Title- Life At The Espresso Pump


Author- Kirstee


Disclaimer- Not mine Joss Whedon and FOX own all Buffy names, characters and other such. The theme of this story is loosely based on Bright/ Kauffman/Crane's Friends.


Description- AU. Loosely based on the TV show Friends. Six friends deal with life and what it deals them.


Dedicated- To all my friends over at the Spuffy thread on Fanforum. You guys rock my socks!

                                               TOW Everything Starts- Part II

Buffy lay on the extra bed in Willow's spare room.

She had gone to bed before everyone had left, crying all day made you incredibly tired.

But yet now she couldn't fall asleep. Seeing Angel and Faith together had destroyed everything for her.

She had found them…asleep in each others arms. Much the way Angel had held her.

Buffy sat up in bed. She looked over at the clock…2 AM.

Most likely everyone had left the apartment. She got out of the bed and tried to smooth her oversized shirt and crumpled shorts Willow had lent her.

She tentatively opened the door, the living room was dark and she prayed that she wouldn't trip over anything as she silently crept out of the room.

The hardwood floor creaked under her and she winced as she took another step.

She reached the fridge with thankfully no accidents. She opened the door and the yellow light spilled across her. She rummaged through it, looking for some milk. She had once heard that warm milk could help you fall asleep quicker.

"Of course NyQuil would do the trick also…" she muttered to herself as she moved a plate full of something out of the way.

She finally found the milk in the back wedged between a soda and what looked like a half eaten hamsteak.

She closed the fridge and turned around towards the counter.

"Hello, luv" a voice said from behind

"AH!" Buffy screamed out and dropped the carton of milk. She looked over to where the voice had come from.

There in the dark she could see the faint outline of a person sitting on the couch.

"S-Spike?" she asked to the darkness.

"Yea" he said.

Then Willow's voice wafted out from her room

"Buffy, Are you okay?!" The door opened and Willow flicked the light switch on.

Buffy squinted her eyes as bright light filled her vision. She then opened her eyes to see where everything was.

Willow was standing outside her room, a violet bathrobe pulled around her.

Spike was still sitting on the couch smirking at her, his bleached hair all curly.

She then felt something cool around her feet. The milk had spilled onto Willow's nice hardwood floor.

"Damn…Willow I'm so sorry!" Buffy said as she grabbed a roll of paper towels.

"Buffy, don't worry about it" Willow said as she came over to Buffy's side. But not before giving Spike a hard smack in the back of the head. The smirk immediately left his face and he rubbed where Willow had hit him.

He stood up and meekly followed Willow into the kitchen.

"What the hell happened?!" Willow asked, mainly to Spike because Buffy looked like she was going to have a breakdown any second

"I don't know" Spike said. He received death glares from both Buffy and Willow

"Alright, God don't have an estrogen fit on me" Spike sighed "I must have fallen asleep here, I heard the floor creak and could tell it was Buffy, so I just said hello"

"Yea in a creepy voice, in complete darkness!" Buffy said on her own behalf.

"Scared ya, did I luv?" Spike asked his eyes looking intently at her.

"Not even! I was just…surprised" Buffy said.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her.

"Don't do that" she said.

"Do what?" he asked innocently.

"Be snarky" she said.  

Willow looked at the two of them and remembered these bickerings from back in high school.

"Déjà vu" she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Buffy asked as she threw another milk soaked paper towel into the trashcan.

"Nothing" Willow said.

They finished cleaning and Spike headed back to his own apartment

"Isn't it a little late to be traveling the streets?" Buffy asked after Spike had shut the door behind him.

"Well Yes, but since Spike only lives across the hall then I doubt that he'll have to be that brave" Willow said with a smile.

"He lives across the hall?" Buffy inquired while she leaned against the counter.

Willow nodded "With Xander"

Willow tried to stifle a yawn but it came out anyway.

"Oh Will I'm so sorry! You need sleep" Buffy said.

"No, no I'm really fine" she said but another yawn told a different story.

"Look it's almost 2:30 your tired and I'm getting a little sleepy myself so why don't we head to the rooms with the beds and then we can talk tomorrow morning when were not about to fall over from being so soporific" Buffy said.

"Soporific?" Willow asked, imitating her brothers eyebrow raise.

"Hey I know big words! I'm not just your average blonde" she said as she headed to her room

Willow let out a little laugh.

"Night Buffy" she said.

"Goodnight Willow" Buffy said before closing the door.

The Next Morning-

Buffy stretched and yawned as she raised from her bed.

He gaze fell on the digital clock on the nightstand. The clock blinked 7:30 back at her.

"Crap I'm going to be late for work!" she said to herself as she jumped out of bed.

Her feet hit plush carpet. Wait she didn't have carpet in her bedroom…

She finally opened her eyes wide enough to look around the room. Pale pink walls, a bed with a large white comforter, and a large French poster that hung above the bed.

Then it all came flooding back to her. Angel, Faith, her old friends, the city, her new friends, Willow…

She mentally scolded herself for getting herself so worked up.

She heard a voice outside. So she threw on a plaid robe Willow had also lent her and opened the door.

Xander, Oz and Spike sat at Willow's kitchen table and Willow was at the counter chopping up something.

As the heard the door open the four looked over to her.

Buffy suddenly felt self-conscious. 'I must look like hell' she thought to herself.

She knew her hair must be stuck up at all ends and no doubt she had bags under eyes.

"Morning Sunshine" Xander said as he smiled at her.

"Hey" she said weakly and walked slowly over to the kitchen.

Willow handed her a cup of coffee and she took a sip, it tasted like someone had taken some lake water and just added a little bitter to it.

"Blech!" she said as she spit the coffee back into the mug.

Everyone turned to look at her again, for the second time that morning.

"Whats wrong?" Willow asked.

"Um nothing, just…uh…hot" she said.

"Sorry" Willow said

"So, um…who made this coffee?" she asked, trying her best to sound innocent.

"Me" Xander spoke up "Why?"

"Oh no reason, just wanted to know who was the…uh…Coffee Guy around here..."

'Lame' Buffy thought to herself.

Xander smiled up at her "I'll take that as a compliment" he said her before returning to his conversation with Oz.

Buffy saw Spike looking up at her from the corner or her eye.

"What?"

"I don't think that was a compliment" he said with a slight amusing twinkle in his eye.

Buffy pressed a finger to her lips, in the universal sign that meant Shut-up-or-I-will-beat-your-ass-down.

Okay so maybe not that universal…

Spike rolled his eyes and poured some cereal into a bowl.

"Froot Loops? If you don't hurry up you'll be late for you're first day of kindergarten" she said.

"Oo" Xander said "Good one"

"Hey!" Spike protested "Froot Loops happens to be a great source of energy and its good and…it's got this toucan guy" he said showing Toucan Sam hovering over a bowl of cereal on the front of the box.

Buffy rolled her eyes

Xander spoke up "Me I much prefer the little leprechaun dude, I mean c'mon a leprechaun with lucky charms! You can't get much cooler than that"

Buffy looked up at Willow as the guys said which cereal cartoons were the greatest.

"Does this go on every morning?" she asked.

"You'd be amazed at what they can argue about" Willow said with a smile.

"Hey does cuckoo for Coca Puffs mean anything to you guys?" Oz said.

Buffy gave a sidelong look at Willow. "You live a crazy life"

No sooner than Buffy had said those words when Anya entered the apartment.

Gone was the bubbly, almost over-enthusiastic, girl she had seen yesterday. Anya slammed the door shut and preceded to a cabinet above the counter.

She didn't say hi to anyone. She ignored the pointless conversation between Oz, Xander, and Spike. Buffy didn't know whether it was because of her horrible mood or just something in her life that she was now accustom to ignoring.

"Willow where is your damn alcohol?!" Anya yelled frustrated.

This was enough to end the conversation that the 3 men had been having. They looked at Anya for a good 5 seconds before talking again.

"Um Anya, now not to sound condescending or anything, but don't you think it's a little early to start drinking?" Willow said timidly.

"Hello! Ever heard of mimosas?" Anya said.

"Well…Yea, but Anya why don't you tell me what up before you go spending a long day with Mr.Vodka"

"Fine whatever, but after I tell you you better tell me where you hide 'Mr. Vodka'" she put up sarcastic air quotes around the Vodka part.

Willow glanced over her shoulder at Buffy who followed behind them. The three sat on the couch.

"Well it started this morning with Patrick" Anya started

"Patrick?" Buffy asked.

"My boyfriend" Anya said matter-of-factly.

"He's going away on business again, and I hate having a relationship with his answering machine, so he said that we will have a 'relationship talk' when he came back from China."

Buffy nodded at Anya. "Relationships suck" she said to the other blonde.

Anya let out a brief smile before returning to her ranting. "And when I got to my shop there were police cars surrounding it! Someone had tried to break in so I had to spend the next hour and a half giving out statements and other things. Then 2 of my full time employees quit! They said that they 'want to work in a safer environment'" Anya put on a screechy voice while she mimicked the shopgirls. "This is just too horrible, and Willow  really need that alcohol about now!"

"Anya I lied, I don't have any alcohol in the apartment right now" Willow said.

Anya's eyes flashed.

"But I think I may have a solution to your problem"

Anya's face turned from an expression of anger to one of curiosity.

"Now from what I remember from back when me and Buffy were bestest buds…" Buffy looked up from her now cold mug of coffee. Willow continued.

"She was a fashion mongrel and since she doesn't have a job at the moment and you are in need of employees then why doesn't Buffy come work for you!" Willow said happily, obviously proud of herself

Anya's head swung around to look at Buffy.

"Do you need money?"

Buffy nodded.

"Do you know fashion?"

Buffy nodded.

"Will you do whatever I say and never question me and not quit until I fire you?"

Buffy looked over at Willow before answering that one. Willow gave her an encouraging nod.

So Buffy nodded at Anya.

"Well then would you like to come work for me at my shop, Quaint?"

Buffy smiled and nodded.

"Great, you start tomorrow to make money for me!" Anya grinned as she looked at Buffy.