Spike stepped out onto the porch. He had to get out of that ballroom.
At the sight of Buffy in front of all those people, graciously accepting their praise he came to a startling realization. Much like Xander, Buffy had changed so much since he had first seen her seductively dancing in the Bronze. The baby-faced girl replaced, by a beautiful woman. He had never really noticed before because he hadn’t ever been away from her long enough to notice her changing, but she was. She was aging, getting older.

At that thought he felt the demon start to rage again inside him at the thought of his Slayer doing something so mundane and beneath her as to age. It wanted to turn her, to spare her the indignity of such a human frailty.


He was still in shock over what had happened upstairs, not only her declaration of love and the intensity of her lips on his, but also the vivid flashbacks that had started in her bathroom. He knew that it was just his subconscious trying to keep control of the demon inside him.

His demon was screaming inside of him in a way it had never done before. It wanted to possess her, to turn her, to mark her. It knew she belonged to him and it viewed Buffy's acceptance and return of his love as her agreement to let him mark her.

Spike, however, wasn't about to let that happen, he knew that a good man would never do anything so terrible as to bond an angel to him for eternity.

Spike had never believed Angel's story of the demon without the soul being different than the demon with the soul. Spike always thought of himself as one creature even with the soul inside him. Yet he had never completely ignored the demons desires before. Even when he had the chip it wasn’t him defying the demon. For the most part the two halves inside him had always wanted to same things, now for the first time he was trying to pen in his demonic urges and he was finding much harder than he ever imagined.

He was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed the sound of the heartbeat that had appeared on the porch behind him. When he did notice it he spun around expecting to see one of the Scoobies coming out to look for him.

Instead he came face to face with Riley. It took all of his effort to keep the demon under control and not to rip the boy apart.

The two eyed each other coldly for a few moments. Finally Riley broke the silence.

"It really makes me wonder. How could the Powers that Be let someone like you out of going to hell like you deserve?" Riley asked him.

Spike reminded himself one more time of the promise to himself to be the perfect gentleman for Buffy. He called up everything he could remember about being William so long ago, hoping to use him as an example of how to behave.

"It isn't for me to question the Powers judgment." Spike told him trying not to sound antagonistic. Inside him the demon was chanting for blood and violence.

Riley gave him a small smile.

"Kind of makes me wonder if it really was the Powers that let you come back." Riley told him. "The way I figure it there should be no way a creature like you could earn a second chance. So I was wondering what kind of deal you made to get back and with who."

"Believe what you want." Spike told him, his jaw clenched tightly. "It really makes no difference to me what you believe, Farm Boy." Maybe a little antagonism wouldn’t hurt.

"Your right it doesn't make any difference what I believe. The fact is you are back.” Riley paused dramatically. “Back to destroy Buffy."

"I would never hurt her." Spike immediately snapped. He was shaking now with the effort it was taking to not unleash upon Riley.

"Really? So what do you see the future being like for the two of you? Married with two kids? Oh wait you can’t give her children, can you? Growing old together? Oh wait, you get to watch her age and die, while you stay young. Off to see the world together? Too bad she'll only get to see it by night."

Spike closed his eyes briefly in pain and Riley just smiled at him coldly knowing he scored direct hits.

"Of course maybe she won't mind the fact she'll barely get to see the sun, never have children, or look like your mother in 20 years. But how do you think she is going to deal with the way the Council views her choice of companions? I've heard them talking about you two since I arrived and they seem to be very concerned about this relationship she has with you. Not even Giles seems to be too happy about the fact that you are back. How long will it take before she has to choose between her relationship with the Council and her relationship with you? All of her friends are members of the Council now too. How long before they will have to do the same?” Riley started to walk around, unable to contain his excitement at being able to hurt Spike.

“That's a life to look forward to. No friends, no home, just a demon as her companion in the dark."

"That's enough." A voice growled from the darkness at the edge of the porch. Riley turned surprised to face Angel.

Riley recovered from his surprise quickly to give Angel the cold smile he had focused on Spike.

"You know it's the truth. That's why you left her in the first place wasn't it?" He informed him.

"This isn't any of your concern, BOY. From what I understand you were too busy being a snack to bunch of vamp sluts to pay attention to Buffy." Angel told him. "I would suggest if you want to see your wife again you leave now and go find her."

Riley snorted.

"Such examples of virtue, threatening me for telling the truth." With that Riley turned and stormed back inside, not ready to deal with two angry vampires, but upset that his tormenting of Spike had been interrupted.

Spike turned back to face the woods again after Riley went back inside in an attempt to ignore Angel and the conversation he would want to have about Riley's comments.

"We need to talk, Spike." Angel told him wearily.

"Not now." Spike growled at Angel.

"Now. I know what you're feeling. I know why you're feeling it. I've been there, remember. Riley was right about that."

"Not something I really want to think about, but thanks for reminding me. Would you please piss off now?"

Angel grabbed his arm and turned him around so Spike was facing him.

"No. I'm not going to piss off now and you are going to hear what I have to say."

Spike glared at him hatefully, then his eyes widened as he focused on something behind him. Angel turned to see what had captured his attention.

Buffy had come out onto the porch, Angel released Spike's arm not wanting to upset Buffy.

Buffy completely ignored Angel, however, her gaze focused firmly on Spike, a small smile on her face.

Buffy knew she was interrupting something between the two vampires, but she didn't care. Angel wasn't going to do anything to ruin this night for her. She had dealt with all of her obligations to Giles and the Council and the only thing on her mind now was being with Spike.

She slowly walked up to the two, not even glancing at Angel, she insinuated herself between the two of them. As soon as she was within arms reach of Spike she felt that electrical current that had been running through her since he arrived. She looked up into his eyes and decided she wanted to get lost in them forever.

"Dance with me." She said quietly to him.

"Dance, pet?" He raised one eyebrow at her.

"You do know how, don't you?" She asked him teasingly.

"You mean DANCE, dance, to music and all?" He looked a little dizzy at the suggestion.

She put her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to him.

"Dance, as in your arms around me, holding me close while we move slowly to the music and just get lost in each other." She whispered.
Soft music began to gently float out to them.

Angel, completely forgotten now, left them to go inside. He didn’t look back once, knowing that what he saw would be too painful for him.

Spike's hands moved to her waist, savoring the way the silk moved over her skin, and the fact that she wasn't wearing anything under the dress. Music began to float out onto the patio as he pulled her closer to him. They began to move slowly to the rhythm of the music. Like had previously happened upstairs, the rest of the world faded away until they were only aware of each other.


Buffy's fingertips moved lightly, caressing the back of his neck, her eyes locked on his. She felt as if she were falling into him, losing all sense of her self. She was surprised to find out that that thought didn't terrify her; instead it seemed so right. To lose herself in him, in his eyes, in his arms, she felt that only then could she be herself. Like she wasn't whole until that happened.


Spike still couldn't believe that this was real. He was standing under the silver moon, dancing with this angel who was looking at him with such sweet love. One hand caressed the smooth skin of her back while the other wrapped around her waist as they swayed together to the slow beat of the music.

He wanted to stay in this moment forever. Her touch calmed all the internal battles within him, it soothed the demon, and all of his doubts were quiet for the first time since they had come downstairs. He felt safe here if only he could hold onto her forever, lose himself in her.

Their soft quiet song ended, but the two didn’t move away from each other. They continued to sway gently together, not speaking, just taking comfort in each other.

Buffy raised her head a bit farther and brushed her lips against his. He teased her, by avoiding direct contact with her lips, kissing the corner of her mouth, or just her top lip, until she grabbed his head and pulled him to her.

All pretenses of dancing stopped. They started to devour each other hungrily.

Buffy slid his jacket over his shoulder and down, letting it fall to the ground. She then moved her hands up to undo the buttons on his shirt, while Spike’s hands had moved down so he was now caressing her bottom, using it hold her against him.

They probably would have made love right there on the porch, but then came a voice.

“Geez, you two, don’t you have a room you could take this to?” Kennedy’s voice traveled across the porch, cutting through their passion. Spike immediately raised his head and growled at the girl.

“I can’t believe the Council puts up with the two of them like that.” Kennedy continued, closing the door to the outside.

“Can we please kill her now? Could we at least send her back to Cleveland early?” Buffy’s voice came angrily.

“Sounds good to me. She’s probably right though; we should find a more private spot for this. Don’t want to upset those Council members Giles is trying so hard to impress.”

“Don’t worry, I already took care of upsetting them.” Spike just raised an eyebrow at her. Buffy shrugged pulled him inside, “But I do like the idea of taking you upstairs, finally.”



Back inside the library Giles sat down in front of Isaac Milton wearily.

“I know that Buffy was a tad short with you, but she really doesn’t have much trust for the original Council members, since the trouble with Quentin.” Giles tried to explain.

“Frankly, Rupert, I don’t care what she thinks of me. However, I do think you need to rethink the way you are running your school? I also think you need to get control of the girl, immediately, before we are dealing with another apocalypse.”

“What on earth do you mean? Yes, Buffy can be impulsive and stubborn at times, but she would never end the world.” Giles protested.

“As she grows older the demon part of her will grow stronger. She will have to work harder to keep the darkness inside her.”

“Yes and she has made great strides, towards not only accepting that part of herself, but towards utilizing and controlling it.”

“What if she decides to Mate with her Vampire?”

Giles stood up outraged. “That would never happen!! Yes, Buffy cares for him, but she I believe she still dreams of the normal life and that is something Spike can never give her.”

“And if you are wrong and she mates with him? Her strength would then be unmatched and how would it affect her growing darkness? She will then have the demon of the Slayer inside of her, she will be linked to a vampire and have access to the strength of the demon inside him and then there is the other factor.”

“What other factor?” Giles demanded leaning on the table to look into Isaac’s eyes.

“The First Evil.”

“We defeated the First Evil.” Giles waved off this idea.

“You are so arrogant as to actually believe you defeated the First Evil? Wounded yes, but you can’t defeat it. Did you forget, Rupert, its linked to your Slayer.”
“Oh Dear Lord.” The realization suddenly struck Giles that they were right.

“Now we need to take measures to make sure Miss Summers, stays under the Council’s influence and we are probably going to have to take measures to separate her from that vampire.”








"Oh Buffy, you're just in time." Willow exclaimed as they entered the parlor. From the slight slur in her voice it appeared that Willow had quite a bit to drink. She was sitting on the floor next to Oz. Kennedy, surprisingly, was no where to be seen.

"Just in time for what?" Buffy asked, anxious to get upstairs and away from people.

"We're taking a stroll down memory lane, B. Reliving the good old days."

Faith sat on the bar next to Angel sipping on a drink. Buffy noticed that they all seemed pretty drunk right now. Even Dawn seemed to be three sheets to the wind, giggling on the couch between Xander and Andrew.

“So much for sneaking off, yet.” Spike muttered. Buffy sighed, resigned.

Buffy looked up at Spike and said dryly. "I think I'm going to need more to drink for this stroll."

Spike nodded.

"Well, that can be arranged, Buffster." Xander said getting up and moving behind the bar.

"I'll take a whiskey while you're up Harris." Spike said sitting down on the couch. Xander gave him a look, but didn't say anything.

Buffy sat on the floor between Spike's legs, in front of Willow. He reached forward and absently played with her hair.

"Ok so where are we in memory lane?" Buffy asked Willow

"We just finished up talking about how Faith tried to kill you and Angel."

"Oh those good old days." She shot Faith a look.

"Hey, I'm reformed now. I'm not the only one who's tried to kill you here." Faith paused and looked around a minute. "Actually, B, who here HASN"T tried to kill you at one point or another?"

"I havt." Dawn slurred from her position on the couch.

“Ok, who here besides the little lush?” Faith persisted.

“Well its not like Buffy hasn’t tried to kill us a few times.”

“Hey” Buffy protested. “I wasn’t in my right mind then.”

“Really?” Faith asked.

“Well, except for you.” Buffy thought a second. “And Angelus…and Spike, but that was in self-defense.”

"Here's your drink Buffy." Xander handed her something that looked like coke, then handed Spike his whiskey.

Buffy sniffed it experimentally then took several large drinks.

"Uh, easy on that Buffy, its pretty strong."

"It doesn't taste strong. It actually tastes pretty nummy." She took a few more drinks.

"It's a Long Island Iced Tea, and I would really take it easy. I don't want to deal with Cave Buffy again." Xander told her.

"Oooh. Cave Buffy I forgot about that." Willow laughed.


"Hey! It wasn't that bad." Buffy protested.

"Then right at the end when you knocked Parker out. He had no idea what to think after that." Willow gasped with laughter.

"I still say it wasn't as bad as Hyena-Xander." Buffy said defensively, trying to get the subject away from her. She realized her drink was almost empty. She was going to need another one, soon.

"I don't remember anything that happened then." Xander immediately said.

"You don't remember trying to kill me?" Buffy asked sweetly.

"Are you sure he was trying to kill you? I thought he was trying to..."

"I think it was a little of both actually."

"I don't remember anything." Xander said again.

"I think he doth protest too much." Oz said calmly from his seat on the floor. Buffy and Willow both dissolved into giggles.

"I don't need any help from the werewolf department, thanks Oz."

“You never really tried to kill Spike.” Angel muttered from the bar.

“Excuse me?” Buffy asked him irritated. She had been trying to ignore him all night because she didn’t want to deal with his brooding self-pity, but he seemed determined to make an ass out of himself.

“Between your ‘truces’…”Angel started.

“That came about because you were such an obnoxious, ass Angelus. Hell I would have teamed up with just about anyone at that point to take you down.” Spike snapped at Angel. Angel continued on like he hadn’t been interrupted.

“Then you let him go after he kidnapped your friends.”

“You’re right Angel.” Buffy said. “I really should have just let Cordelia bleed to death for my vengeance against Spike. Although wasn’t it you who told me I shouldn’t kill for vengeance after what Faith did to me. Instead you two were cozied up at your place in LA.”

Dawn started laughing at that. “Sheez gotcha there peeches.”

Spike howled at Dawn’s drunken comments. Buffy elbowed him. “Don’t encourage her.” She told him. "And Dawn, go to bed before you throw up on my silk pants." Buffy told her firmly.

"I's fine. Not silk, or sick." She giggled drunkenly falling onto Andrew.

Buffy sighed. She needed to put Dawn to bed. She started to get up, but Faith stopped her.

"I'll take care of her, B. You stay here and hang. I'll come back after tucking her in."

"Ok. That works for me." Buffy told her. She knew Faith was uncomfortable about being the object of an argument between her and Angel again.

"Just make sure those pants get hung up. Don't let her just throw them on the floor."

Faith rolled her eyes as she hopped off the bar and over to Dawn.

"Come on brat. Last call for you." She pulled Dawn off the couch and half dragged, half carried her out of the room.

"Nigh, guysh." Dawn mumbled on her way out of the room.

"Who do I have to thank for turning my sister into a drunk?" Buffy asked sharply.

"On that note I think its time for me to turn in myself." Andrew said. "I have lots of important things to do tomorrow."

Andrew practically ran out of the room to avoid the Slayer's wrath.

The others had remained quiet during Buffy’s conversation with Angel, but now they were relieved to have a change in conversation.

Willow giggled. "I really don't think it was his fault Buffy. You know how much she bosses him around. Besides she was here with us, its not like she out somewhere driving."

Willow and Buffy had their heads together on the floor. Spike just sat there and watched them giggling, enjoying the sight of Buffy relaxed and having fun with her friends. She looked up at him as if she could hear his thoughts and leaned back into his legs wrapping one arm around his knee. He smiled down at her and leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

None of them noticed Angel quietly slip out at that point.

"HEY!!" Buffy said suddenly, the alcohol was beginning to work on her.

"Yes, luv." Spike said.

"No. Hey, to Willow." She turned back around Willow seemed to be playing with Oz's shoes. "Will? WILL!"

Willow looked up at her and smiled drunkenly. "Yeah Buffy."

"Have you counted all of Xander's demon girlfriends?"

"That's really not necessary guys." Xander tried to interject.

Willows eyes widened comically. "No!! Do you think we should?"

"Its more fun than talking about all the times you guys tried to kill me."

"Not for me it isn't." Xander tried again.

Buffy giggled and stood up unsteadily, almost knocking over her now empty glass. She fell over Oz and landed on the couch, partially on Xander's lap.

Spike picked up her glass and started carrying it to the bar. Oz moved away from the couch to avoid getting kicked or stepped on.

"Of course we do, silly. Its for prosperity." Buffy told Xander seriously.

Willow stood up and sat on Xander's other side mainly on his lap. "I think she meant posterity." Willow whispered loudly.


"Whatever." Buffy rolled her eyes.

Then Buffy noticed Spike carrying her drink away. "Oooh are you going to get me more of the Ice tea stuff?"

"I think you've had enough, pet." He answered setting her glass in the sink. "I don't fancy you ruining another pair of my boots."

Buffy managed to pout and look indignant at the same time, something Spike was certain only she could actually manage to do.

"What do you mean? I'm not drunk." To illustrate her point she tried to stand up, but wound up falling down again on top of Willow and Xander. Xander grunted at the impact, but Willow and Buffy just giggled.

Spike walked over and took her hands and pulled her off of Xander. Xander looked at him gratefully.

"Come on, luv. Can't have you girls crushing the whelp."

He pulled her to the other couch when he sat down she immediately lay down and put her head in his lap. She smiled up at him happily.

"Ok, Xander's demon loves," Willow continued tormenting Xander as she crawled off the couch and over to where Oz had moved to. "There was the mummy girl."

"He almost mated with a mantis." Buffy again dissolved into giggles at her own cleverness.

Willow paused in her crawling to join her in her laughing fit.

"Hey its not like you two have had the most normal of boyfriends." Xander told the two girls.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked indignantly.

"Yeah, I think I resent that." Buffy agreed.

"You mean resemble that." Xander corrected. At her glare he gestured towards Spike. "Um, hello, evil undead."

Spike raised an eyebrow at him.

Xander then gestured to Oz.

"Let's not forget Wolf boy over here."

Oz mirrored Spike's reaction.

"Last time I checked vampires and werewolves weren't exactly in the realm of normal."

Willow and Buffy looked at each other for a minute.

"Yeah, well, but at least they weren't trying to kill us." Willow finally said triumphantly.

"Yeah." Buffy agreed.

Then she stopped. "Oh, wait..."

Xander snorted. "Yeah. Uh, Spike how exactly did you find out you had a chip in your head. Wasn't that when you were trying to feed off Willow?"

Spike winced. Buffy patted his knee. "Right. Sorry about that Red."

Willow waved her hand dismissively. She had finally made it over to Oz then fell rather ungracefully next to him.

"Its ok. You were actually kind of nice to me, once you found out you couldn't perform. You tried to make me feel better and everything."

"Yeah, then she made us think we were engaged." Buffy said, as the giggles came again. "And turned Xander into a Demon magnet."

“See what happened after you left me?” Willow wagged a finger in Oz’s face.



Gesturing towards Willow, Xander asked. "Remember the Ghost in the Machine? And Buffy..."

"Demon." Willow interrupted.

"What?" Xander looked confused.

"It was a Demon in the computer." Willow told him. "Not a ghost."

"Sorry. That makes it so much better." Xander told her sarcastically.

"Fine, I give up. Xander, just because all of your girlfriends and dates your entire life have either, been part demon, full demon, or just trying to kill you that is no reason for us to think you have bad luck with women and make fun of you." Willow said tiredly from her spot on the floor. “Did that make sense to anyone else?”

"Thank you." Xander said.

"Besides, Xander," Buffy said from the couch where she lay looking up at Spike. "You don't have the worst taste in women; there is someone with much worse taste than you."

"Really, who?!?!" Xander was excited now.

"Yeah, who?" Willow was almost mumbling her head on Oz's shoulder.

Buffy reached up a hand to cup Spike's face. He smiled down at her lovingly. Then she looked over at her friends and grinned wide.

"The one who put up with Harmony." She practically sang out.

Everyone laughed, even Oz chuckled at that. Spike just glared down at Buffy for a minute, then he shrugged, it wasn't like he could really argue with her.