"I think there should be an amount of...we should all agree!" Giles announced.

"Not necessarily. Certian scenarios prove that agreeing just...messes stuff up." Anya commented.

"Ok, can we all just calm down. Look at this objectively. A vote."

Buffy yawned.

"Oh, it's ok, you carry on!" She told them, sinking further back into her chair.

"I say hot chocolate." Willow added, before turning to Buffy. "What's up?"

"Xander said...oh, it doesn't matter. Has Spike been here?"

"Uh...yeah...Xander threw him out. He was messing around, y'know."

"Is that why you're all Sigh Girl while Xander discusses the pros and cons of hot chocolate?" Willow said. "Because he threw Spike out?"

"I'm all 'Sigh Girl' 'cause I wanted to kick his ass!" Buffy said, a bit too emphatically. "I'm sorry, Will." She added in a quieter voice.

"It's fine." Willow sighed, turning back to the discussion.

"Could someone get me...the spears from the basement? They need cataloguing." Giles asked, sitting down and straightening the pile of forms at the table.

Buffy got up and went downstairs. It was dark, and colder than outside the shop.

"Spears, spears, spears. Where are the-"

"Which ones? With a skull-mojo thing on the handle, or with Made Definitely not in China on the back?"

"Spike." Buffy said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

"Buffy." He said. Even though she wasn't facing him, she knew he was smiling. "You've changed. Showered."

"Ok, it's just plain creepy the way you know that." She smiled, turning to face him. He threw the spears on a nearby table. Buffy noticed he had re-done his hair, probably washed it.

"How are you,pet?" He asked moving towards her.

"I'm good. Curious, happy, bored, all in one." She told him. "So...Yeah. Good."

Spike drew her to him, holding her close.

"Could get used to this, luv." He murmured, drinking in her scent.

"Mmm..." She sighed happily. Spike stroked her hair.

"Got to get back upstairs." Buffy protested feebly. "Giles needs to catalogue the spears."

"Old Watcher can shove the spears somewhere painful." Spike said with a growl.

"Uh-huh." Buffy looked up at him, and they kissed compatibly.

"Got to go..." Buffy said, straightening herself. Then she remembered. "Xander said...that you said you owed me something."

"Owed you something..." Spike repeated mysteriously.

"Spike!"

"Ok. I wasn't gonna-I was goin' to-" Spike paused to gather his words. "Oh, just take it."

He took a small box from his pocket and gave it to her. Buffy turned it over in her hands wordlessly.

"It's-"

"It's inside the box, luv." Spike informed her, and she elbowed him with a laugh.

"I know that."

Buffy moved backwards and sat down on the table, still turning the box in her hands. Spike sat next to her.

She held her breath and lifted the lid on the box.

It was a locket. Small and delicately heart-shaped. She opened it gently. Where there usually would have been a picture, there was a small ingraving instead:

Can't escape my love, pet. No matter how hard you try, you can't.

"I was drunk. Few months back, before...Anyway, I thought I'd buy you somethin', leave it on the doorstep so you'd find it. The guy at the engravers took down exactly what I said. You can put a picture in the other side, or over the top of that, if you want-"

Spike's words were cut off when Buffy turned and kissed him...