“So who is she? A cousin? A lover?”

“Whatever she is, she’s hot!”

“Mm…maybe she’s Faith’s lover!”

“Faith’s and Spike’s…that guy is so cool…Imagine him in bed with them…I bet he-”

“Drop the man-crush, we’ve got to figure out this mystery chick before Enterprise is on.”

“What? We’re not watching that crap!”

“Need I mention T’Pol? Again?”

“Right...and Captain Archer…”

“She kind of looks familiar.” Jonathan squinted at the grainy picture of the Giles front yard. “I’ve seen her somewhere before. Maybe if we had her name…” His face lit up. “Hey! I heard Xander saying that he’d be at the Bronze tonight. I’ll bet she’s there, too! I can go, and-“

“Ease up, Shorty,” Warren ordered, holding up a hand. “That girl’s never going to even look at you, let alone give you her name. I’m going.”

“That’s not fair,” Jonathan grumbled, settling down onto Warren’s chair.

“Get out of my chair,” Warren snapped. “When’s the last time either of you even spoke to a girl? Not counting spells!” he added swiftly when Jonathan opened his mouth. Jonathan shut his mouth.

He turned to Andrew. “I’m the only one here with social skills.” Andrew’s head bobbed up and down eagerly. “Any questions?”

Andrew’s eyes went wide as he calculated the times. “But T’Pol!”

Warren lifted his chin. “This is even more important than T’Pol,” he decided. “I’m going in.”

--

“Hi, Xan!” Buffy said brightly, taking the seat next to him.

He looked pained. “Buffy! You’re...here. Willow’s going to be here soon.”

Buffy winced. So Xander also thinks I’ve got no chance. “Yeah, I know. I thought maybe we could…you know, talk.”

“Talk?” Xander repeated.

Buffy chewed on her lower lip nervously. “You know, work things out, talk things over, come to terms with each other?” She looked expectantly at her old friend. This wasn’t going to be easy, she knew, but the sooner they got it over with, the sooner things would be okay again.

He gave her a look of panicked discomfort. “Look, there’s not really much to talk about. I get why you left, and I don’t blame you for it. Not coming back was a little…”

“Irresponsible?” Buffy offered, remembering some of the terms that people had thrown her way lately. “Hurtful? Cowardly?”

“Kind of, yeah.” That stung. But she deserved it. Xander gave her a pleading look. “But can we just skip the talking stuff?”

“If that’s what you want,” Buffy said, a little relieved. Maybe they’d be able to just…move on from all this. “So, um, how have things been?”

Anya arrived just then, Willow and Tara in tow, and so Xander didn’t respond. Buffy sighed. Now for the hard part. She steeled herself and turned to Willow, Tara’s encouraging smile spurring her forward. “So, Will, how’s it going?”

Willow turned to Xander. “Did you hear? That M’Fashnik attacked Faith again just before we left her place. Somehow, he had her address.”

Xander shuddered. “That’s great. Now the demons make house calls.”

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed. “At this rate, we won’t even need to patrol anymore.”

Xander give her a brief smile. Willow didn’t acknowledge her. “Dawn’s probably going to be here tonight. Apparently, there’s some guy?”

“Darren,” Buffy offered, remembering some overheard conversations.

“And he’s only sleeping with the easy girls.”

Anya snorted. “Typical. All guys think about is sex, sex, sex.”

Xander raised an eyebrow. “Anya, all you think about is sex, sex, sex.”

“That’s not true!” Anya retorted. “I’m fond of money, too! And I think about you…but that’s mostly sex, anyway. Oh!” She brightened. “And the wedding! Now, I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I want your honest opinion.”

Xander groaned. “Sure, lay it on me.”

She scowled at him. “Not you! You’re a man! You don’t understand these things.” She turned to Buffy and the other girls. “I’m stuck between off-white or cream-colored tablecloths. Except I know that some slime demons are coming, so I wanted to make some tables a darker color.”

“How about the ends being in black?” Buffy suggested. “Then it all stays symmetrical and you still don’t-“

“I’ll do a dirt-repelling spell,” Willow cut in. “And go with cream.” She turned to Tara expectantly, and Tara nodded quickly.

“Okay.” Anya’s forehead creased. “But what about the floors? I refuse to slip my way down the aisle because some Chaos Demon has a bad cold!”

Willow waved her hand dismissively. “Not a problem,” she said airily. “I’ll take care of it. Tara will help, too, right?”

Toss her a bone, why don’t you? Buffy thought spitefully, but she forced a smile back onto her face and turned to Willow. “So how does a dirt-repelling spell work? I mean, if you try to wipe your hands off on the tablecloth, does the dirt stay on your hand, or does it get incinerated or something?”

Willow seemed ready to pretend she didn’t exist again, but then Tara smiled. “I-It cleans the area of dirt once every five seconds or so. S-so you could wipe off the dirt, b-but it only stays there for a moment.”

Willow glared at her girlfriend. Xander looked mildly impressed with Tara’s unexpected courage at answering Buffy. Anya grinned and opened her mouth, but Willow beat her to it. “Come on, Tara, let’s dance.” It sounded more like an order than a request, but Willow seized Tara’s hand and Tara left willingly, giving Buffy an apologetic look.

“You two seem friendly,” Anya noted, thankfully a moment too late. “She was barely stuttering. And she always stutters when Willow’s around. And Faith. And sometimes Xander.”

“She’s just shy,” Xander mumbled, watching the two girls on the dance floor with some concern.

Buffy shrugged. “We talked for a while, that’s all.” She wondered why Tara stuttered around Willow. She’d assumed that Willow was just all dark and scary around her, but was she also like that around Tara? Did Willow scare Tara, too? She felt a wave of affection and compassion for the shy witch.

Anya brightened as her eyes lit on a face across the room. “Hey! It’s Meredith! I haven’t gotten an RSVP from her yet!”

Buffy watched worriedly as Anya weaved through the crowd. “She doesn’t mean her, does she?” The girl Anya seemed to be heading for was practically having sex with her dance partner on the dance floor. Or…Buffy squinted at Meredith’s lowered hand and looked away quickly, her cheeks suddenly very red. Not practically. And besides… “I think that she’s a-“

“Vampire,” Xander finished, nodding. “Yeah. She’s one of the harmless ones. Faith lets them hang around here.”

Buffy frowned. “There’s no such thing as a harmless vamp. Well, unless he has a chip in his head,” she amended, thinking of one chipped vampire and flushing a little more.

Xander brightened. “Speaking of which…” He nodded to the pool tables, where Spike was gleefully winning all the earnings of some very annoyed high school boys. “Wanna play?”

“I don’t know,” Buffy said doubtfully, remembering the last time she’d seen Spike and completely humiliated herself. And thrown up on his shoes.

“Come on, it’s fun!” Xander bounded for the tables. “I’ll teach you! Spike’s been training me in the art of kicking pool ass for ages now.”

Buffy followed, eying Spike with trepidation. “So what’s the deal with this Meredith?”

“Oh.” Xander wrinkled his nose. “It’s kind of sick, really, but they have these bite-houses in Sunnydale. People get addicted to the rush or whatever that getting bitten gives them, and they pay for chicks like Meredith to do it again.”

Buffy made a face. “So it’s a vampire whorehouse? And Faith is okay with this?”

“They’re not killing anyone,” Xander protested. “These people want it. And they sometimes give us information. None of the vampires will talk to Spike anymore, which leaves our only source with them people like Meredith.” He grinned. “Anya and Faith don’t let Spike and me go to meet with them, though. As if I’d want a suckjob!”

“Are you hitting on me, Harris?” Spike asked from his position at the pool table. He leered. “As sure I am that you’re still that nummy treat, Faith gets ever so jealous…”

Xander rolled his eyes. “Yes, because you’re still convinced that I want you. Anya was joking about that threesome, Spike.”

Spike’s brow creased. “Everyone wants me. And Anya never jokes.” He turned to give Buffy a genuine smile. “Hello there, Slayer. How’s it going?”

Buffy’s eyes were still darting from Spike to Xander, a little perplexed. And maybe a little turned on.

“He was joking, Buffy,” Xander said hastily. “He has this whole thing with me-“

“Harris is in love with me,” Spike added. “And very deeply in denial. I’m just trying to help.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Buffy had to laugh.

“So where does Anya fit in with all this?”

Spike grinned. “She’s our shared girlfriend in the sitcom.”

“Sitcom.”

“If our lives were a TV show…” Xander put in.

“Ah.” Buffy frowned. “So with all the demons and death and destruction, you think your life would be a sitcom?”

“Funny demons!” Spike objected.

“In Spike’s version, we have some kind of threesome going on. But don’t tell that to Faith.” Xander grinned. “As far as she knows, Spike lives in our apartment building basement and only comes out at night.”

Buffy laughed. “And in the real version?”

“Well, Anya and Xander are both madly in love with me,” Spike said, straight-faced. “They’ve agreed to share me, just as long as they give me a steady supply of blood.”

“Gross, Spike!”

“Oh, no.” Spike curled his tongue over his teeth. “I can make it very…pleasant.”

In response, Buffy felt a frisson shake her core. But outwardly, she just rolled her eyes. “Sure you can.”

“I’m going to get some drinks,” Xander offered. “What do you want, Buffy?”

“Something non-alcoholic for this one,” Spike put in swiftly, smirking at her.

Buffy pouted at him, watching with a thrill as his eyes fixed on her outthrust lower lip. This was dangerous ground. But it felt so good…

“So,” she said once Xander was gone. “Who am I in your sitcom?”

Spike didn’t miss a beat. “You’re new this season. Well, old. You used to be on the show in its early days, and our characters just hated each other.” He laughed softly, wryly. “Then, mine mellowed out, thanks to some machinery in his brain, and he hangs with your old friends. Now, you’re my gorgeous new neighbor, and my character still thinks that you’re the most appealing of them all.” He was very close, Buffy realized, a little dazed. “Makes you wonder what the writers are planning for us.”

“Oh, good!” Anya’s shrill voice jerked Buffy from her stupor. “You’ve taken an interest in Spike, not Xander. Now I can add you to the wedding party!” she beamed.

Buffy jumped away from Spike, flushing. Spike didn’t move an inch, just kept watching her with a predatory kind of smile. “What? No. Nothing happened.”

“Oh, please.” Anya tossed her hair. “The unresolved sexual tension here is even turning me on. Come on, Xander.” She grabbed the drinks out of his hand before he could reach them and set them down on the pool table. “I can tell that Spike’s been making you feel insecure about your sexuality again, so let’s dance and then go have sex.” She pulled him away, Xander casting trapped looks back at Buffy and Spike as they watched him go.

Spike grinned. “He’s gotten much better about it. A few months ago, he would have mauled me for teasing him about his crush on me.”

“He doesn’t have a crush on you,” Buffy sighed in mock exasperation.

“Of course he does. He’s hopelessly in love with me.” Spike nodded sagely. “He’s just having trouble admitting it.”

Buffy laughed shortly.

“Looks like the puppydog’s warmed up to you again,” Spike noted.

“Puppydog?”

Spike gestured vaguely toward the dance floor, where Xander was showing just how much he hadn’t learned to dance over the years since Buffy had last seen him. “Puppy, shaking off the water after a bath.”

Buffy grinned. “I see your point.”

“So you’re all forgiven?” Spike was serious again.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it.” Buffy shrugged. “I guess it’s better than nothing. Although it’s still really awkward when we’re alone.”

Spike nodded understandingly. “And the dark witch is still making trouble?”

Buffy wrapped her arms around herself. “I think she’s just trying to ignore me until I go away. Kind of like how I used to feel about my homework.”

Spike laughed shortly. “And you?”

“Me?”

“How are you doing?” He regarded her with kindness.

She smiled half-heartedly. “I am so sick of being perky.” She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I kind of feel like I have to act happy all the time. Like I have no right to object to anything when it comes to Willow and Xander. Would it be so bad if I just yelled at Willow to stop acting like a ten-year-old already and accept that I’m back for good?”

Spike shook his head. “It’s your job to make amends. But there’s no need to try to ingratiate yourself with them. If you think that that’ll help with Willow…”

“It won’t, will it?” Buffy sighed.

Spike shook his head, a half smile on his face. “I’m sorry, pet.” He handed her the coke Xander had brought for her, stopping midway as he caught sight of something across the dance floor. “I have to go now.”

“Faith,” Buffy said. It wasn’t a question.

“Not exactly.” Spike scowled. “Seems the Little Bit has decided to whore herself out tonight.” He nodded to the dance floor, where Dawn was dressed in something skimpy and revealing and draping herself over an older boy. “I’ve got to go kill her.”

“Have fun!” Buffy tossed after him cheerfully. She watched him go, smiling at the picture he made, facing down the infamous Darren. The poor kid looked like he was going to soil his pants, he was shaking so much. Dawn shouted something at Spike and stormed away.

Spike hurried back to Buffy. “I’ve got to go after her now. Knowing her, she’ll probably pick a fight she can’t win with a demon now.”

Buffy nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll go socialize.” She made a face.

He laid a hand on her arm, his eyes warm and sympathetic. “If you ever need to find me, I live in a crypt in Restfield. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

She managed a smile. “Thanks. Good luck with Dawn.”

“That’s never happened before,” he muttered, speeding up to catch Dawn before she left the Bronze.

Buffy’s arm burned where Spike had touched it. Where was this insane attraction to Spike coming from? Why was it so ridiculously strong? And why did she have no desire to tamp it down?

Her eyes went wistfully to her friends, old and new. Tara was smiling with Willow, and Willow even seemed to be having fun. She was whispering something into Tara’s ear with a mischievous look in her eye, and Tara was giggling shakily at it. Maybe they really are happy, Buffy mused. Anya was dancing with Xander, uncaring of the “puppydog’s” antics. The two couples bumped midway, and suddenly Xander was sweeping Willow into his arms and Anya was playfully bouncing with Tara. Buffy felt unaccountably lonely.

“Hey.” A guy approached her, his hand extended. “I’m Warren.”

Buffy stared at him. He was dark and not very bad-looking, but there was something uncomfortably sleazy about him. “Sorry, I’m really not up to dancing right now,” she said politely.

“How about some pool?” he suggested. “Do you play a lot, uh…sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Buffy,” she supplied. “No, I think I’m just going to go home. But thank you anyway.”

She left before he could say anything more, a vague sense of unease unsettling her.