A/N: Inspiration and an intense desire to write a good chapter struck me today. I realised that I need to insert some more comedic romanticy bits. So, let's see what we can get started, eh?

Disclaimer: So I'm in the middle of an important meeting, when inspiration struck I squeaked, squealed and fidgeted until I got sent home to work on this, and that, Your Honour, is why it couldn't have been me who stabbed Joss Whedon at 7:13 PM in the left eye before making off with his characters...

Last time, on Crushed: Joyce mothered William, even though he didn't need it. Buffy invited Spike, who was -not-, despite what some people would claim, brooding. Spike does not brood, he dwells, he thinks, etc. Anyhoo, Buffy invited Spike to post-apocalypse party, which pretty much sucked. Giles seemingly adopted William, getting him a modern identity. What happens next?

Misunderstandings and such

William stepped into the shower spray, letting the hot water bead down his back. He was staying at the Summers' household while Rupert entertained an old friend of his from England, Olivia, whom he hadn't caught up with for some time. Even though William had never had that many close friends, he could see that privacy would be desired while recollecting. As he washed his light brown hair, he pondered what the coming week would bring to him.

Rupert and the others had been simply wonderful. He'd spent the summer learning what he needed to so he could pass in this society, Xander had helped mostly with that, and they had gone about getting him enrolled in the tertiary education establishment in this town. Willow and Rupert had been adamant supporters for William to go to college.

This option had only recently come about, as Rupert had used his connection with an organisation from England, the Council of Watchers, to create him a faux identity. The only flaw in their method was that they needed someone who could vouch as a relative of William's, thus his new family name.

William was looking forward to college immensely. It seemed to be something that he would enjoy on a purely academic level, and it gave him a chance to meet people outside of the Scoobies, who William was fairly sure were only his 'friends' out of some small pity and obligation.

Not that he believed that they actively disliked him, they had proven themselves beyond that. No, William suspected that he was a lot more like Spike in their eyes. Someone to be tolerated for reasons of fate, chance or blind luck.

William closed his eyes and just let the hot water cascade down his lithe form. Showers, next to television and those little marshmallows that go in hot chocolate, were the best thing about this time. It was very soothing to get hot water nearly instantly that didn't go cold before you were done. Plus, the pounding rhythm of the water was therapeutic.

With a sigh, William turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. As his foot hit the floor, the door to the shower swung wide open, revealing a very shocked Dawn standing in the doorway with her walkman on her ears.

William froze. He stood as unmoving as the teenager, both staring at the other in blind panic. The tense moment was broken when the bar of soap fell from it's haphazard position in the little holder, and William let out an odd squawk and fell back into the shower as Dawn spun on her heels. The pair began to apologise furiously at the same time.

"I'm so sorry!-"

"I- I'm terribly sorry!-"

"-my walkman was on so I didn't hear the water-"

"-and you just opened the door and I didn't know how-"

"-mom just wanted the aspirin that are-"

"-should have locked the door-"

"-had absolutely no idea you were in here-"

"-still so horribly sorry-"

"-maybe I should just go!"

Dawn suggested desperately, the back of her neck as red as William's face was. William let out a little yelp that was taken as an affirmative response, and William was left standing in the bathroom, thoroughly mortified.

Buffy sat at her vanity table, brushing her hair out. It was amazing how tangled and dull it got during a week when she didn't pay attention to it. She had thoroughly convinced herself that her sudden rekindled interest in her appearance had absolutely nothing to do with wrong, lusty feelings she was most certainly not having about certain evil, chipped vampires. Buffy paused mid stroke to figure out the complexities of that thought.

She had decided that her feelings for the blond vampire had not changed. It was hate and loathing. Loathing and hate. Big on the hate-age from this end. No thawing out at all, because Buffy Summers was the ice queen. A small frown settled on her delicate features, before she shrugged it off. That last thought just didn't seem right.

Anyway, while Buffy was grateful Spike had been helping as of late, she was still holding that 'chain-Buffy-to-the-wall-to-declare-feelings-of-warm-fuzzy-nature-which-shall-not-be-named' event against Spike. Far against him. The fact that he had been a perfect, attracti- not attractive. Not not attractive, just not attractive.

Shrugging off the confusion her seeming determination to use as many double negatives in her thoughts as possible, Buffy finished off the last few brushes of her hair before heading downstairs.

As Buffy rounded the bottom of the stairs, heading to the lounge room, Dawn looked up at her from the couch and looked her up and down, a small frown on her forehead. Buffy looked down at herself as well, fearing to find her clothes were mismatched or dirty or, or covered in lint or something but found nothing.

"Have you got a date tonight?" Dawn asked, her confusion obvious. Buffy looked at Dawn as if she were a little odd, which was entirely a possibility.

"Uh, no. Earth to Dawn, when have I had time to get a date?" Buffy replied, now just as confused as her younger sister.

"Then why are you all dressed up?" Dawn's confidence in such a winning point blatantly obvious. Buffy looked at her clothes again. Her red leather pants and her favourite strappy black top. Nothing that flashy. "Admit it, you have a date tonight."

"Huh?" Buffy's intelligent reply. "I'm not going out tonight!" She felt forced to add as Dawn's expression turned skeptical. "Just patrolling with Spike-"

"Aha!" the youngest Summers crowed, a look of malicious glee crossing her elfin features. "You have a thing for Spike!"

"What? I so do not!" she replied quickly. Too quickly, from the look on Dawn's face. "There is no having of any kind!" So maybe some small, insignificant really, wrong lusty feelings had come up about the vampire. Anya had said it best. He is aesthetically pleasing even if he is not her Xander. Not, of course, that Buffy wanted Xander or thought of him in such possessive terms because he and Buffy were just friends, nothing more and-

"Then why are you wearing black and red? Spike's favourite colours." Dawn added, in case her elder sister had missed the significance of it. Not very likely, considering Spike wore nothing but black and red.

"Why shouldn't I wear these? They're mine, not Spike's." the Slayer added defensively. It was just coincidence that Buffy was wearing these colours. No sneaky little voice in her head whispering for her to wear things that Spike would like. Nope, no little head whispers at all. Head whisper-age was zero. Buffy mentally slapped herself. The last thought was just...idiotic.

"Then why are you wearing makeup if all you're doing is patrolling?" Dawn asked, an impish grin set so solidly on her face that Buffy itched to beat it off. Buffy's hand slowly raised towards her face. It was just a little foundation... maybe some lip gloss... maybe a smidge of mascara...

Buffy was saved from the need to reply as William strolled in from the kitchen. Normally, this would not be enough to save Buffy from Inspector Dawn, but for some reason that had Buffy extremely grateful, both the Englishman and her sister froze, looking at the other for a moment, before both looked away blushing heavily.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't realise you- that this was- I'll be in the kitchen if anybody needs me" William finished in a rush, back peddling from the room at a rapid pace. Dawn murmured something similar and retreated to her room.

Buffy relaxed into the sofa. Finally, she was free from annoying little sisters who asked such stupid questions. Buffy looked at the clock. 8:26 PM. So what if she was wearing makeup? She was allowed to do that. This was America, not Russia. She was a free person damn it, and if she wanted to wear makeup she would!

Buffy looked at the clock again. The clock had to be broken. There was no way that time was actually that slow. Maybe it was already 8:30 and Spike was late. Buffy was just about to get up and look at the clock, to see if it was really broken even if Buffy knew nothing about clocks, when it ticked over. 8:27 PM. Buffy sighed.

After the torturous two minutes passed, there was a knock on the door. Spike was perfectly on time. Buffy jumped to her feet, not in any way feeling happy little butterflies in her stomach, and nearly ran to the door. As Buffy reached out to open the door and go patrolling, she heard her mother's voice.

"You look good, honey. Do you have a date?"

Spike sullenly stared into the darkness of the cemetery he and the Slayer were patrolling. He'd thought that he and the Slayer were beginning to get along better. Almost be friends and all that rot. He had almost - almost - accepted that the Slayer would never love him, but he would take what he could get.

And now this. She had a bloody date set up tonight. The last Sunday before college started up again. He and the Slayer'd planned to patrol most of the night, as it was one of the busiest of the year, with all the nasties out to get all the little schoolies while they were out partying one last time before it was back into the daily grind.

He'd thought the Slayer had more moral fibre, to be honest. Here she was, planning on going out on a date while all the nasty vamps and demons were snacking on the locals. It was an appalling work ethic, and Spike was wholeheartedly opposed to it. She should be out making the world safe for kittens and Christmas, etc, not trying to find some guy for a quick snog before she went back to school.

And she was being too bloody chatty. It was obvious she was nervous. Probably thought Spike hadn't realised that she had made other plans and wasn't looking forward to telling him. It's not as though Spike had nothing better to do. He'd recently heard about some poker games down at Willy's. He could be doing that instead of being tortured, metaphorically speaking, by the Slayer.

"It's pretty quiet tonight, isn't it Spike?" Buffy asked him in a far too cheerful tone. Spike snorted loudly and lengthened his stride.

"It's perfectly bloody fine, Slayer. Go off on your date already." Buffy's eyes widened, almost comically, at Spike's words and she started to jog a little to keep up with the vampire.

"Why does everyone think I have a date tonight?" the Slayer asked in an aggrieved tone. Spike stopped suddenly, and stared at Buffy incredulously while she skid past him, not expecting the sudden halt.

"You don't have a date? Then what the bloody hell is this," a vague gesture at Buffy, "for? What are you playing at, Slayer? You think it's funny, do you?" Buffy just stared at Spike blankly, obviously not following his train of thought. "I don't need this sodding game of tease-Spike." he snarled, before turning on his heel and stalking away from the Slayer.

"Spike, wait!" Buffy called out, but her plan to jog up to the vampire and stop him - Buffy wasn't sure what would come after that, her mind seemed to be working a little slowly when Spike was around these days - when a nasal voice called out.

"Slayer!" Buffy rolled her eyes and turned, only to be confronted with three obviously inept vampires. They looked like the chess club at Sunnydale High. "We're going to kill you!" one of them declared, his voice oddly accented due to his fangs. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Do you know how rude it is to cut in when someone's having a conversation?" the Slayer asked, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. The nerd vamps snarled and charged, looking even more pathetic. It appeared that the whole, Creature of the Night thing did not automatically come with in-built cool.

Sidestepping the hopeless vampire, Buffy drove her stake into the first one before lashing out with a foot, catching another behind the knee. As she bent down and staked the fallen vampire, the third, and now only, vampire turned and ran away.

Sighing in disgust, the Slayer looked for the vampire she had been patrolling with, but he was long gone. Buffy stomped home, grumbling the whole time in frustration. Her 'totally-not-a-date' with Spike was ruined, ironically, by vampires.

William lay on the small cot in the basement of the Summers household, ostensibly going to sleep. In reality, he was very much awake.

Part of his wakefulness was due to nerves. He was unsure what to expect from college tomorrow, and his confidence was nearly non-existent when dealing with such a large group.

Another large part of his lack of lethargy, was worry and embarrassment. He had been unprepared for Dawn to just walk into the shower, then he had been paralysed by shock. Now he was worried he had scarred the young girl for life. It simply wasn't proper for a girl her age to see a man in a state of nature.

William heard a door open and slam shut from upstairs, before a staccato thumping as Buffy, presumedly, thundered her way upstairs to her room, beyond William's hearing range.

The young Englishman yawned widely, thinking he would never get to sleep before proving the lie within five minutes, his soft snores filling the small basement room as the young man dozed.

A/N: I feel that chapter was much better than the last. Remember to read and review people, it encourages me to write faster. Reviews and shame. The two most powerful motivators known to this woman. Also, keep an eye out for a new fic I am planning on making. All-human high school with a twist I have yet to see, surprisingly. Anyhoo, REVIEW!