(O.O)

Steve had been in Sunnydale for three days and four nights, and in that time, he was slowly falling in love with the little town that housed an entrance to Hell.

Unlike New York, Boston, and Washington, where he spent most of his time since he woke up from the ice, Sunnydale wasn't as crowded as those big cities. The spell around the town also helped him keep his privacy since no one recognized him.

But despite how peaceful it was most of the time, the town wasn't boring at all.

During the time Steve stayed in town, he had helped to stop a cult from summoning a demon that ate people's livers, met the three fairies who inspired the ones from that cartoon Stark made him watch, called Sleeping Beauty; talked to a witch who gave him a charm that had similar effects to the spell around Sunnydale that prevented people from recognizing him even when he wasn't close to Spike and staked 13 vampires.

That last one still made him uncomfortable. But Spike had already reassured him that the vampires he dusted were never going to do anything good because they were driven by their demons.

This had confused him at first but his friend was kind enough to explain to him something that was missing from the books Giles gave him.

Apparently, there were two types of vampires.

The first type was called a Childe or Childer. They were vampires with a close relationship to their Sires or Makers and were created to be companions. These types of vampires were more likely to gain control over their demons and as they got older they had a bigger chance to not be driven by their demon's desire to feed or cause destruction. These were the type of vampires Spike told Steve that he could befriend or at least talk to without worrying about being killed on the spot.

His friend still cautioned him though, warning him that he should be with Spike if he ever felt the need to talk to these types of vampires since they still could choose, to be evil if they wanted to. His friend mentioned Angelus, a vampire that Buffy and her friends were familiar with, as an example.

The other type of vampire was called a minion. These vampires were created to be footmen and errand boys or girls. These were the vampires who ran around eating people and doing evil stuff. Sires and Childers normally took charge of these vampires, so they didn't go on random killing sprees and ended up endangering the demonic population. But as there has been no Master in Sunnydale for a good while now, these vampires have been going rampant around town.

Spike told him that the vampires he slew or dusted were these types of vampires.

So overall, Steve had no problems with Sunnydale. As a matter of fact, he really liked the town and if he was given a choice, he wouldn't mind staying there.

A crypt wouldn't be his first choice of housing though.

It wasn't that he didn't like his friend's home. It had everything a person would need. A kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and even a bathroom that had a functioning toilet and shower, which still amazed Steve to no end because he had no idea how Spike managed to install all of those things in a hole in the ground.

But it was still a crypt, with an actual dead guy, one that wasn't his friend, lying inside the sarcophagus that was right next to the vampire's television.

So, yes, Steve would probably look for a place that didn't have one of those.

"Penny for your thoughts?" his friend asked, looking at him as they walked in the nearly empty streets of Sunnydale's warehouse area.

"I was just thinking that it would be nice to live in this town," Steve said, not seeing any reasons to lie to his friend.

"Well, why don't you?"

"I doubt S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers for that matter would let me move here," he replied.

"Doesn't that tin man Avenger with the big ego live somewhere in LA?"

Steve laughed at that one.

"He does, but he also has this suit that can get him from one place to another in a matter of minutes. So, he doesn't have to worry about delays or traffic to get to where he is needed."

"Bummer," Spike said. "But then again, so can you, if you talk to the right people. You can get someone to install a port-door in your new home for the right price."

"Port-door?" he asked. He wasn't familiar with the term.

"It's sort of like a Portkey from that wizard movie, only it's an actual door," was his friend's explanation.

"Portkey?" That was another term he wasn't familiar with.

"Oh! Right, I forgot that you haven't watched or read Harry Potter yet. That's something I can introduce you to when we get home," the vampire said before explaining the terms to him. "Anyway, port-doors and keys are items that will allow you to transport yourself from one place to another. If you have this in your home, you can teleport yourself wherever you want to."

Steve's eyes widened at this.

"Wait, you know people with the ability to teleport?!" he exclaimed, looking excited.

"Well, not many people can do it, but yeah. I can name a couple of witches who are experts in such magic."

Steve couldn't believe his ears but he had no reason to doubt Spike's words.

Smiling widely, he said, "I might just take this port-door thing into consideration if I do decide to live here."

Another thing he loved about the town was that almost every impossible thing seemed possible here. Magic, spells, teleportation. So many things Steve only read in books were either available in Sunnydale or could be done by someone. The wonders never ceased to amaze him.

"We're almost there," Steve heard his friend say.

The reason they were out that night was that he wanted to see other Childers like Spike, who didn't kill people to feed. Spike said that most of them didn't live in Sunnydale because the Slayer was in town and could easily mistake them for minions, but those that did live in town either purchased blood from the hospital, like Spike did or went to bite houses for their food.

When Steve asked the vampire what a bite house was, he was surprised and a bit disgusted to learn that it was a place where humans paid vampires to feed on them, voluntarily.

He had no idea humans would stoop so low as to give their blood to demons just for the fun of it. It didn't seem right to him.

Spike told him that these humans liked the thrill of getting fed on by vamps, so there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. It was their kink and in this time and age, such things were sensitive and needed to be respected.

Steve still wanted to check out the place though. He wanted to see what sort of people would come to such a place. What he hadn't expected was to see someone familiar enter the establishment.

"Spike, that was-"

"Captain Cardboard," the vampire said grimly.

"What the hell is he doing here?" the young captain asked.

"Getting his kinks satisfied, obviously. Bloody hell! Does he know that he's practically cheating on the Slayer by doing this?!" Spike asked angrily.

Steve stared at his friend, who looked like he was ready to murder a certain someone because of what they were doing behind their girlfriend's back.

If Steve was being honest, he could understand the vampire's desire to do so. The former Initiative operative was being reckless and stupid. He had a loving girlfriend and yet he was doing this to her. Not only was he cheating on her, but he was also endangering her and her family.

Spike had told him that there were incidents in bite houses like this one, where the vampires take too much blood and kill the customer, but instead of leaving them dead, the vampire turns them into minions.

In these instances, the newly turned vampire will rise and do evil things such as seeking out their families and murdering them as any regular vampire would do.

This could very well happen to Finn and the idiot didn't seem to care about it.

He turned to his friend and saw him walking hastily towards the building where Finn disappeared into.

Shit! He's going to kill him, Steve thought as he hurried after his friend.

He grabbed the vampire's arm to stop him.

"Spike, don't!"

He heard a growl from the vampire. "That bastard wants a vampire to drink his blood, then I'll bloody drain it for him!"

"I know, okay, I get it. You're angry, and Finn's an idiot. But killing him won't do anything good other than hurt Buffy," he reasoned.

"It won't hurt her because she won't know about it. I'll make sure to hide the body," his friend said as he struggled to get away from his grasp.

But Steve's hold was firm. "She'll find out. You know she will and when she does she'll hate you and will try to kill you."

This seemed to get through to the vampire and stopped struggling to break free from him.

"Look, I know you want to hurt Finn. I want to hit him too, but this is not something you should do yourself," Steve said.

"Then what should I bloody do then?!" his friend asked.

"Tell Buffy," was his response. "This is her boyfriend and she will know better how to handle this."

"It will hurt her."

He knew that. However-

"She deserves to know."

(O.O)

An incessant ringing woke her up from her beautiful slumber. She raised her hand to pick up the phone, which was the source of the noise and checked who it was. She saw that it was an Unknown Number calling her.

Normally, she wouldn't bother picking up calls from such numbers, but a lot of things have been happening in her life and she thought that this might be important.

"Hello?" she said with a hoarse voice.

"Slayer," a familiar voice answered from the other end of the line.

"Spike?" She asked, raising her voice a little. "Why the hell are you calling me this late and how the heck did you get this number?"

"I asked your Watcher for it. But that's not important. I'm texting you an address and I need you to meet up with me there," the vampire told her.

She felt a vein pop in her head. How dare he presume she would just get out of bed to meet up with him? Who does he think he is?

"Look, I don't know what your game is, Spike, but I am not playing it. I'm not leaving the comfort of my bed just to see you."

"Buffy," he said with a serious tone, surprising her that he used her name, "just come to that address. It's important and I think you need to see what we're about to show you."

"We?" He wasn't alone?

"Steve's with me," Spike provided, reading her mind.

That was all she needed. If Captain America was with him, then it must be something important.

"Text me the address and I'll be there as soon as I can," she said before dropping the call.

It took her nearly half an hour to get to the location Spike texted her. When she got there, she was immediately greeted by the grim expression of Captain America and an angry one from Spike.

"Follow me, Luv," Spike said to her.

The three entered the warehouse and saw a bunch of people being sucked on by vampires. The place was a mess. Trash littered the entire floor along with the vampires and humans, who were being fed on.

Buffy hated what she was seeing and could understand why they thought she needed to be informed about this place. However, she couldn't help but be disappointed that this was all she had been summoned for. A group of vampires chewing on people. Spike and Capt. Rogers could've handled this alone.

But since she was already here, she might as well help them slay these demons. She slowly pulled out her stake, but Spike stopped her.

"This isn't what we're here for, Slayer," he said.

Buffy looked confused but followed the vampire and his friend as they moved deeper into the warehouse. Ahead of them, she saw two large vampires accepting money from two humans. She frowned at this.

What the heck is that about?

Steve and Spike continued to make their way towards the stairs next to the two vamp bouncers and started climbing to the next floor. One of the bouncers tried to stop them.

"What do you think you're doing?" The bouncer asked, grabbing Spike's arm.

"Just having a little look, mate. Keep it down," he answered, pulling his arm away.

"You can't go up there," the other vampire bouncer told them.

But Spike just grabbed the vamp by the throat and shoved him to the floor.

"I said keep it down," he growled at them.

Buffy's frown deepened. What's the big deal? She wanted to ask the two but opted to keep her silence as she followed the vampire and super soldier upstairs.

The second level was just as messy as the first. There were trash, unused tires, and scrap metals lying on the ground next to feeding vampires. Buffy wondered if they were going to slay these demons first, but her companions continued to lead her deeper in the warehouse until they reached a slightly open door.

She looked back suspiciously at her vampire companion who gestured her to go inside. She scowled before passing through the door. Once inside the room, she froze at the sight. In front of her was Riley, sitting bare-chested on a mattress on the floor, with a female vamp sitting in his lap, drinking from his arm.

He hadn't seen her yet but she had seen enough to know he was enjoying what the vampire was doing to him.

"Harder," she heard him tell the vampire, making her gasp and alerting him to her presence.

The vampire continued her sucking, but Riley has heard her and looked up just in time to see her horrified expression.

"Buffy," he whispered her name.

Hearing her name brought her back to reality. She turned tail and ran out of there as fast as she could.

Steve rushed after her, worried about what she might do if he left her alone after seeing what her boyfriend was doing.

Spike, on the other hand, stayed so he could see the look of horror on Riley's face. He grinned in satisfaction.

"Buffy!" Captain Cardboard cried out, pulling away from the vampire that was still sitting in his lap.

"You're an idiot, mate. If it were up to me, I'd have slaughtered your cheating ass. But the Slayer needed to see this, so be grateful I didn't decide to do the first thing that came to my mind," Spike told the former Initiative Soldier before walking out to join Steve and the Slayer.

Buffy stopped just outside the warehouse. She was breathing heavily and was still shocked at what she just saw.

Riley was coming here to be fed on by vampires behind my back, she thought as she realized the gravity of her boyfriend's actions.

From behind her, she heard Captain Rogers ask if she was okay or if she needed to sit down.

She didn't answer him. She had no idea what she needed at that moment.

The next instant she heard another person arrive, stopping beside her. From the familiar signature, she knew it was Spike.

"Sorry, Slayer," the vampire said, sounding almost guilty and sympathetic.

She hated him for it. She wanted to blame him for what she saw. For letting her find out about this. For something-

"We thought you deserve to know," she heard from Rogers. This time she turned to face him.

The man looked genuinely sympathetic as he stared at her.

Buffy bit her lip. He was the only reason she didn't assume that Spike had told her about this just to hurt her. She knew that this man wouldn't have allowed such a thing.

All her anger at the vampire disappeared and all that was left was the pain caused by Riley.

"I know," she whispered her response. She stared at two with a pained expression before rushing back home in tears.

(O.O)

It had been two days since Spike and Steve showed Buffy what her boyfriend was doing behind her back. Ever since then the vampire had been expecting a visit from the ex-Initiative agent.

So it didn't come as a surprise when the man showed up in broad daylight, while he was watching his favorite soap and while Steve was out to get something to eat.

He wasn't worried about his friend not being there though.

He no longer had the chip after all, which meant he could easily defend himself if Finn decided to attack him.

"What took you?" He asked the man with a grin on his face. "Guess it takes a while to get back to full strength after those bites."

When the young man grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into one of the pillars of his home he could see that his words angered him.

He still wasn't worried. Finn was nothing to him.

"Well, aren't you brave this morning?" He realized that if Captain Cardboard attacked him, he would have a real reason to hurt him in retaliation.

Riley slammed him again. It didn't hurt, but he counted that as the man's first strike.

I'm willing to give him three before I'll snap Soldier Boy's neck.

"You think you're so special now that you're friends with Capt. America, aren't you?" Finn asked before sending a punch to his face.

Strike two. One more and I will have my revenge on you, spineless twat.

"Sounds like someone's jealous. What's the matter, Finn? Afraid to be outshined by a vampire?"

"Afraid? Ha! You're nothing against me. You hear me, NOTHING!"

One more push and I will have no more reason to hold back, you ruddy bastard.

"I may be nothing, but that's still a lot better than what the Slayer thinks of you right now," Spike said with a cocky grin.

Riley scowled at this and his eyes turned glassy for a moment as if he was remembering something. Whatever it was, it made the boy even angrier. Then pulled his arm back, as if he was about to hit the vampire.

Spike was initially excited by the movement, at least until he noticed what was in Finn's hand. It was a stake.

He would've moved but it was too late. Without hesitation, the boy plunged it into his chest and he gasped in pain.

I'm dead! Were his last thoughts.

(O.O)

Steve enjoyed his morning strolls around Sunnydale. He loved that no people were stopping him at every corner to ask for his picture or to shake his hands. All this freedom, thanks to the little necklace around his neck that prevented people from recognizing him. He couldn't thank Spike enough for getting it for him.

He went out to get something to eat and was now on his way back to Spike's crypt, with some Buffalo wings for his friend. He could see his friend's home and frowned when he saw that the door was wide open. He walked faster and when he arrived he was greeted by the sight of his friend being staked by none other than Riley Fucking Finn!

"Spike!" He yelled before dropping his bags and rushing to the two. He grabbed Finn's shirt and pulled him away from his friend.

He's not dust, was all he could think as he inspected the damage to the vampire's chest.

"How are you not dust?" He asked with a dumbfounded expression.

"Do you want me to be dust?!" The vampire yelled at him in pain. "Just get this fucking thing off my chest!"

Steve grabbed the protruding stake before giving it a swift pull. The vampire cried out in pain.

"Fuck! That buggering hurt!"

"Sorry," he said, throwing the stake away before inspecting his friend's injury.

It was bleeding profusely and he was certain he could see parts of his lungs. He was no doctor but he knew that if his friend wasn't a vampire, it'd been a fatal wound.

"What do I do? How the fuck did this happen?" Steve asked. He was beginning to panic. There was just so much blood. How the hell does he fix this?

"First, you need to calm the fuck down, Rogers. It's not going to help me if you start panicking at the sight of a little blood."

"There's a lot of blood," Steve replied before following the vampire's advice and forced himself to calm down.

He took a couple of calming breaths.

Once he was calm, he asked the vampire again what he should do.

"Help me to the chair and get me some bandages from the medkit, it's downstairs," the vampire instructed.

Steve did as he was told and settled his friend in the chair. Once that was done, he rushed to the lower level of the crypt where he immediately found the medkit and grabbed plenty of bandages, as well as other things that he thought were useful in dressing a person's wounds.

He came back and handed the vampire the things he brought.

"Good. Now, I need blood to fix this hole in my chest," his friend said as he tried to take off his shirt.

"How much do you need?" He asked as he helped to remove the vampire's shirt.

"A lot," was the answer he got.

He froze. He knew vampires needed seven to eight quarts of blood just to satisfy their hunger for an entire day. But with this injury, it was safe to assume that Spike would need more than that.

He rushed to the vampire's fridge where he kept his blood and winced at the sight of the almost empty supply.

He needed to get more blood for his friend.

"I'm going to have to leave to get you more blood," he said as he handed the vampire four bags of cold blood.

"Sure. Go to Willy's and the butcher. The hospital won't have anything for you," Spike replied before gasping in pain.

He was trying to dress his wound by himself.

Taking pity on his friend, Steve took the bandages from Spike's hand, before helping him cover the hole in his chest.

It took them a while and once it was done Spike was left exhausted.

"Can I ask you to stay here until I get back with your blood?" Steve asked.

"I won't be going anywhere, mate."

Once Steve was certain Spike was fully settled, he left.

After leaving Spike's crypt, he found his way to one of the butchers in town. He almost got there when he noticed Finn entering the Magic Box.

The man pushed his luck for the last time and the super soldier wasn't about to let this one slide so easily.

He entered the shop and called out the bastard's name angrily.

He could see that everyone inside cowed at his voice and he would apologize for it later. But for now, his eyes had zeroed in on the man who nearly killed his friend. With three quick steps, he approached his target before punching Finn in the jaw, sending him flying into the shop's research table.

"You bastard," Steve yelled, as he picked up Finn by the shirt. "Stay away from Spike, you hear me? If I see you anywhere near his place or where he usually hangs out, I will end you! Do you hear me, soldier?!"

"Yesh, shir," was the response he got.

Yep, he probably broke the man's jaw.

He wasn't planning on apologizing for that.

He was so angry at the man. Furious that he would do such a thing to someone who he probably thought was defenseless. That irked him even more. He knew that Finn only attacked Spike because he thought the vampire couldn't defend himself. And why did he do it? Probably because he blamed the vampire for telling his girlfriend about his secret.

He wanted to hit him again.

But he stopped himself because he knew he could kill the bastard if he did so and that was too much of a hassle to explain to S.H.I.E.L.D. But goddammit if he wasn't tempted to push his luck. The man hurt his friend. He had a valid reason to see him as his enemy and attack him.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for him, Buffy came out from the shop's backroom before he could make a decision.

The Slayer heard the commotion from the training room and went out to check what caused it. She didn't expect to see an angry Captain America beat the living daylights out of Riley (the cheating son of a bitch) whom she was still angry at.

"What's going on here?" She asked out loud.

Anya was the first to answer her.

"Steve is angry at Riley, probably because something happened to Spike and now he's being hot and sexy, trying to enact vengeance against your boyfriend."

"Buffy, please do something about this," her Watcher implored.

Buffy nodded before calling out to Steve to ask him politely to release her boyfriend.

Steve seemed to come back to his senses at the young woman's voice. He pushed Finn back with a sneer before turning to face Buffy.

"I'm sorry, I almost lost myself for a moment there," he told the Slayer as she approached them.

"I'm sure you had a good reason, which I would very much like to hear," she replied.

Steve looked angry again but controlled himself this time. He needed to be level-headed so he could share with the group what one of them tried to do to a supposedly helpless person.

He took a deep breath before relating to everyone what happened at Spike's crypt.

The temperature of the room dropped as they all turned to stare at Finn with the same contempt as the Captain did moments earlier. It was Buffy who spoke first though.

"You tried to stake Spike for what happened a couple of nights ago?" She asked with a cold look.

"Buffey, I din't shtake him wit the intenshyon of killing 'im. I ushed a plashtic shtake. He'sh shtill alave. Wash jush tryin to shcar him," Finn explained, despite his broken jaw.

Steve's anger came back tenfold after hearing this. He used a plastic stake on his friend to scare him.

Scaring someone does not mean stabbing him in the chest with a plastic stake!

"So, you wanted to scare him for telling me that you've been letting vampires from bite houses suck your blood behind my back?"

Her friends all gasped at this news. It was no wonder their friend was so insistent on destroying the local bite house the other day.

Finn, on the other hand, was smart enough not to respond to this.

Buffy didn't require an answer though, she had heard enough.

"Riley, you messed up and Spike telling me about it was a good thing because I finally see the kind of man you are," she said. "An insecure, spineless coward who thinks he can show how strong he is by hurting someone defenseless for pathetic reasons. I don't care why you did what you did, but I am through with you. I want you out of my life and if possible out of this town. I don't ever want to see your face again."

The former Initiative soldier looked devastated, but Buffy didn't care. Instead, she added, "And if you try and hurt Spike again? You won't just have Captain America after you. You'll have to deal with me and you'll see what a Slayer is truly capable of. Now, get out of my sight."

Riley didn't have had to be told twice. He picked himself up and rushed out of the store without looking back at the woman he used to love.

The shop was silent after Riley's departure. Steve was proud of what Buffy just did, and he was certain that his friend would be ecstatic at the news that the Slayer was now single.

Speaking of his friend, he still needed to get him that blood.

"I'm really sorry for all this," Steve told everyone in the room. "I promise to pay for the damages I've caused."

"That won't be necessary, Captain Rogers," Mr. Giles said, approaching him. "Your friend was hurt and you had a valid reason to be upset. Riley made his bed."

"Thank you. Well, I better get going. I need to get blood for Spike,"

"Let me come with you," Buffy suddenly said, surprising everyone. "I sort of feel responsible for what happened. The least I can do for Spike is help him get better," she explained.

Steve still didn't understand why she would feel guilty for his friend's injury but he didn't reject her offer.

At the very least, I know Spike will be happy that she's there, he thought.

It took him a while but he was able to figure out that the vampire had a crush on the tiny blonde, and was either too embarrassed or scared to do anything about it.

Steve understood though why his friend hadn't made a move on her yet. Buffy was still in a committed relationship up until recently. But with her boyfriend out of the picture, maybe he could do something to nudge his friend in the right direction.

The super soldier tried to contain his smile as he followed the Slayer back to Spike's crypt.

He knew he shouldn't appear too happy, but he'd spent enough time with Spike to develop a mischievous side to counter the vampire's sardonic humor. He was excited at the prospect of getting the usually self-assured and grumpy vampire flustered at being in the presence of his crush.

(O.O)

Spike sat on the couch waiting for Steve to get back. Suddenly he perked up as he caught the scent of his friend, who didn't come back alone.

He knew exactly who it was with him. He had her scent memorized since that first night he met her at the Bronze. What he didn't know was why she was coming for a visit.

"Spike, are you still here?" He heard Steve ask as they arrived at his home.

"Where else would I be?"

The two humans approached him and he heard the Slayer gasp when she noticed his injury.

Buffy got down to his level so she could see his heavily bandaged chest more clearly.

"Pretty nasty, ain't it?" He asked her with a sneer. "You should thank Captain Cardboard for it."

"Unfortunately, the Captain beat me to it," the Slayer responded with an angry expression.

Spike was confused at this. What did she mean by that?

"I might've punched Finn earlier at the Magic Box," Steve said with a sheepish expression.

"He broke his jaw while he was at it," Buffy added.

Spike stared at the two with a dumbfounded expression.

Were they playing with him?

When he detected no lie in their words, laughter burst from his chest. It hurt like hell but he couldn't stop himself.

Steve punched Captain Cardboard! That alone made his day. He just wished he could've seen it!

"Alright, you can stop laughing now," Steve told him. "You'll reopen your wound if you keep that up."

Not like I was able to close it to begin with, he thought as he tried to stifle his giggles. He needed blood to heal and he still hadn't received any from Steve and the Slayer.

When his laughter finally died, Steve gave him an unimpressed look.

"Happy? Looks like you're bleeding again," he said as he pointed to his chest.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself," the vampire said, chuckling a bit while he was at it.

The Captain shook his head, before turning to Buffy.

"Can you stay here and help him change these bandages? I'll just heat his blood real quick," Rogers told the Slayer, who gave him a panicked look.

The man didn't wait for her response though, and simply left towards the kitchen in the back.

Spike stared at the girl with apprehension. He wasn't sure what was going on or why the Slayer was here at all. Did she come here to yell at me for Steve punching her boyfriend?

"So, how do we do this?" She asked him, pulling him out of his musings.

"Huh?" was his dumb response.

He saw her smirk before clarifying what she meant. "The Captain said we need to change your bandages. I'm asking how we are going to do this."

Oh, she's here to help after all.

Spike instructed the Slayer on what to do and together they finally got the dirty dressings off of him, exposing the nasty hole in his chest. He heard the Slayer gasp again. This time he didn't make any comments, mostly because she had a guilty look on her face as she stared at his wound.

"I'm sorry, Spike," she suddenly said, surprising the vampire.

"What for?" he asked. "You didn't stab a plastic stake in my chest."

"But he did it because of me. Because you tried to do the right thing and told me about what he was doing behind my back. You tried to be honest with me." She looked down in shame.

Spike hated that look on her.

"Okay, you need to stop."

Buffy glanced back at him in confusion, before getting lost in those blue eyes.

Were they always this blue? She thought, before forcing herself to concentrate on what he was saying.

"You didn't do this. It was that meathead with insecurity issues that you call a boyfriend," he said.

"Ex-boyfriend," she corrected.

Spike looked surprised at this new information and maybe also a bit elated. But he bit down his excitement, as he was trying to get through to the usually stubborn Slayer.

"Fine, ex-boyfriend. He did this, Slayer, not you. Get it in your head. Heck, I may have also goaded him into attacking me. So, I want you to stop blaming yourself. You got nothing to be sorry about," he explained with a gruff voice.

"But-"

"Nope" he cut her off. "You didn't do this. He did. Stop taking responsibility for other people's mistakes. God knows, you already take the entire bloody world on those tiny little shoulders of yours, stop adding more to your load. Riley did this. I also played a part in it. But overall, this injury is caused by your sodding ex-boyfriend and not by you. So stop feeling guilty about it."

Buffy just looked at the vampire in surprise. She hadn't expected him to berate her for feeling guilty about what happened. She was touched by his actions and words, nonetheless. She wanted to thank him but she stayed silent instead and simply did as he asked and helped him cover his wound.

After a couple of minutes, his entire chest was bandaged and Buffy was left with nothing else to do other than stare at the vampire who was lying back in his chair with his eyes closed and admire said vampire's injured but very well-sculpted body.

"Is something wrong, Luv?" Spike suddenly asked before looking at her with a smirk.

He knew she was staring at him and perhaps admiring his body. He couldn't help but smile at the Slayer's flustered face and felt disappointed when she left with a flimsy excuse about checking on Steve.

Spike still wasn't sure what was going on but he was happy with today's turn of events. The greatest highlight was the fact that he caught the Slayer admiring his body.

If she finds me attractive, maybe there is a chance for me after all, he thought as he waited for his two guests to return with his blood.

(O.O)

Surprisingly, it was nice to have strong people to watch your back.

Or so Buffy thought as she traversed Pine Grove Cemetery with two of the unlikeliest companions. One being her mortal enemy/occasional ally, and the other a World War II veteran/Avenger. Both were great fighters in their own rights and were so completely polar opposites that one would never even think that they'd be good friends.

But they were good friends actually.

If you asked her a week ago what she thought of the idea of having these two as her patrol partners, she would've laughed and said it was the funniest joke she'd ever heard. But seeing these two men in action as they fought a group of five vamps-it was clear to her how these two were able to be essential in winning a war.

They fought well together.

Though their fighting styles differed, Spike's being fast and deadly, and Rogers', smart and brutal, both men were aware of each other's presence and were quick to pick up on the others' slack. It surprised her to no end how amazing these two looked as they fought. They were poetry in motion.

"Are you done daydreaming, Luv?" Spike's voice penetrated her thoughts.

She turned to the vampire as he dusted the last of the group.

"This is still your job, you know. How come you're standing there watching while we do all the work?"

She gave him a wry look before nodding at the dust on her feet.

"I already slew my share of vamps tonight," she replied.

"Well, you could've still helped," the vampire said with a glare. "Four against two, doesn't sound fair in my book."

Buffy snorted. "As if you fight fair, Mister-weapons-make-me-feel-manly."

This earned her a chuckle from the vampire. "Still remember that, don't you, pet?"

She rolled her eyes at this. "Hard to forget when the guy who said it is still around annoying the hell out of me."

"I aim to please," was his response that earned another snort from her.

"You two done flirting?" Steve suddenly asked, surprising the two.

Buffy felt her face redden. She wasn't flirting with Spike!

"Is there another cemetery that we need to visit? Or is this the last one?" Spike asked, not bothered by his friend's teasing.

"Yeah, this is the last one. Although, I'm surprised that we went through six cemeteries in one night. Normally, I only do two or three per night," she answered, relieved at the change of subject.

"You had more help, so getting more places done isn't all that surprising," Steve provided.

"True but now I'm stuck with nothing better to do for the rest of the night before my bedtime."

It was true. She normally finished patrolling around twelve to one AM. It was only ten o'clock, so she still had a couple of hours to spare.

"Well, if you're looking for something to do to waste time, you can come with us back to my crypt. Steve and I were planning to watch a couple of movies before his bedtime," Spike said.

Surprised at the kind offer and with nothing better to do, Buffy accepted.

TBC

(O.O)

Thanks again for reading!