Emerald green eyes slowly opened into silent darkness, then squinted shut again; slowly reopening at the hint of an all to familiar scent. Faye Valentine stretched slowly, taking a deep breath, letting the aroma fill her sleepy senses a bit more; coffee and cigarettes. Eyeing the small alarm clock on the bedside table, Faye groaned. 7:00 AM, too damn early. She rolled back over, forcing her eyes shut once more, but to no avail. The invading aroma had all ready consumed her thoughts. Sighing she rolled out of bed. "Damn it Jet" Faye mumbled to herself. "Why in God's name are you up so early?"

Slipping out of her room Faye trudged down the hall and into the common room, a little surprised by the sight of the man seated on the old worn couch. It was none other than Spike Spiegel, and not Jet as she had assumed. With his bare feet propped on the coffee table, the lanky man wore a pair of lounge pants, no shirt; with a cup of coffee in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. Faye just stood there, staring blankly at him for a moment. Sometimes she had to remind herself that he was really there. It had been months since he had returned from his showdown with Vicious. One day he had just shown back up, no worse for wear, like nothing had ever happened. Jet hadn't questioned him about it once, but then again neither had she, though it was an on going battle with herself to keep her questions to herself.

Spike arched a slightly inquisitive eyebrow. "Mornin'" he mumbled, turning his attention back to his coffee.

Ignoring his half assed attempt at a greeting, Faye headed into the kitchen to fix herself a cup, returning and plopping down in the chair across from Spike. Shifting his attention back to her, he scowled slightly, watching as she took a drink. "I didn't make that for you."

Choosing to ignore his words for the second time in just a matter of minutes. Faye took another drink of the dark elixir whose inviting scent had roused her from a much needed sleep. "Why are you up so early?"

Spike reached over to the ashtray on the table, and snuffed out his smoke. "You mean to tell me you didn't hear all the racket Ed and Jet were making this morning? I figured that's why you were up at a reasonable hour like a responsible adult"

Faye scoffed at his remark "Please Spike, like you are ever up at this hour. Where are Jet and Ed anyways?"

"Well, they took off bright and early…meeting up with some old ISSP friend of Jet's or somethin'. They're gonna be gone all weekend"

"Really? Where'd they go?"

Draining the rest of his coffee, Spike laced his hands behind his head. "Camping."

Faye nearly spit out the coffee in her mouth as she swallowed hard, forcing it down. "Camping? What? Why?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders lazily. "Jet said something about Ed needing to unplug from the cyber world, and Ein is a dog, and should be exposed to the wilds, and blah blah blah. I kinda started to tune him out after he started in about man needing to get back to nature. I think he's starting to lose it, who am I to judge though. But hey, on the bright side, at least he didn't try to drag us along."

"So its just us here all weekend huh?"

Spike nodded "Yup…looks that way. Oh, and Jet made me promise that we wouldn't blow anything up, or ya know... kill each other."

Faye rolled her eyes. "What? Does he really think that we're that irresponsible?"

"Probably just you."

Shooting him a glare, Faye reached across the table with and grabbed the pack of cigarettes that sat in the middle. Tapping one out, she slowly lit it and inhaled, tossing the pack back on the table.

Spike snatched the pack up as soon as it hit the table, shoving them in his pocket. "Those aren't for you either. Jesus Faye, do you always have to such a mooch!?"

She exhaled a small cloud of smoke. "Do you always have to be such a dick?"

Spike downed the rest of his coffee, and sat his cup down on the table, staring across at her. He really wanted to come up with a good come back, unfortunately all he managed was a meager "Bitch."

Snuffing out her smoke, Faye leaned over the table. "Idiot." With that, she rose to her feet, snatching up her coffee cup, and heading toward the kitchen for a refill.

"Slut."

Faye froze in her tracks, and spun around to face him. Coffee cup in one hand, the other firmly planted on her hip. She was half tempted to throw the mug at his head, but that would only further prove Jet's assumptions that they couldn't be left alone true. "What did you just say?"

Spike turned to face her over the back of the couch. "You heard me. You spend enough time in the god damn bathroom. There is a mirror in there ya know? I'm sure you've seen your reflection a time or two."

Faye made her way back into the room, setting her coffee cup down on the table, and coming to stop right in front of Spike who was still seated on the couch. So he thinks I'm a slut huh? She pushed his legs from the table, locking eyes with him in hopes of making him uncomfortable. Needless to say she was a bit taken back when he instead rose to his feet, and stood in front of her leaning in closer, their eyes still locked. Spike smirked, almost arrogantly. If she wants to make this a game, I'm gonna win.

Running her finger tips idly along his forearm, Faye flashed him her best innocent smile. As Spike loosely placed his hands on her hips, both of them had all ready decided that they refused to give a victory to the other. Letting her fingers slide down his forearm once more, Faye smirked. Blindly, yet with seemingly expert precision, she allowed the tip of one finger to slide down his wrist, and hook into the waist band of his pants. At that moment Spike conceded defeat, and turned his head, breaking their staring contest. Finally! He's such a stubborn shit.

Spike let out a small relieved sigh, but immediately tensed when he felt Faye's breath warm against his neck for a brief moment, and her voice soft in his ear. He swallowed hard. "I call the shower first." And with that she stepped back, and headed down the hall, pausing for a moment to look back at him over her shoulder with a smirk, before disappearing from sight.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, Spike chuckled dryly to himself as he sat back down on the couch. This was certainly going to be a long weekend.