A/N : I really should've written and posted the next chapter of On The Other Side, before I wrote/posted this, but you guys all reviewed so much, and were so eager to read the next chapter, plus I really wanted to get some Spuffy going on here! Here's hoping my efforts paid off and that all you rockin' readers and reviewers like my latest chapter!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

When Buffy opened her eyes she vaguely remembered a beautiful dream, another of those pretty fantasies where she'd found Spike again. Just walked into a room and there he was, all ready to sweep her off her feet and... Buffy's train of thought stopped for a moment when she shifted her body and realised it was not her nice comfy bed or even the couch beneath her, but something solid and wooden, like a table maybe?

"What the...?" she said absently as she opened her eyes and attempted to get herself into a sitting position. A strong hand on her arm and another on her back helped her with her task and as the swimming in her head calmed and her eyes refocused she realised that dream she'd been having might not have been in her subconscious after all.

"Am I dreaming?" she checked, blinking overly much.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, pet" Spike smiled slightly, "Was just wondering the same thing, right before you passed out into my arms"

"How did...? What is...?" these and a million other words and fractured questions sped round Buffy's brain fast enough to make her dizzy all over again. No sentence seemed to be able to make it all the way out of her mouth in the right order at all.

"Er, luv" Spike got her attention a she glanced away, "You got to help me out here, are you just as confused and stunned as I am, or is the blacking out a factor? I mean, should I call a doctor or something?"

"No, no, no doctor" Buffy shook her head gentle, mindful of her delicate head, "I'm fine I guess it's just the b... big shock" she covered when she realised what she'd been about to say - Baby.

"Say that again, luv" Spike nodded, "Gotta say you were the last person I expected to see here, anywhere in fact" he told her, sitting down on the chair by the desk he'd put her on, "Buffy I... I honestly don't know what to say, despite the fact I've had this scene go round in my head at least once a day since..."

"Me too" she admitted without thinking as their eyes met and Buffy was suddenly very self conscious about how she looked and the fact she was half sitting-half laying on a desk, "Um, you think maybe I could have a chair instead of being up here?" she asked with a nervous laugh and Spike almost physically hit himself in the forehead for being such an idiot. He dragged a seat over near to his as Buffy got down from the desk and sat beside him. Silence reigned for several moments and then when they finally did speak it was both at once.

"I'm sorry, ladies first" Spike told her chivalrously.

"No really, you go" Buffy urged him. She hadn't really known what she was going to say anyway and had simply hoped that after the first couple of words the rest would just come to her, which it really hadn't.

"Just wanted you to know" Spike told her, glancing down at his hands and then back up at her face, "I don't make a habit of going on my holidays, shagging the nearest bird and then flying off into the sunset" he assured her.

"Not really my thing to go sleeping with random guys I meet in bars either" she replied in kind, "I mean, I wouldn't want you to think I was some kind of whore cos I'm really not I..."

"I never thought that" he said quickly, his hand landing on hers where it lay in her lap.

She nodded dumbly that she understood, no words coming to mind as their eyes met once again, and she realised with a slight smile that her memory of his eyes was not the least contrived. They really were that beautiful blue that the sky sometimes turned on a really good day, and she knew if she looked too long she'd start drowning again, just as she had the night he'd made love to her.

"Er, I had no idea you were an English teacher" she said, feeling her cheeks burn as images of that fateful night ran through her mind, "but then I guess we didn't exactly talk much..." she trailed off, looking down at her hands, infinitely grateful that he'd let up his hold on one of them. His fingers wrapped around hers only served to remind her in vivid detail where else his hands had touched her, how wonderful he'd made her feel.

"...but yeah, I enjoy it and it pays well enough" she heard him say as she tuned back in to his voice, "I hazard a guess you were interested in joining the class then, since you seemed to have no idea I was teaching it"

"Yeah" Buffy nodded, "It was my Dad's idea that I take some classes and I always liked English. It would've been my major in college, if I'd actually gotten a chance to go but..." she was about to mention Michael when she realised Spike knew nothing of her child, or even her marriage. In fact as she thought back she noted, he didn't even know her last name, and that scared her to death. Whilst she and Spike knew each other's bodies in intimate detail, they knew practically nothing of value, no details of their lives or families or anything.

"Life doesn't always go like you planned" Spike smiled, his double meaning not lost on Buffy.

"It doesn't" she agreed, "Kinda wacky how I found you here like this, I never thought I'd see you again"

"Same here, pet" Spike admitted, "'Specially since you had me believin' Sunnyhell was home"

"Sunnydale is home" Buffy frowned, "Or was at least. I lived there all my life until a month ago, everything's been a little crazy the last few weeks"

"Don't s'pose you chose England to run too cos you thought..." he started, stopping again and smiling wryly, "Don't be stupid, Spike, that'd be really idiotic" he told himself, looking away.

"If I thought it'd be this simple to find you I might've come sooner" Buffy admitted, unsure as to whether she should have said the words within seconds of them leaving her lips, "You've been on my mind kind of a lot" she told him, though she could feel her cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. To think of him was to think of what they did and that was something a little awkward to confess.

"Made my vacation special, that's for sure" Spike told her with a smile, "Never gonna forget that"

"Me either" Buffy replied, eyes down and finding the whole situation much more uncomfortable than she thought it'd be. In her head, her reunion with Spike, should it ever occur, was to be all romantic and sexy. In reality it was just embarrassing and kinda weird.

"Um, are you feeling okay now, luv?" Spike checked, "I mean, I know you had a shock but you were out for a couple of minutes"

"It's fine, really" Buffy answered quickly, "I just... I guess I'm just one of those people that passes out a lot" she laughed nervously, "Slightest stress or surprise and there I am, flat on my back again... not in that way obviously, I... oh, bad, bad Buffy" she cursed herself, hiding her face in her hands.

"Believe me, pet, reckon we both got the same mental imagery" he smirked, "Y'know I'll bet I spent half the time since I met you thinkin' about seein' you again" he admitted, "Now you're sittin' right there and, rehearsals be damned, I can't think of a damn thing to say to you"

"I know how you feel" Buffy sighed, meaning that sincerely, "I guess it was just kind of a daydream before. I never thought I'd really walk into a room and there you'd be" she shook her head, still wondering vaguely if she wasn't going to wake up in her bed in just a minute, this having all been another fantasy, although she doubted it could be since he hadn't kissed her yet.

Looking down at her hands in her lap, she noticed her watch on her wrist. She'd been in this room half an hour, so Mickey Mouse was telling her from the face of her watch. She smiled as she recalled buying it, Michael convincing her it was the best one in the whole store, despite rows of gold and silver having caught her eye before. Still, she'd bought the one he'd chosen and she loved to wear it everyday. As she glanced back up and found Spike still looking at her she almost physically winced.

He didn't know she had a son, and though she'd left Angel she technically still had a husband too. She'd been not-so-happily married and with a family and yet she'd fallen into his bed all too easily. She couldn't tell him that, couldn't let Spike know she was that kind of woman, not that she was, she'd never done anything like this before but, there was no way for him to know that for sure.

"Somethin' wrong, luv?" he asked her, and Buffy realised her worry must have shown on her face.

"Er, yeah, no, I just..." she rambled a little as she got to her feet, her beautiful fantasy ideas giving way to serious thoughts of how she'd never be able to really make a life or anything substantial with this guy. She was having his baby and yet she knew almost nothing about him, she had to be insane.

"I have to go" Buffy said quickly as she made of the door, internally cursing herself for being such a fool, for having all those pretty dreams of love and passion and happy-ever-after endings. Life wasn't like that, she knew from past experience, what seemed good turned bad, especially when things got serious and complicated, where marriages and babies were involved.

"But I will see you again?" Spike said hopefully, "Waited so long, pet" he told her, "Can hardly believe you walked through that door but you did and... I got a chance to know you better now, and I wanna do that"

"Why?" Buffy asked too softly as he moved towards her and stood by her at the door.

"Because... because I can't get you out of my head" Spike told her honestly, "Because that one night with you doesn't compare to anything I ever had with anyone else"

"You can't base a friendship, a relationship, anything on one night" she said bitterly, having just realised it herself and hating that she had, "I have a life, one that you don't know anything about" she told him, feeling almost tearful about it, but then she guessed that was her hormones getting all out of whack because of the baby.

"And so do I, but that doesn't mean we can't get to know each other" Spike said almost desperately, trying to make her see what he was feeling. He'd love to show her but there were rules here. That night in that club in America, and then in the hotel, it was just the two of them, both a little lost and a little drunk and just needing something that they found in each other. Here he was a teacher, she was a potential student and he'd got her backed up against the door looking like a frightened rabbit. As much as he wished today had gone differently, he couldn't make her want him and he wouldn't try, not this way.

"I really have to go" Buffy told him, shifting uncomfortably and turning to get the door open. Spike moved away from her to make the task easier, unable to watch as she walked out of the room. He hadn't seen her go last time, had no chance to stop her. This time he did and of all the stupid things he was too bloody scared to try. He didn't know this woman, not in a real sense. He didn't know how she'd react to anything he did, and because of that he was going to lose her from his life all over again. Spike wasn't sure he could let that happen.

On the other side of the door, Buffy leant against the wall, breathing deeply to try and calm herself. The close proximity of Spike's body to hers had done nothing for her concentration, and in the end she just had to get out. She'd been insane to think it would be perfect, so much the romantic novel if they ever met again. That was for books and movies only, but then when he'd made love to her that night she'd felt like she was in one of those stories, it'd been so intensely perfect. Now she was walking out on the only man that had ever made her feel such wonderful things, and she wasn't sure if she could actually do it.

With a sigh Buffy turned back to the door and knocked, it opened immediately and she guessed he'd been standing right there on the other side, maybe waiting for her to come back. Neither was sure who moved first as their arms went around each other and they kissed with some considerable passion, Spike being sure to get them both through the door and close it fast before anybody saw them.

Back against the door, being kissed almost senseless, Buffy couldn't believe this was happening, but this was no daydream, not anymore, they never felt this good. Memory and imagination alone could not do justice to the way Spike could make her feel, and they'd barely even begun. Buffy also knew they had to stop before they went too far again, but it took all her strength to tell him so.

"Spike" she gasped, making a half-hearted attempt to push him away, "Really, we can't" she told him, though as soon as he stopped kissing her she pulled him right back to her for more. It was crazy but she couldn't help herself, she'd waited too long to feel this way again, and it almost scared her to death how just his lips on hers and his hands through her clothing could make her feel ten times more than she'd ever felt making love with Angel.

Thoughts of her husband pulled her up sharply and this time she meant it when she told Spike they had to stop.

"This is insane" she said, breathing heavily when they finally let each other go.

Buffy walked a few steps past him and further into the room. If she didn't put some distance between them they weren't going to get anywhere, or rather more accurately they'd get somewhere they shouldn't go right now.

"I dunno what it is, pet" Spike told her, though she couldn't look at him yet, "Just know I never felt anything like it... You mean something to me Buffy, somehow you got under my skin and..."

"And I shouldn't have" she said with a shake of her head, "Spike, do you not get how wrong all this is?" she asked, finally sparing him a glance.

"Well, 's not exactly the conventional way to date a woman" he smirked, "But I don't see the big wrong aspect here, I mean it's not like we're cheating on anyone, is it?" he checked, head tilted as he stared at her.

Buffy stared back, swallowing hard and feeling terribly sick now. She had cheated, on Angel, and in a sense she still was since her marriage wasn't legally over. She also had a child to consider and another that grew inside her. How the hell she was supposed to tell Spike all that, a man that in real terms she barely knew. Buffy quite honestly had no idea where to begin.

"I was right before" she said suddenly making for the door at speed, "I have to go" she told him as she made to walk out a second time, with no intent of coming straight back in on this occasion.

"Buffy!" Spike called after her, "I will see you again, right?" he checked as she turned back at the door.

"I... I don't know" she said looking pained, "I really don't think I'll be taking this class now" she admitted, shaking her head, a small laugh escaping her lips, "You wouldn't be great for the concentration"

Spike wasn't quite sure whether that was a back-handed compliment or something else, but he'd take what he could get right now.

"Wait a second" he said, realising she really was going this time, he hurried over to the door, "At least tell me your last name, pet, I ought to know that, considering"

She hesitated a moment and then she answered.

"Summers" she told him, "My name is Buffy Summers"

It wasn't strictly true of course, her last name was still O'Reilly and even if she went back to her unmarried name she ought to be Giles now, but her young carefree self was Buffy Summers and that's what she told Spike.

"Summers, eh?" he smirked as he looked at her, "Suits you, luv"

With a half-smile she turned away then and he watched her back as she walked down the corridor and out of the front doors, praying to any power that'd listen, that he would see Buffy Summers again soon.

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : This is the last new chapter of this before Christmas, since I have a couple of short pieces I want to write for the holiday season.