A/N : A flash of inspiration brought forth this chapter which is one of the longest I've written for this story. I hope you approve of where the story goes, let me know by reviewing, please. Oh, and thanx to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter - I love reading your opinions of my work. For those reading 'Always Remember - I Love You' I should have another chapter of that done soon...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 16 - Bronzing

"Buffy, are you ready?" Cordelia tapped on the bathroom door at her grandmothers house and waited impatiently for her friend to appear.

"Almost" came the reply to her question and juts a moment later Buffy emerged, perfectly dressed for a night of Bronzing, in a short-ish skirt, halter top and boots.

"You look great" Cordy told her, "Out to impress someone, are we?"

"No-one special" Buffy shrugged, pushing passed her friend and heading down the stairs. Cordelia followed, not at all convinced. She had thought for a while that she'd made a mistake when she'd assumed there was something more than friendship between Buffy and Spike, but now she realised they were just in denial, both of them probably, but it seemed mostly Buffy.

As the pair travelled to the club, Cordy formed a plan. 'Either those two get together on their own tonight or I force them together!' she thought, and there were so many ways to do it too. Devious could be Miss Chase's middle name when she set her mind to something and tonight she had done just that. At the same time, Cordelia planned to have herself some fun and enjoy spending time with the friend she'd missed for the past month and the new one she'd made today.

"Cordelia!" she heard her name just a few moments after she'd entered the Bronze, Buffy right behind her. She looked around and saw Willow and Xander waving madly from their spot at the gangs regular table. They got up from their seats as their friends approached and both were quick to hug the brunette they had missed.

"Spike not here yet?" Buffy tried to be casual as she asked.

"You invited Spike?" Xander gaped, "Why would you want Captain Peroxide here?"

"She didn't invite him" Cordy snapped, "I did. Buffy made him sound like one of the gang so I figured he should be here"

"He is one of the gang" Willow nodded, giving Xander a look, "him and Xander just can't seem to play nice together, heaven only knows why" she rolled her eyes, only too aware of why the two guys disliked each other so much. They both liked Buffy, hence forth they both saw the other as competition, well, it was more that Xander saw Spike as competition and Spike just couldn't resist the urge to bite when 'the whelp' baited him.

"So, drinks" Xander said suddenly, "Sodas all round?"

The three girls agreed and the brunette went to fetch everyone a drink. He had barely left the table when the aforementioned bleached blond arrived.

"Evenin' ladies" he smiled as he sat down in the seat, recently vacated by Xander.

Willow and Cordy replied with a respective hello and hi, but Buffy barely looked up from the table top which she was studying. He had to admit that it bothered him.

"You okay, pet?" he asked, dipping his head to try and meet her eyes.

"I'm fine" she said, finally looking up, a fake smile on her face, just as Xander returned with a tray of four sodas.

"Hey, bleach boy, you're in my seat" he snapped at Spike as he put down the tray and the girls took their drinks and said thankyou.

"Your name on the chair is it, Harris?" Spike bit back.

"What would you do if I said yes?" the boy asked, arms folded across his chest, certain he'd won this one.

"Sit here anyway" Spike chuckled, not even bothering to turn and look at the person he was talking to. Cordy couldn't help but laugh at their ridiculous behaviour, but Willow was not amused, fixing them both with a stare similar to a mother angry at the squabbling amongst her children.

"Would you to at least try to behave decently in public?" she snapped.

"I'll behave decently when he does" Xander retorted, "And when he gives me my seat back!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and decided to solve a couple of problems at once. She had found this argument amusing at first but Xander was getting loud and people were starting to look - it was embarrassing. Besides she needed to get Buffy's attention on Spike...

"Tell you what, I'll solve the problem" she told the standing man, "You can have your seat back because I'd like to dance with Spike" she said, turning to the man in question "that okay with you?"

"Er...yeah" Spike looked unsure but took the hand Cordelia offered and allowed himself to be led onto the dancefloor. Buffy was somewhat surprised to see her best friend and her...whatever Spike was, dancing together. It made her feel something which she wasn't really sure of. It was like a sick kind of pain right inside of her, and she didn't approve of it. She decided to ignore the dancers, talk to her friends and maybe the feeling would go away.

"So, Buffy, all ready for Monday's math test?" the red-head to her left asked.

"Not so much" the blonde admitted, "But I'll have plenty of time to cram tomorrow" Buffy knew there was no point asking Willow if she was ready since she always was when it came to school type things. Willow was the brainy-type where Buffy was the physical-strength type. Sometimes the Slayer wished she could be greedy and have the brains and the power and on top of that the ability to deal with confusing emotions and understanding of weird feelings she had sometimes, but no, life wasn't that kind.

"Hello? Buffy? Anyone at home?" Buffy was vaguely aware of a hand waving in front of her face and zoned back in to see Xander standing right beside her.

"What, sorry?" she mumbled.

"Me and Wills are gonna dance" her male friend told her "are you coming with?"

"Er, no, thanks, I'll just sit here and drink this" she smiled a little holding up her soda and suddenly wishing she were old enough to get something stronger. Alcohol was not something Buffy usually thought much about and she didn't have much experience of it but she thought drunk might be a nice feeling, it had to be better than the way she felt now. She was tired and confused and...that unidentifiable feeling too.

Buffy glanced over at the dance floor. The music had recently changed to a slow song and Spike and Cordy were still out there, now wrapped up in each others arms and looking decidedly cosy. Further around, the Slayer saw Willow and Xander who seemed not as cosy but at least comfortable swaying together to the slow rhythm.

'And then there's me' Buffy thought to herself, 'Alone and bored and, God help me, I'm jealous, and I can't even drink my troubles away like other people just because of my age!'

She realised that during all this thinking her soda had disappeared and she moved toward to bar to fetch another. As the waiter fetched her another drink, Buffy noticed a glass just down the bar from her. It appeared to belong to a man who had his back to her and his arms around a woman in front of him. Buffy shifted to the side until the more-or-less abandoned glass of what seemed to be whisky was within reaching distance. She glanced to the left and right and then again at the mans back before slidng the glass in front of her, tensing herself and gulping down the drink in one go.

It tasted disgusting and the alcohol burned as it slid down her throat, both making her cough and gag.

'Well, that was...different' Buffy thought to herself, lowering herself onto a barstool in front of the place where her soda had now appeared. She gulped at it, hoping to disperse of the taste of the whiskey but finding the mixture of the two flavours actually seemed worse.

She decided to give in and head back to the table to wait for her friends but halfway between the bar and the table she saw another seemingly abandoned drink or half of one at least. Buffy wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like it would taste better than the current flavour in her mouth. Swiftly she picked up the glass and downed the contents, finding the flavour better than the whiskey but still wincing as the alcohol content burnt her throat.

Her steps seemed to waver as she finally wobbled back to the table. For someone not used to alcohol, Buffy had just consumed a lot. One whisky and half of...something else alcoholic, had rendered her semi-drunk in under five minutes!

On the up side she noticed it that dull ache inside hurt less now when she saw her friends happily dancing together, even the closeness of Cordy and Spike was less repulsive and painful now. 'Just one more drink' Buffy thought to herself as she scanned the tables surrounding her, 'and I won't notice at all'

* * * * *

After five songs, Spike, Cordelia, Xander and Willow were all officially beat and needed a drink and a rest before anymore dancing was partaken of. They found their table empty of both drinks and Buffy when they got back.

"Where'd the Buffster go?" Xander wondered aloud as she sat down.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom" Willow suggested, "I have to go anyway" she said, standing up, "I'll check"

There was a little conversation between the remaining three Scoobies and most of the talking was Cordy telling her old and new male friends about her new home and new life, until Willow returned and announced that Buffy was not in the bathroom.

"Maybe she's dancing with someone?" Cordelia wondered aloud, but no-one could see the Slayer on the dancefloor, "Or maybe she went after a vamp?"

"Maybe" Willow nodded, "Should we go look outside?"

"She'll be fine" Xander assured her, "She'll probably be back any minute"

The friends continued to talk amongst themselves unaware that Buffy was in fact not that far away at all. She was still in the Bronze, over by the bar, deciding that getting drunk was fun. She didn't care about Spike and Cordy at all, 'not at all' she told herself, downing the remnants of another persons drink. If she'd have been using her head at all the girl would have realised how dangerous her 'game' was, not only the getting drunk but drinking from strangers glasses and not really knowing what she was drinking had dangers all of it's own. But Buffy's now marinated brain was not even close to working full capacity as she sneak a glass of what appeared to be vodka closer to herself and drained the final drops that someone had left behind, not even sparing a thought for her friends.

"She must have gone home or something?" Xander guessed, "Or maybe she went patrolling?"

"But I don't see why she would do that without telling us" Willow frowned.

"Don't panic, Red" said Spike suddenly, "Wherever the Slayer is you know she can take care if herself" he assured her, despite the fact he was starting to worry himself. It wasn't like Buffy to disappear for this amount of time and without telling anyone.

"Well, I'm gonna get a drink" Cordelia proclaimed, standing up from her seat, "Anyone else?"

"No, not me" Xander yawned, "I'm beat, I'm gonna head home"

"Me too" Willow agreed, pulling herself up off of her stool.

"Come on Wills, I'll walk you home" Xander offered the girl his arm with a smile and she took it with a similar grin on her own face. She felt bad for it but she was almost glad Buffy had disappeared for a while, at least she'd got Xander's attention for a while.

"What about you, Spike?" Cordy asked him as Xander and Willow left, "Another drink?"

"Yeah, why not?" the boy nodded, with a half smile. He really wasn't happy about not knowing where Buffy was despite the fact he knew she was quite capable of looking after herself. He headed for the bar with Cordelia by his side and that was when they saw her.

The blonde Slayer was half collapsed over the bar, seemingly either asleep or semi-unconscious. Immediately Spike was by her side and shaking her gently.

"Buffy, luv, what the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Hi Spikey" the overly drunk girl giggled, "And Cordy, hello" she sing-songed.

"Oh God" the brunette gasped, "Is she drunk? Who would serve her alcohol?"

"I don't know" Spike shook his head, "but someone must have" as Cordelia moved to the other side of her friend and fought to gain her attention.

"Buffy, when did you start drinking alcohol?"

"Just today" the Slayer told her honestly, "but it's a lot of fun" she giggled, "I wish I'd started sooner"

"Oh God" Cordelia exclaimed again, rolling her eyes, "What are we going to do with her?"

Spike shook his head, at a loss for words or an idea. He'd never imagined Buffy could be so stupid as to get herself into such a state, and why had she bothered anyway?

Suddenly the brunette girl's cell phone rang into life and she realised as she tried to answer it that she could not hear as the music of the club increased suddenly in volume.

"I'm just going to take this outside" she yelled to Spike as she disappeared and the bleach blond sighed, slumping down on the stool next to Buffy.

"Why'd you do this, luv?" she asked her and she tried to pull herself up straight, wavering on the stool as she did so.

"That's none of your business" she said as seriously as she could, before bursting into giggles for no apparent reason. 'She's gonna have a hell of hangover' Spike thought to himself. He had not been the most sensible of kids and in his time he had got wasted once or twice, minimum. He knew what it felt like to be drunk and worse what it felt like in the morning.

Suddenly, Cordelia returned to them with a frown.

"I have to go" she told Spike, "That was the hospital, my grandma's had a fall and I have to get home. Can you get Buffy home on your own?"

"No problem" Spike lied, knowing he'd just have to cope, however complicated it was. Joyce would go crazy when she saw her drunken daughter and he had no doubt he might get some of the blame since he would be the one bringing her home, but he'd just have to deal. He couldn't expect Cordelia not to go to her grandmothers aid and it would do no good calling Willow or Xander since they didn't have cell phones and they wouldn't be home yet.

"Looks like it's just you and me" he whispered, more to himself than to Buffy, wishing the prospect of being alone with her was as appealing as usual, but in her drunken state, he had a feeling it was going to be less than fun.

To Be Continued...