For the first time in as long as he could remember, Spike slept deeply and peacefully through the night, without the faintest trace of a nightmare. Instead, his dreams were of Buffy -- kissing her, holding her -- influenced by the reality that was her warm arms around him, holding him through the night and infusing even his dreams with a sense of security and strength he had all but lost.

The next day was going to be a difficult one for all of them, they already knew. And sure enough, the first thing Buffy heard upon waking was the sound of Willow's furious ranting downstairs, interspersed occasionally with Xander's attempts at talking to her, which were unfortunately shut down by more hysterical yelling.

"Guess we'd better go rescue Xander," Buffy mumbled sleepily, reluctantly leaning up on one arm and looking down at the blonde vampire lying on his back beside her.

He was completely unresponsive.

"Spi - ike," she sing-songed teasingly, tracing her fingertips softly up his arm, then back again. "Wake up, Baby."

"Don't wanna," he murmured, rolling over onto his side, away from her, but not before she saw the incredibly tempting pout that had formed on his full, perfect lips.

*Okay. That's it. There's no way I'm resisting *that*!*

She smiled as she took his arm and pulled him back over onto his back, amused by the little frown of protest that creased his ivory brow. She leaned up to kiss him slowly, sensuously, taking her time, savoring the taste of his lips, his mouth, as she eased him gently into wakefulness. After a few moments she pulled back to see that his frown had melted into a lazy smile of contentment.

"You wanna get up *now*?" she whispered, her mouth moving down to place soft, light kisses along the line of his neck.

"Mmm...not yet," he whispered, a smirk crossing his lips, his eyes still closed.

The kissing seemed to be having its desired effect, so she kept it up for a few moments. "Now?"

"Not quite there yet, pet. Keep trying." There was no mistaking the slightly mocking note in his voice, although it was playful and mild.

Buffy raised her head, one eyebrow raised as she regarded him for a moment, trying to decide if he had meant those words as the challenge they sounded like. She shrugged as a sly smile came over her face, completely missed by the vampire, whose eyes were still closed, still feigning extreme sleepiness.

Intended or not -- she was taking his challenge.

Slowly, Buffy slid one silky bare leg over his, the touch of her soft, strong body awakening his desire -- and effectively pinning him to the bed. Her hands moved to his waist, slowly sliding up and down over the hard planes of his chest, raking her nails lightly against his skin at random intervals, eliciting a soft moan from his lips. her kiss silenced him, one hand rising behind his head to press him closer, deeper into the kiss.

His hands lifted to wrap around her, urgently pulling her closer to him, his teasing challenge forgotten. *Sod it all,* he thought. *She's won the bloody game already!*

She pulled back from the kiss, ignoring his little whimper of protest as she rolled over completely on top of him, catching his wrists and pulling his hands off of her, pinning them to the bed, clasped in hers. She smiled down into wide sapphire eyes dark with desire.

"Ready to get up *now*?"

"*God*, no!" he gasped, straining against her hands, yearning to touch her, her soft husky voice and gently restraining touch driving him wild with need.

Buffy grinned wickedly as she rubbed her leg slowly over his growing erection, but did not release him to touch her, earning another moan of mingled pleasure and agony. "Could've fooled me," she murmured.

Suddenly, they heard a loud pounding on the door. "Buffy!" Willow's shrill, nearly hysterical voice cried. "Buffy, I need to talk to you!"

Buffy pulled back a little, releasing his hands as she looked at the door, torn. This day held so many important things that she had to do -- she really did not have time for this little interlude that she wanted so desperately.

Spike startled her by using his sudden freedom to grab her arms and pull her back down roughly on top of him, so that her parted lips hovered inches above his. "Don't you *dare*," he growled at her, his blue eyes smoldering with need for her.

Buffy felt a delicious little shudder go through her body at the low, rumbling sound -- and at that moment, she could not have found the strength to get up if she had wanted to.

For this -- she would *make* time.

"*Buffy*!" Willow went on. "This is important!"

A michievous glint in his eye, Spike met the Slayer's gaze as he called out loudly, "She can't deal with your neediness and bloody power issues right now, Red! She's just about to shag me senseless, so you'll just have to wait a couple of hours -- or days..."

The look of wide-eyed horror on Buffy's face as she stared at him, seemingly convinced that he had just lost his mind, made him laugh out loud -- reinforcing her sudden insanity theory.

"Soundproof room, love. Remember?" he reminded her with a smirk.

Understanding began to register in her sparkling green eyes, as she looked slowly between the door and Spike, a slow smile spreading over her face. “Oh, no, Will, I’m sure it won’t be *that* long,” she said loudly, then looked back down at Spike with a smug smirk to gauge his reaction as she went on. “I plan on wearing him out *way* before that!”

Spike gave her an offended look, and she realized the – completely unintentional – implications of her words. She had meant to comment more on her own prowess than on Spike’s level of stamina. After all, he had amazed her during the last couple of weeks with his seemingly insatiable hunger for her. Maybe it was because he was a vampire – though she tended to doubt that was the case – but the sexy blonde never seemed to be able to get enough of her.

But the adorably pouty, uncertain look on his face was just too much for her to resist, and she added, “Give me seven minutes, Will!” sticking her tongue out and winking at him as she finished, just to let him know she was only teasing.

On a *slightly* more serious note, this whole soundproofing thing definitely had its potential, she thought.

The sudden silence on the other side of the door made them both freeze, holding their breath, as a terrible thought occurred to them – the door *was* still soundproof, wasn’t it? It was Spike’s turn to look horrified, his eyes widening – and flashing golden for a moment – at the thought of Willow’s having heard Buffy’s last comment. Buffy nearly wilted under the power of the glare he shot her, giving him a nervous, sheepish little smile.

Just then, they heard Willow’s voice again – approaching from a distance – and realized with relief that the silence had meant that she had left the door.

Unfortunately, she had come back – with Giles.

“Willow, would you just let them be?” he said irritably in a ridiculously loud whisper just outside the door. “I highly doubt that they would in any way appreciate your intruding right now! They are quite exhausted from the battle, and just need their rest! You can wait to discuss this with Buffy until she wakes up on her own!”

“It’s after noon already!” Willow protested, and Buffy wondered if her voice had always been so shrill and annoying, and she just had not noticed because of her affection for the girl – affection she felt none of at the moment.

“Xander told me that they were patrolling until nearly six o’clock this morning, Willow. And besides, Buffy’s decision is the right one, there’s no sense in arguing it with her. She’s made up her mind. So for the last time…”

Willow did not let him finish. “What if she’s not sleeping?” she asked, the new argument just occurring to her. “What if that evil, soulless *thing* in there with her has killed her already?” she snapped.

And so did Buffy.

In seconds she was out of the bed, and across the room, determined to put an end to Willow’s pompous, self-righteous attitude once and for all. Before her hand could touch the door, Spike was suddenly beside her. He caught her wrist gently but firmly, trying to turn her around. Furious, she yanked out of his grip and reached again for the doorknob. She knew he only wanted to protect her from doing something she would regret, but he was not going to stop her.

And she was not going to regret it.

“Pet,” Spike spoke softly to get her attention, and something in his tone made her turn to look at him, though flames of anger still blazed in her green eyes. He was very glad to know that it was not directed at him.

Her expression softened a little when she saw that he was holding up her robe in his hand, smiling softly at her. In her rage at her “friend’s” cruel comment, directed at the man she loved, she had forgotten her current state of undress. In another moment she would have humiliated herself far worse than she intended to shame Willow.

She swallowed hard, unexplainably touched by the simple gesture on his part, thinking of her dignity when she did not, as well as by the simple honest devotion in his eyes.

She leaned forward spontaneously to give him a brief but passionate kiss, pulling back to smile into his eyes, whispering in an affectionate tone, “Thanks.” He had given up so much for her, done so much to protect her in so many ways – and she was not going to let anyone put him down again.

She took the robe from his hand and shrugged into it, pulling it closed around her and tying it tightly, while he found his jeans and pulled them on, not wanting any more than she did to be naked in front of Willow and Giles. Once they were both ready and he was standing at her side, she reached for the door to open it.

“Willow, I’m telling you, you need to stop this and go back downstairs right now…”

“Don’t tell me what I need to do!”

Buffy threw the door open, and the arguing pair grew silent, staring at her with trapped, guilty expressions. Though she was much smaller than either of them and dressed only in her bathrobe, Buffy still managed to strike a very intimidating figure. Her eyes were blazing with fury, and it only took one look at her to know that she was on a mission.

Both fell silent, neither daring to say a word, as she stepped into the doorway, nearer to Willow. Behind her, Spike stopped in the doorway, wanting to be able to witness the confrontation to come without getting in her way.

“Don’t you *ever* talk about Spike like that again!” Buffy snapped, her voice low and trembling with rage as she glared at the redheaded witch.

Willow’s eyes widened with surprise and alarm, and she took a step backward away from the very angry Slayer. “But – but Buffy – I was just – worried about you…”

“No, you just found out about England, and you wanted to gripe me out about it and tell me why you think it’s a bad idea,” Buffy stated flatly, sparks still shooting from her glimmering emerald eyes. “And as for that ‘soulless killer’,” she went on furiously, indicating Spike in the doorway, “he saved *all* our lives last night! If Faith had succeeded, don’t you think for a minute that any of us would have survived! And Spike stopped her, for good. Even though he could have been killed. Even though he nearly was.”

She paused, and Spike dropped his gaze, his expression flat and emotionless, not wanting to betray anything or cause any distraction from Buffy’s words.

“You owe your life to him, Willow. So don’t you dare talk about him like he’s somehow *less* than you! Like you are something so special, and he’s the dirt beneath your feet!” Buffy’s voice was filled with disgust as she stepped closer to the wide-eyed frightened redhead, backing her up against the wall.

“You know who almost killed me last night, Will?” she asked softly with a cold smile. “I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t *Spike*!”

Willow’s eyes dropped to the floor as her back hit the wall. “Angel…” she whispered, regret in her voice. She knew that Angel’s actions would not have been possible if not for her own.

“Wrong,” Buffy responded, almost before the word left her lips, right in her face and meeting her eyes as she said softly, “*You* did, Willow. Because you couldn’t stand the fact that Spike was the one helping me, and you were sitting here at home stripped of your powers. You wanted to feel like a big hero – so you let the vampire who killed my mother free to try to kill me too – and he almost did.”

She was silent for a long moment, just staring at her friend in anger – and sorrow. Willow’s downcast eyes welled with tears. Both Giles and Spike just stood there in silence, their eyes respectfully averted from the intensely personal scene playing out before them, though neither wanted to leave it completely. It did not matter.

Both Buffy and Willow had forgotten, for the moment, that anyone else was even in the house.

Willow finally began to speak in a hesitant whisper, “I – I’m s…”

“Don’t,” Buffy cut her off harshly. “Don’t bother, Willow. You still think you did nothing wrong in all this.”

Willow flinched, hurt by the harsh words, however true they might be, and Buffy felt a sad little pang in spite of herself. Willow *had* been her best friend for a very long time.

When she spoke again, her voice was softer, as she stated simply, “You need help, Willow. You need to get control of the magic, instead of letting it control you.”

Willow looked up at her, her face tear-streaked and ashamed, but still somewhat defiant at those words. “You can’t make me go, Buffy,” she stated in a quiet, stubborn voice.

"To England -- no," Buffy conceded, her eyes serious. "Out of my house -- yes."

Willow's eyes grew shocked as Buffy went on quietly, "You don't have to go with Giles to England. But if you don't, I know that you don't really want to change. And you're a danger to those I love -- including yourself. You won't be welcome here."

The lost, disbelieving look in Willow's eyes hurt Buffy to see it -- but she knew that she was right -- and she knew immediately that Willow's decision would be to go to England, rather than to lost her closest friends. Maybe there, she could learn that she didn't have to be all-powerful to feel safe, and that it was not her right to decide what was best for everyone around her.

Buffy turned back toward the bedroom, leaving the witch and the Watcher sobered by her words. At the door, she turned back toward them, slipping her arm around Spike's waist in an unmistakably intimate way.

"And by the way," she added softly, in more control now, a slight smile playing about her lips. "Spike and I are together now," she stated plainly. "And anyone in this house who has any problem with that -- needs to get over it. Or get out."

And with that said, she turned around and led her lover back into their room -- closing the door behind them with a very distinct click that echoed in the silence of the hallway.