Disclaimer: No infringement intended. I neither own nor make profit from these characters.

Chapter 8

If the bedrooms were sumptuous, then the dinning room was magnificent. The walls were mirrored and 3 huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Each was filled with candles, giving the room a soft glow. The table was long and elegant, glass covering a black wrought iron frame. The chairs were high-backed and brocade. In fact, when Buffy sat down, Willow couldn't even see the top of her blonde hair.

"Hey shorty, where'd you go?" Willow asked.

Buffy stood up quickly. "Har har Wills. When'd you become a comedienne?"

Willow shrugged. "It's a talent. Like alphabetizing my socks by color. Just one of those things."

"You alphabetize your socks by color?" Anya butted in. "Wow, you are a nerd."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Duh."

Once again, Joyce the peacemaker jumped in. "Now girls that's enough. Let's sit and get ready to eat. Lord knows it took us long enough to get here," she added under her breath.

Between Buffy's curling iron, Anya's straight iron and Willow's blow-dryer, the girls had managed to blow a fuse to the room. After the maintenance crew had to replace it for the third time, Joyce put an end to the bathroom drama. Then the clothing and makeup rituals began. Buffy complained that she had nothing to wear, Willow didn't like anything she brought and Anya swore that one of her suitcases was missing. By the time Joyce forced the girls to leave the room Buffy was wearing Anya's jean skirt and Willow's peasant top, Willow was dressed in Buffy's dress and Anya had Buffy's shirt and her own halter top. She'd tried to get away with a sheer top and bra combo, but Joyce nixed that.

When they finally made it to the dinning room, Joyce was ready for a big alcoholic drink and some time alone. She wanted to explore the mansion some more and see if there were anymore original works of art hanging on the walls. She was hoping that the game would start and the girls could distract themselves with that.

"Spike, come on man! You're gonna make us late. Besides, you can't possibly fit anymore gel on that stupid hair of yours," Xander yelled, pounding on the bathroom door.

"Just because you have ugly hair doesn't mean I have to," came the muffled reply from behind the door.

Xander threw his hands up. "Fine, I give up. Your dad and I are leaving. Have fun in the bathroom. Be careful, you don't wanna go blind."

Giles choked on the water he was drinking. "Xander, really. Do you need to yell that out?"

"Relax G-man. It's not like people are listening at the door," Xander replied.

Rupert pinched the bridge of his nose. "Xander, I have asked you again and again not to call me that."

Xander shrugged. "Force of habit?"

Spike finally managed to find his way out of the bathroom. "I thought you were leaving me behind?"

He punched Xander in the shoulder. Xander retaliated in kind and soon the two boys were heading toward a full-fledged punching match.

"Children, can we go now?" Rupert broke it with a resigned voice.

The boys stopped. Xander straightened his shirt and Spike fixed his hair. "We're ready," they said.

"Right then. Off we go," Giles said.

The trio made their way to the dinning room. Xander and Spike were duly impressed by the elaborate décor. Giles was as well, to a smaller extent. To him, the entire place was a clever façade, and Rupert didn't know if he wanted to see under it.

"Good evening all," Eamon said striding into the room. "This is the perfunctory get-to-know-you dinner. We hope that everybody takes the opportunity to talk and network with one another. Dinner will begin shortly, and then the game will start."

There was a murmur of agreement among the voices and Eamon left the room.

"Well, now what?" Willow asked.

"I dunno, guess we go talk to people," Buffy said. She turned to talk to Anya but Anya was nowhere in sight. "Hey, where'd Anya go?"

Willow nodded her head to the left. "Over there. As soon as Eamon said talk she was out of her chair and stalking down that guy with reddish hair. And, from the looks of it, he's not biting."

Not only was Anya's conquest not biting, he was looking extremely uncomfortable and a little scared. Buffy chuckled at his face. Anya was oblivious, chattering animatedly about whatever struck her fancy.

"I suppose one of us should go save him," Willow said in an offhand manner.

Buffy raised her eyebrow. This was un-Willow-like behavior. Usually Willow was the last person to suggest talking to someone of the opposite sex. She preferred to hide in the back, under layers and layers of bulky but brightly colored clothing.

"Sounds like a plan Wills. Go for it," Buffy said.

Willow turned several shades of red but bravely walked toward Anya and the frightened boy. Several minutes and hand gesticulations later, Anya walked away leaving Willow and the guy behind.

"Of all the nerve. Why, that little red-headed tramp. There I was, telling this perfectly nice boy name Oz all about my future capital gains when she comes over and interrupts me! Not only that, but then he starts to listen to her! Her and not me!" Anya ranted.

Buffy smiled. "Calm down Anya. Were you guys really hitting it off anyway? Didn't look like it from here."

Anya shrugged her shoulder jerkily. "That's not important."

Buffy sighed. "Whatever. I'm gonna go talk to people. You can stay and pout here or come with me."

Anya nodded. "Fine. But don't expect me to be your wingman."

Spike was trying to enjoy himself but every time he tried to speak to a lady, a certain pair of green eyes kept popping into his mind. It was most distracting and his game was suffering because of it.

"Stupid bloody bint. Hundreds of miles away and she's still driving me nuts," he muttered under his breath.

"What's that?" Xander asked distractedly. He was gazing around the room, eager to get the game going.

"Nothin' whelp. Jus' talking to myself."

"Isn't that a sign of mental imbalance?"

"Ha ha. Aren't you the funny guy?" Spike growled.

Xander shrugged. "All my life. Can we go sit now?"

Spike shook his head. "Not yet, I wanna meet everybody."

Xander sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go sit."

Spike nodded. "Be there in a minute. 'M sure I can find some young thing that won't be able to resist my charms."

"Keep dreaming," Xander called out as he made his way back.

"Bloody wanker," Spike muttered.

A few more passes in the room (That Drusilla chick is kinda hot) and Spike was ready to call it good. He set down his flue of champagne and headed back to his chair. Halfway there, something hit his back. Something wet. Spike reached his hand around, felt the liquid begin to soak into his shirt and was about to rip somebody a new hole when he heard the voice.

"I'm so sorry. Can I get you something?" she said.

Spike turned around. "Buffy?"

Buffy was cursing her choice of shoes. Not only did the heels get caught in every damn fiber in the carpet, but she wasn't too good at the whole balancing thing and she kept falling into people. Anya had long ago ditched her, her excuse being that Buffy was "holding her back".

Buffy decided to sit back down when she tripped big time. Her champagne went flying and Buffy found herself with an extremely close view of the carpet. Mortified beyond belief, Buffy stuttered out an apology while several people eyed her predicament with amusement. Then Buffy heard the voice.

"Buffy?" asked an eerily familiar voice.

"Spike?" she said standing upright.

His eyebrow lifted and his lips quirked into a small smile. "Should've known it was you. Every time I see you, you throw something on me."

"That's not true," Buffy cried. "It was an accident. What are you doing here anyway?"

Spike shrugged. "My Da's great idea. Thought we needed to spend more time together. How 'bout you? What are you doing here?"

"I won a radio contest," Buffy replied. "A complete vacation."

"Well Princess, I must say, it'll be nice to see you all weekend. But you can't get mad at me when I solve the game first," Spike said and grinned.

Buffy raised a brow. "It'll be hard to solve something I already know the answer to."

"It that a challenge, pet?" Spike asked in a silky voice. He brought his hand to Buffy's face and gently traced his fingers over her cheek and outlined the contours of her lips.

"It's whatever you want it to be," Buffy said then blushed at her own choice of words. Spike's touch was more than distracting. It was so light she barely felt the tips of his fingers as they moved over her skin. The slight contact raised goosebumps on her arms and sent shivers of heat down her spine toward her womanly core. Sure, Buffy had lovers before but they couldn't manage with their entire bodies what Spike accomplished with just his fingertips.

"Spike, there you are," Giles called out, his voice breaking the moment between the young couple. "Come back, we're about to begin."

Spike grimaced and blushed slightly. "My Da. He's such a bloody pain sometimes."

Buffy nodded. "Trust me, I understand completely. My mom is the queen of nosiness."

The two shared a grin before Spike leaned in toward Buffy. "Meet me after dinner," he said, brushing a kiss over her brow.

Buffy nodded. "I'll be at the bottom of the staircase."

Spike nodded and the two parted ways.

Let me know what you think!