Summary: Buffy made a wish that changed some things about Spike: he's now human, his crypt was redecorated, he dresses normally, doesn't listen to punk music, drink, smoke, lie, cheat, steal, or swear, he actually gets along with all of the Scoobies and helps them, and his hair has reverted to its original color. He also doesn't love Buffy anymore, but she doesn't know this. Everyone knows about the changes and they are starting to like him better.

A/N: If you were reading the summary and thinking that you didn't remember some of Spike's changes, you were right-I made a couple more changes I thought be relevant...I should have thought of it when I was writing the first chapter, but oh, well.

A/N 2: Sorry again for the long wait. Finals are over and I'm home for the summer, so chapters SHOULD be more regular. No promises though... Thank you all for your patience, and for the great reviews! In penance for making you wait, I offer an (hopefully) nice, long chapter.

Chapter 7:

By the time Buffy had changed, dropped Dawn off at a friend's house, and arrived at The Bronze, Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, and Spike were already there. She watched them from across the room for a minute before joining them. They all looked happy. Everyone was laughing at some joke, and although Spike seemed more reserved than anyone besides Tara, he looked like he was having fun, too. Hopefully they would all work as well together as they were getting along right now. Especially with this new threat they knew so little about: Glory. Shaking her head, Buffy started toward the table again. This night was for fun, not for work.

"Hey, Buff! You can sit here; Spike and I are just gonna go play some pool," Xander greeted Buffy as he and Spike left the table. As they left, Buffy frowned a little. Xander had never played pool with her. Come to think of it, aside from Tara, who was new to the group, Xander had played pool with everyone but her. And now Spike. Slightly put out, Buffy turned her attention back to the table, and the conversation that was inevitably about-what else?-Spike.

"...and he's done lots of spells before; he just doesn't like to use magic to get things done. When he does, though, it *always* works. That spell that he used to heal Drusilla? It was really complicated, and we kind of interrupted it, but it still worked. He promised to help me with that sunshine spell that I tried a while ago, since it won't hurt him to be around when I'm casting it anymore," Willow enthused.

"Wait-wasn't that the spell that gave us the giant troll?" Buffy interrupted, trying to make sure Willow wasn't going to summon any more large demons without her presence. "'Cause if you're doing that spell again, maybe I should be there too, just in case something gets conjured that shouldn't be here. And I'm not sure we should be looking to Drusilla's healing spell for pointers. It almost killed Angel."

Willow looked hurt that Buffy would question her ability. "Look, I know I've done some stuff in the past that's been kinda bad, but I haven't done anything like that since the troll. I've been really careful. And if something does go wrong, Spike'll be there anyway, so he could help with that, too."

While Willow spoke, Tara nodded in agreement before speaking. "I know I wasn't here when Spike cast that spell, but from what Willow told me it was really powerful black magic. We won't be trying anything like that, but she was using it as an example because the energies that he was taking from A-Angel could have been let loose when you interrupted the spell, but he kept control of them, so that was good..." Tara trailed off after her explanation.

Buffy just looked confused as she listened to Tara's explanation. When she was done, Buffy quickly jumped in with an apology to Willow. "Oh, Will, I wasn't saying that something would go wrong! I know you're a great witch! I just forgot that somebody else can take care of these things now. I'm sure you can get the spell right next time," Buffy managed to refrain from telling the girls about how she had kicked Spike's ass in the training room earlier, not to mention during that healing spell they were so excited about. Since when would they rather have *Spike* protect and help them than her! She was the Slayer! And these were her friends, damn it!

"Well, I know I won't be around during the sunshine spell again. That way we can't argue and end up with another one of my old, uh, projects here. That would not be pleasant," Anya said with extraordinary tact, but quickly spoiled the effect. "Did you notice how I didn't talk about all the things I did to men during my time as a vengeance demon? Xander helped a lot with what I should and shouldn't say, but Spike's helping me now too. He's in the same situation, but I notice that he never makes people uncomfortable by talking about things he's not supposed to. Of course, he hasn't been a human that long, so he could still do that, but he spent more time with humans while he was a demon, so maybe that helps. It's nice to have someone who I can relate to like that," Anya rambled out loud, not noticing the changing expressions of her companions until the end. "Oops, I did it again, didn't I? Well, pretend that I stopped after I talked about Olaf."

Willow and Tara hid smiles. Buffy just looked surprised and annoyed that yet another one of her friends had found something that only Spike could do. Buffy looked over at Xander and Spike playing pool. It looked like Spike was winning, but he had had a long time to learn the game. He appeared to be a good sport, and it even seemed like he was giving Xander pointers on how to make some of the tougher shots.

With a sigh, Buffy turned her attention back to the table. At least she was still included in the group and they hadn't turned to Spike and completely left her behind. She gave a mental snort. Like that would happen. They were still her friends, she would just have to learn to share. It's not like it was Spike's fault; technically, it was hers. Just as Buffy completed her new, positive assessment of the situation, Willow and Tara got up to dance, and Anya went over to the pool table to persuade Xander onto the dance floor.

Sighing again, Buffy went over to the bar to get a drink.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Xander was losing to Spike, but not as badly as he could be. He had only one ball left on the table when Spike sank the eight ball. Part of his success was due to the fact that he was a pretty good pool player, part because he suspected Spike was going easy on him, and partially because Spike was giving him tips on how to line up some tough banked shots.

So, when the game was over, Xander conceded the victory to Spike charitably. They sat and talked for a few minutes about nothing in particular, and Xander realized how nice it was to have a guy friend who seemed like he was the same age. True, Spike was over a century older than him, but he seemed to have the mentality of someone in his twenties.

Anya came over to the table and started to coax him onto the dance floor. "Come on, Xander. Willow and Tara are dancing, and I want to dance as well. We can...uh, we can have fun dancing to the nice, loud music!" Anya censored herself and looked at Xander expectantly.

"Sure, Ahn, I'm up for some dancing," Xander agreed, nodding to Spike as he got up to leave with Anya.

"You should go dance with Buffy. She looks depressed. I think she's thinking of Reilly, or something," Anya told Spike as she left with Xander.

After Anya and Xander left, Spike looked around for Buffy. She wasn't sitting at the table. He scanned the crowd and saw her standing at the bar. She did look depressed, Spike noted. While he certainly wasn't going to dance with her, since she would probably think that he was obsessing over her again like he had been before he became human, he could go over and talk to her to see what was wrong.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Since Spike no longer registered with Buffy's Slayer-sense, he was able to catch her unawares. He practically materialized from the crowd at her elbow. "Uh, hi Buffy-"

With a start, Buffy whirled around, running straight into Spike's chest. He quickly grabbed her arm to steady her, and after she backed up a step to see who she had run into, he let go.

"Oh, Spike, I didn't hear come over here. Finish the game with Xander?" she asked distractedly, really noticing for the first time just how nice Spike looked. She didn't have much of an appreciation for the all- black look, aside from Angel. Dressed in regular jeans and a button-up green shirt, without the bleach job, Buffy realized that Spike was an attractive guy. Hm, she thought to herself, now that he isn't an evil vampire who might try to kill us, maybe I can actually notice who Spike really is. Suddenly she realized that Spike had been talking while she was thinking about how cute he was. Oops...

"Sorry, Spike. I kinda zoned out there. What did you say?" Buffy quickly apologized when she saw him looking at her, waiting for a response.

Looking unsure, Spike repeated himself. "I just thought you looked kind of sad, and I was wondering if you needed anyone to talk to."

"Oh! No, really it's nothing big. Just seeing everybody else dancing is kinda making me-" Buffy faltered, not wanting to explain her feelings about Spike to him

"Miss Reilly?" Spike finished for her.

"Uh, yeah," Buffy said, latching onto a probable reason for her mood, while startled that he had brought up Reilly. Spike had always hated Reilly, but he had just brought him up without calling him "Captain Cardboard" or having a nasty edge to his voice. Maybe that was why she was going to do something as stupid as- "Spike? Do you want to dance?"

Completely shocked, Spike opened his mouth for a second before actually speaking. When he did, he hesitated, hoping she didn't take his answer the wrong way. "Actually, I really don't like the music all that well tonight. Otherwise, I would, but I'm sorry, I just can't with this-" he waved his hand in the air "-noise." He stood looking at her, embarrassed for the situation she had just put herself into.

Buffy blinked. Spike was refusing to dance with her. She would have thought he would jump at the chance. And what was wrong with the music? The Bronze had a live band which was playing mostly hard rock. While she normally didn't like this sort of music, it fit her mood tonight. Spike had always liked this sort of music...until she had wished that he didn't. Great. Well, change of plans. Killing things sounded like a nice form of therapy.

"Do you want to go, then? I think I need to kill something," Buffy said with an expectant smile.

Spike frowned a little at her statement, but replied, "Sure, we do need to patrol. I'll meet you outside."

Buffy found Willow and Tara on the dance floor and told them she was leaving with Spike, and that she would see them in the morning. They nodded and waved, and she left The Bronze for the night.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TBC...