Picking up the pieces

Pairings: Buffy/Spike and more to come.
Disclaimer: I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews. They are doing a great job for my ego (which regularly needs boosting).

Chapter 10

"Can you please explain this to me one more time, Buffy, because it's just to strange to understand," Willow said with a teasing glint in her eye.

"Alright," the small blond answered patiently. "Me and Spike are going to a motel a couple of miles out of town to do all the boring and depressing stuff we should have done when we first got back together but haven't found the time to do. You know, yell, hit each other, be angry, cry and so on." To top this explanation off she flashed her best friend and sister who were standing behind the front desk at Angel Investigations, a great big smile indicating her absolute happiness with the arrangements.

Willow laughed at her friend's casual tone making this sound as a completely normal weekend activity for a new couple. "Do you think you and Spike could be any more strange if you actually tried?"

"What?" the blond asked and pretended to be shocked. "With all this angst and anger we're also going to have lots and lots of amazing comfort and makeup sex." Buffy's grins were getting to a Spike-ish calibre. "But I wasn't sure if you wanted to know that."

"You couldn't be more perfect for each other." Dawn added leaning on her forearms on the desk and smiling at her sister who in return gave her a pettish pat on the head.

"And where is this stupid vampire anyway. How long can it take to throw a pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts into a plastic bag?"

As if she was speaking of the devil the blond vampire appeared on the stairs with his duster billowing around his legs and a white plastic bag from the nearest liquor store in his hand. "Ready to get some crying done, luv?" He asked putting his free arm around Buffy's waist and giving her a kiss on the neck.

"Finally," Buffy sighed receiving giggles from the other two girls in the room as she sent them a knowing smile when they headed towards the door.

"Let's go and shag a motel bed to pieces." Spike bellowed before they even reached the door.

"Spike!" Buffy slammed her flat hand into his chest.

"I heard you already told them about that part, pet."

"Oh. But that was just girl talk. You'll so pay for this. Bye guys." Buffy called and then they were out the door.

"I hope they just don't kill each other." Angel said coming out of his office and turning towards Willow, Illyria behind him. "So miss file person of the week. What mess has Spike left for us to clean up while he's away?"

"Well…" Willow started flipping through pile of files on the desk before her. She, Angel and Spike took turns in being secretary since none of them liked it. Illyria was only excluded from this duty because she still couldn't grasp this human need for documentation since she remembered everything. "He actually closed most of his cases. There's only one that he seems to have left especially for you. It's a demon rat plague at this old lady's house – so I think you're better suited for that Angel." She couldn't help but smile apologetically at Illyria, even if the demon didn't show any emotional response to her words.

"Great," the dark haired man sighed and went to the fridge where he poured himself a glass of blood. "Do we have anything else going on?"

Willow followed him with the stack of files she had yet to go through. "The man who claims his wife is a shapeshifter and wants us to verify it so he can use it against her in their divorce."

"Lovely."

"And I opened a file on the disappearances that have been happening at this club downtown. The paper said four recent disappearances have been linked to that club and there was mention of a unidentified yellow substance at the scene in all cases which rings some Willow-supernatural-foul alarm bells. Illyria, this one might be good for you, especially since the disappearances always happen right before sunrise, which is not Angel's favourite time of the day."

"Alright. I will do that tonight," the blue haired woman answered.

"Fine. Maybe try to blend in a little more than last time. Willow, maybe you could give her some points on how to avoid getting into fights with idiots that start bothering her. I'll go start with the old lady ad if I have time I'll check on the shapeshifting wife later. Have a nice girls night."

"This is nice." Dawn said raising herself on to the desk next to the file Illyria was looking over when Angel had gone.

"What? Seeing me chase Angel around the office speaking off scumbags who want a shapeshifting verification to bypass their adultery charges?" She took yet another stack of files and went to file them away in one of the huge file cabinets dominating the wall behind the desk.

"Well the sparkage between you and Angel…" she whistled impressed.

"What?" Willow raised her head form the filing cabinet for a moment. "You are about just as diluted as your sister if you think you saw sparkage there."

"Oh come on. You're all playing matchmaker with Spike and Buffy here and don't try to tell me you never pictured Angel naked when you couldn't sleep."

"Uhm… Gay here… remember?" the file cabinet answered.

"I don't understand what it means that Willow is gay," Illyria asked in between.

"It means that she's sexually interested in women and not in men like most women."

Illyria seemed to be thinking this clarification over so Dawn turned her words back to the gay witch in question.

"But you weren't always… so aren't you more like bi?" The girl didn't allow the witch the time to pull up her jaw from the floor and form a coherent sentence before continuing. "And sometimes you just have to go with what you've got… you wouldn't believe how many times I fantasized about Andrew while he was staying with us… and I don't think Illyria is your type, or is she?"

Illyria's icy eyes shot up at Dawn. Lesser persons would flinched from that glance but the younger girl only smirked and raised her brows playfully without any response from her opponent.

Willow needed a moment to grasp that this was actually happening. That this was actually little Dawn talking to her about sexual orientation and fantasies. After her thought pause she decided not to give any answer to this ridiculous subject. She wasn't fantasizing about Illyria and certainly not Angel.

"But anyway… that wasn't really what I was enjoying… it was the demon and freaky things talk. I miss it. It's strange I know, but it just has been a daily part of my life for so many years now that it's strange not being able to talk about it."

"Yeah. I guess so. I don't really remember a time before vampires and demons," Willow answered a little absent minded due to her sudden feeling of deja-vu.

"I'll raise you. I didn't even exist in the time where I remember not knowing about vampires and demons."

That line she also had heard before and she now remembered from whom. "Fine. You win. So I guess a dark haired guy named Connor didn't talk you at school yet?"

"Who?"