Willow walked briskly through the night air.  She heard the sound of fighting from not too far away and hoped that Buffy could keep Spike busy with patrol.  At least long enough for her to do what was needed.

   When she reached the door to his house, she let herself in.  The house was quiet.  It was kind of unnerving.  She’d never been here alone before and she felt sort of like an intruder. * Who am I kidding?  I am an intruder! * She thought to herself.  She set her bag down on the coffee table, and turned to lock the door behind her.  Willow looked at the clock in the dark, and relaxed when she realized it was only ten-thirty.  They would be out on patrol for several more hours yet.

   She busied herself unloading the bag.  Balloon, candles, chocolate cake mix, chocolate frosting, decorator’s tips, decorating bag, a pair of disposable gloves, eggs, and some oil.  She carried the items into the kitchen and prepared the cake. Willow knew that should be her first priority.  She needed to have the cake baked and cooled long before Spike returned, otherwise he would be able to smell it, and that would be bad. Very bad indeed.

    “I’m wounded.  I thought you cared.  You don’t call, you don’t write.”  Buffy quipped while delivering a swift kick into the abdomen of one of the vampires.  He staggered slightly, letting his cowboy hat to fall to the ground. “Who did you bring for me to kill this time?”  She taunted.  Spike groaned.

 “Bloody Hell, Slayer!”  He snapped as he grabbed a stake and attacked the vampire closest to him.  He was young, less than a decade.  He could smell it.  He came up behind the younger vampire and knocked him off balance.  Spike smirked as he drove the stake through his back and into his unbeating heart.

  Once the dust had settled, Lyle Gorch turned his attention to the blond vampire. “You killed him!”  He exclaimed, his southern accent expressing shock. “Why?”

Spike turned his attention to Buffy, “Is this sod serious?”  Buffy smiled, “Oh, yeah.  We go way back, don’t we?”  She smiled sweetly at the vampire.  She delivered another fierce blow, this time across his chest, while Spike took on the third vampire.

    Willow took a step back and examined the cake.  She had just finished icing it.  * Not Bad * She thought to herself as she removed the gloves and through them in the trash.  She covered the cake and slid it to the back of the fridge, behind his cooler and a couple of bottles of red wine. She turned around and surveyed the kitchen.  She smiled when she realized she still had extra chocolate frosting.  She covered it and returned it to the fridge.  *I’ll save that for later. *

   After she washed the dishes and removed any traces of her presence in his kitchen she wondered back into the living room, glancing at the clock once again.  One-fifteen.  She briefly wondered how much longer Buffy could keep him busy.  Willow decided she had better not stick around to find out.  She grabbed the remaining items and put them back into the bag.  She carried the bag into the bathroom and put it away under the sink.

  As she was leaving the bathroom, she took a step into his bedroom.  She breathed deeply.  It smelled like Spike.  Cigarettes, and leather, and something else.  Uniquely Spike. She smiled and let herself out of his house and headed towards the park.

    Willow wasn’t sure if Buffy was still patrolling or not so she decided to take a trip through the cemetery.  She heard noises.  It sounded like a struggle.  She picked up the pace.  When she reached them, Willow had to stifle a giggle at the site.  Buffy seemed to be playing with the vamp.  Dancing almost.  Taunting him.  He wasn’t very smart, she could tell.  He kept falling for her teasing.  He would lunge, and miss, over and over again.  Spike was leaning up against a tree, smoking a cigarette, and looking bored.  She walked up to him. “Enjoying the show?”  She asked with a giggle.

Spike groaned.  “Not bloody likely.”  He turned to the redhead, “Is she always like this?” Willow giggled again, “No, not always.”  She turned her attention back to Buffy, “Just stake him already.  It’s getting late!”  She shouted.

Buffy sighed, “Very well.”  With one swift fluid motion she pounced on the unsuspecting vampire, pining him to the ground with one hand while she shoved a stake into his heart with the other.  She smiled.  “Can’t a girl have a little fun?”  She asked turning to Spike and Willow.  She laughed internally at the site of the vampire and her best friend leaning up against the tree so casually.  She realized that her vampire fun had aggravated her bleached blond nemesis, but there was no other way to delay patrol long enough for Willow to do she needed to do.  She just hoped the vampire appreciated it.

  “Ok, we’re done here.”  She stood up and dusted off her clothes, and then turned to Spike.  “Can you walk Willow home?  I have to stop somewhere.”  She started heading off in the opposite direction of their dorm, not giving Spike a chance to decline.
 

Willow finished putting on her shoes and headed for the door. Just as she reached the knob, Buffy’s alarm clock went off, and blared out ‘Manic Monday’. * How fitting * Willow thought.  Buffy reached an arm out from under her covers and slammed onto the snooze button. She groaned.

“I HATE Mondays!”  Buffy groaned. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that Willow was leaving.  She turned to look at the clock. It was nine-thirty.

“How come you’re leaving so early?  He’ll still be sleeping.”

Willow turned around and walked over to Buffy’s bed.  She grinned down at her best friend. “Better to surprise him.  Besides, I have some things to do first.”

Buffy Nodded.  “Will you be back later?”

Willow grinned again, “Don’t count on it.”  She turned and headed out the door.  She was almost halfway down the hall when she heard Buffy yell after her.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

   Willow quietly let herself into Spike’s house.  She walked soundless to his bedroom door.  She stopped, unsure of whether she should go inside.  After about five minutes of just standing there, she decided that she wouldn’t be able to finish setting up unless she knew he was asleep.  She opened the door and peered in.  Spike was lying across his bed on his back. He was completely still. *Goddess!  He sleeps like the dead! * Willow thought and then giggled at her pun.

   She just watched him for a moment.  He was a specimen of perfection, she decided.  There was nothing about him she didn’t admire.  The paleness of his skin, the white of his hair, the piercing blue of his eyes, his cheekbones.  They all came together to create this perfect creature.  She realized that she was in love with him.  She didn’t know when it had happened, or even how, she only knew it was true.  It probably had been for quite some time.  She only realized it when she had run into Devon and learned that Oz was in town.  He hadn't called, or come by, nothing.  But instead of feeling like she had been ripped apart, instead of the anger she was expecting to feel, she felt nothing.  She still had feelings for Oz.  But the longing, the loss, the hurt, they had all been replaced.  She no longer felt lost.  She felt found.  Whole. It wasn’t until she shrugged Devon off, and went to find Spike that she connected her newfound feelings to the blond vampire.

   That had been two months ago.  For a long time she had tried to ignore her feelings, hoping beyond hope they would go away.  That had been a futile attempt.  They were firmly routed in her heart, and weren’t going anywhere.

   So then she had decided to admit them to herself, but deny then outwardly. That lasted all of one week.  Buffy had confronted her about her feelings for their reluctant ally.  She couldn’t lie, so she did the only thing she could.  She told the truth, and begged Buffy not to tell anyone.  Then Buffy did the most amazing thing, she gave her blessing, and told her to take a chance, seize the day.

   So, here she was three weeks after Buffy’s words of encouragement, hoping to bring Spike around to her way of thinking.  The part of her that was still nervous about what she was doing, froze.  What if he was mad that she had let herself into his house?  What if he laughed at her?  What if she disgusted him?

    Willow shook off the negative thoughts.  *It’s now or never, Rosenberg! * She told herself.

    She walked back out into the living room, to finish preparing.  She blew up the balloons, and after tacking a few to the ceiling, and on various places along the wall, she took a step back and surveyed her handywork.  It looked very festive, which was the effect she was striving for.

   She went into the kitchen and pulled out the cake, and covered the cake with 16 candles, one for each decade.  She chuckled at the thought of what the cake would look like if she had managed to fit a candle for each year.  It would look like a flambé’.

     Glancing at the clock, Willow realized it was almost noon.  She decided it was time for her to take a shower, and get dressed.  Despite the fact that the sun didn’t set until into the evening, Spike didn’t sleep all day.  He usually woke around two or so, and she wanted be ready well before then.

   She smiled to herself as she grabbed her bag and headed into his bathroom.

     “So, what’s on got tonight? We slay, we party?”  Xander asked as he flopped down across from Buffy in the local coffee shop, which they had taken to meeting at several mornings a week.

    Buffy nodded.  “Sounds like a plan to me.  You know who I ran into last night?”  She asked, remembered her fun-filled evening of slaying from the previous evening.

  “Let me guess, the randy demon of post-slayage ecstasy.”  Xander joked.

  “Xander!”  Buffy smacked her friend lightly.  Xander’s expression grew serious; “You didn’t, did you?”  He asked, suddenly fathoming the possibility.

“No.  We ran into Lyle Gorch.  You remember him from last year?”

“Why, yes, little lady” Xander asked it the most horrendous southern accent Buffy had ever had the misfortune of hearing.  She laughed.

  “So, is he a member of the permanently dead?”  Xander asked.

 Buffy shook her head.  “No.  He ran away while I was staking his friend.”  She grinned as she remembered the reason why she had taken so long in playing with the vampire.

  “So, Where’s Will?  Is she joining in the slayage fun?’  Xander asked, noticing his oldest friend was missing.

  “No, She has… other kinds of fun planned.”  Buffy looked at Xander hoping that he would change the subject.

“She’s with Deadboy, Jr.  Isn’t she?”  He asked, with a look of mock horror on his face.

“Xander Harris!”  Buffy admonished as Anya made her way over to their table.  “I thought we talked about this.”

“Talked about what?”  Anya asked as she sat down next to Xander.
 Xander turned to his girlfriend, “Will seducing Deadboy Jr.”

 Anya smiled, “About time.’