Spike groaned in his sleep and it woke Buffy up, she rolled over into his chest and breathed in the scent that was essentially Spike. She took a deep breath, cigarettes, the leather jacket of his, and the scent of something she could describe only as Spike. Either way, it was the most comforting smell she could ever experience and she loved to have herself wrapped up in it.

Spike stirred and Buffy smiled when he mumbled something about biscuits, "Wow…" She leaned up and kissed him softly until she felt his hand entangle itself in her hair.

"Good morning…" Spike said once they parted, and stretched out for a moment.

Buffy smiled and picked up her shirt from last night, "I'll be back… I'm going to go take a shower…" Spike nodded and watched as Buffy sauntered off to her room.

He laid back in the couch and thought about the previous night, it was beautiful, everything about it. They ended the make out session shortly after Nick's phone call, both too tired to carry it on, "Bugger…" He hopped off the couch and looked around for his phone. It took a minute to restart it and the screen was cracked but it worked.

He found Nick in the contacts list and called, it took few moments before the man picked up, "Nick, mate…" He tried to sound as guiltless as possible, "You-ah… called, last night?"

"Yeh…" Nick said from the other side, "Where were you, the lot of us gone out for a bit of post Christmas drinking…"

"Wound up in a bit with someone… sorry, you guys need to let me know before I leave the house next time…" Spike said as he climbed the stairs to Buffy's room.

Nick sighed, "Where was ya anyways?"

"I-uh…" Spike went passed Buffy's room and could hear her in the shower, she was singing one of his songs and it made him smile. "Just… with a girl…"

He heard Nick 'coo' and he smirked as his friend spoke, "Pretty one? I hope so… I thought you made that plan to not do the sex till you fell into the love category with a lady friend…"

"We didn't have sex; we were having our Christmas…" Spike had a matter-of-fact tone in his voice.

Sadly, Nick could read right through Spike's words, "Mate, when you know a friend for 30-some years you learn when they're covering up…" Spike froze, "Buffy, eh? You're not a dumb bloke, she's jailbait… you should know better…"

Spike stuttered for a moment, "Nick… if you truly understood how I feel about her… you wouldn't be saying that… she's so beautiful, and sweet and for once it's not about the sex… it's just about us…" it was at that moment Spike truly realized he was in love, completely lovestruck, "I love her… I know it's early… but we're waiting and I've never been more ready to wait…"

There was another sigh from Nick, "Never heard you talk like that… just don't do anything stupid… and don't bugger it up, you do and you'll be fucked…"

Spike nodded, "Don't tell Holly… she yells at me enough…"

"No problem…" Nick said, "Well you better be home today, Holly gets mighty curious when you leave like this… I'll talk later with you…" Nick hung up.

Spike sighed, "Why do I have such good friends…" he figured Buffy was going through the same with her friends but at least Spike and she could be seen together in front of his friends.

He heard the water shut off and immediately went back to her door, quietly he knocked and waited "Come in…" he heard Buffy say, and he cautiously opened the door. Buffy had just pulled a robe on and was brushing out her wet hair as he sat on the bed.

He took a moment to look her over, once again stunning, as always, every time he looked at her he fell in love again. Eventually he stood up and approached her from behind, he saw her smirk and he met her eyes in the mirror. Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy's waist and smiled, "You look beautiful as always…" She blushed and looked down; she loved these moments with him.

It ended to quickly though as Buffy heard the front door open and shut. "Shit…" she said as he let go, "That's my mom…"

Spike looked at himself, "Baby… I don't even have a shirt on… and my keys are in my jacket…"

Buffy frowned, "Just go get in the closet or something… I'll figure it out…"

Spike did as she said and she quickly escaped her room, quietly she descended the stairs. Her mom was nowhere in sight for the moment, and she quickly ran to the living room and picked up Spike's shirt from the floor, "Buffy…" Joyce appeared from the kitchen holding Spike's coat, and Buffy quickly shoved the shirt under her robe. "Hey mommy didn't hear you come in…"

"Whose jacket is this?" Joyce asked very seriously. She was not happy to find some random coat hanging by her door, but lucky for Buffy she missed the shirt and, lightsaber… Buffy thought.

"It's Angel's…" she lied, "him and Cordelia stopped by for a movie…" she took the jacket from her mom, "Better keep it with me until he comes to get it…" she smiled.

Joyce wasn't entirely convinced but there were no boys in the house currently, so she let it slide, "Alright… you want some hot chocolate?"

"That would be great mom…" Buffy watched her mom go back into the kitchen, "I'm just going to get dressed…" she quickly grabbed Spike's gift and ran upstairs with the goods. Once inside her room she locked the door and breathed for the first time since she left. "Spike?" she whispered and he popped out of her closet holding a far less than appropriate skirt.

"Why haven't I had the grace of seeing you in this?" he asked as he looked it over.

Buffy grabbed it from him and hung it back up, "You need to go…" he pouted for a moment and the harshness immediately faded, "Sorry…" she handed him his shirt and jacket. "You want me to hold this for now?"

"No…" he put on his shirt, "I can handle it…" he slid the jacket it on and grabbed a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, "Luckily I didn't park in the driveway, eh?"

Buffy's nodded and handed him the present, then gave him a quick kiss. He smiled and deepened it for a moment, "You call me later, pet…" he took her ringed hand in his and kissed the top.

"Just watch out for the kitchen window honey…" he nodded and slid out the window, and quickly scaled down the tree. She didn't hear a peep from downstairs so she assumed all was safe and went about to getting dressed.

There were times when Buffy hated school, and this was one of those times. It was second period of the first day back from Christmas vacation, and the entire school already knew about her mystery man. Any boy who wasn't speculating about it was immediately a suspect. If only they knew… she thought as she listened to Cordelia whisper to Lorne about the mystery man.

The bell rang and it was time for her favourite period, she would get to see him, Spike, the rock star and her boyfriend. She was a little disappointed about him not being able to wear his ring to school, but he was right, it was like announcing their relationship to everyone.

She walked in the door and sat by Willow, who decided to play cold and silent for today. Cordelia on the other hand to an immediate interest in Buffy's hand, "Oh my god… did he give this to you! This is wicked expensive… Oh my god! You're engaged!"

Buffy pulled her hand away, "I'm not engaged, it's a promise ring… and I don't know how much it is because that's not what matters… he could have gotten something from a cracker jack box.,.. I wouldn't have cared…" she looked up at Spike who was sitting criss-cross on the front desk as everyone filed in and settled down.

Cordelia huffed for a moment but subsided once Mr. Pratt started talking, "We have had our way with the Elizabethan times…" Buffy smiled truly noticing how the American accent seemed so much higher in pitch that he normally sounded, usually his voice was dark and raspy, he was sexier English, "Now we're going to work a bit with Walt Whitman… anyone remember my quote from the beginning of the year?"

The room was silent as Spike walked around, "Of course you don't, your tiny little brains are still growing…" He ruffled Xander's hair as he walked by, "Okay…" He leaned against Buffy's table, "I know, 'ugh… school's back on' but this is the perfect time for those of you who failed or barely passed to pull your head out of your ass and get back on track! So! On with the English!"

He went to the white board and wrote 'Walt Whitman' on it, "Okay, someone tell me something about him… you all have textbooks, open them and take a gander at it…" everyone started flipping through there text books while Buffy slowly raised her hand, "Yes, Miss Summer's…"

Everyone looked up at her completely confused, "He wrote 'Leaves of Grass' which was a very controversial book of his time…" she had remembered one of the long talks her and Spike had had one night about poetry.

"Right… good…" he turned to the board and a huge grin spread across his face as he knew exactly how she knew that, "Leaves of Grass…" he wrote as he spoke it. The class read on and slowly more and more facts were thrown on the board, "Alright… someone read." He said randomly, "Anyone…" Spike's teaching method was truly unorthodox, it was random and rude. But it had the kids on their toes, whether it is so they wouldn't end up looking stupid, or so they wouldn't miss out on one of his very very unorthodox teaching methods.

Anya spoke up, "I will." Spike nodded and she started to read a verse from the book.

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics-each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother-or of the young wife at work-or of the girl sewing or washing, each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day-at night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs

Through the entire reading though Spike was probably the one least paying attention, he was too focused on Buffy, yet again. But it wasn't until the last few lines that she caught his eye and smiled up at him. He noticed Anya had stopped talking, "What does this mean?"

"Is it talking about how America works… like how the jobs all… work…?" Willow rambled a bit, causing Buffy to giggle. And Buffy was happy to receive the playful nudge from her friend, they were still friends.

Spike thought about her 'answer' for a moment, "Close… Whitman is talking about how every worker make's America… like carpenter's and shoe-maker's, all together they make one big beautiful song about America…"

It seemed as though the class was taking forever, Buffy wasn't looking forward to it ending, she loved to listen to Spike, she was just hoping for a quick kiss before she escaped to her next class. The bell finally rang and everyone started gathering up their things, but Buffy took her sweet time. The room was empty except for Spike and Buffy within seconds of the bell and he immediately went to her, and kissed her as if it were the first.

"Hate having to look at you and not being able to do anything…" He kissed her again and smiled.

Buffy nodded and grabbed her last book, she saw his ring hanging from a chain that was around his neck and smiled, "So you do have it with you…" he nodded and they kissed once more before Buffy left.