"Growing Up"

by goldenpuppies at heart

disclaimer: Buffy, Spike, Dawn, and the rest of the cast of characters we've come to know and love, belong to Joss Whedon and possible other copyright holders. I don't own them. Please don't sue. I only borrowed the characters for the story.

rating: pg-13

summary: Buffy and Spike have been friends since they were young. But, just as things are going well, Buffy's life takes a turn forever. Mostly B/S, but might hint at X/A and W/T! PG-13 for some language.

timeline: No real timeline...AU fanfic, will merge into the show, but not directly the way the show goes.

archive: please don't without expressed permission.

notes: I started writing this fanfic a while back, but then became very busy and stopped writing it. I remember most of what I was going to do, but I still have to write it.

Prologue

Wednesday, June 17, 1987

Early evening...

William walked into the room just in time to catch the six year old girl spinning out of control. Shocked, he helped her up, and led her over to the bed. "What the HECK are you DOING?!" he said angrily to the young girl.

"I was just dancing," she responded, her eyes welling up with tears. William watched as the tears rolled down her face slowly and dribbled down her chin. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, Buffy. I guess I was just frustrated." He said, watching as she wiped the tears off of her face. Hands still wiping her face, she gave him a confused look.

"What does ferustreated mean?" William just rolled his eyes, sending her his patented 'I'll-tell-you-when-you're-older' look. He then glanced around the room.

"So, um...tell me again what you did in here?" Her room looked like a tornado had touched down and gone through it.

"I was just dancing," she repeated, but this time it was in a much smugger and irritating tone. William glared at her. How was it that even when she was upset and crying that she could still be annoying? He rolled his eyes again. He just didn't understand girls.

"Your mother and father invited me and my father to dinner. She sent me up here to tell you its ready and you should come down now." Buffy hopped off of her bed, and went to the door. Hand on the doorknob, she turned back to look at Spike and smiled shyly.

"William? I-I just wanted to say...thank you." She said quietly before turning around and opening the door.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, kid." He said, coming to stand beside her at the door. "Now can we please go downstairs and eat? I'm starving."

Her cute little shy smile faded. Lifting her fist, she hit him as hard as she could on his arm. He raised his eyebrows at her, staring at the triumphant smile on her face. Chuckling softly, he led her down the stairs, all the while rubbing the arm she hit, just to keep the triumphant smile there.

"Never doubt the power of the small," She whispered to him proudly as they entered the dining room.