Chapter 37

"Good morning, honey. How do you feel today?" Joyce asked Buffy when she came downstairs.

"I'm fine, just like I have been for the last three weeks since I got back from the hospital. Now, could you try and tell him that?" Joyce smiled and shook her head.

"Having problems?" Buffy sighed and sat down at the counter.

"I love Spike to death, but I'm going to kill him. He's driving me insane. He wants to come with me everywhere; you don't know how hard it was to talk him into not coming to school with me. Hey, this isn't funny." Buffy said when she saw her mother laughing. "I'm serious here, mom. He talked about dropping out of college, so he could go to school with me full time." Buffy pouted and then looked at the clock on the microwave. "He should be here in about 5, 4, 3, 2…" She pointed to the back door and Spike then came strolling into the house. He smiled at them and Buffy glared at her once again laughing mother. "Yeah, I'm sure you're just loving this." Spike didn't know what they were talking about and just walked over to Buffy, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Morning, what's for breakfast?" He said and was confused when Buffy dropped her head onto the counter. She was mumbling something that he couldn't make out and he looked at Joyce. "Was it something I said?" She only smiled and went back to the pancakes that she was making.

"I've got it all worked out, love." Spike said as he followed Buffy into her room. "I can join you at school in the morning because I don't have classes until the afternoon. Then I can go to my classes and still make it back to your school before you get out." He started talking about what else he could do and Buffy just about had enough. She threw her hands up in the air.

"Spike, you really have to stop this. I love you, but you're giving me a migraine." She said as she sat down on her bed, rubbing her head in the process. Spike was concerned and sat down next to her.

"Your head hurts? Do you need some aspirin?" Buffy groaned and looked back at him.

"I don't need aspirin. I need you to leave me alone." Spike was hurt now and Buffy felt guilty when she saw the look on his face. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I just mean that all of this is too much. I love that you always want to be with me, but it's just not possible. I'm a big girl, Spike. I can take care of myself, been doing it way before you came into my life. I'm grateful for everything that you've done for me, but you need to give me some space here. You can't go with me to school. How would that look? My reputation is already bad enough as it is." Spike looked away from her and Buffy grabbed his hand. "I'm not trying to hurt you, sweetie. You have to realize that following me around everywhere is a little crazy. Hey, look at me." He finally raised his eyes to hers and she caressed his cheek. "I'm right here, Spike. I promise I'm not going away anytime soon. I'm not going to disappear just because you're not around. I'll always be here, okay?" She finished and Spike took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I know that. I just worry about you." Buffy nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I like that you worry, you just need to not worry so much." Spike agreed and then smiled when he thought about the way he has been acting the last few weeks.

"I guess I did get a little crazy." Buffy laughed and rolled her eyes.

"A little crazy? You've been coming over every morning to make sure that I got out of bed okay, then you picked out the clothes for me to wear that day. I would say that's more than a little crazy." Spike shrugged and didn't realize he was that bad.

"I just didn't want you to wear anything too revealing. That could lead to trouble." He told her and Buffy raised her eyebrows.

"You have seen my closet, right? I have clothes that nuns could wear. There's hardly anything revealing. You wanna find something slutty, look in Harmony's closet. I only wore that outfit that she loaned me once. I gave it right back and I'm never touching her clothes again." Spike smiled and put his arm around her.

"It did look pretty good on you, but you could wear a garbage bag and still be the most gorgeous woman ever." Buffy blushed at his comment and Spike loved that he still had that effect on her. "Well, I best be off now." He stated as he stood up.

"You're leaving already?" She said and Spike smiled at her.

"I wouldn't want to crowd you. I might see you later today, or maybe I won't. I happen to be pretty busy." He told her with a wink before leaving her room. She glared at his back and then a smile formed on her face. He was truly evil sometimes.

Buffy was moping downstairs later that day. She was bored out of her mind. "I didn't think he would actually take me this seriously. I just didn't want him to come to school with me. He could have stayed here a little longer." Dawn rolled her eyes and was trying to watch a movie, but Buffy's sulking was starting to get to her.

"You could just go next door." She said and her gaze didn't even leave the television.

"Right, I'm so not giving in. He'll be back eventually." She tried to convince herself and Dawn nodded as she continued to watch the movie. Buffy couldn't get into it and she had enough about an hour later. "This is ridiculous. I'm just gonna go over there." She said as she stood up and headed to the front door. She opened it and found Spike on the other side. He gave her a smile.

"You wanna get out of the house for a bit?" He asked her and she smiled back at him.

"God, yes." She said as she grabbed her jacket and walked out of the house with him. Dawn rolled her eyes again as she watched her sister walk away with her boyfriend.

"I must be the only normal one in this family." She said to herself as she went back to her movie, happy to finally have some alone time.