just sit back and watch."

"But we have to prevent Isabel from killing anyone."

"She won't she'll bottle it up and take it out later."

"On who?"

Jasmine paused for a second before answering, "She does karate, she'll just take her anger out there."

The three girls left the bathroom, Buffy didn't notice the way that Jasmine paused at the last question, Anya on the other hand did.

The three girls took a quick look at the table before continuing, Stacey had taken Buffy's seat, which was next to Thomas, and Melissa had pulled up
another chair that she had put between Willow and Spike. Buffy smiled this plan might just work, then it hit her, she was attempting to get her best friend together with a vampire, an especially mean one that had tried to kill them more than once, but it didn't matter. Spike made Willow happy and therefore Buffy would overlook the fact he was a vampire.

Willow had been seated low in her chair devising new and interesting torture methods to use on Melissa when she had had enough, she stood walked around to where Isabel was and spoke in hushed tones.

"Let's go, before we both tie them up and stick hot pokers through their eyes."

"Okay, but I was thinking though their tongues first to be really spiteful."

Willow stood and addressed the table. "We're going home, doe anyone wanna come."

No one seemed all that interesting in leaving so Willow and Isabel left together, just as they got out the door, Anya turned to Buffy and motioned her head to the right to an empty table next to theirs'. Jasmine followed them as they all made their way over.

"So what do we do now?"

"Nothing, we know she's jealous this will just escalate with him being here and her not, so we bring them back tomorrow night and they will be unable to
resist."

The girls turned back to the table and noticed that Spike wasn't sitting with Melissa anymore.

"Where's Spike?"

"He said he wasn't feeling well so he tried to go catch up with the girls to get a lift home."

"Dammit."

"Why?"

"No reason," Jasmine turned and looked at the door. " This still might work maybe he feels so remorseful that he's gone to apologise." She knew she was
grabbing for straws but oh well.

"Spike, never. But you're right this might still work."

"How?"

"I have a new part to the plan."

"Do tell."
 

Isabel was driving and Willow was seated next to her, Spike was in the back seat studying Willow.

Had he been right, had she been jealous? He couldn't be sure, he could never be completely sure with her, she always had so many things running through
her head. That her eyes only seem to show a small portion and most of the time the most important feeling or thought was right at the back behind all of the things she was using to hide it.  He had only seen two other people who noticed that little point, Xander and for some insane reason the girl driving the car. It had taken him weeks to work that out about the witch but it had only taken Isabel a day to see it, was that women's intuition or was it rather that she had the same habit, hiding behind a barrier of different things. This thought brought him back to the night before, had she walked out because she was annoyed at Thomas or had Thomas provoked her in order for it to be easier for her to leave and him to follow. And if that was the case what had they done? Thomas somehow seemed oblivious to the fact that he was in love with Isabel and vice versa, but at the same time he seemed overly aware of their connection. If the latter were true then it was possible that it was an outside force that kept them apart. Did their mutual ignorance show that maybe they had faced it and decided to pretend there was nothing between them. It wasn't working that was extremely obvious from the way that they rarely sat together, proximity seemed to be a problem. Like tonight when they had moved away so quickly, that had in fact been the only time he had seen them sit together it was strange that she had deliberately sat there when the previous morning she had deliberately sat away from him. Tonight it was definitely about protecting what was her's, even if she couldn't have him she wasn't about to let someone else have him, she had obviously missed the fact that Thomas was almost completely unresponsive to Stacey. They rarely seemed to talk either, and even when they did they only said what need be, except if they were alone like last night, they had been talking quite freely with each other and whatever it had been it seemed to take their minds off of whatever was between them. Until of course he had knocked them over and the way that they had jumped off each other would have been strange, with old friends you simply would joke around and laugh it off. However they had jumped off of each other like they were being burned, Spike knew why, with someone that you can't have a simple touch can be deadly to your entire body. Even from his outsider's point of view he could see that they had some secret that wasn't of the everyday kind, and whatever it was it had something to do with the friction that was between them. He was certain he was right about their relationship, the only thing he didn't
know was what the secret was.

When he looked out the window he saw that they were back at the camp, he got out of the car and began to walk behind the girls, Isabel walked into the
kitchen but Willow continued on towards the dorm. Spike caught up with her and whispered, "Come with me."

Willow followed him but internally she was fuming, how dare he just pull me like that, and yet she still didn't resist. I saw him in the car, all thinky, he was probably wondering just how many different ways that Melissa could pleasure him, more than me that's for sure. Willow slumped her shoulders at the thought, Spike noticed but he just assumed she was tired.

He led her down to the jetty and once she walked from behind him she gasped at the beauty of the night sky. The large moon shone across everything and
the lights of the town, on the other side of the bay looked somehow enchanted. Finishing the picture were all the stars that she could see, they were everywhere and so bright, there seemed to be more here than at home, billions at least. Adding to the beauty of the night was the soft sound of the water lapping at the shore. They both sat and looked at beauty for a moment, Willow at the night and Spike at Willow in the moonlight, he had seen the sky before but it paled in comparison to Willow.

Spike broke the silence and told Willow everything he had come up with in the car; everything but what concerned her, that he still hadn't figured out. Willow agreed with what he said having come to the same conclusions herself; she too didn't know what their secret was.

About half an hour passed and Willow excused herself to have a shower. Spike waited until she was out of hearing distance before groaning at the images
that those simple words had conjured. All of the images revolved around the two of them very naked and very wet. He cursed to himself and decided to
hunt for some food, he wasn't hungry but he needed to burn off some of the excess energy.

Willow moved under the cold water and groaned, as the feel did nothing to cool her body, it seemed to have the opposite effect, it was just too much like Spike's cool embrace. She changed the temperature to hot and the water began to cool her flushed body.

Isabel was curled up on a couch the entire time listening to a mixture of Limp Biskit and Sarah McLachlan. The combination helping to curb her impulse
to slowly torture Stacey until she no longer hit on Thomas, and also made her forget what had been an increasing pain in her chest. A single tear rolled down her cheek at the knowledge that he was still there with her and that he was free to do whatever he wanted. Another fell silently at the memory that she could never have him no matter what she did or how much she loved him.
 
 

Thomas had lost all patience for Stacey's advances, why couldn't she see that he just wasn't interested, he had never been and he doubted he ever would be. Everytime he blinked he could see the look on Isabel's face as she had left; hurt, disappointment and jealousy. He had been so tempted to go after her but he knew the exercise would be futile. So, instead he had sat there like the butt-monkey that he was and watched her leave, knowing that she was hurting. He knew exactly what she was going to do, go back, curl up on a couch and listen to that damn combination, Limp Biskit and Sarah McLachlan. He wondered if she hurt as much as he did everytime he saw how easy she was around the other boys.with everyone but him. Maybe it was time to go home, he knew he had to talk to her. It was getting worse and they both knew it, ever since the decision had been made not to act upon what was between then there had been this.barrier. That was the word that Spike had used, Spike hmm I wonder why I never commented on that before, anyway did they all know or was it just Spike? It wasn't as if it was the hardest thing to figure out, the reason however was unbelievable.

"Guys, I think it's time to go."

The rest of the group looked at him and nodded, they stood and grabbed their coats, Thomas said a short goodbye to Stacey and left as quickly as
possible. Outside everyone was standing around looking at Ben's car, Thomas realised the problem.

"We aren't all gonna fit."

Thomas, Ben and Jasmine looked at each other and smiled, this was nothing, they had fit thirteen people in once seven would be easy. Jasmine organised
the group in seats and they set of. In the car Xander and Ben were having an argument about which could do funnier looking things, Thomas shut them up
saying that once they got back they could show everyone. They both seemed pleased with that and shut up, which pleased Thomas because he could feel a
headache coming on and he knew the reason for it too.

Isabel was dealing a round when she heard the car on the long gravel driveway, a few minutes later; the rest of the group walked into the kitchen. Isabel and Thomas exchanged a look and Isabel could tell he was getting a headache, she smiled her best smile for him and moved her concentration to the fight that Ben and Xander were having.

"Mine is definitely funnier."

"No, mine."

"Mine."

"No, mine."

Xander glared at him and began to do the snoopy dance for the group, hoping to prove himself right, by the end he had everyone in stitches except for
Ben and Jasmine was trying to suppress the giggles forming in her throat. Xander stopped and Ben moved in front of the group and moved first one leg
and then the other behind his head. Riley was cringing, and Anya wondered if showing them all how to properly disembowel people would be appropriate, she assumed not since it wasn't really funny, well for her and Spike it was funny, but.

Isabel had an interesting smile on her face and Willow was curious what her funny/weird ability was. Isabel waited until Thomas showed everyone his ability to pop his shoulder blades in and out, before standing up and clearing her throat. She got everyone's attention and said simply, "I'm double jointed." At Xander's look she added, "Here I'll show you."

She cleared a small space and went into a simple handstand, with her palms flat on the floor. Slowly she raised her palms up until they were at right
angles to her fingers and she just balanced there.

When Isabel had gone into the handstand, Thomas had instinctively moved closer to her as everyone else had moved away trying to get a better look.

Riley and Willow both cringed and the scene, Riley at the same contortion that had affected him with Ben and Willow simply because it looked gross. Buffy just wondered if she would be able to do that.

Isabel began to let herself down again just as Xander cracked a joke, it broke her concentration and she began to wobble. Thomas immediately grabbed
her and held her as she bent her knees over his shoulder. In one fluid motion he brought her to a seated position on his shoulder. She sat there for a moment before sliding down his back.

The group stood in amazement for a few moments before clapping the performance, everyone but Willow and Spike thinking it had been part of the act. Isabel and Thomas bowed going along with it, no one noticing the worried look that Jasmine was giving Isabel.

They gave up the game conceding that Isabel and Thomas's trick was the best, they sat around the campfire, talking and telling stories until the wee
hours of the morning.

Everyone went to sleep easily except for Thomas who couldn't get the questions out of his head, he knew everything was okay between himself and
Isabel, well as right as could be. However, the thought that he might not have been there tonight terrified him, she may have gotten hurt or worse. He
did the only thing he could to stop the thoughts he got out a piece of paper and a pen and began to draw the room around him. He had just finished the
picture as Isabel was slowly stirring. She turned to Thomas and washed away his fears with four simple words.

"But you were there."

"I know but."

"Go to sleep, I'm fine."

He slipped into bed and fell asleep easily. Isabel got out of bed and picked his picture up putting it into her bag before going back to sleep.
 
 

Back in Sunnydale

The sun was blazing hot overhead as a black car drove past the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign. Anyone could see that the car was speeding but no one
seemed to care, not even the police officers that the car had passed. As it turned into a quiet residential street it appeared to be getting faster until it slowed in front of a picturesque two-storey house. The driver stepped out of the car and moved up on to the step taking in everything about the yard and the house, as if he was seeing it for the first time. His hand was visibly shaking as he rang the doorbell and his heartbeat raced as it opened. His smile widened at the sight of the woman on the other side of the door, he stepped in and embraced her and then moved back a bit giving her some room, Joyce moved out of the house and into the light not sure if she had seen what she thought she had seen. She had, she was so shocked to see.
 

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