A/N: Well, I have written up this next chapter, so glad you guys are enjoying it so far. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter 4

Spike was waiting outside the building leaning against the car when Buffy came outside.

"You're carriage m'lady," he said as he opened the passenger door for her. She giggled as she climbed in the seat.

"Why thank you kind sir." He quickly shut the door and went around to the driver's side.

"So how was work?" She shrugged.

"Oh, I just had some last minute editing to do." He nodded.

"So how have you been, Buffy?"

"I'm doing alright. It's been really hard without my mom, but you're parents have helped a lot." He nodded.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that, and I'm sorry I wasn't here for you." She shook her head.

"It's okay. You weren't here in person, but you call all the time. You're still my hero."

"Superman would have flown to Lois Lane and given her a big hug is she lost her mom."

"Well, you were in school; you flew over and gave me my hug at Thanksgiving. Besides, I'm not Lois Lane, I'm the Slayer."

He smiled as he remembered how she and Sam would always play games where Buffy was a powerful vampire slayer, one girl chosen in all the world to protect it from evil. She liked the idea of a woman being the hero and not having to play the damsel in distress all the time.

"That you are, luv."

"So how are you and Cordy liking college life?" she asked as they pulled into the drive way. He shrugged.

"College is fine. We just don't fit together anymore." Buffy gaped at him.

"You and Cordy? But you've been in love forever!" He shook his head and turned to face her.

"I think we got comfortable with each other. Now that we're in college, the comfort's gone along with all the feelings I thought I had for her."

Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Spike and Cordelia had been together all through high school. Sure she had dreamed of being with Spike, but she never expected that he and Cordy wouldn't make it. It seemed to everyone that they were the perfect couple. Buffy had almost led herself to believe that if Spike wasn't with Cordy, then maybe this was her chance. Maybe she could convince him that they were meant to be together.

"Wow. I always thought you two would just graduate college, get married, proceed to American dream scenario." He nodded.

"Well, at one time I thought so too. But now when I see my life that far ahead, I don't see Cordy sitting there beside me," he looked away from her and started playing with the steering wheel cover, "I see someone else."

...Almost.

"You met someone else?" She tried to hide the hurt from her voice. He looked up and smirked at her.

"Something like that." Buffy nodded.

"Well, what's she like?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Smart, funny, gorgeous, she just gets me you know?" Buffy's heart clenched at the way his eyes lit up as he talked about this new mystery woman who had somehow stolen his heart.

"Well, I'd love to meet her. She's gotta be something if you're willing to leave Cordy for her." Buffy smiled as she got out of the car to head into the house, wanting this conversation to be over. He got out just as quickly.

"So what's her name?" She asked as they reached the door. She was about to grab the knob when he grabbed her arm.

"Buffy, it's you." She stared up at him in confusion. Surely he couldn't mean…

"What's me?" He took a deep breath.

"You're the girl I've fallen in love with. The girl I'm willing to leave Cordy for. It's you. It's always been you."

He crushed his lips to hers in an effort to assure her that what he was saying was true. He prayed that she felt the same way about him.

She was in heaven. Spike lips, lips of Spike. Then reality came crashing back. She pushed him away and searched his eyes for answers as to what just happened.

"Whoa, Will, what did they put in your drink on the plane?" He shook his head.

"No, I'm stone cold sober. I'm in love with you, Buffy. That's why I'm staying with you and Dawn this week. I wanted to know if you love me, too." He tried to hide the hurt in his voice of what seemed like her rejecting him.

"Is this some kind of joke? Are you making fun of me now?" She bit her lip to hold back the tears from him being so cruel as to play with her emotions.

"What? No!" He couldn't figure out why she was reacting that way. And were those tears in her eyes?

"Dawn told you didn't she? I'm gonna kill her! Why now? She's kept my secret this long, why did she tell you now?" She couldn't hold the tears back as she faced what was obviously a betrayal of trust from her best friend, and the cruelty of them teasing her about it.

"What secret?" He demanded.

"That I love you! That I've loved you since I was 12 years old. She's been able to keep my secret for this long and now all of a sudden she decides it's time for you to poke fun at me?"

She fell to the ground sobbing. He grabbed her by the shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. He shook her as he called her name.

"Buffy. Buffy. Elizabeth!" She finally looked up at him. He smiled. "Dawn didn't tell me anything. In fact, I just got done telling her how I feel about you." She scoffed.

"Right, all this time and what you finally realize that you're in love with me?"

"Something like that, yeah." He smirked that sexy smirk that made her glad she was already on the ground or her knees would have buckled. But she remembered that this was an argument.

"Well, what if I say it's too late? What if I say 'no'?" He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes right into her soul.

"Then I would be crushed. But you won't say no." He smiled.

"And how do you know that?"

He kissed her again. This time she couldn't help but let herself get lost in him. He had just admitted that he loved her. That he had always loved her. At first she thought it was a cruel joke, but the way he was kissing her right now told her that he was serious as sin. And his sin was loving her. She kissed him back. They finally broke the kiss when oxygen became an issue.

"Because I won't let you."

A/N: And now my beautiful readers, I present you with a choice. Either way it will be a while before I can update again, classes are not being nice to me right now. But herein lies your choice. Would you like to proceed straight to the seriousness of the plot? Or have a fluffy interlude before things become extremely serious (and spoiler alert: seriousness=sadness for our happy couple). So there, now you must review so that you can answer my question. (See what I did there? *winks*)