“Angel. Wait. You can’t go.”

“And why the hell not?”

“Because we need you here. We still have classes to teach.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday. If I leave now, I can go, get Buffy, and be back before classes start Monday.”

Not that he would mind not getting back on time. The days of teaching the young girls about the history of vampires, demons, and, of course, slayers were boring and endless it seemed at times. Often, he wished he could leave the council to pursue work in another area. The only job worse than teaching was working at a law firm. He had learned that first hand. Lawyers could not be trusted, even those who weren’t literally evil. Maybe he could be a doctor. He liked to watch medical shows on TV and did have a lot of experience with mending wounds…and creating them, but no one had to know that. Teaching was something that people who liked to read and write a lot did. People like Spike.

Spike.

“It’s a ten hour flight. You don’t know when the next available flight is and even if you could leave within the hour, you wouldn’t get there until midnight.”

“And who’s to say there will even be a flight to London tomorrow?” Mandy added.

Angel glared at both of them. “So I’m just supposed to sit here while she’s with…him?”

The thought of Buffy being anywhere near Spike made his blood boil. He and the vampire had become…tolerable…of each other in the year before the battle with the Senior Partners, but after it was all said and done they were back at each other’s throats for weeks. The last weeks they had spent anywhere near each other in the last four years. Angel knew Spike had gone back to hating his guts because he hadn’t been the one to get the Shanshu. He had been wrong. They had all been wrong. Spike had neither wanted nor deserved it more than he did. Just because Spike had gotten a soul by himself and beat him to that cup thing meant nothing. And he had the beating heart to prove it. The vamp had nothing on him. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. Buffy had only been sent to him by mistake. Something had gone horribly wrong with the spell. Mandy must have used some other words that she just wasn’t telling him about, or maybe she was confused. Either way, for some reason, he wanted to wring blondie’s neck.

“Buffy will be fine,” Giles told him. “Spike is going to loan her money until she is able to get back.”

“But she wants to come home now. And who knows how long it will take for her passport to get over there. If I go and get her, I can be back in two days.”

Dawn crossed her arms. He was being really stubborn about this and she knew it wasn’t because he was concerned for Buffy getting home as soon as possible. All he really wanted was for Buffy to get away from Spike as soon as possible. Dawn had to admit that the whole thing was slightly humorous. All these years Buffy had spent with Angel, the supposed man of her dreams, and a simple spell to send her into the arms of the man who loved her had sent her to Spike. She knew Spike and her sister had had something between them. She’d known in before they did. Even back when they both hated each other, she would write in her journals about how she thought they secretly had a thing for each other, something that she had never told Buffy. It became even more obvious that last year when they had all lived in their house together. Everyone could see it; even Giles. Hence the him trying to have Spike killed thing. For her own good of course. Dawn had never understood why everyone always thought that they needed to do things for Buffy’s own good. She knew her sister well enough to know that she knew what was good for herself.

The fact that Buffy was now with Spike also worried Dawn a bit because she knew how her sister had felt about the vampire when he’d “died” and how she felt when she found out he was back. She’d wanted to rush out to LA and give him a piece of her mind, but had been strongly advised against it. ‘If he wants to see you, he’ll come here,’ Willow had told her. In truth, the witch had known there was something bad going down in LA and the coven didn’t want Buffy anywhere near it. They knew with the two vampires involved that she would never be able to make the appropriate decisions on who needed to be sacrificed, if that became necessary. This was something else the slayer had not been informed of. ‘Why complicate things again,’ they had said to her. ‘You know you can never be with either one of them forever, so why tempt yourself.’

So she hadn’t gone and he hadn’t come to find her. Dawn had actually considered calling him herself once or twice just to ask him what his problem was. Didn’t he think they wanted to see him again? Wouldn’t he have known they would be happy? But she hadn’t done that either, and when Angel had shown up on their doorstep, all human and stuff, she figured calling Spike would be pointless. It was clear that Buffy had gotten what she wanted and Dawn was all ready to back her in whatever she chose to do; which had been to get engaged. So she’d been planning the wedding, though in all honesty, she would rather have been making plans with a different, more British-type man. She had always liked Spike the most of any of Buffy’s guy friends and companions, other than Xander, whom she had had a brief crush on for…okay well years. But if this was what Buffy wanted, then she would do her best to get make her wedding the perfect day. The only problem was that sometimes she wondered if this was truly what the slayer wanted. She seemed to be excited, but it was almost put on; like she felt like she had an obligation to be happy.

And not to mention that she’d spent months after Sunnydale moping around. Of course she claimed that she wasn’t moping, but everyone knew she was. She had really expected Spike, of all people, to make it through the battle. And Dawn suspected she had looked more into her future with the vampire than she’d let on. She’d wanted to be with him, but had not gotten the chance. And she hadn’t seen him since that day in the hellmouth, since she’d told him she loved him. Dawn had never asked her if her words were true, but in all honesty she didn’t have to. She knew they were. Which was why she was a little anxious now. She wished she could talk to her sister and hear the tone in her voice. Did she really want to come home, or did she secretly want to stay longer. And if she did want the latter, what was Dawn supposed to do? Support her and make excuses to hold off on sending the passport, or demand she come home and get ready for her wedding? Was it the maid of honor’s job to ensure the wedding went without a hitch, or help the bride make a run for it if she wanted to?

She decided the best course of action was to talk to Buffy. Somehow, someway, she would talk to her sister. But right now, the right thing seemed to be this: keep Angel from leaving.

“What exactly do you think she’s gonna do?” Dawn asked him. “I mean, you’re supposed to marry her in a week. You really think she’s gonna get swept off her feet in a few days?”

“And, if you’re right, and you are the one, then you have nothing to worry about,” Mandy said.

Angel sighed. Maybe they were right. He had responsibilities here and Buffy had said that she was okay. He had nothing to worry about. She would never consider having anything with the vampire again.

Would she?
-------------------------

“This will be your room,” Spike said, waving his hand around.

“It’s cozy,” Buffy said, glancing around the small room.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Right.”

If by cozy she meant barely big enough for a bed, nightstand, and small dresser, then yeah, it was cozy.

“You can have the master bedroom if you want,” he offered.

“No, this is fine. I just appreciate you letting me stay here. The lady at the airlines said it would take up to a week for my passport to get here. Maybe longer.”

“Well, like I said, you can stay as long as you need to.”

Something about the way he said the words made her feel a little uneasy. She felt something that resembled guilt. She kept telling herself that there was no reason to feel guilty about this. It was innocent. A friend helping another friend. But were they even friends anymore? They hadn’t seen each other in so long, and yet, in some ways, it felt like it had been only yesterday they’d been living under the same roof in Sunnydale, preparing for their biggest fight yet. Thinking about Sunnydale also brought on thoughts about how close they had gotten in those last few days. She’d depended on him and needed him, and for once in life, she hadn’t been afraid to admit it. And once she’d given in, let him hold her and really love her, it had been so easy, almost like it was always supposed to be that way. Being around him brought back old memories of a longing for something that they both had always wanted.

And those thoughts were exactly what was giving her that guilty feeling now. But it wasn’t like he was trying to put a move on her. She was sleeping in the guest room for goodness sakes. But there was still something, some other feeling, that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Thanks.”

Spike studied her expression, trying to decipher what was going on in that head of hers. It had been a long time, too long, since he’d seen her. She looked the same, more or less. The years had treated her well. And it still amazed him that even after all this time, she still gave him that certain feeling that only she, it seemed, could. Truth be told, he was glad they wouldn’t let her board the plane without a passport. Though he was sure to regret all of this later, he wanted to spend time with her. He’d missed her more than he liked to admit to himself, and only wondered if she had truly missed him, too.

He knew Katie wouldn’t like the idea of a woman staying at his apartment, especially one he used to…well shag. He would have to think of a way to convince her not to overreact, seeing as he’d told Buffy she had nothing to worry about. And it wasn’t that he’d completely lied. Katie wasn’t overly jealous or anything, but she would be far from cool with the idea. One of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place was the way she carried herself. She seemed to have a confidence that so many women lacked these days. When they had first met, she’d acted like she could care less if he ever called her, which was a reason that he had. He had been in Georgia for only a few months when he’d met her at a local diner. Since L.A., Spike had spent a majority of his time picking up women in clubs and bars, never calling anyone for a second date. One evening, after patrolling, he still couldn’t get out of the habit of that, he’d wandered into a diner across town. Katie had been his waitress. She’d seemed very concerned about a cut on his hand, compliments of a very big and ugly demon. She’d insisted on getting the first aid kit and patching him up. He found himself fascinated by the small town girl, and when she’d given him her number and said “call or not, whatever you want,” he had been compelled to get to know her. And she was great, everything a man could want. Well, almost everything.

He tried to stop himself from thinking about the past, but sometimes it crept into his mind. Katie would do something or say something that reminded him of Buffy. And he would mentally slap himself for thinking about his ex. What it was about the slayer that stuck with him, he had no idea. He’d been with Drusilla for a century and she was hardly ever on his mind. But Buffy, the woman who had rejected him time and time again, was always on it constantly.

He would never tell Katie this. He’d never even told her about Buffy. He’d mentioned his rocky past with women, but never named anyone specifically, and Katie hadn’t asked. Perhaps it was because she was working on dealing with the fact he was undead. It wasn’t until their third date she’d discovered he was a vampire. She had been slightly frightened at first, but by the end of the night she was joking about him not eating her when she wasn’t looking. He was surprised when she’d called the next day.

“So…what now?” Buffy asked.

It was still early and she wondered what they were going to do to occupy their time. Were they supposed to talk some more? They had already told each other what they had been doing. At least for the most part. What else was there to talk about?

Spike shrugged.

“You want to watch a movie?” he found himself asking.

The request sounded strange to both of them, but she nodded her head yes anyway.

“Sure, what have you got?”

“Well…” Spike walked over to his TV and opened the cabinet underneath. It was full of DVDs and a few VHS tapes. “We’ve got Rocky, Apocalypse Now, Crank, the Matrix, A Walk to Remember, Speed…”

“A Walk to Remember?” Buffy asked with an amused smile.

“S’not mine.”

“Sure.”

He gave her a smile over his shoulder. The movie really didn’t actually belong to him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it. Though the rough exterior was apparent, he had always been somewhat of a romantic at heart; something even becoming a vampire had not changed about him.

Spike named off a dozen more movies before Buffy announced she wanted to watch Crank.

“I’ve heard of it but I never really knew what it was about.”

He popped the DVD into the player and came to sit beside her on the couch. “Well,” he said, while picking up the remote to press play, “It’s about a guy who has been given some sort of poison and he has to keep his heart rate up or he dies.”

“How does he do that?”

“Lots of ways. Running, fighting, shagging…”

“And he has to do this all the time?”

Spike nodded his head yes.

“That sounds exhausting.”

“Or fun.”

Buffy looked over to find him smirking, a look that gave her another of those unwanted feelings. She quickly looked back at the television.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Start the movie.”

“Sure thing, pet.”
-----------------------

“Well, that was…different.”

Spike chuckled. “I like it.”

“You would.”

“What does that mean?”

She met his eyes, amusement filling her own. “Nothing.”

They held each others gaze for a moment. Spike could hear her heart beat speed up slightly. She was getting nervous and he wondered what she would do. He kept expecting her to look away and change the subject but she didn’t. She didn’t seem to be moving at all. And he didn’t dare move either. They both seemed to realize that if they did something might happen. Something they would later regret.

Buffy opened her mouth to speak when she heard the front door open. Spike looked over her shoulder.

“Hello luv.”

“Hey…” She broke off when she saw the other woman sitting there. “Oh Buffy, you’re still here.”

Spike stood up as Katie came to stand beside him.

“Yeah, I forgot I don’t have a passport,” Buffy said, feeling the need to defend her presence.

“It seems Buffy’s going to be staying with me for a few days,” Spike told his girlfriend.

“Oh.” Katie seemed none to thrilled about the idea and didn’t bother to hide it.

“I can stay somewhere else,” Buffy offered. “I don’t mind.”

“No, you’ll stay here,” Spike said, more to Katie than Buffy. “It’s fine. Right Katie?”

“Right,” she said, putting a smile on her face, though her discomfort was still obvious. “Well, in that case, Buffy, I hope you don’t mind, but we’re having steak. I only got two but you can have Spike’s.”

“Hey.”

“I don’t wanna intrude on your dinner.”

“It’s okay,” Katie said. “Besides, he drinks blood anyway.”

Buffy found it strange that she seemed so okay with her boyfriend being a vampire. She wondered how they had met and what it was that had drawn them together. Not that it was any of her business.

“I’ll just get those started,” Katie continued.

“Let me,” Spike said.

“You’re gonna cook for us even though we’re not letting you have any?” she asked with a hint of a smile.

“I think you will.” Spike gave her a quick kiss before retreating to the kitchen.

Katie stood there a moment before walking over to the couch. She sat down and looked at the other woman. “So Buffy, tell me about yourself.”

Buffy wondered what she should say in response. “Umm…I’m getting married,” she decided on. It was something she would normally tell someone, but for some reason it felt almost like she was reminding herself of that very fact.

“Oh really?” Katie seemed to perk up at this. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“Who’s the lucky guy?”

“His name is Angel.”

“How did you two meet?” Katie asked.

“Well…”

Spike made a face as Buffy explained how they’d met in Sunnydale and how it hadn’t worked out at the time, but that they’d been together for several years now and blah blah blah. She left out some of the more tragic aspects of it all, but the conversation lasted a good twenty minutes. Katie wanted to know everything there was to know about the wedding, whereas Spike preferred not to know anything.

He tuned them out as he worked on their dinner. Hearing about how excited she was about marrying tall, dark and forehead wasn’t something he really wanted to do. In fact, in bothered him quite a bit. But he would just have to get over that now wouldn’t he? In a few days she would be Mrs. Tall, dark and forehead and they would begin their happily ever after. If Buffy didn’t change her mind. He was still convinced that they would never make it in the long run. Not with the life they were leading now. But you couldn’t tell the slayer that. Oh no. Saying anything bad about Angel would set her off. Bloody bastard.

“And he’s a vampire, too?” Katie asked.

Buffy shook her head. “No, not anymore. There was this prophecy.” She glanced at Spike out of the corner of her eye. “That one vampire with a soul would become human.”

“And it just happened to be the love of your life.”

Buffy saw Spike flinch slightly, though he was refusing to look at her. But Buffy wasn’t the only one who noticed. Katie had seen her boyfriend’s reaction to the comment.

“Yeah,” Buffy replied, though she couldn’t bring a smile to her own face.

Katie sat back on the couch, bringing her legs up and crossing them in front of her. “Guess we’re all pretty lucky.”

Buffy couldn’t find it in herself to respond and Katie looked back to her boyfriend, suspicion rising.

“Anyway…wedding plans aside, what else do you do?”

“I uhhh…” Buffy tried to think of a good way to explain her job.

“I’m sorry. I’m being like really nosey.”

“No, it’s fine. I teach girls…karate and self defense. Stuff like that.”

“That’s great. Remind me not to piss you off.”

Buffy attempted a laugh. She hadn’t prepared herself for all of the questions, and didn’t know how much to actually tell the girl. Katie knew about vampires, yes, but did she know about slayers and watchers? Her guess was probably no and it was probably better that way.

“Foods ready,” Spike called from the kitchen.

Buffy felt an internal sigh of relief. She wasn’t really looking forward to eating dinner with Spike and his girlfriend, but at least he would be there to help carry on conversation that would hopefully not be about her.

Both women stood and headed to the kitchen. Buffy sat down at the table in a chair Spike pulled out for her. He had placed all of the food on the table and walked into the living room to get his mug off of the coffee table. Katie came up behind him and put a hand on his back.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked as quietly as she could.

“Yes luv. I’m helping a friend.”

“And that’s all she is, a friend?”

Spike glanced at the slayer, who was currently sitting awkwardly at the table. Six years has passed. Six years and he still loved her. He still wanted her, and he could not lie to himself. But could he lie to Katie?

“Yes, just a friend.”
--------------------