AN: Another update already? Wow... hehe. Hope you enjoy. I loved your reviews, keep them coming! And to answer if will we see more of future Angel yet, that's still undecided... for now I think we'll have fun in season four. Enjoy!

Time Bomb

By Secret Slayer

Chapter Three

"He was..." Buffy paused, her eyes widening with awe. "Amazing."

Giles shifted uncomfortably, frowning at the slayer on his sofa. It had been a shock to wake in the early hours of the morning to an empty apartment and, more importantly, an empty chair where only loose ropes draped over the arms. His immediate response was to call Buffy, to warn her that Spike had escaped, which she had groggily responded to. Apparently, she had taken the vampire on patrol and then allowed him to sleep on her sofa, which to Giles' frustration, was where the vampire remained.

"Well Buffy, I can only imagine he has some interesting and new fighting techniques..."

"Giles, I've never seen anyone move like that," Buffy quickly said. She stood from her seat, suddenly remembering the buzz she had felt last night. "And there was this one moment, when we were surrounded and we just moved together like we'd been doing it for years. I've never had a partner-"

"A partner? Now Buffy, let's not forget who we're talking about. He's not Angel," Giles admonished, his face contorted in a fatherly scowl.

The mention of Angel instantly changed Buffy's mood. "I'm well aware of that Giles," she snapped, her face turning a shade pinker from anger. "I'm just saying, this Spike is totally different to the one we knew and loathed. I think I could learn a lot from him."

Giles pursed his lips, "Very well, but Buffy I only say this because I care for you like I would a daughter. Please don't allow yourself to get attached to another vampire. That path only leads to heartbreak."

Buffy scoffed, "Please Giles, the guy might sport some wicked new moves but it is still Spike."

With that, Buffy grabbed her jacket and headed to the door. She stopped briefly, turning to smile kindly at the older man, who looked at her with equal fondness.

"Trust me Giles," and with that she left.

Giles simply stared at the closed door, a deeply unsettling feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

Spike had been disappointed to find out Joyce was away for the weekend. He had missed the lady and hoped to spend some time with her, even if only for a short while. After all, he still didn't know if he was going to suddenly pop back to Wolfram and Hart at any moment, even if his gut told him those chances were pretty unlikely.

He hadn't really slept and when the phone had rung in the early hours, he wasn't at all surprised to hear Giles' worried tone on the other end of the line. Dutifully, Buffy had gotten herself out of bed and whilst he pretended to be asleep, he could feel her linger as she watched him, before heading out into the sunny morning.

That had been over an ago. Spike was well aware of the influence this Giles had on this Buffy. He had no doubts that if Giles decided Spike untrustworthy, this Buffy wouldn't be shutting any doors in the older man's face. He hated to admit it, but the longer Buffy was away, the more nervous he became. He didn't want to mess things up with the slayer already. Love's bitch and all that, it was always about the girl.

And last night had been glorious. It had started with a simple staking of a vampire and he had shown the slayer a couple of tricks he knew she'd like – one's he had picked up in LA after Sunnydale. Although she had been wary at first, her love for the fight soon had her guard down and to his delight, she watched him with fascination.

But then the fun had really started.

A group of a dozen vampires had cornered them from all angles. He could hear the way Buffy's heart quickened pace. She wasn't as confident as she was before the battle with the First.

A vampire made the first move and wordlessly the blonde duo had fallen in step, fighting side by side, dancing with deadly blows beneath the moonlight. Of course, Spike could see he was the reason they never lost the upper hand. This Buffy was strong, but she lacked the finesse and strength he had remembered in those last few months. He didn't tell her that of course – she was enjoying herself. Smiling wickedly and throwing witty puns and punches like she had always done. At one point, Spike had bumped into her hard enough to almost knock her over, after being swung around by a particularly burly vampire.

In that moment, he realised that he didn't have a chip like before and from the lack of scars on his skin, he knew he was definitely in his past body. (The fight with the First had left some battle wounds he'd sport for centuries.) So he could only assume that time travel either fried it or removed it somehow. Strange how he still kept his soul though. Maybe The Powers That Be were involved?

He wasn't one to dwell on technicalities.

At least he wouldn't have to relive the ordeal of it malfunctioning and Buffy deciding to remove it. He was just grateful that if Buffy had noticed his slip up, she didn't seem to care.

And then all that was left was dust and a panting slayer.

"That was incredible," she had said. "How did you learn to do that?"

Spike had shrugged, looking at the ring of dusty remains around them. "I can show you sometime, you know, if I'm not yanked back to the future."

Buffy hadn't replied, suddenly seeming cautious as though she had already said or opened up too much to the vampire. He was used to it. Buffy and her bloody barriers!

To his surprise, she had insisted that he sleep on her couch. Apparently so she could keep an eye on him and to give Giles a break. He knew deep down it was because she thrived on danger and excitement and unintentionally, he was delivering everything she wanted on a plate. He was safe because he had a soul. He was dangerous because he was unknown. She was more than ready to take advantage of that.

Spike was snapped out of his thinking by the sound of the door opening. He sat up on the sofa to see Buffy creep in, dressed in a lilac skirt and white blouse, her long golden hair pulled into a high ponytail. He quirked an eyebrow at the little sandals she was wearing – not exactly shoes of a warrior. Oh, how she'd change in the months to come.

"Oh you're awake," Buffy said, hanging her bag on the coat rack by the door. "Are future vamps not nocturnal anymore?"

"Couldn't sleep pet, too much to think about," he said, sitting awkwardly on the sofa, not really sure how exactly he was supposed to behave. He was neither friends nor enemies with this Buffy at this point, where the bloody hell did that leave him?

Buffy smiled, holding back a giggle. "Wow, a Spike that thinks."

The vampire gave his best glare in her direction and she held her hands up in mock surrender, "Sorry, my bad. Still not used to all this."

A few moments of silence ticked by, before they both felt equally uncomfortable. Buffy began to regret inviting him home. What exactly had she hoped for? That he'd confess everything about the future just because she'd offered him a comfy couch to sleep on. And it wasn't like he was hiding things from her to harm her, or so he would have her believe.

"I have blood," she suddenly blurted out. "In my fridge," she clarified.

"Sounds like a plan," Spike said and stood from the couch, moving past Buffy fluidly.

He didn't think about moving around her house, after all, he had practically lived there in the past. So when he opened the fridge and took out a mug, helping himself and warming it up in the microwave, he was met by a surprised slayer, arms folded and both eyebrows sky high.

"You know your way around," she commented.

He sipped his blood and shrugged, "Like I said before, we get on okay in the future."

"At what point exactly, do you stop becoming a pain in my ass?" Buffy asked, watching him cautiously.

Spike smirked and shook his head with a chuckle, "Now I never said I stopped being that."

Buffy relaxed and laughed, "Well, at least the future isn't totally screwed up."

"I don't think I'm going to get back Buffy," Spike said seriously, placing his mug on the kitchen surface. "What does that mean?"

Buffy frowned and bit her bottom lip, thinking. She looked to him and shrugged, "Well, it means that as long as you are here and not a threat, we can work together, maybe like we do in the future. You have a soul Spike; you're not my enemy anymore."

Spike smiled warmly, before a thought occurred to him. "Right, but if I do get sent back, there are certain events I'd like to put a stop to. You got a pen and paper luv? And an envelope?"

Buffy looked around, "I'm sure mom has some somewhere. Wait there."

Not long after, Buffy returned with the required stationary. Spike took them and frantically wrote down all the things he wanted to prevent that wouldn't cause any nasty consequences. Once he had finished, he folded the paper, put it in the envelope and sealed it. He slid it across the counter towards Buffy.

"That's everything you need to know," he said, but when she went to take it, he quickly spoke up. "Only open it if I leave. You don't need to know all that unless you have to."

"Gee Spike, ominous much?"

"Just doing what I have to pet."

"I find serious Spike wiggy, feel free to insult me at any time," Buffy chided with humour in her voice.

Spike opened his mouth to do exactly that when the phone started ringing. Buffy frowned, not expecting the call. Without a word, she disappeared into the lounge to grab the phone and speak privately, but Spike could make out Willow's tone on the other side, even if he couldn't quite catch the conversation. A few minutes later, Buffy returned.

"That was Willow. She's having a hard time with Oz leaving. But I guess you already know all this, having lived it before," Buffy smiled slightly, feeling silly for sharing old news with the future vampire.

Spike shrugged, "You should go and see Red. Help her out."

"It's fine. I need to be here to ..."

"Make sure I'm not evil?"

Buffy looked at him guiltily before continuing, "Well yeah. It's okay, she's going to see Xander. She did sound kind of pissed that I'm not seeing her though. I did the right thing, didn't I?"

Was Buffy asking him for advice? Spike frowned and so did Buffy, clearly confused by her own words. Spike looked at the slayer and wandered what he should say; he had a nagging feeling that Buffy should see Willow. An old memory tugging at the back of his brain, but it was foggy and the closeness of the slayer was making that even foggier. He wanted her to himself. Soul or no soul, he would always be a selfish bastard. It was part of his charm.

"You did the right thing," Spike said quickly. His outburst made Buffy jump. "I could be sent back and evil me could be wandering around your house looking at your dainties. Best thing to keep an eye on me, just in case."

It wasn't a complete lie.

Buffy nodded righteously. "You're right McFly. She'll just have to deal."

Spike nodded with equal enthusiasm, burying the doubt to a place very dark and deep.

"So Slayer, what are we doing today?" he asked cheerfully, sitting atop the kitchen counter as he had done many times when visiting her mother before she was too ill.

"Erm, I hadn't really thought that through..." she admitted.

"How about we train?" Spike offered.

If he was going to be sent home, he wanted to teach Buffy as much as possible before that happened. Maybe she would stand a better chance against Glory. That, and he missed being close to her, the smell of her hair, the sound of her heart, the...

"Hey, earth to Blondie," Buffy clicked her fingers in front of his face. When did she get that close? "I said okay."

"Right then, get your sweats on pet. This won't be like one of those namby pamby sessions you have with the old man," Spike said confidently.

Buffy gulped audibly, before rising to the challenge. "Bring it on."

Spike smirked, "You sure you've got the stones to take me on?"

"Oh, I've got plenty of stones. I've got ... a whole bunch of stones," she retorted, then turned to get changed, but paused before she was out of sight. "I know your chip isn't working Spike. You shoved me pretty hard last night. You try anything, I will kill you. Soul or not."

"Yeah? You're all talk Slayer," Spike replied, but his tone was reserved, respecting her threat as empty as he knew it was. She couldn't kill him without a soul; she sure as hell wouldn't do it now. Not that he planned anything remotely devious of course.

She glared at him briefly and then left to change.

Sparring had been a brilliant plan, except Buffy's house wasn't really equipped to deal with two super strengthened beings throwing each other around. Naturally, Buffy had suggested they take it to the basement after breaking one of her mother's vases.

Spike was thrown into the wall, leaving a decent sized crack in it. Buffy cringed.

"My mother's going to kill me," she groaned.

Spike jumped up and in the process shrugged his duster off, bouncing on his feet like a boxer. He shook out his shoulders, relaxing his muscles and for a moment his eyes flashed yellow, only goading Buffy more. She brought her fists up, smirking wickedly at him and in that moment, he wished to all that was unholy, that he wouldn't be sent back to his time. He missed dancing with the slayer.

"Come on vampire, is that all you've got? Thought this was supposed to teach me something?"

"I'm not even warmed up yet," he said, charging at her and grabbing her around the waist, lifting her over his shoulder.

Buffy yelped, but reached and pulled his hair. He growled, but it gave her the chance to wiggle free, sliding out of his grip, landing on her hands and somersaulting upright. They were back to a face off.

"I underestimated you luv," Spike drawled.

Buffy shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly, "You always were pretty slow."

Spike took the bait and they charged back at each other simultaneously. When Spike reached out to grab her shoulders, he had fully intended on flipping her over his shoulder again and knocking the wind out of her to teach her a lesson in over confidence. But something... changed. As his hands touched her skin an electric spark ran through him and from the slayer's wide eyes, he knew it had happened to her too. He tried to focus on the fight, but his love for her became overpowering, more so than normal and then everything seemed to melt away except from Buffy. As though a magnetic force was pulling him down, he landed on one knee, removing the ring from his finger without thought.

Buffy's eyes lit up with joy and nothing seemed more right to him at that exact moment.

"Buffy, will you marry me?"

Buffy swooned, resting her hand gently against his face. "It's just so sudden. I don't know what to say."

"Just say yes, and make me the happiest man on earth," Spike replied automatically. Hadn't he said those words before? Why was he saying them anyway?

"Oh Spike, of course it's a yes!"

Spike beamed. He slid the skull ring on her finger and stood, letting the force of whatever was controlling him take Buffy into his arms and kiss her breathless.

Even through the veil of magic, he acknowledged this was probably what that nagging feeling earlier about Willow had been.

Sod it, I'm going to marry the slayer.

TBC...

AN: What did you think? I hope you liked my Something Blue surprise... Please review and maybe there'll be another update tomorrow :) Hope you enjoyed!