*Author's Note: I know that I am really bad about updating, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. You guys are wonderful!

~*~

Buffy was nervous about sending Xander and Willow out alone, but she knew that they were fairly capable of handling themselves. Plus, if the last few weeks were any indication Willow was turning into a majorly powerful witch and she’d be able to handle a few Watchers by herself.

She figured that they’d have to stick to their normal routines fairly closely if they were going to get the jump on the Council. Buffy didn’t want to be surprised by this next “test” and hoped that by pretending everything was hugs and puppies she could lull the Watchers into thinking she was oblivious to their next attack.

Spike was on his way to her mother’s gallery via the sewers. Travers also knew about the bleached vampire but the way Buffy saw it was that, even with the chip in his head, Spike would do better against any Watchers then her mother would.

Just then Giles limped slowly into the mansion’s great room, drawing Buffy out of her thoughts. “You ready?” she asked, standing up and moving to his aid.

“Yes. And not a moment to soon. One more hour in this place and I think I would have gone mad.” Giles, sighed, as he leaned onto Buffy, allowing her to take some of his weight off his left leg.

Buffy shot him a sympathetic glance, as she guided the two of them to the door, stopping only to grab the keys for the Desoto off the table. “You understand why we had to come here though? This was the only place we were sure they wouldn’t look.”

“Of course, Buffy. Logically, I know that. Emotionally, however…” he trailed off, and shrugged his shoulders. “Bad memories.”

She nodded, “I know,” she murmured. *I know.*

~*~

Willow and Xander had just reached the entrance to her dorm room, when someone shouted her name, causing her to turn quickly.

“Willow!” the voice sounded again. Looking around, she tried to hide her look of dismay when her eyes settled on Riley. Nudging Xander she set down the bag of bedding they had been carrying and turned to the tall soldier.

“Riley. Hi.” Her voice was flat, but Riley didn’t seem to notice.

“Xander,” the taller man greeted, and Xander nodded in response. “How was the celebration last night?”

“Good, good,” Willow told him, desperately trying to figure out a way out of the conversation. “Drinks, dancing, fun. Only the best for Buffy!” *I am sooo not good at this. What am I going to do? He’s going to know I’m lying.*

“What about you, Ry?” Xander cut in, “Did you have a fun night?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. After I saw you guys at the Bronze I headed home and graded some papers. The exciting life of a T.A.,” Riley said, looking around Willow and Xander. “Speaking, of. Is Buffy around? I wanted to talk to her about her last exam.”

“Uh – ” Willow started, but stopped when she couldn’t think of anything to say.

“You know, I think she was going to have lunch with her Mom. Celebrate the engagement sort of thing.” Xander smiled, “But we’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”

Riley sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, but thankfully didn’t push any farther. “Okay, great. See you guys later.” With that, the soldier took off.

Willow and Xander looked at each other for a moment before grabbing their bags and rushing upstairs.

Unlocking the door and pushing her way through, Willow dropped her bag, and then locked the door again once Xander was in the room. “That was close,” she said.

“No kidding,” Xander agreed. “What do you think he wants with Buffy anyway?”

Willow shrugged, “I’m not sure. I mean, it could be one of two things. He really really likes her and just doesn’t know when to get the hint. Or, the commandos know she’s the Slayer and want to like, study her and stuff.”

“Well, no one is dissecting my friend. He’ll have to go through me first,” Xander declared.

“Don’t worry. I think Buffy can handle herself against Riley. I mean, he is human.”

“Right.” Xander nodded, “I mean, he is human, right?”

~*~

Buffy locked the door firmly behind her, after assuring Giles she wouldn’t be gone all day. The hotels in Sunnydale were not the nicest, but it would do for now. Giles was going to call Wesley and see what he could find out about the tests, but Buffy wanted to get her mother to safety. And she still needed to talk to Spike.

Spike.

What was she going to do about Spike. She had definitely kissed him, that’s for sure. And if she was completely honest with herself she *definitely* wanted to kiss him again. *Okay, but that’s not so bad, right Buf? I mean, Spike’s got a chip in his head, so it would only be nice kissing. Not, evil kissing. And, hey, that’s kind of like he’s almost not really technically evil. So, bonus points there.*

She sighed, and climbed into the front seat of the big black car. Giles had driven to the hotel, but Buffy was pretty sure she could get the car to the gallery. She wanted to stop at the butcher’s first, though. She wasn’t sure when the last time Spike had eaten anything was. Somehow or another, her thoughts always came back to him.

*Let’s weigh the pros and cons here. He’s a vampire. So, definite con. But he has a chip, so maybe that would be a pro. And he’s really, really good looking. So, another pro. He tried to kill my friends. Con. Great kisser. Pro.*

“Aaaaahhhhh!” she yelled in frustration, banging her hand down on the steering wheel, and swerving the car slightly when the horn blared. “Who am I kidding? I’ve got the hots for Spike. But I don’t know what I can do about it. Probably nothing.”

Spotting a parking space in front of the butcher shop, Buffy threw the car into reverse and tried to maneuver the beast of a car into the spot.

“Forward. Reverse. Forward. Reverse. There!” Pulling the keys out of the ignition, Buffy climbed out of the car. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, she admired her handiwork. “Not bad, if I do say so myself,” she remarked, dusting off her hands. She didn’t seem to notice that the front wheel was sitting on top of the curb.

Buffy pushed the door open and nodded to Jerry, the butcher. She had a tab here, from when Angel was sick and Giles was here often enough to get blood for Spike, so she could just add this onto her bill.

A few minutes later, Buffy was heading down the street to her Mother’s gallery. She’d decided to leave the car in front of the butcher’s just to be on the safe side. Besides, Buffy had made it all the way there and it wasn’t worth the risk of losing her parking space.

Trying to sort through the many emotions in her head, Buffy was startled when she crashed into someone walking down the sidewalk. Clutching the bag of blood tightly so that she didn’t drop it, Buffy reached out with her other hand to steady herself. Grabbing the arm of the person she had bumped into she looked up and bit back a curse when she saw who it was.

“Riley,” Buffy ground out. She was trying very hard to be civil and not let him know that she knew that he was some evil soldier guy who dissected vampires for fun. “Whatcha doin’ here?” she chirped, trying to sound cheery.

He smiled, “Just grabbing a bite to eat that didn’t come from the cafeteria.” He brandished a take out bag from one of the small cafés as proof. “You?”

“Same,” she said, hoisting her non-descript brown paper bag full of pigs blood against her hip. *That’s not a total lie,* she thought. *I mean, it is kind of food. And it’s definitely not from a cafeteria.*

“Yeah, that’s what Willow and Xander said.” He smiled, “So, did you tell your mom about the engagement yet?”

*He talked to Willow and Xander?* Buffy could not believe this guy’s tenacity. “Uh, yeah. We told her last night. She just loves William. I’m actually going to meet them right now though, so if you’ll excuse me.” Buffy went to sidestep around him, but Riley didn’t seem to get the hint. Her smile faded. “Riley?” she asked impatiently.

“Buffy?” he echoed her, not seeming to catch her drift.

Motioning up and down, she smiled, trying her best to seem disarming. “You’re kind of in my way.” She really didn’t want to lose her temper, and was starting to get upset because she was only one building away from the gallery. *So close…* Moving around him, Riley turned with her so that she was now facing the way she had come. “It was… good to see you again, Riley. I’ll catch you around.”

His hand on her arm stopped her and she looked up to see a speculative frown on his face.

“Look, Buffy. Maybe I’m being to forward here. Or maybe I’ve just taken one to many psych classes, but is everything alright?”

Buffy looked at him suspiciously. Switching the bag’s weight to her other hip, she nodded, trying to figure out where he was going with this line of questioning. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. It’s just, when I saw you with that Spike guy last night, I got worried.”

“Worried?” Buffy echoed. She pulled her sunglasses off and dumped them into her bag as the sun dipped behind some clouds, trying to figure out what Riley really meant.

“He just doesn’t seem like your type – ” Riley began. He cut off suddenly, frowning at something behind him.

Buffy started to turn to see what he was looking when Spike sidled up next to her. *Is he crazy? What the hell does he think he’s doing? Trying to commit suicide?!* Spike was walking down the sidewalk.

*IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING DAY!!*

“Spike!” she practically shouted. “What? How? What?”

“Miss me that much, princess?” Spike smirked, dropping a kiss onto her forehead, as he draped an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t look so shocked, pet. I got worried, you were gone a while, figured I’d come looking for you. I’ve heard weird stories about this town.”

Looking up to the sky, Buffy prayed that the sun would stay behind the clouds a little longer. “Sorry, just ran into Riley here,” she told him.

“I can see that,” Spike said, completely ignoring Riley’s presence. “Mum’s waitin’ for us, luv. And we’re supposed to meet my Da’? See if he, uh, spoke to that wedding coordinator, ‘bout the party, yeah?”

“Mum?” Riley asked.

Buffy looked around frantically as she tried to think of a way out of this. *Quick thinking Buffy, that’s my name. Think!*

“Oh, Spike just means my Mom. I told you they were close. She works right here. Why don’t you come see the gallery?” With barely a breath, and without waiting to see if he would follow, Buffy grabbed Spike’s hand and practically pushed him into the gallery seconds before the sun broke through the clouds.

Sighing with the relief, she placed the bag behind the counter before realizing that Riley had indeed followed them into the gallery.

*Can't I just kill him.*