AU/All-human; Spuffy two-shot

Disclaimer: The characters contained within were not originally created by me; otherwise, I'd be rich.

Chapter 1

"I will always choose him."

Buffy stood to punctuate her statement. She left her coffee cup on the table and turned to leave. Part of her would have liked to throw its contents in his face, but she'd emptied the cup just a few minutes before he'd made his ridiculous suggestion.

"Buffy, don't leave like this. I didn't mean….Come on, Buffy!"

She gave her head a slight turn back over her right shoulder towards him as she made her way to the door. "Always," she whispered.

Buffy knew Angel had heard her.

She'd meant what she'd said to him. There was no denying that Angel would always be her first love, possibly her only love. No one, not even Spike, could touch that. But Spike had been the only one to stick with her, and she was going to stick by him. If she needed any kind of support whatsoever, she knew she could count on Spike to provide it. She would always choose him over anyone else. Even Angel.

The Espresso Pump was only a short walk from where she lived on Revello, that's why she'd chosen it. She wasn't interested in going anymore out of her way for Angel ever again. When she reached the door to the house, she pushed it open. Spike had left the door ajar for her. He knew she'd be back. He trusted she would.

"That was quick. What did he want to talk to you about?" Spike called out.

He wasn't in the living room when she'd entered. It sounded to Buffy as though his voice was coming from the kitchen and she followed it.

"He wanted me to consider reconciliation," she sighed approaching the kitchen counter.

He was slicing tomatoes for a sandwich, which he suspiciously caught her eyeing.

"Wanna bite?" He gestured toward the sandwich with the hand holding the knife.

Her mood brightened. "Definitely!"

"So, what else did he say?"

"Don't interrupt; I'm about to bite into this perfect specimen of a sandwich," she nudged.

"Hey! That's still mine, y'know. Just sharing is all." Spike grabbed at the sandwich just as Buffy was putting it up to her mouth for another sample.

"Ugh," she said licking an errant spot of mayonnaise from her finger. "He just wants to try again. That's all." He held out the sandwich to offer her another bite. She took it and swallowed before she spoke. "He wants me to move out of here," she whispered, as if it would be less hurtful presented at a lower volume.

Spike took a swig of beer from his bottle, his jaw squaring off as he swallowed was the only readable expression on his face. Buffy hadn't noticed the bottle on the counter until he'd brought it to his lips. Of course, now she had to get herself a drink, too. But as if reading her mind, Spike tilted the bottle towards her. She accepted it with a smile.

"What did you say?"

"I told him that that was ridiculous, that - "

"The 'reconciliation' or the moving out part?"

"Uh….Well, both." Buffy set the bottle back down on the counter. "I mean, I guess at the time I was referring to us getting back together; but, by the end of it, I was meaning…leaving."

"I don't want you to leave." Spike shook his head and spoke softly, putting the sandwich down. He reached passed Buffy and grabbed a paper towel from the holder and wiped his hands.

"Spike, I said I told him it was out of the question." Her eyes followed him around the kitchen. Spike was pacing now, thinking, unsure of what he wanted to say next. "Spike, I'm not moving out." He stopped at the sink, bracing himself against the edge with his hands, and turned his head to look at her. "For one thing," Buffy said with a sly smile, "you wouldn't be able to afford the rent without me."

His right eyebrow arched in response. He turned toward her, more relaxed, and leaned back against the sink. "What else did you say?"

"Angel wanted me to make a choice. He wanted me to think about the past, and the time we invested in our relationship, and he wanted me to choose the life we'd made before all this mess with Faith." Buffy nonchalantly picked up the beer bottle and took another sip. Spike watched her intently. "I said I would always choose you…and then I threw my coffee cup at him."

Spike's eyes lit and he straightened his stance. "Really?"

"Well, no. I finished it before we got to that point. But I really wanted to, and it would have been perfect, too!"