"A date?" Willow squealed over the phone. "Where's he taking you?"
"I'm taking him out." Buffy corrected her. "And I have no idea, yet." Buffy was back in New Orleans, at home, or what passed for it. After their mega trip across Europe and the USA, Buffy and Dawn had settled in New Orleans for Dawn to finally complete her high school diploma, her graduation being only a couple months away. Dawn had dreams of going to an East Coast college, at which point Buffy could go anywhere and do anything again, a prospect that made her ever so nervous, not that she would reveal that to Dawn.
Talking to Willow on the phone was a point of comfort for Buffy, especially when it came to processing her feelings for Spike. Willow, although initially hesitant at encouraging her friend to nurture her feelings towards Spike, had given in when she realised the depth of Buffy's feelings. Over the last six months, it seemed like Spike was all Buffy would talk about, and there were more than a few nights when Buffy almost begged Willow for a forgetting spell, a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was after a few tearful nights, a few way-too-early morning calls from Buffy, where she admitted that she couldn't get him out of her heart or out of her dreams. She dreamt of him pulling her towards him, of feeling relaxed and safe in his arms, of his lips and his body… Buffy would wake up in a state, and go to sleep thinking only of him. It did cross Willow's mind that this kind of behaviour was perhaps indicative of a love spell, the kind Spike had tried to cast on Drusilla once upon a time. But that was pre-soul Spike, and Willow knew it was unlikely. Unlikely, but not impossible. Without Buffy knowing, Willow had cast a small 'reveal spell' spell on a sleeping Buffy but found nothing there. It was at that point Willow asked her best friend the obvious question: why was she fighting this? Buffy did a couple more weeks of soul searching before landing on Spike's. She had gone down the 'relationship with a vampire with a soul' road before and it ended in heartbreak; she was afraid to let herself go there again. Especially when, as Buffy told her, Spike wasn't like Angel. He wouldn't leave her for the greater good, or to protect Buffy. If Buffy committed to Spike, it would be forever. He would never leave her, and the idea of that commitment gave Buffy pause. But as Willow pointed out, denying her feelings was doing her no good and if Buffy chose to be with Spike, Willow would support her. It was a place Xander could never be, past sins would never be erased, plus personal loathing, Spike's soul didn't make enough of a difference to him, which Buffy understood. Xander had always been protective. But it was Buffy's life, her choice.
"I don't know London amazingly well, and how do you take someone out somewhere new when they're been around for 120 years?" Buffy pointed out.
"Don't put too much pressure on it, Buff. He'll just want to be with you. How did he take it when you just showed up?" Buffy could practically hear Willow smiling.
"Well after a truck ton of awkwardness and very small small talk… he was defensive at first which I totally get…" Buffy exhaled in relief and smiled. "Really well. In the end, really well."
"You sound happy." Willow commented.
Buffy smiled. "I am. I realise there's the age old issue for me as to how to successfully date the undead, but I'm not thinking about the long term. I just need him now. I'll worry about the later stuff later."
"A wise philosophy. And Spike?" Willow enquired.
Buffy shook her head uncertainly. "He's going to take some convincing I'm here to stay. Plus he's got this whole inferiority complex thing… I don't know if he'll get over that, but I have to try to get him there."
"Well he's saved the world a bunch of times, you'd think that'd count for something." Willow shrugged.
"If only. Anyway, how's it going over there?" Buffy changed the subject.
"Good, Kennedy is getting stronger every day it seems like. She's settled into her role as Lead Slayer of the South African faction really well." Willow smiled.
"And you?" Buffy asked.
"A bit bizarre, I'm never totally sure when I am with all the inter-dimensional travel, sometimes I'm gone minutes, other times weeks." Willow admitted.
"Well in that case I appreciate the thought and phone call." Buffy nodded.
"Of course. Maybe one of these days I'll find myself accidentally in your neck of the proverbial woods." Willow laughed nervously.
"Be careful, Will. You might be harnessing some wicked goddess energy, but you're still human. You are… still human, right?" Buffy asked uncertainly.
"Jury's out, but there's still a-yearning for the peri peri chicken they've got over here, so I figure that's a good indication." Willow nodded earnestly. "I take it the teleportion mojo is still working ok?"
"Yep, to be used sparingly, much to Spike's - and Dawn's - irritation. It would be so helpful if my sister and my boyfriend didn't live on different continents, but hey." Buffy shrugged.
"Your boyfriend?" Willow smiled again.
"Felt wierd the moment I said it. Partner? Lover? These all sound soap opera-ish. I mean, what do you call your demon ex who went out and got a soul and now he's all you think about?" Buffy frowned.
"Complicated?" Willow offered.
"Ah yes, I can see the Hallmark card now. 'To my Complication, all my love'." Buffy rolled her eyes. "One more ridiculous problem to add to the pile, right on top of the realistic 'he'll outlive me while I get all old and gross' and right below the completely hypothetical 'how would the children of people named Buffy and Spike be named anything even remotely normal?'"
"You do corner the market on difficult relationships." Willow nodded.
"Said the goddess girlfriend of a slayer." Buffy retorted drily, and Willow laughed. Buffy heard a loud crash down the phone.
"Crap." Willow muttered.
"All ok?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing a coat of paint and a well placed plant can't fix." Willow sighed. "I better go."
"Okay, well… don't be a stranger." The truth of it was, Buffy missed Willow being in her life everyday. After Sunnydale collapsed, they all took the opportunity to go out there and experience this wacky thing called life, and it had been a year, and the reality of the situation was finally hitting her. Her home was gone, her friends were scattered, Dawn was growing up and she no longer had a lone calling. Perhaps that was why it was now that Buffy was ready to seek out Spike, not that she'd ever really lost him, she'd kept tabs (which she acknowledged wasn't fair or right, but she couldn't help herself).
"Have fun on your date…" Willow sang suggestively.
Buffy laughed. "Thanks. Bye."
Buffy hung up the phone and looked at it longingly for a moment, before realising she had approximately 18 hours left to work out where she was going to take Spike on their date tomorrow night.