Harmony was bustling in the early afternoon, and Spike noticed Buffy’s excited reaction to the hubbub. Grabbing his hand as they pushed through the sea of people, Buffy walked toward a small flower shop. Spike rolled his eyes when he saw the girlish sparkle in her eyes.

“Do I really have to go in there with you, pet?”

Buffy stuck her bottom lip out in a full pout, causing Spike to sneer playfully back at her.

“Oh, look at that lip! Gonna get it…gonna get it….”

Caught up in their passionate kiss, Buffy and Spike were oblivious to the figures that stood gawking at them on the street.

“Ethan! What in God’s name do you think you’re doing with my wife? Get off of her,” a smarmy older man’s voice said.

Breaking their embrace, Buffy and Spike stared angrily at the growing group that was clustering around them. Spike’s eyes glanced from person to person, and then back to Buffy.

“Love, I think we should just finish up our business and head back.”

“You, know, we wouldn’t have this problem if you had just started watching ‘Port Charles’ instead…at least they have vampires.”

“How…Buffy, pet…are you a closet soap watcher?”

Before Buffy could respond, the smarmy older man grabbed her wrist and pulled her to himself. Spike’s nostrils flared in his rage, and he leapt at the man, knocking him onto the ground. Buffy could have sworn she saw a brief glimmer of yellow in Spikes’ eyes as he tackled the man, but decided not to mention it. Standing back up, Spike grabbed Buffy’s hand, seemingly checking her arm for any indication that she was injured.

“You alright, love?”

When Buffy nodded, he turned back to the man he had knocked to the ground.

“You will stay away from her, Julian. Don’t care if you are a sodding Crane, Theresa doesn’t want you, she never did, and you bloody well better give her an annulment or I’ll rip your throat out.”

An attractive black woman clothed in a doctor’s coat helped Julian up, all the while staring at Spike.

“Ethan! What has gotten into you?”

“Just seeing how things really are for once, Eve. And I’m bloody sick of my usual namby-pamby boo-hooing.”

Straightening his suit coat, Julian scowled at Spike and Buffy.

“And what about Gwen, hmm? Just leaving your intended for my…” he trailed off when Spike growled at him, “with uh, Theresa?”

“Gave Gwen her walking papers this morning, which is what I’ll be needing from you right off.”

“But the little tamale is carrying my child…I think I still have some right to….”

“Nope. Not yours, mate. The little nibblet growing in her is all mine, so you can just sod off.”

A tall, voluptuous blonde woman shook her head at Spike.

“Ethan…the accent…attacking Julian…this isn’t like you…are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Fine, Sheridan. Better than ever, actually. Finally made the right choice, didn’t I, pet?”

Buffy smiled and nodded when Spike turned to her. He pecked her on the cheek before turning his attention back to the confused group.

“Thought so. At any rate, that daft cow is the reason that my paternity information was leaked to the tabloids…her and that confounded whore of a mother she has.”

Julian’s eyes squinted at Spike.

“Becky did this?”

“Yeah, mate, ‘fraid so. And Sheridan, that Beth character is a sodding loon. Someone should kill her off before she steals an infant or something. Eve, you bloody well know that you’re still in love with this wonderful specimen of a man,” he said, pointing at Julian, “and you’re obviously in love with her, Julian, so quit your flitting around and get rid of your spouses so you can get together already. Lord knows someone deserves a bit of happiness around here.”

Spike grinned at the group’s stunned expressions and grabbed Buffy’s hand, turning again to the flower shop.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some shopping that we really need to finish.”

--


Tabitha sighed and shook her head as she covered up the divining bowl in her kitchen with a sheet.

“Oh, hell's bells, what are those two doing? Those secrets have been brewing for ages and in one fell swoop, he botches all of my work! And that damned Grace is on her way home...I'm sure she'll decide that I've gone far too long without having one of her infernal tomato soup cakes...Lucy Ricardo caused less havoc when she was smuggling cheese back from Europe than that damned Grace Bennet does. And it's never for the side of evil, oh no, she always seems to muddle up my plans for mayhem and destruction by popping over...oh, Timmy, this is all too much for me. Would you be a dear and fetch me a fresh Martimmi?”

Timmy stared up at her as she wrung her hands in frustration. Grabbing the shaker off of the counter, he mixed a quick batch of his classic drink and strained it into a glass for Tabitha.

“What’s the matter, Tabby? Timmy knows that it has to be more than a few secrets coming out early.”

“It is Timmy…I’m afraid that unless we can get some connection with that other dimension, something might go wrong when we send Buffy and Spike back.”

“What does Timmy’s Princess mean?”

“That’s the rub, Tim-Tim," she said, sipping the Martimmi in her hand, "I’m not quite sure what may happen.”


--




**Note, after reading some of the comments (especially after I posted the Martimmi recipe), I decided to clue you all in on what Tabitha loathes so very much.

Grace’s Infernal Tomato Soup Cake

Ingredients:
· 2 cups flour
· 1 cups sugar
· 4 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoons allspice
· 1 teaspoon cinnamon
· 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
· 1 can (10 oz) condensed tomato soup
· 1/2 cup butter
· 2 eggs
· 1/4 cup milk
· Pinch of nutmeg
· Pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. Measure dry ingredients into large bowl. Add soup and butter and beat at low speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and milk. Beat until well blended, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Pour into pans and bake 35-40 minutes. Let stand in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting.