Hey. Just a story that's been sitting on my laptop for a while. I posted this a while ago but forgot about it so I'm posting the whole thing again.

R/R!

Chapter 1: All that matters

Summery: All Human. Buffy is in a safe, committed relationship with her fiancé Riley Finn; it's nice, but he bores her a little. What happens when Buffy's sexy, exciting ex Spike comes back to town? S/B…

"Okay sweetie I'll be there…yeah, I love you too…bye" Buffy Summers ended the call on her cell and turned her attention back to the redhead sitting opposite her. Willow Rosenberg; Buffy's best and loyal friend was looking at the blond with an annoyed look played across her pretty features.

"So I guess our lunch is over then?" Willow guessed, raising an eyebrow at her friend,

"Yeah, Oh I'm sorry Will, it's just Riley came home early from work to see me only to find out that I wasn't home" Willow sighed and simply continued to glare at Buffy with mock surprise,

"You mean he still hasn't actually figured out that this isn't the 1950's and that women of the twenty first century actually venture out of their apartments during the husband's shifts?" Buffy stood up and began to get her stuff together before speaking again,

"Shuddup, Riley's…" she hesitated, "…sweet" Willow rolled her eyes,

"He's not sweet, he's a loser. Seriously Buffy I just don't get what you see in him" she stated, taking another sip of her strawberry shake,

"I just happen to know that he's a good guy, which is a lot more then can be said for some of the other trash I've dated" Both of the friend's minds drifted back to when Buffy had stupidly gotten involved with Parker Abrums, a local soccer player who had wanted Buffy for one reason: Sex.

"He's boring…" Willow began,

"Willow, don't start. At least by marrying Riley I know that I'm getting a smart, pleasant man who actually cares about me and my feelings…he's not gonna cheat either" Willow sighed,

"Yeah, that's because no other woman on earth wants him"

"Hey, Riley can be sexy…" Willow sniggered at Buffy's comment and even Buffy had to hold back a laugh. Riley and sexy were never even used in the same sentence but he loved her, and that was what mattered…right?

"Willow, I gotta go. I'll call you later and we'll have lunch again"

"Okay, Bye"

"Bye" Willow sighed as she watched Buffy's retreating form get further away, in all honesty, she felt sorry for her. Buffy was a beautiful, fun, intelligent young woman with endless qualities, and she had locked them all up in a little box to be with that shit-head Riley Finn.

Riley, in Willow's and most other people's opinion, was, in a word, boring. He never went to any parties, never got drunk, didn't have any friends and Willow cringed when she thought about what he would be like in bed, that was, if he wasn't still a virgin.

As the redhead sipped her shake, she found herself remembering all of Buffy's ex-boyfriends. It wasn't that there was that many; it was just that they were all so different.

First, there had been Angel O'Conner. Willow had never really seen him that much, in the three years that Buffy had dated him, Willow had seen him a total of four times. He had been very charming but it had turned out to be too good to be true when Buffy had walked in on him and the local man-stealer Darla in bed together, it had taken Buffy a while to get over that and finally go on a few dates with Scott.

Scott was a very average looking guy, fairly tall, cute face but Buffy had dumped him out of dislike for his parents.

Then there had been the infamous one night stand with creep Parker. Not much to tell there, just that he had left Buffy once again heartbroken. It had taken her a good year or so to finally start dating again after that, but she sure was glad she did though… she then met Spike.

Buffy and Spike fell in love with each other almost straight away, and Willow had never seen Buffy so happy as to when she was with him. Spike was the undoubtedly the best thing that ever happened to Buffy, he was wild with a capital W and brought out a wonderful side to Buffy that nobody else could touch. He introduced Buffy to plenty of things that she had never experienced in life before: he took her to amazing places, made her see herself for who she really was, not to mention all the really kinky, passionate love making that they endured (Buffy would talk about it none stop for days after, and Willow could remember that beautiful glow that her friend would get whenever she talked about him.)

But like a lot of good things, Spike and Buffy's relationship ended after just a year and a half. Willow had to fight back tears when she remembered the day when Buffy told her what had happened…

Buffy was sobbing hysterically when she entered the room, and Willow rushed up immediately to hug her,

"What's wrong?" she had asked her, holding her in her strong arms like a child,

"It's Spike…" Buffy had answered between sobs, "…I saw him…he was…" she sobbed some more, "…injecting himself with something, heroin I think"

…and that was how the relationship ended, Spike had told Buffy that the drugs were only a stupid drunken one-time thing that he regretted, he had sent Buffy roses, tried to visit her constantly and called her countless times but she never answered…she was crushed at the thought that he would do something like that.

So eventually after months of trying, Spike had given up and traveled back across the Atlantic ocean to England, his "mother country" as he used to call it. Willow knew that deep down Buffy still loved Spike, but the subject was forbidden and never brought up into a conversation, so eventually, after a year or so, he was just put down as just another one of Buffy's failed relationships, although, Willow knew deep down he would never be forgotten… even though it had been four years.

She just couldn't help but wonder if Spike still loved Buffy just as Buffy still loved him.

"Spike, baby we're gonna be late for the plane" Spike heard Drusilla yell at him from the car.

"I'm coming, I just gotta…ah! Found it!" he picked up his passport and his heavy suitcase and strolled out to his waiting girlfriend.

"What took you so long? I thought we packed everything last night…" Drusilla questioned as Spike started up the ignition,

"Yeah well we wouldn't have gotten very far without my passport would we?" he gestured towards the thin maroon booklet on the back seat and Drusilla smiled,

"Sorry baby, I just don't want us to miss our flight is all"

"Yeah well we've got bags of time so don't worry okay?"

"Okay, sorry again. So, if you don't mind me asking. Why are we going to California again?" Spike sighed dramatically,

"I just can't stand being in one place too long luv…"

"But Spike ever since we met back in England we've already been to Luxemburg, Germany, Morocco, Thailand, Las Vegas, Japan and now we're leaving Chicago for Los Angeles, can you not just stay in one place for us to settle in? And besides, didn't you live in L.A once?"

"Yeah, and I don't like settling in…" Spike said distantly, "… you get too connected to people…"

The rest of the short car journey was made in silence as the almost gothic couple traveled towards the airport…if only they knew what the fates had in store for them…

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Rhea ;o)