The first few minutes of the walk to the Slayer's house were silent. Spike didn't dare utter a word after threatening to end her in his rage-ridden tirade. He really didn't mean to. The whole night was a mistake, he was lucky she did not seem to hate him yet. He had drunk from a girl at the Bronze, really sucked her dry, and enjoyed it. Then he'd gotten his best friend tasered and beaten up by his ex, but that's where he draw the line. Nobody messed with his Ally Cat.

Ally was thinking about how to tell him she couldn't be with him yet without him flipping out again. But he seemed calm, even guilty. She should take the chance.

"Spike..." She took a deep breath, watching him from the corner of her eye. He had perked up at his name, staring at her, watching her every movement attentively. "I can't return your feelings right now." She emphasized the last two words to make clear it was not an absolute rejection. "I broke up with my last boyfriend not three months ago." She explained, getting her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "We were together together for half a year, but we had been living together for almost three years, and I had been in love with him for over one. He was my first love." She glanced at her silent companion to see his jaw clenched shut, his cheekbones standing out. He seemed to be holding himself back from saying something, his expression a bit angry... or jealous? "Something like that just doesn't go away in such a short time. Yes, I don't think I'm in love with him anymore. He will always be important, but I know there's no us, there will never be again." Spike's gaze softened at this, looking down, relieved. "But it's too soon, Spike. I can't be with you right now." She stopped and fully faced him, staring up into his blue eyes. "And I can't ask you to wait for me. You're important for me, you've been my first friend when I had nothing. I don't want to lose that."

"I don't want to lose you either." He admitted, shifting on his feet, his voice deep and velvety. "And I will wait for you, you know. Just needed a possibility to hang onto. A maybe."

A small smile tugged at Ally's lips, lighting up her face in the dark of night. She stepped closer and hugged him, really hugged him, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. "Thank you, Spike, for being my friend."

His arms wrapped around her, her warmth seeping into him, heating his cold undead body. He rested his cheek against her head, breathing in her scent, citrus and coconut, and something else that was entirely Ally.

And he felt happy. For the first time in forever, he was happy. She might not return his love just yet, but he had a chance, and he was going to take it. He just needed to give her time, and meanwhile, he could still have her around.

After all, he had just lost his girlfriend.


The Summers sisters were messing with their mom, who was trying to get their opinion on the dress she had chosen for her date that night. They had invited Ally over again, they seemed to be doing that a lot the last couple of weeks since the teary incident in her apartment, and she often stayed the night.

"You're messing with me!" Joyce finally realised, halting half-twirl in the middle of the living room.

Dawn and Ally laughed from the couch, confirming the woman's statement.

Buffy decided to tease her mom a bit more, enjoying every second of it. "We just wanted to see how many times we could get you to do it."

"Was that five, or four and a half?" Dawn asked the jury, her sister and her newest sister.

"I'd say four and a half." Declared the latter, holding back a chuckle.

"So is anyone gonna talk about my dress?" Joyce pleaded, holding her arms out for the young girls to fully see it.

"I like it." Dawn assured, the other brunette nodding along with her.

"You sure? I mean, it's not too mom-ish?" She looked down at herself, worried about her date.

The teen's face fell. "Oh. That was why I liked it."

"You're both crazy." Buffy intervened. "It's not mom-ish at all." Joyce was visibly relieved at this. "It's sexy. It screams, 'Randy sex kitten, buy me one drink and I'll...'" She seemed to have forgotten it was her mom for a moment, taking it all back. "Oh, wait, that's not really good either."

Her two companions nodded in agreement, now really dubious about the dress. They continued to talk about the date, the time and the man for a while, getting Joyce even more nervous about it at the end. "Buffy, Ally, what do you think? Should I, you know, try to make things romantic, or... sorta let him set the pace?

Buffy stood up, walking to the other end of the couch, shaking her head. "Oh, no. Love Doctor Buffy is not in. I am not qualified to give dating advice. I've had exactly two boyfriends, and they both left. Really left. Left town left." Ally didn't really know anything about Buffy's ex, except that one was actually quite recent, so she decided not to ask about them.

"Honey, you just had some bad luck." Her mom comforted the blonde, her expression softening.

Then they all looked at her, thinking she could add some useful advice. "No, no, no. I've had one boyfriend and it ended up with me leaving town. I know nothing about relationships. I'm hopeless."

"Well," Dawn spoke up, looking at the Slayer. "you're going to that spring break party tonight. Maybe you'll find someone there."

"And maybe I could get Alls here to find someone too." The blonde smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Oh, dear. Was all the brunette could think about. She hadn't told them about Spike's declaration of love, thinking the Slayer might go after him if she knew. If Spike found out about her getting involved with someone else after telling him it was too soon for her, he would be hurt.


The Gang was watching a really cute girl who had recently arrived, looking for someone called Warren, while Buffy chatted with a guy called Ben, the same Ben that had helped Dawn at the hospital it seemed. He was really cute, brown haired, and a doctor. Also, apparently interested in Buffy, and she was totally into him too.

"That guy over there can't stop staring at you." Willow whispered in Ally's ear while she sipped her juice. Yeah, she was the kind that got plain, non alcoholic juice at parties.

She looked over to find who she was talking about, noticing a boy, around his early twenties, discreetly watching her. He had long dark blonde hair coming down almost to his shoulders, and bright green eyes noticeable from the distance. A light stubble covered his strong defined jaw, making him look a bit more mature. He winked at her when he saw her looking at him, causing her to blush and avert her eyes, focusing back on her friends.

It didn't take long for him to come near her, standing just two feet from her. "Uh, hi. Name's James. I... saw you and really had to talk to you." He held his hand out for her, who obliged and shook it.

"Ally." She briefly informed, the redness of her cheeks increasing. She really wasn't used to flirting, not like that. Yes, she had been hit on before, she had flirted before, but she was never interested or affected by it. But right then, she was at a party and she was single. It made her nervous.

"That's a beautiful name. Is it short for Allison?" He smirked confidently.

"No, it's just Ally."

"Oh, well. Do you study here at UC Sunnydale?" He gestured around the room with the hand holding his cup of... probably some kind of alcoholic beverage.

"No, I don't go to college. I moved here a couple months ago, actually." She shrugged, smiling when she caught Anya giving her a thumbs up and pointing at James.

"You seem to have a good group of friends already, for someone new." He noticed, following her gaze and making Anya drop her hands.

Her smile widened, grateful for them. "I've been lucky, really." Then she noticed someone else watching her from across the hall, standing near the pretty girl looking for Warren. He turned his eyes towards James, and she could see some of the fire from that night with Dru and Harmony back. She didn't realize James was talking to her still. "Uh, sorry, what?" She turned her gaze back to him, blinking, a bit lost.

"I was just asking if you wanted to dance. The music's really good tonight."

"I... uhm... Sure." She would have to talk to Spike about glaring at every men she spoke to, except Xander and Giles.

James left their cups aside and took her hand to lead her to somewhere with more room to move, holding her right hand high and placing his left hand on her waist, respecting her personal space by not pushing her too close to him.

They made idle chat, not really following the rhythm of the music but simply swaying to one side and the other.

Until they saw Warren's girl lift Spike in the air and throw him out of the window, crashing it on the way.

"No!" Ally immediately left her dancing partner and ran towards her bleach blond friend, who seemed to have a penchant for getting beaten up. "What's wrong with you?" She yelled at the super strong girl before jumping over the ledge and landing next to the vampire, who was just beginning to recover, luckily no pieces of wood from the window sticking out of his chest.

He fully straightened himself and frowned at the girl on the pink flowery dress on the other side of the window, staring at him. "Bloody hell! You threw me through a window! What's that about?" She didn't really seem to care, her face passive, unchanging.

"You do not make those suggestions to me. I have a boyfriend. Warren is my boyfriend." She cleared, leaving no room for flirts.

Ally, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow at Spike. What suggestions?

"You know what?" He was still fuming at Warren's girl. "My bleeding sympathies to Warren." And he walked off, only sending one hurt look at Ally.

Buffy, inside the building, had advanced on the girl by the time the Potential jumped through the hole that was the window. "Excuse me. Hi. Um, uh, maybe you and I could talk. You know, 'cause, throwing Spike through a window," She paused and grinned, making Ally, nearing her, roll her eyes. "well, that's really good... um, but, you know, generally speaking-"

"Do you know my boyfriend?" The girl repeated once again, like a broken cassette.

Buffy held one hand up to stop her. "Okay. I think you need to take a second and stop looking for your boyfriend."

And she did the same with Buffy as she did with the vampire, only keeping her inside the room, surrounded by shocked witnesses. "I have to find him." She walked over to the Slayer and the brunette kneeling next to her, halting a couple steps from them. "If I hurt you just now, I'm sorry. And I hope that your boyfriend will take good care of you." And just like that, she left.


The Scooby Gang reached the conclusion that she was a robot, no one arguing about it. They would search for that Warren guy in the morning.


Gathered around the round table on the Magic Box, they theorized about Warren and the robot, eventually moving onto why someone would need a robot to keep their company, which turned into a big pity party for the only single youngsters in the group.

"Are we going to end up being the new Golden Girls? With fourteen cats and crochet tablecloths?" Ally leaned against the Slayer, sharing their slight depression at being alone, both having recently broken up with their boyfriends.

"I don't know how to do crochet work." The blonde whined, resting her head on top of her friend's.