Description: AU. Buffy as an army brat, imagine the possibilities. Anyway, she moves to Sunnydale and meets William "Spike" O'Connor. But Buffy's learned in the past not to get too close to people because she always ends up leaving. So what will happen when Buffy finally falls head over heels in love?

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Buffy/Spike (again.)

"Is that everything?" Spike called, cramming the last duffle bag into Oz's trunk.

"Almost," Buffy called lugging yet another bag with her, "this is the last, I think."

"Where the bloody hell did you get all this? You didn't have this much when we came did you?" Spike asked. He was astonished by the amount of luggage that the girl had.

"Me, Will, and Tara went on a little shopping spree," Buffy explained with a sly grin. "What can I say? My parents gave me their credit card and said to have a good time."

Spike laughed. "You're gonna get grounded aren't you?"

"Probably," Buffy giggled, "but at least I still have all these new clothes."

"But if you're grounded how can I visit my girl?" Spike asked, leaning down and kissing her on the lips. She embraced him back, her hand coming to rest on the back of his bleached head.

"Ugh," came the groan from the front porch. Buffy and Spike broke apart to find all of their friends staring at them. While Tara and Willow had sappy looks on their faces, Oz was his regular nonchalant self, and Xander was fake gagging over the side.

"Mind your own business Whelp," Spike growled.

"Come on you two," Willow ordered waving them towards the porch, "I wanna get one last picture of all of us on the porch."

"Haven't you taken enough pictures, Will?" Buffy groaned. Reluctantly she trudged up the few steps, pulling Spike behind her.

"Last one I promise," the red head laughed. She set the camera on the hood of Oz's van, set the timer and sprinted back to the porch. Everyone smiled and said "cheese", the flash went off and immediately faces fell.

"I can't believe we have to leave today," Buffy sighed.

"I know," Tara agreed.

"Back to school tomorrow," Xander grumbled, "Another week dealing with Snyder." A chorus of groans sounded from the porch.

"Better get moving," Oz declared pulling the keys from his pocket. With great unwillingness the six teens piled into the old, blue van and drove off.

----

"She's home!" Dawn shouted. The youngest Summers leapt off her perch on the arm of the sofa and raced into the kitchen. Plowing through the door, she almost knocked over her stepfather who was coming the opposite direction.

"Oh, sorry, dad." Dawn apologized.

"It's quite all right sweetheart," he smiled, "Is your sister home yet?"

"The van just pulled in the driveway," she announced.

The sound of the front door opening and bags being dropped preceded Buffy's voice calling, "I'm home!"

Dawn jogged down the hallway to meet her sister at the door. "Oh you're back?" she said nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Buffy smiled, "don't play it cool Dawn I know you missed me."

"You have no idea," the younger girl admitted. "It's been the most boring weekend of my life. Lots of parents/child bonding time. I'm ready to crack Buffy."

Buffy laughed, knowing exactly what her sister was going through. Before Dawn was old enough, mom and Giles had always wanted to spend time with her. They still did, but now that Dawn was old enough to bond with, she got a little more free time.

"Here's the rest of your bags," Spike grumbled dropping the overstuffed duffels on the ground.

"Thanks Spike," Buffy said.

"Hi Spike," Dawn greeted cheerfully.

"Niblet," he nodded with a grin.

"So where are mom and Giles?" Buffy asked, ignoring Spike's hand on her hip. The little display of affection was hidden from the prying eyes of Dawn, but Buffy was still uncomfortable about such things in front of her family.

"They're in the kitchen," Dawn explained, "probably doing something I don't want to think about." The look of mock disgust on her face was mirrored on Buffy's.

"Thanks Dawn, I needed that mental image," she groaned sarcastically. Buffy breath caught in her throat when she felt Spike's fingers slide across the skin exposed by her low cut jeans. "Uh…I'm gonna go…umm…say goodbye to the guys. Be right back." Pulling Spike along behind her, Buffy burst through the front door onto the porch and pulled it closed behind her.

"What?" Spike asked innocently when she sent him an icy glare.

"Are you nuts? My little sister was right there." She scolded him half- heartedly. The minute his lips met hers, all arguments were lost and Buffy was thrown into a world of not caring. With his lips on hers and his hands around her waist, nothing else existed—nothing else except her stepfather.

"Buffy!" Giles shouted.

The two broke apart immediately, their eyes darting up to the towering British man. A look of anger spread quickly across Giles's face at the sight of his stepdaughter and this—boy together.

"Giles," Buffy began in a scared voice.

"Get inside," Giles ordered. When neither Buffy or Spike moved he added, "Now!"

With a look of guilt and shame, Buffy gave one last look to Spike and stomped passed Giles. Without so much as a word to anyone she continued upstairs, slamming her bedroom door in complaint.

"I'll just be going," Spike said drifting backwards to the van.

Giles said nothing, but watched the young boy leave and turned back inside the house.

----

"What was that all about?" Joyce asked rushing to her husband's side.

"Buffy and that-Spike boy were kissing on the porch," he explained clearly still upset.

"Oh," Joyce sounded disappointed. "Why did you yell at her?"

"Because she should NOT be kissing boys she's only known a few weeks!" Giles was dumbfounded; he couldn't believe Joyce was not more upset. God only knows what happened at that beach house!

"Rupert," Joyce started, her soothing voice attempting to calm the British man, "this isn't that big of a deal. Buffy is a mature girl and she is 17 now."

"What has that got to do with it?" he asked.

"We agreed that when she turned 17 she could date." Joyce explained. "Apparently she took advantage of that rule."

Sighing, Giles removed his glasses and proceeded to clean them thoroughly while he tumble the idea around his mind. True, he and Joyce had decided that once the girls were 17 they would be permitted to date, and Buffy had turned such an age only yesterday. But still Giles felt compelled to protect the girl from the world, to hide her away and block out all evils.

"I just don't want to see her get hurt," he finally said, replacing the now clean glasses on his face.

"You're not her Watcher," Joyce reminded him, "It's not your job to shield her from pain. It's the only way she'll learn to deal and mature."

He let that sink in. With a sigh of defeat he looked to the stairs.

"I suppose I should go apologize," he concluded.

"I'll finish the cake. Tell her that dinner will be ready in half an hour."

Before he climbed the steps, Giles leaned down and kissed his wife strongly on the lips.

"What was that for?" Joyce asked, smiling.

"You always know how to fix things," Giles told her and quickly added, "That's why I married you."

----

Buffy was mad. Storming up the stairs she had slammed her door and flung herself onto her bed.

'What the hell is his problem?' she thought bitterly, 'It's not like I was doing anything wrong! I was kissing someone, not exactly a crime! Giles needs to check the calendar, it's not the eighteenth century anymore, it is okay for people who are not married to kiss!' Buffy was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the knock on her door.

"Go away!" she yelled, not caring who was on the other side.

"Buffy, may I come in?" Giles called through the wood.

"No!"

"Buffy please." When she didn't answer Giles was going to let himself in, but the door swung open quickly revealing a mightily pissed of teen.

"What d'you want?" she asked, hand on her hip, head cocked slightly, a look of anger in her eyes.

"I want to talk," Giles said.

"What's to talk about?" Buffy shouted. "You just treated me like a child in front of my boyfriend! Not to mention that all of my friends were in the van probably watching and laughing!"

"I am sorry about that," Giles managed to slip in while Buffy caught her breath.

"Sorry?" Buffy repeated sarcastically. Turning on her heel, she stalked back to her bed and dropped onto the mattress, stuffed animals sliding overboard.

"Yes, sorry." Giles repeated. He took a few steps into the room and when she didn't protest, closed the door behind him. "Buffy, I'm terribly sorry for the way I acted. It was horribly selfish of me to intrude on your personal life."

"Got that right," Buffy pouted. "Why'd you do it?"

"I don't know," he admitted taking a seat next to Buffy on her bed. "I guess I was just trying to protect you."

"Giles, I don't need protected. I can take care of myself."

"I know," he amended quickly. "I suppose I still think of you as that little girl who would beg me to push her on the swings or ask me for a bedtime story." He laughed happily at the memory, even earning a slight grin from Buffy herself.

"And then one day while I was pushing you on that swing, you jumped off and scraped your knee. You screamed like a bloody banshee," Giles laughed, "but I picked you up and held you, and finally you stopped crying."

Buffy smiled warmly though she didn't remember the incident. "I was just a little kid then."

"Yes, but ever since that day I've felt like I needed to be there for you, watching out for you."

Feeling like a real bitch for saying the things she had, Buffy slid closer to Giles. He wrapped his arm around he shoulders.

"You're my Watcher," Buffy laughed. "Thanks."

"So we're all right then?" Giles asked, hopeful.

"Yeah," Buffy said laying her head on his shoulder.

Giles smiled broadly, enjoying the momentary bliss of the situation. 'This is the way every day should end,' he thought.