Chapter Nine

Buffy and Joyce walked out the second Spike and Giles parted. Joyce's face was plain whereas Buffy had on more of a what-the-hell face. Spike cleared his throat, non-verbally telling his father they were no longer alone. He turned around and took at the sight of the two females of the house. "Oh… uh… hello."

"Way to be cogneito dad."

Joyce clasped her hands in front of her and walked into the living room with Buffy not far behind. "Well, it looks like this isn't gonna clear any time soon so how about we set up bedding arrangements for the two of you?"

"Oh that's not necessary Joyce. We can drive home."

"Nonsense. You wouldn't be able to see your cars from the porch let alone drive home. Stay here. One of you can have the couch, the other Buffy's room and we can share my bed."

"Uh mom, can I talk to you?"

"What is it?"

"Somewhere that's else?" Buffy grabbed her mom's arm and pulled her back into the kitchen. "My room? I don't think so. You or I can sleep in my room but not them."

"Why not?"

"You have any idea how creepy that is? The thoughts that'll come to my head as I lay there trying to sleep at night? I won't get any sleep and flunk out of school because I can only reach the wonderful place of slumber when sitting at a desk that's very much not my bed."

"Where will everyone sleep?"

"You can take your bed, I'll take mine and they can toss a coin between the basement and the couch."

"The basement?"

"Well we could bring the bed up here but it won't make it any more comfortable." Joyce rolled her eyes and walked away. "What?" Buffy asked.

"There's actually a cot downstairs that could be brought up here and that way you two will be in the same room," Joyce informed.

"That's great," Giles said with a smile. "Thank you."

"Uh, Buffy why don't you and Spike go get it." Buffy widened her eyes and opened her mouth. "Actually you should stay here and get some sheets for the couch. Spike, why don't you come with me?"

Giles motioned for Spike to follow. "I'm going," he whispered. Spike walked around Giles and gave a Buffy a quick glance before returning his gaze to Joyce's back.

Buffy looked at Giles and they shared a courteous smile before gazing at the floor. "So how has school been?" Giles asked her.

"Good. How's librarianing?"

"It's very good." Buffy nodded and looked away when more nodding would've been seen as eccentric. "How do you like the Health project? Spike doesn't particularly care for it."

"Him and everyone else in Mr. Daniels class."

"He says you're a good partner though."

"I highly doubt that."

"He does. I know he can seem a little offensive at times but he really does enjoy being your partner."

"Well, he's not so bad either." Again they shared a smile which ended up being directed back to the floor. "I'm gonna go get the sheets," she said, breaking the awkwardness. "Oh, and between you and me, I'd take the couch. It's not that the cot's uncomfortable it's just… not squishy." Buffy turned and headed up the stairs, a candle in hand.

Downstairs Joyce was tightly holding her flashlight, darting the light when she heard a noise. "Forgive me but I fulfill the stereotype of being afraid of mice." Spike had a silent laugh. Joyce shone the light on the cot which was sitting all by it's lonesome against the wall. "There we are." Spike moved to the front at the last second to take the manly initiative to actually carry the thing. "All right well, I suddenly see how hard this really is… um… Buffy? Are you up there?"

"She ran upstairs. Is there something I can help you with?" Giles walked to the stairs and stood in the doorway.

"Mom?" Buffy said as she ran to the basement. She did a slight jump seeing a figure, that wasn't her mom, standing by the door. "Hi Mr. Giles. Mom?" she called down the stairs.

"Yeah sweetie?" Joyce answered, enjoying the break from her current puzzler.

"I can't find the sheets."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I want to quit school and join the circus," Buffy quipped. Her mother rolled her eyes at her daughter's joke. "I mean they aren't in your bottom drawer."

"Well of course they're not. I moved them, remember?"

"Is it possible for me to remember if I was never told?"

"I told you two days ago when you were getting ready for school."

"Mom, I'm too busy in school preparation mode to hear anything else than the thoughts in my head." Buffy leaned against the wall and ran her right hand through her hair.

"You were nodding and saying 'yes.'"

"Oh right, now I remember," Buffy said, trying to cover up her pretending-to-listen tactic. "But where are they now again?" she asked like a little child.

Again with the motherly eye roll she walked upstairs and said to Buffy as she passed, "Will you help Spike with the bed please?" She handed Buffy the flashlight and proceeded to the second floor.

"I'll do it," Giles offered. He walked past Buffy and went to the opposite side of the bed. "Just direct us."

Buffy shone the flashlight closely to Spike's heels as he backed up towards the stairs. Thankfully they made it all the way up, with just a slight size to doorway ratio problem, and carried it into the living room.

Joyce was just making her way back down with two sets of sheets. She put one set on the cot and started putting some on the couch with the help of the kindly librarian.

Buffy walked over to the cot and started putting on the sheets. Spike grabbed the cover sheet and their hands touched. This time they lingered and stared at their hands but then Buffy pulled her hand away and brushed her hair behind her ears. She walked over to her mom and pulled her into the kitchen. "Why did you say I should go into the basement alone with Spike? Did you hear what I told?"

"I thought you might want to take that time to talk to him. However when you shot me the look of death I thought I should go downstairs with him."

"And then leave me down there with him in the end."

"If you would've listened to me before when I told you I moved the sheets you wouldn't have had to stay down there."

"Well yeah but… yeah," Buffy said in defeat. She put her hand to head and said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For acting like this. I'm just… I'm so confused and this has never happened to me before."

Joyce could see her daughter become increasingly so she placed her hand on her back in comfort. "What hasn't happened?"

"These feelings." She looked up at her mother as if there was a cure. Her eyes fell down to the floor as tears began to well in her eyes. Joyce wrapped her arms around her daughter's back to pull her close and then rested her right hand on the back of her head. Buffy put her arms around her mother's too so she would feel closer and hopeful safer. "I can't make it stop." Joyce rested her head on Buffy's and started to gently rub her back with her left hand. "I can't make it stop," she said as tears began to fall.

Joyce was now out of breath because she felt powerless against what was plaguing her daughter. "Buffy, I don't know if you've ever considered this but… sometimes when you can't get someone out of your head… it's because they should be there."

Buffy pursed her lips and took a breath.

"Do you have any- sorry," Spike said as he turned away.

Joyce let go of Buffy who cowered further into the darkness of the kitchen to wipe under her eyes. Joyce willingly took the hint and walked over, "No it's all right. Just a little mother/daughter talk. What did you want Spike?"

"I was just wondering if you had any extra pillows."

"Oh, of course. Uh, Buffy would you like to go get two pillows?"

"I'm on it," she said, finishing her damage control. She brushed her shirt and turned towards them but stayed as shadowed as she could. "I'll be right back."

Spike smiled to Joyce lad the way back into the living room. He stayed standing until Buffy came down with the pillows. She was now dressed in sushi pajama pants and a white tank top. "Here ya go." She placed one on each bed and stood by her mom.

"Well, I hope you sleep well and remember that the bathroom is up the stairs, take a left and it's the first on the left."

"Thank you Joyce."

"Thanks," Spike said, directing it to Mrs. Summers but then looking at Buffy. She looked at him with a smile and then turned it to his dad, signifying that it wasn't a special gaze.

"Good night."

"Good night," Buffy reciprocated.

"G'night," Giles and Spike replied.

Buffy and her mother walked up the stairs. "Hey." Joyce took her daughter in her arms again. "I love you."

"I love you too," Buffy said as she hugged her mother back. One more kiss to her forehead and Buffy went to her room.

A couple hours later the rain began to slow and was almost silent. Buffy gritted her teeth from all her tossing and turning. She looked down at he floor where Melanie was resting in her carrier then rolled her eyes and returned to her back. She sat up when she heard someone flick the bathroom switch and saw a light gleaming from under her door. Electricty's back on. She clicked on her lamp to check that she wasn't hallucinating and it filled the room with purple light because of her lampshade. She flipped over her covers and quietly walked to her door. She barely opened it so she could peak into the hallway. The door was shut of course so she didn't know who was in it. Because of her concentrated stare on the door she didn't' realize a figure was approaching her.

"Buffy?"

Luckily she only breathed in shock instead of screaming and drawing the attention of whoever was in the bathroom. "Spike? What the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doin'? You're the one peakin' through her door in the middle of the night."

"Yes, but it's my door. I can peak if I want to."

"Right," Spike said with a nod. He heard the sink water stop running and started walking towards the door but Buffy grabbed him and pulled him in her room.

"Bloody hell Summers."

"Sshhhh!" She held her hand up and waited to hear the footsteps either go downstairs or be lead by a door shutting. The steps went down the stairs, leaving Buffy to feel free with talk. "Okay, we need to stop this. Well, mostly me but you're in no way excluded."

"What?"

"We need to stop acting like we don't want to be together. I know it's mostly me but…" Spike looked at her with confusion which she took in when she finally faced him. "I'm sorry about everything. You're right. I do like you. But you gotta admit that one, it's totally weird and two, we don't exactly run in the same circles."

Spike allowed a pause but he had to answer truthfully, "Admitted."

"But I decided that I don't care. I've been having these feelings and they won't go away even though I want them to."

Spike hung his head. "I know what you mean."

Buffy walked towards him and put her hands on his cheeks. After he looked at her lips and back to her eyes, she took that as a go ahead to move in. She shoved their lips together and Spike bent his arms behind her back and rested them on her shoulder blades. Their tongues intermingled and swirled around each other and were only given breaks when they had to breathe. After a couple minutes of pure make out session they parted.

"Can't complain," Spike said.

Buffy laughed in response. "Neither can I."

"Spike?" Giles asked.

Buffy and Spike quickly released each other and started fumbling for some sort of reason why he would be in her room, late at night, with the door shut. One that wasn't the truth. She quickly settled on the doll and gestured for him to come over to her. "I just don't get it," she said. "What do you think?"

There was a light knock on her door and Spike nodded to tell her it was okay. Buffy walked over and opened it. "Oh, hi Mr. Giles. Did she wake you?"

Giles looked in and saw Spike sitting in her wicker chair that was in the corner and he was holding the doll. "No, not at all. I just saw Spike wasn't in bed and I was wondering where he was."

"Well the doll had cried, which made him come up here and we were just wondering why. They never cry after eleven and I didn't know what was going on."

Giles nodded, not sure whether to buy it or not. "Right."

"Well, she's stopped now." He placed her back in her carrier and walked to the door. "Come get me if it happens again."

"Okay."

Spike nodded and walked down the stairs. Giles gave Buffy a smile and said, "So sorry. Good night." He put his hand on her doorknob and pulled her door shut.

The next morning Buffy came down the stairs dressed in dark jeans and a red top with black paint thrown on it. She rounded the banister and went straight towards the kitchen where Giles and Spike, now dressed in their clothes from yesterday, waited for her mother to finish breakfast. Giles was drinking some coffee and reading the paper as Spike stared at the pancakes her mother was cooking. "Good morning everyone."

"Good morning Buffy," Joyce said with a smile.

Buffy kissed her on the cheek. "Ooo, pancakes. What's the occasion?

"I don't want them to think you eat only sugar based cereal in the morning."

"Hey, we have Kix. They're kid tested and mother approved. Says so on the box."

"Then you could not eat pancakes."

"Kix mean nothing to me," Buffy said. She grabbed four plates and forks from the cabinet and placed them in front of each possible seating/standing spot.

Thankfully it only took a couple seconds for Joyce to turn off the stove and place the pile of pancakes in front of everyone. "Here you go." Joyce grabbed the syrup and everyone helped themselves to the warm, fluffy batter that started their day with yumminess.

Every last crumb was gone from the plate and everyone was set to start their day. "I should head out and get to the library and you shouldn't be too far behind me," Giles directed to his son.

"Can still tell time Dad."

"I'm just reminding you. Thank you again Joyce for letting us stay here and for feeding us a delicious breakfast. And thank you Buffy as well for letting us stay here."

"You're welcome, although I hope we don't have to do it again."

"Agreed." He left the kitchen and then was out the door.

"Buffy why don't you grab your bag and your daughter and I'll drive you to school."

"I can take her," Spike offered. "I mean I'm already headin' there."

Joyce looked at Buffy for conformation that that was okay with her. "All right. I'll grab my stuff." She ran upstairs, snagged her backpack and doll and came back downstairs.

"Thanks again Mrs. Summers," Spike called into the kitchen.

"You're welcome Spike."

"Bye mom, I love you!" Buffy shut the door behind her and got into the car. She leaned over and secured Melanie in the backseat and then strapped herself in. Spike turned on the car and started driving towards the school

"So what are we gonna do?" Buffy asked.

"'Bout what?"

"School. When we get there are we gonna act like we always do or hold hands?"

"We can hold hands?"

Buffy gave him a loving push with a smile. "Shut up." They pulled into school without having settled the question of how they should act. Buffy just went with normal. The normal everyone else knew. She removed Melanie from the backseat and started carrying her in. Spike walked over to her and took Melanie from her hand. He put the carrier in his right hand and held out his left. Buffy smiled and gladly held it.

"Encounter number one," Buffy said as they walked towards Willow and Xander. They looked at them with wide eyes and stares toward their clenched hands. "Hey guys."

"Hey Buffy," Willow answered, not sure if she should acknowledge Spike.

"Buffy. Spike," Xander said. "So what's goin' on with you two? You together?"

"Kinda," Buffy answered.

Xander nodded. "All right then. Did you get that math homework done by any chance?"

"Since when would I have it done?"

"I was hoping you already asked to copy Willow's."

"You two are so predictable," Willow said.

"But isn't that a good thing? There's little room for surprises. Although they do pop up every now and then." Xander looked and Buffy and Spike to prove his point. "So can I borrow it?"

"Of course." Willow and Xander headed off down the hall.

"And encounter number two," Spike said as his usual click walked over.

"Whoah Spike what's this? You decide to take the frost queen out for a little warming up?" one of them cracked. The rest began to laugh.

Spike looked at the jokester and said, "Shut up Greg. I get that this may be a bit of a shock to you but women are capable of kissing you and wanting to hang out with you, they just choose not to. Might wanna work on that mate. 'Cause it's pretty damn neat." Greg looked at Spike puzzled and walked away with the rest of the group.

"You are pretty darn amazing."

"Yeah, I do that a lot. Just a heads up."

"Ya know, I think I left something in your car. By any chance would ya like to join me?"

Spike smiled at her and asked, "And what will we do in my car?"

"You're a fairly smart boy. Figure it out." Buffy smiled promiscuously at him and started backing up.

"First, Melanie is visiting her grandfather. She's too young to see that." He kissed her deeply and snagged the carrier from her. He dropped it off in two seconds, ran back out and pulled Buffy out to the parking lot.

Author's Note: That's it! We're done! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and thanks everyone for your reviews!