Interlude

        Professor Walsh was talking; telling her to do something. Sit on the desk, maybe? Buffy obeyed. Part of her mind registered that this is all very odd and not at all like class. But in the haze of her dreamself, that didn't matter.

        Walsh continued speaking. She motioned Riley to come forward. Buffy hadn't noticed he was there before and smiled. She liked Riley. He returned her smile with that big goofy grin of his. Buffy decided she didn't care what was going on; this was nice.

        Riley started saying something about the sun going down. Then he began to kiss her.

        The kiss was very nice. It reminded her of a long ago time of playing at love; not really there yet but wishing for the day. When you kissed the boy because he was sweet and thought you were pretty, not because he was the One.

        The kiss changed. It was harder now, forceful and passionate. Arms snaked out to pull her close. An overwhelming need filled Buffy, to touch and be touched. She slid off the desk and fully entered his embrace, responding to the kiss. No more youthful wishing. This was it. The One.

        She opened her eyes.

        Spike stared back at her, one hand tenderly stroking her cheek. She leaned into the palm of his hand, enjoying the gentle gesture. An almost inaudible whisper in the back of her mind wondered where Riley had gone. But her dream self ignored it. Instead, she brought her own hand up to his face. For a few moments, they stood there, caressing each other.

        She heard singing off in the distance. Buffy turned around, seeking the singer. As she looked, she sensed Spike behind her. He let her go ahead, but remained protectively by her shoulder.

        They walked down a long hall. At the end, there stood a young girl holding a music box. It was she who was singing.

"Can't even shout, can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by..."

***

        Buffy jerked awake to the sound of Professor Walsh's voice. The real one, not the dream one.

        "Man that was an exciting class, huh?" Willow started teasing her best friend. "And the last twenty minutes was a revelation that just laid out everything we need to know for the final. I'd hate to have missed that."

        Buffy just laughed and sent up a prayer that Willow was joking. And if she wasn't, that she'd be a super-bestest friend and share notes.

        They left the class together, only for Willow to take off after Riley made an appearance. He was teasing her about sleeping in class, too.

        "So did I have a guest appearance?" he asked, after she admitted to an intense dream. Obviously, his inner psych major was having a field day. "Maybe even romantically?"

        Buffy smiled awkwardly and gave him a non-answer. What was she going to say? 'Yeah, you showed up and we kissed, but then you were replaced by my husband and we REALLY kissed'. And what was up with Spike appearing in her dreams? That was happening way too often for her liking.

        Dreams of fighting Spike, kissing Spike, making love with Spike...

        "So what are you doing tonight? Buffy? You not awake yet?"

        Focus, Buffy! Potential boyfriend may be asking you about potential date! Stop thinking sexy thoughts about your husband! Um, that came out wrong. Stop thinking about evil vampires! Much better.

        Unfortunately, Riley's suggested plans did not mesh with the life of a Slayer. And so she went on a major guilt trip for lying to him. Which then brought up the guilt for the a) dreaming about Spike, not Riley and b) being married to Spike and still dating. There was big time guiltage going on. Buffy found it very frustrating.

        Buffy went to find Giles. At least some of her dream was Slayerly. If she was lucky, maybe he'd let her kill something.

***

        The silence was unnatural. As Spike walked the streets of Sunnydale, all he heard were ambient sounds. Cars. Footsteps. Wind. Glass breaking. Ooh! That one sounded like fun. Nothing like a catastrophe to bring out one's inner rioter.

        Spike headed in the direction of the breaking glass. He was much disappointed with the scene in front of him. It was just a bunch of kids throwing rocks into shop windows. The little brats didn't even bother to loot the places. Not that he could blame them. Raiding a women's apparel shop wasn't his idea of a good time, either. Bored, Spike turned away to look for something more fun. Maybe a nice fistfight or robbery.

        Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar blonde head. Almost unwillingly, he was drawn towards her. Ever since their marriage he'd been plagued with scarily soft and fuzzy feelings for the Slayer; since the Bronze he'd wanted to act on them.

        She was talking to the git. Okay, so maybe not talking. But they were doing that deep intense stare thing, which was just as bad or worse. He'd seen her do it with Angel before and had found it bloody annoying. Now it didn't just annoy him, it made him angry. The deep stare thing was invariably followed by the emotional embrace - look, there they go!

        Spike sincerely wished, at that moment, for the ability to rip the git's throat out. Because the emotional embrace would be followed by the passionate kiss -

        Over the top of the Riley's shoulder, Buffy's eyes met Spike's. Spike's stare said quite clearly what he was feeling; Buffy's less so.

        Unaware of the ongoing drama, Riley moved to kiss Buffy. She turned her head, his lips hitting her cheek. She gave him an extra hug for luck before slipping out of his embrace.

They parted.

        Riley walked away, wondering why Buffy had just rejected him. Not to mention, what was a girl like her doing out on such a dangerous night?

        Buffy continued patrolling, wondering why she had stopped Riley from kissing her. More importantly, why did it matter that SPIKE didn't want her to kiss Riley?

        Spike trailed after Buffy, as he had done before, wondering why she hadn't kissed the git. And while we're on the subject, why was he still following her?

A/N2: Two scenes that needed writing and had no real connection to the rest of my planned plot. Definition of an interlude, I guess.

Chapter Four

        There had to be a law somewhere banning Slayers from uncomplicated lives. Buffy was convinced this was true. There was no other explanation for this.

        Riley was one of those commando guys.

        Come on! What were the odds that the main demon hunter, the Slayer, would end up dating a member of another demon hunting group, with both parties totally unaware of the other's activities. Normally, she'd say 'snowball's chance in hell'. Huh. This is the Hellmouth, after all.

        Riley was just sitting on Willow's bed, still floored from realizing she knew who he was. Buffy allowed herself a few more minutes of sulking over loss of normal boyfriend. Sulk sulk sulk.

        "So what are you?"

        And now Riley gives his comeback. Buffy stopped sulking.

        "The Slayer."

        "Who?"

        Hey, that's insulting. Demon hunting guy hadn't heard of her? Fledges just out of the grave knew her!

        "Y'now, the Slayer. The Chosen One. She who hangs out in cemeteries a lot." Riley was still lost. "The one girl chosen to fight the demons."

        Riley was now giving her a strange look. "I've heard some stories about her. Myths, mostly. I thought the Slayer was a demon, if she was real."

        "Yup. The Slayer is real. But not a demon," Buffy gave him a big smile, "do I look like a demon to you?"

        "I don't know. First you're this cute college girl I'm dating, and now you're some sort of chosen protector? Were you ever going to tell me?"

        "I wasn't the only one lying, here. You were supposed to be my Joe Normal boyfriend, not some military soldier guy!"

        "My orders said I have to keep my identity secret!"

        "So do mine! Well, when I actually took orders, it did. It's not something you exactly go up and announce to somebody!"

        "So what will this be then? Sorry, we can't date because we do the same thing?"

        Buffy sighed. "I don't know, Riley. You threw me for a loop. Can't we just take a break and figure this out? I like you, I really do. It's just - "

        "Fine. You make up your mind, you know where to find me. And Buffy? Don't tell anyone."

        "I won't if you won't."

        He left. Buffy waited until he was down the hall before she let out a scream of frustration. WHY? Her life was already screwed up enough. This thing about Riley made her mess even messier.

        Buffy stomped over to the mini fridge and pulled out a pint of triple chocolate ice cream. Stabbing her spoon into the tub, she pondered her mixed up life.

        Take Riley, for example. Prior to any commando guy revelations, she'd seen him as this nice, easygoing guy she could date. Maybe not the future love of her life, but someone to go out and have a good time with. A nice, NORMAL boyfriend. Nothing special, just some no pressure, non- slayerly, fun.

        Now he belongs to some military group called the Initiative. What kind of name was the Initiative, anyway, asked the head of the Scooby Gang. Were they good guys? Bad guys? They went after demons, which was good. But the whole capturing and performing experiments part, that wasn't so good.

        Buffy had nothing against going after the forces of darkness. But SHE did it straight on and made a clean kill. No neutering of the vampires for her.

        Speaking of neutered vampires, we now go into the Spike issue. Buffy ate a big spoonful of ice cream to fortify herself. Even he agreed that their marriage was a joke. Then why oh why did he get so possessive? Like last night. Riley was about to kiss her, and Spike just got this LOOK. She didn't know how to describe it - jealous, angry, resentful, protective, loving?

        It was as if Spike wanted to take Riley's place. Maybe that's why she had stopped the kiss, because he cared. Or because she cared. Or they both cared. Or something. And if she did - care - why was she even considering Riley?

        More ice cream required. Unfortunately, the phone interrupted her sulk fest.

        "Hello?"

        Giles' voice greeted her on the other end. "You have to come over, Buffy. It's the end of the world."

        Again?

***

        Bunch of demons wanted to bring about the apocalypse. Didn't they realize that if the world ended, they'd die too? That part always got to Buffy - what made the demon of the week think HE was immune to world endage? Seriously.

        Such were Buffy's thoughts as she entered Porter House. When you were on your fourth or fifth apocalypse, you didn't really do Panic Mode. It was more of a Here-We-Go-Again Mode. Um, where did Willow say to look? Her friend had heard about a murder at Porter, apparently with a funky symbol on his chest. Combined with a bunch of ritualistic hoo-ha that Giles kept track of, this meant pre-apocalyptic signs.

        Her mission was to find out what the funky symbol looked like. Time to practice her oh-so-wonderful interviewing skills.

        " - Whoever killed him must have been a real nut. There were, like, pictures drawn all over him."

        "Did you see it?"

        "Uh-huh. He died in our room. That's just plain freaky. I mean, what if I'd been there?"

        Ah-hah! Witnesses. Buffy bee lined over to talk to the two guys.

        "What happened?"

        "Didn't you hear? Bart got himself offed by some sicko," Bart's roomie told her.

His friend nodded and added, "There was this thing on his chest, y'know?"

Bingo! "What did it look like?"

The two guys stared at her. Getting girls using their newfound notoriety sounded cool, but this one was just plain freaky. Of course, it didn't occur to them that girls interested in the friends of dead guys would be freaky. Bart's roomie demanded, "Why do you care?"

"Yeah, what are you, some kind of creepy chick?"

Buffy gave them her best don't mess with me smile. Normally, she'd be polite about this. But she was having a bad day. "Yes, I'm some kind of creepy chick. What. Did. It. Look like?"

Maybe their recent brush with death had revived some brain cells. Bart's roomie shrugged and sketched something on a piece of paper. As soon as he was done, Buffy snatched it out of his hand and marched back out the door.

"Man, that chick's screwy."

"Yeah, but she's hot."

***

        "Here ya go, Giles. Courtesy of Demony Symbols 'R Us."

        Giles distractedly took the paper from Buffy. She flopped onto the couch, noting how the room had taken on a distinctively Scooby feel. Meaning, bunch of moldy books spread around with donut boxes located at key intervals. Ooh! Donuts. Jelly? Or not. Oh well, maybe after her ice cream binge it was for the best.

        "I keep thinking I've seen that somewhere," Buffy remarked as she examined the donut box, looking for a glazed. Cause those are so light, it's not like you're eating REAL food, right?

        Giles ignored her. He did know that by ignoring her, he was FORCING her to eat this donut? Mmm, donut.

        "Ah HAH!"

        Couldn't he have done that BEFORE she'd eaten the donut?

        "The sacrifice of three. So those are the items. Buffy, you'll have to hurry on it, they most likely have them already."

        "Have what?"

        "Blood of the man, we're certain on that, bones of a child are easily gotten, and the Word of Valios. Last one's a bit shaky, have to check on that. 'When combined with the sacrifice of three, the Hellmouth shall be opened and the end shall begin'."

        "Just tell me what to kill, Giles."

        "Nothing, yet. They can't perform the ritual until midnight. I'd suggest looking for the word of Valios. See if you can get it before they do."

        "And that would be where?"

        "The museum, maybe. The text is rather vague on exactly what the Word of Valios is, precisely. Try looking for a rare book or something with words. And take the others with you. The more searching, the better."

***

        "Would you stop laughing?!"

        Buffy couldn't help herself. Spike. In a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts. This was better than Bozo the Clown.

        "Stop it!"

        Oh, look, he was trying to give her a scary glower. Sorry, Spikey, try again. Maybe when you aren't wearing a clown costume?

        "Buffy, stop laughing at Spike," Willow reproved. "We only brought him 'cause he tried to stake himself."

        "Hey, he can't do that! I was planning on taking all his money in divorce court!" Buffy protested, trying to act serious (not). "I had plans for that old car of his. Big, burning, junkyard plans!"

        "Hey! The De Soto is a classic!" Spike protested, clown suit forgotten. "You're not touching my baby!"

        Xander and Anya just stood there, confused.

        "Um, what's this about divorce court?" Xander asked slowly. "'Cause I thought all that marriage stuff was far, far away."

        "Spike and I are married," Buffy said cheerfully, "Willow didn't break the spell soon enough. Did you know that under California state law I'm entitled to half his stuff? Hey, Spikey, you got anything good?"

        Spike tried his scary glower again. It still wasn't working.

        "It is one of the better laws written," Anya agreed. "Men should pay large sums of money to their former wives. I've been called on to curse many a deadbeat ex-husband. In fact, one time I - "

        "Whoa! Let's get back to the Spike'n'Buffy marriage deal," Xander interrupted. "Apocalypse aside, Buffy, when were you going to mention this?"

        "When I was holding the divorce papers?"

        Xander gave her his hurt puppy look.

        Anya cocked her head and asked in a politely interested voice, "Have you consummated your relationship yet? That means," she helpfully added, "have you had sex?" Xander was always going on about how she should find things in common with his friends. If they could talk about sex, that would be a common ground, wouldn't it?

        Buffy blushed and found her shoes very interesting all of a sudden.

        Spike wished he could blush and started staring at the stars.

        Willow wondered why Buffy was still speaking to her.

        Xander wanted to go to purge bad bad images from his head.

        "So you did have sex!" Anya exclaimed gleefully. "Did he give you many orgasms? In my experience, vampires can be very talented lovers."

        Buffy seriously wished for the ability to gag Anya.

        "So, let's, um, go find that Word of Valios. We have to go, uh, save the world and all that."

        Spike nodded vigorously and marched after her. The more he dealt with Anya, the more his respect for the whelp grew. It was a very unpleasant sensation.

***

        Turns out the Word of Valios wasn't at the museum. It was actually an old talisman stuck in the back of Giles' junk drawer. Oops. Unfortunately, they didn't figure that out until after Giles had been knocked unconscious. Again.

        So while Anya was making sure he didn't die of whatever plagues the knocked unconscious, they were now going to do the stop the apocalypse at the last second method of world saving.

        The Scoobies (and Spike) stood in front of the burned out husk of Sunnydale High, the current location of the Hellmouth. Buffy made a face. She'd hoped to never return here. Not exactly a realistic hope, per se, but still. It's the principle of the thing.

        "Okay, when we get to the library keep a look out for victims they're keeping alive for the sacrifice. Getting them out is the first priority."

        "And what do I do, Slayer?"

        "Don't get in the way?"

        "Buffy!"

        "Sorry, Wills."

        They entered the building. Sure enough, in the tattered remains of the library, were three Vahrall demons chanting their hearts out around a fissure in the floor.

        "I don't see any sacrifice people," Willow whispered, taking in the scene.

        Buffy did her own scan. The room was remarkably bare of hiding places - and of any tied up victims.

        "Giles said the spell required a sacrifice. They have to be somewhere. Keep looking."

        Without a better course of action clear, Buffy did what she did best. She jumped in and tackled one of the demons. The battle was joined.

        Displaying the sort of initiative that stops the apocalypse, Willow took advantage of the distraction and grabbed one demon's bag of bones. Making a face, she threw it to Xander. Xander, already holding a filched bottle of blood, tossed it to Spike.

        While Buffy continued whaling on her demon, two things happened. Xander's managed to grab the blood and decided to take a headlong leap into the hole. Spike got tired of being beat up by his opponent and fought back. When he realized there was no pain, he started attacking the Vahrall with an even greater intensity than Buffy. With a roar, Spike sent it flying into the fissure.

        "Don't! They ARE the sacrifice!" Willow shouted just as he let go.

        Oops. The ground started shaking. Beams, already precarious, began to fall down.

        "Get out of here! The building is collapsing!" Buffy shouted, as she continued battling her demon. The bastard just REFUSED to die. She grunted as it got in a few good hits.

        Spike staggered to his feet, already moving to help her. Before he could reach her side, however, someone else appeared on the scene.

        As the Vahrall prepared to strike Buffy again, he found himself being attacked from behind. Riley stabbed the demon, simultaneously punching its head. With the demon suitably distracted, Buffy was able to administer the necessary snap to break its neck.

        It fell to the ground with a thump. Buffy looked up and smiled at her rescuer, all decked out in his commando gear.

        "Thanks."

        "Anytime."

        Gag! Riley, the git, was one of those soldier boys? She really could pick them, couldn't she? That was one of the wankers who captured him. The reasons for ripping that boy's throat out just grew. Spike could barely restrain the desire to mark his claim. So the boy played at being a warrior. He hoped Buffy could see through that and realize what a loser he was.

        Like now. Riley was trying to explain why he was here. Spike wanted to laugh at the stupidity of his excuses. Paintball? Believable only if they were as stupid as he was. Which Spike most definitely was not. He KNEW that Riley was one of those commando guys.

        What was the Slayer doing with one, anyway? Those idiots would probably want to cut her up and do experiments on her. Bet they have all sorts of issues with the supernatural. Or 'paranormal phenomenon' in wanker-talk, most likely.

        "Don't I know you?"

        And the git dares speak to him. 'Yeah, mate, I'm her husband, so bugger off before I kill you!'

        Buffy was giving him pleading looks. With puppy eyes and pouting lips. Spike behaved. He always was a sucker for pretty girls (unless they were dinner, of course).

        "No, I'm just a friend of Xander's."

        Over Riley's shoulder, Buffy gave him a big smile. Spike tried very hard to ignore the warm feeling that spread through him. He resisted the urge to smile back. Since the git was holding her hand, it was quite easy.

        Note to self. Convince Slayer to dump soldier boy in a lake, ASAP.

***
 

Chapter Five

        "Mr. Harmon, your four o'clock is here."

        Ed looked up upon hearing his secretary's voice. His four o'clock? Ah, yes, Ms. Buffy Summers and her husband William Montgomery. The divorce case.

        Actually, theirs was the most interesting case he'd seen in a long time (but still didn't equal the man who insisted his wife was a succubus). Ms. Summers insisted she and her husband had been drunk and foolishly went along with a friend's suggestion. However, the justice of peace who married them, Danielle Addams, was an old friend of his. According to her, neither one had shown any signs of inebriation or any other kind of substance abuse.

        "The Montgomery couple? I'd never seen two people so in love before. Are you sure you understood Buffy correctly? If those two were on anything, they did the best job hiding it I'd ever seen. Closest thing would be high on love," were her exact words.

        Very different from Buffy's "we were drunk and hate each other" version.

        "Mr. Harmon?" his secretary spoke again, interrupting his train of thought.

        "Send them in, Gracie," Ed ordered.

        Buffy was the first to enter. Though enter was far too mild a word. Stomped or thundered was far more appropriate. Her eyes were narrowed, her face flushed, and she was muttering dire things under her breath.

        Wonderful. His client was ticked off.

        Behind her was the young man Ed assumed was her husband. This one didn't storm in. Instead, he slid in, prowled about a bit like a panther before sitting down next to Buffy. More restrained, certainly, but Ed noted the tell-tale tense expression of a man at the end of his rope.

        This was shaping up to be a swell session.

        "Good afternoon, Ms. Summers. Is this your husband? Mr. William Montgomery?"

        "Yeah, that's me," the man answered. Ed tried not to show his distaste for him. William Montgomery was the very picture of a punk. Peroxided hair, leather coat, and sneering expression. Ed didn't blame Buffy for wanting a divorce. William screamed trouble with a capital T.

        "Now that you're here, Mr. Montgomery, we can start to discuss - "

        "Spike."

        "Excuse me?"

        "Spike. Is my name. William Montgomery's for poofters."

        Ed sincerely hoped 'Spike' wouldn't be like this the entire meeting.

        "Spike, then. We need to discuss Ms. Summers' plans for divorce. Now, I am given to understand that you were both drunk - "

        "So that's what she's saying. What, luv," Spike directed his attention to his wife, "you couldn't fess up to the truth?"

        "That WAS the truth, Spike. Wasn't it?" Buffy gave him the Evil Eye.

        "If you say so. Had to admit, was interested in how you got out of it."

        "Well, Spike, I was obviously not in my right mind. Otherwise, I wouldn't be married to you, now would I?"

        "Weren't saying so that night."

        "That night doesn't count and you know it."

        "Shame, Slayer. Ruining my memories, you are."

        Slayer?

        "I told you not to call me that. And if I had my way, you wouldn't even remember this."

        "So you'd be married to me and then go commit adultery? No, wait, you're already doing that."

        "Don't bring Riley into this."

        Spike opened his mouth to retort. Ed took advantage of that brief lull in the battle; forging ahead with the real purpose for this meeting.

        "It's obvious that you both have issues with this marriage. What I want, Spike, is to start drawing up the paperwork necessary for a divorce. Do you have a lawyer?"

        "Uh, no."

        "Okay, then. I will advise you to get one, young man. While it might make it easier for me otherwise, I don't want the conflict of interest. Now, Ms. Summers, can you tell me what your terms for divorce are."

        Buffy shrugged. "I get one. It's not like Spike has anything I could want, or that there's kids or anything."

        "For preliminary purposes only, Spike, what are your terms?"

        Spike smirked. "I don't want one. Quite happy with the way things are, actually."

        "Hypothetically speaking, what would they be?"

        Spike actually seemed to consider the question. "Don't know. She stop seeing the git, for one thing."

        "Riley is NOT a git!"

        "Really, luv? He's an idiot and you know it. Wonder what Peaches would think of you choosing a loser like that."

        "Wonder what he would think about you being here. Maybe I should give him a call, let him come and down and help me with my problems. I'm sure we could come up with a nice, dusty, solution."

        Was dusty some kind of new slang word? Ed knew he was behind the times, but dusty?

        "Thought you had issues with that one."

        "Way you're acting, I'm kind of not seeing the bad."

        "You actually think I'm going to buckle under and play nice?"

        "So, Ms. Summers has issues with that criteria. If I may suggest a compromise, maybe she stops dating until the divorce is final?" Ed tried to get this meeting back on track.

        "But what am I going to tell Riley? Hey, can't date until I get divorced?"

        "Ms. Summers, this man doesn't know you're married?"

        "What was I going to say, hi, friend cast a spell and I married this bleach head?"

        "Spell?"

        Buffy quickly backpedaled. "Uh, a spell. With words. Words that were suggesting type words. Said while we were drunk. No magic spell casting. Just words. And drunk. Don't forget the drunk part."

        "Great cover-up."

        "Shut up, Spike."

        Ed started fantasizing about the bottle of bourbon in the file cabinet. Deciding it would be unprofessional to start imbibing, he attempted to speak again.

        "Spike, could you tell me your reasons for objecting to a divorce? This will help me understand the situation."

        "It pisses her off. And there are certain...side benefits."

        "In your dreams, bleach for brains."

        "And what lovely dreams they are. You been having any?"

        "Only nightmares."

        "Bet they're very exciting nightmares."

        "Only in the adrenaline flowing, got to escape kind of way."

        "Escape from what? The Big Bad?"

        And the conversation steers in an alarmingly R-rated direction.

        "C'mon, Spike, you've never been the Big Bad."

        "When was the last time you checked?"

        "Haven't seen you up and about doing - "

        "If you wanted to see me up, all you had to do was ask."

        "Pervert."

        Ed felt like he had entered the set of a romantic comedy. The kind his wife dragged him to, where the leads hated each other but were always flirting at the same time. It was interesting that their bickering had transformed into an exchange of innuendoes. Mostly on Spike's part, but Buffy definitely fed the flames.

        "Who are you calling a pervert? I'm not the one macking on the brick wall. When you're a married woman."

        "Riley is a perfectly nice guy, as opposed to some people. And I have not 'macked' on him?"

        "Then what did you call that kiss? You were all touchy feely with him."

        "He pecked me on the cheek. And how many times do I have to say, why the hell do you care?!"

        "You're mine."

        "With an attitude like that, no wonder you lost Drusilla."

        "Leave her out of this. Or maybe I can ask why my grandsire went and dumped you?"

        Ed shook himself from his day dreaming. "Grandsire?"

        "Like grandfather. Because he's, uh, so stodgy and no fun," Spike answered awkwardly.

        Buffy smirked. Look who had to do the quick cover up now. She stuck out her tongue.

        Spike stuck his out and curled it, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Buffy stuck hers back in.

        Ed wondered why he even bothered trying to run this meeting. He decided to give it one last go, then pray Spike's lawyer was a reasonable sort of man.

        "Both of you have some serious issues to work through. I understand that Spike is most sensitive about your relationship with this Riley fellow. Ms. Summers, I suggest you reconsider your position on that. Spike, despite your objections to a divorce, I will be able to help Ms. Summers obtain one. I suggest that you become more accommodating and make this easier. The more difficult this is, the more unpleasant it will be for all parties concerned. With that said, I feel we've accomplished a great deal this meeting and look forward to speaking with your lawyer, Spike. Good day."

        The two left. Finally. Ed reached into his filing cabinet, pulled out the bourbon, and chugged down a good portion. He needed it.

***

        Buffy and Spike marched down an alley, heading to a sewer opening.

        "Why are you following me? You don't have to take the sun-free express."

        "I'm mad at you."

        "Then you should be heading in the other direction."

        "I can't yell at you if I do that."

        "You're loud enough, you could."

        "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"

        "I came, didn't I?"

        "You sat down and made that meeting as hard as possible. Would it kill you to be just a little polite?"

        "I'm already dead, luv."

        "You know what I meant."

        "Speaking of that, would it kill YOU to stop seeing Soldier Boy?"

        "Once again, not your problem."

        "Once again, we're married, of course my problem."

        "Here you go again with the 'mine' thing."

        Spike stopped walking and faced her. "Until you manage to get your sodding paperwork through, You. Are. Mine. You may be in denial, it may have just been Red's spell, but I am NOT going to let you forget that. We got married. Deal."

        "I am dealing. You're the one with issues. We're mortal enemies, Spike. Nothing else."

        "Still makes you mine. Actually, the mortal enemies thing makes you mine before the wedding."

        "What is it with you and being all possessive."

        "Vampire here. It's what we do."

        "Don't remind me. It would be soo easy just to shove a stake right through your heart."

        "Then why don't you, Slayer? Why don't you finish me off? You know you want to."

        "Wanting is different from doing, Spike. And I can't kill you. You're helpless, defenseless, unable to fight back."

        "That's why?" Spike started laughing. "So that's your excuse."

        "What? It's true."

        "It's lame. C'mon, Slayer, I've seen you work. You'll off a vampire when he's down. Only you haven't done that to me. Wonder why that is?"

        "I already told you."

        "You know, I don't think that's why. I think - "

        "You think what? That the reason I haven't staked you is because I have some deep hidden burning attraction to you? Get over yourself."

        "Denial's not just a river in Egypt."

        "Repeat after me. Get. Over. Yourself."

        "Repeat after me. You. Want. Me."

        Buffy looked at him incredulously. "The only delusional one here is you, Spike."

        "Really?"

        "Really really."

        Spike cocked his head to the side. "Care to test that?"

        "What?"

        "Care to test that?" Spike repeated. "Are you ready to prove that you are not in any way, shape, or form attracted to me?"

        A challenge. No way could she back down. Buffy looked him in the eye. "Of course."

        Spike moved quickly before she could change her mind. He swooped in and kissed her. Hard. On the lips.

        Logically, Buffy shouldn't have been too surprised. How else was he going to prove she was attracted to him? But she still gasped in shock (or invitation) and the kiss deepened as he slid his tongue in.

        After a few moments, Buffy started to return it with full force. She pushed back against him eagerly, hands sliding up to caress his back and pull his head closer. He responded by grabbing her by the waist and dragging her against his body.

        Mmm. Dimly, Buffy realized that this wasn't supposed to happen this way. That she was supposed to put up at least a token resistance. She tried to pull away and break off the kiss. Spike merely tightened his grip and started stroking the small of her back. Buffy stopped even pretending to resist.

        Her only thought was to maximize contact and keep kissing Spike. She stood up on her toes, her body sliding along his. Huh. Guess all she did have to do was ask to see him up. Spike's hand slid down to clasp her buttocks and bring her closer. Their movements were growing increasingly heated and needy, reminiscent of that long ago spell. Only this time there was no excuse.

        No excuse. Kissing Spike. Kissing a VAMPIRE!

        Buffy's conscience kicked in. She pulled herself away, almost tripping as she escaped Spike's embrace. He just stood there, arms open to take her back in them, a hungry look on his face as he gasped for unnecessary air.

        Buffy knew she looked no different. Her skin felt hot and tight and sensitive and her lips felt swollen and every inch of her body just wanted to give in and go back into his arms.

        "Buffy - "

        He never called her Buffy. And he never used that voice, either. It was tender and desperate and -

        "Don't," Buffy pleaded, "just don't."

        She turned tail and ran. Spike watched her go. What was going on between them? He was a vampire. Teasing and taunting the Slayer was acceptable, but why did he feel this way? Why?

        Buffy ran through the streets back to her dorm, confused. Riley was supposed to be the new guy in her life. Spike was supposed to be an inconvenience. Then why had she just kissed Spike with more intensity than she'd ever contemplated kissing Riley? Why?

***

 

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