Authors note: Sorry, sorry, sorry, it's been a while, got loads of work on and I had a writers block in the middle of this chapter! It's going to be very slow with updates now, don't think I'll finish this story before my exams, so once the 29th June has passed, you'll be getting loads cause I'll have left school, never to return again! Yay! Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed, keep up the good work!

Chapter 8 – Truth

Buffy and Spike had been walking for a couple of minutes, neither of them had said much, the serenity of the evening not calling for words. They were nearing the graveyard where Spike's crypt was situated when he spoke up.

"So, what changed your mind?" he asked trying to sound casual.

"What do you mean?" Buffy said knowing exactly what he was talking about, seeing as it was a talk they were going to have to have eventually.

"You didn't think we could have a relationship last night, but just now we had the most romantic dance in history and you practically told your friends about us too, so what changed in the last twenty four hours?" Spike said hesitantly, hoping something had actually changed and the amazing revelation in the Bronze hadn't just been his imagination. They both stopped walking and Buffy turned to face him.

"I was… confused before and I needed to sort my head out." Buffy said as she closed the distance between them putting her arms around his waist, as he moved to stroke her arms. "When I'm not with you, I don't feel as alive… and as happy… as when I'm with you. And… I believe we can actually make this work… because …I… I think I'm falling in love with you." Buffy's voice was hardly more than whisper, but Spike heard her perfectly clearly because for one thing her face was mere inches from his and of course his hearing was very acute. Even so Spike still couldn't believe what he was hearing, he had dreamt of this for what seemed like forever, he felt like everything had stopped and he was in some kind of daze but then he heard more talking bring him back to his senses as he realised Buffy had continued speaking, probably because he had been silent for while.

"Before when we were first kissing, it was about the lust and the need to feel something… but now when we talk… and when we talked before the kissing and when you hold me, like when we were dancing and on the ghost train and just the idea you had of taking me to a fair was-"

"Buffy." Spike interrupted as she began to ramble. "You didn't even need to answer my question," He said sighing.  "You had me as soon as you took my hand to dance." He smiled reassuring her that he didn't need anything from her, just to have her standing by him now was a blessing and he wasn't going to forget it or push her away again by thinking he could just fall out of love with her. They were still in each others arms, enjoying the peace that had settled between them when Spike broke soppy moment.

"So, what do you want to do now?" he said smirking at her and moving his hands down to her thighs, making it clear of what he had in mind. He pressed himself even closer to her grinding his crotch against hers and watched her eyes close with pleasure. He ran his hand over the bottom of the short black skirt she was wearing and grazed her skin. Buffy moved her hands up to his neck to pull him to her crushing his lips into hers with a desperate force. They continued kissing passionately while both of them moved their hands around the other latching onto flesh and clothing frantically. Buffy moaned into the kiss and Spike, with his arms around her, pulled her forward trying to get even closer, although they were pressed so tightly together that there wasn't even air between them and as he tugged at her she fell onto him pushing his backwards so that he collapsed on to the ground with Buffy on top of him. She broke the kiss and looked at him, giggling at the comical situation, Spike chuckled lightly too. "It's nice to see you laugh again." He said.

"It's all because of you."

"Well yeah, cause I pulled you to the ground." He said jokingly

"Spike, I'm serious." She said playfully swatting him on the shoulder. Buffy now sat up, straddling him, giving Spike a lot of ideas, which Buffy instantly felt.

"So am I." He put his hands on her hips gently kneading them. Buffy leant her head back enjoying the feel of his hands on her as they ran up the sides of her waist. He then broke the contact causing Buffy to open her eyes which had fluttered shut.  She looked at him questionably.

"I know what I said before, but…" Spike hesitated.

"Go on." Buffy reassured him by brushing a hand across his cheek. There was a short silence and then Spike said huskily "Say it." At first Buffy was unsure of what she was supposed to say but then it dawned on her as his pleading eyes, with a touch of uncertainty in them stared into hers. 

"I love you." She had said it. I've said it! For the first time out loud, she had properly said those three words, rather than just mumbling I think I'm falling in love you so quietly he probably didn't even hear it! And it felt so good to say it, she had been so confused for the past few days, she had convinced herself that her and Spike would just be friends, friends were good, you could never have too many friends, but she had been pushing away the feelings that said she wanted something more from him and then when he put his arms around her to dance she felt something that she never thought she would feel again for guy, especially Spike, love. And then when she tried to think of all the reason they shouldn't be together and all the things she had hated about him, none of the reasons seemed very important and the things that she should have hated were just more things she had learnt to love, like his pet names which she constantly told him to stop calling her and his smoking, which she'd never love but it was part of who he was. There were more endless eccentricities of his that came to her mind but all that mattered now was that she knew what she felt finally and she didn't have to lie to anyone about it anymore, although she suddenly thought that Giles wasn't going to be very happy when he found out. As soon as she spoke the three words that Spike had longed to hear for what seemed like his whole life, he leant up to her, so that he was sitting up, with Buffy still sitting on top of him and supported his weight with one hand on the ground. His moved his other hand to her face, brushing some hair back away from her eyes and then touched her cheek gently, mirroring her action from just a few seconds ago.

"I love you too." Their foreheads touched and then their lips met again in a slow and soft kiss, Buffy ran her hands all over his back finally settling at the nape of his neck and playing with the soft hairs situated there. They both started to become more desperate again and the kiss turned into a very steamy scene.

"Shall we take this somewhere else, my place maybe?" Spike said raggedly between kisses. Buffy broke the kiss completely and looked at him regretfully.

"Sorry, I can't, I'm going to have to get home soon for Dawn." Spike tried to hide his disappointment.

"She'll be o.k. Willow will be with her." He said as he started to kiss her neck, trying to convince her to stay with him. Buffy pulled away, which was very hard for her to do because it felt extremely good what Spike was doing to her, she lifted herself out of his embrace and stood up.

"I'm really sorry, but I don't want to be out all night, they'll get worried about me." Buffy was very sincere, she didn't want the night to end either but if she went with Spike now she wouldn't get home till tomorrow morning. Spike stood up as well, facing her and trying not to get too angry about this because he knew she was right and now that she'd just confessed her love for him this was a bad time to get into a fight.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." He said with as much cheerfulness as he could muster.

"Yeah, you definitely will." Buffy leant up to him, giving a chaste kiss on the lips, she pulled back, looking him straight in the eye and said "I hope you don't mind waiting." They both knew exactly what she was talking about and Spike nodded.

"I would wait forever if that's what you wanted." He replied. Buffy gave him a slight smile. "You won't have to wait forever, I can promise you that."

"Goodnight Spike." And with that Buffy turned and slowly walked away with Spike watching her until she disappeared from his view.

Goodnight Buffy.