Title: Fluffy Crush (Ep 22 of the Fluffy Files)

Author: Hilary

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Everything I have borrowed from Joss.

Author's Notes: From now on I won't be taking the episodes in chronological order. If you want to vote for which episode is done next then go here <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FluffyPolls/join> As always assume the episode has run as normal up until the point I start writing.

Dedications: Well, here we are on the 22nd Fluffy File. Wow, if this was the show it would be the Season finale. Anyway, I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been following the series since the beginning and has given me lots of encouragement and feedback. I can't believe I've been working on the series for a year. I'd like to give a special thanks to the various beta readers I've had over the last year. Kris, Py, Richess, Becca, Isabelle, Shoshanna I love you guys. A special happy birthday to Isabelle and Shoshanna who both get a year older this week ;) So, on with the fic and don't worry, as long as you all keep reading I'll keep writing.

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"Is this a date?" Buffy demanded, still looking at Spike holding the door open for her. She should have known something was up when he didn't want money for helping her. Dawn had been right.

Spike laughed nervously. "A date? Are you insane? I mean why would you think that? I'm evil and you're the Slayer and I hate you and-"

"Save it, Spike." Buffy interrupted. "Dawn told me you have feelings for me. I'm just amazed I didn't figure it out sooner."

Spike snorted. "Nibblet? What does she know? She probably just wishes it was true. I mean anything is better than that wanker who ran off and...."

He trailed off when he saw Buffy staring at him with one eyebrow raised. She wasn't buying it.

He sighed. "Do you really want to hear me say it?"

Buffy paused for a moment, not really sure whether she did or not. But her head was nodding before she could even finish running the thoughts through her head.

"Fine." Spike said softly. "I have feelings for you."

He deliberately avoided using the word 'love'; figuring it would be too much for Buffy to handle in one night. If she didn't stake him right now then maybe he could think about telling her the depths of his feelings at a later point.

He heard her gasp at his words and braced himself, waiting for the words of loathing and disgust to pour from her lips. He really was love's bitch.

Buffy couldn't believe it. Spike actually thought he had feelings for her. This was crazy. They were supposed to hate each other. He couldn't possibly be in love with her. Maybe the chip had fried his brain or something. There had to be some reason for this.

She looked up at him, all set to tell him how crazy this was, how she could never love him. But then she saw him, really saw him. He was looking at her expectantly, a mixture of fear and hope on his face. She didn't think she'd ever seen him look so vulnerable. Maybe it was true; maybe he really did love her.

"Spike..." She began, not really sure what she was going to say.

"Don't." He said in a choked voice that almost broke Buffy's heart. "I know you don't feel anything for me but I don't want to hear you say it. I've had my heart crushed too many times before. Just walk out of that door and I promise I'll never mention this night again. It'll be like it never happened."

Buffy almost felt her heart melt, he really meant it.

"Spike..." She began again. "Do you want to go out tomorrow night?"

She couldn't believe she'd just said that and from the looks of things neither could Spike. He was staring at her with wide eyes and for a moment Buffy thought he was actually going to faint.

"W-what?" He finally managed to whisper.

Oh god. Buffy suddenly thought. He doesn't want to. Now that I'm actually interested I've scared him off.

"It was only an idea."

"I'd love to."

They both spoke at the same time and then laughed nervously.

"I'd love to." Spike said again just in case she changed her mind. "Where?"

"I'll come over to your crypt after patrol and we can decide from there."

Spike nodded, still not really believing this was happening. Any minute now he was going to wake up in his crypt and find out it had all been a dream.

"Ok." Buffy said, reaching for the door. "I'll see you then. Bye."

She disappeared into the night before Spike could see just how flushed her cheeks were.

As the door swung shut a smile spread across Spike's face. He had a date to prepare for

* * *

"Mom, Dawn, I'm home." Buffy called as she wandered into her living room.

"How did it go?" Joyce asked, switching off the television. "Did you find who killed those poor people on that train?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, we found a couple of vamps but they weren't the ones we were looking for. Don't worry, mom. I'll find them."

Joyce smiled, knowing that her daughter would find the killer no matter what. No matter how much she worried about Buffy, she was always proud of what she did and the number of people she saved.

Buffy shifted uncomfortably on her feet. She knew she had to tell them about Spike but was afraid they were going to freak out.

"I have to tell you something. I have a date tomorrow night."

Joyce smiled; knowing how hard Buffy had taken Riley's departure. It was good that she felt ready to start dating again. "That's great, honey. Who is it? Someone I know?"

Buffy laughed nervously, and then coughed when she realised she'd been doing that a lot. "Um...you could say that. It's Spike."

Dawn screeched and jumped to her feet causing Buffy and Joyce to jump. "Are you serious? You're going on a date with Spike? That's so cool."

Buffy was almost knocked to her feet as Dawn threw her arms around her. She seemed more excited about this than anyone.

"What are you going to wear? Can I help you get ready? What did Spike say when you told him? Was he happy?"

"Dawn." Joyce said wearily. "Stop grilling your sister and go and get ready for bed."

"But.." Dawn pouted.

"No arguments." Joyce replied in her motherly tone, which meant she was serious. "You can talk to Buffy again in the morning."

With a sigh Dawn trundled up the stairs, shooting Buffy a look that said she wanted full details later on.

"Buffy, I know you're an adult now but I have to do the motherly thing. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Buffy sighed and flopped down on the couch next to her mom. "I don't know. But that's the point of this date. To see if there could ever be anything between us."

"But a vampire?" Joyce asked with concern. "I mean, I know he can't hurt you, but can you expect to have any sort of normal life with someone like him?"

"I tried a normal life with Riley and he couldn't take it. He hated the fact that I was stronger and more powerful than him. Most normal guys are going to feel that way. But Spike cares about me for who I am and what I am. I know it's a little weird but I just want to give it a try."

She smiled. "Besides, he knows I'd stake him if he ever tried to hurt me or anyone else."

Joyce nodded, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to argue with her daughter on this one. "Just be careful, alright?"

Buffy nodded and kissed her cheek. "I will."

* * *

It was all Spike could do to keep from humming on the way home. Buffy was actually going to give him a chance and they were going to go on a date. He was going to have to try and think of somewhere good to take her....unless she'd already thought of something. He didn't want to crowd her. Damn, he'd forgotten how difficult this whole dating thing was.

As he pushed open the door to his crypt he realised he was going to have to find something to wear. He wanted this date to be good and it wouldn't do if he showed up in his usual black T-shirt and jeans. She'd already seen his green shirt and brown jacket, which meant he was going to have to get something new. He'd have to go shopping as soon as the sun set the next day.

He was about to head downstairs to see exactly what he had in his wardrobe when he stopped. Something felt different.

"My poor Spike." A familiar voice cooed from the shadows. "I'm here to make it all better."

As Drusilla emerged into the light Spike felt as though his whole body had frozen. This was not good.

"Hello Dru." He said as calmly as possible. "What brings you back this way?"

She moved towards him, seeming to almost glide across the floor. "I've been a bad princess. I missed my Spike."

The confusion at seeing her back again was suddenly replaced by anger as he remembered how she had left him. Twice. And now she shows up just when things were becoming good with Buffy.

"Is that right?" He asked, lighting up a cigarette. "Too bad your Spike hasn't missed you, pet."

Dru wasn't fazed by his words; instead she reached up her hand and gently ran her fingers through his hair. "Shh, mustn't tell lies."

Spike jerked his head away. "Listen Dru, if you can't handle the truth then that's fine. But I've moved on. Now piss off and leave me be."

Dru cocked her head to one side and studied him carefully for a moment, almost as though she wasn't sure it was him. "There's someone else."

Spike nodded, unable to stop the smug grin on his face. Let her see what it felt like to be the dumped one for once.

"The Slayer." Dru hissed, and then began to laugh. "I knew it. I knew your heart burned for her even before you did."

Spike shrugged. "Guess you were right. Now are you going to get out or do I have to throw you out."

Dru tutted and shook her head. "It's not nice to talk to your mummy like that. I shall have to punish you."

Before Spike could react he felt arms wrap around his waist and someone began sucking gently on his earlobe.

"Hi, Spikey. I'm home." A voice whispered in his ear followed by a giggle as Harmony began sucking again.

Spike groaned and pulled away. "Is there some sort of convention going on in here that I didn't know about?"

But Harmony was too busy staring at Drusilla. "Who is this?"

Spike sighed. Now he was sure this had to be a dream. It was too weird for it to be real. First Buffy asks him out on a date, then Drusilla shows up and now Harmony was here too. Now all he needed was for Angel to suddenly arrive back in town and the weirdness would be complete.

"Harm, this is Dru. Dru, this is Harm."

Dru looked at Harmony in amusement. "You've been a busy little boy. Is the Slayer not enough for you?"

Harmony snorted. "Buffy? Please, as if Spike would go near her. I'm all the woman he needs so you can take your skanky little goth ass away from my man."

Spike rubbed his hands over his face; he was starting to get a non-chip-induced headache.

"Right, I've had enough. Both of you get out! Dru, piss off back to wherever you came from and don't come near me again. Harm, you're a moron. I've been in love with Buffy for weeks but you were too stupid to notice that I was thinking of her whenever I was with you. Now get out."

Harmony stared at him for a moment. "Well...I was thinking of Antonio Banderas when I was with you, anyway."

She stormed out, leaving a slightly bemused Spike in her wake.

Dru merely smiled at him in a way that left him on edge.

"Goodbye, my Spike." She whispered softly before sliding out of the door.

Once he was alone Spike sagged against his bier. He really needed a drink.

* * *

Dawn couldn't help but smile as the sat on Buffy's bed, surrounded by piles of clothes.

"What about this?" Buffy asked, emerging from her wardrobe with a strappy black top in her hand.

Dawn wrinkled her nose. "Black? Do you want to clash with Spike or something?"

Buffy looked down at the top in her hand and threw it onto the bed. "No black, right."

She disappeared back into the wardrobe and Dawn covered her mouth to stop her laughing out loud. Buffy was actually nervous. About a date with Spike.

"Hey, why don't you just wear sweat pants and a T-shirt. It's not like Spike hasn't seen you all messed up anyway."

Buffy re-appeared from inside the wardrobe, a look for horror on her face. "Dawn this is a date, not a work-out."

Her sister began to laugh and Buffy realised she was teasing her. "Come on, I'm going to be late."

"Sorry." Dawn replied in between giggles. "But I've never seen you act this way about Spike before. It's funny, in a cute kind of way."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Great, I'm so glad I'm a source of entertainment for you."

She sat down on the bed and looked around at the piles of clothes. "I have nothing to wear."

Dawn stood up and pulled Buffy to her feet. "You go shower and I'll pick something for you."

Buffy eyed her sister sceptically.

"I promise it'll be something good. Trust me."

Finally Buffy nodded and picked up her towel, catching one final glance at her sister before she headed into the bathroom.

* * *

Once she was showered and wrapped in her towel Buffy headed back into her room and stopped dead in the doorway. The piles of clothes that had been all over her bed had been put away and only one outfit remained, neatly folded in the centre of the bed. Dawn had even selected the shoes and jewellery to go with it.

As Buffy looked at the outfit she realised that she should have left Dawn to it a lot sooner. It was perfect.

* * *

Dawn jumped up from her seat as she heard Buffy come down the stairs.

"Wow." She breathed.

Buffy was wearing a pair of brown leather pants, and a gold coloured camisole top, which seemed to shimmer whenever she moved and was cut just low enough to show her cleavage without being too revealing. A gold chain hung around her throat and a similar one hung loosely on her wrist. Her feet were clad in a pair of gold coloured sandals.

"Buffy you look lovely." Joyce smiled.

"Wow, I never knew I had such good taste." Dawn smiled.

Buffy smiled in response. "Thanks."

Grabbing her jacket from the rack she kissed her Mom and Dawn and headed out to meet Spike, trying to ignore the fluttering sensation in her stomach.

* * *

It was times like this when Spike cursed not having a reflection. He'd replaced his black T-shirt with a dark blue long sleeved shirt. He'd also managed to find a pair of black jeans that weren't faded in a charcoal-grey colour. Not being able to see himself he just had to hope that he looked all right. Now all he had to do was wait for Buffy to arrive.

As if on cue he heard the door to his crypt open and he quickly climbed the ladder to the upper level.

His face fell.

"Oh, it's you."

Harmony sniffed haughtily and brushed passed him. "I've just come to pick up my stuff."

Spike shrugged and cast a glance at the door, hoping Buffy wouldn't turn up while Harmony was there.

"You know, I hope you'll remember what you could have had with me when you're all alone." Harmony said, appearing with a bag of clothes in her hand.

Spike sighed. "What are you blithering on about now?"

"I mean I just saw your precious Buffy on the other side of town fighting a bunch of demons. They looked like they were about to rip her apart."

Spike felt as though the floor had been pulled out from underneath him. He couldn't lose her now, not when they were just starting to get somewhere.

He turned and ran.

Once he was out of sight Harmony clapped her hands and bounced up and down. "I never knew acting could be so fun. I should have won an Oscar for that."

"Well done, little girl." Dru smiled, coming out from the shadows where she'd been watching Harmony's 'performance'. "Now we can take care of the Slayer, and teach our naughty Spike a lesson."

* * *

Buffy paused outside Spike's crypt and took a deep breath. She still couldn't believe she was doing this. She looked down at what she was wearing and really hoped she wasn't over-dressed, or under-dressed. She really should have decided where they were going to go before this. She had no idea what Spike's version of a date was.

"Only one way to find out." She muttered and pushed open the door to his crypt.

The crypt was in darkness and there didn't seem to be any sign of Spike.

"Spike?" She called, making her way slowly through the darkness so that she didn't walk into anything. "Spike are you here?"

There was no answer.

"I don't believe it!" She exclaimed to herself. "He stood me up! I should have known this was a dumb idea."

She turned and headed back to the doorway. She was almost there when she felt something press into her back.

"Night night." A female voice whispered in her ear, then pain exploded through her whole body before she finally passed out.

Dru zapped Buffy's body a few more times, just to make sure she was out and would stay that way for a while. Harmony walked over and looked down at the unconscious Slayer.

"Why didn't you just kill her?"

Dru smiled and picked Buffy up, handing her to Harmony. She then moved over to Spike's weapons chest and pulled out a selection of knives and other weapons.

"Princess wants to play with the new dolly a while."

* * *

Spike slumped onto a part bench and ran his fingers through his hair. He'd looked everywhere for Buffy but hadn't been able to find here or any evidence of a fight anywhere. None of his sources had heard anything about a group of demons in town and he was running out of ideas. Maybe Harmony had been mistaken.

"Oh bloody hell." He whispered in horror as the reality of the situation hit him. Harmony hadn't been mistaken; she'd wanted him out of the way. And Buffy was on her way to his crypt. Although he knew Harmony would be as effective against Buffy as a puppy, he had a feeling that something bad was going on.

He quickly turned and ran back to his crypt, praying that he wasn't going to be too late.

* * *

It didn't take him long to get back, the fear driving him to run faster than he ever had before.

"Buffy?" He called as he burst into the crypt. "Buffy, are you here?"

The crypt was silent and in darkness. It appeared to be deserted. He was about to head back out to look for her when something made him stop, that same feeling he'd had in his stomach right before Dru had appeared.

"Oh God." He choked, fearing the worst.

He hurried over to the trapdoor that led down to his basement and quickly climbed the ladder. As his feet hit the ground he turned and growled dangerously at the scene that met his eyes. Buffy hung unconscious in a set of manacles with Drusilla standing over her, a knife pressed against the tender skin of her forearm.

"Dru." Spike hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

She turned away from Buffy and smiled cruelly at Spike. "I've come to teach you what is supposed to be done with the Slayer."

Now that Dru had taken the knife away from Buffy Spike snarled and charged at her, tackling his sire to the ground and wrestling the weapon away from her. Dru was strong, but Spike's rage made him stronger. He soon had her in a chokehold and just has he had done the first time they'd fought, when Angel was trying to summon Acathla, he kept his grip tight until she lost consciousness. When he was sure she was no longer a threat he let her body drop to the floor and hurried over to Buffy.

A quick examination let him see that aside from being unconscious she was unhurt. He quickly unlocked the chains and caught her in his arms as she slumped forward.

"Come on, pet." He said gently, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Let's get you out of here."

As he picked her up and prepared to carry her home he felt her begin to stir. A few seconds later her eyes opened and peered up at him sleepily.

"Spike?" She murmured. "What's going on?"

He set her down on her feet, keeping one arm around her until she got her strength back. He gestured towards Dru's prone form.

"Seems like Dru wanted to have a little party that I wasn't invited to."

Buffy shuddered as she saw the knife lying a few feet from Dru. Things could have gone badly if Spike hadn't saved her.

She smiled at him, enjoying the feeling of his arm around her waist and not wanting to tell him that she was fine now and could stand alone. "So much for our date, huh?"

Spike smiled back at her and Buffy felt her heart warm. He had a beautiful smile and she'd never really seen it before.

"Oh, I don't know." Spike replied. "It's still early yet and what's a date without a little-"

He suddenly gasped and his whole body stiffened. Buffy was just about to ask him what was wrong when he pitched forward, an arrow sticking out of his back. She looked up to see Harmony stood behind him, crossbow in hand.

"You know, I shouldn't have listened to Dorcus." She said, reloading her crossbow whilst keeping her eyes locked on Buffy. "I should have just killed you while you were asleep. I never really liked you when we were in High School and I like you even less now. Where do you get off stealing other people's boyfriends?"

Buffy couldn't believe this. Harmony actually wanted to fight her? Over Spike? She moved forward.

"Harmony, first of all I never really liked you in High School either. Second of all we both know I can kick your ass. Now we can either fight and you get staked or you run and I never see you again."

Harmony raised the crossbow uncertainly and then dropped it. "You know, I think I'm going to try LA. I hear they're always looking for actresses. I think I might give it a try."

She turned and ran back out the way she had come.

Buffy moved over to Spike and was relieved to see him sat up and trying without much success to pull the arrow out of his back. She knelt down behind him and gently patted his hands away, taking hold of the arrow with both hands and tugging it out. Spike hissed in pain.

"Welcome to the pain of dating a Slayer." She said with a small smile as she began to check his wound.

Spike chuckled. "Well, dating a bad-ass vampire got you knocked out and chained up so I guess we're about even."

Seeing that the wound wasn't too bad Buffy moved around so that she was sat in front of him. Then she began to laugh. She couldn't help it, this was so ridiculous. They'd tried to go out on a simple date and they'd both almost been killed by two of Spike's ex's.

Spike sat there stunned at Buffy's laughter until he found himself smiling too.

"God, what a pair we are." He grinned which just made Buffy laugh harder.

When she'd finally composed herself she helped Spike to his feet and they noticed Dru was gone.

"I don't think we'll be seeing her again." Spike said.

Buffy nodded and slipped her hand into his. "Now, how about that date? I didn't get all pretty for nothing you know."

Spike smiled; amazed that she was still interested after everything that had happened. God he loved this girl. Dipping his head down he kissed her softly on the lips. Buffy sighed and returned the kiss equally as gently.

When they parted they both smiled shyly before heading up the ladder and outside towards the Bronze.

That was just the beginning.

The End