Part eight:

The door to the bronze flew open abruptly and a large bouncer tossed Spike out on his ass.  He rolled on to his back and laughter erupted from him.  Willow drunkenly stumbled outside soon after, giggling to herself. 

"We'll bring our business elsewhere!" Willow shouted back at the doorman.

She walked towards the hysterical, prone Spike. 

She kneeled next to him on the ground and asked him in a slurred voice, "Are you okay?" 

He laughed again and she joined in with her giggles.

"Let's the hell out of here," Spike said breathlessly once he stopped laughing.

"Yeah, these jerks don't understand us," she stated struggling to help him to his feet.

"Since when is it against the law to defend yourself, anyhow?" Spike asked resting his arm on Willow's shoulder.

"That guy was totally asking for it," she offered.

"Bloody git was staring at us…mostly you," Spike almost growled, "but how can I blame him?"

Willow grinned up at him and they both stumbled. 

"Whoa, Red, that's quite enough for you," he slurred.

They made their way down the street in a zigzag pattern trying to keep their balance.  Willow giggled as Spike started singing "Light my fire" to her.

"Come on baby, light my fire, come on baby, light my…" he trailed off and stopped in front of Willy's bar. "Let's go in here," he slurred guiding Willow inside.

"Spike, no," she whimpered, feeling suddenly very sober at the idea of being around a bunch of blood thirsty bad guys, "Demons hate me…"

"Oh, shush, I like you and I'm a demon!" Spike retorted pulling her inside.

Once inside, Spike pulled her over to the bar and sat down on a stool patting the one next to him.  She reluctantly sat down and Spike bought her beer.  She sipped it and gazed over the patrons.  None of them seemed to recognize her as the slayer's little friend.  That thought relaxed her a little and her buzz slowly came back.  After a few minutes she was joking along with Spike and few of his demon buddies (at less scary ones anyway).  Suddenly a scaly hand grasped her shoulder tightly.  She looked at the monster that it belonged to in confusion. 

"Excuse me?" she asked him, "Why are you touching me?"

"You're a pretty one," he growled.

"Um, I'm kinda with him," she replied warily gesturing to Spike.

"Not any more," he grunted tightening his grip on her arm, "If that's Spike, then word has he can't do much to stop me, little girl."

"Spike," she squeaked as the demon pulled her off the bar stool.

Spike looked up and scowled at the tall brute holding Willow hostage.

"Put down the lady, I've spent a long time building up this buzz and I'd prefer to not ruin it on the likes of you," Spike said in a low voice.

The demon placed Willow back on the bar stool and glared at Spike.

"Bring on chip head!" he growled.

The monster lifted his arm about to deck Spike.  In the process he elbowed Willow in the eye accidentally.

"Ow!" she cried holding a hand to her eye, "That really hurt!"

"That's it!" Spike shouted and decked the monster in the face, "Don't fuck with my lady!"

The monster looked at him in shock as he realized the chip wasn't working.  He shrugged and ran at Spike tackling him roughly.  They rolled to the floor in a blur of fists.  Willow sighed and drank her beer with a content look on her face.  She was too drunk to care about the violent situation.  This is hot.  She thought to herself as Willy called to the larger patrons to help him break it up.

A few minutes later they were wandering the streets again.  Willow supported Spike's weight the best she could with her wobbly, drunken legs.  Spike took a swig out of the bottle of beer Willow had taken from the bar.

"Thanks Spike," Willow said.

"Anything for my Red," he slurred back and started humming 'Light my fire.'

"No one has ever, I'm serious, ever, done something like that for me!" she stated with effort, "It was sooo hot!"  She started giggling again, "I can't believe I just said that!  Ha!"

"Really?" he asked in the most sober voice he could offer.

"Well, Buffy's kinda done that for me but I didn't think it was hot.  That'd be really…" Willow trailed off.

"Sexy of you?" Spike offered.

Willow mock glared at him and replied, "Buffy's right, you are a pig!"

Spike laughed so hard it jarred Willow.  "That's me!" he laughed.

"I don't want to go home yet," she sighed.

They were walking near the graveyard and Willow decided to go inside.  Spike stumbled along with her.  They kept laughing and giggling in slurred voices.  Suddenly Willow tripped causing them to both tumble to the ground.  They laughed harder rolled around in the sweet smelling grass.  Finally they both cooled down and stretched out on their backs gazing up at the night sky.  After a few minutes Spike propped himself up on his arm and looked at Willow with a smile playing on his lips.

"Isn't it beautiful, Spike?" Willow asked staring at the millions of tiny stars blinking in the sky.

"You're beautiful," he responded softly.

"It's so big," she said in awe ignoring his comment.

"Yeah I get that a lot," he snickered.

Willow punched him playfully on the arm.  He grabbed her and pulled her on top of him and they rolled down a small incline behind a huge grave stone.  Spike ended up straddling her with her arms pinned over her head.  He looked into her eyes intently, then leaned down and kissed her softly.  She was surprised but gently started to kiss him back.  He let go of her hands and leaned against her body, touching her cheek gently.  Then he suddenly pulled away from her lips and looked down at her questioningly.

"Is this okay?" he asked her in a low voice.

She responded by pulling him tighter against her and pressing her lips against his.  He moaned softly as she wrapped her legs around him passionately.  She could feel his lips warming up from the contact with hers.  Her head was swimming and she felt dizzy as the realization that she was rolling around in a graveyard with Spike slipped into her mind.  She felt a stirring inside her that she hadn't felt since kissing Oz.  It felt like so long ago.  It didn't matter to her right now though; she was too wrapped in the cool hands that ran softly over her body and over her exposed stomach.  A sound of pleasure escaped her lips as Spike gently kissed her neck.  She was suddenly aware that his fingers with fiddling with her jeans' zipper.  She didn't stop him as he started kissing her stomach and began to pull her jeans down slowly.  She faintly heard a voice in the distance that sounded very familiar.  She grabbed Spike's hands to stop him as she perked her ears up.  Spike looked up at her in confusion.

"Shh," she whispered, "I hear someone…"

"So?" he whispered back.

She glared at him, "That voice sounds really familiar.  Holy shit!  It's Buffy!" she whispered in surprise buttoning her pants and scrambling to look over the grave stone.  She spotted Buffy and Angel walking slowly though the graveyard towards where they hid.  Spike crawled up behind her touching a hand to her back and looking towards where her eyes fell on the couple.  He opened his mouth to say 'bullocks' but she pressed her hand to his mouth.

"Don't, let's get out of here!" she whispered and pulled him away quickly.

They quickly escaped the grave yard without Buffy seeing and disappeared into the night.

Angel and Buffy walked quietly though the moonlit grave yard in silence.  There was so much they both wanted to say but neither could find the words.  They gazed up at the night sky and breathed collective sighs.

"So, what was it like being human?" Buffy asked abruptly breaking the silence.

Angel looked at her nervously for a minute, cleared his throat and replied, "Interesting, painful and all together unsettling.  The food was good though, even if it was left over Chinese food."

"I'm sorry I missed it," she said wistfully.

He smiled at her and said, "Do you think Willow could really give Giles back his soul?"

"Hey, if she can get me to fall in love with Spike, she can do anything!"

Angel chuckled as Buffy stopped walking and faced him with a serious look on her face.

"Angel, she could fix your soul too, you know?" She said barely above a whisper.

Angel's eyes moistened and he replied, "I don't know if…"

"Angel!  You could be happy!" Buffy cried in a voice that told Angel what she really meant was they could be happy.

"Buffy, you don't think I know that?" he replied softly touching her cheek, "but if I was happy, how do I know that I'd be able to concentrate on my redemption?"

"I fight evil everyday, Angel, but I also choose to have a life with the living!" she countered.

"Yeah, well I'm not exactly alive, Buffy," he sighed with a look of hurt in his eyes.

Buffy knitted her eyes brows with a look close to a pout and said quietly, "Angel, that's not fair…"

"I have a whole new life in L.A.  I couldn't just drop it and..." he trailed off as Buffy stared at him in disbelief.

"I just want you to be happy.  I didn't expect you to run back to me…" she whimpered.

"Buffy… I love you," he replied softly.

She wrapped her arms around him and started crying into his chest.  Angel stroked her hair trying to calm her down.

"I love you too," she spoke into his chest in a muffled voice.  "I think life has been nothing but cruel to us…maybe it's time for us to have a chance at true happiness."

He kissed her softly on the forehead and angled her face upwards to look in her eyes.

"I'll see what the spell entails…if the risk is low I'll think about," he told her and she nodded.

He stared into her eyes brushing the tears from her cheeks.  She leaned in as he softly pressed his lips to hers.