Disclaimer: I do NOT own ANYTHING! It all belongs to Joss Whedon. Dialogue borrowed from 7.22!
A/N: Thanks to my great Beta EveryLastDrop! *cheers*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hate to say this, but I really need to go now." For the second time, Buffy tried to remind Spike what her mission was.

But her lack of enthusiasm and conviction said What the hell, let's keep making out! . She remained in his embrace, her own arms wrapped around his neck despite her protests.

And who was Spike to disobey her body language? He nibbled her up her neck to her earlobe, holding her tightly.

With a moan and a miniscule struggle, Buffy attempted to pull away again.

"Spike, please."

"Buffy, please," he repeated with a smirk, not letting go of her.

Mission. Think about the mission. Think about non-sexuaaaa...Oh my god.

Spike had to chuckle as Buffy leaned into him again, all thoughts of leaving gone. He kissed her hard on the mouth and took her face in his hands.

"Now you can go, pet." After I got you all hot and bothered.

Spike chuckled again and looked down on her with amused eyes. Hers in contrast were shaded with lust and her mouth stood ajar.

"You're so mean. First you make me all jelly-y, though I told you to stop, and then you go like 'Yeah well, 's been nice, see ya'. Not fair!" Buffy's lower lip jutted out in a pout.

A growl escaped Spike's lips before he captured her lip between his human teeth.

" 'S not that easy, love. YOU said you had to go, not me."

"Yeah, well. The mission and all that stuff." A sigh. "I should go then." Another sigh.

Slowly the two of them separated, but Spike's right hand held onto Buffy's right.

It was all still too unreal, too new. The knowledge that Buffy reciprocated his feelings, that they were on the same page - finally.

The butterflies in his stomach swirled and jumped happily and Spike had to hold onto her hand to make sure that he wasn't dreaming... or on a trip.

"Why so smile-y, Mr. Cheshire Cat?" Buffy asked with an equal smile as she grabbed the scythe from the counter.

Spike just shrugged and kissed her hand in a noble manner. "'M just happy, is all."

"I'm glad to hear that." She winked and added with a kiss on his cheek "Me too."

"Okay, 'nough with the sappy. Let's get to work. You want me to go with you, pet?"

Buffy considered it for a second and shook her head. "No, I should do it alone. Slayer prophecy kinda thing."

Spike nodded and let go of her hand, instantly missing her warmth. "Okay, I'll check out the vineyard then. We'll go be heroes."

And with that they both left the house, splitting up into different directions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the tomb....

"I was kind of hoping it'd go this way," Caleb said as he reared back with the scythe, staring at Buffy.

A man from behind called out a "Hey!" and knocked Caleb down. Of course that caught Buffy's attention. She looked up and saw the dark-haired ally.

"I was never much for preachers," he stated with a wry smile.

"Angel."

"You look good."

"You look timely. And also good." Buffy smiled a friendly smile.

Always glad to see me. "Heard maybe you needed a hand. "

Caleb got to his feet again and Angel moved to finish what he started. But Buffy stopped him.

"Ah, one of those things you have to finish yourself." Tsk.

"Really kinda is."

Angel backed toward a pillar so he could see the show ... and come into action as her 'knight in black armor' if needed.

He crossed his arms and licked his lips.

"You are so gonna lose." He smiled a cocky smile, thinking of how his little Buffy couldn't possibly defeat Caleb alone.

Buffy and Caleb fought. He grabbed the scythe away from Buffy and punched her, sending her stumbling across the room. Caleb pointed the stake-end of the scythe at Buffy and charged toward her, with her back against the wall, but she dodged out of the way and he missed, lodging the scythe in the stone wall. Buffy pulled the scythe out of the wall and kicked Caleb away from her.

"God, I missed watching this," Angel remarked. God, I missed her.

Buffy swung the scythe at Caleb, slicing his stomach. He stumbled back, laughed heartily, wagged his finger at her, and fell to the floor.

"See? Under control," Buffy said, out of breath.

"Well...at least you could tell me you're glad to see me." Angel swaggered toward Buffy.

Buffy dropped the scythe to the floor and walked up to Angel, pressing herself against his body and kissing him on the lips.

No bloody way! Spike looked over his shoulder behind a pillar, watching the 'romantic reunion' with clenched teeth.

I'm in her heart, my ass! I'm suitable until the great poof comes around. I...

Unable to watch them any longer, Spike turned around and left the tomb, heading for the punching bag in Buffy's cellar.

Angel pulled back from the kiss, the arrogant smile still present on his face.

"Well, I guess that qualifies as 'happy to see me'."

Buffy looked into Angel's dark eyes - not the ocean blue ones she loved so much - and her face fell. I just kissed Angel.

"Angel, what are you doing- " She shook her head I told Spike I kinda love him and first chance I get I kiss Angel... I am seriously messed up.

Unaware of Buffy's change of facial expression and inner turmoil, Angel answered with a slight raise of his brows.

"Not saving the damsel in distress, that's for sure."

"Oh, you know me." Buffy picked up the scythe, not wanting to look into his eyes."Not much with the damseling."

"Got your share of distress, though." He walked to the wall.

Buffy need help. Must come. Must be hero. That's so typical of him. Buffy frowned, more because of her thoughts than his knowing. "You heard?"

Angel picked up a file folder from a bench by the wall. "I got coverage on the whole thing. It's very gripping. It needs a third act." Ha-ha.

Buffy shook her head at him."You have to leave L.A." And how about Sunnydale,too?

"It's the First, right? The First Evil. The power that tried to convince me to kill myself."

"Yeah. It's gotten a little more ambitious since then. It's raising an army."

"Yeah, well, it failed once, and I'm here to tell you-"

Caleb stood up behind Angel and knocked him down by hitting him with a cat statue, sending him sliding across the floor. Caleb swayed on the spot, staring at Buffy, black blood streaming from his eyes and nose.

Uh oh.

"Are you ready to finish this, bitch?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stupid girl. You'll never stop me. You don't have the ba-"

While Caleb got to his feet, Buffy twirled the scythe and swung it up between his legs. That made his eyes go wide.

"Who does nowadays?" And with a strong yank she sliced Caleb into two. Was he going to say 'balls?!

Angel regained consciousness and leapt to his feet. "OK, now I'm pissed. Where is he?"

"He had to split." Buffy giggled devilishly.

Angel picked up the folder again and gave it to Buffy.

"I'll have the guys go through that. See if there's anything new. Reliable source?"

"Not remotely."

Great. "Hm, any port in an apocalypse."

"I, uh, brought something else as well."

Angel took an amulet out of his pocket and held it up for Buffy to see. It was a 2-inch diameter round crystal pendant in a silver starburst setting hung from a coarse silver chain.

Now he comes with jewelry. Buffy shook her head. "I can already tell you, I have nothing that goes with that."

"It's not for you."

"Splainy?"

"I don't know everything. It's very powerful and probably very dangerous. It has a purifying power, a cleansing power, possibly scrubbing bubbles. The translation is, uh-anyway, it bestows strength to the right person who wears it."

"And the right person is?" Me?

"Someone ensouled, but stronger than human. A champion. As in me."

Of course he wants to be it. Buffy rolled her eyes. "Or me."

"No. I don't know nearly enough about this to risk you wearing it. Besides, you got that real cool axe-thing going for you."

"So you're gonna be with me in this."

"Shoulder to shoulder. I'm yours." I'm yours forever.

Yeah, 'yours'. You and Spike. That sounds like fun. "No."

"No, what?"

"No. You're not gonna be in this fight." Buffy started to walk away, hoping to set an end to this topic.

What?! "Why the hell not?"

"'Cause I can't risk you."

"You need me in this."

Tsk, yeah."No, I need you gone."

"Why?"

"If I lose, if this thing gets past Sunnydale, then it's days-maybe hours-before the rest of the world goes. I need a second front, and I need you to run it." Hey, that even sounded reasonable.

"OK..." Angel crossed his arms. "That's one reason. What's the other?"

Buffy walked out of the tomb without even a glance in his direction. "There is no other."

Angel followed her. "Is it Spike?"

Buffy stopped in her tracks and turned to Angel.

"You're not telling me something. And his scent, I remember it pretty well."

"You vampires. Did anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing's a little gross?" Buffy walked away again.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Buffy sighed."Is that your business?"

"You in love with him? OK, maybe I'm outta line, but this is kind of a curve ball for me. I mean, we are talking about Spike here." Maybe a spell, maybe he made her a slave or something.

"It's different. He's different. He has a soul now."

Angel stopped his train of thought."Oh. Well."

"What?" She was getting more and more exhausted by this.

"That's great. Everyone's got a soul now."

"He'll make a difference."

"You know, I started it. The whole having a soul. Before it was all the cool new thing."

Another deep, annoyed sigh. "Oh, my God. Are you 12? And besides, it's not like you wanted the soul."

Angel ignored the comment about the soul and yammered on."I'm getting the brush off for Captain Peroxide. It doesn't necessarily bring out the champion in me."

Buffy stopped...again.Could this please end? "You're not getting the brush off. Are you just gonna come here and go all Dawson on me every time I have a boyfriend?"

"Aha!" He pointed at her. "Boyfriend!"

"Okay, you got me." Buffy held her arms up in mock surrender. "He is my boyfriend."

Oh yeah, probably a spell... "Do you love him?"

"It's really none of your business, but yeah, he's in my heart." She smiled a little, happy that she could say it so easily...especially to Angel, who raised his brow and pursed his lips.

"That'll end well."

"It's not like we had the greatest thing going on." Buffy started to walk away from the tomb, heading toward home.

"I bet it was still better than what you'll get from him. But, hey, I'm cool with it." I just have to punch him a little harder next time I see him.

"Great. Can I go home now?"

"To him?" Buffy rolled her eyes and stemmed her hand to her hip."Okay, okay. I won't say anything any more...for now."

Angel handed the amulet to Buffy. "I'll go start working on the second front. Make sure I don't have to use it," he said. Then he walked away.

Buffy looked at the amulet, tucked it in her pocket, and headed home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike had been punching the punching bag in Buffy's basement, when Buffy walked down the stairs.

"So...where's tall, dark, and forehead?" He asked outright.

Buffy rolled her eyes. Here goes round number two."Let me guess. You can smell him."

"Yeah, that and I also used my enhanced vampire eyeballs to watch you kissing him." Spike pointed at his eyes with two fingers, to prove the point.

Buffy stared at the floor, a little awkard. "It was...a hello."

Spike huffed."Most people don't use their tongues to say hello. Or I guess they do, but-"

"There were no tongues. Besides, he's gone," she said softer than before.

"Oh, just popped by for a quickie, then?" I wonder if he got lucky....probably.

Buffy walked further into the basement and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Good, good. I haven't had quite enough jealous vampire crap for one night."

"He wears lifts, you know."

Buffy looked over at the punching bag that Spike was hitting and saw something had been taped to it: a sketch drawn in black marker on white paper, showed hair that sticks straight up, X's for eyes and fangs on the frowny face. Buffy rolled her eyes at the representation of Angel.

"You know, one of these days I'm just gonna put you two in a room and let you wrestle it out."

Spike rifled through an empty cigarette package."No problem at this end." He threw the package away.

Buffy's eyes widened with excitement."There could be oil of some kind involved."

"You'd like that, wouldn' you?" Spike walked up to Buffy. They stood close to each other, so close that Spike could feel the heat radiating from her. She had to concentrate on her next words, ignoring the flutter in her stomach.

"Angel gave me something."

"Yeah, I saw the 'hello'," Spike said with a chuckle as he quoted the hello with his fingers.

"Will you stop yammering about it. And, if it makes you happy or, I don't know, feel manlier, I told Angel about us."

Spike eyes lit up and his mouth stood open in awe. Finally, he was speechless and Buffy could finally tell him about the amulet.

"He gave me an amulet, something powerful but with unknown origins. It's supposed to be worn by someone with a soul, but more than human."

Spike regained his speech, but the silly happy face was still present. "So, that someone's supposed to be me?"

Buffy had considered it of course, but she was still not sure. She bit her lower lip.
"It's volatile. We don't know-"

"You'll be needing someone strong to bear it, then. You planning on giving it to Andrew?"

Buffy looked at the amulet, then at Spike. "Angel said the amulet was meant to be worn by a champion."

Spike looked down, disappointed. "Oh."

Buffy walked forward and handed it to him with a smile.

A shaky laugh escaped Spike's lips as he took the amulet into his palm.

"Been called a lot of things in my time."

Buffy still smiled, but lifted one corner of her mouth in a shy way.

"Faith still has my room."

"Well, you're not staying here. You can't buy me off with shiny beads and sweet talk. You got Angel breath. I'm not gonna just let you whack me back and forth like a rubber ball. I've got my pride, you know." Damn right!

"I understand." Buffy lowered her head and turned to walk away.

Or not.Spike caught up with her and took hold of her right hand.

"Clearly you don't, 'cause the whole 'having my pride' thing was just a smokescreen."

Buffy sighed with relief and gave him a heartfelt smile."Oh, thank God."

"I don't know what I would have done if you'd have gone up those stairs," he said with a husky voice that sent shivers down her spine.

She lifted her left hand and stroked his cheek in a comfortable way. She leaned into his body and slowly captured his lips with hers. Their lips melted together and their breaths mingled. Buffy's tongue sought entrance and Spike granted it immediately. As Buffy's fingers were tangled in his platinum blond curls, she pulled back a little.

"See, a 'hello' is sooo trivial." She whispered with a smile. "Let's go to bed and make out some more, shall we?"

Spike followed her obediently with an extra swing to his step. "We shall, love."