A big thank you to Petzipellepingo for the beta.


The arguing had now turned into mild 'hmmphs' and under the breath cursing. It had taken Buffy a half hour to get the Slayers-in-training to stop with their incessant cat fighting. The kitchen was now a disaster because of them, and she was exhausted. The girls finally retreated to their respective corners after she had kicked them out, and now she was the only one left to do the clean up.

Wonderful.

It's not like getting fired was bad enough. No, no... Buffy had to come home early only to find Spike and Faith down in the basement, sucking down cigarettes and giving each other looks that screamed, 'come hither'. She had been ready to give both of them, well, more specifically him a piece of her mind when all hell broke loose upstairs.

She surveyed the damage. There were dishes up to here. Boxes of who-knows-what littering the counter tops. The floor was covered in cereal and here she was – the Chosen One, standing in the middle of it all and feeling like the mess in the kitchen only represented the mess that happened to be her life.

Buffy let out a heavy sigh and walked over to the utility closet to grab a broom. She started sweeping up the floor when she felt him approaching. He had not made it completely up the stairs and her spidey senses were already tingling. The door to the basement clicked shut but Buffy tried to ignore it.

'One step at a time', she mumbled to herself, like she had the power to make him leave and come back when she was ready to deal with it.

“Need some help, love?”

'One step at a time', she reminded herself as she looked up to find him leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and a small smile forming on his lips. She so did not want to see him right now.

“No, Spike.”

Straight and to the point. Good. Now maybe he'd get the hint and go away - far, far away.

“It looks like a bloody tornado whipped through here. Buffy, I don't mind...” He started to step forward and that's when she stopped sweeping and looked him dead in the eye.

“I mind. Look, the kitchen isn't that bad. I can handle it. Why don't you just go back to your basement and do whoev... whatever it is you do down there. I've got this covered.” She turned away from him and went back to sweeping the floor, not even offering him a second glance.

Spike stopped at the corner of the island, focusing on her movements and what she'd just said. So, that was her problem. She didn't like seeing him eye up another bird. It's not like she had any right to be ticked off about who he spent his time with. The Slayer had made it quite clear where he stood and now she was acting all high and mighty.

So, why did he now feel even more guilty than he already did?

“I don't know what you thought you saw, Pet, but it's not what you're thinking.”

Without bothering to look back, she grabbed the dustpan and crouched behind the island to scoop up the cereal. “I'm not thinking anything, Spike. What you do and who you do it with is none of my business. So don't keep your new best friend waiting on my account.”

He walked around the island to see her better and there she was on the floor, sitting on her heels and just staring at the full dustpan laying in front of her.

She looked so completely lost.

Her world was crumbling. She had a Big Bad to fight that was worse than any other they had ever faced. An army of Ubervamps and Bringers just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. A vampire ex boy toy that had recently been forced to enjoy an all you can eat human buffet, and a house full of hormonal crazy teenage girls.

No wonder she looked so tired.

He'd once told Buffy that his eyes were clear, that he knew nothing would happen between them but when he looked down at this girl on the floor, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was hope for something. She did ask him to stay in Sunnydale after all but what that meant exactly, he wasn't sure.

At least he'd finally earned her trust back. Of course, now he'd gone and buggered that up by not kicking Faith out of the basement the minute she stepped a foot on the stairs.

It wasn't like Buffy made all that much time for him, and she had given him that big speech about dating others. She had even gone on a date with that wanker the principal. It left him more confused than he already was and even a Slayer whipped vamp could get lonely.

“She took off, don't know where she went and I don't bloody care. For what it's worth, nothing happened... ever.”

Buffy picked up the dustpan and stood up. She was now face to face with Spike and she let herself hold his gaze for a moment before stepping past him. No more mixed signals and no more false hopes for Spike. What they had was over, the book was slammed shut and put back on the shelf. Done. Over.... and why was she so relieved that nothing happened between them?

She walked over to the waste basket and dumped out the contents of the dustpan. Behind her she heard the clanking of dishes and turned to see Spike standing in front of the sink and piling up a rather tall stack of dirty dishes on the counter. Why was he helping? She remembered very specifically telling him that she didn't need it. However, the kitchen was a disaster and a little bit of help didn't necessarily equal a bad thing.

Buffy put the items back into the utility closet and walked over to join him, giving him a quick sideways glance as she stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

He was now rinsing off each dish before placing it into the dishwasher. As he reached in front of her to put another dish inside, she grabbed his hand and halted his movement. Slowly, she pulled the dish out of his grasp while never bothering to let go of his hand. She put the dish inside the washer and then turned back to him. She squeezed his hand just hard enough to make him lift his head and look her in the eyes, and then gave him a small smile.

“Thanks.”

He smiled back, and after a brief moment, she gently let go. He picked up another plate, rinsed it off, and then handed it to her.


Her whole world might have been spiraling out of control, with her trying to protect the girls and attempting to fight a hopeless battle against the First Evil, but none of that mattered right now. She would deal with it all when the time came but for these brief few minutes, letting Spike help her with something as simple as doing the dishes was... good.

They loaded the dishwasher a lot slower than most normally would. It was a quiet, peaceful moment and she didn't think that either one of them wanted it to end too soon.

No one could predict the future, but Spike and her just might be okay after all.


~~~~****~~~~~


Spike had just put the last dish away when Dawn came bursting into the kitchen.

“Buffy, Willow just called from the hospital. The girl's awake”

Buffy tossed the dish towel onto the counter and replied, “I'm on my way.”

She turned back to Spike, “Spike, can you stay here and make sure the girls don't kill each other while I'm gone?”

He nodded and with that, she headed for the door.

She stepped out onto the porch and felt her muscles tighten while every bone in her body screamed that something bad was going to happen. Faith and Willow finding that girl wasn't just a coincidence and she knew it.

As Buffy made her way to the hospital, she thought about what had happened with Spike. For so long she had felt alone in this battle, even with the Scoobies by her side - but now, she knew for certain that she trusted Spike completely. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he would be at her side until the battle was over or one of them went down fighting. All she could do now, was keep on going and hope for the former instead of the latter.

The doors to the Emergency room slid open and Buffy walked inside...

One step at a time



The End