Summary/Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

*****

Chapter 4

Spike watched Buffy as they sat in the queue of cars waiting to cross the border into Mexico. She had fallen asleep after they had stopped at a diner for something to eat. He hoped that it wouldn't become a habit or their journey would be a boring one for him.

It did, however, allow him time to study the girl when her defences were down, when she wasn't putting up a brave front.

He could see the toll the past few days had taken on her. A small frown creased her features and there were dark rings under her eyes, both from lack of sleep and too much crying.

'Still bloody beautiful though.' He realised that he wasn't as surprised at the thought as he possibly should have been. He was willing to admit that he had been attracted to her from the first time he saw her in the Bronze. He may have hated her over the last year but her beauty was something he had never questioned.

What did surprise him was the fact that it wasn't just her body that attracted him. It was her fire, her spirit. He had seen it the night he had fought her in the school. She didn't just fight because it was her duty or some Watcher had told her to, she fought with a passion. And unless he was very much mistaken she enjoyed the battle just as much as he did.

He had pushed all positive feelings towards her out of his mind as she constantly thwarted all his plans. He had fought both of his previous Slayers on many occasions and they had come close to beating him several times, but neither of them had gotten as close as Buffy had, dropping that organ on him.

Then Angelus had returned, another thing he could blame Buffy for, and Dru had promptly thrown herself back at 'her daddy'. With no Dru and being stuck in that bloody wheelchair, Spike had a lot of time to think about things. There was little else he could do while he waited for his spine to heal. He had found the majority of his thoughts drawn towards the Slayer. At first he was resentful of her for putting him in the chair and for releasing Angelus to mock and torment him, but soon they had turned to far more pleasing thoughts of their battles and other, imagined, physical encounters.

It was mostly down to these thoughts and feelings that he had turned to Buffy when he decided to make a stand against Angelus. He could have chosen any number of ways to stop Angelus' plans, the simplest of which would have been to kill the Watcher before he told Angelus how to open Acathla, or to have simply smashed the statue with a hammer before it was opened. But instead he had gone to the person he was supposed to hate above all others in this world.

He couldn't believe that it had only been three days since he had made his truce with Buffy. So much had happened it that short time, not just the deaths of Dru and Angelus, but between himself and Buffy also.

He thought he must be insane to be considering it, but the thought that there may be a possibility of something beyond a fragile friendship forming between them was far from unpleasant. And small signs from Buffy convinced him that he wasn't crazy for considering it. The hug hadn't gone unnoticed and neither had the other small touches between them, the hand on his shoulder when they were arguing that lingered a bit too long and the brushing of their hands when he helped her pack.

If something was going to happen with Buffy he was determined that it be real. He wasn't going to get involved in a rebound relationship. What he had told Buffy was true, he didn't really feel devastated over Dru's death, but Buffy had loved Angel and he was damn well sure he wouldn't get involved with someone who was just looking to make the pain go away.

He had lived without love for over a hundred years, content to only have part of his love's heart, just a crumb. This time he was determined to have it all.

*****

Buffy was shocked back into consciousness by the blaring of horn from the car behind them. Spike glanced over with an apologetic look.

"Sorry luv, mind was wandering, didn't notice the line moving."

"That's OK, what time is it? Hang on, what line?"

"It's nearly sunset and the line is for the border. Another half hour and we'll be in Mexico."

"Oh." Buffy settled back into her seat, trying to fully wake her sleep dulled mind. She realised that this was the third time that she had let herself sleep in front of Spike in the last two days, laving herself open to any attack. And each time she had woken without any holes I her neck and all her blood where it was supposed to be.

Her life really had changed over the last few days. A week ago she wouldn't have trusted Spike at all, now she had trusted him to help her save the world and she trusted him with her safely, with her very life.

It felt strange to think of Spike as anything other than the enemy but she realised that it also felt.right. Like it would be very easy to call him a friend.

The Spike she was with now seemed very different to the Spike that had attacked her at school or sent assassins to kill her. He was open with his feelings and didn't mock her when she cried in front of him, a sure sign of weakness for him to pick on. He hadn't said as much but Buffy suspected that just as she had left the Slayer back in Sunnydale, he had left the vampire back at the Hellmouth.

Without the Slayer and the vampire getting in the way, Buffy was really able to start getting to know Spike, and so far, she liked what she saw.

TBC

AN: Slightly longer chapter! What do you think? It's about time I updated Wounded too, hopefully that will be today, if not, definitely tomorrow.

So, the journey had properly begun, Spike and Buffy are out of the US, what will happen next? You will just have to stick around to find out!

Please review me!