The next day, Buffy decided to take Spike up on his offer, and headed to the Downtown Sunnydale to Club Wet. The thought of wearing that silly ass hat for the DMP made her cringe. She wasn’t sure if she would get hired for the bouncer position, but she figured it was worth a shot. She was even more surprised when the manager, a Mr. Chris Greene, was expecting her. But when Buffy saw him, she mentally referred to him as “Mr. Big” in her mind. It wasn’t that he looked like Chris Noth or anything, but he was tall, dark, handsome and middle aged. It fit.

“Ah, yes. You must be Ms. Summers. I was hoping you would come in today.”

“You were?” she asked, following him to his office.

“Yes. Spike has told me all about you.” Buffy’s eyes widened slightly in shock, though she wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Oh. And um… what did he say about me?”

“That you knew how to handle… what goes on around here. This club of mine, Ms. Summers, is an investment. I don’t plan on losing my investment to a bunch of rowdy demons. I’ve heard the horror stories about the Bronze. Not sure how they managed to stay in business for so long, although, ownership has changed hands several times. They can’t possibly have the same insurance company.”

“You know about that? The demons, I mean.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t initially privy in what goes on around here. But one night a few months back, I was attacked.”

“By what?”

“A vampire. That’s how I met Spike. He saved my ass. Sorry for the language. Anyway, I told him, whatever he needed… He mostly just asks for a bottle of bourbon or something like that. No skin off my back, really. But the other day, he came in and asked about the position. Said he knew someone who could take care of business. And, since the man saved my life from something that shouldn’t have existed in the first place, I took his word on it. But I would like to see a demonstration of this amazing strength you have, if you don’t mind.”

“Um, yeah. Sure.” Buffy looked around the office, thinking about what she could do. She spied the large, solid oak desk, and an idea suddenly came upon her.

“Okay. Bear with me, cause this is gonna be super awkward,” she said as she crawled underneath it. Mr. Greene watched her with an amused expression on his face that rapidly changed to shock and almost disbelief as the desk rose up, up and further as Buffy stood up to her full height.

“I didn’t think that lifting up just a corner would do, and even if I did, it would knock off all of your papers and stuff,” she said from under the heavy desk. He took in her not so tired demeanor and how she wasn’t out of breath. It was like it took no effort at all for her to achieve such a feat. Then she lowered one of her hands, and held the desk with the support of only one of her arms.

“Is that good enough?”

“Yes. Ok. You’re hired. Definitely.”

*****

“So, this is like a big, big day for you, huh? New job, that pays like twice as much as minimum wage, and a date with Spike… How awesome is that?” Dawn asked from her perch on Buffy’s bed, watching intently as her sister curled her hair.

“Yeah. That job is gonna help us tremendously.”

“Notice how she doesn’t mention the date with Spike…”

“Come on, Dawnie. What do you want me to say?” Buffy asked, looking back at her through the mirror.

“So um, did you guys boink yet?” Buffy whipped her head around, the curlers jerking out of her hand and onto the floor as her expression morphed from slight annoyance to mortification.

“Dawn!” she reprimanded, picking up the curlers off the floor, and coincidentally, not making eye contact with her tactless little sister. God, she could almost give Anya a run for her money…

“Oh come on, Buffy. I’m not stupid ya know.”

“Never said you were stupid. But when you use words like ‘boink,’ it clearly shows how mature you’re not,” Buffy replied before turning back around to finish her hair.

“Did you kiss him at least?” Dawn asked, knowing that she wasn’t going to get a real answer on her last question, but figuring it was safe to assume they did. Maybe. Probably… When will Buffy stop being such a prude and just tell me stuff?

“Yes.”

“When? And give me all the details,” she said eagerly, with a large smile on her face.

“You know, you’re just this side of pervy.” Based on Dawn’s look of utter indignation, she gave in. “Um… after the musical and when Giles left. That’s all,” Buffy lied.

“Did you kiss him first? Or did he kiss you?”

“Gosh, nosey…”

“Come on, Buffy. Tell me,” Dawn pleaded.

“It was mutual, really. Though that second time, I did kiss him first. I’ll admit it.”

“Do you love him?” Buffy was silent for a moment, and busied herself with deciding on which lip stick to put on.

“Buffy?”

“I don’t know Dawn. I… I feel for him.”

“‘Feel for him?’ Queen of vagueness, thy name is Buffy. It’s okay if ya do. He loves you so much.”

“I know,” she replied quietly, deciding to go for a lip gloss instead.

“Do you think you’ll ever be in love with him?”

“Maybe.” She gave a shrug of her shoulders. “Probably,” she amended truthfully, carefully applying eyeliner.

“Well, if and when you do, don’t be afraid of it, K? I want you to happy.” Buffy swallowed deeply, feeling the sting of tears burn at her eyes. Dawn didn’t know how much that simple statement meant to her.

“Thank you Dawn.” Me too she thought to herself.

******

Spike walked up the Summers’ front porch cautiously, willing his hand to loosen up on the bouquet of roses he held. Twelve blood red roses, with one yellow rose in the middle. He hoped that Buffy would get the symbolism behind it. He felt incredibly self conscious, for he had opted to go without his infamous leather coat that night. Instead, he wore a dark blue button down shirt, the silver chain he fancied, black slacks and new boots. He ran his fingers through his curly, platinum blond locks and rang the doorbell with his free hand. He took a deep, unneeded breath as he heard someone turn the lock, and sighed as the door swung open.

“Hi Spike. Come in,” Willow said with a smile and a slight raise of her eyebrows. She ushered him with a silent gesture for him to sit on the couch. He sat down, while she remained standing above him. Bloody hell. Red’s got her “resolve face” on he thought. Willow stood before him, arms crossed, attempting to look casual and impassive. She eyed his bouquet intently for a second. As she took them in, her look began to gradually soften.

“Flowers,” she said softly.

“Uh, yea. Figured she’d like them,” he said, suddenly even more unsure of himself. Willow thought back to nearly a year before when he showed up with flowers, trying to pay his respect to Joyce before being thwarted by Xander. Poor, misguided, slightly jealous Xander she thought.

“She’ll love them. Really.”

“Good,” he replied, about to lay them on the table before placing them back on his lap.

“Yellow is for friendships” she commented offhandedly.

“I know. I put it there cause… Well…” Willow picked up on his unspoken answer.

“Oh, Spike. That’s terribly sweet and romantic.”

“Well, I had hoped it would be.” Willow pursed her lips slightly before walking around the coffee table and sitting beside him.

“I know that you’re not doing all this, being sweet and thoughtful and romantic, what with the special date and the symbolic flowers, just to get in her pants. Cause hey, you’ve clearly already been there.” Spike just arched his scarred brow at her, not sure where the hell she was going with this train of thought.

“But even so Spike, don’t screw this up, okay?”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t mean that in a bad way… It’s just… I think that the two of you could have something really good, ya know? And, and Buffy, after everything she’s been through, even before I foolishly ripped her out of Heaven, she deserves something good in her life. And I think… I have this feeling that you aren’t just someone in passing, and that you’re someone who’ll be devoted to her, and make her happy. You both deserve that.”

“And what makes you so sure that’ll it’ll be me to screw it up?” he asked her seriously. Willow’s face scrunched up for a moment, and then she tilted her head, looking up thoughtfully.

“Well, now that you mention it… Yea, I’ll be sure to have a talk with her too.”

“Good. Thanks, Red.”

“No problem. She should be down soon.” Spike nodded as his gaze involuntarily drifted to the stairs.

“Willow? You do know that she’s going through a financial rough patch, right?”

“Of course I do.”

“So are you doing anything about it?” He turned his gaze back to her.

“Um, huh?”

“Well, you do live here after all. Are you contributing to rent at all?”

“Yes. Of course.” Spike smiled warmly at her.

“Just checking.”

“Good man.”

“I do try.” Just then, Dawn came bounding down the stairs with a huge smile on her face.

“Hey Spike. She’ll be right down. Ooh, spiffy.” She eyed his outfit in appreciation.

“Thanks, Niblet.”

“You should totally dress like that more often. Even though it is kinda weird without the coat,” she said, flopping down beside him. “But I dunno. Maybe Buffy will appreciate the difference.” She continued to eye him critically. Spike could feel his fingers slightly tighten around the flower stems again. He couldn’t seem to will the nervous jitters away. He didn’t fully understand why they were even there to begin with. They’d been out before… But this would be their first official date. It was a big deal, wasn’t? God, how he longed for a cigarette…