Disclaimer: Buffy and Co do not belong to me [duh!] it's all joss and company's ideas. Title is the song by Angela Via. Love the song.

Rating: PG [subject to sudden changes :) ]

Distribution: I'm truly honored…are you sure you want it? Think again and e-mail me :)

Feedback: fragile, please handle me with care

Author's notes: this is not beta-read, but I have absolute faith in my language skills :) still, forgive me for any dumb mistakes. This is set after Season 4 BTVS and Season 1 Angel. Everything should be the same BUT no Tara. Willow moved back to her parents' house. btw…..my first fic. Yay for me :)

Author's notes 2: one last thing, I'm sorry if some of you receive this again 'cause this was first posted on InellWillow List. * thoughts *

====================================================

Part 1

"Hi guys, so what’s the latest earth-shattering, demon-chasing or end-of-the-world thing?" Buffy strolled into Giles' living room after patrol.
Everyone was there already. Xander was glued to Anya on the couch, Giles was looking the other way and muttering about hormones and Willow was looking at her feet. * looks normal…wait…*

"Where's the bleached wonder?"

"Missed me, Slayer?" A cocky voice drawled from the kitchen. Spike walked in and grinned.

"As much as I missed that demon last week, all slime and mud."

"Aw….that is so sweet."

Giles cleared his throat loudly.

Willow continued studying her feet.

"So, what's up, G-man. You called an emergency meeting at…" Xander looked at his watch. " 11 p.m. to let Buffy and Spike get at each other's throat? Not that I mind but…" Xander started whining.

" It's not Giles, it's me. I called this meeting…I want to tell you that I'm moving to LA." Willow spoke up then, sneaking a look at Buffy and Xander before looking down at her feet again.

Silence.

"I don't want to go but my parents are moving to LA and they want me to move with them and go to UCLA. My parents are already there and I'm leaving in three days. You can still come and visit me. LA is only a few hours away and Angel's there. He can look after me when my parents are not around. There's also the phone and e-mail and we can write letters. I love writing letters." Willow sneaked another look at Spike.

Silence.

"Cordelia is there too and…and…Wesley. And LA is fun too, although not as fun as Sunnyhell…I mean Sunnydale. There can't be as many demons in LA as compared to Sunnydale and there's you guys too. I'll miss you all especially Spike…..i meant Buffy and…and Xander and Anya and you too, Giles" Willow blushed at her slip of her tongue.

Silence.

"Uh…you don't have anything to say?"

Silence.

"Okay…it's good that you guys are…uh… taking things so calmly. I need to go now and pack now so I will see you guys tomorrow. Uhh…Spike, will you walk me home? It's late and there are nasty things out there and…"

Spike opened the door. "Coming with me, pet? Or you want to sit there all night and talk about those little nasty things."

"Oh. Sorry. Bye guys."

Slight rustling of clothing as Spike walked out with Willow. Sound of the door clicking shut.

Then, all hell broke lose. This time, in Gile's living room.

****************

"So you're leaving me for the bloody poof." Spike finally broke the silence after walking for a while.

"I am not leaving you for Angel. I will never leave you for him. I can never leave you for…"

Willow realized the implications of her statement. "I mean I will never leave anyone for Angel…uh…I mean I will but if only it’s a good thing or I'm forced and even so I…uh…am babbling again. I shall shut up now"

Spike arched an eyebrow at what she unknowingly revealed. * Never leave me for anyone? *

"Spike?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think I should go to LA?"

Willow stopped walking and stood under the streetlight. The bright light illuminating her soft features, bringing a surreal quality to her titan mane. Spike stood in the shadows and watched her, captivated by the light and her innocence.

"Do you want to, kitten?" Spike questioned her.

Willow looked into the dark part of the street, where Spike was. He was always in the dark shadows, like Angel. She suddenly wanted to see him in the light. She reached for his hand and pulled him into the light. Willow could see him clearly now. His blue eyes showed a sudden vulnerability as he waited for her answer. * Does he want me to go? Will he miss me? I know I will miss him. *

Spike suddenly gave a self-satisfied smirk. "Really, luv. You are going to miss me."

Willow gasped. Did she just say that aloud? * Oh no * She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. * note to self, do not think aloud in front of Spike. *

"Uh…of course. I will miss all of you." Willow quickly moved forward, stopping suddenly by a tug on her hand. Belatedly, she realized that she was still holding Spike's hand, or rather he was holding her hand.

"Spike." She looked at their hands linked together. Then she looked at him. He was acting all nonchalant but the slight smile was a dead giveaway that he knew what he was doing.

"Spike…uh…"

"Let's go, pet. You still need to pack. Don't want you to tire yourself out." Spike gave her another stunning smile. His smile got wider when she seemed dazed by his killer smile and walked the rest of the way to her house, her soft warm hand in his cool one.
 

Part 2

Willow stood in front of her over-flowing suitcase. She pushed at the cover, trying to close it yet unable to reach the clasp. Out of desperation, she sat on her suitcase, hoping that her weight could somehow flatten the tons of clothes she didn't know she had. * There, that should do it. * She glanced at the clock, 12:30 a.m.

Her eyes unconsciously moved to the rough pencil sketch of Spike taped beside it. It was of him laughing at something. His eyes twinkled with
merriment. It was signed off with the initial A and also the year, 1878. It was a sketch done by Angel when he was still Angelus.

Oz had gone to LA to pass him the things he needed the other time. Angel had also needed a couple of books he left in the mansion. Willow had volunteered to go look for it. She didn't find the books but found the sketch instead. For some reason, she took the sketch home and left it in the depths of her closet.

Then Oz left her. And Spike came back again.

The sketch replaced Oz's photos. She tried to convince herself that the reason why the sketch was put up there was NOT because Spike was undeniably sexy or gorgeous, not because he was the star of her naughty fantasies and daydreams. Not because he was the one that her heart screamed for but simply because it was a nice piece of artwork.

* Right. If he could show in photographs, I would paste it up and say I like it because of my non-existent photography skills. *

Willow sighed and stood up, forgetting that her weight was the only thing keeping the suitcase closed. The cover sprang open and some of her clothes fell out. She sighed, picking the clothes up. Noticing her spell-book sprawled open on the floor, she picked it up and saw the spell. A spell to make demons show on film or photographs for a day.

* Film? Why would anyone want a spell like that? This is so weird…then again this is hellmouth. Weird things happen on a daily basis and…wait a second. Photographs? * She looked at her camera on the floor and smiled.

Willow's mind started clicking into place. She scanned the ingredients for the spell. Cloves, some other spices…and a lock of the demon's hair. How on earth was she supposed to get a lock of his hair? Ask him for it?

****************

Spike went back to his crypt. He lit a candle and sat down in the chair. He was going to miss his Willow a lot.

* His Willow? Since when did she become my Willow? Things used to be so much simpler. Get the bloody chip out. Kill the annoying slayer and her friends. Leave town and never come back. No…now I'm getting soft. It's the Slayer's entire fault. *

Spike frowned. He had no idea when he stopped wanting to kill them. Maybe it had something to do with Willow. He had caught himself staring at her a lot of times after she offered to let him bite her. And his thoughts had nothing to do with biting her.

More like shagging her senseless. Hearing her say his name in passion. Kissing her delectable lips. * I have to stop torturing myself with images like these. *

He took out an old metal tin, which he carried around whenever he moved. He opened it and took out a Spanish coin, a lock of black hair, a sketch of himself and a photograph he had taken while the Slayer was not looking.

It was a photograph of his Red. Smiling happily with the Slayer and the daft boy in the sun. But now she was leaving him.

* Not all entirely her fault. Blame it on her stupid parents. Looks like I have a long-distance phone call to make. Hope the Watcher would be nice about lending his phone. *

He was not letting her out of her sight without at least trying to find out if she wanted him as much as he wanted her. * And judging from her reaction tonight, I say I have a pretty good chance. * Spike's mood improved tremendously as he left the crypt for Giles' house.
 

Part 3

Willow had the Mission: Impossible 2 theme song on playback in her mind. Her resolve-face was in place. She was on a mission. She had only 1 day to complete the mission, impossible or not.

Target: Spike

Mission: to get a lock of his hair for the spell.

She looked at her watch. 8:30 a.m. Spike should be sound asleep in the crypt. She checked her supplies.

Scissors. Checked.

Small box for the hair. Checked.

* okay, I'm all ready to go. Now if only I can get my jelly-like legs to move. *

************************

Willow finally made it to the crypt despite her nervousness. *okay Willow, keep calm. Remember vampires can sense fear. I can do this. *

Willow moved so quietly, Angel would have been proud of her. She crept into the crypt and she could see Spike sleeping under the covers. * slowly, Willow. No sudden movements. No loud……*

Screech!

Clank!

* noises.*

Willow held her breath. * this is it. He's gonna spring up and ask me what I was doing *

Spike didn't move at all. At least the bed-covers didn't move. Willow counted to 10. Still nothing. She moved around the table she just crashed into. Inching her way slowly to her prey. At last she was hovering over his sleeping form.

* So far so good. A bit too good. Oops…just jinxed it.

* Willow winced. Nevertheless, she had to finish it. She lifted the covers where his head was. Her eyes widened with disbelief. Giving a loud groan, she threw the bed-covers open.

Empty.

* Back to the drawing board and figure out plan B *

*******************************

Giles woke up to the sound of someone cursing loudly on the phone. He gave a groan and reached for his glasses. He looked at his alarm clock.

8:30 a.m.

He made his way to the bathroom in a sleepy daze. The same someone was still on the phone. This time, shouting. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, shaved. He even took a long shower. He changed and made his way to the living room.

"Uh…Spike?"

Spike was still talking animatedly into the receiver.

"Spike?" Giles called him again.

"Stop whining at me. It's the Watcher. He wants to talk to me." Spike shouted to the person on the other line.

"Yeah."

"How long have you been using the phone?"

" Well, it's not my fault. It's the bloody poof's fault. I've been calling him since mid-night and he only came back an hour ago. He's paying for my phone bills." Spike grinned as more shouting came through the receiver.

"That is good, Spike. But perhaps you could keep the noise down. I need to do more research on that spirit and…" Giles faded off as he realized that Spike was no longer listening to him and was whispering to Angel.

* Why is Spike calling Angel? Never mind, at least they are quiet now. * Giles gave a relieved sigh.

Then the shouting resumed with a vengeance. * Argh……. *
 

Part 4

Willow walked back to her house like a deflated balloon. * Where is that dumb, sexy, blond hair, blue-eyed vampire of mine. Oh well. I can do other
things first…like return those books to Giles. * When she reached her house, Buffy and Xander were sitting on her doorstep.

"Hey, Willster. Where did you go off to so early in the morning? " Xander asked as Willow let them in.

" I…uh…went for a walk." Willow stammered out.

"Anyway, we are having a farewell party for you at Giles' house tomorrow night. So be there at eight. When are you leaving? " Buffy said, fiddling with the silver cross necklace Angel had given her.

"The day after tomorrow. My dad is coming to fetch me in the afternoon."

There was an sudden silence. Each of them lost in their own memories of the first day they met, everything that had happened since. All the good
things and the bad.

"I'm gonna miss you a lot, Willow." Buffy said in a choked voice.

"Me too. " Willow said, hugging Buffy.

"Me three." Xander hugged all of them.

"Okay people, I hate to break this up but Giles wants to see us. Now. " Anya's voice came from the front door.

"I'll miss you too, Anya." Willow let go of Buffy and Xander, hugging a surprised Anya.

" That's…um…nice of you to…um…think of me…" Anya was at a loss for words.

"Okay, enough with the hugs. Let's go see what Giles wants." Buffy dragged everyone out.

"Wait, Giles' books. I need to return them."

********************************************

Spike had finally gotten off the phone with Angel. He had also managed to accomplish what he wanted. It wasn't easy but he did it. He grinned evilly to himself. " Thanks a lot, Watcher, for lending me the phone."

Giles mumbled something in reply, too intent on his search for that book he knew that was around here somewhere. "Spike, could you help me look for the book of Neopine?"

"Spike?" Giles turned around to find the vampire asleep on his couch. Where's help when you need it?

As if on cue, Buffy and the rest of the slayerettes strolled in through the door. " Okay Giles, what's the crisis?" Buffy asked. "Another prophecy? Vampires? Demons?"

"Spirits. An evil spirit called Mocerous. It has the ability to levitate objects and…" Giles' voice faded into the background when Willow saw Spike.

The vampire was sleeping soundly in Glies' couch.

* He's been here all along. Oooh…that stupid vampire.  Wait…here's my chance. *

Willow saw that everyone was paying full attention to Giles. She grabbed the scissors and the box from her bag. Tip-toeing towards to Spike, she noticed that he looked like an innocent little boy. Quiet and peaceful. * Concentrate. *

She lifted the scissors and was about to snip off a bit of his platinum-blond hair when suddenly someone shouted.

"Willow!!! What are you trying to do to Spike?"

Spike, who had been perfectly aware that Willow was moving towards him, opened his eyes only to see a big pair of silver scissors very near his left cheek.

Willow whirled around in shock and accidentally grazed his cheek with the sharp thing.

"What the bloody hell are you trying to do pet? " Spike put his hand to his cheek and felt the blood. His blood. He looked at Willow who was staring at the cut. So was everyone else for that matter.

"What are you bloody idiots standing there for? Red, stop the bleeding and the staring."

Giles took out the first-aid box and handed a cotton gauze to Willow. Willow immediately pressed the gauze to Spike's cut. " Willow, you know what to do with the wound?" Willow nodded her head.

"We have to go to the magic shop now to get the ingredients to vanquish the spirit. So Willow and Spike, you stay here and look for the book of Neopine. Buffy, Xander and Anya, you come with me. We'll talk about this when I get back." With that, they left the house.

"Red, your explanation better be good." Spike growled out to Willow. " What were you trying to do with the scissors?"

* Oops. *
 

Part 5

" Well? I'm waiting." Spike said, looking straight at Willow, her hand holding the gauze, still pressed again his bleeding cheek.

Willow took a deep breath. "iwantedtocutalockofyourhair"

* Did I just hear what I think I just heard * Spike was confused yet he wanted to make sure.

"Say it again and breathe, pet."

"I wanted to cut a lock of your hair." Willow looked down at the ground.

"You want my hair?" Spike said incredulously. "For what?"

"I…uh…I…" She couldn't tell him the truth. That she wanted to do a spell. That she wanted to take a photograph with him, that she liked him. A lot.

"Well?"

"I wanted to keep it with me." She blurted out, flushing red totally, partly from the half-truth and partly from the embarrassment.

There was a long pause as Spike didn't say anything. Willow quickly took a look at him. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Probably on ways to torture her without the pain from the chip for cutting him with the stupid pair of scissors.

* Now he's not only going to think that I am a threat to his unlife with the scissors but insane too. And I can never ever do the spell now. There is no way I can even go near him again * Willow gave a small sigh of despair and disappointment.

Spike grinned at the memory her words had brought up before looking at Willow. "I did the same with my Dru's hair. Cut off a lock when she was sleeping. When my princess woke up, she wasn't too happy about it but I brought my pet a slayer to make her happy. She even gave me a ribbon to keep the hair together. I still keep it with me though I lost the ribbon and I lost her too." There was a hint of sadness in his voice at the loss of Drusilla.

Willow couldn't keep the astonishment off her face. She was shocked. That was the last thing she expected to hear from Spike. William the Bloody. Mr. I-Am-A-Bad-Ass-Vampire.

"That is so…..um……sweet of you. I mean the part about the hair not the part where you brought the….um…you know….to make it up to her…but in a morbid sort of way it is rather sweet too." Willow stopped herself before she started babbling again.

"If anyone else hears about this, I'll drain you dry, chip or no chip. I have a reputation to keep. Wouldn't want the slayer and your daft friend to find out." Spike suddenly snapped while Willow nodded her head vigorously in agreement. An awkward silence settled between them.

"So, Red…you still want it?"

"Want what?" Willow asked, looking up with a hopeful sparkle in her eyes.

"My cell phone number." Spike said in a mocking tone. Noting the disappointed look on her face, he gave a chuckle. "I meant my hair, witch. Just the hair and not my ears."

As the redhead happily bounced off to get the scissors, Spike muttered to himself about the things that he did to make her happy.

*********************************

Giles arrived home, hoping to get some rest and perhaps a nice cup of tea.

It was the worst trip he had ever made to the magic shop. Wait, it was the worst shopping trip he made anywhere.

Xander, as usual, had made a fool of himself in the magic shop by toppling over the huge bottle of dried frogs. Followed by the encore performance of dropping a glass bottle containing a potion that amplified a person's angry feelings, in front of the shopkeeper. That resulted in them being kicked out, literally, from the shop. The good thing was that they managed to buy what they needed.

He then sent the three of them home to rest before coming back at six in the evening to do more research.

Giles opened the door and carried the box of supplies in. He heard the same shouting that had awakened him in the morning.

Spike was using the phone. Again.

"Keep quiet, Peaches. Watcher's home." Spike stopped talking to Angel on the other line. " The book's on the table. Willow left. Said something about packing. She's coming back later tonight. "

The blond vampire resumed the shouting match with Angel over the phone.

* Looks like I wouldn’t be getting any rest. * Giles took off his glasses and started to clean it while walking towards the kitchen.

"One more thing, Watcher. Red made a pot of tea for you. Mentioned that you might need it after what you went through at the magic shop, whatever that meant."

Giles smiled gratefully at Willow's thoughtfulness. He was going to miss having her around when she's in LA.

*********************************

Willow gleefully skipped all the way home. She had a lock of Spike's hair now. It had been surprisingly easy how he gave her a lock of his hair. * So I was embarrassed but it's going to be worth the trouble. All I need now is to figure out the timing. Maybe I can lengthen the time. *

So engrossed in her plans, Willow failed to see a scrap of paper floating in the air, following her.  Only falling on the doorstep of her house.

And the air had been unnaturally still the whole day.
 

Part 6

"So Giles, this evil spirit? What's it like?" Xander sat on one of the chairs around Giles' living room, Anya sitting next to him.

" It is called the Mocerous. It is able to lift up large objects with its powers. It is a mostly elusive spirit that first renders a person unconscious before sucking out the person's soul. It needs to feed on one hundred souls every one hundred years. "

"Let me guess, this is the lucky year. Well, how do we kill it? Let's find that Mushroom fast. I still need to get Willow a going-away present." Buffy shifted impatiently from side to side.

Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning it again. Not only were they late by an hour, they obviously hadn't been paying attention. He gave a
small sigh and started to explain how to kill the spirit for the third time that week.

" It is Mocerous, not mushroom. Pouring the Riciso potion on it can vanquish the spirit. I happened to have the Riciso potion. However, we still need to do a spell to make it visible because it has the ability to camouflage itself, blending in perfectly with its surroundings. "

Buffy looked around, not seeing either Willow or Spike. "Where's Willow?"

"Oh…she's with Spike. I need the Lupinia crystal for the spell.” Giles replied.

“But I thought we bought everything on the list. I know because I checked it. So we definitely have the crystal.” Xander beamed proudly.

“ We did buy everything on the list. The new crystal is to replace the one which shattered into pieces when we were kicked out of the shop." Giles glared at Xander.

Xander looked a bit sheepishly. "I honestly didn't know that I was going to drop that glass bottle."

" Are you sure she is safe with Spike? " Buffy protested.

" I am quite sure that Willow is much safer with Spike than being alone out there. Now, perhaps we get back to researching that spirit? We need to know where to find it. " Giles said.

*********************************

Willow and Spike had been taking a short cut through the park back to Giles' house, not expecting any vampire to be out hunting until much later. That was when they were attacked by two male vampires, both fledglings. Willow took one out when he grabbed her from behind, with her magick and the ever-trusty wooden pencil.

Spike pummeled the remaining vampire for scaring his Red. He kicked the fledging hard in the stomach before finally driving the wooden stake through his heart. The fledging exploded in a cloud of dust.

"Are you hurt, luv?" Spike rushed to Willow's side, holding her close to him. He started to check for injuries. He could smell her fear and also her blood.

* That sodding vampire hurt my Willow. No one hurts my Willow and gets way with it. Too bad he's dust. * Spike began mentally ticking off the numerous ways to inflict pain on the vamp if he were still undead.

"It's nothing serious. He scratched me when he grabbed me." Looking at Spike, who was still in his game face, Willow thought she saw a flash of something in his yellow eyes. It was something akin to worry.

* Spike is worried about me * Willow did a little happy dance in her head.

"But you're bleeding, pet. I wouldn't want the bloody slayer staking me for not taking good care of you." Spike growled, examining the scratch on her right arm.

"Oh." Willow muttered quietly, unable to keep the note of disappointment out of her voice. " Of course. You wouldn't want Buffy to stake you."

Spike almost didn't catch her softly muttered words.  He grinned when realization dawned on him. " I can't let the slayer chit kill me. If she did, who will protect my Red?"

* MY RED? I'm HIS Red. * Willow went back to dancing happily in her mind.

Spike let his human face slip back into place. Suddenly sweeping Willow up in his arms, he gave her a devilish grin. " Let's get you back to the Watcher's place to clean the wound. You shouldn't move to prevent the wound from getting infected."

"I didn't know minor scratches can get infected that way." Willow gave a feeble protest but stopped with a look from Spike that booked no arguments or protests.

The truth was she didn't want to move at all. She felt safe, protected and most important of all, cherished in his arms. Willow snuggled closer to the blond vampire. She was also aware of the need to get closer, the temptation to touch his surprisingly soft hair again. She almost reached out to run her hand through his hair when she stopped.

* Eep. Bad Willow. Don't think about touching yummy Spike. Think about nasty things. Slimy demons, the cheese man, big bad vampires……Spike is the most gorgeous vampire I have ever seen. I wonder what it's like to kiss him. No! Bad, bad Willow. Think about homework and…and school…. and….*

"So Red, how did you learn the pencil trick?"

Willow silently thanked the goddess for the distraction. "Well I did it once when I was captured by the Mayor and Faith……"

*********************************

Spike carried Willow all the way back to Giles' house.
Buffy kicked up a big fuss over the minor scratches
and criticized Spike's ability to protect Willow,
nearly coming to blows with Spike when he insisted
that HE was going to attend to Willow's injury. In the
end, they agreed to let Giles tend to Willow's injury.
Giles pasted a Band-Aid on the small wound. That
resulted in a discussion of Spike and the irritated
Watcher on the size of bandage for her injury.

"It's a bloody big scratch and you used such a small
piece of thing for it."

"I assure you that it is the right size and the right
thing to use."

Spike growled and bared his fangs at Giles who was
unfazed by the little intimidation display. Instead,
the watcher was busy inspecting the blue Lupina
crystal for cracks. In the end, it was Anya who solved
the problem.

"Spike, you are acting like an over-protective
boyfriend. Isn’t that nice of you. All, what is that
word you always use to describe the Angel guy….I
remember, all poof–like and sappy " Anya looked slyly
at him. The blond vampire shifted uncomfortably under
her gaze.

"I’m not acting like the bloody poof. All soft and
sappy."

"Whatever. Why don't you send Willow home. I'm sure
she's all weak and tired from her serious injury. This
is your chance to practice being poof-like." Anya
couldn't help but smile broadly at her own words.

"That is a very good idea, Anya….” Giles stopped at
Spike’s glare.

”I meant taking Willow home. Willow, you should go
home and rest. I can do the spell myself. Now no buts.
Just hurry along and um…..bring Spike with you. Spike,
you should go back too. You need to…um …feed and rest.
The rest of us will stay here and finish the
research." Giles all but pushed the couple out of his
house and shut the door quickly.

Giles gave a small sigh of relief. No Spike
monopolizing his telephone like he had for the past
two days or distracting the others, at least for
tonight.

"We have a lot of things to do tonight. Buffy and
Xander, make a list of its likely hideouts. Anya, do
you think you can cast the spell……"

*********************************

Spike and Willow didn't say anything to each other as
he walked her home, both lost in their own thoughts.

Willow was thinking about the spell that she would be
casting when she got home. She needed to get film for
her camera and batteries too.

Spike was thinking about his own poof-like behavior at
the watcher's place. He realized that he was not
getting soft and sappy. The reason why he was worried
about Willow, so possessive about her was because he……

"Spike? Can you feel someone following us?" Willow's
voice broke through his thoughts.

"What, pet?"

"I asked you whether you felt anyone following us."
Willow whispered.

Spike stopped walking. He looked around carefully.
Nothing was lurking in the dark. He closed his eyes to
concentrate on any sound someone or thing might make.
There was nothing. Yet his vampire senses could feel
something out there, staring at Willow and him. It
lingered a while longer before disappearing. Not
wanting to worry Willow, he gave her his best poker
face.

" I don't feel anything, Red. Are you sure the attack
earlier on didn't knock a bolt loose or something."
Spike said teasingly, starting to walk again.

"No, it didn't. I was barely hurt. Maybe it was my
over-active imagination again." Willow sighed.

"Right, luv. How many fingers am I holding up, pet?"
Spike asked Willow.

"Three fingers." Willow replied, giggling at his silly
question. She only suffered a scratch, not a head
injury. He was fussing over her like she was a small
child. As they reached the front porch of her house,
he continued asking her questions.

"Do you feel a headache coming on?"

"No."

"Do you feel dizzy, luv? Like the stars are moving
around in circles?"

"No."

"Do you want me to carry you into your house?"

"No."

"Do you want a good-night kiss?"

"Yes…I mean no…..i mean…..uh…..uh….." Willow couldn't
believe she said yes. She couldn't believe he asked
her that. She started blushing, totally mortified of
herself.

* Oh no…..Spike was probably teasing me again but I
didn't mean to say that even though I have fuzzy
feelings for the him. * She looked up at the blond
vampire.

Spike felt as though his heart started beating again
when Willow said yes. * I can't believe she agreed.
I'll definitely regret it if I don't grab this chance.
*

"Close your eyes, Red." Spike said in a husky voice,
his usually sky blue eyes, now a midnight blue. His
finger tracing her jaw line. He could hear her heart
beating faster, could sense the electrical charges in
the air. Willow looked at him with her emerald-colored
eyes, a flicker of doubt in them.

"Close your eyes, my sweet Willow. Trust what you
feel in your heart. Trust me." Spike smiled when she
closed her eyes, her lips parted slightly. He slowly
moved his own lips closer to her soft, pink ones.
 

* Finally, I'm going to kiss her *

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

Both of them jumped apart from each other guiltily,
like a young teenage couple caught sharing a few
goodnight kisses.

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

"It's the phone. In my house. I…uh…better go in now.
Before my parents hang up. I will…uh…see you tomorrow
at…uh…Giles' place. Bye now. Spike." Willow stammered
out before opening the door, rushing into her house
and closing the door.

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

She took a moment to calm down. Then, she picked up
the phone.

"Um…hello?"

"Willow, it's your father here. Sorry for calling you
at 11 p.m. but the day I'm supposed to drive you to
LA, I have a meeting in the morning and it might last
until 2 p.m. so I can only come to fetch you in the
evening, around 7p.m. So be ready at that time. See
you the day after tomorrow."

"Dad?" He had hung up already. "See you too." Willow
said as she put down the receiver. She went to the
kitchen to get a glass of water and went back to the
living room. Collapsing on the couch, everything came
rushing back at her.

* oh my goddess, Spike almost kissed me. *
 

Part 7

* Eep! Spike! The Master Vampire! The most gorgeous
guy I ever knew. And he almost kissed me! I…I don't
like the phone! * Willow glared at the
innocent-looking phone.

* Don't sit there and try to look innocent.
You…you…phone. You interrupted us. Spike, Mr.
I-Have-Feelings-For-Him Spike was about to kiss me.
Finally he noticed me long enough to want to kiss me.
And you…you…eep. What do you have to say for yourself?
*

The phone remained silent.

* Oooh……you……you…….*

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

" Eep !!! " Willow looked at the ringing thing. She
was only trying to work out some of her frustrations
by blaming the phone in her head. The last thing she
expected was to actually get an answer from the phone.
 

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

* This is Sunnydale. Weird things are supposed to
happen but this is a bit too much. It's probably
Giles. So pick up the receiver. * Still, Willlow
couldn't help but not pick it up.

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

"I'm sorry. I know that it's not your fault. So will
you please stop? I don't want any answer from you."

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

" Please??? " Willow resorted to begging it. She knew
this was ridiculous but it was 11:20 p.m. at night and
being in a big house all alone was not too encouraging
either.

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

The nasty phone refused to stop. It seemed to be
laughing at Willow, gloating at her for missing her
chance to kiss the gorgeous vampire, scaring her when
she's all alone at home at night.

RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!!

"Alright I'll answer it. You are just a phone. You…you
don't...um…scare me." Willow said, her hands reaching
shakily for the receiver. Taking a deep breath, she
answered it in a small voice.

"He…hello?"

There was only the sound of the dial tone over the
other line. Whoever or whatever it was had hung up.
Willow gave a sigh of relief. * Me and my
imagination. However, it's always better to err on the
side of caution. * Calling herself a coward at the
same time, she left the phone unhooked.

She could unhook the phone but could not stop her
imagination from entertaining naughty thoughts of a
certain vampire.

Willow had noticed that whenever he had that intense
look on his face, his eyes always turn that beautiful
shade of midnight blue. And his eyes had been that
shade of beautiful midnight blue when he was about to
kiss her. She gave a small sigh of desire.

* I wonder if his eyes are that blue when he……* Willow
started blushing at her thoughts.

Trying to get the blue-eyed vampire out of her runaway
thoughts, Willow looked at the clock. The redhead
gasped. She had no idea it was already that late.
* 11:30 p.m. I better do the spell now.*

*********************************

Spike stood outside the closed door. The green-eyed
witch he had been thinking of constantly, dreaming of
was in his arms, all ready to melt for him. He had
been so close to finally getting a taste of his Red.

Then the damn phone rang.

For one of the few times in his life AND unlife, he
had no idea what he was supposed to do next. Willow
had been so flustered. She basically babbled something
about seeing him at Giles' place before running into
the house and slamming the door in his face.

* Well, for starters, I could always knock the door.
Then I could demand a kiss from the little lady. *
Spike thought that it was a pretty good idea. So he
raised his hand to knock on the door. His hand stopped
in mid-air.

* What if she was just joking with me about the
goodnight kiss? * Spike put his hand down.

* But she trusted me. My Red closed her eyes in front
of me, an evil demon. So what if I have a chip. I can
still kill if I choose to. Just have to suffer the big
headache. Isn't as if I'm like Peaches, with an
annoying soul. Lots better looking than me. And he
gets ALL the woman, from Drusilla to the silly Slayer,
eating out of his hand, soul or no soul. *

The blue-eyed vampire suddenly felt threatened by the
idea of having HIS Red alone in LA with his sire. Not
to mention the fact that she was leaving the day
after. He had better get her a good present and also
finish his finalizing his deal with Angelus.

* But first, I have to tell the watcher about that
presence I felt. *

*********************************

"So this presence you felt, was it threatening you or
Willow?" Giles asked, trying to determine the
seriousness of the threat to Willow, since Spike's a
vampire thus he was not in danger.

"Well, watcher, it just looked at me before leaving."
Spike replied, sitting in the couch, recently occupied
by Anya and Xander. Buffy had to patrol, so she
escorted Xander and Anya home at the same time.

"Um….Anya has already performed the visibility spell
but it will need at least three hours before taking
effect. At least you were with Willow when the spirit
was around. It might have attacked her."

"Wouldn't Willow be in danger now? Bloody hell, I need
to get to her now." Spike immediately stood up, his
worry for her evident on his features.

"Spike, wait. You don't have to worry. Anya also did a
protection spell for all of us. It should be able to
ward off the spirit. Why don't you go back or help
Buffy patrol?" Giles said, trying ineffectively to
stifle a yawn.

"Yeah." Spike walked to the door before turning
stopping then turning back to Giles.

"Watcher, I need to use your phone again. Call his
Poofy-ness."

Spike sat on the chair and made himself comfortable
before picking up the receiver. He did not see Giles
grimacing or experience the full onslaught of Giles'
killer glare directed at him.

"Cheerleader, I want Peaches on the line now. It's
about our little deal."

*********************************

Willow put in a jug of water, followed by the other
spell ingredients into a pot. She then heated the old
cooking pot on the stove. Willow felt a sense of
anticipation, looking at the rose-colored liquid. She
started stirring the liquid with a wooden spoon.

* The color looks a bit weird. According to the spell
book, it's supposed to be a green color not red. What
did I leave out? Oh! Spike's hair.* Willow ran up to
her room, grabbing a small box. She sprinted down
again.

Willow opened the lid of the box. A lock of Spike's
platinum-blond hair, tied with a red ribbon, nestled
in the middle of the box. She gingerly took out the
lock of hair, untied it and dropped it into the
liquid.

For a while, nothing big happened. The liquid just
slowly turned into a brilliant jade-green color.
Suddenly, there was a loud hissing sound. Willow
jumped and moved away from the pot immediately. The
pot emitted a weird green smoke that filled the
kitchen, choking Willow. She groped for the back-door
doorknob, twisted it and ran out, gasping for fresh
air. The green smoke escaped out of the house a while
later. Willow cautiously entered the house. All that
was left was a funny smell and an empty pot.

* Was that supposed to happen? * Willow looked
doubtfully at the spell-book. It did say all the
liquid would evaporate.

* I suppose that was its version of evaporating. I
can't wait to see if the spell will work. * Willow was
definitely looking forward to the party tonight. She
took note of the timing as the spell would only render
Spike to be visible in film or photographs taken
within the next 24 hours.

The clock read 12:10 a.m.
 

Part 8

Giles was having a rather nice dream of him being
begged by the Watchers' Council to take back his
position when the insistent pounding downstairs rudely
interrupted it. He groaned in protest, covering his
ears with his pillow.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

The pounding on his front door intensified instead of
going away. Giles reluctantly got up from bed,
mentally torturing the blond vampire for the shouting
match he had with Angel over the phone. It didn't stop
until Giles threatened to cut off the phone-line,
revoke Spike's invitation to his house and let Buffy
stake him. And that was just an hour before dawn.

"Stop that infernal pounding. I am coming down." Giles
threw on some clothes, grabbed his glasses before
rushing down to open the door.

"Morning, G-man." Xander chirped happily. Staring at
Giles' still-sleepy face, Xander was surprised. "Let
me guess, you just woke up. Stayed up late to
re-catalogue your books?"

Ignoring Xander's barb, Giles asked him what he was
doing so early at his place and what was in the box he
was carrying.

"It's almost eleven a.m. Buffy told everyone….well,
everyone except for Willow to be here to decorate for
tonight's farewell party for her. Anya's coming later
to help and Buffy's mum doing the food. Buffy is going
to be a bit late though. You and me are in charge of
decorations. So, can I come in now?"

*********************************

Spike couldn't sleep. All he could do was to replay
the almost kiss between Willow and him. Not to mention
the strange fact that he could smell Willow's vanilla
scent in the crypt. *Now, I'm really getting sappy.
It's all Peaches' fault. *

He rolled onto his side, hoping the more comfortable
position would lull him to sleep. * Must be all the
bloody phone conversations with him. He's infecting me
with the poof-like behavior. Then again, telling him
about me nearly shagging the silly Slayer sure didn't
put him in a poof-like mood.*

Spike made a face, recalling the unpleasantness of
that close encounter with Buffy, although Willow's
cookies had made up for it, not to mention Angelus'
reaction when he had found out. Spike started
grinning, thinking about how Peaches promised to tear
him out limb by limb.

He got up from bed, abandoning the pretense of trying
to sleep. Spike looked at his messy home. He picked up
an empty bottle of whisky, a couple of crushed
newspaper balls. * I'm so bored I'm cleaning up. *
As he started clearing up the trash, Spike began
thinking about the right gift for Willow.

* Looks like I have to go shopping. * He shuddered at
the horrifying idea.

* Or maybe not. * Spike thought as he spied his
leather bag chock-full of things from his travels
around Europe and Brazil. * Let's see what's in there. *

-----------------------------

Buffy took a step back and looked around Giles' living
room. There were balloons, colorful streamers and all
the food her mum cooked. It was perfect.

Giles was in the kitchen with her mum, Xander and Anya
were in their usual place and position on the couch
and Spike was being annoying as usual.

Someone started knocking on the door. "Guys, I think
she's here." Buffy rushed to the door, and opened it
to reveal Willow, dressed in a beautiful green silk
shirt and jeans. She gave a tentative smile, hanging
on tightly to her bag full of presents for each of
them.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late." Willow walked into the
house, looking at everyone but Spike. * If I don't
look at him, I wouldn't remember how he told me to
trust him or how blue his eyes were or the fact that
he did want to kiss me then. *

"You look great in that shirt I persuaded you to buy.
It totally bring out your eyes." Buffy beamed at
Willow, looking with approval at her shirt.

"I have a present for you." Buffy took out a package,
wrapped in a bright, shiny paper.

"Anya and I have presents for you too. First, let's
eat. Ow……" Buffy nudged Xander hard. "But Mrs Summers
made her brownies and I really want to eat it."

"Willow, what do you want to do first? Open the
presents or eat first?" Buffy asked.

"Can we….uh….take some photographs first, you know,
as….as…..a memory. I brought my camera." *And take
photographs with Spike to see if the spell worked. *
Willow wished she had a Polaroid camera. Then she
could see almost immediately if the spell worked.
Well, at least she brought her camera.

Willow took out her camera nervously, placing it on
the low table before finally looking at Spike who was
staring at her with stormy, midnight blue eyes. She
gulped, as he didn't make any movement to look away,
just continued staring at her with that intense gaze.
Suddenly, it felt stifling hot.

There was a knock on the door. Buffy went to open it.
There was no one there or so she thought, not seeing
the gray mist, floating in. She closed the door, " No
one. Anyway, let's take the pictures first. Blondie,
you take the photos since you can't show on film
anyway."

Spike tore his gaze away from Willow, grabbing the
camera from the table while waiting impatiently for
the group to settle down on the couch. Willow was
panicking slightly. * How am I supposed to get Spike
to take a photo with me…I know! *

"Mrs Summers, why don't you take the photograph for
us? You know, like a….a Slayerettes group photo.
Spike, don't hide in the shadows. You are part of us
too. "

Spike hesitated, wondering what plot was his Red
hatching. He waited for the Slayer to protest.

"I'm not sitting next to a blank space in the photo."
Was all Buffy said.

"I am not sitting beside him either." Xander chipped
in, hugging Anya closer to him.

"Spike, why don't you sit beside Willow? Right." Joyce
Summers smiled as the vampire made his way uncertainly
to the empty seat beside her. "Closer, closer. I want
you to snuggle up really tight. Good"

Willow could feel his whole body against hers. She had
to push down the temptation to start rubbing up
against him like a cat. She was almost sitting in his
lap. Not that she minded but his mouth was also very,
very near her ear.

"Red, you still own me a goodnight kiss. I fully
intend to claim it tonight." Spike whispered in her
ear, his husky sent shivers down her spine, making her
quiver with the delicious shock of it. Then, to her
utter surprise, he brushed his lips lightly just
beneath her ear. Willow felt the heat from her cheeks,
rising up to her ears.

"Okay, on the count to three, smile. One, two, three,"
Joyce snapped the photograph. "Who's next?"

"Me! Me! I want to take a photo with you. Everybody
move." Buffy shooed everyone away from the couch.
Willow went through a daze, taking photographs with
Buffy, Xander and Giles, even Anya too, fully aware of
Spike's intense gaze on her the whole time.

"My turn." Spike sat down beside Willow again. Knowing
everyone else except for Joyce and them were in the
kitchen, eating, he pulled her up against him again,
torturing himself with the unique scent that was all
Willow. Although Spike knew that he wouldn't show up
on any of the pictures, he just wanted a chance to
hold her in his arms.

"Okay, smile." Click. "Wait, don't move. Let's take a
few more."

As Joyce continued capturing their images with the
camera, Willow found herself captivated by his
incredible, deep blue eyes.

"Your eyes are a deep, midnight blue color again. "
She murmured, looking into them, drowning in them.

"Really, Red. What other times have my eyes been this
color?" Spike smiled, wondering about her blue- eyes
statement.

His finger traced an invisible path, starting from her
eyebrow, down the bridge of her pert little nose and
over her slightly parted lips, stopping at her chin.
He held her chin with one finger, one light finger,
but she felt as if she couldn't move left or right. He
held her still with his closeness. Willow's heart
pounded in anticipation. * Kiss me. Kiss me. * her
mind chanted.

Next thing she knew, Spike had suddenly moved to the
other end of the couch, far away from her.

"Willster, you still sitting out there with deadboy
junior? I'm coming in with food for you." Xander's
loud voice broke through her haze of anticipation.
Xander bounced in with two plates laden with food,
with Anya following closely behind. Passing one plate
to Willow, Xander sat down on the floor. As he made
himself comfortable on the floor, Anya sat on the
couch, next to Willow. Spike remained where he was
sitting, on the other end of the couch.

Willow started blushing again when she saw her camera
on the table. She had been so engrossed in looking at
Spike, she didn't even notice that Mrs. Summers had
left them alone. She pretended to glance casually at
him, only to see him look like…well, himself. Willow
had no idea how he could remain so calm and not
nervous like her, still reeling from the effects of
the encounter a few seconds ago.

Spike was anything but calm. * That daft boy has no
brains at all. He's a bloody pansy. He spoilt my
seduction plans. If it weren't for this bloody,
sodding chip, he would be dead in a heartbeat. *

There was an awkward silence as Spike slowly calmed
himself down and Willow continued to blush. Then Anya
spoke up, in her usual blunt way. " This is the part
where we are supposed to make normal conversation. But
I don't have anything to say or ask. "

Suddenly, Spike gave his trademark devilish grin. Anya
had given him an idea. He innocently asked Willow,
"So, Red, where’s the best spot to kiss a girl?"

Willow blinked," You mean, other then her lips?"

He burst out laughing, "I meant the best place, the
most romantic --- on top of a hill, by the water, in
front of her house?" Spike gave her an exaggerated
wink.

"Oh."

His eyes were still glistening with laughter, "But
answer your own question, Red, " he said, obviously
amused. "Tell me where."

Anya was curious about Willow's answer. "Yeah….where?
Share with us, Willow."

"Share with us, what?" Buffy walked in.

"Willow was about to share with us where she thinks is
the best spot to kiss a girl." Anya said, looking at
Buffy before smiling at Xander. " Listen and learn."

Willow looked down in embarrassment. " I think it’s
the neck."

"Why, pet?"

"I don't know. To me, a kiss on the forehead means
that the person treats you like a little girl. A kiss
on the cheek is for old relatives and nasty
politicians. A kiss on the hand is charming, you know,
old-fashioned and sort of royal. But on the neck,
that's something else, maybe because your neck is a
very vulnerable spot. And you are a vampire so I
suppose that you will have a thing for necks too."

Willow felt embarrassed over her answer. Then she
noticed Spike staring at her neck with the same
stormy, midnight blue eyes he had before he nearly
kissed her on the couch. Feeling rather
self-conscious, she squashed the urge to put her hand
over her neck.

"Okay, I got that, Anya. We could practice on it
later. " Xander said, "so Will, how about that place?"
he asked. "What's the most romantic place?”

“Why do you keep asking me? You
can…uh…..ask…..uh….Buffy or…or….Anya.” Willow
protested, while trying unsuccessfully to ignore Spike
staring at her.

“Well, if you ask me, I think it’s the park. The trees
are so….” Buffy went on about how wonderful the park
was at night or in the day.

*********************************

“So Buffy is considered a legend of sorts in the
Watchers’ Council.” Joyce considered the interesting
fact.

Giles and Joyce were standing around the kitchen sink,
discussing about Buffy. They didn’t join the
youngsters outside, figuring they wouldn’t want them
to be there to supervise them. "So will she ever go to
England?"
 

"That….that is quite…um…difficult to say…” Both of
them were so involved in their chat, they didn’t see
the big kitchen knife floating up from the sink and
positioning itself behind Giles.

“So it all depends on…..Rupert! Behind you!”

Giles turned around to see the large knife aimed for
his heart. He grabbed the handle of the knife.
" Buffy!! Get the potion!! Joyce, get out now."
As Giles tried to pull the knife away from the spirit,
Joyce ran out of the kitchen.

Buffy had already heard her mum screaming and Giles'
instructions. "Find the potion. It should be in the
cabinets and shut all the windows and doors. Don't let
it escape."

Buffy and Spike ran to the kitchen. Seeing only the
knife and Giles, Buffy picked up a pot and threw it in
the general direction of the sink. It worked. Giles
fell on his back to the floor, the knife in his hands.
"Why can't we see it? The spell didn't work?"

Before Giles had a chance to explain, the drawers
opened, seemingly by themselves, small knives and
forks started to float out, aimed straight at them.
"Lie down!!!" The trio barely made it to the floor
when the forks shot forward, crashing against the wall
behind them. Then there was an eerie silence.

Spike belatedly remembered that he could sense the
spirit. Although, it was trapped in the kitchen, where
was the thing standing? Clamping down all the other
distractions, he concentrated on reaching out for the
evil spirit. * Where are you? Come to Daddy dearest. *
 

The kitchen counter! The thing was there and it was
looking at them. Spike grabbed a fork and threw with
deadly precision at where he hoped the head was. He
was rewarded with an inhuman sound of pain. "I can
feel it, Watcher. It's at the kitchen counter. It's
not there anymore." He got up slowly, trying to
determine where it had gone.

"Giles, we found the……." Willow screamed as the bar
stool flew straight at her. Reacting instinctively
with her magick, she stopped the chair in mid-air,
engaging the spirit a tug-of-war of magick power using
the chair.

Spike reached the living room. It was in front of the
fireplace. Seeing the black glass vial in Anya's
hands, he snatched it. "This the potion? What do I do
with it?"

"Make sure the spirit touches it. And hurry, Willow is
not strong enough to hold it off for long."

Spike paused, opened the vial, and threw the potion at
the fireplace. The stool crashed onto the floor and
there was a loud unnatural scream as the spirit
materialized into a grayish mass of slime before their
eyes then dissolving into nothingness. Willow's legs
refused to hold her weight and she fell to the floor.

"Willow!" Spike rushed to her side, carried her up
gently and depositing her on the couch.

"I'm fine, just a bit shaky. It was very strong."
Willow still could feel the hatred of that thing, the
evil vibe she experienced from the magick it used. She
shivered, clinging to Spike while he stroked her hair
lightly.

"Here, drink this, Willow. Joyce, you should have some
too." Giles handed them each a cup. "It's tea with a
touch of brandy. It should calm your nerves. I am
truly sorry for the scare you had. I can assure you
that this does not happen on a regular basis."

Willow sipped a bit of the hot tea. She was about to
drink more when Spike took the cup away from her. "Not
too much, luv. Don't want you to get drunk. " He
placed it on the table. Willow stared at the low
table.

* The table. My camera!!! *

She scanned the surrounding area for it. "Where's my
camera?" Willow asked, trying not to let her
increasing panic show. "It was on the table before the
thing came. I need to find it. What if…" Willow
didn't want to think so far ahead.

Xander got down on his knees and looked underneath the
table. "Nope, not here." Willow wanted to get up but
Spike pushed her back onto the couch.

" Don't worry, pet. The slayer will find it for you.
If she doesn't, I will tell Peaches. Just sit down and
rest." Buffy glared daggers at Spike before searching
beneath the couch.

"But it has your photograph inside."

"I don't show in pictures, remember?"

"But I did a……" Willow stopped just in time to prevent
herself from revealing her secret.

"Found it, Will. It must have rolled over to the
record player. Seems to be working. Let me try it out
on deadboy junior. Maybe not, it’s a waste of your
film. Buffy, say cheese…” Xander began terrorizing
Buffy and then, Giles who was clearing up the mess in
the living room.

“Xander,” Anya grabbed the camera away from him. “Stop
doing that. Here Willow.”

“Thank you Anya. “ Willow cradled her precious camera
in her arms, not wanting to let go of it. She had
thought that all her effort had come to waste when she
couldn’t find her camera. Putting it carefully in her
bag, she hoped that nothing else would happen to it.
She felt very tired. Snuggling closer to Spike, she
closed her eyes, resting for a while.

********************************

“Red, wake up. It’s time to go.” Spike nudged Willow
who had been blissfully asleep in his arms on Giles’
couch. The rest of the gang had been asked by Joyce to
help poor Mr. Giles clear up the mess the spirit had
made. Both of them were spared as Willow was sleeping
and he was her pillow.

“What? Where’s everyone?” Willow rubbed her eyes,
feeling disoriented

“They all went back already. We are the only ones left
besides the Watcher. You fell asleep. And now he’s
chasing us away. So get up and move.” Spike replied,
in a somewhat grumpy tone. He wanted her to move away
from him before he give in to his urges and take her
in front of the bloody watcher.

Willow stood up, her mind still heavy with sleep.
Spike growled as he picked up her bag and practically
shoved her out of the front door. Taking her hand, he
pulled her along with him, wondering how long it would
take for her to fully wake up.

It took Willow a few minutes to remember what had
happened and another minute to realise that she had
been sleeping on Spike and that he was holding her
hand. She started blushing again, mentally berating
herself for dozing off on him.

“I’m sorry, Spike. For sleeping on you. I must have
dozed off. I didn’t mean to sleep on you or anything.
Are you feeling sore all over? Pain anywhere? Um….i am
really sorry..i..uh..don’t do this sort of thing. And
i…….”

Spike’s groan interrupted Willow’s nervous babble.
“Pet, just keep quiet.”

“Um…okay. Keeping quiet….i can do that…..see….” Pause.
“ I’m being quiet.”

They walked in silence, hand in hand. As they reached
her house, Willow began to wonder about what he had
said earlier on, about claiming his goodnight kiss
from her. * Is he really going to do it? I mean what
if he changes his mind or forgot about it? *

“Spike, are you tired?” Willow asked quietly.

“No, pet. Are you?”

“No.”

Spike walked her to her front door and frowned. “How
come your front porch is so dark today?”

“I kept the porch light for the whole night last
night. It must have fused.” Willow replied. Then both
of them didn’t say anything. Just stood there in the
dark. Waiting.

Willow couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Spike,
ioweyouagoodnightkissandyoucankissme.”

“What?” Spike asked incredulously. His shy, little Red
wanted him to kiss her.

“I said, I owe you a goodnight kiss and you can kiss
me.”

“Then you’ll have to close your eyes and hope that the
phone doesn’t ring this time, Red.” Spike gave a small
smile that Willow could not see in the dark. Spike
slowly bent his head, but his mouth didn't touch hers.
 

“Close your eyes, pet. I can see perfectly well in the
dark. And your eyes are open.” He whispered.

Willow closed her eyes and waited. She figured that he
must have changed his mind. Then, she felt his lips
against her neck. On her throat she felt a long warm,
soft-as-a-butterfly-kiss.

“See you tomorrow, sweet Willow.” The blond vampire
turned and left her, barely supported by her own two
legs.
 

Part 9

Willow barely made it into her house. Her legs were
shaking so badly. She felt breathless like she just
ran the 100 meters dash.

Spike finally kissed her.

It meant a lot to her. After all, he's a vampire. From
what she had heard about Angel from Buffy, it took a
lot of self-control to not bite when a human bares his
neck to any vampire. She leaned against the front
door, sinking slowly to the floor.

* Spike is a vampire, a demon. Yet he cared and
protected his Dru, loved her. What if……just what
if…..Spike cares about me in the same way he did with
Drusilla? If I ask him to go with him to LA, will he
come with me? Or will he ask me to stay? *

Willow picked herself up from the floor. She picked
her bag up. Walking up the stairs to her room, a
little voice at the back of her mind nagged at her.

* What if he doesn't do anything to make you stay or
go with you? *

Willow entered her room, took out her camera from her
bag and put it beside the sketch of the vampire.
* Then the kiss didn't mean anything to him. *

The redhead lay down on her bed, hugging her pillow. *
Then, I will go to LA and forget about him. Forget
everything. Start a new life. *

*********************************

Spike ran back to the crypt. He took out his metal box
and began playing with the coin. It was a miracle that
Willow didn't run screaming away from him when he
kissed her on her throat.

He spun the coin on the table, watching it spin. * She
let me kiss her neck even though she knew that I'm a
demon, a vampire. Maybe it's because of the damn chip,
not because she trusts me. * He wondered why it was
suddenly so important to him that she trusted him. The
coin stopped spinning. He spun it again.

* She's leaving tomorrow. If I tell her the deal I
have with Peaches….. * Spike frowned as he caught
himself brooding like Peaches and spinning the coin
like how Angelus used to when he was bored and there
was no one to kill or torture.

As the coin tumbled off the table, Spike reached a
decision about the next day. He was not going to tell
her anything and give a her surprise instead. Spike
had a goofy grin on his face before he realised it. He
frowned again. He was acting all poofy-like again.

* Bloody hell *

*********************************

" What time was your dad supposed to fetch you?" Anya
said loudly, " next century?" She opened the front
door for the umpteenth time, looking out to the quiet
road. Xander and Anya were at Willow's house to see
her off. Buffy was helping her to move the two
suitcases.

"Why don't you just keep the door open? And why are
you so anxious to see Willow go?" Buffy snapped at
Anya while moving a large, blue suitcase down the
stairs.

"I'm bored and Xander can't have sex with me here."
Anya whined, keeping the door open.

"You guys came too early. It's only 6 p.m. My dad is
coming at 7 p.m. " Willow said, moving the last of her
luggage out of her room. "Does Giles and…….uh…..Spike
know what time I'm going off?" Willow asked in a
nonchalant way, hoping no one would notice her
reddening cheeks.

" The sun has not completely set yet. Just give him
more time. He will be here if he takes his practices
to be a poof seriously." Anya smiled at Willow who was
totally blushing by now.

"What does the sun setting has to do with Giles and
what practices? " Xander asked.

"Nothing at all. Nothing you will know anyway. Oh
look, there's Giles. When is her dad going to reach
here?" Anya whined again, as Giles entered through the
door.

"Willow. I am sorry I am late. I was re-reading one of
my books." Giles was a bit breathless from the mad
rush to reach there. " I brought you a gift. " He gave
her a brown parcel.

"We all got you presents too. But yesterday that
spirit appeared suddenly, we all forgot. So here's my
present for you" Buffy grinned.

"Me too!" Xander stuffed an oddly-shaped present into
her arms. Anya placed a small box on top of the pile.
She mouthed "for you".

Willow was not looking at her presents though. She was
looking at Spike who had arrived silently. "Spike,
you're here. I thought you were not going to come."

"Well, I didn't want to." Spike replied in a cold
voice. But Willow was not put off by his tone. She
knew it was just a front, hoped it was.

"Good, so now all of you are here and I can give out
the presents I got for you. Here. There are labels."
She gave the pile to Buffy. Willow moved in front of
the blond vampire. "This is for you. It's only a part
of your present. The other part of your present will
arrive in a few days. I wouldn't be around then, but I
hope you will like it. "

"Whatever." Spike took the present and stepped out of
the house onto the front porch. Willow followed behind
him.

"Spike?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to go to LA?" Willow asked, in a soft
tone.

"That's your choice." Still in the cold tone.

"If you want me to stay, I will." Willow tried again,
trying to get him to say something, anything. * Why is
he acting like this. *

He didn't say anything, just looked out onto the road.

"Why don't you go to LA with me instead, if you don't
want to stay here." Willow tried again.

"Would rather not see soulboy." Came the short reply.

Willow could hear her heart cracking with pain. She
wondered if he could hear it too. * Just one last time
*

"Spike, will you come with me to LA? Please?" She
could hear her pleading in her own voice, could hear
the clear, gradual shattering sounds of her own heart.

"I'll think about it." Spike looked at her, and for a
moment her eyes seemed a different color. They looked
so unhappy, so disappointed. He nearly caved in. Maybe
he took it too far. * Don't soften. Don't spoil her
surprise. *

" Well, I have to go now. Thanks for the gift. Send my
regards to Angelus. " He quickly left, before he
could change his mind. Spike hated to see her this
sad. Yet he didn't see Willow's resolve-face, or see
her famous resolve-face crumbling down or hear her
silent sobs.

*********************************

"Willow has been out there with Spike for a long time.
You think she's in danger? Can I kill Spike if he
attacks her?" Buffy tried to peer out of the door but
was blocked by Anya.

"Leave her alone. I'm sure they have lots of things to
say to each other." Anya was in a good mood. Willow
had given her an antique hair pin that was just like
her favorite one she had lost.

"I didn't know that she was that close to deadboy
junior." Xander said, fiddling with the new
play-station game Willow had gotten him.

"There is a lot of things that you are not aware of."
Giles looked up from the book he had received from
Willow. It was "Learning To Use The Computer For
Dummies". Although he did not think of himself as one
but he did find the book useful. He never knew that
the escape key could be so useful.

"Sure thing, dummy." Xander earned a glare from Giles
that shut him up for a while.

Buffy put on the ring Willow had given her. Engraved
on the inside were the words "Friends Forever".
"Well, can I go stake Spike….i mean go see Willow
now?"

"No." Both Anya and Giles replied at the same time.
Buffy gave a pout and waited impatiently for them to
come in.

*********************************

As Willow stood on the front porch, she had put on her
resolve-face, determined not to cry. Yet as his figure
went further and further away, she couldn't keep it on
anymore. She stopped sobbing, what was there to cry
about. After all, this was not new to her. Xander
didn't want her; Oz left her and now Spike.

Willow wiped the tears away, pulled herself together
and entered her house, only to see Buffy looking at
her intently. "Where's Blondie?"

"Gone."

Anya looked at Willow. Her eyes looked as red as her
nose and that definitely was not from kissing the
blond vampire or blushing. She had been crying. What
had the silly vampire done to her? "Are you alright,
Willow?"

"I have never felt better." Willow lied through her
teeth. Just as Anya was about to question her further,
there was a loud honk from outside. "My dad's here."

Willow and Buffy carried her suitcases out. She gave
everyone a hug, even Giles. "We miss you, Willow"
Buffy was gave her best friend a tight hug, both of
them crying a little. Xander gave a long hug too and
told her to think of him often. Giles patted her
shoulder and told her to call him if there are any
problems.

Anya shook her hand and whispered in her ear," I'll
find out what's wrong with the silly vampire. "

Willow shook her head. "It's okay. It's best for the
both of us."

As she got into the car and her father drove the car
away, Willow never looked back. She was off to start a
new life without Spike. Somehow, it looked bleary
without him.

*********************************

"Xander, I want to go home now. So see you guys
tomorrow. " With that, Anya left the gang and stalked
the whole way from Willow's house to the crypt where
Spike was staying. She stomped into the crypt, only to
see Spike packing.

Spike was putting his stuff into a big canvas bag. The
crypt was somewhat empty without all the usual beer
bottles or newspapers lying around. " What are you
doing her? "He didn't turn around but continued
packing.

"You hurt Willow." Anya spat out. Although Willow had
no obligation to be nice to her, she always was. So
Anya felt a need to protect the redhead whom she
considered her friend.

"I know."

"So why don't you chase her back? Ask her to stay? Go
with her? " Anya stomped in front of Spike who was
getting irritated.

"I have my bloody reasons."

"Tell me and they better be good ones. I may not be a
demon anymore but a lot of powerful people own me
favors that I can call on. And I will not hesitate to
sic them on you."
 

Part 10

"I have my bloody reasons."

"Tell me and they better be good ones. I may not be a
demon anymore but a lot of powerful people own me
favors that I can call on. And I will not hesitate to
sic them on you."

" What reasons I have are none of your business. I'm
not saying anything." Spike growled menacingly at Anya
who was scowling at him.

"Um….am I interrupting something?" Both of them turned
to see Giles standing at the entrance of the crypt,
holding a piece of paper.

"YES!!" Anya and Spike snapped at Giles who looked
extremely uncomfortable.

"Well then, I shall….I…will just leave
the…um…phone-bill here…um…..Spike. Just remember to
get …..um…..Angel….to foot the….um….bills by the end
of the week."

"Why is Angel paying your phone-bill?" Anya grabbed
the piece of paper on the table before Spike could get
it. She scanned the phone-bill, raising her eyebrows
at the total amount. "You've been calling Angel in LA.
Why?"

Spike refused to say anything, just glared at that
discriminating piece of paper. " Bloody hell. Just
give me a few more days. Then I'll tell you whatever
you need to know. Now get the hell out of my place. "

********************************

Willow didn't say anything during the car trip to LA.
Neither did she say anything when they reached LA. She
just felt like curling up into a small ball, hop in a
bed and going to sleep. Maybe she could pretend that
it was just a nasty nightmare. Her dad took the
suitcases up to their new apartment.

"Willow, I'm afraid that I have to go now, your mother
is waiting for me at the airport. We have to fly to
London for a convention and we don't know when we will
be back. So the keys to the car and the house are on
the table. The fridge is stocked with food. So take
care. Bye." With that her father left.

Willow was alone again. She decided to call the only
friends she had in LA. Even though, since Cordelia had
called her for help in decrypting a diskette, they
haven't exactly talked since. And the few times Angel
had came back to Sunnydale, he had been busy with
Buffy.

Nevertheless, Cordelia had e-mailed her regularly for
help with the PC, often asking about her life in
Sunnydale. Thus, an online friendship had budded
between them. The ex-cheerleader seemed friendlier
online than in person which helped a lot.

She picked up the receiver and dialed the number. "
Hello? Cordelia? It's me, Willow. I'm in LA. I was
wondering if I could…." Willow was cut off by
Cordelia's loud moan of pain.

"Um……Cordelia?"

"Hello? Who is this?" A male voice with a British
accent answered the phone. * Must be Wesley * It
reminded her of Spike. * No. Bad Willow. No Spike
thoughts. *

"Um….I'm Willow." Willow started to twirl the
telephone cord around her fingers, nervously. "Is
Cordelia alright?" She could hear the British guy
telling someone else that she was on the line.

"Willow? It's me, Angel. Cordelia just had a vision.
So she's in a bit of pain right now. Why don't you
leave your address and contact number, I'll get back
to you later. " Willow gave Angel her new contact
number and address before he hung up in a hurry.

* Well, there goes my friends. * Willow refused to
let it get her down. They had people to save. Besides,
she could always check her e-mail or open the presents
she got.

* Presents, Spike didn't get me any present. He
doesn't want me near him at all. He was just playing
with me. Well I can play too. I will…. I will….let my
wild side come out…I will….flirt with Wesley or…..or
Angel…. and…..I'll ignore him when he comes begging
for me. I'll make him come to me….by…by…I'll think of
something. *

*********************************

Willow walked around the big shopping mall, completely
lost. Cordelia had called her up in the morning,
asking to meet up during lunch in the mall near her
apartment. Now, she was lost. Willow fingered the
small, black container with the film inside.

" Willow!" She turned around to see the tall brunette
smiling at her. They hugged each other, happy to meet
after such a long time.

"I still can't believe you're in LA and staying so
near me. You have to sleep over someday and we can go
shopping together. Dennis will adore you."

At Willow's blank look, Cordelia continued chattering.
"Dennis is the resident ghost. He's nice to everyone
but Angel. He used lock him out of my apartment. I'm
starving, so let's go get some food. How are you?"

While they were walking towards the food-court, Willow
spotted a photo-developing shop that offered to
develop the photographs in half-an-hour. " Cordelia,
wait, I need to develop these photographs." Taking out
the small, black tube that contained the precious
film, Willow ran into the shop. "Can I get these
developed in half-an-hour."

"Sure, no problem." The female sales-assistant smiled
at the redhead, before giving her a receipt to collect
the photographs. Willow carefully folded the receipt
and put it in her wallet. Looking at her watch while
Cordelia pulled her to the food-court. She gave a
small prayer to the goddess. * Please let my spell
work.*

" Let's sit over there and let me tell you what has
happened over these few months. " Cordelia proceeded
to tell the redhead what had happened to Angel, Wesley
and herself during the few months that they had lost
contact. However, it was obvious that she wasn't
listening but kept looking at her watch. Cordelia
smiled to herself. She started talking about how Angel
and Wesley's new apartment only needed a few more days
of renovating before they would move in.

* Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three,
two, one. * Willow sprang up from her chair. "Time's
up. Let's go collect the photographs. Where's the
shop?"

"Impatient much? What's so important about the
photographs?" Cordelia asked, pointing the way to the
shop as Willow made a beeline for it.

"You'll see." Willow re-entered the shop. The
sales-assistant looked at her, then looked at the
clock, smiling slightly over her eagerness as Willow
gave her the receipt.

"You're just on time. The photographs are ready. Here
you go." Willow paid the girl. She slowly opened the
envelope. * I can't bear to see it. What if he didn't
show up in the photographs, what if…..i know *

Willow stepped out of the shop, stuffing the envelope
into Cordelia's hands. " You open it and tell me what
you see. "

"Okay." Cordelia was also curious about who was in the
photographs. She opened it while Willow looked on
nervously. Taking out the stack of photographs, the
first one caught her attention. Her eyes widened in
shock.

"How? How?" Willow chanted nervously, the suspense
almost killing her.

"Oh my god." Cordelia scrutinized the photograph
closely. " Am I seeing things?"

"What? What?" Willow felt like a nervous wreck. Did
her spell work?

"What did Buffy do to her hair? It looks so flat and
dry. And her clothes are just as terrible as before.
You look good in the shirt. And who's the girl beside
Xander?" Cordelia passed the photo back to the now
dejected Willow.

"Oh, by the way, don't you think that Spike's sitting
a bit to close to you? You are almost in his lap. He
does look happy though."

"Spike? Did you say Spike?" Willow took a look at the
photograph herself. There he was, looking a bit
uncertain but grinning, his hands around her waist.
Willow gave Cordelia a hug before jumping up and down,
giggling like a small child in a toyshop.

Cordelia looked through the rest of the photographs.
All of them had Spike in them. There was Spike
laughing, Spike standing in one corner, Spike scowling
at the camera. What really caught her eye, was the one
where Willow and Spike were looking at each other. It
was crystal-clear to her that those two had chemistry.
* Think hot, very hot. *

"Willow, do you like Spike?" Cordelia asked the
still-jumping Willow.

Abruptly, the jumping stopped.

"Willow?" Cordelia looked at Willow. Her green eyes
had misted over, tears evident in them.

"What now? Tell you what, Angel can handle everything
at the office. We are going to have a girls' afternoon
out and you are telling me what happened between you
and Spike. "

One hour later and after a cup of coffee and a
chocolate cheesecake, Willow told Cordelia the whole
story. "So you are telling me that Spike just left
like that."

Willow nodded her head.

"Willow, are you going to give up like that? No. You
are going to send him the other part of the present
and if he still doesn't see how much you want him, I
will introduce you to my gorgeous Latin friend,
Enrique and his older brother. Now go develop more
photographs and send him the present. Oh. You think
you can do the spell to Angel too?"
 

Part 11

Spike hadn't been to Giles place since Willow left
three day ago. * Stupid Nancy-boy. If my Red hates me,
I will personally torture him. Wait…been there, done
that. Well I can always spill all the nasty little
secrets about him to the slayer. *

Spike looked around the now empty crypt. Everything
was already packed and ready to go. All he was waiting
was for Peaches' call. He figured he could go to the
Watcher's house to wait for the phone call.

* Why the hell did Red give me a photo frame and what
was that about it being only one part of my present. *
Spike had opened Willow's gift when Anya and Giles
left that day. It was weird but she gave him a
beautiful photo frame made of red wood.

He reached Giles' house, together with an UPS
deliveryman. Giles opened the door to see both Spike
and the deliveryman. "Spike, I was just about to send
Buffy for you when she comes. We have
a….um….situation, one of the…um…nasty…things cropped
up."

"Hi, is there a Mr. Rupert Giles here?" the
deliveryman asked.

"Uh……yes…...that would be me."

"Well, just sign here and you can take this parcel."
Giles took the parcel, and signed for it. Spike
followed Giles into the house. Xander was sitting
close to Anya who was glaring at Spike. Buffy was not
there yet.

Giles opened the parcel. "Look, Willow sent us
something from LA."

There were five separate envelopes in it. Each
envelope had each of their names on it. He picked up
the green envelope with his name on it. Holding on to
it, he passed a pink one to Anya, the brown one to
Xander, kept the red one meant for Buffy and gave a
surprised Spike the blue envelope.

Spike tore open the envelope. Photographs. He looked
at it, his pleasure and shock shown clearly in his
eyes even as his face remained carefully blank. It was
him, together with Willow, on the photograph. It had
been a long, long time since he last saw himself.
Spike had almost forgotten how he looked like.

The blond vampire couldn’t suppress his grin as he
looked at the image of himself. It was wonderful to
know that he still looked way better than his silly
Sire. Why had his Red done to make him appear in the
photograph?

Spike then remembered the photo frame. Taking it out,
he slipped in his favorite picture of him and Red *
That's why Red gave me the photo frame *

"Wait……why is Spike in them too? I thought vampires
don't show on film or photographs." Xander stared at
Spike. " Okay, this is the part where Giles either
comes out with a logical explanation or we blame it on
the hellmouth. Giles?"

"I have….this is…..we need to do research." Giles
examined the photo, completely fascinated.

"Hi guys!" Buffy strolled into Giles' living room.
Everyone was there already. Xander was glued to Anya
on the couch and looking at something. Spike was
holding a blue envelope in one hand and a photo frame
in the other. “What’s that?”

“Willow sent us photographs she took on the party and
deadboy jr. is in every other one.” Xander lamented.

“You are such a joker, Xander. How can him be in any
photo? Vampire, remember?” Buffy laughed hysterically
but no one laughed. Giles passed her the photos. She
took a look and sobered up. “What did he do? Become
human for a day?”

"Ha ha, Slayer. Well, I’m not staying here to be in
your jokes. I'm leaving for LA now. I need to go to my
Red. Bloody good riddance if you ask me. Ought to have
left with my Red. All because of my idiot of a sire."
Spike announced.

"You are leaving? How?" Buffy demanded to know. "And
what does this have to do with Willow?"

"Before you go, tell me what was the deal between you
and Angel? Why didn't you go with Willow?" Anya asked,
ignoring Buffy's sputtering.

"It's all the bloody poof's fault. He said that he was
living with cheerleader since…."

"Living with Cordelia Chase!! Why is Angel living
with that……"

"Keep quiet, Buffy." Anya snapped.

"He said that he was living with her since his place
blew up and…."

"Angel's place blew up!!! Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Buffy interrupted again.

"Buffy, shut up. Go on Spike."

"I needed a place to stay in LA so I figured Peaches….

"And Angel actually helped you? I thought he hated
you! " Buffy said in a incredulous voice.

"Buffy!" Anya glared at her. "Let Spike talk!"

Spike gave a smirk. "Poof and I reached an agreement.
Anyway Peaches said that his new place was under
renovation and Cordelia would kick him out if I came
along. I told him that he's a whipped Nancy-boy. So
I've been waiting for him to call me up when his
apartment is alright."

"That's not the whole reason. You still could have
gone to LA much earlier."

Spike rolled his eyes, keeping quiet. Anya got up and
pulled him to a corner. "Well, speak up."

"I have to pack, and arrange transport. I have
luggage, ya’ know. Besides I can't kill humans because
of the damn chip. Suddenly, I have all these things
for a human no less. Bloody hell. I couldn't handle
it. Me, William the Bloody, in love with a mere human.
You were once a demon yourself, Anya. You know how
it's like."

"Well, you were in love with Drusilla according to
Xander."

"Dru's a vampire. It's different, mate."

"Well, that is a stupid excuse. You better be prepared
to do some major sappy thing for Willow to apologize
if you really like her."

*********************************

Willow sat in the couch at Cordelia’s apartment. She
was brooding, like Angel who was sitting on the other
end of the couch. Wesley looked at the two of them
with matching expressions on their faces.

“What do you think of this dress?” Cordelia came out
of her room, modeling a very short black dress
complete with the plunging neckline. “You think
Enrique will like this?” Angel continued brooding.
Willow mumbled something. Wesley shrugged.

Cordelia gave a sigh. Sitting down between Angel and
Willow, she said in an irritated tone. "Angel, quit
worrying, everything will work out on its own. I'm
sure your apartment will have fine. " Turning to
Willow, " Willow! Quit moping."

"But it's been four days since I left and he hasn't
called me, hasn't mailed me…. He doesn't want me
despite the photographs. " Willow felt like crying
again. So she tended to cry a lot over him but she can
only take so much, and this was the limit.

"Willow! Go change into the clothes we bought
yesterday. Forget about him for tonight. We have hot
dates with two hot, Latin hunks so go, change."
Cordelia pushed the redhead into the room. Arranging
her hair back properly to give off that "I'm wild and
sexy" look, she noticed that Angel was no longer
brooding but was openly scowling at her. "What did I
do, Angel?" Cordelia looked at Angel.

"Who are the Latin hunks?" Angel shifted in the couch,
suppressing the ridiculous urge to cover the brunette
with one of his shirts. "And are you sure you want to
wear that out? Isn't it a bit short?"

"Why should you care, Angel? I can wear whatever I
want. Besides, this is an Armani number. It costs a
bomb. It's also the thing to wear when clubbing in LA.
" Cordelia said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I'm going out." Angel picked his duster and stalked
out of the apartment.

"Jeez, what's with him?" Cordelia remarked to Wesley
who was trying to read. "Oh well, Wesley? Could you
check out the pipes in the kitchen, I think it's a bit
clogged up. Just clear it up for me. Willow, you look
good."

Willow slowly stepped out of the room, tugging at the
ultra-tight black pants. She wore a green sequined
tube-top that she was also tugging at. Seeing a black
shirt on the couch, Willow grabbed it and put it on.
"I feel so……weird. This is not me. I feel
uncomfortable, like……like the Halloween when everyone
became their costume alter-ego."

"You look great. Don't worry about it, those Latin
hunks will never know what hit them. Drop the shirt,
Willow." Cordelia held on firmly to Willow's arm to
prevent her from running off. "Wesley, remember, the
sink and a friend of mine is coming later to return
some stuff she borrowed. So just tell her to leave it
in my room. Willow, stop clinging on to the shirt."

*********************************

Wesley wondered for the millionth time why he was
stuck with the job of clearing the sink. Now he was
all wet and he stank like the sewers. A bath was what
he needed. He went into the bathroom and was in the
middle of his shower when he thought he heard a knock
on the door.

Wesley put his head out of the bathroom door, cocking
his ears. There was a knock again. It should be
Cordelia's friend. "Dennis? Could you please open the
door for Cordelia's friend? I will be out in a
minute."
The front door opened by itself. Then, it slammed
shut.

"Dennis, what was that?" Wesley quickly wore his
shirt and pants. He walked to the door and opened it,
"Please, come in. I'm sorry, there was a…um…….strong
gust of wind." Taking a closer look, Wesley realized
that the person was a man. He thought that Cordelia's
friend was a woman. The stranger entered the house

"You are not Cordelia's friend?"

"Where's Peaches?" at Wesley's blank look, the
striking young man rolled his eyes and sat on the
couch. " I mean his Poofy-ness, the poof. I'm looking
for Angelus." He said, getting annoyed.

"Oh, he's not here. Would you like to come back….."

"I'll wait here."
 

Part 12

Willow was not having fun. Sure, those hunks of
Cordelia's were good-looking but they literally hung
around Cordelia only. She felt uncomfortable in the
clothes she was wearing too, feeling a tad
overexposed. Most of all, she couldn't stop thinking
about Spike. Willow told Cordelia that she would like
to go back first and went off. A few minutes later,
Cordelia joined her.

"Why didn't you stay?" Willow asked.

"They were idiots. Besides, I feel like going back
too. I wonder if Angel is back yet or Wesley fixed the
sink yet. Living with a vampire and a guy is pure
torture. They do the weirdest things like once the
blender, and I quote Angel, tried to attack him….."
Willow smiled as Cordelia chattered about the funny
things that they do, all the way back.

*********************************

The guy that opened the door had been sneaking looks
at him for the past two hours. Spike spoke up after he
sneaked another look at him. "Listen, mate. If you
want to look, just bloody look."

"I'm sorry." Wesley quickly buried his nose in his
book.

"Where's the cheerleader?"

"You mean Cordelia? She went out on a date with her
friend. I don't think Angel will be back until much
later at night. Perhaps you could leave your name….."
Wesley tried digging for his name. The fact that he
asked for Angelus and not Angel also made the whole
situation suspicious.

"Name's Spike." Spike grinned, as the bespectacled man
paled several shades as comprehension dawned on him.
"I don't bite." Spike drawled out, his eyes twinkling
with amusement. * Well, since I can't torture humans
anymore, doesn't mean I can't play with their minds. *

Wesley gulped. This was Spike. William the Bloody.
When he was still a watcher, he had heard many stories
about him, especially in Sunnydale. Buffy had
mentioned him in passing a couple of times. Although
he had had a conversation just this morning with
Willow and found out that Spike had been neutered, he
was not convinced at all.

Besides, the other time one of Angel's, or rather,
Angelus' childe came for a visit, it was not a happy
affair. Wesley knew that he had not fully recovered
from his injuries in the explosion. There was no way
he could defend himself. As he tried to move as
inconspicuously as possible towards the door, he made
a mental note to remember to ask his employer; how
many childe did he sire, complete with names and a
full description of their looks.

Suddenly, the blond vampire slumped down in the couch,
a baseball bat floating behind him. Wesley smiled as
the bat floated towards him. Wesley took the bat.
"Thank you, Dennis. Now, would you happen to know
where the ropes are?"

A large coil of rope appeared, followed by a deck of
cards. Wesley sighed as the cards landed on the table.
"I will play cards with you but only after I have tied
him up in the chair. And we better hurry, I think he
may be waking up sooner than we think."

*********************************

They had reached Cordelia's apartment and Cordelia was
still talking about Angel. Only this time was about
how funny he had looked in a leopard-print shirt when
they were going undercover in a Las Vegas-styled
nightclub. Willow glanced at Cordelia, wondering if
she was aware of her crush on Angel.
* Probably not. *

As Cordelia opened the door with her keys, Willow
thought she heard a rather familiar voice in the
apartment. In fact, as the door opened, Willow could
have sworn it was Spike's voice. Cordelia stepped into
her apartment first and gaped at the sight in front of
her. Wesley was playing cards with Dennis and Spike,
who was tied up in a chair, with some cards in front
of him.

The vampire had woken up to find himself tied up in a
chair [again] and introduced to the resident
poltergeist. Being bored and all, having to wait for
Angelus to appear because Wesley didn't trust him to
let him go, Spike had cajoled Wesley and Dennis into
playing cards with him.

"I'm telling you, the bloody ghost's been winning,
he's cheating." Spike shouted.

"Dennis is a man…um….ghost of honor, he does not
cheat. Right, um….Dennis?" Wesley defended the
phantom, but he had doubts about it.

"Spike?" Cordelia exclaimed, Willow blinked when she
saw the blond vampire.

"Spike." Willow said softly, "what are you doing here,
in LA?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Red? Untie me. This
feels like the sodding days when I was still at the
Watcher's place. And what are you wearing? That's the
poof's shirt." Spike snarled as Willow, HIS Willow
pulled Angel's shirt closer around her.

"I'm not sure. About the shirt. And……and Cordelia made
me wear this outfit." Willow stammered out. She was
ecstatic to see him but he was growling at her. Her
resolve-face came on as she remembered that he didn't
want her.

"Why am I explaining to you? I……I….don't need to
explain to you. You don't want me, remember? You
refused to come along or……or ask me to stay. I can
wear Angel's shirt and I can……I can sleep in his
bed……and ….and it's none of your concern."

Spike tugged hard at the ropes. They still refused to
budge. "You are my Red and no one, including the
bloody wanker touches you."

"I am not your anything, Spike. I never was."

Spikes looked into Willow's green eyes, glistening
with unshed tears. * Bloody hell. Stupid Nancy-boy and
his bright ideas. * He hated it when women were about
cry, especially if his Willow was going to cry because
of him.

"Listen, Red. I'm going to say this once." Spike
paused, a second before he turned into a sappy fool,
just like his sire. There goes his reputation. "You're
not my anything. You're my everything. I need you.
That's why I'm here, in LA."

There, he said the words. Spike sat there, waiting for
the big stamp on his forehead that will say he was a
Nancy-boy, just like his Sire. He was going to be
labeled a sap. If Peaches knew, he will never let him
live it down. He was going soft and turning worse than
the Poof.

"Really?"

"I'm not saying it again. Over my dead body, Red."

Willow ran to Spike and straddled him, hugging him as
tightly as she could, hoping that this was not another
dream. "You like me. You really do like me. Spike!
Spike likes me. Am I going to wake up now? I hope
not."

"This is not a dream, Red." Spike chuckled.

"Wait, I'm supposed to be angry at you. You left me
here for four days. No phone-call, no e-mail, nothing.
I am not talking to you yet." Willow made a move to
climb off Spike but stopped at his I-am-sorry look,
complete with the pout and doggy eyes.

* Spike's pouting at me. He looks so poor thing, I
really should…..No, remember, control my feelings,
resist.…… * It lasted for a whole of a minute before
she gave in.

"Willow, the pocket in my duster. There's something I
want you to have."

Willow reached into the pocket and pulled out the
photo frame that she had given him and also a small
metal tin. She looked at the photo of the two of them,
looking into each other's eyes and she smiled. "I have
the same picture in the same photo frame, beside my
bed."

"Really, pet. Open the tin. It's inside." Spike
prompted her. Willow opened it and looked curiously at
the assorted items in it.

A piece of paper, tied with a red ribbon that caught
her attention. She looked up at Spike. * His eyes are
that midnight blue again. *

"Yeah. It's the one with the ribbon. Take it." Willow
took it, loosened the ribbon and unrolled it. It was a
sketch of her, though not as good as the sketch she
has of Spike but just as beautiful. Beautifully drawn
roses surrounded a sketch of her laughing at
something.

Spike waited for some sort of reaction from her. He
had done the portrait on the way to LA. He knew that
his skills were not as good as Peaches, but it
couldn't be that horrible. The first and the last time
he had done a sketch was of Drusilla, he had trailed
after her like a puppy before giving it to her,
expecting her to like it. Instead, she had said that
the stars told her that Spike was getting soft, like
her poor, little Angel and tossed it in the fire.

"You drew this? For me?" Willow held the paper
tightly. "It's perfect."

"No, you're perfect." Spike stated, while Willow
turned a pretty shade of pink. * What did I just say?
Argh…….I'm a bloody sap! * "I'm a sappy idiot." He
mumbled to himself.

"I like you, even if you are a sappy idiot." Willow
dropped a kiss on his lips on impulse. Spike took the
chance and deepened the kiss.

Willow couldn't think anymore, her hands threaded into
his hair as his mouth moved over hers, molding her
lips like heated wax. She gasped slightly at the feel
of his tongue, and he didn't hesitate to take
advantage of her surprise. Willow felt like she was
falling off the edge, falling deeper and deeper…..

"What is going on here?" Angel entered the apartment,
his eyes drawn immediately to Willow, sitting in
Spike's lap and kissing each other passionately.

"A happy reunion." Cordelia answered, picking up the
photo frame that was long forgotten. Passing it to
Angel, Cordelia left the older vampire, standing in
the room, stunned at the photograph of his childe and
Willow.

"I think Dennis and I will retire to Cordelia's room
to continue the game. Dennis, the cards." Wesley
excused himself, the deck of cards following him.
Angel put the frame on the table, a slight smile on
his face. He wondered if there was one more place for
another card-player.

"Red, when are you going to let me go?" Spike mumbled
into Willow's ear as he trailed small kisses over her
ear. "I'm still tied to the damn chair and I want to
have fun with you."

"I can have fun like this. Where's everyone?"

"They are in the room, playing cards. And the ghost is
a bloody good cheat."

"Really?" Willow got off Spike, a wicked gleam in her
eyes. "Well, I want to go play cards too."

Spike felt as if there was something he should know
but didn't. "Untie me first, Red." Willow laughed as
she ruffled his hair and walked towards the room.
"Willow, you can't be serious. Pet, I adore you. Just
let me go. Red!"

"Never. Well at least until you promise not to leave
me again or abandon me. Here," Willow tossed the photo
frame onto his lap before leaving him alone in the
dark, tied up to the chair.

"Red? Would you let me go it I tell you we're picture
perfect together? Luv? Somebody? "
 

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