A month had passed since Xander’s ordeal, and his life became more complicated.  Spike came to Buffy’s house during a Scooby meeting and haltingly apologized for everything he’d ever done to cross them. Angel had stood right beside him, prodding his recalcitrant child along. Buffy agreed to let him Dawn-sit after school during the week, and nobody had ever seen Dawn happier. Then he started patrolling and coming to meetings, all the while totally ignoring Xander. He felt like the vampire was worming his way into every aspect of his life and it was torture. The human was still conflicted as ever, and the constant reminder only served to make him angry. So, he bitched. Loudly. And often.

“Hey, Evil Dead. Earn your keep and pick up a book.”

They’d been researching for hours, and all Spike had done was stand around. Spike flipped him the two-finger salute, but he set his mug of blood down and reached for a text. As he did, he ‘accidentally’ spilled a few drops of blood on Riley.

“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!?” Riley jumped up and went to clean up. They’d been at this all night as well. Riley wouldn’t let up, so the vampires didn’t either. He came back a few moments later and sat down, fuming.

“Is pig blood all that different from human blood?” Willow piped up, oblivious to the high temper at the table. The meetings had been moved to Buffy’s house, because there was more room there.

“Would you rather drink chocolate milk or pond water?” Spike answered flatly.

“Pond water? That’s all …ooky. It smells bad, so it probably tastes bad too and who knows what’s in it? At least the milk is good for you, and sweet too…..oh.” Suddenly squicked, the witch continued, “Oh. Tara, honey? Stop me when I ask about stuff that I don’t want the answer to…”

Tara regarded her lovingly and nodded.

“Still not reading, Spike…” Xander flatly reminded the vampire.

“Do we need a sodding play-by-play of what I’m doing, Harris? Because I might decide to go disembowel something instead of die of boredom here with you losers. I’ve got an unlife, you know.”

“Well, live it somewhere else if you’re not helping,” Riley joined in the argument. 

Spike picked up Miss Edith and she purred happily.

Dawn had insisted that the crypt was no place for a feline in her condition, and Spike had agreed to let Miss Edith stay at the Summers’ home. He’d about died of embarrassment when they found out the cat’s name. She’d had the kittens about a week later, but no one let him take them to the poker game. Instead, they’d adopted them. Giles took the two striped ones, Tara and Willow had run off with the beige fat one and the speckled runt, Dawn and Buffy had fought over the dainty white-faced kitten, and Xander had chosen the skittish one that looked like Miss Edith. Spike had been adamant about keeping the little black cat and Miss Edith for himself, and reminded everyone that if he moved out of the crypt, they were going with him.

“C-can I hold Miss Edith?” Tara hesitantly asked.

Spike handed her over. She was still huge, her body looking longer now that it wasn’t stuffed. She was easily two feet long without her tail, and Spike had noticed that her paws all had extra digits. He’d had opportunity to inspect her litter, and all had the same deformity, only because they were so small, they looked like they were wearing baseball mitts on each paw.  Tara gently hugged her as she padded over to the kitchen for cat treats.

“Peaches, do you remember visiting France?”

Angel lifted an eyebrow and nodded. Xander mirrored his expression. //What did France have to do with Spike not helping?//

“You told me you’d been there first. I wish I’d…*been there*. *First*.” Spike smirked lasciviously at Buffy, glancing at Riley as he did.

Understanding dawned on the older vampire’s face as he put both hands behind his head and got relaxed. The wicked look on his face brightened his features. “Yeah, but even for you, Spike, it had to be fun. Europe’s quite the place to hit for a good time. You never forget your *first time* there….” Angel stared right at Riley, who launched over the table at him, knocking over books on his way. Angel’s chair was knocked back, and he easily rolled the human onto the floor.

“Guys--Spike!  Why do you egg them on like that?” Buffy glared at the vampire.  She was flushed with embarrassment but looked determined to let it pass.

Spike watched the two wrestle on the carpet and casually remarked, “This demon you’re researching? It’s holed up in that warehouse on Chambers Avenue. If we leave now, we can catch it.”

Those who weren’t in the middle of a fistfight gaped at him, annoyed.

“You mean we’ve been losing brain cells here when we could have been beating brains in there?” Buffy complained as she struggled to ignore the immature show of manliness rolling on the floor.

A few punches later, both men were up and glaring as they picked up books.  Everyone else had figured that this was just a testosterone thing, so nobody even interfered in their fights anymore.

“Ding! Round two-hundred-forty-eight is over, and the 10-year-olds head to their separate corners….” The dark haired human tried to lighten the mood.

“More narrating? Get a life, Harris!”

“At least I’m not withholding information--” a look of horror crossed both faces at the thought of spilling details about their night of romance, “--about the demon we’re looking for! That’s what I was talking about!”

“Smooth, whelp. Very smooth. Let’s just go.” Spike grabbed his duster from the couch and swept out of the house. Xander followed him, and after he left, the remaining group shared a puzzled look. 

This too had become a regular occurrence. They would be arguing, and something would remind both of them of “That Night” and they’d skitter away from the topic in a panic. It didn’t help that everyone else happened to be there every time it occurred.  This was what Willow would call a Freudian slip. He knew he couldn’t say it, so he’d accidentally dance around it. They’d yet to talk about what happened, even though hashing it out would get out a lot of the tension Xander was feeling.

“What was that about?” Buffy asked. Angel looked down and tried to be invisible.

Willow and Riley just shrugged as they followed the strange pair into battle.

BLISS TOOK HOLD 13