Title: Venus, the Planet of Love

Author: JayBee

Rating: PG-13 (mild language)

Category: Vignette; Buffy/Spike 'shipper story

Setting/Spoilers: No particular spoilers, post-Chipped Spike

Summary: Just a bit of S/B fluff.

Feedback: I thrive on feedback. :o) You can R&R or e-mail me at; jaybee_bug@yahoo.com

Distribution Statement: I'd be honored, of course. Just be sure to keep my name & e-mail attached.

Disclaimer: Let's see…there's this guy named Joss Whedon an' he owns Buffy Summers and friends… just thought I'd tell you. ;)

A/N: I wrote this just before "Crush" aired. It's based on the idea that INSTEAD of his secret being told, Spike continued to try and gain Buf's trust as a friend. Oh, yeah, and by the way-- this is my very first BtVS fic.

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The air that evening was crisp and sharp and carried a nippy breeze. Not exactly the most pleasant of evenings to be out and about, but duty calls, and since the world's evils took no holidays, neither did our Slayer.

Buffy was out on her usual patrol, of course. Spike had offered to come with her as she started out on her usual route, just in case she needed someone to 'watch her back'- she shrugged and agreed. Now they walked silently through the night, as the Slayer scanned the shadows carefully and was sure to always have a solid grip on the stake she had concealed in her jacket. It wasn't a very thrilling evening, demon-wise; just one solitary vamp at the start, and a whole lot of silence afterwards. Buffy sighed, slightly glad that it was such an uneventful night. Sometimes it was nice to just walk. You know, at least pretend she could have a normal life every once in a great while. Just take a walk with a . . .

Buffy caught herself trying to label the demon walking next to her as a friend. Jeez, how did she ever convince her mind of these things? She had been trying to pretend everything was normal and sane right now. How ridiculous. She was walking with a vampire-one who had tried many times to kill her, no less. One she had despised and disgusted and would of taken every single opportunity to humiliate, hurt, or kill, she got.

And yet that all seemed so distant now. Like a story she had read in a history book but never really took part of. Spike had changed so much ever since that chip got put in his head. Buffy never would have imagined a demon ever capable of undergoing so much change, and he never ceased to amaze her. Slowly she watched him change from the most brutal, merciless killer, thrilled with playing mind-games and feared by all, into the most whiny annoyment she'd ever been around, to a more sodden, dejected, gloomy, and moody demon, until finally his spiral downwards seemed to strike rock-bottom. He was far more quiet now, almost gentle, as if he had been humbled by his pathetic situation and now followed Buffy around like a domestic wolf with a muzzle- but how dramatically he'd change if that muzzle ever got removed, Buffy had no clue. She tended to think the wolf would take one look at freedom and make a run for it.

"Must be some party goin' on I wasn't invited to."

Buffy glanced at the vampire, his witty comment interrupting her contemplating.

"Guess so." She replied dryly, not really in the mood to attempt a more clever rebuttal.

The vampire stayed silent for a few beats, almost as if hesitant.

"You wanna stop to rest for a minute or somethin'?"

Buffy looked at him suspiciously. Lately she just hasn't gotten what was up with him at all. It was really . . . weird. He acted all nervous around her or something. Which was very bizarre, and a sharp contrast from the Spike she had come to love to hate . . .

"Sure, why not?" she said, not wanting to question him, as it would only make him stutter more.

"There's a . . ." he gestured his hands as if he was trying to come up with the right word-

"Bench. You know, over there."

"Ah," she said with understanding, spotting the bench he had been referring to.

Buffy gladly took a seat. She was beginning to get tired of the careful stalking. Spike sat on the opposite side.

They sat in the quiet of the night, each to their own thoughts, Buffy supposed. She didn't have a lot on her mind in particular. It wasn't a real harsh time or anything. A break in the storm of her never-ending battle in life. She just wanted to enjoy the peacefulness while it lasted. Although, admittedly, she was pretty curious about her Immortal enemy sitting next to her.

"Nice night." she commented. What was up with that? She was reduced to trying to make small talk on the weather to get the vampire talking. She should just keep her mouth shut and leave him to his own business. Whatever it was he did.

Spike nodded to either acknowledge or agree with her.

"The blackouts goin' on. It makes the stars more visible. Less light pollution." He explained. Buffy looked up, realizing his observation was correct.

"Oh yeah, huh? I didn't notice that."

She watched them for a moment. Normally the black sky was washed with a reddish brown by the horizon even during the darkest of night, and only the brightest stars were visible. But now, thousands more of the pinpricks of light were visible, all cramming into the sky, like silver glitter that had been spilt on a black sheet. If she squinted, she could just barely make out the swirly streak of the Milky Way across the sky.

"You know any constellations, Spike?" Buffy blurted out. She cursed herself as soon as she did. God! What a stupid thing to ask. Why the hell did she even ask it?

The vampire's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Uh . . . it's been a while since I've even looked at the stars . . ." he offered, and looked back up at them as if the answer lay there.

Buffy was thinking up some way to brush off her stupid question when the vamp reported,

"Atch! That's one. I know it is."

She tried to look in the general direction he was.

"What was it called . . . Osoris . . ."

"Orion." Buffy supplied.

"That's it. The hunter, right."

She nodded as she finally spotted the constellation herself.

Then he turned to face another part of the sky, muttering, and said,

"Yeah. And that's Cassiopeia. Let's see . . . some queen, I think, mother of Andromeda. There's some Andromeda cluster-thing around here too . . ."

Wow. He actually did know something about the stars. Buffy never would have guessed. Of course, it seemed even more unlikely he would be pointing them out to her on her request.

"And that's Ursa Major." he announced almost proudly.

"What? I never heard of that one. Were?"

"Right there, s' low on the horizon, that sort of rectangle shape . . ." he said, pointing.

Buffy strained to see what he was describing.

"No, don't see it."

He hmph'ed like she was being naive and explained,

"It doesn't work if you're trying to see it from over there. You got to be sitting in the same position to see were I'm poitin'."

"Oh," Buffy said, grinning, and slid over next to him, trying to follow were he was pointing.

"It's supposed to be a bear. The myth says they used to have long tails." He was saying, swallowing as Buffy leaned down to align herself exactly with his shoulder.

"That's, uh, how they were thrown into the sky . . ."

He cleared his throat. "An' the tail's those three bright stars."

"Ooh! I get it now," Buffy said, laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"That's the Big Dipper. You must of learned the name when they still called it by the old one."

"They changed it's name? Why the bloody hell would they want to do that?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. I don't know much 'bout the stars. I can't believe you do."

He seemed uncomfortable with her compliment and tried to sound annoyed.

"What's so far-fetched about that? Don't think I ever learn anything?"

"No, it's not that. It's just, c'mon-" she paused to look at him-

"Big Bad, learning all the constellations. Seems a little out of place for your reputation an' all."

"Well, once you've been around a while, you tend to collect some things, if you know what I mean."

Buffy nodded in understanding.

They allowed the silence to speak again for a moment.

"So, do you know why the bear was thrown up there in the first place?"

He seemed to concentrate again.

"Yeah . . . that boss-god, what's-his-face, Zeus I think. Chucked em' up there. To keep her son from killin' her or something. He was a hunter . . ."

His eyes lit up upon recalling the rest.

"And then he turned the son into a bear and threw em' up there too so they'd be together. That's it. Ursa Minor."

"Must be the Little Dipper. I get it. Were's that?"

He drew an invisible line across the sky.

"Follow the brightest star from the big one, in a straight line . . . there! Right to the tail of the small one."

Buffy smiled as she successfully found the Little Dipper.

"Jeez! That's some trick."

"Yeah, guess so, eh?" he said, encouraged by her approval.

She sighed, sinking deeper into her coat, and allowing herself to savor the moment. This was nice. It felt . . . normal. Sitting here at night in the park, watching the stars with . . .

"What is it?"

She had caught herself again before finishing the sentence, and somehow Spike seemed to have noticed her mental conversation. She looked up at him, unable to come up with a false answer, and instead admitted the truth.

"It's just sometimes you seem to know so much about humans, and act like it . . . I tend to forget you're . . ." she trailed off, not certain if she'd sound offensive.

"A blood-sucking demon," he finished for her, almost sounding bitter.

She nods. "Yeah."

"Sorry, Luv. Still dead inside, last time I checked." he said with a cocky smile, sounding more like the old Spike again.

Vampire. He's still a vampire, Buffy reminded herself. Maybe a little subdued now, but still without a soul.

They fell quiet after that for a while. There was nothing more to say, and Buffy was enjoying it- it was a comfortable silence.

She continued to gaze lazily at the sky and it's millions of white lights, until one caught her eye. It was stunningly bright- it had to of been the brightest one in the sky. She watched that one a while, mesmerized by it's slight twinkling.

"What's that one, Spike?" she muttered, pointing at the star.

He sighed. "That's Venus, the Planet of Love."

Buffy was surprised by his answer.

"I didn't know it was the Planet of Love."

He nodded. "Venus. She was a Roman goddess. Really just another name for Aphrodite, the Greek's version."

She watched him attentively, so he decided she wanted to hear more.

"Supposedly Aphrodite had no mother or father. Just rose out of the sea. People have some strange ideas, but whatever. That's were that bloody annoying Cupid-thing came from, 'sposted to be one of her sons. Venus was thought to be the most beautiful object in the sky, so was named after her…"

He chuckled darkly.

"Ironically, later when space travel was invented, we learned that Venus has one of the most deadly environments imaginable. Thick clouds of poisonous gasses that choke the ground below, turn it into a scorching wasteland. Rains sulfuric acid."

Buffy had been listening carefully throughout Spike's little lesson. It was odd to see him talking so much about something supposedly so petty, and to her of all people. He seemed lost in his thoughts.

"So the Planet of Love actually is a deadly wasteland," he concluded, turning his intense gaze to her. He seemed to be expecting her to say something, but she didn't know what.

"That is ironic."

That's right, Buffy, Spike thought. Ironic.

Probably as ironic as a demon falling for a Slayer.

She seemed to take no heed to his disappointed sigh.

Well. A vampire can wait.

It probably would be never, that a goddess would take notice of a monster.

Probably would happen as soon as bloody hell froze over.

~END