Spike threw his cigarette butt towards the tree exhaling the last of his smoke with a smile as he stepped up onto the porch, the yellow light coming from inside making his skin look sallow. Rapping his knuckles against the wood of the door he peered in through the windows, he could see Buffy at the top of the stairs as Dawn opened the door.

"Hey." Dawn wrapped him in an affectionate hug; their summer together without Buffy had bought them close to each other. Spike reminisced about all the lessons he had given her on slaying and defending herself against the bad guys, the vampires like the one she had in her death grip right now. He grinned and returned her hug, it's one way of killing us - love and affection makes us go soft.

"Ready to go?" He looked up at Buffy, now standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting with infinite patience for her sister to release Spike. Noting that she was wearing makeup he wondered if she had made other plans before receiving his phone call about patrolling. Quickly discounting it on the basis that she would have simply told him to sod off if that had been the case he surmised it must be one of those girl things to cheer herself up, making herself beautiful.

Buffy just nodded and smiled then in military fashion picked up the axe from beside the door and shoved a stake into her waistband. Spike bought her coat down from the rack and slipped it onto her slight frame, running his hands down her sleeves as she buttoned it up. Standing behind her he tilted his head closer to her breathing in the scent that he'd come to associate with her, a mixture of cherries and vanilla.

"Ready." She smiled up at him and there was tiredness in her eyes, he thought she looked as though she needed a quiet night for a change as they walked out into the cold night air.

But a quiet night had not been on the cards for them as they discovered on entering the first cemetery of the evening, immediately running into a couple of scabby looking demons. A jumbled uncoordinated fight ensued and it was more a struggle for survival than the skilled despatching of demons usually associated with the Slayer. In the end it was messy, both managing to kill their demon and both maintaining damage. Buffy collapsed against a cross breathing heavily.

"Well, that was…"

"Fun?" Spike offered whilst giving an offended look to the cross.

"Yeah. Can't wait to see what's next on the menu." She swung her arm about windmill fashion and stepped away from the cross. "I think I knocked something out of place."

Spike smiled as he walked over to her and wiggled her shoulder back into place with a small cracking noise. "Better pet?"

She windmilled her arm again and nodded. "It's those skilled hands of yours." Taking them up in hers she looked at them quizzically, they were bloodied and cut up. Buffy raised her eyes to his as a look of concern washed over her features.

"Nothing to fret over just used my hands to block a few attacks and got a little battered in the process." He smiled at her reassuringly and she let her hands fall to her sides with an air of an embarrassed child.

"Onto the next and I get the feeling we won't be alone, I've seen a few vamps heading in there recently." Buffy swung her axe in the direction of the next cemetery and started walking.

On discovering the nest in a small crypt on the north side of the next cemetery Buffy went in with everything she had. It was more controlled and calculated slaying this time, there were five fledglings in the nest and Spike split them into two groups. He took the smaller group himself to ensure that Buffy got the most slays, she was looking like she had some issues she needed to work out and he preferred that she take it out on the fools rather than him.

When the nest was empty bar them Buffy dusted down her coat and decided that she needed something more, she felt empty and unfulfilled. Her mind was wandering into dangerous territory again as she watched Spike spitting onto the grass after receiving a mouthful of dust.

"Bloody disgusting, hope I don't taste like that." He spat again and then lit up a cigarette, blowing smoke out into the cold air.

"Oh like that will make you taste better, now you'll taste even more like ashes." She stopped as he looked at her, she hoped he would let it pass and that he wouldn't settle on the idea that her thoughts were running along intimate lines.

"You think we'll get to fight a different demon next pet? 3 out of 3." He chose to file her comment and confuse himself over it later, right now they had to patrol and there was no time for mind games.

"3 cemeteries and 3 different demons, I do hope so." She sounded sarcastic and headed off towards the gates.

There was only one demon this time so Spike hopped up onto a tomb and let Buffy take charge. She looked like she needed some release as she rushed head long at it. Spike crouched low then smiled as he watched her, the demon was almost twice her size yet she was giving it hell as she pummelled it with everything she had. Right now she was a precise killing machine but Spike knew that she would soon tire and at that moment she would look to him for the axe he held. Knowing full well that chivalry got him nowhere with Buffy he wasn't going to help unless she asked, interrupting her kill was a sure way to get him sent home and he didn't want to pass another night alone.

She gave him an almost imperceptible nod and Spike launched the axe over to her. Catching it in her hand she swung it hard lopping the demons head clear off, as its body began to fall to the ground Buffy had already spun on her heel and started walking towards where he sat.

She moved deliberately slowly so she could catch her breath; it had been a good fight. Watching Spike as he crouched on the tomb, leather duster fanned out around him and the moon dancing on his skin making him milky white, she thought that he looked like a typical gothic horror vampire. Coming to rest in front of him he turned his attention down at her, cool blue eyes the only colour about him, they always made Buffy feel a warmth inside that she had only recently become comfortable with.

She dropped the axe onto the tomb beside Spike and stood rubbing her hands together, he could see her breaths coming quickly in the cold night air. Smiling at her from his perch he thought she looked so beautiful in the pale blue light of the full moon, skin drained of colour she looked more like the vampire than the Slayer.

"Could've helped." She muttered as she extended her hand to him in a way that said 'onto the next cemetery'.

Spike took her small hand in his and jumped to the floor. Standing up straight then stretching he raised an eyebrow at her.

"What and ruin your little death match, I think not. I've done that before and got bruises to prove it was a bad move." He started the walk to his cemetery knowing it would be quiet tonight since he had already vacated the place of demons earlier this evening.

"I suppose you're right. You always did know how to read me. I probably would have lopped your head off too." She smiled at him; it was a mixture of laughter and pain.

Spike used to be able to read her easily but these days the lines of Buffy were getting increasingly mixed, she had begun to look at him in ways that he didn't have an easy explanation for and thoughts ran through her eyes that he couldn't decipher.

On entering his stomping ground Buffy knew it was going to be the quiet one of the four, he always tidied up before leaving it each evening for her house. This was always the place she could find the peace she was searching for. After skirting the perimeter they headed into the centre of the graveyard coming to stop at a small crypt that always offered a good view of the surroundings.

Spike had vaulted to the flat stone roof before Buffy had even contemplated sitting up there tonight. They often sat up there and talked on quiet evenings it was always a good look out point in case anything showed up, that way the bad guys wouldn't get the better of them. She saw his hand reappear over the edge.

"You joining me or are you going to sit down there all night?" He poked his head out and looked down at her with a mock frown. She took hold of his hand and placed her foot on the low railings helping him haul her up to the roof.

"Joining, see." She moved to sit at edge of the crypt and swung her legs back and forth like a child.

He smiled as he came to rest besides her placing his hands either side of him at the edge of the roof, eyes searching the cemetery.

"Looks quiet tonight."

"It's always quiet here, you make sure of that and don't deny it." She poked his thigh playfully.

"It's not for you, just asserting my authority that's all."

Buffy laughed and lay back on the roof, she loved the way he tried to cover things up by using macho excuses.

"Pretty." She exclaimed waving her hand across the stars as if trying to reach out and touch them.

The sky above them was crystal clear and full of a billion twinkling pin pricks all shining down upon them. Spike lay back to join her, bringing his hands to rest behind his head. The moon was beginning to set and every single star in the Milky Way was out in force, not a cloud touched the heavens as far as the eye could see. He stared for a while, losing himself among all the glory of the universe as it lay there before him, a damned soulless vampire yet he was the only one there who could think of a million words that would do justice to the beauty of the night.

"What you thinking?" Buffy's voice was quiet and distant; she was absorbed in perusing the stars above them, tracing little shapes with her eyes.

Spike turned his head to face her, watching her little mouth open in a sigh. Small hands resting on her abdomen, clasped together with fingers interlocked almost in the form of a prayer. His mind began to wonder if she was thinking about when she was dead; her attention was completely with the heavens and not with the earth. He thought it fitting that she would have been in heaven, she was an angel to him more stunning and glorious than the stars above she would have added to their beauty a million fold. He sighed.

"So fucking beautiful."

It made her giggle that a confessed poet couldn't think of something more romantic to say about the heavens, then she realised he wasn't looking at them but he was looking at her. It struck a chord deep in her, it was a brutal statement clear and free from unnecessary words, it was pure feelings. She turned her head to face him and saw in his eyes no sign of regret at telling her that way, he didn't want to play games with words that were only half meant, he was being honest with her.

"Nah." She smiled warmly at him as her insides felt like she had just leapt into a volcano, body hot and flushed.

Spike smiled at the thought that she could only weakly deny his words to her, he could feel her temperature rise and see her cheeks colour deeply even in the fading light of the moon. So many men had played games with her, saying things they never meant and tricking her into giving. Spike didn't want that, he wanted her to know what he felt and wasn't scared to put it into words that weren't blurred by heart and flowers. She needed someone to be honest with her to help her grow by feeling what people are meant to feel. He knew she hadn't loved Riley, the man had been a fool too busy with noise and half spoken truths to say what he really felt about her. If he had, maybe Spike wouldn't be lying here next to Buffy now, he was thankful the man had been an idiot.

"Spike?" She had returned her gaze to the stars.

"Yes pet."

"Dawn loves sitting on the back porch and whenever I go out there I feel so stupid, she always wants to know what the stars are called and I don't know." Her voice sounded almost apologetic. "I tell her silly names like 'the pig' and 'the W', I'm pretty sure she knows I'm joking, only I would love to be able to tell her their real names."

"I'm presuming you would like to know the names of constellations rather than stars, if it's names of stars you're after I'm not your man, love." His eyes were fixed on the constellation she had obviously christened as 'the W'.

"See, dumb Buffy calling them stars and not constel-thingies."

"Constellations. See the one you've dubbed 'the W'?" He pointed directly to it, just slightly off centre above their heads.

"Yeh, I see it." Buffy shuffled closer so she could follow his finger across the sky, her head coming to rest by his shoulder. She could hear him swallow hard.

"That's Cassiopeia and you see below it there's two long sets of stars that lay almost opposite each other like a giant but slightly bent arrow across the sky?" He pointed out each line of stars, she squinted up the length of his arm and followed his lead.

"Kinda."

"That's Andromeda; the thing I love most about this area is…" He got cut off mid sentence by Buffy's giggle then turned to her and raised his eyebrow. "If I was allowed to continue?"

"Sorry, just you really love looking at the stars. It's all romantic and poetic."

"Okay, no more stars for you if you intend to take the piss out the vampire here." His face was serious and knotted into a frown, Buffy realised she'd overstepped the mark a little.

"Sorry." She held his wrist and made his hand point out the stars of Andromeda again. "Continue."

"It'll knock you off your giggling girl high horse when I tell you." He quickly moved his hand so he had switched positions and was now holding her wrist. "See the bottom right point of the W and how it almost lines up with those two points in Andromeda?"

She was squinting hard face screwed up in concentration but he resisted laughing at her.

"Yeah."

"Well, just along the invisible line we've made between them, south of the bottom right point of the W about a third of the way to the two stars of Andromeda is the Andromeda galaxy. It's visible to the naked eye of humans, like a small fuzzy cloud."

"Wow." She breathed on catching sight of it, utterly amazed she couldn't find words to express how she felt. All the times she had sat out under the stars pointing at the W with Dawn and she'd never realised there was a galaxy there. Dawn would have been impressed if she had told her that.

"It's our closest galaxy you know, several million light years away but still close enough to see with your eyes."

"Spike I really never knew that there was so much more to you than just killing and bad poetry, you're the most soulful person I know and ironically you haven't got one."

It made him smile at her, there were a million things she could have said in reaction to what he showed her and she had said the one thing he hadn't even thought of.

"What's that, mom said it was the Milky Way." She streaked her hand across the sky.

"That's because it is the Milky Way." He realised she had sidled even closer to him he could feel her breath on his neck when she turned to face him.

"What is it?"

"Didn't you go to school?"

"I was busy, apocalypses don't wait you know. Now spill."

"Okay." He took hold of her arm again and pointed her hand along the length of the Milky Way. "That is our glorious side on view of our galaxy. It's a spiral galaxy and we're on the edge of one of its many arms, this is our view across it. If we were nearer the middle the whole sky would be full of dense stars and horribly bright if we could see the centre. Down in Brazil it was denser there are a lot more stars that side of our planet."

Buffy didn't like him talking about Brazil, next thing you know he would be talking about Drusilla. She turned to look at him; his eyes were firmly fixed on their hands. He looked like a pale glowing angel next to her, guiding her in the heavens. His lips parted in an unnecessary act of breathing his eyes looked black in the failing light of the moon on the horizon.

"So gorgeous." The words slipped out unexpectedly in a whisper giving her no time to back peddle so she froze.

Spike turned his head to look at her, his eyes were narrowed as though he was trying to figure out whether she had meant the Milky Way or him. The look in her eyes said it all, panic and fear mixing with a little amount of hope that the moment would pass comfortably.

"Nah." Spike echoed her previous words and looked back at the stars, his insides burning up. Buffy sighed in relief, not so bad after all.

"Where do we hop next captain."

"Anywhere so long as you don't call me what the whelp does."

"Ha, I know that one that's Orion. Mom told me that too." She swung their joined hands triumphantly in its direction. "Bet you can't tell me anything interesting about that one."

"How did I just know you would know which one the hunter was? See him with his arm outstretched ready to loose an arrow?" Moving her hand he traced Orion's arm. "Well, here's something interesting, see the three stars that make up his belt?"

"Uh huh." She nodded.

"Just below those is his sword." He moved her hand down to it and bought his head close to hers so he could make sure he was in the right area. She smelt like cherry lip gloss. "That pink-blue looking one in the middle there. That's the great nebula, very pretty indeed and one of the biggest you can see up there."

"Again with the wow. Really, if you took out the slaying tonight would be perfection. All peaceful and relaxing with the stars."

"And the girl you love." He smiled at her. "I think the slaying adds to the evening personally."

She poked him in the arm and laughed. "For a moment there I thought you were just the hopeless romantic but you're still the vampire I've always known."

They fell silent again and watched the stars spinning overhead. Buffy had returned her hands to her abdomen but had remained with her head by his shoulder. She kept looking at the Andromeda galaxy, afraid she might lose it again if she took her eyes off it. It was silly really, something that far away could have such a profound effect on her but it was like Spike had said to her 'see that - that's a totally different dimension, people are more intelligent than you suppose them to be and the world there is a totally different place free from judgement' she longed for that world. She bit her lip and suddenly felt very alone, she wrapped her arm about Spikes and pulled him closer.

"What's up pet?"

"You know so much about everything, the stars and poetry…" She trailed off.

"It's just a way to pass the night pet, vampire remember - long nights with nothing better to do."

Buffy knew it wasn't wholly true, he had used his time as a vampire to hone his knowledge of stars and poetry but she knew it went back to when he was human. She couldn't push him to admit it came from William and not the demon inside as he would never tell her anything about his time as a person not a vampire. The only thing she could get out of him about William was that he was a prude, a fool and wrote bad poetry.

Buffy knew that he was more in tune with his human side that he would care to admit, she had seen the fragments of poetry down in the crypts basement all torn into shreds as though he hadn't been pleased with them. She knew he kept scores of books on poetry and some classical literature in the chest at the end of his bed.

There were times she wished that he would read her some when she stopped by there after patrol to watch the TV with him, she was certain he knew some off by heart.

"William." She sighed out.

He started at hearing his real name spoken on her lips. "Yes?"

"It's so beautiful up there, makes me feel small and insignificant."

"Don't, you are small but very significant Buffy."

"I want to speak pretty words about it but I don't know any." She sounded ashamed.

He turned to face her, eyes narrowing as he tried to read her face. He took the hint and ran with it. "I'm sure I can think of some that fits the occasion, if you promise not to interrupt."

She smiled at him warmly and nodded, they both returned their concentration to the stars. Spike lay with his hands behind his head, his thought running rapidly as he tried to think of something suitable. One kept coming to mind but he didn't even want to think about what her reaction to it would be. He heaved a deep sigh knowing it was now or never.

When he had been silent for a few minutes Buffy had turned to face him again, she saw him staring into the heavens with a slight pensive look on his face that she knew meant he was thinking. Does he really have that many stored up? She went to open her mouth to speak but he beat her to it.

Buffy watched his face as he enunciated every word to perfection, reciting it at a slow almost cruel speed. She never realised that it would be like this, a feeling in her stirred and she felt she could stay there always listening to his voice. No thought to panic or lashing out to avoid his emotion, he was laying his heart before her on a silver platter and she was moved by it.

Buffy smiled as she let his words wash over her trying to absorb this moment into her memory. She found herself wishing she knew something equally as beautiful that she could say to him but she could only sigh as he turned to face her. The deep blue of his eyes penetrating her green orbs as he brushed her cheek softly with one finger.

His lips closed but broadened into a smile as he felt her small hand come to rest on his and their fingers intertwine. She felt like she couldn't breathe, she never wanted this night to end, but to lay here under the star spun sky forever with him. He looked pensive, as though expecting a reaction in words.

"Wow that's wow." Was all she could offer to him.

He slipped his hand from hers and pressed his finger to her lips gently.

"No need for words pet you always communicate everything with a single look."

She wondered then why he looked so pensive maybe she had conveyed everything she felt in one look and he was confused by it all. She kissed his finger where it rested against her mouth then bought her hand up and took hold of his. She moved closer to him where he lay on his back bringing her head to rest on his chest.

Spike heaved a sigh and smiled, he had recited Byron to her and she hadn't bolted.

"I love you Buffy." He said quietly.

He felt content and not in wanting of an answer, her look had given him that tiny ray of hope that they were moving forward and becoming closer. Suddenly she was tense and holding his hand a little tighter, he wondered if she might bolt but then felt her relax against him. He closed his eyes and just as he thought the night would pass quietly into dawn he heard her softly speak.

"I love you too."


~*~ End ~*~