After fixing Buffy's hair and make up, the four of them entered the crowded ball room. There were easily a hundred people in the room, most all of them members of the Council that Angel found. Classical music played over the stereo system that had been set up for the occasion. Waiters walked around with trays of drinks. Everyone looked very nice and it all seemed very cultured and polite. Buffy was disappointed, a celebration this was not.

Buffy spotted Faith as soon as she walked in. She had on a tight black velvet dress that clung to her every curve and had her practically popping out on top.

Faith looked bored, but when she saw Buffy she gave her a sly grin and a wink, that earned her a glare in return.

"Spike?" Buffy remembered something she heard Faith say upstairs.

He looked at her in answer.


"What did Faith mean when she said 'He said you had it in you.' upstairs?"

His eyes got very wide, both Buffy and Dawn were looking at him with a look that had to be a genetic. He quickly looked around the room for an escape.

"No clue, Luv." He said. "I'm going to go check on my favorite forehead, he’s probably off brooding in a corner. I'll find you in a few."
With that he gave her a quick kiss dashed off quickly with Clem trying to keep up. He risked a glance back at Buffy and knew by the look on her face that he was going to hear it later. He smiled as he turned back around, that was ok.

She loved him.

That fact made anything bearable. Even this stupid party.

As he picked his way deeper into the crowd he began to feel eyes following him as he moved. He looked at all the uptight Council jerks, suddenly noticing that they all seemed to be studying him. Most were subtle about it averting there eyes quickly when he looked at them.

Some were more obvious openly staring at him, curiously. The way a few of them watched him reminded him of the Initiative blokes who would come and study him in his cage. He grimaced at the memory.

He continued to make his way across the floor to Angel, but he paid more attention to the conversations around him.

"...killed two Slayers..."

"...that's the second vampire she's..."

"...the records are unclear; some say Angelus, some say Drusilla..."

"...the four of them were an unholy force..."

"...she trusts them?"

"...shouldn't be allowed..."

"...they both have souls?"

"...had a chip..."

"...couldn't feed..."

"...in love with both of them..."

By the time he reached Angel he wanted to kill something.

"I've been trying to shut it out myself." Angel said knowing that look on Spike's face. He took a long drink out of his glass, before Spike grabbed it from his hand and finished it.

"You would think with all their research on vampires they would remember the sensitive hearing." Spike snapped loudly.

Some of them had the manners to look embarrassed, all of them moved away from the two.

"You always did have a way with people, William." Angel said smiling.

Clem had finally caught up with Spike, Xander and Andrew followed closely behind.

Over the summer Xander and Andrew had become like brothers. They had their mutual love for comic books and all other things nerd-like, but what truly connected them was Anya. Andrew never stopped wondering about the young woman who had essentially died for him. Xander looked out for him because in a way it brought him closer to Anya. It didn't stop Andrew from being annoying, but most everyone was getting better at tolerating him.

"Some of these humans are so rude. One of them actually stopped me and used me as a visual display." Clem complained as he walked up.

"Luckily I was able to step in and rescue him before they started the actual dissection." Xander said proudly.

"Deadboy, Deadboy Jr." He acknowledged Spike and Angel.

Xander was still Xander even with only one eye.
Not only was he the in charge of the upkeep and construction around the school, he was also a counselor for the girls. He had helped more than a few of the more experienced Slayers through their nightmares and fears since their last fight with the First, not to mention helping Buffy on those occasions when, no matter how hard she tried, the pain and regrets came slinking into her mind and she would go to him and cry on his shoulder. He was the only one she confided to about what all had happened between her and Spike. Surprisingly he didn't ever judge her or even scold her for her actions. He would comfort her and tell her it would be alright, and then make her laugh in that way only Xander could.


"Xander when are you going to stop calling me that?" Angel asked tiredly.

"Probably never."

Spike snickered.

Just then Robin walked up. He gave Spike a cold impassive stare.

"Xander have you seen Faith anywhere?"

"No. Have you checked the largest collection of handsome men?" Xander wasn’t sure what the relationship was between Robin and Faith. They both insisted they were only friends, but at the same time, they were very rarely apart.

"She was by the door when we came in. Buffy and Dawn are with her somewhere now." Spike answered Robin.

Robin turned his eyes back on Spike. For a long moment no one said anything brown eyes met blue levelly. Finally Robin looked away first and scanned the crowd for any sign of the two oldest Slayers.

"That won't be good. I know Faith was complaining of boredom when I left her." Robin said.

"You better go find them. Bored Slayers are dangerous Slayers, especially Buffy and Faith." Xander quipped.

Robin glared coldly at Spike before moving on to find Faith.

"I'm going to go too and see where Dawn went." Clem said following Robin.

"I didn‘t realize you and our new principal were so close Spike." Angel‘s tone of voice asked the questions his words didn‘t.

Spike looked uncomfortable.


"I can't believe he and Buffy dated." Andrew said staring after Robin, oblivious to any other conversation going on.

"Oh" Angel said with knowing smirk.

"He doesn't know?" Xander asked Spike.

"I would've thought one of you Scoobies would regale him with that tale while I was gone." Spike said stiffly.

Xander didn't reply to that. Spike sighed.

"Do you remember Nikki?" Spike asked Angel.

"Nikki?"

"The Slayer I killed in New York."

"You know her name?!" Angel's voice was surprised sarcasm.

"She was his mum." Angel was shocked.

"He tried to kill Spike last year. Locked him in a garage filled with crosses and weapons, then used some mind control implanted in Spike from the First to call out his Demon and proceeded to beat on him." Andrew excitedly filled Angel in.

"What?!?! "Angel asked angrily, Spike was his Childe after all and nothing about that sounded fair.

"He and the Watcher teamed up to keep Buffy from knowing and said they were taking me some place 'safe'." Spike added dryly. "I don't blame the bloke for trying or wanting me dead for that matter. I just wasn't about to let him kill me."

"I thought you and Buffy weren't together last year?" Angel asked.

"Huh?" Spike looked at him confused. "We weren't. What brought that up?"

"Why else would Giles have wanted you dead? You had a soul."

Spike didn't answer, his mind was contemplating what Angel had just said.

"Yeah but he was killing things." Andrew broke in unwanted "He broke through a wall to try and kill me. Of course that was because the First made him. That was also before we went on our top secret mission together and became friends."

Angel and Xander looked amused.

"Do you think now that you are back from the dead they'll send us on any more secret missions?" Andrew continued on before anyone else could and change the subject. "It could be like it was before. Do you still have the Hog? The two of us back together like Batman and Robin."

Angel broke out laughing.

Spike smiled slowly.

"Hey Andrew, remember that story you told me on the way back from our mission to make sure I didn't fall asleep?"

"Oh! You mean the one about how I first met Buffy up until the point where we were on your motorcycle."

"That's the one.” God how he wished he could forget it. “I told Angel a bit about it and he's been dying to hear it first hand."

He heard Angel choke behind him.

"Great. I can even tell him what's happened since then." Andrew walked over to Angel and began talking excitedly.

“It started about 9 years ago…”

"I think I'm going to get another drink." Angel said, defeated as he walked to the bar with Andrew following behind barely even pausing in his story for breath.


After watching Spike disappear into the crowd Dawn and Buffy headed over to talk to Faith.

"Hey B, didn't expect to see you again so soon." Faith greeted her as they walked up.

"Yeah, well Dawn wanted to make sure we were present for this bowl full o'fun."

"I know. What's up with this? I thought we were gonna have a party and instead we have a bunch of old dusty people making with the chit chat."

"I blame Giles." Buffy said.

“Who else could turn a happy celebration into this.” Faith agreed with her.

Dawn had been looking around at the guests, not really paying attention to Buffy and Faith, she noticed that many of them seemed to be studying the girls. She thought she heard the word 'key' mentioned more than once.

"Guys," She interrupted Faith and Buffy. "Do either of you notice the stares we are getting?"

Buffy looked around and saw several sets of eyes glance away from hers as she scanned the room.

"Its been like that since I got here. For a while I tried to listen to some of their conversations, but I didn't like what I heard too much. A few have come up and asked me some stuff, trying to be all polite and crap.

They are real interested in us. Some grilled me about being locked up, some wanted the scoop on Wes and Giles, and more than a few asked about ‘The Key’.

But B and her boyfriends, both past and present seems like a favorite topic."

Buffy's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Hey, don't give me the evil look, girlfriend, I put them in their place, but it doesn't seem to have fazed them too much."

"I am not going to spend the night being studied by a bunch of Watchers. There are other things I could be doing right now." Buffy said angrily.

“Like getting to know that blonde hunk of yours?” Faith asked her.

Buffy only gave her a sly grin as response.

"So we're going to ditch the party?" Dawn asked sounding disappointed.

"No." Buffy answered. "Not yet, I have an idea. Faith, go round up the girls and our gang, meet me by the back of the ball room in 5. I'm going to go find Lorne."

Faith grinned. "So I take we are going to have a little back room private party for ourselves?"

"If you'd rather stay here and be a lab rat for Council Curiosity, be my guest."

"What can I do, Buffy?" Dawn asked.

"First, go upstairs and find us some real music, then find Spike and Clem and make sure they know what's going on." She paused a moment. "Actually you better find Spike and Clem first."

"You mean before Spike eats some curious Council member."

"That's the general idea."

Dawn turned to walk away.

"Hey brat, if you see Robin..."

"I'll let him know where you are Faith. Although, he should appear any minute, its been a whole 10 minutes, you two usually aren't apart that long."

Faith glared at her back as she walked away.

"Ok, lets do this." She said to Buffy. The two girls set off on their respective missions.


As Spike watched Angel and Andrew walk away with an evil grin he became aware that he was left alone with Xander. He looked over at him and realized he couldn't be considered a "whelp" anymore. He had grown up in the past 5 years. There was a calm about him now that he didn't have before.

Spike hadn't ever known any humans long enough to watch them change as they aged. A strange discomfort came over him as he looked at the young man before him seeing how much he had aged.

"Harris." He said feeling that Xander had something on his mind.

"We need to talk Spike." Xander said seriously.

In his head Spike groaned. He knew it was going to happen eventually. He had hoped to have a few days before the threats started.

"Look, Harris, I know this diddy. If I hurt Buffy you are going to stake me. You may just do it anyhow on principle. I am an Evil Undead thing." He intoned as if reading from a script.

"Hey! Wow that was pretty good. We trained you well." Spike fought not to growl at him, the boy evidently still hadn't learned any manners.

Xander nodded at Spike's face, but continued anyway. "Actually I was going to say Thank You."

Spike felt his jaw drop and he gaped at Xander.

"I remember that you were the one who pulled Caleb off of me that night in the winery. If it weren't for you I could be completely blind right now or worse. With the whole crazy apocalypse thing I never got to thank you."

"Yeah, well, the only reason I did that was because they Slayer would have been real upset if she lost you.“ Spike told him honestly.

"That's the other thing. I know that you won't ever do anything to hurt her because you love her too much. I trust you with her; I know that you don‘t ever want to do anything that would hurt her." Xander looked away out at the crowded ball room.

Spike didn't think his jaw could drop any farther.

"I mean after the THIRD time you got tortured for her I figured you had to love her. No one could be that twisted." He paused

"Please tell me you're not that twisted, are you?" Xander half-joked uncomfortably, looking back at him.

"As hard as all this is for me to admit," Xander continued after getting no response from Spike. "those stupid faces you keep making make it a lot easier." Spike snapped his mouth shut and clenched his jaw.

"There you are!!" Xander said with a small grin.

"Look, Buffy has been doing great all year, better than great. She has been more alive and happier than I have ever seen her. She got her fire back and she let go of a lot of the pain and guilt she was holding onto. Yet there always seemed to be something missing in her.

A couple of times she woke me up in the middle of the night, knocking on my door with tears running down her face. I would hold her until she calmed down, then we would talk. She finally told me everything that happened between the two of you."

Spike swallowed and waited.

"She told me that when we first brought her back that you were the only one she could stand to be around. She told me how you listened to her and made her feel like she wasn’t some sort of freak. She told me that she treated you horribly and you still loved her and wouldn’t leave no matter how hard she tried to make you hate her. She said without you she probably would have found a way to die in the first 3 months.”

Xander watched Spike as he told him this, he didn’t want to say these things to him, but in all honesty Spike deserved to know.


“She told me, without you, she would never have had the strength or the courage to defeat the First. She said that your love and trust in her made her face what she had to do. You were the only one who believed in her and were there for her after we...uh...we...

"Threw her out on her arse like a bunch of ingrates." Spike finished for him.

"Not quite what I was going for, but ultimately true."

Xander paused, shifted his feet and looked around the room. Spike watched him. Finally Xander fixed his eye on Spike.

"Look, you should know she's been trying to live her life without regrets, she said everything that has happened has made her who she is today and taught her something. The one regret she couldn't let go of was that you died not believing she loved you and the time she wasted because she should have told you before."
Spike turned around quickly and walked over to look out of a window. He was not going to let Harris see him with tears in his eyes. Soul or no soul there had to be line somewhere, he couldn't go completely soft. Thankfully the boy understood that and let him go. He hoped there weren't going to be anymore revelations tonight, he wasn't sure he could take much more of this.

He swore again that he was going to be a stand up man for her. He was going to be as good as gold, the perfect gentleman. This time he wasn't going to muck it all up. He would be perfect... what she deserved no matter what it took.

He got himself back under control and walked back over to Xander. Angel and Andrew had just gotten back and Angel looked miserable. He reminded Spike of one of those animals ready to chew off its own limb to get away.

Gunn approached quickly from behind Xander.

"I don't want to interrupt your male bonding session here guys, but this you must see."

"What's going on?" Xander asked.

"I can't even describe it you just have to see it for yourselves."

They moved to follow him along the wall of the ballroom avoiding the stuffy party guests. In the far corner there was a doorway that led into another room.

Gone was the classical music and stuffy Council members. They were in a large living room that opened up onto a large patio in the back. Off to the right was the poo,l closed off by a glass wall. There were 5 overstuffed sofas in the middle of the room, on the left wall was a fully stocked bar. Loud dance music pounded from behind the bar where Lorne was obviously enjoying his role as DJ and bartender, several young Slayers danced close to him.

"Hey guys. Where have you been?" He called to them over the loud dance music. "You have to go check out the scene on the porch. Pure magic."

They made their way through the crowded room. Everywhere there were young Slayers giggling and talking having fun. Wesley and Fred were with a few of the more progressive Council members talking on the couch.


"Hey. How come everyone else was here having fun while I was stuck with Nerd Boy and the Undead Twins?" Xander complained.

Gunn didn't answer and the others chose to ignore him as they followed Gunn out onto the patio. Spike noticed Robin standing just outside of the doorway staring intently at the large group dancing on the patio.
Andrew quickly ran out and joined Dawn and Clem cutting up and laughing at each other's cheesy disco moves.

A few of the young Slayers with them Spike recognized from before.
Willow and her little girlfriend were moving slowly together unaware of the world around them.

In the middle was a sight that made his knees go weak. Buffy and Faith were wrapped around each other dancing seductively together.

Both girls had their eyes closed lost in the rhythm of the music. Faith was behind Buffy facing her; she had her hands on Buffy's hip guiding her as they moved. Buffy was leaned back into Faith both arms raised, pushing her chest out enticingly. Her hands were holding on to the back of Faith's neck as she moved along with her. Her iridescent dress looked alive and liquid in the moonlight.

She was so beautiful free and wild like that, completely lost in the music. He quickly looked away and tightened his fists trying clear his head. Then he noticed the look on Angel and Gunn's face. He looked to his other side and saw Harris wasn't in much better shape.

As the music surged the girls broke away from each other spinning and moving to the music before coming back to each other moving together, up and down on the dance floor. Buffy grabbed Faith's shoulders as Faith again pulled Buffy to her by her hips. Blonde and brown hair flew wildly around as the girls lost themselves together letting go completely.

For several seconds Spike saw nothing through his haze of jealousy and lust. The urge to grab her, take her and claim her as his was overwhelming. He wanted to show all these other men exactly who she belonged to.

No!!! He shook his head quickly trying clear it. He fought to keep his demon under control.

In his head he heard crying; he could see Buffy pain and fear on her face laying on her bathroom floor looking up at him. He stepped back at the pain exploding in his chest. His demon shrank back at the memory of hurting Buffy.

He noticed the music had stopped he was struggling for control. He was shaking slightly from the effort it took to control his demon, his hands and jaw clenched tight. He looked over at Xander then Angel both had dazed expressions on their faces, neither had noticed his struggle it seemed. Gunn had a huge smile, only Robin looked unaffected by the scene.

Noticing a bench behind him Spike dropped down on it suddenly feeling exhausted from his inner battles. Xander and Angel followed his example.

"I can die happy now." Xander said in awe, both Angel and Spike glared at him. Xander didn't even notice.

Spike looked out at the girls and saw that they were all standing there talking and laughing, acting for all the world like they didn’t know they just had every man in the room captivated.
Feeling his eyes on her Buffy looked up at him.

Her face lit up in a warm smile that came unconsciously to her face as soon as she saw him. She seemed to float over to him and he was again shocked by the thought that she loved him.

She loved him and he could see it clearly on her face. Everything else flew out of his head and he felt himself grinning at her foolishly, feeling like a school boy.

She sat down on his lap and he felt a shiver of pleasure go through him at the contact, he was pleased to note a similar shiver run through her. They exchanged a knowing look.

"Hey Buffster." Xander said weakly. "Those were some dance moves out there."

Spike glared at him again, but Buffy just laughed.

"Sometimes after Faith and I would patrol we'd be wound up, so we'd go out dancing." She explained.

Spike’s hands on her waist clenched unconsciously, again, at the thought of all the men that had watched her dance like that. She looked at him curiously, but he kept his face blank.

Xander whistled his mind on the same track as Spike‘s.

"I bet you made a lot of men cry in their beers." He said.

Buffy shrugged "Most of them were fine and left us alone." Buffy said simply.

"The ones who didn't learned their lesson the hard way." Faith added walking up to them with Willow and Kennedy, as always Robin shadowed her.

She and Buffy laughed together.

"Hey you two, no teasing and terrorizing locals, you keep that up and we'll have to send a chaperone along with you next time." Willow scolded

"Something tells me B is going to have an alternative method to blow off steam from now on." Faith said with a grin. Buffy blushed and looked up at Spike as Kennedy started rambling about how she and Rhona didn’t need to go out to let off steam.

Spike was looking through her at something only he could see. His eyes were stormy and his fists were still clenched in the fabric of her dress.

"Hey there, Space boy, come back to Earth." She teased getting his attention, his eyes were definitely not happy.

"Didn't you like my dancing?" Buffy asked innocently, batting her eyes coquettishly and smiling up at him.

"About as much as every other man here. Oh and apparently Northern California, as well." He growled at her.

Buffy looked at Spike amused as she leaned forward and affectionately hugged him.

"Yeah, but you get to have the knowledge that you are the one I'm thinking about when I'm dancing like that." She whispered softly, making sure not even Angel could hear her. She pulled back and laughed low when he inhaled sharply enjoying the effect her words had on him.

She caught sight of Giles walking up to them quickly, looking much stressed.

"Hey Giles, that's a raging party you've got going on in there." She said as he walked up.

"Yes thank you, Buffy." He said distractedly. "Um, Willow I need to speak with you, right now, please." With that he turned and walked quickly back inside.

"Ok Giles." She shrugged over at Buffy and Xander who looked at her in question and turned to follow him. She had to almost run to catch up to him.

Buffy looked over at Angel suspiciously.

"Hey don't look at me. I don't know anything."

Buffy bit back the comment that came into her mind, but he saw it on her face.

"Buffy!!!" Dawn's nervous voice caused her to jump slightly in Spike's lap. "We should take Angel and Spike to that place in the woods where we sat and talked that day. Remember that place? We should go there. Now."

"Hey Brat, you been drinking Espressos again?" Faith asked

"Faith!! Oh!!” Dawn’s eyes widened even further. “You should come with us on our walk. A walk would be good don't you think?"

Xander stood up and put his arm on Dawn's shoulder to hold her still as she shifted nervously. "A walk in the woods...at night...in the dark...in evening wear..."Xander asked her incredulously, and then he caught sight of something inside. "...sounds like a good idea to me. We should definitely go for a walk."

Robin and Faith noticed Xander's gaze and turned to look. They saw Willow, Giles, Wesley and Fred talking to a young couple with their backs to them.

Buffy got off Spike's lap and walked over to her sister and her friend.

"Are you two feeling all right? You're acting all wiggy." She asked concerned.

She saw Xander frantically signaling her with his good eye. She shifted her eyes in the house and turned to Spike and Angel quickly.

"A WALK.” She said loudly as she caught sight of what had Dawn and Xander so frazzled. “A walk does sound refreshing. "

"Slayer, what’s got your knickers in a bunch?"

"No knickers bunching, not at all. And really you need to get some new expressions.

Just have excess energy. Know what's good for that? A walk. Or a swim. Did you know we have a pool? Let's go look at the pool." She stepped forward to pull Spike and Angel up. They moved together away from the door while Dawn and Xander grabbed Faith to pull her along behind the others.

Just then Giles and a guilty looking Willow walked out the patio door with the young couple. Faith gasped when she recognized the young man.

"Oh shit." She said.

Angel and Spike turned to look back and froze.

Defeated Buffy let go of the vampires and walked over to the newcomers.

"Hi Riley, Sam." Buffy's voice squeaked out nervously.

Riley's face was stone as he noticed Angel. Then he saw Spike and she saw his eyes flare with hate. Trying to act like that wasn't what she was doing Buffy moved in between Riley and Spike

"Buffy." Riley said he took her hand and stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek. Angel and Spike both stepped closer at that. "You look lovely, as always." He said smoothly.

"Thank you, Riley. You look good, too." She hugged Sam lightly. "Sam, you look beautiful."

"Thank you Buffy. It's great to see you again." She smiled, warmly at Buffy, but she was keeping a close eye on her husband who was still eyeing Angel and Spike warily.

"You remember Dawn and Xander." Buffy stepped out of the way as they came forward putting more people between Riley and the two vampires.

Xander and Riley greeted each other and Dawn and Sam hugged.

"This is Willow's girlfriend Kennedy." Kennedy smiled and waved, Buffy fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"And this is Angel and Spike." Sam smiled politely and held out her hand to them. Riley tensed, but didn't say anything.

"It's nice to meet you." Spike said as he stepped up next to Buffy and shook her hand aware of Riley watching him. Angel repeated his actions and stood on the other side of Buffy. Faith was trying to slip away unnoticed behind them, but Robin stepped forward cutting off her escape and introduced himself.

"I'm Robin Wood." He said to Riley "I'm going to be the school's principle."

"Riley Finn. It's nice to meet you."

Riley noticed Faith looking at him from behind Robin.

"I'm sorry. I'm Riley" he said. Robin moved out of the way and Riley stepped forward with his hand out to her.

Buffy spoke before she could stop herself.

"Oh you've met her before Riley. You remember Faith, don't you?" She said sweetly.

Riley quickly withdrew his hand. Sam's smile faltered. Faith looked like she wanted to crawl away.

Willow finally broke the awkward silence before things could get any worse.

"So, um, I've been e-mailing Sam about our adventures. You know keeping them updated and all. Turns out the government is interested in our school and would like to form some sort of communication agreement. Remember Buffy, Giles told us someone from the government contacted him. Well anyhoo, they decided to send Sam and Riley to initiate that because of all the history." Willow's voice got higher and faster as she talked.

"I don't mean HISTORY, history. Not bad history anyhow. History as in stuff from the past, it doesn't have to be bad."

"Willow." Kennedy said stopping her rambling before it got worse.

"Thanks, sweetie. Although you are supposed to stop me before I get to that point." She whispered loudly to her.

"I know. You're just so cute when you get all worked up and your face turns red."

"What kind of agreement?" Buffy asked Riley ignoring the two girls.

"I'm not sure about government involvement in this. They didn't handle things too well the last time." Angel said at the same time.

"Well of course this will be something we'll have to sit down and talk about at great length, not tonight." Giles soothed Angel. "Well, I should be getting back in to the REAL party. There are guests I must see to." He shot a glare at Buffy and Faith, who looked at the floor.

"I will need all of you to come in soon, there is going to be a presentation of sorts."

"OOOOOH. Sound like even more rockin' fun G-man." Buffy answered back teasing him.

Giles just sighed and walked away muttering to himself about insufferable children.

“Is it me or is he getting MORE English in his old age?” Buffy joked trying to interrupt the glaring match between Angel and Riley.

“If by English you mean stiff, proper and way too uptight that would be a definite yes.” Xander jumped in an attempt to help Buffy.

“Uh, excuse me you two, English, not uptight, standing right here.” Spike cut in. Buffy gave him an apologetic shrug.

"Is there something you don't want the government to know?" Riley asked Angel. Buffy and Sam both winced at his tone and Angel clenched his jaw. Then he smiled coldly remembering how good it felt to hit this boy.

Riley responded by tensing perceptively, his eyes hard and challenging.

Spike recognized Angelus on Angel's face and realized he was going to have to be the one who took charge of this situation. He really wanted nothing more than to hit the boy himself, but he had to be good for Buffy.

"Come on Peaches. I need another drink and a smoke. Let's hit the bar."

Buffy looked up at him surprised but grateful as he grabbed Angel's arm and steered him into the living room to Lorne and the bar. Faith used this as her chance to escape and followed quickly behind the two.

"So Sam," Dawn said, trying to lighten the mood. "Have you been any place exciting lately?"

"Actually we just got back from Thailand." Sam answered regaining her smile finally. She started telling the others about their latest adventures in Thailand moving away from Riley and Buffy.

Riley stared at her for a moment.

"Thank you for your help last year." She said quietly.

"Willow told Sam he died."

"He did. The Powers That Be sent him back. I just found out tonight."

Riley shook his head and laughed bitterly at that. After a moment.

"Are you happy Buffy?"

"I am." She said with a genuine smile. She looked behind him and saw Spike gaping at a red faced Faith while Lorne laughed.

"Riley, I'm going to go inside. This is just uncomfortable for both of us."

"They should probably send someone else to be the main contact between the school and the government." He agreed.

"No, you could do that. I don't think I'm going to stay here." She told him.

"Your not?" He was surprised by that.

"Nope. I want to travel the world. See some of these sights you and Sam talk about."

"Is HE going with you?" Riley asked, not bothering to try and hide the bitterness in his voice.

Buffy paused. "I don't know I haven't asked him. Or told him I want to go. Like I said tonight is the first I've seen him since..." her voice trailed off as she watched Spike. He was watching Angel tease Faith about something a relaxed smile on his face. Her chest swelled with happiness as she realized again that he was really back. Feeling her watching him he raised his eyes to meet hers. She felt an overwhelming need to go touch him to make sure he wasn't going to disappear.

"Excuse me, Riley." She said absently as she headed inside. He grabbed her arm as she moved to walk past him. He spoke urgently to her.

"Part of me will always love you Buffy. While I don't approve of your choices, I want you to be happy. If you ever need me I will be there in an instant."

He let go of her arm. "I also hope one day it won't be so uncomfortable."

She smiled genuinely at him. "I hope so too, Riley. Excuse me."



Spike had pulled Angel inside and quickly guided him to the bar.

"Two whiskeys." He told the bartender.

Faith came up beside them.

"Make that three." She said.

"What's with these faces mi amigos?" Lorne asked. "Didn't anyone tell you this was a party?" When they ignored him, he looked at Spike.

"You can tell this is your Childe, Angel. He seems to have that brooding thing down."

"I don't bloody brood. I'm no Nancyboy like the Peaches here."

Angel didn't even take the bait.

The drinks came and all three took a long drink.

Angel spoke first.

"I don't like that guy."

"What guy?" Lorne asked.

"Wanker." Spike agreed with Angel, lighting a cigarette he had got off the bartender.

"Riley." Faith answered Lorne. "B's token human boyfriend."

"Aah" Lorne said understanding.

"He staked me once." Spike commented.

Angel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Plastic stake." He explained. "Told me if I touched Buffy he would come back and use the real thing."

"I see you listened as well as you always did."

Spike grinned smugly. He looked past Angel to Faith.

"So, what did you do that upset Captain Cardboard so much?" He asked her.

"Remember the first time we met, when I was wearing B's skin?" He nodded smirking at the memory.

"Well you weren't the only stop on the tour and that ride was a bit more involved."

Spike stared at her wide eyed.

"You took her body and shagged Captain Cardboard?”

“OUCH!!! Remind me to stay on your good side." Lorne laughed.

"You shagged HIM? Seriously. He didn't notice you weren't Buffy?"

She gave him a look.

"You didn't notice."

Angel and Lorne both swung around to look at him now.

"I bloody would have if it would've gotten to that point."

"Right. You were so gone on her even at that point; you would have just thanked your lucky stars."

Angel looked back at Faith.

"She wanted to kill you when she came after you in LA."

"Yeah and I'm sure you sending her packing helped that."

Spike snorted at him.

"Bloody Idiot" He muttered, picking up his drink when Angel glared at him.

All three took another drink.

"So Faith," Angel said conversationally "what's with you and our new Principal."

Faith choked on the whiskey. When she recovered she tried to make a cocky grin, but couldn't.

"Nothing. What are you talking about?" She asked defensively.

'Shit!' She thought to herself

Angel grinned at her.

"Oh, come on, you two are never more than 10 feet apart for more than 15 minutes. When you are together you fight like an old married couple. Don't even get me started about the looks you give each other when the other isn't looking."

Spike enjoyed the girl's apparent embarrassment. She was an attractive girl, definitely wild. Had they met up when they were both still evil they probably could have done some damage, both to each other and the world at large.

She couldn't hold a candle to his Slayer though. He smiled thinking of her. He looked up and saw her staring in at him from outside. The look in her eyes made the rest of the room disappear. He watched as she said something to Riley and made her way to him.

"Hey." She said coming up to him. She hugged him tightly. "I just wanted to make sure you were still real." She said pulling back and looking up at him.

Just then a strange looking waiter walked towards them. He was an older man, slightly balding with glasses on, but it was the look in his eyes that made him seem strange. He didn't look like an ordinary waiter. He walked up to the two of them and held his tray out.

"Cheese?" He asked.

Buffy turned pale and her eyes widened with shock, confusion and some fear. She looked around the room wildly for a moment.

"No. No cheese. No thank you. No cheese."

The waiter just grinned at her and walked away. Spike looked at her unsure as to what just happened. Finally she relaxed and turned back to him.

"This night is getting awfully surreal." She said.

"You're telling me." He answered thinking of his earlier conversation with Xander.

"Hey guys." Clem said walking up. "Giles said to get everyone into the ball room he's going to give his speech and do the whole ceremony thing."