Disclaimer: If I owned Spike…well…he'd be a lot happier I can tell you! I'd be a lot nicer to him than Joss!

A/N: Yeah it's me again! Sick of me yet? He he he. Sorry this took a while but some lovely smut distracted me! Love you all!

Chapter 7: Shopping

Spike was scowling as he prowled the isles of the store, occasionally pulling food off the shelves to throw in the shopping cart. He hated grocery shopping, it was just so…mundane! Spike never went shopping! If he wanted food he'd order it in…well he went to the liquor store every now and then but usually he just got what he wanted when he wanted it. A big weekly shop was such an alien concept to him, hence the bringing along of the best friend. Xander was of course, finding this highly amusing. He was revelling in being the knowledgeable one in their friendship group for a change, having been the provider for his family for years before he moved to LA. Now he just sent his parents money every so often with the hope that one of them would have the sense to buy food rather than booze.

"What else is on the list?" Xander called over his shoulder as he opened one of the large chest freezers to pull out a huge bag of oven fries.

"Err…" Spike quickly scanned the grocery list that Buffy had written and left on the fridge door that morning, "Ice cream." He read out loud, following Xander to the appropriate isle. Buffy had instructed him to go shopping while she took Jenny to visit prospective schools. Fortunately summer had barely begun when Jenny had come to live with Spike, meaning they had plenty of time to try and work these things out…and Spike was more grateful that he would admit that at least Buffy seemed to understand all of this stuff.

In the week since she had moved in they had developed a sort of…well truce was probably the best word for it. Ever since his near emotional outburst the day Buffy moved in spike had felt somewhat awkward around her, but Buffy had been nothing but professional, pretending the incident had never occurred. If ever they spoke it was about Jenny, nothing any more personal passed between the pair. Of course the one thing Spike didn't want to think about – namely one Miss Buffy Summers – was the one thing Xander was constantly asking about!

"So Buffy seems nice." Xander began, and Spike suppressed a growl of frustration.

"You were only in the same room as her for five minutes!" Spike pointed out. And it was true. Xander had come over to the apartment to take some measurements from Jenny's room and Buffy had been on her way out. They'd barely exchanged greetings!

Having a best friend with his own carpentry firm definitely had its advantages when it came to providing furniture for a nine-year-old girl who didn't approve of any of the mass produced items they had looked at over the weekend. Eventually Spike had caved and offered to have Xander design something original for her. Jenny had actually squealed in excitement and hugged him. Spike had been so shocked at the reaction from the usually aloof child that it had taken him until an hour later to realise that he had just offered to spend an inordinate amount of money, and there was nothing in it for him save the first genuine affection he had received…well…ever he supposed. Spike shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory. He really was turning into a poofter if he was having warm fuzzy feelings because he was finally getting it right.

"I know." Xander replied, drawing Spike's mind back to the present. "But she still seemed nice…kinda cute."

Spike looked at his friend like he was insane as they scanned the mind-boggling amount of ice cream flavours available. "You're kidding right?" Spike asked incredulous. "She's got stuck up prude written all over her!"

Xander rolled his eyes. "Spike, just because a girl doesn't jump you the second she lays eyes on you doesn't mean she's a prude. Also, you take away the glasses, get her to dress up and I bet she'd be a hell of a looker!" 

"Whatever." Spike shrugged "Guess she's just not my type…bloody hell why is there so much of this soddin' stuff?" Spike trailed off, getting back to the shopping.

"What type did she tell you to get?" Xander asked, letting the subject drop for now.

Spike glanced at the list. "Haagen Daaz, cookies and cream." Spike read off, then frowned. "I prefer chocolate."

"You have more money than everyone I know put together!" Xander informed him as if speaking to a very stupid person. "You can afford to buy both!"

Spike blinked, wondering why that hadn't come to him before. "I bloody hate shopping!" He repeated for the thousandth time that morning, and Xander barely suppressed his snort of amusement at his friend's expense. "Its so…domestic."

"Face it man," Xander chuckled, moving onto the next item on the list. "You're a family man now." He laughed out loud when Spike's face became even paler than usual. Who ever thought grocery shopping could be so entertaining? "So I was thinking," he began once he calmed down, you should bring Buffy with you when we go out tomorrow night…"

Spike tuned Xander out for the rest of the shopping trip. Either the man was trying to fix him up with his new nanny, or he fancied a go himself. If there was one thing Spike hated, it was people trying to fix him up – it never went well. He shuddered at the memory of his last blind date. The girl did nothing but talk about orgasms all night! Sure he'd shagged her, but afterwards she'd simply complimented his penis and left. It had been a very confusing experience. Spike didn't want to consider why the thought of Xander trying to hit on Buffy made him equally uncomfortable…

"Hey." Buffy called from the kitchen as she heard the apartment door open. Coming into the living room, she giggled when she saw Spike cursing profusely, trying to struggle with about five brown bags at once.

As Spike heard her amusement he glared at her. "You gonna watch in the hopes I fall on my ass or are you gonna help?"

"As amusing as that would be…" Buffy chuckled again as she moved over to him, taking two of the bags, "I don't want the apples to get bruised by falling on the floor."

"Your concern is touching pet, really!" Spike smirked at her, and followed her into the kitchen. Placing the heavy bags on the counter Spike turned to take his duster off, so he missed Buffy's small smile at the use of nickname. It was the friendliest he'd ever been with her, and if she was honest it felt pretty damn good to get along with him instead of them merely tolerating one another as they seemed to have been doing over the last week.

"Did you get everything on the list?" She asked, eager to keep the almost-conversation going.

"Uh huh." Spike responded. Buffy helped him as he began putting the groceries away, slightly disappointed by his brief reply. She smiled however when he spoke again. "How'd things go with the schools?"

"Oh great" Buffy replied. "Apparently as long as Jenny's old school can provide her records there shouldn't be any problem with her starting junior high when term starts."

"Don't know where she gets her brains from." He muttered. "Liam certainly wasn't one of the great thinkers! And Darla…" he trailed off at Buffy's pointed look. "What?"

"I just don't think it's a good idea to bad mouth Jenny's parents when she could walk in and hear you." She told him gently, hoping not to upset him again when they were finally getting along.

"I know." Spike sighed. "But I was never nice to Liam when he was alive and I think it'd be a bit hypocritical to start now." Spike smiled sadly, Buffy offering a reassuring half smile of her own.

"You got chocolate?" Buffy asked, pouting at his choice of ice cream as she began on the final bag.

"I like chocolate!" Spike smirked, glad that she had eased what could have become an uncomfortable moment.

"You're mean." She grumbled in return and Spike chuckled. Before he could reply however the phone rang, distracting him.

"S'cuse me luv." He said as he moved to the phone on the kitchen wall, his back to her. Buffy glanced towards him as she uncovered the second tub of ice cream – cookies and cream, a faint smile on her lips…

A/N: kinda crap? I know I mentioned ice cream a lot but I had a craving and it kinda came out in my writing… Let me know what you think... about the chapter, not my craving ice cream…talking about it will only make me want it more…sigh! Love you all!