Buffy finished sending a recorded report to The Fiasco who were at a live event. She smiled again as she glanced down at the blinking blue bar at the bottom of her screen.

"You might want to try out those panties some time, Pet. Half the fun is in the removal," he'd typed to her.

She sighed and decided to challenge him with her response.

"You're too virtuous to take a married woman."

He stared at the screen. Was he?

"Probably I am. But, Sunshine, I believe you saw first-hand that I can't be trusted alone with you."

She knew she couldn't be trusted alone with him. And she had every intention of never letting that happen again.

"Come to LA," he asked her.

He hadn't seen her in nearly a month, yet they communicated with each other every day. He had no idea what had possessed him to actually pick up the phone and call.

The sound of his voice thrilled her. Hearing him on the air was very different than hearing him talking to her on the phone. It was intimate. It was just the two of them sharing a private moment.

"I can't," she told him, although she had no good reason why.

"Come on, Pet," he pleaded. "I'll even come pick you up."

"I think it's a bad idea," she said weakly.

He was thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, you don't have much of a choice," he said baiting her.

"I don't what?"

"Yeah, because, you know... I, uh... I already said you'd be at 701 South with us this Friday. You're kind of committed."

"COMMITTED! You should be committed! Damn it, Spike!"

He had backed her into a corner. Now what was she going to do?

"I even comped a hotel room for you," he told her.

He was hoping he could get the Adam's Mark to honor their trade. If not, he'd be paying for the room himself just to have her there.

"And you can do all of your stations from here. I've made arrangements with Rupert," he let her know.

He hoped he could reach Giles before she did. He'd have to make some arrangements for her to do all of her reports from his studio.

"Oh, Spike," she sighed.

He was wearing her down and he knew it.

"Come on, Buffy," he smiled into the phone. "I'll even buy you dinner."

"Oh, well, there's the clincher,then. You buy me dinner and it's a done deal," she said sarcastically.

"As I recall, we both had a good time at dinner."

"We did," she agreed. "I did."

"Then be like Nike, Love," he urged her. "Just do it."

She had to giggle at his analogy. He really was adorable when he tried. Hell, he was adorable when he wasn't trying, too.

"Okay," she conceded. "I'll come. I'll come. I'll drive up after my morning shift on Friday. I'll just ask Giles for the rest of the day off. I could use it. And I'll go to your little club and play your little game. But I want filet mignon this time, Bub."

"Your wish is my command," he assured her, giddy at her acceptance.

What have I just done, she thought as she placed the phone back in the cradle. She could feel female eyes burning her skin. She thought there could be some envy coming from Andrew, too.

"Not that I was listening to your conversation," Cordelia began. "But did you just make a date with Spike?"

Buffy felt her cheeks coloring at Cordelia's question.

"Uh, not so much a date," she stammered. "He wants me to make an appearance at a live broadcast on Friday night. Some nightclub. And he promised me dinner if I said yes. So, you know, I like food. And dinner... you know, the most important meal of the day."

"That would be breakfast," Faith called from over her desk.

"Dinner is very important, too," Jenny chimed in. "Going to bed on an empty belly can keep you up all night."

"Nobody said anything about going to bed, Latino and Loud," Faith slung at Jenny, using a little nickname she'd made up from one of Jenny's outcues, 'Latino and Proud.' "But if one were to go to bed after a long night of partying, where, exactly, would that be, hmmm?"

Buffy's jaw dropped at the insinuation.

"Now this is getting juicy!" Jenny beamed, standing up and clapping her hands together like a child. "Is there a thing with you and Spike?"

"There is no thing!" she said defensively. "What the Hell is this thing of which you speak?"

"Well, not that I was eavesdropping or anything," Cordelia butted in. "But I thought I might have heard something about a previous dinner. As in you've already been to dinner with Spike."

"I thought I heard that, too," Andrew chimed in. "And let me just be the first to say..." Andrew gave her a double thumbs-up and mouthed "good job."

Buffy hung her head and stifled a disbelieving giggle. It wasn't a date. It so wasn't a date.

Holy and shit... it was a date.

"Maybe she said that dinner was the most important meal of the day when she really meant breakfast," Jenny pointed out with a grin. "Chiquita's subconscience talking."

Buffy crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it over her desk at Jenny.

"No," she groused. "And...no. It's just an appearance. And dinner. Just dinner. Between co-workers. Just like if I went to dinner with Andrew."

"So not my type, Buffy," he said with a grimace. "Sorry."

"You know what I mean," she said shooting him a dirty look.