Eris had slept better than she ever had in a long while, all thanks to the Bleach Blonde vampire who spent the night holding her in his arms and protecting her. After their moment of love making, they had quickly hurried in to the bathroom before anyone could spot them and had a nice hot shower before going back to bed. He definitely enjoyed having her wet, naked body pressed against him as he let his soap covered hands wander her skin. After feeling thoroughly satisfied they both retreated back to her room and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep, the nights events and her near death had taken a lot of energy from her.

She didn't know what time it was when she woke up, only that it was at least daytime or early morning. She shuffled a little and looked up to see a tired looking Spike looking at her, "good morning, love," he spoke in a husky, tired voice that sounded extremely sexy to her.

"Morning, I hope staying in my bed all night wasn't too boring for you."

"No, I enjoyed listening to you sleep," he used a hand to stroke her cheek and moved a few strands of her hair out of her face and behind her ear, a simple act that felt so sweet to the raven haired woman, "its definitely my turn to sleep though."

"You can sleep on my bed if you'd like? I don't want you running home in the sun."

"I'll definitely take you up on that offer," he shifted slightly so he could lean down and give her a sweet kiss.

It was at that moment that the door swung open, and a figure shouted, "good morning Eris!"

Eris froze for a few seconds when hearing the voice before pulling away to see a very stunned woman, "MOM!?"

She quickly made sure her body was covered, which thankfully it was, as Julie Vanzetti went from looking stunned to disaproving, "care to explain why you have a naked man in your bed?"

"Hi," Spike said awkwardly as he waved to her, he just wanted to sleep and was not ready to have an impromptu meeting with the woman who made Eris. The woman was very beautiful for her age, most likely where Eris got her good looks from. She had Blonde hair much like Buffy and Joyce did and tanned skin that looked flawless. Her blue eyes were intense as she stared at them and her outfit looked a lot like the rich clothing Eris would always wear. This woman definitely took pride in her looks.

"Mom, meet Spike, my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

"We only got together yesterday after he saved me from being burned alive."

"Burned alive!?"

"Oh Julie, I didn't think you were going to straight up to Eris' room," Joyce had heard her sister yelling even from downstairs and had hurried herself up to try and defuse the situation. Her sister could get quite heated and strongheaded, a trait which she definitely passed on to her daughter, "why don't we let them both get dressed and talk to them downstairs, I can make you a coffee whilst we wait."

"Fine, don't take too long Eris," her mother gave her one more disaproving look before slamming the door shut.

Once they were gone Eris had flopped back onto the bed and groaned loudly, "I am so sorry that this was how you met my mother. I am mortified."

"That's the weirdest interaction I've had with a Summers before…I'm not going to sleep anytime soon, am I?"

Eris had slid off the bed and started getting herself dressed as she responded, "probably not, even if I sent you to sleep all you'll be hearing is her yelling at me when I tell her you're a vampire."

"You're gonna tell her that?" Spike followed his girlfriend and started grabbing his clothes to dress himself.

"She'll figure it out soon enough, she's going to be stay for a while to help look after Aunt Joyce."

"This is not going to be fun, is it?"

"Nope, my mom is stubborn like me and hates vampires, which you'll be happy to know includes Angel."

"That gives me a small amount of satisfaction. I hope he's gone back to LA."

"Probably not, he'll need to make sure the Hire company is gone, so he may stay for a couple days."

"Great, well, lets get this show on the road I guess," once Spike and Eris had gotten themselves dressed, they headed downstairs to see all the windows from the stairs and to the kitchen had been closed so Spike could make it to the others without burning to a crisp, which they were both grateful for. As they entered the kitchen, they saw Buffy and Dawn chatting animatedly to their Aunt Julie who was gushing over them both.

"You have both grown so much! Joyce, you have done so well in raising them!"

"They certainly don't make it easy," Joyce replied as she placed a cup of coffee in front of her sister. As she leant back, she saw Eris and Spike and gave them a supporting smile, "how did you two sleep?" she asked them, which made the other three in the kitchen turn to look at them. Buffy and Dawn looked at them with a look that said 'better you than me' as Julie turned her smile into a frown.

"Good, you're finally down, now, tell me why you didn't mention, Spike," she spoke his name in such a way that it was obvious she didn't approve of it, nor know why anyone would want to be called that.

"Because…uhh, well…"

Eris didn't know what to say, so to support her, Spike, grabbed her hand and simply said, "I'm a vampire."

Julies' eyes widened before they returned to a frown, "Vampire…Spike, wait, isn't that the name of the Vampire that has tried to kill Buffy since highschool?"

"Shit…was hoping you wouldn't remember that," Eris said with a wince, "he was, but he's not like that anymore, he's got a chip in his brain that stops him from hurting things with a soul and he really loves me and promised to never hurt Buffy again."

"Its true!" Dawn suddenly shouted, "last night that demon for hire company put her on a pyre and was gonna burn her like a witch but he came in, killed the demon, and then dived into the fire to save her. He's can burn super easily but still saved Eris, he loves her a lot!"

Eris gave Dawn a grateful look as her mother's expression took on a look of worry, "how did they find you?"

"A vampire found me and told them," Eris decided to leave out the part where it was Spike's ex, didn't need that tidbit making it harder for her mother to accept her relationship, "I'm dating a vampire, so, uh, please accept?"

Julie stared at the two standing before her, scrutinising them closely before sighing, "I can't stop you, but just know I don't like it."

"To be fair Buffy did it first," Eris shot back as she motioned to her cousin.

"My God you just won't let that go, will you?" Buffy whined before poking her tongue out at Eris who did the same back.

"None of us Summers women can seem to get a nice man, can we?" Joyce joked, trying to turn everything more light-hearted.

"No, we certainly can't. And I thought horrible human ex husbands were the worst we women could do," Julie joked back, referring to Eris' Father and Buffy's equally absent Father.

"Now that we are all smooth and cool, can he go sleep now?" Eris asked as she gestured to her tired looking partner.

"You can go sleep, Spike, you certainly deserved it after saving my niece," Joyce gave Spike a kind smile which he returned slightly. He was not used to a kind human mother not looking at him with anger like Eris' mother was currently doing. With a quick kiss to Eris' cheek, he quickly left and retreated to her bedroom to hide and get the much needed sleep he was craving.

After he left and Eris slid into a chair next to Julie, her mother leant over and whispered, "a vampire, really?"

"You picked a deadbeat loser for a husband, you can't judge me," Eris hissed back, which promptly shut her mother up. She had a strained relationship with her mother ever since she was a child. The woman was always at work and never really had time for her, nanny's and money were what raised Eris. She was sure her mother did love and care for her but she had a funny way of showing it.

As she looked at Buffy and Dawn joking around with Joyce, she felt jealousy and longing rise in her. She wished she was raised by Joyce, maybe she would have been a nicer person instead of being a vein little brat. The months she'd spent living with the Summers had been the greatest time of her life, it really helped her to discover what she wanted to do in life and become better. She just hoped her mum didn't ruin everything she had created for herself.

"Earth to Eris, hellooo?" Eris was roused out of her mind by the sound of her younger cousin talking to her and snapping her fingers in her face.

With a shake of her head, she looked at the group apologetically, "sorry, still tired from last night. What's up?"

"That's alright honey, we understand," Joyce replied in a kind tone, "we were just discussing how you three girls should go out for the day whilst your mother and I catch up."

"Oh, yea! We can do that," Eris gave a smile to her cousin who look at her with excitement, "we could go to the movies? Or shopping?"

"Of course you would want to go shopping," Buffy shot back with a laugh, "what if we went to the park? Have a nice lunch and gossip for the whole day."

"Oooh I like that! We haven't done that in ages!" Dawn shouted in excitement.

"The lunch at the park it shall be, I'll get my things and meet you by the door," Eris stood from her chair and headed upstairs to grab her purse and wallet, sparing a quick moment to kiss Spike on the forehead as he slept.

The three girls had gone out to grab some food from the mall before going to the main park and sitting under a tree to enjoy their sandwiches and various snacks. It was peaceful, with the sounds of kids playing in the distance and the soothing winds flying through the park and cooling the area down.

"Do you think Aunt Julie knows what I am?" Dawn ask around a mouthful of ham sandwich.

"Swallow before talking Dawn, but I overheard mom telling her on the phone a week ago," Buffy replied after finishing the bite of her egg and mayo sandwich.

"Then why hasn't she said anything?"

"Mom is great at acting like things like that are no big deal, she did the same when she found out Buffy was the Slayer, she's never spoken up about it to Buffy's face."

"Its true, you never got to meet her a lot Dawn but Aunt Julie doesn't like to deal with problems unless money is the way to solve it."

"Like when she paid to fix the school you burned?"

"Exactly like that," the Slayer rolled her eyes at her sisters' nonchalant question, it was obvious Dawn was trying to tease her but she wouldn't let her win.

"B-Buffy, is that you?" a timid males voice cut into their conversation. Sharing confused looked with each other, the three girls looked up to see an unknown man looking at Buffy in awe.

He was a thin man, with a wiry figure, short dirty blonde hair and pale skin like he didn't get outside much. He wore a simple blue shirt and brown pants. The Slayer didn't seem to recognise him despite him looking like he knew her very well, "um, hi, do I know you?" she asked as she stood from the group just in case this guy wasn't safe.

"Oh uh, sorry. My name's Timothy, I was in the same classes as you in highschool. A-all of them, infact, but I was very quiet so you wouldn't have noticed me," he rubbed the back of his head in nervousness and a little dejectedness.

Buffy felt guilt at not knowing who he was and decided to pretend she did, she plastered on a big smile and nodded her head at him, "no I know you Timothy, you sat at the back right?"

His eyes lit up in happiness at her words, not realising that she had guessed where he sat, "I did! Wow, you do remember!"

"Of course, sorry, its been a while with school and the big snake demon made me want to forget everything."

"Yeah, me too. Honestly if it wasn't for you getting us all ready to fight I would have died," Eris and Dawn could see the flushed cheeks and goofy smile the man wore, it was obvious this man had a crush on Buffy, "I even got to go to college after, UCS in fact."

"Oh! We went to the same college? Small world."

"Yea, I take Psych class with you."

"I'm sorry, I usually sit at the front, so I didn't notice," she was a little weirded out that he kept being in the same place as her, but she never noticed him.

"That's ok, I'm pretty quiet in class heh," he rubbed the back of his head again, showing how nervous he was talking to her, "I um, I came over to ask if maybe you wanted to go have a coffee with me? You know, catch up?"

Buffy's eyes widened as she realised what he was doing, the man wanted to go on a date with her. But not wanting to show how much she did not want to do that, she put on a smile and thought of her best lie, "my mom is really sick so I've got a lot to do, today's been the only day I could go out with my family whilst mom was in a hospital check-up."

"That's ok, maybe we can do it after she gets better?"

"It's a brain tumour so I don't know how long it will be."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope she gets better. Maybe next time she's in a hospital check-up we could do the catch up then?"

Eris saw how forceful the man was becoming and began to frown, he was not taking no for an answer and she didn't like that. With a sneer on her face she stood from the grass and moved over to her cousin, "hey, dude? Take no for an answer, she doesn't want to."

Timothy looked at her and his expression went from an awed smile to an irritated glare, "I'm talking to Buffy, not you."

"Don't talk to my cousin that way," Buffy snapped, which made the man instantly become apologetic.

"I-I'm sorry, I just, I really wanted to go out with you Buffy. I like you a lot, I've idolised you since you saved me. Its why I took the same class as you so I could be close to you," he stepped closer, trying to touch Buffy but instead was pushed back by Eris.

"She doesn't want you, and doesn't like you. You're being a creep, like who stalks someone for years then appears out of the blue and confesses his love for someone," Eris stood in front of Buffy and crossed her arms over her chest, "fuck off."

"Buffy please, listen to me! I just want to show how much you mean to me!" he shouted over Eris in the hopes Buffy would listen to reason.

But as people started to watch the exchange Buffy knew this needed to end, she leant around Eris and looked to Timothy, "I'm sorry Timothy but I'm really not interested."

"Please, Buffy, it could be just like it used to be in highschool."

"Fuck off you freakazoid!" Eris snapped and shoved Timothy when he tried to approach Buffy again, "I have a vampire as a boyfriend, and I will have him hunt you down at night and drink you dry!"

Timothy's eyes widened a little in fear, but something seemed to snap in him, as he moved away to leave, he spoke something none of the girls understood and threw his hands out. A green light shot from his palm and hit the three girls in the chest which sent them flying to the ground. They all yelped at the weird sensation and that gave Timothy enough time to run away.

"The fuck? Did he come here to try and spell you or something?" Eris groaned from her spot on the ground, she had landed on a stick.

"I don't even remember who he is," Buffy had landed on the bag of food they had, crushing everything inside, "we need to get home and call Giles so he can figure out what we were just hit by."

"Are you ok Dawn?"

"Yea, I feel fine," Dawn said as she checked herself over, whatever hit them didn't seem to do anything to her.

Once they gathered their barings the three girls hurried home to explain what happened to their family and have the gang come over to talk about what happened.