A/N : I have been updating two fics at a time for a while now, but this is a slightly bigger chapter than usual so it's my only update today. Thanx so much to; Amandamanda3, R., lilmisscookiemonster, Jan, Mr Lennox I pressume, Onion Petal, Valerie, Mariana, Slayergirl1212, for all the least reviews. I know Spike is coming off as a pretty bad person but he really did love Buffy and he was just scared when he left her the way he did. Not really an excuse I know but, oh well, hopefully as the fic progresses you'll like him, and the story of course. Let's not forget he was actually evil in the Buffy-verse and Buffy loved him anyway by the end so, a little leaving at the alter must be forgiveable! lol. As to Riley, and whether he's a good guy or not, you'll have to form your own opinions as we go along.Enough rambling from me now,here's the latest chapter :-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

Buffy was on her hands and knees, scrubbing a pizza stain from the living room carpet when Riley came back into the apartment.

"There was a guy on the stairs" he frowned as he pulled off his shoes, "Bleached blond, looked kinda pissed off. He nearly knocked me down" he complained as Buffy got to her feet, the carpet stain dealt with.

"That was...Spike" she decided to be at least semi-honest as she picked up the cloth and carpet cleaner and headed for the kitchen "He, er, he's an old friend" she explained as her fiancé followed her.

"I don't remember you mentioning him before" Riley said as she kept her back to him and busied herself at the sink "and he doesn't look like the kind of guy you'd be friends with"

"He's changed some since I last saw him" she shrugged, wringing out the cloth in the sink "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I don't think he's staying in Sunnydale long, I probably won't see him again" she turned then to look at Riley and forced a smile, despite the fact that not seeing Spike again made her so unhappy.

"So, future Mrs Finn" Riley changed the subject as he walked around the counter that stood between them "What do you say we take advantage of having nowhere specific to be on this glorious Sunday morning..." he suggested, making his meaning perfectly clear as his arms slid around her waist from the back and his lips attacked her neck.

"I thought you had a hangover" Buffy wriggled uncomfortably as her future-husband ran his hands over her body. She loved him, of course she did, and usually she had no problem with him wanting her this way, but right now her mind was full of the man she used to call her fiancé, and the person he'd turned into now.

"There's more than one way to work off a hangover" the man behind her grinned as he began to work the fastening on her pants.

"No, Riley" she complained, knocking his hands away and trying to move across the room, but he followed "I have stuff to do"

When he still didn't let up she got angry and physically pushed him away. Not expecting such a violent reaction he stumbled back, frowning.

"Riley, I said no" Buffy snapped, "I'm not in the mood okay"

"Okay sweetheart" her fiancé nodded, "I'm sorry" he apologised, though he really did not understand why she was being this way. Occasionally she wasn't in the mood, and he understood that, but she'd never been quite so violent about it. Although the push she'd given him had not physically hurt, the very fact that she would feel the need to push him away did cause him pain in his heart.

"It's okay" Buffy said more quietly, feeling bad for the look she'd caused on his face "I just, I have to..." she shook her head, not knowing how to explain as she hurried to the bathroom. Locking the door, she turned to lean her back against it, before sliding down to the floor as tears poured silently down her cheeks.

She hated that she might have hurt Riley, because she truly did love him, but there was just no way she could be close to him right now, not whilst she was so confused. William had meant everything to her in High School and she'd assumed back then that their lives were to be one forever. When he'd left she'd been heartbroken to the point where she thought she'd never be happy again. Four years later, and she thought she was doing so well. She'd moved on to a new chapter of her life with Riley, burying her past, or so she thought. Now here was Spike, her very own William, only even more gorgeous and confident, but he had moved on too, hadn't he?

There was a part of Buffy that still loved him, a larger part than she'd care to admit, and when they'd kissed last night, it felt just like old times. When Riley kissed her it was wonderful but with Spike, there just weren't words for what he could do to her.

Bringing her hands up to her face, Buffy wiped away her tears, but as she moved her fingers away again, something caught the light on her left hand. There was the symbol of Riley's love for her, the diamond ring that said they were to be married, and in just six days from now. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her future instead of her past, but one particular day and the feelings it had caused stuck out in her mind too much to be ignored.

Flashback

Buffy smiled at Willow, Xander and Riley who sat with her on the living room carpet, right in front of the Christmas tree. Next month the house was to be sold and Buffy was to move into a new apartment with her boyfriend, but the group of friends wanted to spend one last Christmas at Revello Drive.

It had been a tradition for Joyce to host the festivities, since Xander really didn't get on to well with his folks and with Willow's parents being Jewish, Christmas was not really a holiday she was supposed to want to celebrate. Since Joyce's passing earlier that year, it had been decided they should have their Christmas celebrations in her honour, before the house she and Buffy had lived in for so many years was sold on to another family.

So, here they were, the happiest of friends on Christmas morning, by the tree that, just a few moments ago, had a whole collection of brightly wrapped presents beneath it. Now the paper had been torn away and everyone had received what they most wanted and needed.

As Xander exchanged his old sweater for the new one Willow had bought him and she in turn admired the necklace he'd given her, Riley shuffled closer to Buffy who was collecting up the wrapping paper into a bag.

"Buffy, I have another gift for you" he told her with a smile. She put down the trash and sat down next to him again.

"But you already gave me my present" she frowned slightly. Xander and Willow became silent as they knew what was about to happen.

"That was nothing" he shook his head, "This is your real present" he said, producing a small box and handing it to her.

Buffy looked between her boyfriend and her best friends with suspicion as she opened up the box to see what was inside. Her suspicions had been correct she realised as a solitaire diamond ring sparkled up at her from it's place amongst the red velvet interior of the box.

"Buffy" Riley said her name much more quietly than he'd intended to, "I love you, and I was wondering, will you marry me?"

The blonde was silent for a full minute before the tears that glistened in her eyes finally fell and she breathlessly answered.

"Yes, Riley, I will" she managed a smile before he kissed her and hugged her tight. A moment later he took the ring from the box and placed it on her finger, as Willow fought joyful tears and Xander hugged her to him.

As stupid as she knew it was, Buffy thought of William as soon as she saw the ring and heard the words 'Will you marry me?'. Of course the diamond that her first love had presented her with had been much smaller and not given to her until days after the actual proposal, but it hadn't made it any the less special.

In a strange way, she felt guilty for accepting Riley's offer, knowing that the ring William had given her still resided in a box upstairs, along with the garter from her wedding day, her grandmothers brooch, a necklace from her mother for that happy day, and a few other trinkets she couldn't bear to part with no matter how much she knew she should.

As Willow moved from hugging her to hugging Riley, Buffy looked down at her hand and the new ring that rested there. Far from being Mrs Buffy Anderson as she'd dreamt so many times, she was now to be Mrs Buffy Finn.

'That'll work too' she told herself, with a half-smile.

End Flashback

"Buffy?" a voice called, that and the tapping on the bathroom door finally bringing her out of her daydream, "Are you okay, sweetheart?" Riley checked

"I'm fine" she called back with the smallest of wavers in her voice, "I'll be out in a minute" she assured him.

Pulling herself up from the floor she looked into the mirror over the sink. Turning on the faucet she wet her hands and wiped them over her face before picking up the towel from the rail and drying off.

Another look in the mirror and she decided she looked okay, no more evidence of tears or badness. As she studied her face in the mirror, she whispered to herself.

"Mrs Finn" she tried, turning her head this way and that as she repeated the name, trying to make it feel right, "Mrs Buffy Finn, Mrs Buffy Summers-Finn? Mrs Buffy...Anderson?"

- - - - - - - -

"Willow?" Xander called softly as he came into the apartment they shared. He spoke quietly because he thought perhaps his girlfriend would still be in bed, but also because his head was killing him, "Willow?" he tried again but still he got no reply. Stumbling into the bedroom, he found her seated on the bed with her back to the door.

"Hi honey, I'm home" he grinned, moving to sit down beside her. His smile disappeared when he realised she was less than happy, "Hey, what's up with my favourite girl?" he frowned suddenly, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Look at this, Xander" Willow urged, passing a photograph to him. After a second or two his eyes focused on the image and he frowned harder.

"Buffy and William's not-a-wedding" he realised, "Why are you looking at these Will? Has something happened?"

"He's back" she said simply, watching with less amusement than she might have as her boyfriends mouth opened and closed like a landed trout.

"William is back in Sunnydale?" he gaped when he was finally able to form words. Willow nodded.

"Buffy seemed so confused when she saw him" she explained, "We were at the Bronze and Cordelia had ordered a stripper for the party. He did his act and then Harmony pulled his mask off. Turns out it was Will" she told her shocked boyfriend, who suddenly burst out laughing.

"You expect me to believe that good-guy William Anderson is a stripper now?" he giggled like a kid and Willow gave him a shove.

"It's not funny, Xand" she told him somewhat sternly, "Buffy was really upset when she saw him and now I think he's muddled up her feelings again"

"But she's over him, right?" Xander shook his head, stopping abruptly when it thumped even more painfully than before, "She's marrying Riley in a week"

"Six days" Willow clarified, "But those two were so tight before, it has to change things now he's back in town"

"I guess there's only one way to know for sure" Xander shrugged, getting up from the edge of the bed and wobbling slightly on the way to the kitchen. Willow followed, curious to know what he was doing. Soon she realised as he pulled out the phone book and winced slightly as he realised he was willingly looking under the heading of Male Strippers.

"Okay, what do we have here..." he ran his finger down to page checking out all the stage names that ranged from the humorous to the downright disturbing in his own male opinion, "What am I looking for here?" he asked Willow a moment later.

"Er, I think they called him Spike" she told her boyfriend, leaning over his shoulder to see the page, "Oh look, there!" she yelled in his ear as she pointed to the right ad. Xander grimaced at her volume before picking up the receiver of the phone and dialling the number on the page.

"Hello, this Anya Jenkins speaking" said an agitated female voice on the other end of the line.

"Er, hi" Xander began somewhat nervously, "I was wondering if you could help me..."

"Are you calling for a stripper?" Anya interrupted, "because we don't supply women"

"Oh no, I want a male stripper" Xander replied without thinking, realising precisely what he'd said as Anya explained the rules about her 'artist' performing at homosexual parties.

"I don't think I'm explaining myself well" he took a deep breath and started again, "I'm an old friend of William" he told her, "The guy you call Spike?" he cringed as he said the unfamiliar name and disturbing images of where his friend might have got such a nickname shot through his alcohol fogged mind.

"Oh" Anya sounded surprised, "Well, he's not here right now" she sighed, "He didn't come back to me for sex last night, so he could be anywhere, possibly in the bed of one of the bachelorette's from last night"

"Er.." Xander was temporarily speechless as he tried to figure out what to say. Willow looked at him in confusion, having only heard his side of things, "Could you maybe give me a cellphone number for him or something?" he tried and Anya sounded annoyed but agreed.

A moment later Xander hung up the phone and handed Willow a piece of paper with the number scrawled on it.

"You can make the next call" he declared, "I need a while to recover from the last one"

As he walked away towards the bathroom, Willow stared at the paper in her hand. She really wanted to call William, in some ways she'd missed him after he'd gone away and she knew Xander did even more so, though he'd go all manly man and deny it if you asked him. Still, there should be some loyalty to Buffy in all this, the red-head thought. What William had done by running away on their wedding day was wrong and nothing was going to change that, but in the end he was still their friend and nothing could alter that either.

Resigned to calling and inviting him over, if only for a short chat to check that he was not going to cause any further trouble for Buffy, Willow picked up the phone and dialled the number, hoping her best friend would not be too mad at her when she found out.

- - - - - - - -

Spike had been walking aimlessly around Sunnydale since slamming out of Buffy's apartment a couple of hours ago. She really was an infuriating bint at times but it did not alter the fact he loved her as much now if not more than he did before.

She was just as beautiful, or possibly even more so than the faded picture he'd held in his mind these past four years. The fire was still in her eyes like he remembered and when they'd kissed last night, there'd been a certain kind of fire in that too. She was still attracted to him at least, but then that was something a great many women could boast. Still, Spike was sure it was more than that. There was no way she would have got so angry quite so easily, not after so long, if he didn't still have some kind of effect on her. He'd been so mad at her when she'd told him that leaving was what he did best, but his resolve to leave town and never come back had softened as he'd walked around the place and found too many memories that he almost couldn't bear it.

The Sun Cinema where he'd taken Buffy on their first date, the Espresso Pump where they'd had their first real kiss, her old house and his, where they'd spent so many happy times, and the High School where he'd first laid eyes on her...

Flashback

September 1996, and the new freshman class at Sunnydale High were filing into the building, all nervously looking around for their friends from Junior High and feeling so grown up suddenly. All expect one boy.

Not only was he new to the high school but also to the town and the country. William Anderson, his father and his sister had moved to Sunnydale, California from London, England just a month ago, but as yet he had not really made any friends. Now, his Dad had told him, he had a chance to, as he mingled in the corridors with a hundred other girls and boys of his age. He remembered his words but simply couldn't find the confidence to actually speak to anyone. They all seemed to have friends already and he felt uncomfortable about just barging in on their conversations. Instead he was trying to find the correct classroom, but this was also proving less than easy. Taking a chance he walked in through the very next door he came to, only to find he'd stumbled across the library.

"Hi" a small voice greeted him from the table in the centre of the room, "Are you lost?" the red-head girl asked him.

"Possibly, yes" William managed a smile, "I feel like one of those rats in a lab, trapped in one of those stupid mazes" he explained rather badly, but the red-headed girl seemed to find it amusing as did her blonde friend who had just come into view.

"You don't look like a rat" the blonde declared, her eyes moving all over him. He didn't really notice as he drank her in too. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life, and it seemed she rather approved of him too.

"I'm Buffy" she introduced herself, holding out a hand which he reached for as he gave his full name.

"Well, William Anderson" she smiled, "This is Willow, and as I think you can guess this is a library" she laughed lightly as she gathered up a couple of books and Willow did the same, "My uncle's the librarian so we've come here to study before, kinda know our way around" she smiled, "You want us to walk you to your next class?" she offered.

"If it's no trouble" he nodded.

"No problem" Buffy assured him, "We have to find our other friend Xander anyway" she shrugged, heading out the door with Willow, "So if you wanna follow me..." she waited for him to do just that and he smiled as he stepped through the crowds behind her.

"Anywhere" he replied, though she didn't hear him

End Flashback

All he'd wanted to do was be with that girl, and after a few months of getting to know each other as friends he'd finally asked her out. They'd dated from then until the Prom, declaring themselves to be in love and wanting to get married, and that was where the fairytale ended.

Spike closed his eyes and winced at the memory. He knew he'd hurt her, he'd hurt himself too, and now he just wanted, even needed, to find a way to put things right. His life needed putting back on track, he'd known that for a while now. Sunnydale was the only place that was going to happen and only if Buffy was there at his side. Just as he was planning the best way to seduce Buffy Summers (it shouldn't be too difficult, he had women practically falling at his feet every night these days) the cellphone in his pocket rang into life.

'Unknown caller' flashed on the screen and he frowned as he accepted the call and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"William, it's Willow" said the familiar voice, "I think you, me and Xander should have a little talk..."

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Any and all reviews will be greatly appreciated, as always. More coming soon :-)