Thank you all for the reviews, they've been great. I will write all of you back, but I feel so guilty that it is taking so long reconstructing what I lost, that I am trying not to let anything slow down the work. This is a short chapter, but I hope you still enjoy it.

My thanks also go out to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy who own all rights and are gracious enough to let us take their universe out for a spin.

Chapter 13 Dinner and a Movie

"You wanna watch a movie pet?" He asked as she came back into the livingroom with her reheated piece of pizza. The rest of the pizza in the fridge. He was relaxing in a corner of the couch. "I still have the ones from the other night."

"Sure, whatchya got?" She sat next to him.

"I wasn't sure what you liked so I got a variety. Take your pick." He gestured to the cases stacked on the coffee table.

She was impressed with the selection. There was Four Weddings and a Funeral, From Russia with Love, Grease, Enter the Dragon, and ... "Really? Interview with a Vampire?" she asked holding up the case.

"I thought a comedy might be nice." He said with a smile.

"Let's watch this, it's the only one I've never seen." She held up the James Bond movie.

"You've never seen it?" Spike asked surprised. Although maybe indignant would be more accurate.

"Was I even alive when it came out? Was Mom?" she asked defensively, trying to find a date on the case.

"That's beside the point. Please tell me you have seen a Bond film."

"I think I saw one of the ones with Pierce Brosnan." she said hesitantly.

"You think?"

"Well Xander brought something over with him in it and it was all spy-y. So I think it was a Bond movie."

He shook his head sadly, "Your education has some gaping holes."

"They're just movies." she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Bite your tongue, Slayer."

"I thought that was your job." She said suggestively. Before continuing, "It's pretty much been me and Mom for the last several years, so mostly romantic comedies and old black and white love stories."

"Sounds a mite depressing." He stood to put the tape in the player. "If I had known you hadn't seen it I would have brought over Dr. No, the first one, but we'll start here."

"Start?" She knew there were a lot of Bond movies and was suddenly worried Spike would want to watch them all.

"Your cinematic education. I've been going to movies as long as there's been movies. There are some everyone should see." He grabbed the remote and returned to the couch.

"So we're going to start spending all our time watching movies?" she asked as she cuddled in against him.

"Not all, just the intermissions." He bent his head and kissed her. He started the tape.

"Why such a movie fan?"

"It gives me something to do during the day that keeps me out of the sun. Plus, it's easy to find dinner in a dark theater. Chat someone up in the popcorn line and sit next to them in the theatre, at a boring point in the movie you move in for the kill, everyone else just thinks you're making out. Failing that, you can always pick off someone in the back row, then no one's looking in your direction." He smiled down at her. "There's a safety tip, never sit in the back row of a theatre."

"Thanks." she said sarcastically. "Why are you telling me all the tricks of the trade?"

"I'm not going to be using them for awhile, at least as long as we're together, so I figured what's the harm?" He held her slightly tighter for a moment, "Besides, it's nice to be able to have someone to talk to. Can't tell you how long it's been."

"What about Drusilla?"

"Holding a conversation with Drusilla is like bailing out a boat with a sieve. It's a lot of work and you end up sinking into the dark." He settled deeper into the couch. "Finally the previews are over."

Buffy enjoyed the movie more than she had expected and told him so.

"What made you think you wouldn't enjoy it?"

"I expected it to be all gadgety and have female characters with… ridiculous names."

He nodded, "Yeah, they did a lot of that in the later movies."

"This was nice, just sitting watching a movie. It almost made me feel normal." She said wistfully.

"Why would you want to feel normal? Back when I was human, I was about as normal as you can get. Wouldn't go back to it for all the tea in China."

"My normal was nice and simple. I was popular and had a lot of friends. I didn't have to hide who I was or train all the time or risk my life saving the world."

"Lots of friends? Do you think any of your friends from back then would have cared enough about you to face me down, like Red did today?"

"Maybe..." she said doubtfully.

He shifted so he was looking straight at her. "You know what your problem is?" he asked without waiting for an answer. "You think that the options are normal or abnormal."

"Aren't they?" she challenged, lowering her head.

He brought a finger up under her chin and raised her face to look at him. "No, they're ordinary versus extraordinary. And you, Slayer, are extraordinary." his eyes held such reverence and warmth, that she blushed as her eyes filled with tears. "You need someone to tell you that on a regular basis." He shifted his hand to cradle the side of her face, his thumb wiping away an escaping tear.

"Do I?" she whispered.

"Yeah, until it finally sinks in and you stop doubting yourself."

"Are you applying for the position?" she asked trying to smile through her tears.

"I'm your man." he said, his tone implying he was for more than just this.

"Yeah, you are." she agreed to all he implied and leaned in to kiss him. Their lips met in a gentle kiss. Not hungry or searching, but full of all they were feeling. Their arms wrapped around each other, pulling them together so nothing could come between them. How long they held each other like that, neither of them looking for more than the closeness and emotion of the kiss, she couldn't say. It seemed both too short yet simultaneously timeless. Neither could she say which of them was the first to change the kiss, but it became deeper, passionate, yearning for a physical intimacy as well.

The world seemed to recede, everything else fading away until they were all that existed in the universe. Which is why Buffy shrieked and jumped when the phone rang.

Spike held her, "Leave it." he whispered urgently.

She pushed against him. "I can't, it could be an emergency."

"It's probably just your mum, tomorrow tell her you came in late."

"What if there's been an attack? I have to get it." she twisted out of his arms and headed for the phone.

His head fell back against the couch. "It's like dating a bloody doctor." he grumbled, then brightened. "There's a game we can play."

"Weren't they still using leeches the last time you saw a doctor?" she asked snarkily.

"Not quite." he said as he stood. Buffy made a shushing gesture and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said in greeting. "Oh, hi Mom." Spike gave her an 'I told you so' look. She stuck her tongue out at him. "No, I'm in for the night." Spike held two fingers up to his mouth to indicate that he was going to smoke and she mouthed I'll meet you upstairs.

"Willow was here for a while this morning, but otherwise no one else came over today." Technically that was true since Spike had come over the night before he was just still here. "No, everything is good here. How was your day?" She half-listened as her mom went on about the various bits of art, sculpture and antiquities she had seen on her buying trip. Realizing her mother was showing no signs of winding it up she waited for her mom to take a breath and then interjected. "So what time should I expect you tomorrow, or are you going to stay another day?" "That sounds good I'm meeting Giles at the school in the morning for training, but I'll be back by then." "Love you too. See you tomorrow." She hung up the phone and headed up the stairs. While she would never tell Spike this, secretly she was glad for the timing of her mom's call. The emotions were getting too intense. Not that she wasn't in it emotionally, she was, she just suspected that Spike was more sure about how he felt than she was. If he did profess his love for her she didn't want to hurt him by not being able to say it back. But she wasn't ready, wasn't sure, not yet.