A/N : Wow, I can't beleive I got ten reviews on my first chapter. I was so worried no-one would like my idea. Thanks to everyone who did review, you're all very kind.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

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Chapter 2

Dawn's mouth hung open and her eyes went wide. She couldn't remember ever seeing such a gorgeous guy. Buffy shoved her sister slightly to bring her out of her daze, although she could see why Dawn would be so enamoured.

This guy, William apparently, was taller than Buffy and wore mostly black. His hair was peroxide blonde and styled in spikes on top of his head, beneath which was his smiling face, with high cheek bones and blue eyes so bright they could blind you if you looked at them too long.

"Nice to meet you" he said smoothly, in an accent Dawn wasn't familiar with. It was almost completely English but it had an edge to it that was all it's own.

"You too" Buffy replied, when her sister said nothing. Dawn just blushed furiously after realising she'd been staring so obviously. William barely noticed the embarrassed girl since his attention was caught on her older sister. Buffy noticed the way he was staring at her and it was making her decidedly uncomfortable.

"Er, I'll go and make some coffee" she smiled, desperate to get out of the room.

"Oh, thankyou, Buffy" her mother was slightly surprised by her older daughters helpfulness, she wasn't usually so willing to do things like that.

"I'll lend a hand" William offered and was out of the room, following Buffy before anyone could object.

Joyce and Jessica just smiled at each other and sat down and Dawn frowned as she took a seat beside her mother, finally realising that the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen seemed to prefer her sister.

"Thought I'd help out" William said from the kitchen doorway, as Buffy got some cups from the cupboard.

"It's fine" Buffy told him without actually turning around, "I can do it"

"Buffy" he said her name, which finally got her full attention, "That's an interesting name" he smiled, moving over and leaning back on the worktop.

"Thankyou" she smiled with fake sweetness, "My mother gave it to me, just like your mother gave you yours, William"

As easy on the eye as this person was, she didn't have time for bad pick up lines. Her life was busy enough, complicated enough and, recently, depressing enough, without the attentions of some Goth-type guy who'd replaced her best friend next door.

"Please don't call me that" he winced, "only my mother calls me William"

"So, what am I supposed to call you?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Well, my friends call me Spike" he grinned and Buffy looked strangely at him.

"The hair" he added as way of an explanation, and she nodded as she glanced up at his spiked, peroxide-coated hair, before going back to her coffee making.

"So" she sighed after a while, her curiosity getting the better of her, "where are you from, Spike?"

"London originally" he told her, happy she was showing some interest in him.

"Oh, in England" Buffy nodded, "hence the accent" she said, more to herself than to him, "But your Mom, she didn't sound English"

"Oh no, Mum's not a Brit, she was working over there, met my Dad there, he was English"

"Was?" Buffy echoed, "you mean he's..." she was about to say dead before realising how tactless she was being. She was so used to life and death situations because of what and who she was, it never occurred to her she shouldn't just say it until it was too late.

"No, he's alive" Spike told her, "At least I reckon so"

Buffy didn't understand and told him as much as she put the cups of coffee on a tray.

"He doesn't even know I exist" the young man admitted bitterly, "Got my Mum pregnant and disappeared"

"That's awful" Buffy gasped but he shrugged like it was no big deal.

"In fairness to the old man he didn't know about it. Mum tried to find him but seemed he'd flitted the country. I never even met him"

"I'm sorry" the blonde girl said honestly, and she thought her life was tough. Her Mum and Dad might be divorced but at least she knew who he was.

"Not your fault, pet" Spike gave her a half smile and offered to carry the tray of coffee for her. She let him take it and held the kitchen door open for him.

When the two young people arrived back in the living room, they found their mothers and Dawn laughing loudly. It seemed Joyce and Jessica had a lot in common and were getting on like a house on fire. Even Dawn was enjoying herself although her enjoyment increased when William returned to the room.

"So have you two been getting to know each other?" Jessica asked them and Buffy smiled back at her.

"Yes, Spike was just telling me a little fmaily history"

"Spike?" Joyce repeated what she thought her daughter had said.

"William's friends call him Spike" Jessica explained to her new friend and neighbour, "because of his hair" Buffy noticed she didn't look as if she approved of either the name or the reason for it.

"Spike's a cool name" Dawn grinned at him and Buffy rolled her eyes at how much of a child her sister really was. She was so obvious!

"Well thankyou Dawn" he smiled back at her, "You have a very nice name yourself"

The younger girl blushed at that, which got another eye roll from Buffy and Spike saw this one. Did the older girl not approve of his attention to her younger sister? Well that was worth knowing. Anything that got Buffy's attention, in any way, was well worth knowing about.

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"Well, I think perhaps we should be going" said Jessica as she checked her watch. She and her son had spent several hours in their new next door neighbours house getting better acquanted and drinking a lot of coffee.

"It was lovely to meet you all" she continued, getting up from her seat, "but I have a lot to do tomorrow and William has to start at his new school"

"You going to Sunnydale High, Spike?" Dawn asked him as she too stood up.

"Yes, looks that way" he smiled as he turned to Buffy, "I guess I'll see you there"

"Oh I'm sure Buffy would walk in with you tomorrow and show you around" Joyce offered and her daughter inwardly cringed. She was already considered a freak by half of the school, hanging around with a guy like Spike was going to lower her cred rating even further, even if he was kind of cute...still, the eldest Summers girl painted on a fake smile and agreed to her mothers suggestion.

"That's very kind of you Buffy" Jessica smiled brightly.

"Yes, thanks Buffy" her son smirked, seeing the annoyance visible on the girls face, despite her best efforts to hide it. She wouldn't look at him, she was getting really bored of his staring at her all the time.

"No problem" she said quickly as the new neighbours, followed by Dawn and Joyce, left the room and made for the front door.

Buffy stayed behind and flopped back down into the chair again.

Jessica seemed like a nice enough woman and she'd be a new friend for Joyce which was good. Then Buffy thought of Wiliam, of Spike, and he was probably an okay person too but it was annoyingly obvious that Dawn was head over heels for him. He wasn't half bad to look at but what was with the whole black wardrobe thing? No doubt it was some kind of statement that wouldn't make sense to her, plus all the staring he did was drivng her crazy.

All in all, Buffy wished Cordy and her family would just come back. The new neighbours would be okay but she preffered the old ones and who knew what kind of negative reaction she'd get tomorrow when she showed up for school with Spike in tow.

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"So, Will, you think you're going to like it here?" Jessica asked her son as they headed for their own front door.

"Don't see why not" he shrugged.

"Well, you certainly seemed to like the neighbours" his mother smiled as she unlocked the door and they went inside.

"Nice enough people" he answered, pretending not to understand, but of course he did.

There was something about Buffy Summers, he didn't know what it was, but he knew he liked it, whatever it was. For some reason she didn't seem to be his biggest fan, he thought as he went up to his room, no, that title seemed to belong to Dawn. She was nice enough, but too young for Spike, and she hadn't got whatever it was Buffy had. Besides, the older Summers was more of a challenge, and if there was one thing Spike enjoyed, it was a good challenge.

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A/N : I've already started the next chapter so I will update again soon, and in the meantime, reviews are very welcome.