A/N : Hey guys! Thanx for the reviews on my last chapter. Here's the next one, I hope you like it!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 13 - One Month Later
One month. Everything that had happened had happened a whole month ago, in some ways it seemed way longer and in others it could have been just yesterday. Cordelia had moved away and Spike and Jessica had moved in. Giles had discovered he was Spike, or William's, father and over the past month the strange little family had got to know each other better. Spike still called his father Giles, feeling uncomfortable calling a man he hardly knew Dad, and despite Spike's mother calling him by a shortened version of his real name, Giles stuck to the boys nickname as his friends did.
Buffy had changed over the month. After Cordelia left she felt there was an empty space in her life but Spike had quickly filled it in the strangest way. In the first two days of knowing each other the pair had kissed twice and divulged secrets to each other that they hadn't even told their parents, but Buffy had decided they should not be more than just good friends, despite the fact she was very attracted to her new neighbour.
A mixture of fear and worry and guilt had caused her decision. She'd been through so much with Angel she was afraid of a new relationship, and the people she got close to, Angel, Cordelia, her father, they had a habit of going away and she didn't want to risk losing Spike. Plus she'd felt so guilty about being the Slayer and making everyone's lives complicated, she didn't want to add further complications. She'd let her guilt go when she realised everything seemed to be better with Giles and Jessica and Spike, but there was no way she was going to hinder that now.
At school, Buffy, Spike, Willow and Xander hung around together, usually talking about meaningless teenage things or that special secret they shared about Buffy being the Slayer. They hung around the library, talking to Giles, and Spike and Xander heckled each other most of the time. Willow's witch powers got stronger, Xander's aim with a stake got even better, and Spike soon became a real member of the gang too. Sometimes he would patrol with Buffy, both of them sneaking out of their bedroom windows after dark. Joyce still did not know Buffy's secret and although Jessica did, Spike knew she would not approve of his helping the Slayer with her work, but he had to do it.
It still hurt when Spike thought of his second day in Sunnydale, when Buffy told him they should never be more than friends. He hadn't understood then and he still didn't understand now, why she'd made the decision but he respected it and they became good and trusting friends, as he tried to bury his attraction to her. It was hard for him to control sometimes, the burning feelings he felt for her, but he restrained himself well, unaware that she had to force herself back sometimes too.
* * * * *
It was a Saturday, and two days until an important Maths exam for the gang at Sunnydale High. Spike had asked Buffy if she wanted to study with him, and since Jessica had plans to spend time with Giles, Buffy agreed and suggested Spike come over to her house to study.
Giles and Jessica saw a lot of each other, they were more or less dating, which seemed strange to Buffy since they already had a son together, but they had to get to know each other all over again, and both Spike and Buffy, as well as Joyce, Dawn, Willow and Xander, suspected the flame they'd had before was being re-kindled.
"Buffy, I think Spike is here!" Joyce called up the stairs to her daughter as she moved to answer the door, but Dawn got there first. She flung the door open with a bright smile on her face.
"Hey Spike"
"Hey there, Little Bit" he smiled back and she giggled at the nickname he had given her weeks ago. Spike had nicknames for everyone, she had noticed one day when he was at their house, talking about 'Red' and the 'Whelp' so Dawn had asked what her name could be. Hence forth she had been christened Little Bit, to Spike at least. Buffy was just Buffy in front of company, but when alone, or in front of those who knew, he called her Slayer.
"Buffy's still upstairs" Dawn told Spike as she let him into the house. "How are you?"
"I'm just fine" he smiled, "Yourself?"
"Oh, you know" she shrugged, closing the door and trying to look grown up, attractive and sexy at the same time, and failing miserable. Spike wasn't even looking at her as Buffy came down the stairs.
"Hey" she greeted him and Dawn huffed as she stomped away to the kitchen to find her mother. Spike was gorgeous and she really liked him, but he only had eyes for her sister. It was so unfair since it seemed Buffy didn't want him at all.
"My stuff is in my room" Buffy said as she got two steps from the bottom, "So, if you wanna come up" she gestured to Spike as she turned to go back up and he followed, adjusting the bag on his back as he went.
He'd studied at Buffy's house before, as she'd studied at his, but always in the living room or the dining room, they'd never been in each others bedrooms. Buffy felt a little weird about it, but it was a lot of effort to take all her books down today, besides she knew Dawn wouldn't leave them alone if they worked downstairs. 'It's just a room and Mom and Dawn are just downstairs' she thought to herself, 'and we're just studying, get a grip' She had no idea Spike was thinking the exact same thing.
Little more than fifteen minutes into their studies, there was a knock on Buffy's bedroom door and Joyce came in to find her daughter seated on her bed with Spike on the desk chair, and maths books and papers everywhere.
"Buffy, your sister and I are going to the grocery store, is there anything you want?"
"No thanks Mom, we're good" the girl smiled as she glanced up from her work.
"Oh, okay" Joyce smiled once again as she back out of the room, "We shouldn't be long"
"Okay, Mom, see you later" Buffy told her mother calmly, panicking on the inside as she realised she was going to be alone in the house with Spike, in her bedroom.
"Bye Buffy, Bye Spike" the older woman glanced from her daughter to the boy beside her as she finally left the room,
"Goodbye Joyce" Spike glanced up to smile at the woman as she left, using her first name after being repeatedly told that 'Mrs Summers' made her feel old.
Five minutes later the front door clicked shut and the house was empty save for the two young people upstairs.
"Buffy?" Spike said glancing over at the girl with her nose buried deep in a text book.
"Yeah" she answered without looking up, knowing she risked drowning in those blue eyes of his if she did.
Spike sighed, taking the text book from her and forcing her to give him her attention. He placed the book beside her on the bed and pushed the wheeled chair he was on forward so he was right in front of her.
"What is it, Spike?" she said, annoyed at the interruption and desperate not to look at him too much.
"There's something I think we need to talk about.." he started, he had spent the whole time there in her room, not taking in a word or number written on the pages he'd supposedly read. He really needed to tell Buffy how he felt about her, even if she did tell him to go away and never come back. It was too hard to just ignore it anymore.
"Spike, unless this is a math related topic I don't want to hear it" she told him, looking away and reaching for the book she'd been reading. His hand went for it at the same time, to stop her and their fingers connected for a moment.
It wasn't as if they'd never been in contact like that before, but the significance of that moment, the tension on the air and the words he needed to say to her...
"Buffy, I..." he began as their eyes locked onto one another at last.
The girl sighed with relief as the door bell rang.
"Literally, saved by the bell" she whispered to herself as she dived for the bedroom door and right down the stairs as fast as she could, shaking as she went. The impatient person beyond the front door began knocking now as Buffy flew down the remaining stairs and flung open said door.
"Hey Buffy!" said the cheerful girl on the other side.
"Cordy?"
To Be Continued...
