Title: A/S/L
Author: Lady Jesca
Email: jesca10@home.com
Distribution: Just email and ask!
Couple: Willow/Spike
Rating: G
Summary: When they say there are bad people on the Internet, somehow I don't think they meant the Big Bad...
Improv: #18 reckless--false--pallor--spice
Spoilers: Absolutely none
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss, the Internet belongs to Al Gore...I take no credit at all.
Author's Notes: In this world there is no Tara/Willow. Not that I'm against that couple, just that I like this couple better...JJ Also...this is taking place after Spike got the chip, but sometime before he started helping without requiring payment.

Spike grumbled as he heard the lock turn in Giles' bedroom. If he had wanted to kill Giles he'd have done it a while ago. He shook his head and settled down with a mug of blood. He looked at the blue screen of the laptop and waited, like he did every night.

It started out as a way to annoy Giles. Using his computer. He didn't know a whole lot about them, but he was a quick learner. Giles had asked him to help with a case, and Spike didn't do anything for nothing. He hadn't live this long being reckless without learning a thing or two about survival. Nope, this time he required food and entertainment. His entertainment was watching Giles face sour every time he knocked on the door. But he hid that by saying he wanted use of the computer. False pretenses always came in handy. Needing Spike's help is always a bitch, because there is always a payment.

Willow bounced around her room, getting things ready. She liked her environment to be just so when she sat down to her computer. She lit the lavender scented candles that were strewn around the room. She turned out all the lights. The candles cast a glow-y hue around the room, playing with the shadows on the walls. Willow looked around to make sure all was in order. Candles lit, drapes drawn, room in perfect order. She was ready.

She wondered if he'd be on tonight. She didn't know who he was, and she didn't really care for the specifics right now. They were just having fun chatting. She liked that about the computer. The anonymity of it.

She sat down in front of her computer and turned it on, the blue glow of the monitor reflecting off of the pallor of her face. She waited while it connected to the web and went to the familiar chat room. It was a chat room for Sunnydale, and most of the people who were regulars lived here, of course. Willow liked that she could secretly be making friends with the kind of people who wouldn't look twice at her in school. Somehow it gave her satisfaction to think that they might learn the dangers of snobbishness.

When the chat room came up she smiled, he was there.

WW: Hi. I wondered if you'd be here.

BB: Wouldn't miss it.

WW: ::smile:: me neither. I rather enjoy the time we spend chatting.

Spike smiled. She was so sweet and innocent acting. Of course, it was probably just an act. For all he knows, she could be an 80-year-old grandpa with nothing better to do than this. Spike smiled. Time to spice things up.

BB: How do you know I'm not a woman? ::eg::

That was his favorite little abbreviation. E.G. or evil grin for the computer illiterate, thank you very much.

Willow giggled. Should she? Why not?

WW: How do you know I'd care?

Spike nearly laughed out loud. Bisexual. This little chit could be a lot of fun. Too bad he didn't know who she was.

WW: How do you know I'm not a man?

Spike snorted.

BB: How do you know I'd care?

Willow giggled and wrote `bisexual' on the pad beside her. It contained a bunch of little notes about BB. She had thought once or twice about meeting BB. But she was sure it wouldn't be as fun as this. Besides, they'd only been chatting for a few weeks.

BB: You went quiet on me. Did I scare you?

Spike smiled.

WW: No.

BB: What are you thinking?

WW: I'm wondering what you look like.

BB: I thought it was you who refused to give a description. Remember this?

Spike quickly went to his saved messages and copied and pasted the conversation.

BB: a/s/l?

WW: What's that?

BB: It means age/sex/location.

WW: oh.

BB: so?

WW: So what if I want to keep this strictly imaginary.

BB: So I'm you're imaginary friend? ::smirk::

WW: Not exactly, I'd just like to get a mental picture of you from your words.

Willow smiled when the conversation popped up on the screen. He saves them. She wrote that down too.

WW: Yes I remember the conversation. I'm surprise you saved it.

Spike felt blood rush to his face and he smiled at the thought of getting embarrassed over the computer because of some chit he didn't even know.

BB: Yeah well, I'm old and my memory isn't so good anymore.

WW: Lol...somehow I doubt that.

BB: That I'm old?

WW: No, your memory.

BB: I am old.

WW: Grandpa?

BB: grrr

Willow laughed aloud at that.

WW: I love talking with you.

Spike smiled. He really enjoyed talking to this bit of a slip as well. But he was the Big Bad after all. Couldn't just tell her that.

BB: What's not to love.

Willow rolled her eyes.

WW: You're age, according to you.

Spike scowled at the computer screen.

BB: Oh ha-ha.

Willow giggled.

WW: Time for me to go.

BB: Do you have to?

WW: Yes.

BB: Tomorrow?

WW: Always.

Spike felt oddly alone when he flipped the laptop down. He couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Willow snuggled under her covers and closed her eyes. But her thoughts were very much awake. And on him.

WW: Have a nice day today? BB: Slept for a lot of it.

WW: Wow, do you not have a life?

BB: grrr... I have a life. It's a night life.

WW: Ah, fancy yourself a creature of the night?

Spike smiled.

BB: More than you know, baby.

Willow rolled her eyes. It always amused her when people //tried// to be dark and mysterious.

WW: Which probably means you were a writer or something and got teased a lot, so now you act big and bad to hide from who you are. Right?

Spike started at the screen for nearly three minutes before responding. In Internet time, that was an eternity.

WW: I'm sorry. That was probably harsh or bad or just plain not nice and I didn't mean to be that way.

BB: No. You're right.

He took a deep breath. What did he have to lose?

BB: I'm a poet. WAS a poet.

Willow smiled. A poet. A tortured poet who hides from his love of poetry because of the cruelty of men. It fit him. It made the image of him in her head shift a little. Made him more real, and made her want to meet him more.

WW: I'd love to read something of yours.

Spike smiled. It warmed him that anyone would care. He shook his head.

BB: I don't do that anymore, baby.

WW: Please?

BB: I don't have any of it anymore. I destroyed it.

WW: Oh.

Then there was silence. Each were waiting for the other to write, but both were unsure what to say.

BB: So what's your boyfriend think of you spending every night with me?

WW: Don't have one.

BB: Why not?

WW: Haven't met the right guy.

Spike rolled his eyes.

BB: What you mean is you haven't met the guy who gets the job done.

WW: Job? What job?

BB: Oh come now, that innocent routine doesn't work with me.

WW: I don't know what you mean.

BB: Sure you do.

WW: I really don't.

Spike frowned and wondered if she really didn't.

BB: How old are you?

WW: Tsk tsk tsk... I thought we weren't going there.

BB: Well, Miss Innocence. I just want to know if I'm corrupting a minor, could change a few things.

Willow chuckled.

WW: I thought you were big and bad and a rebel.

Spike narrowed his eyes and waited.

WW: 20

Spike smiled.

BB: Well now...that's a different story all together.

WW: How about you?

BB: ::eg:: you wouldn't believe me.

WW: Why, you been lying to me?

BB: No.

WW: Come, on!

BB: So do you want one?

Willow blinked.

WW: One what?

BB: A boyfriend.

Willow's eyes widened.

WW: Why? You offering?

BB: Good God, no!

Spike hit enter before he realized how bad that looked.

WW: ::pout:: Was that a hint?

Spike chuckled.

BB: No. I didn't mean it to look like that. I was just curious if you wanted a boyfriend. Lots of girls on the Internet to get one. Wondered if you were one of them.

WW: Oh. No.

There was a silence. He was afraid he had hurt her feelings, and he didn't really know why he cared. But somehow he did. They had been chatting for a while now and she seemed to be the only person who cared about him at all.

BB: Light on light, dark on dark.
These are not shades but one devoid of one they do not delineate.
Left unaccompanied they are naught.
Only together can they ever mean something.
Only when the sinister compliments the radiance
Can ones profundity be mysterious and the others luminosity be
brilliant.

I am but vulnerable to these follies as well.
If black is in me light must also be else wise my dark would be
translucent.
As I fall prey to one the other lurks to show me the divergence.
Showing the world against my wishes.
But I will show you.
Share with you.
Because it is for you that conceivably I would venture into the
illumination.
Why? Because you care.

Spike didn't know what made him spout this off. But it poured out of him and he hit enter again before he could think about the wisdom of doing so. Spike cursed his quickness.

He waited. He had no idea if the delay in her response was because she was still writing it, staring at the computer in shock, or about to flee. He didn't know how to follow up his own poem, so he waited longer.

WW: That was just...amazing. Did you just write that?

Spike smiled in relief. Amazing.

BB: Yes.

WW: Why did you ever stop writing? That was wonderful!

BB: Pfft. I have better things to do with my time.

WW: Like what?

BB: Like this. What I'm doing now.

WW: Talking to me?

BB: Yeah.

Willow smiled.

WW: Do you want to meet?

She stared at the words. She inwardly cursed her impetuous nature.

Spike let out an unneeded breath. Here goes nothing.

BB: When?

WW: Saturday, three days from now. Maybe coffee and more chat, of the non-computer kind.

BB: Where?

WW: You know the Diner on the corner of Main?

BB: Yeah.

WW: There.

BB: When?

WW: 9 o clock?

BB: 9:30 and I'm there.

Willow smiled. She was starting to wonder if he really wasn't interested.

WW: Deal.

BB: So I guess I'll see you tomorrow online, right?.

WW: Yeah. See you tomorrow.

Willow dropped the brush on her bare foot and cursed aloud. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was a mess. The day had been filled with clumsy little mishaps as her nerves took their toll. She needed to relax. Tonight was the night she'd meet him. She wanted to look her best.

She slipped her clothes off her lithe frame and stepped into the shower. As the water washed away the day's nervousness, she began to think of what she should wear. She didn't want to appear too suggestive, but on the other hand, she didn't want to make it seem there is no chance for something in the future. She smiled a little as she mulled over the problem.

"Christ!" Spike fumed as he tried to make his TV set work. It wouldn't. Unless he wanted to watch the wild world of fuzz, he was TV-less. "Great. Bloody everlasting hell!"

Spike turned the TV off and started to pace in his small domicile. Still daylight. Stuck. He sighed and for the millionth time today, his thoughts turned to his date tonight.

What would she look like? What would she say? Would she notice his lack of heartbeat? Should he have told her? What does he care? Why is he so damn bothered by this? Why is he scared she'll turn away?

He wisely didn't let his mind linger on that last question too much. He had enough to worry about.

Spike looked down at his clothing. All black today. Fitting. He had his tightest pair of black jeans on, tight tucked in black t-shirt, sleeves rolled up a bit. He took off the black nail polish. That was his compromise. But the duster was coming with him, definitely. He knew he looked good. He only worried about looking too informal.

What were they doing tonight? Where were they going? What would they talk about? Would they even know how to talk without the computers? Would she be pretty? Would she like he way he looked?

There he went again. Chalk that up to a million and one times today.

"Willow?" Pause. "Willow? Hey Will!" Buffy waved her hand in front of Willow's face.

Willow's eyes snapped wider than usual and she looked at Buffy, horrified to have been caught daydreaming about him. But Buffy couldn't possibly know she was daydreaming about a guy. She smiled to her best friend.

"So who is he?"

Willow nearly choked. "Who is who? There is no who." Willow busied herself with flipping through the book on ancient magic in front of her.

Buffy chuckled. "Right. So? You gonna give me the juicy details or do I have to ask Xander?"

Willow's eyes widened. It was well known that Xander could get most secrets from Willow by singing "Henry the Eighth" or other such annoying songs.

"Anything but that." Willow smiled.

"Ok then. Who is he?"

"A guy I met on the Internet."

"Ooo! Intrigue! So spill!" Buffy leaned in, interestedly.

"Well...he's really sweet. A poet. And he's funny and charming. He seems to like me. And well, we are meeting tonight." Willow smiled dreamily.

"What's he look like?"

Willow faltered and looked at the book. "I don't actually know."

"Well duh. Describe him how he described himself." Buffy smiled and then stopped. "Wait, you don't even have a description?"

Willow shook her head.

"What's his name?"

Willow sunk down in her chair.

"No name?" Buffy's voice was flat with disbelief. "So let me get this straight. You're going to go on a date tonight with a man you met on the Internet that has given you no description and no name?" Buffy's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Willow? Where is the sensible level-headed friend I know you to be?"

Willow stood up and busied herself by putting the book back. Buffy followed.

"I'm still that girl. It'll be fine, Buffy. You just have to get to know him. He's really sweet."

"Uh-huh. Where are you two meeting, and what time. I'll be there to make sure he doesn't try anything funny."

"NO!" Willow whirled around, wide-eyed and then tried to compose herself. "I mean you don't have to do that. It'll be ok."

Buffy narrowed her eyes in thought. She didn't want anything to happen to Willow, but Willow really didn't seem to want her to go. Besides, Willow was a witch. She could hold her own when necessary.

Buffy sighed. "Alright, but if you come up on the Missing Persons I'll never forgive myself and I'll hunt him down."

Willow smiled. "No worries. It's going to be great."

Willow stood in front of the all-night diner and waited. She wished she had gotten a description of him, or at least knew what he'd be wearing.

She had a little bit of a problem coordinating her own wardrobe this night. Shirts, pants, and skirts of all colors and lengths were strewn all over her room and whole drawers of clothes were dumped on her bed. Finally she came away with a decent ensemble consisting of black jeans that were tight around the hips but loosened up down around her legs. Her top was a dark green knit shirt that contrasted beautifully with her hair and brought out the green in her eyes. She had carefully taken the time to wear some make-up this night, even though she regularly didn't bother with it. Her eyes were lightly outlined in black and her lips had a bit of rose added to them.

Nervously she waited. She carefully looked at the faces of all the men who entered the diner. She checked to see if they looked like they were looking for someone. Again, she wished she had gotten a description of some kind.

Willow turned toward the diner, checking to make sure there wasn't anyone sitting alone, looking toward the door as if they were waiting for her, and then she turned her attention back out to the street. That's when she saw him. Walking up to her so confidently, so sure of himself.

"Bloody hell, pet, what are you doing here?" Spike asked, exasperated. Couldn't he even go out on a date without one of the Scoobies following him?

"Well, I should ask you the same thing!" Willow frowned at him.

"Well for your information, I'm waiting for someone. So I'll just wait over here, and you do you thing there." Spike walked about ten feet from her and waited. He wished he had thought to get the chit's description. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Willow and Spike waited in an uncomfortable silence, each hoping their date would come soon.

Spike glanced over at Willow and lit a cigarette. She looked good. Real good, actually. He didn't think he'd really ever seen her dressed up before. Spike let his eyes roam up and down her lithe body for a moment. He wondered who she was waiting for, and then his eyes widened. He blinked. She was waiting. He was waiting. She was dressed up. WW as in Willow.... something. Or something Willow. Whatever. He softly cursed to himself. How could he be so stupid?

He put the cigarette out and walked over to Willow. Willow glanced at him when she saw him coming closer and she took a step back, suddenly defensive.

"What?"

Spike silently walked right up to her, toe to toe, and his eyes searched her face, for something. Something to make him come clean with his confession. Willow's eyes searched his. She looked confused. But there was no hate there. No contempt. She had never really treated him with hate, no matter what he had done to her in the past.

His hand came out and cupped her little chin in his hand.

"What does WW stand for?"

Willow's eyes widened in shock. Spike? It was Spike? BB...she searched her mind for what it could mean, and then it came to her. Big Bad. Her mouth twitched in a smile. Of all the people she could meet in the chat room, she met Spike, and found she actually liked him.

Her eyes twinkled a little. "Willow Witch." She blushed a little, the blush only bringing out the beauty of her face even more.

Spike leaned his face down to hers, a surreal feeling enveloping him as his eyes closed and he prepared to kiss her. Willow's eyes closed and when his lips touched hers, she felt electricity course through them, setting body parts on fire. She rose up on her tiptoes a little and opened her mouth to him. His tongue very slowly, very hesitantly slipped past his lips and then finally past hers and one of her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer.

They stood there in front of the diner and made that kiss last. When Spike pulled away, he searched her face for any hint of regret, and was glad to find none. He straightened and held his arm out to her and she took it with a smile.

"Shall we?"

Willow smiled and nodded.

Spike led her to the diner door.

"So you're a poet?"


The End.