"You had sex with Spike?" Angel asked slowly, as if the words tasted bitter in his mouth.

"Well, yeah. What did you think this story would be about?"

"But I can't believe you slept with him, I mean, weren't you still with Riley?"

"I was," Buffy admitted. "Look, I'm not proud of this. I only told Willow about it, and even then I vagued it up a lot."

"Did you ever tell Riley?"

"No..things got ugly. But that comes later."

"You had sex with Spike," he repeated.

"Yes, now get over it. Or don't you want to hear the rest of the story?"

Angel frowned, "I'm not sure if I want to hear about the Buffy/Spike sexcapades."

Laughter erupted from Buffy, startling Angel. Even Spike jumped slightly. "Sexcapades?"

"I've spent too much time with Cordy."

"Obviously. I'll keep the details to a minimum," Buffy promised.

"But why did you do it Buffy?"

"What's with the questions? Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"I want to know why you did it!"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Angel. Isn't it enough that I wanted to? I knew what I was doing, and I knew I could handle myself."

"But you also know Spike, and you must have known that he wasn't going to take it lightly, or as a one night stand."

"Who said I meant it as a one night stand?"

"What about.."

*** ".Riley's downstairs!" Willow called through Buffy's closed door.

"What?" "Buffy, wake up. Riley is waiting downstairs. Should I send him up?"

"No!" Buffy shouted, "I mean, I'll be right down."

"I don't want to move," Spike said, sleep lacing his voice.

Buffy was curled against him, her head resting on his shoulder. She sighed, "Me neither. But I've got to get up."

"What are you going to tell Captain Cardboard?"

"Nothing." She felt Spike tense and pull away from her slightly.

"Oh."

"Buffy! Can I come in?"

"Oh, fuck. Quick, get in the closet."

"I'm not hiding in the closet, Slayer."

"Either you hide there now, or I'll deposit your dust there."

Spike pushed her away from him and stood up, glaring at her. "Fine." He gathered his clothes and ducked into the closet just as Riley opened the door.

"I came over as soon as I could after the debriefing," he announced as he stepped into the room.

"Riley! You should have given me a few moments, I'm not dressed."

"I like you better this way."

Buffy smiled coyly and pulled the blanket further up. Did she look guilty? Did the bed looked like two supernatural beings had really hot sex, more than once? Were there any clues that Spike was in the room? She found herself thanking God that if she had to cheat on her boyfriend, it was with somebody who could hide in the dark closet indefinitely. Though when he finally came out, he'd probably be pretty pissed off.

Buffy idly wondered if angry! Spike equaled really rough, good sex. She hoped so. Riley was never anything but gentle and considerate. It was nice at first, but sometimes she wanted to play a little. And she always had to be careful, because even though he was strong, he couldn't even begin to handle the things she could do with her muscles.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, the doctors checked me out. They said I need some rest, maybe some TLC," he winked at her, "and I should be fine."

"That's good. How did the debriefing go?"

Riley sat down on the bed beside her, and she could feel, rather than hear, Spike growl. "Well, there is no more Initiative."

"Is that of the good?"

Riley shrugged, "Well, since I wasn't part of it anymore anyway, I guess it doesn't make a big difference."

She embraced him, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

'Sleeping with Spike,' she thought. Though was she, really? "That everything got destroyed."

"Maybe that's for the best, in the end. I still can't believe Professor Walsh.."

"I know, I don't think any of us could. Have you gotten any sleep?"

He shook his head, "No, I came right over here when we were through."

"Well, why don't you go shower and I'll make you something to eat, then you can ge some sleep."

He smiled, "Sounds good. You're the best girlfriend ever."

She returned his smile, "I try."

Buffy handed Riley the pair of sweats and a t-shirt he kept at her place, then gently pushed him out the door. As soon as she closed it behind Riley, Spike stepped out of the closet.

"Well, aren't we the sweet little housewife," he sneered.

"I couldn't let him think something was up."

"What are you going to make to eat? Cause, Slayer, really, you should be kept out of the kitchen."

"Shut Spike, and get dressed. You need to get out of here before Riley comes back."

"I can't leave the house, Slayer. And I don't know if you want all your friends to see me leaving your room."

"Then what do you want to do? Spend the rest of the day in the closet?"

Spike shrugged, "Get rid of soldier boy, and we can spend the rest of the day in bed."

"No, Spike, you need to get out of here."

"Ok." Spike moved to open the door.

"Where are you going?"

"You just told me to get out."

"Put on your clothes first."

Spike quickly dressed and then opened the door..and saw Riley standing in the hallway, his hair still dripping.

They stared at each for a long moment, Buffy standing behind Spike, her face turning a bright red.

"Good morning," Spike greeted pleasantly.

"What are you doing coming out of Buffy's room?" Riley asked, his voice calm and measured.

"Spent the night here, mate."

Buffy was absolutely mortified and vowed that she would kill Spike with Mr. Pointy. But it was tempting to lop off his head. After she cut off other body parts.

"What?"

"Slept in the basement, mate. Just came upstairs to see if the Slayer was awake."

"Why?"

"Wanted to talk to her."

"Yeah, but obviously, I don't want to talk to him right now, so I told him to leave," Buffy added.

Riley sighed, "Whatever. I'm not going to fight with you over this anymore, Buffy. Hostile 17 is no longer any of my concern..or really anybody's since the Initiative has been destroyed."

Riley moved past Spike and he obligingly stepped out of the way. "Don't worry about cooking anything, Buffy, I'm beat."

As soon as the door clicked behind them, Buffy turned to Spike. "Ok, that was close."

Spike wanted to ask why it matter, why couldn't she just tell the ex- soldier that she was with him now. Not that mattered though, not as long as she kept sleeping with him. He wasn't the one with a conscious to bother him.

"Uh huh. I think I'll go get some sleep in the basement."

"Ok, you need anything?"

"You can come downstairs and make sure I'm comfortable," Spike suggested.

Buffy smiled, "I could, but I won't. No more of that today."

"What about tonight?"

She stepped forward and kissed him, "Maybe."