Previously: 'Oh, um okay. Sleep well' Willow stood and walked out to sit with Buffy and Xander, while I settled in for a few hours sleep before sunset.

We also met Drusillia and Ally.

Chapter 5

It was just before sunset when I woke. I would have slept on but there was a bloody loud noise coming from outside the bus. I stood up and peeked through the window. Buffy stood there grinning. In her hand was a bunch of dirt and small pebbles. She had intended to wake me up, as her face said it all.

'Oh Spike, can you come out and play now?' she asked.

I smiled to myself. If I was her right now, I probably would have done the same thing. I bent down to grab my duster and headed outside. She still stood there, still smiling. It was so good to see that smile. It had been so long since I had seen it. I approached her and smiled.

'What do you want to play then pet?' I asked.

What I didn't expect was for Dawn to jump on my back.

'Your it!' she cried. 'Run! Spike's it!' she yelled to the others, as she ran from me. I stood there for a few seconds waiting for what just happened to register. Buffy still stood in front of me. I realised she was waiting for me to chase her. I smiled at her, trying to look as scary as possible. 'You better run love' I suggested.

'Or what? Big bad Spike is gonna eat me?' she retorted.

'Nice thought pet. But I prefer my idea'

'Which is?'

'This!'

I ran at her. Seeing that I was indeed running at her, Buffy dropped the dirt in her hand and sprinted ran right through the group of scoobies huddled next to the bus, with me not far behind.

'You're mine Slayer!'

'You gotta catch me first!'

I sped up. I was gaining on her, and she knew it. She threw in a sharp turn to the right in order to throw me, but I saw it coming. I flung my arm out and caught her around the middle. Pulling her into my chest, we somehow lost footing and fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. Buffy, who landed on my chest, rolled off, only to have me roll over and place my lips at her neck.

'Told you, you were mine' I breathed.

She laughed 'So it would seem'.

Xander yelled from far behind 'Hey! No biting alright?'

Buffy sat up. 'Relax Xander. Spike wouldn't bite me, unless he wanted to be punched afterwards'.

'You're right there pet. I don't want to be punched. Maybe you should think of something else? Something softer maybe?' I suggested.

'What did you have in mind?' She questioned.

'Well, you could…' I started.

'Buffy! C'mon we gotta go now! You and Spike get your butts over here!' yelled Dawn. Although Dawn was seventeen, she was very child like. The way she had just yelled that at us made her sound like an impatient four year old. It was quite amusing, but I didn't laugh because I knew I might just offend her. So instead Buffy and I stood and made our way over.

'Ah Spike, Buffy. Are you ready to go to the airport?' Giles asked.

'As ready as we'll ever be, right Spike?' Buffy chirped.

'Huh? Yea guess so pet'

'Good. Buffy, how about you and Spike take the back of the group and I'll lead?' Giles asked.

I didn't like the fact that the Watcher had just taken over like that, but he was the one that knew where we were going and if Buffy and I were at the back of the pack, we had more time to muck around.

'Sounds good Watcher. Let's go.'

'Right. This way' Giles lead. And as a group we all followed.

We had been walking for about three hours when we reached the airport. I could have gotten the group to the airport faster than the Watcher had. But I wasn't going to complain. I had walked the whole way with a Buffy on my arm. I wasn't going shorten the period of time if she wanted to stay there.

'Here we are' Giles said triumphantly. I reckon he had gotten us all lost but didn't want to say.

'You will need to go and buy boarding passes, I already have mine. See you in Cleveland' he smiled. Bloody hell. Buy boarding passes? I didn't have any money on me. I had left it at Buffy's house the day we went to fight the First. Buffy glanced to her side and saw my expression.

'Spike? What's wrong?'

'No money love.'

'Oh you mean you don't have the money you hid under my pillow?'

'Yep'

'I've got it'

'What?'

'Yea. I took it out form under my pillow when I found it thinking we may have to make a quick escape. Here you can have it back now.' She handed me the money.

'Well let me buy your ticket at least pet. For a thank you?'

'Ok.'

We walked into the airport terminal looking as normal as possible. We received a couple of looks, but that was probably because of my dress. Everyone else looked normal. I however, preferred my red and black look. I made a mental note to play it down the next time I went to an airport. I was just a tiny bit uncomfortable at the moment.

We approached the boarding pass bench, where a woman with curly blonde hair waited for us.

'Hello. What can I do for you today?' she enquired.

Xander approached the bench. 'Hi. We need tickets to Cleveland please.'

'There's seven seats available on the 11:45pm flight. Is that ok with you?'

'Sure is.'

' there is a last minute booking fee of $100 per person.'

'Not a problem.'

'So all up that will be $1,884 please.' The woman informed us.

Quickly we banded together to count up our cash. We were $34 short.

'Ah. Look, we're $34 short, but we really need to get on this flight' I explained.

'Well then I'm sorry but unless you find $34 you cant all board the plane.' The woman said.

'But…' willow started to explain. The woman was having none of it.

'I'm sorry, if it wasn't my job on the line, I would let you board the aircraft. But seeing as how it is my job on the line, I can't. Now unless you find some money, you wont be able to board.'

I lost it then. No woman was going to tell me I couldn't get on a plane. I could drink her dry if that would help. Then it wouldn't have been her job on the line. I pushed to the front of the group.

'Bloody hell. We have to get on that plane!' I demanded.

'We have to get there by morning or we're going to be too late!' I was trying so hard not to be hysterical.

'Too late for what may I ask?' the woman queried

'Her father's dieing, and if we don't get on this plane it may be too late to say our goodbyes. Please you've got to let us on' I lied while pointing a finger at Buffy. She seemed to look the most upset out of all of us.

The woman seemed torn. It may have been the desperate plea I had just made or something else entirely. Either way, she finally spoke.

'Very well. Here are your tickets and I hope you make it in time'

Xander handed over the money and I took the passes.

'Thank you. Have a nice night.'

We turned and rounded the corner before Willow and Dawn started laughing.

'Something funny?' I asked.

'Willow turned you into a woman!' Dawn laughed.

'You did what!' I looked down expecting to see cleavage of some sort, or womanly curves. I saw nothing though.

'I only did it to hopefully make your story seem more real' Willow explained.

'It was an illusion charm. I didn't alter you in any way.'

'Well next time turn Xander into a bloody woman' I growled.

'Oh believe me, it's not as funny as you think. I've tried' she smiled.

Slightly pissed off that Willow had done such a thing, I scowled. I was about to scold her when Buffy interrupted.

'Well look at the right side. We have passes now'

'Lucky us. At least you weren't turned into a woman'

'Lucky for me. I get to sit next to a sulky vampire'

'I'm not sulky!'

'Really? You look like one.'

'Do not.'

'Whatever Spike'

Xander coughed. Buffy and I stopped to look up. He tapped his wrist to elaborate on the time factor and we all quickly rushed off to the gate to board.

'I was not sulking.' I insisted. Buffy either didn't hear me or pretended not to.

We reached the gates just as everyone started to board. We quickly handed out passes and joined the que. As we all reached the front, we handed our tickets over and boarded the plane. Turns out, when we had all found our seats, we were sitting in pairs all over the plane. Xander and Anya, Willow and Dawn, Buffy and I and Giles sat by himself. Which he didn't mind at all. He said he 'needed time to himself'. In my world that either meant, 'I'm going to eat some unsuspecting person' or 'I don't want to be around you lot'.

Buffy and I sat in our seats. Buffy taking the window seat just in case the sun came up early.

'Well this'll be fun. A long boring flight sitting next to you.' she sighed.

'Don't be like that love, sitting next to me ain't that bad.' I said.

'Oh not the sitting next to you bit. The long boring flight bit.' She corrected.

'Well I can think of a few things that wouldn't make the flight so bad' I smiled.