Spike sat in his chair watching Passions when the door opened. He frowned, knowing it wasn't quite time for Tara to be off work yet. None of the Scoobies had been quite as friendly to him after Tara moved in. Not that they had been friendly to begin with. It was funny, the opposite should have happened.

"Spike?"

p He ignored the voice, pretending for just a moment longer that he was alone in his crypt.

"Hey, Spike."

"'lo, Red. What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

Willow looked a little nervous. "I like what you've done with the place," she commented, looking around. There were heavy curtains on the windows, and fresh flowers all about the place. It looked much homier than it had before.

"Glinda decided that if she was to live here, it would have to be, what was the word she used, 'habitable.' Now, what do you want?"

"Can't a girl just stop by to say hello?"

Spike looked at her with disdain. "It's been over a year, Red, and you haven't come by once."

Willow sighed. "Is Tara home?"

"Does it look like she's home?'

"Well, where is she?"

"At work. Someone has to buy the blood around here, and vampires usually don't have an easy time finding jobs in the classifieds."

"Well, when does she get home?" Willow pressed.

"Four."

"Thanks." Willow hesitated a moment. "Um, Spike? There's something else I'm here for."

"I don't do charity," Spike said, assuming she meant he was wanted for patrolling.

"That's not what I was gonna say. I was gonna say that Buffy wants to talk to you."

"Does she now? And I wonder what about? Probably going to yell at me for some reason or another."

"That's not it!" Willow was getting aggravated now. "Why are you assuming that everyone is all hostile towards you? You don't even stop to think that there could be other things!"

"Well, I don't know, maybe it's because everyone has been 'all hostile' towards me!" he shouted back at her.

"Well, Buffy wants to talk to you, and I want to talk to Tara. So I'll be back with Buffy after sunset, and we'll all say what we need to say." And with that, Willow stormed out of the crypt, slamming the door behind.

Spike sat back down in his chair and turned his attention back to the tv. Why was it that everyone was always interrupting him in the middle of his show? "No, you stupid bint, can't you tell he's just lying so you'll sleep with him?" he told the characters on the tv.

He wondered what Buffy could possibly have to say to him. And Willow to Tara, for that matter. He really hoped they weren't trying to take her away from him.

Sometimes his life felt like a soap opera. With all the hostility pointed at him. Making him out to be the bad guy, and everyone else to be victims. He sighed. He knew all this, Tara knew all this. What did it matter anymore? He had her, and that was all that was important for the time being. Besides the cliffhanger they had left him with on Dawson's Creek .

THE END