"One two three, one two three," A voice in Buffy's head repeated as the slayer went through her training kata. It had been a month since school started and her training had gotten even more serious. Everything she did had to be perfect. Yes, she knew she was the slayer, and Spike her 'watcher,' but over the past week he had gotten even more serious in her training, refusing to let her go home until she had done everything what seemed like two hundred times.

"Again," Spike called. "You weren't concentrating at the end," He added, as Buffy opened her mouth, prepared to protest.

"Yeah well I'm too busy trying to figure out how to remove that stick from your ass to concentrate," Buffy mumbled as she got back into her training stance, preparing to run through her kata for the fifth time in an hour.

"Make that two more times love," Spike said. "And before you talk next time, you might want to remember that this is a very small room, and that I have very good hearing."

"I just don't understand what's gotten into you this past week," Buffy said, speaking in between the blocks, kicks and punches she was doing across the floor.

"What's gotten into me is realizing that this is the calm before the storm. We haven't had any big-bad things, besides myself, for a while now and you need to be prepared," Spike ground out, eyes flashing angrily.

"God Spike, chill…I'm training, I'm training. See, watch me move," Buffy said softly, hoping that by not allowing her temper to meet Spike's he might calm down and tell her what really had him so worried. He had never been one to prepare. When coming across a vamp nest he would rush in, head first, even without any stakes leaving the slayer to follow after him. He wouldn't be this worried about her training unless….Buffy stopped her kata.

"Spike," Buffy said.

"What is it, love?" Spike asked with a sigh.

"What's coming?" The slayer asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, something has got your knickers in a twist, as you might say. I want to know what Big Bad is coming."

"No Big Bad," Spike said, rising from where he sat in the corner and walking over to where Buffy stood, atop mats in the center of the training room.

"Spike, don't lie to me," The slayer protested. "I know you want me to train, but until this week you've never been this invested in my training. What's up…tell me."

It would have been easy to lie to her. That is, if her hair hadn't come out of the ponytail it had been in all training session; if it wasn't fanned out across her back. It her skin wasn't glistening from the layer of sweat that had collected while she was training. If she hadn't looked so damn beautiful he could have lied to her. But she did, and he couldn't so Spike did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her.

The first few seconds of the kiss were bliss to Buffy. The kiss was soft and teasing, tentative and sweet. His lips played against hers and his hands came up and clutched her shoulders softly yet possessively. But after only a few moments it stopped being so wonderful. Buffy pushed Spike away more forcefully than she meant to. He stumbled backwards and fell, landing several feet from her.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" Spike asked angrily, resting his elbows on the floor so he could get a better look at the slayer.

"I hate you," Buffy whispered. The slayer turned and fled from the training room, not even stopping to pick up her coat.

"What did I do?" Spike asked. No one answered his question. The training room was empty.

Buffy patrolled the streets of LA alone. No, patrolled wasn't the right word. Walking aimlessly was more like it. How could he? She had been so stupid those first few seconds, thinking that something inside him had called out to her, thinking that he had kissed her because he loved her, even liked her. Her disillusions were quickly shattered. He was just trying to distract her; he was just trying to keep her from questioning him about the big bad that she knew was lurking on the horizon. How could he do that?

How could she do that? Walk out of the training room with no explanation. Especially after he kissed her! Oh…kissed her. And she thought…of course it kind of was…but… Spike left the training room in a hurry, grabbing the slayer's coat before he left. He didn't have much time to waste. It would be sunrise soon, and he had a slayer to find.

Buffy yawned as she got off the elevator and headed down the twisting hallways of her apartment building. She fumbled around in her pockets for a minute before cursing.

"Just my luck. I leave my keys in my jacket pocket and leave my jacket in the training room." Buffy arrived in front of her door and rolled her eyes at her own carelessness, about to turn back around and head out towards the training room when she heard a voice behind her.

"Going somewhere, love?"

"What are you doing here Spike?" Buffy asked without turning.

"I need to talk to you," Spike said, his voice holding no trace of his normally cocky tone.

"About what?" Buffy asked, hands on her hips. Spike pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and walked towards Buffy, placing himself between her and the door so that she was facing him.

"You know what. We kissed Buffy. You and me."

"We kissed because you couldn't bear to tell me what's really on your mind. Instead you chose to shut me up and stop my questions the only way you knew how, and if you-" Buffy was cut off by a pounding sound coming from the floor, followed by a shrill voice yelling "shut up."

"Let's go inside, love," Spike suggested.

"Well I'd love to. But I think God decided that my day wasn't quite good enough. So, God decided to have me leave my jacket, with my key inside, back in the-" Buffy was cut off once more. This time however, by Spike who reached into her jacket pocket and produced her key.

"Brought your coat love. Didn't want you to get cold," Spike explained. Buffy grabbed the key from him and unlocked the door, muttering a thank you as she went inside.

Spike followed the slayer into her apartment and shed his duster, hanging it up neatly on the pegs that Buffy had hung next to the apartment door. Then he followed the slayer into the kitchen where she had begun to boil hot water, knowing that Spike would want hot chocolate. When Buffy heard Spike enter the kitchen she began to speak once more.

"First of all, you should have told me that something was coming. Second of all, you shouldn't have kissed me to get me to shut up. If you don't want to answer one of my questions then you don't answer it, you don't kiss someone to stop their mouth from moving," Buffy ranted.

Spike opened a cabinet over the sink and produced two packets of Swiss Miss. He handed them to without a word and watched as she got out two mugs and poured the packets into them. "Last week we kissed for the first time. And I didn't mention it because you didn't mention it. And I figured that since we're working together it was bound to happen. But never more than one time. Then tonight. It was a second time. It happens once and it's a mistake. But a second time, it means something. I thought it meant something. And I know it's stupid but ever since I met you-and I cannot believe I'm telling you this-but ever since I've met you I've felt something for you. I've-" Buffy was cut off by the high pitched whistle of the tea kettle. She turned the stove off and poured the hot water into the two mugs. Spike watched, still silent, as the brown chocolate mix dissolved into the hot water.

"Buffy," He whispered.

"Yes."

"Once is a mistake," Spike kissed Buffy gently on the forehead. "Twice means something," Spike kissed Buffy on the nose. "Three times," The vampire's mouth hovered above the Slayer's.

Buffy didn't wait for Spike to tell her what three times meant. She kissed him. And he was shocked for a minute but all the training they'd done together must have paid off because he reacted lightning fast. And he was kissing her back. And it was better than in the training room, and better than in the apartment, and much better than in Buffy's dream. Because this time, no one was being shut up. Buffy had simply found….other uses for Spike's mouth.

Spike backed the slayer against the small table that stood to the side of the kitchen. His eyes were closed but he could still picture her in his mind. Gorgeous. Lips slightly puffy from being kissed, face flushed with the intensity of it all. His hands traveled down to the slayer's waste and then ran back up to her hair, which they threaded in. She had such soft golden hair. She was his goldilocks. His rapunzel. His everything.