Title: Unexpected
Author: Hils
Email: ImmortalBeloved2000@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: B/S, a bit of B/R
Spoilers: General season 5
SUMMARY- Set some time after Fool For Love. Buffy finds help in a suprising place.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these characters. It all belongs to Joss and co.
Feedback: My first ever fic so YES PLEASE!!!!

Buffy awoke to the smell of bacon frying. She lay in bed for a moment, her eyes closed, savouring the smell. It was comforting, reminding her of home. Her mom always cooked bacon for her. Buffy's eyes snapped open. Mom! She was home early, and Buffy had a vampire sleeping in the house. How was she going to explain it? Buffy leapt out of bed, ran down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen. She stopped and clamped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Spike was humming to himself and flipping the bacon to cook it evenly. Almost as if he sensed Buffy he turned round to see her with a huge grin on her face.

"What?" He asked sounding a little irritated. This wasn't the reaction he'd expected at his attempt to cook her breakfast.

Buffy tried to wipe the smile from her face.

"Nothing!" She exclaimed. "I've just never seen your domesticated side before. In fact, I didn't even know you *could* cook."

Spike turned his attention back to the cooking food.

"Well, there happens to be a cookery programme on just before Passions. I picked up a few things."

Buffy smiled at the new side of Spike she was seeing. It would almost be cute, if he wasn't a vampire.

"You eat bacon? Never struck me as being vamp food."

Spike scowled.

"It's for you. Just something to say...you know...thanks for helping me out and letting me stay here."

Buffy's smile changed from amusement to warmth.

"You don't need to thank me. You saved me and Riley, I think you more than deserve a couple of night's protection."

Spike frowned at the mention of Riley's name, knowing that once he came round she'd no doubt forget the kiss from last night. Still, while he was here at least he could savour the time he had with her. He turned his attention back to the food he was cooking and saw that it was done. Putting it onto a plate he handed it to her. Buffy took a bite and smiled. It was good. Seeing Buffy smile at something he'd done for her gave Spike a warm fuzzy feeling inside. He'd never felt like this before, not even with Dru. Buffy walked into the living room and he followed.

As Buffy sat on the couch Spike wondered where he should sit. He desperately wanted to sit next to her, to be as close as he could. On the other hand she'd made no mention of last night's events so far, chances were that she regretted the whole thing and would push him away if he tried anything now. Of all the tortures in the world, her pushing him away would probably kill him.

Deciding to go halfway he sat on the other end of the couch, making sure there was a reasonable amount of space between them. As he eased himself down he winced as the now all too familiar pain cut through his ribs. This did not go unnoticed by Buffy.

"How are you feeling this morning?" She noticed that the cuts on his face had healed overnight but he was clearly still in pain.

"Still a bit tender," he admitted. "But I'll live."

He smiled at his own words, realising exactly what he'd just said.

"Well, not live exactly. You know what I mean."

Buffy smiled. The fact that he still had his sense of humour was a good indication that he was well on the road to recovery. Her smile faded and a silence fell on the room as they both considered what to say next.

"So," began Buffy after a couple of minutes. "I guess we need to talk."

"I guess so."

"About last night…"

"No, wait." Spike cut in. "There's something I need to say."

Buffy nodded and Spike took an unneeded deep breath, not quite believing what he was about to say.

"I think we should take things slowly."

Buffy's face was expressionless so he continued.

"Last night I told you a few home truths which were clearly a lot closer to home than I'd thought. I don't want you to think I'm saying this because I don't want to be with you, I do….more than anything. The point is I don't want to be the rebound bloke. Things don't work out with soldier boy so you just jump on the next guy who comes along. Plus there's the whole issue of Angel being here. Things must seem pretty mixed up at the moment and I have no desire to have my dead heart broken when you decide to come to your senses. What I'm trying to say is that I want you to wait until you're sure about how you feel before we take this any further."

Buffy stared at him, it was like looking at a stranger. There wasn't even a hint of the cocky, arrogant guy that she was so used to being around. Hearing him talk just made her realise how unbelievably wonderful he was. She smiled and slid across the couch so that she was sat next to him.

"You are so sweet." She whispered before kissing him on the cheek.

"Don't tell anyone," he grinned. "I've got a reputation to protect."

Buffy smiled and glanced down at her watch.

"I'm late!" She yelled, jumping to her feet. "I was meant to meet Angel at Giles' ten minutes ago."

She ran upstairs, threw on some clothes, stuffed a bag with some weapons and then ran back downstairs.

"Listen Spike, take it easy today and come over to Giles' tonight. You fought this guy as well and might be able to help with a strategy."

She leant down and planted a quick kiss on his lips before running out of the front door

Spike sighed and leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes. His lips still burned from her kiss and for the first time in months he felt happy.

Buffy didn't bother with the formality of knocking, instead she just walked into Giles' lounge, panting from the running she'd done between her house and his.

"Sorry I'm late." She gasped. "I slept in."

Giles, Angel and Riley looked up from where they were sitting. Buffy wasn't sure if she was imagining it but there appeared to be the smallest hint of hurt in Angel's eyes. Had he guessed that the reason she was so late was because she was talking to Spike about the possibility of a future relationship?

Buffy sat down.

"Angel what can you tell us?"

"Jealousy." Said Angel, as if that one word explained it all. The others looked puzzled.

"It's his strength." He explained. "But it's also his weakness. Jealousy gives him power, strength but it also clouds his mind, it drives him so crazy that he can't think straight. If we play on this he'll get sloppy and as soon as he makes a mistake, which he will, we strike."

"You have a plan?" Asked Giles who was a little wary of jumping into battle without being fully prepared. It wasn't that he doubted Buffy's ability, but there was no point in taking unnecessary risks.

"It seems to me," said Riley. "That the best way of getting the guy to slip up is by sending Angel here to pay him a visit. You said yourself that the reason he's so crazy is because of what went on with you and Darla. I think seeing you would be more than enough to get him wound up."

Buffy, Giles and Angel stared at him. Finally Buffy spoke.

"You can't be suggesting that we let Angel fight him single-handed."

Riley sighed, he had to say that the thought had crossed his mind, the less danger Buffy was in the better. He knew that she'd never go along with it so he shook his head

"Of course not. What I'm suggesting is that Angel go and ruffle Leon's feathers a bit and we'll be on standby ready to attack when we're needed."

Buffy glanced at Angel and Giles. Riley's plan did make sense, although she wasn't happy with the idea of Angel facing him alone. Their faces expressed the same feelings that she was having.

"Alright, that settles it then." Said Angel "As soon as the sun goes down I'll head out and you guys can follow me. Just stay out of sight until I signal you."

Riley and Buffy nodded. Angel stood up.

"I should get some sleep. Meet me back here just before sundown"

Giles took Angel upstairs to show him to the spare room, leaving Buffy and Riley alone together.

"Buffy, we really need to talk."

She nodded, knowing that she couldn't put it off any longer.

He turned to face her.

"Buffy, I know things are difficult for you at the moment with Angel coming back and everything, but I'm feeling like you're shutting me out of your life. I want to help you but I can't unless you tell me what you're feeling."

Buffy looked at the floor. If she told him what she was feeling at the moment she doubted that he'd like it very much.

"Riley, I'm sorry if you feel like I'm shutting you out but I need time to sort my head out. You're right, things are difficult at the moment. I've got a lot to think about and I just need some space. Please try to understand."

He despertaley wanted to understand, but he couldn't see why she was acting like this. He'd always felt that it helped to talk about problems and not keep them bottled up like she was doing.

"I don't understand...but if you need your space, I can do that. I just want you to know that when you're ready to talk, I'm here for you."

She smiled sadly.

"I know."

Standing up she leant down and kissed Riley on the cheek.

"I'm going to take a leaf out of Angel's book and go to sleep for a couple of hours. I didn't sleep very well last night and I want to be fully charged for tonight. I'll see you later."

Riley watched as Buffy walked out of the door. He hoped she'd open up to him sooner rather than later.

Buffy opened the door, dropped her bag on the floor and sighed loudly. She'd had the perfect chance to tell Riley exactly what was going on but she'd lost her nerve. As she walked into the living room she saw that the tv was on and Spike was fast asleep on the couch where she'd left him. Smiling she turned the tv off and went into the kitchen to make a sandwich.

"You're back early." Said a groggy voice from behind her. Startled Buffy spun around, nearly dropping her plate in the process. Spike stood leaning on the doorframe, clearly having just woken up.

"You scared me!" She half yelled. "Don't sneak up on a person like that."

"Sorry luv. Just came to see how the planning went. Ready to kick some vampire ass?"

All the seriousness of the earlier conversation appeared to have been lost. She decided to go with it.

"I'm always ready to kick vampire ass." She grinned. "You volenteering?"

"You know I would, but I'm not exactly in tip-top shape at the moment. Some other time perhaps."

Buffy sighed "Oh well. I guess I'll have to settle for talking to you instead."

"I can live with that if you can." He smiled and they walked back into the living room together.

They sat down on the couch and Buffy finished eating her sandwich.

"So, how did things go? Have you come up with a plan?"

Buffy nodded and explained what they were going to do.

"That should work." He remarked. "I guess soldier-boy's training came in usefull after all."

Buffy shifted around uncomfortably at the mention of Riley. She'd hoped to avoid the subject until she came up with the courage to tell him that she didn't want to be with him anymore. What made it the most difficult was the fact that he was trying so hard to be the understanding boyfriend, he was trying so hard to be patient with her but it just wasn't enough. Being with Spike just made her realise that she could never be fully happy with Riley. A tear slipped down her cheek as she remembered Riley's kind words to her back at Giles'. How could she bring herself to hurt him? Spike noticed her tears and turned to face her.

"What's wrong?" Concern in his voice. When Buffy said nothing he wrapped an arm around her back and did his best to comfort her. Finally she looked up at him with tear filled eyes before kissing him

"It's Riley." She explained. "He insisted that we have a talk. I wanted so badly to tell him that I want to be with you but I couldn't do it. He was trying so hard to be understanding. I know I'm making it worse but I don't want to hurt him."

"It's a bit late for that." Said a voice from behind them. Buffy jumped to her feet.

"Riley?"




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