A/N : Thanx to; spuffygrl11, Baby Girl Geller-Green, demonica mills, EMBER91, wicked-angel-413, Ape18, garfield16, XspikeXbuffyX, Spikez-babe91, Freezyboncoolipants, Daniel Wesley Rydell, Spuffy2008, Brunettepet, and Takari AAF, for the awesome reviews.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 12 - The Club

"And you promise I don't look ridiculous?" William asked for the seventh time. Buffy made an exasperated sound as she strode back across the room and stood next to him by the mirror. She'd yet to get him out of the hotel room, nevermind the building. By the time they got to the club she was sure it'd be closed!

"William, please" she urged him, "Can you just accept that you look great so we can leave?"

"It's just so different" he said, tilting his head as he looked himself over once again.

"And therein lies the point!" Buffy rolled her eyes, "For God sakes Will, this is getting so boring now"

He eventually conceded that he did look okay, though the lady on his arm would quite out-shine him. She smacked him across the arm for embarrassing her, which was in itself something kind of insane. Guys complimented Buffy all the time, she loved it, she lived for it some nights, it never really made her uncomfortable. It seemed it was just William's good opinion she couldn't deal with and she knew why. She was really starting to like the geek whom she'd done such a good job of making over. He truly was one of the most gorgeous guys she'd ever seen right at this moment and she knew that wasn't all down to the clothes she'd put him in and what had happened to his hair.

"You've gone quiet on me?" he observed as they walked down the street, "Something worrying you, pet?"

"Not so much" she said with a shake of her head, "Just kinda stunned by how hot you look" she smirked, "Even I didn't know you could look this good"

"You're teasing me" he assumed, looking away but she stopped walking and grabbed his hand to make him stop too.

"Really not" she promised, "You look awesome, and hey, if you don't believe me look over there" she pointed across the street and he glanced in the same direction, "Those girls can't take their eyes off you"

William found he quite liked the female attention he was getting, but not half so much as he liked the feel of Buffy's hand in his own. He was doing this wild thing first for himself, as some kind of escape from the person he was every day, a person he was growing to dislike a great deal. His other main reason for the change however was Buffy. He wanted to understand her and felt that perhaps this was the way. She had been forced into his world, now he wanted to put himself into an approximation of hers, in the hopes that some good would come out of it. So far, so good.

"This is perfect" the blonde said suddenly, and William zoned back into reality, finding himself outside of a night club with neon flashing lights declaring it was called Club USA.

"Stupid name, good music" Buffy decided as waves of thumping sound emanated from beyond the doors, "Shall we?" she asked William who took a deep breath.

"Lead the way, luv" he said trying to smile but feeling very sick. This was not his kind of place, and he was beginning to think he'd made the biggest mistake of his life agreeing to go in. He felt such a fake as he walked through the door and found himself surrounded by girls in skimpy clothes and men in ripped denim and leather. The nauseous feeling in his stomach was not at all pleasant, but not exactly unfamiliar either. William had felt almost equally as bad when he was forced to call his Uncle Giles and tell him everything was fine and promising no trouble would occur, at the same time putting on his black leather coat over his black and red outfit and gelling back his newly bleached blond hair.

Buffy pushed her way through the crowds of people to the bar and William followed, trying not to get crushed.

"What can I get you?" the barman spoke loudly over the thumping music, though it was less intrusive in this particular corner.

"Beer for me and er... what do you drink?" Buffy turned to William who shifted nervously. Truth was he didn't really drink anything as a rule, possibly a glass of wine with a meal or something but that was hardly an appropriate choice to be making now.

"Bourbon" he said the first spirit that popped into his head. Giles had the occasional drink and it was always bourbon or scotch. If his Uncle drank it, William surmised it must be fairly tame.

Buffy was looking at him with an amused smile when the barman put their drinks down in front of them, and William had no idea why until he picked up the glass and put to to his lips. Remembering the way Giles drank, Will knock the drink back in one, coughing loudly straight afterwards. Buffy bit her lip so as not to laugh as he declared it was 'very nice' and asked for another.

"You two are new to this place, aren't you?" the barman smirked, "I know most of the regulars and I think I would've remembered you, sweetheart" he said to Buffy who leaned over the bar and gave him a good view of her chest which her top could barely contain.

"That's a cheesy line, even for a bartender to use" she smirked, "but I'll play" she shrugged, "I'm Buffy, I'm from California"

"I'm Phil" the barman introduced himself, leaving William completely out of conversation by now, "So you on your holidays over here then?"

"Kind of" Buffy nodded. Phil opened his mouth to say something else when the man at Buffy's side slammed his glass on the bar top.

"Another, barman" he snapped and Buffy grabbed his arm that was waving the glass around now.

"Go easy, William" she cautioned him in a low voice, "That stuff is strong and I don't think you can handle it"

"Yes, William" Phil stressed his name, "Why don't you have a nice fizzy water or something and piss off so I can get to know Buffy better"

"Why don't you piss off!" she told him in no uncertain terms.

He was good-looking and she'd have happily got to know him better in any way he liked, but not if he was going to insult William like that. Despite her better judgement she liked the young man she had made over, and she would not have him spoken to like this.

"Come on" she said, getting hold of his arm, "Let's dance"

"Buffy" William protested as she dragged him towards the dance floor, "Buffy, I don't do this sort of danc... oh" he stopped suddenly when he caught sight of two girls a few feet away who seemed to have completely abandoned the concept of dancing, instead kissing and groping each other in what William knew to be a highly inappropriate manner for a public place. However, as with all men, whilst his brain thought it was inappropriate, other parts of his anatomy were enjoying the show a little too much. In the crush of people, he had ended up more or less pressed up against Buffy's back and she moved fast when she realised what was happening.

"Honestly, men!" she sighed, "You see two guys kiss and you wanna hurl, but when it's two girls... stuff happens" she gestured vaguely and William looked suitably ashamed of himself. Buffy was also fairly uncomfortable, and she wondered vaguely if most of her problem wasn't just because someone else got a 'reaction' as it were from William, and she hadn't.

"Hey" said a voice behind William, and a girl who was dressed not dissimilarly to Buffy appeared next to him.

"Hello" he said nervously, clearing his throat when he felt words escape him.

"What's your name?" she asked, apparently a little worse for wear for the drink but nevertheless all to eager to get her hands on William.

"My name? Er, well..." her hands on his chest and the view he had down her top was very distracting and every proper thought was vacating his head at some speed.

"Spike" Buffy suddenly said the first thing that came into her head, and she knew why it had too, "His name is Spike" she smiled, before striding away, leaving the newly christened Spike alone with a girl that only now introduced herself as Nancy, despite the fact she was already very acquainted with his form.

Buffy was angry, a little bit at William, but mostly at herself. She liked him, she knew it, but that was okay he was a nice guy. Only problem was that the little bit of like she had for him seemed to be growing and that scared the blonde more than she was comfortable with.

Being scared made Buffy angry for allowing herself to be weak and afraid of anything. A person can't run from their own feelings and her practised drinking these last few years meant drowning them was pretty impossible too. If only there was a way to clear her mind, lose all rational thought just for a moment. Buffy smirked at the idea that popped into her mind. To get over William all she had to do was get under someone else, she surmised, and it wasn't as if this place wasn't just full of gorgeous specimens she could take for a test drive.

"Hello darlin'" a tall dark stranger winked at her, "You wanna dance?"

"Yeah" Buffy nodded as she looked him over, "Definitely up for the dancing"

"Er, Nancy?" William said nervously as she pinned him to the wall and nibbled his ear lobe, "It's not that you're not a very nice girl because I'm certain that you are but..."

"I don't have to be a nice girl" she giggled, whispering in his ear, "I could be a bad girl if you want me to be... Do you want that, Spike?" she asked, moving to kiss his neck.

William was somewhere between enjoying himself and feeling awful about what was happening. This was not how he'd planned on the evening going, although truth be told he had very little idea about how it would go. He had thought he'd be spending time with Buffy though, and the thought she'd invent some ridiculous name for him and then leave him to the mercy of an apparent nymphomaniac had never entered his head even once.

"Hey, you!" a deep voice yelled suddenly and Nancy jumped back from Spike as if she'd been scalded, "I'm talkin' to you, Bleach-Boy!" a very rough looking biker-type man complete with tattoos and various piercing shouted as he approached, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing with my girl!" he demanded and William wished the floor would just swallow him now and have done with it.

"I didn't mean to be doing anything" he said nervously, "She was... she seemed to want me to do... something, but I didn't and..."

"You expect me to believe she came onto you, you sod!" the biker said angrily.

William didn't know what to say, it seemed to him no matter what excuse he made he was about to get pummelled into the ground. It wasn't as if he'd never been beaten up before, the bullies at school and even University had given him more bruises than he'd care to count, but this was a big deal. If this guy decided to get physical, William knew he could end up dead.

"Look, the thing is..." he smiled as best he could, taking a couple of tentative steps forward until he was right in front of the man who was apparently Nancy's boyfriend. The larger man didn't notice how William had pulled a stool from the bar over with his foot. In one movement he reached down for the seat, swung it over his head and clocked the biker over the head with it. To William's shock and horror the large man fell to the floor, completely out cold.

"Butch!" Nancy cried, kneeling down beside her dazed boyfriend and William looked around frantically for Buffy. He needed to get out of here, before 'Butch' came to and decided to get some revenge.

"Where the bloody hell are you?" the bleached blond muttered to himself as he stood at the edge of all the writhing bodies that were apparently dancing. It was then he spotted Buffy, in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by four or five men who seemed to be taking turns at 'dancing' with her if it could be called that. It looked much more like simulated sex to William and he didn't like to see Buffy behave this way. She was better than this, but he didn't have time to think about it right now, he was on borrowed time.

"Buffy!" he called, pushing his way through the crowds to get to her.

"Hey, Spike" she grinned, liking the new name she'd given him, "You wanna dance now?"

"No" he said firmly, grabbing her wrist when her arm reached out to him, "We have to go"
"But I was just getting started" she complained, a very suggestive look on her face as she eyed her circle of admirers.

"Please, luv" Spike begged of her, "If we don't get out of here now I might very well be leaving in an ambulance... or a body bag" he said grimly as he pulled her off the dancefloor and she called to her group of 'friends' to call her anytime.

"What is going on?" she demanded to know as they got outside the front door and into the cool night air, "I was having a good time and you completely embarrassed me!" she said, quite angry about it by now.

"There was a bit of trouble" William admitted, walking away from the club at double speed.

"Trouble?" Buffy frowned as she hurried to keep up with him, "How'd you get into trouble?"

"The nympho-girl you left me with has a boyfriend" he snapped, "A bloke that's twice the size of me and fancied laying me out for touching his woman"

"Should we run faster?" she bit her lip trying not to laugh but William shook his head.

"I stalled him for while" he admitted, "I sort of hit him... around the head... with a bar-stool"

Buffy burst out laughing at that, finding the image in her head highly amusing. Still it was pretty cool that Spike had stood up for himself.

"So you didn't just stall him you kinda stooled him too?" she giggled and even Spike had to give in and laugh then.

"'S not bloody funny" he told her, desperately trying not to chuckle and finding it impossible to keep a straight face.

"Oh, it really is, Spike" she told him, grabbing onto his arm as doubling over with laughter almost sent her tumbling to the ground.

"That name going to stick now is it?" William asked her more seriously and Buffy looked up at him, suddenly finding she could push her laughter down to a mere smile.

"Yeah, I like Spike" she grinned, realising that it was a little less scary right now to have feelings for this guy, "So we headed back to the hotel?" she checked as they continued to walk arm in arm.

"I s'pose" Spike agreed, "I'm sorry I spoiled things"
"That's okay" Buffy shrugged, "We can still have fun tonight" she told him with a look in her eyes that Spike didn't need to see to know it was there.

As much as he liked her, he really didn't like the idea of her offering herself to him like she had with those men in the club. He wanted to treat her properly, with respect like she deserved, though it seemed she had no plans to make it easy for him.

To Be Continued...