Chapter 5

Buffy came down the next morning to find a sleeping Spike curled up on the sofa wrapped in her spare duvet. She sat down on the edge of the coffee table and watched him sleep.

When she and Riley had gone to bed he and Oz were still hard at work on their project, Oz having finally come home at around eight that evening. Not that Spike had minded waiting – he had all the gang to keep him company. In fact, once Oz did get home they still wasted quite a lot of time chatting with everybody before finally getting down to work.

As predicted, Willow and Tara had come home at about 10:00 but, after saying hi to everyone, they'd quickly disappeared off back upstairs and weren't seen for the rest of the night.

Buffy jumped slightly as Spike rolled over and opened one bleary eye, "What time is it?" he groaned.

"Hmm, almost 10.30." Buffy shrugged. "Did I wake you?"

"No, not really. Though I do feel like I could do with a few more hours. Thanks for the bed, luv. You were right – I really didn't want to walk home last night."

"What time did you finish in the end?"

"About 4am."

"And where do you live anyway?"

"Up by the campus in the city centre."

"God, I would give anything to live there. You must have a great place!"

"Not really – it's a dive. Thought that living right next to campus would make up for it, and I was completely wrong." Spike sat up and stretched.

"Yeah, but no taking the bus in the morning."

"You really hate that, don't you?"

"In so many ways!"

"Why don't you get a car then?" He asked as he swung his legs round to sit on the edge of the sofa bed.

"That's the annoying thing. I have a car but, unless it's escaped your attention, there's no parking on campus."

"Oh, that's not a problem. Just told you – I don't have a car at the moment."

"So?"

"Well, the flat I rent comes with a car parking space. You can park there and it's only a couple of minutes walk to the campus. You might have to pretend you live with me if any of the other residents ask, but they won't."

"Really?"

"Sure."

Buffy flung her arms round Spike and hugged him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed. "You've saved me from a life of endless torture!"

"Hey! No need to get all melodramatic on me there. It's only a parking space!"

"To you, maybe. To me, it's so much more."

"Right," Spike looked at her as though she'd just grown an extra head.

"I really owe you for this one."

Spike's face lit up, "Does this mean I get to win the next tickling match?"

"I don't owe you that much." Buffy got up from her perch on the edge of the coffee table and walked towards the kitchen. "But it might stretch towards getting you a cuppa. What's your drink?"

"Coffee – black, three sugars."

"Caffeine freak!"

"Don't you just know it baby." Spike said with a leer.

Buffy ignored him and walked off into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two steaming mugs.

"What is it with you and tea?" Spike asked. "I thought all Americans drank coffee and tea was the preserve of us Brits."

"Yeah, well, it was Xander last year. Made me try it and I got hooked I guess – not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Oh." Spike took a sip of his coffee. "So, where's Riley? You two seem to be generally joined at the hip at the moment."

"He had an early class. And we're not joined at the hip. We just spend a lot of time together."

"Yeah, almost all day, every day."

"There's nothing wrong with that!"

"I never said there was, did I? No need to get all defensive."

"I'm not getting defensive!"

"And that's my cue to change the subject." He took a long sip of his coffee. "You got lectures today?"

"No – only have to be in Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays but I have an assignment due in a couple of weeks so I have to go to the library to read up on it."

"See, that's the beauty of my course, it's not high on the whole reading and research thing. There might be a lot of assignments but at least they're not all essays that have to be several thousand words long."

"It's really not that bad. I don't mind doing them, though the amount of reading that I have to do sometime gets to me." She looked at her watch. "Crap, it's getting late. I really should go or I'll be in there all day. Is it still alright to park at yours?"

"Of course. Tell you what – wait 'til I'm dressed and give me a lift. I'll show you where I live and where to park."