Hey everyone. Sorry I didn't update last week, I got sick and then it was Christmas and everything just got out of synch. But now I'm back on schedule, and what better way to celebrate my birthday than with an update for you lovely people (who will review your hearts out, no doubt)? With this chapter, keep in mind that this is pretty much my first time writing Spoby fluff, so if it's not that great I apologize. I just thought it would be nice to mix up the drama and tension with a little, well, you'll see. Please review and let me know what you think, even if it's constructive criticism; lord knows I need some help writing anything that isn't death and disaster. So, here you go, and I'll see you all next year! (By that I mean next week, obviously.)

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"How about we make this more interesting?" Spencer suggested five minutes later. "Raise the stakes."

Toby propped himself up on one elbow and surveyed the game board. "That's only because you're winning," he said with feigned bitterness.

Spencer snickered. "I told you I would."

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. It was still amazing to him how his life had suddenly become one of polar opposites: an evening spent tormenting people he disliked had faded into a night of frivolity with someone he loved. He still wasn't sure how Spencer felt about all this, but the fact that she was here with him was encouraging. If she wasn't on his side she would have run off to her friends as soon as she completed the mission – or, worse, she wouldn't have gone through with it at all. His mind drifted back to their matching black hoodies at the lair; even though they couldn't tell each other everything, this was a secret they could share. It made him happy, in a selfish kind of way, to know that he was privy to information about Spencer that her friends had no idea about.

Since he'd started his mission tonight, he'd found himself wondering what would have happened if Mona hadn't asked Spencer to join the team as well. He would still have accepted her offer, he knew that much, but it would have made things so much more difficult. Spencer meant the world to him, and by accepting Mona's offer he would have risked losing her. He was grateful they were in this together, but he was still uneasy; it was likely there'd come a day when Mona would ask him to go against Spencer, and he wasn't sure how he would react.

Pulling his thoughts back into the present, he smiled at Spencer. She was only wearing an old shirt and jeans, her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and she'd wiped off all of her makeup, but she was still stunning. He wondered, yet again, what he had done to deserve her – and what he'd have to do to show he was worthy of keeping her.

"So what were you thinking?" he prompted, thinking that he had already put everything on the line.

"Well." Spencer crossed her legs and regarded him calmly, her eyes shining in a way that made Toby's heart skip a couple beats. "For every time I get a word that scores higher than yours, you take off an item of clothing."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "You're actually suggesting we play strip Scrabble?"

"If you're scared…" she said teasingly.

"No," he said at once. "I'm not scared. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing."

"I do," she said, her voice low and seductive. "And for every time you get a word that scores higher than mine…"

She trailed off, pulling down the shoulder of her shirt to reveal the bare skin beneath. Toby's heart sped up and for a second he was tempted to forget the entire Scrabble game and just kiss her then and there. But he knew that when Spencer got into a competitive mood there wasn't much that could tear her away from it, so if he wanted to kiss her, he'd have to win first. Her single-minded stubbornness was one of the things that made her most endearing to him – when it wasn't driving him crazy.

"You've got yourself a deal," he said, sitting up so he could see the game board properly.

It was Spencer's move, so Toby leaned back as he watched her contemplate which word she was going to play. Her teasing smile fell away, to be replaced by a look of the utmost concentration. He had a feeling that the roof could start caving in and she wouldn't even blink until she'd finished her move. Slowly she placed down a series of letters, placing each one with such care that Toby thought a single breath of wind could upset the delicate balance. When she finished she moved her hand away to reveal the word.

"Xoanon?" Toby read, frowning. "Not that I'm questioning your formidable intellectual powers, but are you sure that's a word?"

Giving him a mock glare, Spencer said, "I'm sure. It's a type of wooden statue used in Ancient Greece."

Toby shrugged. "If you say so."

While Spencer was still quietly gloating over the fact that she had come up with a word he didn't know, Toby turned his attention to his own tiles. He didn't have much to work with, so it took him a while to come up with a good enough word. Using the 'o' from Spencer's 'xoanon', he managed to get rid of all of his tiles.

"Overcast," Spencer said as he reached for more tiles. "Impressive."

"And," he said nonchalantly as he put his new tiles on his rack, "I believe it gave me more points than your last word."

Spencer checked the score chart, and the slight frown on her face was enough to make it clear that Toby was right. With slow, exaggerated movements, her eyes never leaving Toby's face, she reached up behind her and undid the clasp on her bra. Toby watched, mesmerized by her as he always was, as she pulled her bra out through one of her sleeves and tossed it aside. It was pink and slightly lacy, and the thought made Toby smile; even when Spencer was clad in a black hoodie and sneaking around at night, she was still able to stay in touch with herself, who she normally was.

Without saying a word she placed a few more tiles down. Stretching down from the second 'o' in her first word, she spelled OZONE, and Toby groaned as he calculated the points.

"The z is on a triple point square," she pointed out smugly, adding up her tally and putting it on the score card. "Your move."

Toby considered the game board, his tiles, and let out an internal sigh. There was no way he was going to beat her score. He found himself thinking back to the first time they'd played Scrabble, when he'd countered Spencer's 'glyceraldehyde' with 'goofball' and somehow managed to win the game. It was the first and only time he had ever beaten her in anything, but tonight he had extra incentive to win.

"Elder," he said, reaching for his next tiles even as he calculated that Spencer had won this round.

Spencer hummed as she calculated his score and wrote it down. "You know what this means, Cavanaugh," she said.

With a dramatic sigh Toby pulled his shirt up and over his head, throwing it onto the floor where it landed on top of Spencer's bra. He looked at them for a moment, then turned back to Spencer. "Your turn."

"I was thinking," she said, sorting through her tiles, "what if next time we did this, we…"

At that point she looked up and her words trailed away. Toby noticed the way she was looking at him, because it was the way he'd looked at her so many times before. "You were thinking?" he prompted, stretching to show off his abs.

Spencer stared at them for a second, then looked away. "I don't even remember," she said, slightly embarrassed.

Smirking, Toby waited for her to play her next word. Despite the strangeness of the day, he was exactly where he wanted to be now. And as he caught Spencer's eye, he thought that maybe she was exactly where she wanted to be too.

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Off goes the bra and out come the abs. Oh, Spoby, how I love thee.

The next chapter is along the same lines as this, but if you didn't like it I'm happy to skip right ahead to the D&M they'll have afterwards. So let me know, and I'll see you guys next week.