A/N : Thanx to fictionfreak and basketball-slayer for the latest reviews. Here's the next chapter.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 11

"Knock Knock" Spike's somewhat nervous voice accompanied his fist on the wood of the library door as he opened it.

"William Hart you are in serious trouble..." his mother stood up from her seat immediately, a distinctly annoyed expression on her face and tone in her voice.

"Mum, please, give us a chance to apologise at least..." he dared to interrupt and her look softened a little on the word 'apologise'. She nodded for him to continue. Spike turned to Giles with a sigh as he noticed, although the older mans nose was no longer bloody, it was bruised.

"I had no right hittin' you like that" he said coming toward him slowly, "I'm sorry"

"Apology accepted, William" Giles nodded in response as Jessica sat down again and Spike came to stand by the table.

"It's Spike, remember?" said the young man, slightly aggravated by the use of his given name "Only Mum here calls me Will" he gestured to the woman with his head "to everyone else, including you Giles, I'm Spike"

"But Will, Rupert is your father" Jessica told him, pointlessly.

"Only cos biology says so" he countered "I don't even know him" he mumbled.

"Will..., er, Spike is right, Jessica" Giles stumbled on his words, glancing between his new-found son and ex-girlfriend "I have no right to call him my son"

"S'what I am though innit?" Spike shrugged, "Can't change it"

"No, indeed" Giles replied, softly. It was a very strange situation the three were in and an uncomfortable silence descended on the room, until Jessica finally found her voice.

"Erm, I think we all need to talk about this, together, but now might not be the best time"

"I do have work to do, yes" Giles admitted "and then I have a training session with Buffy later..."

"After that" Jessica suggested "would you like to come to our house and we can talk?"

"Oh, of course, yes" Giles agreed and Jessica smiled slightly, turning to her son.

"Is that okay with you, Will?"

"S'pose so" he shrugged, if he was honest he wasn't sure what he wanted to happen with his parents, all that was on his mind was what would happen next with himself and Buffy.

"Okay, I'll er, cook us some dinner" he heard his mother continue "oh but I'll have to pick you up from here first..."

"I could er give you a lift if you care to wait" Giles piped up, much to the others surprise. Spike considered for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, okay" he said, before adding quietly "I need to talk to Buffy anyway"

Despite the lowering of his voice, his mother still heard every word he said.

"Something important, honey?" she asked, tilting her head. She had her suspicions that there might be a few developing feelings between those two, more than just friendship, she had no idea of course that she was so right.

"Er...yeah, actually" Spike wasn't sure whether he wanted to say this in front of his mother and new-found father or not, but if he wanted to make sense of this girl he was going to need help. Who better to help him than the man Buffy looked up to so much - her Watcher.

"You know her better than I do Giles, maybe you can figure it out. Is she always so...I dunno, does she change her mind a lot, her opinions...also she fell asleep in class today and had some sort of nightmare and when I asked her about it she ran off" he explained, "I just can't make any sense of her.

"What had happened before that?" Giles asked, going straight into Watcher mode, cleaning his glasses and pacing the room. But Spike had a problem, he couldn't tell the absolute truth, that truth being that he and Buffy had been kissing after a sort discussion/argument about his confusion about his parents and possible love for the Slayer.

"We talked is all" he shrugged again "about...stuff" he said, non-commitally.

"Well, the dream may be significant" his father told him "she does occasionally have prophetic dreams, it's all to do with being the Slayer"

"Maybe that's all it was then..." Spike nodded wanting to get out of this uncomfortable conversation he'd started as soon as possible "I should get to class. See ya later Mum" he smiled, placing a kiss on her cheek, before turning back to Giles "and I'll see you after last class"

"Yes, you will" the Watcher smiled at his new found son as he left the room.

"I should be going too" Jessica sighed, standing up. She shifted a little and uncomfortably wondered what to do next. She took a step forward as did the man before her and they caught each either in a an awkward hug. It felt so familiar and comfortable once they were there that neither really wanted to let go, but they knew they must "I'll see you tonight, Rupert" Jessica smiled as she left.

"Yes, see you then, Jessica" he called behind her, sinking down into his chair again, thinking about a time in his life when he thought he and Jessica would be together forever, before coming back to Earth and worrying about the dinner that night.

"Hey Buffster, you okay?" Xander caught up to Buffy at lunch, Willow at his side "We heard you went home, feeling sick or something"

"No, I'm fine" Buffy smiled fakely, not feeling even half as happy as she looked. She was confused, in every possible way and she couldn't see a way out of the mess she appeared to have got into. Unidentifiable feelings for Spike were causing her the biggest problems, that and a sudden overpowering sense of guilt about everyone's situation she felt she'd caused.

"Hey, what you said to Spike about the kissage" her male friend continued "you two didn't really..."

"Xander" she snapped in annoyance at the reminder of what she'd said and done as regards her new next door neighbour "Can we not talk about this now, please?"

"Sure" the brunette nodded and Willow finally spoke up.

"Buffy, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine" the blonde smiled, kindly, at her friend, since she really had no reason to be so off with Willow and she didn't want to worry her either. It was then she saw Spike, or rather his back, disappearing out of the cafeteria.

"Spike, we need to talk" she called as she hurried to catch up to him. She caught him just outside the doors.

"Oh so now she wants to talk" Spike said to no-one in particular before turning around to face her "Earlier you couldn't run away fast enough, pet"

"I'm sorry" the Slayer looked own at her feet, feeling awful.

"For what?" Spike asked, trying to get her to meet his eyes "The Little Miss Ice-queen routine first thing this morning? The kissing after that? The running away? What exactly am I getting an apology for?" he asked her, his voice demanding and slightly angry. It was now Buffy raised her head and Spike felt awful when he saw two tears roll down her cheeks.

"All of it" she choked out, angrily dragging the back of her hand across her face to remove her tears. She almost broke Spike's heart, she genuinely looked like she felt so bad.

"Oh come on Slayer" he sighed, putting an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her slightly "no more tears"

She smiled slightly and he encouraged her to walk with him down the corridor, leaving his arm just where it was.

"I'm sorry too" he told her "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with or to understand, especially now...I don't even understand my life myself at the moment" he trailed off and Buffy looked up at him.

"Did you talk to Giles and your Mom?"

"Yeah...we're having a talk tonight, the whole family dinner bit...it's weird" he laughed lightly, "I dunno whether to be happy about it or not"

"Giles is a nice guy" Buffy told him "he's been more like a father to me than my Dad ever was" she admitted, and it was true.

"Good job he's not your real father, pet" Spike laughed some more as they stopped by some lockers, his arm slipping from her shoulders as they both turned to lean sideways against the wall "It'd make us brother and sister"

"Would that be so bad?" the girl before him asked and Spike frowned, not understanding.

"I don't know what happened last night or this morning" Buffy shook her head for emphasis "but I think maybe it would be a good idea if we started again?" she mumbled most of it and Spike could barely hear what she was saying.

"What are you on about, Slayer?" he asked, clearly aggravated.

"I want us to be friends, Spike" she said as simply as she could but he still looked confused.

"We are, aren't we?"

"I hope so" Buffy said looking up at his again "cos I could use another friend" she waited and watched as the smile on his face faded, he finally understood her and she knew she'd hurt him but it was for the best, right?

"Oh now I get it, just friends, nothing more than that" he shook his head, pushing himself away from the wall and turning away from her.

"Yeah" she nodded as she spoke although he couldn't see her.

"Do I wanna know why?" he asked, his back still facing her.

"It's complicated" she told him, knowing that she couldn't explain all her reasons even if she wanted to "but I just don't think we should be more than friends, okay?"

There was silence as she waited for his response and she was about to tap his shoulder to regain his attention when he suddenly swung round, a smile that didn't reach his eyes, painted on his face.

"Okay" he nodded, just as the school bell rang "I've got to get to class, already missed one today and I've only been here two days!" he turned to walk away again, but called back over his shoulder to her "I'll see you after school, Buffy"

"No, I've got training tonight" she called after him.

"I know, with my D...with Giles" he corrected himself, "So I'll be there"

A/N2 : My next update will be 'Always Remember I Love You' then I'll come back to this one. Please review!