Disclaimers: All the characters in this story belong to Joss Whedon.

Chapter 20: Hallow's eve

The next few days were morbid at the school. Everyone was still reeling after the death of Mike. The students held a memorial for him and lay flowers at one of the benches. It was now the end of the school week and Buffy had a free period. Giles always insisted that every time that she had a free period that she should come and train at the library, because no one really came there anyway. So there she was, training...more like reading. After the harvest Giles wanted to get all the information that they could on The Master. Past feeding patterns and most of all what he was planning on doing next, which would be harder than it seemed. Buffy let out a long, irritated sigh.

"I don't see the point in this, we're not getting anywhere and I could be getting my costume ready for tonight but nooooooooooo I'm stuck here researching," she groaned out.

The watcher looked up from his book and frowned at the blonde.

"Buffy, we must learn all we can about The Master, how else are you planning on defeating him?" Giles questioned

She visibly paused for a minute or two.

"Well, I was planning on planting a bag of blood and putting special vampire poison into it...Giles chill, I don't think his wrinkly ass will be planning ANYTHING just yet, now can I please go home?"

Buffy pouted and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine, fine..."

She smiled widely and hopped out of her chair. She waved goodbye to him and walked out.

Spike stood outside the bronze, smoking his cigarette. He was dressed in navy blue denim jeans, his doc martins, a black t-shirt and over that he had a biker waist coat. He threw the stub to the floor and crushed it under his boot. Tonight was the bronze's Halloween party and the costumes varied from Luke Skywalker to Jackie Chan. Classic Halloween songs were playing and Oz had told him that Dingoes ate my baby were playing tonight. He had his drink and was about to go sit down when Cordelia, in a stripper's outfit came up to him.

"Hey Spike," she piped, fluttering her lashes at him

He looked her up and down, letting his eyes roam over her. She was definitely good looking and had a good body but she just wasn't his type. In fact he didn't know what his type was any more. He was still getting over Drusilla and a pang of hurt struck him like a knife to the heart every time he saw her but that was gradually fading.

"Cordelia," he replied, cooly

It was her turn to look him up and down and boy did he look hot, not her type but still hot. The only reason she was doing this was because one; Buffy had just walked in with the freak squad and two; she had a sneaking suspicion that little, geeky Buffy had the hots for Spike. She furrowed her brow slightly at his costume and pointed a slender finger at him.

"What are you dressed as? Coz from where I'm standing I haven't got a clue,"

"I'm a demon hunter is what I am," he informed the brunette with a smile.

Cordelia started laughing the instant Buffy looked over to make it look like she was laughing at something he had said. The blonde gritted her teeth and sat down with a thump. Spike looked at Cordelia, perplexed. He raised a brow at her and she stopped laughing, slowly.

"So...you wanna dance?

"I'm not really one for dancing pet..." he said with a slight groan

Cordelia got even closer to him, pressing her body against his. He gulped and she smiled sweetly. She ran a finger down his chest and then looked him in the eye.

"One dance never killed anyone," she whispered

He huffed in defeat and let himself be led off by the brunette. As they walked off, Cordelia flashed an evil grin over to Buffy. The blonde scowled back at her. The pair began to dance. He just moved his feet on the spot, well that was what he called dancing, whilst Cordelia wiggled her hips and hands and grinded herself against his groin. Spike rolled his eyes as the dance went on and got more heated. He really didn't want to dance with her.

Sat at the table with her friends the slayer was watching them intently, still scowling. Staring. If looks could kill then her look would of done exactly that. They had been joined by Oz, who was dressed in his normal clothes, with a sticker on his shirt saying 'God'. Everyone greeted him as he took a seat next to Willow and Xander. Willow was dressed as a tree nymph and Xander was dressed as a rock star. Buffy had gone for a completely different idea. She was going to dress up as a rock star also but she quickly dismissed that. She decided to go with the sexy librarian look. Pencil skirt with matching jacket, white blouse and a pair patent leather heels. Her hair was swept back into a bun and she had her glasses on to complete the look. Buffy had also to put on some make-up. Brown/Beige eye-shadow, slight bit of blusher and red lip-gloss. She played with the straw in her drink, absent-mindedly as she watched on. Xander caught her looking miserably at the dance floor. He nudged her, causing her to rip her eyes away from the dancing couple.

"What's with the glum look Buff?"

"Yeah Buffy, you've been acting strange ever since we got here," Willow added

"Huh? Oh it's nothing (looks at her friends, looking unconvinced) really guys I'm good,"

She glanced back at Spike and Cordelia and sighed.

"Ok, if you say you're ok...," Xander said

Buffy still looked upset and the gang looked on at her, concerned.

The music had now stopped and Cordelia kissed Spike on the cheek and went off to her friends, leaving him standing in the middle of the dance floor. He stood there for a minute looking and feeling like a gooseberry but then made a hasty retreat to the bar. Buffy had already made the order for her friends and was waiting patiently as he came up beside her. He inhaled sharply as he took in the sight of her. He gulped hard and tried to tear his eyes away but found that he couldn't. Oh come on man! Get a grip! He thought. The barman took his order, Buffy started to look upset again as that cow and Spike dancing ran through her head. Spike cleared his throat and she looked at him, glumly. He was baffled by this but then for no reason her look changed. She was now smiling at him widely. Man did she have a beautiful smile. It was covering up how she was really feeling.

"I like your outfit," he said causally

"I'd say I like your but I don't know what you're meant to be," she replied

"Demon hunter,"

"Oh," she said, absent-mindedly

He felt like he was in a bit of a pickle. For some unknown reason an awkward silence had fell between them. Buffy bit her lip and looked pensive. She had been doing a lot of that recently.

"Is Cordelia the kind of girl you prefer?" she said suddenly

Spike looked at her and then let out a small laugh.

"No, she isn't my type love,"

He raised a brow at the blonde as if to hint at her but she seemed to take no notice. She had a kind of look that was between confused and happy spread across her face but then she furrowed her brows as she realised that ok, Cordelia wasn't his type but his type had to be popular and gorgeous and she was neither one.

"Is she not?...I mean I thought your type was popular, pretty and had to look good on the arm,"

He let out yet another laugh and shook his head at her.

"I don't really give a damn about looks, it's brains and personality that matter to me and if the girl I like just so happens to be blonde, pretty and have a smashin' personality, well lucky me...looks are just a bonus Buffy," he whispered the last bit and she looked even more confused now.

The barman came over with a tray of drinks for her and his glass of coke. They both payed him and he gave Buffy a sparkling smile, which caused Spike to feel a slight need to punch his lights out. She picked up the tray and he was about to say something but she stopped him.

"I can't, gotta get these back to the gang,"

Spike watched her walk back to her friends and he began to mutter something to himself.

"No I don't like her, I can't, she's a bloody geek!"

but a hot geek he thought. He growled in annoyance. He had to stop thinking about her in that way.

A slim blonde walked into the bronze. She was wearing a black, long-sleeved dress, a pointy witches hat and had a pair of fish net tights on, accompanied by a pair of black boots. As soon as Spike spotted her he went straight over.

The blonde smiled widely at him and embraced him in a short hug.

"H-hey Will,"

Spike rolled his eyes at her.

"How many times, it's Spike now...anyways what you doing here, Glinda?" he raised a brow at her costume.

Tara looked herself up and down and smiled awkwardly.

"W-Well I heard at c-college that there was going to b-be a party, so I decided t-to come," she stuttered out

Cordelia waved at him and he rolled his eyes and reluctantly waved back.

"Is that your g-girlfriend?" she giggled out

Spike looked at her with horror printed across his face.

"I just danced with that chit once and now she thinks were like, inseparable,"

"Oh right...so w-were are your friends? And were is this slayer of d-dad's? Unless s-she isn't in this town,"

Great now she was going on about the slayer. That was all he needed when he was trying to forget about the chit. He spotted Oz over at the table with Willow and the rest of the gang, including Buffy. So he led Tara over to the table and was greeted by a lot of confused faces. Xander smirked at Spike and Spike put a finger up to him, which made his smirk disappear. Tara looked at Willow and smiled shyly.

"So Spike, who's ya date?" Xander inquired

Buffy now had gone back to her glum look that she had on before. Ok this was the blonde he was going on about before, darn it Buffy thought. Spike clenched his jaw.

"She's my sister, you nit!" he barked

All eyes grew wide in shock. All except Buffy's because she already knew that he had a sister, just didn't know what she looked like. Oz was the first to greet her. He stood up and shook her hand.

"I'm Oz, nice to meet you,"

"T-tara," she replied

She was greeted with a mixtures of nice to meet you and hello's. When Buffy greeted her Tara knew that something was up with her even though she hardly knew her. Also, she sensed power, so she guessed that she was the slayer. A bit small and fragile looking, yes but she was the slayer no mistake about that. The bleach blonde looked over at Buffy and smiled at her, she smiled back.

Throughout the night, Xander caught glimpses of Spike looking at Buffy. At first he couldn't figure out why he was staring at her. He even checked to see if she had anything on her like a bug or something, which caused him to be on the receiving end of frowns off the gang, including Spike. The dark haired boy smirked as he looked his enemy's costume over. Spike raised a brow at him.

"You got a problem, whelp?"

"Er no, just...look at your costume! I mean if you just want to be a wittle cowboy," he pointed at the costume

He scoffed and looked Xander up and down.

"Yeah well it's better than trying to be...O wait what ARE you dressed up as? (pauses) no wait don't tell me...a circus freak!"

"ROCKSTAR! I'm a rockstar!"

As the trivial argument continued, the gang looked on at them. No secret about it that these two hated each other and they probably will still be throwing insults at one another when they are dead. Oz looked at the two rowing teens and then whispered to Buffy.

"This isn't about the costumes, is it?"

The blonde shrugged at him and rolled her eyes. Now this was getting on her nerves. She slammed her glass down on the table. Everyone all around the table jumped and looked at her.

"Will you two just shut up! God you're acting like a pair of kids...(gets up) I'm going to the toilet,"

Buffy headed off to the bathroom, leaving everyone very confused. A few minutes after, Cordelia waved and winked at Spike. Xander caught on to this.

"Oh look, your stripper is signalling to you!" he piped out

Spike glared at him.

"Shut up,"

Then that was when she made her way over. Tara had left the table to go to the toilet also. Well that was what she told them. Really she was going to check on Buffy. She was stood there in front of the remaining of the gang. She was about to say something when Xander beat her to it.

"Gee, I thought the whole idea of fancy dress was to wear a costume and be somebody different?" his voice dripped with sarcasm

She scowled at him.

"Haha, very funny Harris, least I'm not a freak, which is more than I can say for any of you...well except Spike of course and Oz,"

Xander was in awe of her costume really, darn did she look good.

"Anyway, unless you've come over here for a reason why don't you take your skanky ass and go away...unless you're planning on stripping,"

"Ewww, mind in the gutter much, like I'd want to strip for YOU (turns to Spike) would you like to dance again?" she smiled at him

Spike looked at her. No, he wasn't going to dance with HER any more. It was like she was just using him to make someone jealous and he didn't like that.

"No can do,"

She groaned and threw her hands in the air, began to walk off and said on the way.

"Your loss,"

Oz and Willow had left the table. Spike and Xander glared at each other. Xander knew that captain peroxide had feelings for his friend and he didn't want Buffy to be used like that. Just as a rebound girl and once he got bored he would dump her and move on. No way was he going to let that happen.

"If you hurt her I'll kill you," he warned

The other teen looked up from his drink, puzzled.

"Hurt who?"

"Buffy, I know you like her, it wouldn't be more obvious if you had a big, red flashing sign on your head saying 'I think Buffy Summers is hot',"

Spike scoffed and shook his head. Oh bloody hell, is it THAT obvious? Spike thought.

"Yeah right," was all he could say.

In the girls restroom, Buffy came out of one of the stalls and looked herself in the mirror. She frowned at herself and washed her hands. For some reason she found herself crying a bit. She was crying because she knew that she had no chance in hell with a guy like Spike. The chain was pulled and she quickly hid the tears from the person that came out. It was Tara. She looked at the blonde. Mascara left a rail down her cheek.

"Um, B-buffy, are you ok?" she asked, concern laced through her soft voice.

Buffy looked up at Tara and smiled a bit.

"I'm fine," she muttered

"G-go talk to him,"

"Who?"

"Spike, h-he really Isn't that bad...and there is something about your aura that says you like he very m-much,"

Buffy looked at her in confusion. Great if his sister could suss her out then he would be able to. She shook her head at her.

"Ok, I Iike him but there is no way that he likes me back...the-the only reason he talks to me is because he has to, because of Giles," she explained

Buffy watched Tara shake her head in the negative.

"B-but he doesn't hate you...Buffy just go and talk to him, i-if anything to clear the air,"

The slayer sighed in defeat. She straightened herself out and turned back to the other blonde.

"Do I look like I've been crying? (she shakes her head) here goes nothing,"

When she got back to the table everyone had gone to the dance floor. She expected to see him dancing with that slut again but he wasn't. He was standing alone, at the bar. Buffy took a deep breath in and walked up behind him and poked his shoulder.

"Hey sod off poking me will you-"

He turned around to be faced with Buffy, just looking at him.

"If that's what you want then I'll go..."

She made a turn to leave but his hand on her arm stopped her.

"No, don't go, I thought you were someone else is all...look you don't have to but do you want to dance? I mean as friends, nothing more,"

Buffy's face fell when he said as friends. She knew he was too good for her. She forced a big, fake smile on her lips.

"Sure, why not,"

So they went to the dance floor and danced to three or four songs. Buffy wriggled her hips and waved her hands above her head for one of the faster songs that she loved and he stood watching her. Hips of Buffy, lips of Buffy... I wonder what she would look like in a bikini, argh stop it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he thought as they danced. The last song was a slow one so they danced up real close. Her cheek resting on his chest, listening to the rhythm of his heart. Spike held her hand with one of his and let his other hand rest on the small of her back. He basked in the vanilla/cherry scent of her and felt himself and his feeling for her falling off the edge of this cliff that was their friendship. The song ended and they slowly pulled away. Spike ran his fingers up her back, to her shoulder and down her arm. This caused her to shudder and her skin to hum. Spike smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Buffy!" Willow shouted

Buffy sighed and looked over her shoulder to look at her friend. She turned back to him and rolled her eyes.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow..." she said, disappointed that she had to go to her friends.

"Yeah..." he said, softly

"Right, er see you then, then,"

"Yeah..."

Spike watched her go to her friends and sighed at himself.

What do you think guys? Sorry it took me so long to update i had writers block. Thanks for the reviews so far, keep it up!!!!