Buffy giggled. This had been a great idea. What age was she when she last had a slumber party – 16? And, with her recovering mom and Dawn in LA, art buying, it seemed a good idea to invite over Willow, Tara and Anya.

They were sprawled out on the floor in their sleeping bags among bowls of crisps and chocolate, talking about . . . well, boys. Buffy felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach at the memory of Riley. It wasn’t her who had brought up the subject – it was Anya.

"It must make you all so jealous that I’m dating Xander when you’re all in love with him."

Buffy spluttered. "In love?"

"Well, he’s the most perfect hunk of masculinity to have ever walked this earth. You must be."

"Xander’s . . . nice," ventured Buffy carefully. "I mean, I love him, but in a friend way, not in a jump-me-now way."

"Well, I did love him," said Willow. "But – not any more. Did, past tense," she added, seeing Anya and Tara’s worried looks.

"What about you, Tara?" asked Anya blatantly. "Do you spend your after-school hours trying to find a break-up spell for Xander and I? If I find raven feathers at your place . . . "

"Anya, you know I don’t like guys that way," said Tara, smiling.

Willow looked worried. "Well, me neither. Boys are bad. Bad."

"No, it’s okay," Tara reassured her with a loving smile. "It doesn’t bother me."

Willow looked at Tara in amazement. Wow, she thought, that takes a big person. In the space of a minute, they had set down some of the fundamentals of their relationship – Willow was bisexual, but Tara was gay. And Tara was not in the least bit put out.

Anya was talking again. "So . . . do you secretly lust after me, Tara? Because if you do, I will think you uncouth and avoid you."

"Well, it’s probably a good thing that I don’t find you attractive then, Anya," said Tara cheerfully.

"Hey!"

"Umm, umm . . . what do you think of . . . Spike, Anya?" Willow desperately tried to change the subject.

Anya glared at Willow instead. "Your girlfriend is a madwoman. How can she not find Xander or I attractive? We’re the hottest couple in the world!"

"Uh-huh. But what do you think of Spike?"

"He’s quite the marble god, I won’t deny that," said Anya thoughtfully. "But still not hotter than Xander."

Willow smiled happily. Non-confrontational topic, yay! It was a fun night, but they had had lots of prickly moments like just then. "Well, he has a certain air about him," she agreed. "Not conventional sexy, but still . . . sexy. But evil. And arrogant. And soulless . . . "

"Need we go on?" Buffy rolled her eyes.

A mischievous grin spread across Willow’s face. "Yes, we need go on! What do you think of Spike, Buff?"

"Spike’s a good demon hunter, I’ll give him that," said Buffy. "It makes patrol so much easier with him to help."

"No, I mean, what do you think of him in that way?"

"Hey, you know who we haven’t discussed? Graham!" exclaimed Buffy brightly. She got blank looks all round. "Y’know Graham, he used to be in the Initiative. With . . . " She trailed off mid-sentence. Ow, stab of empty stomach feeling. She had to stop thinking about Riley . . .

"Yeah, but, what do you think of Spike?" Anya prompted.

"Ooh! We’ve run out of Doritos! Better get more." Buffy started struggling out of her sleeping bag.

"Buffy, he’s a good-looking guy. It’s okay if you think so," said Tara cheerfully.

"What? You find Spike attractive but not Xander?" Anya was aghast.

"I’m not attracted to Spike, I just think he’s good-looking. I know a good-looking guy when I see one, y’know."

"So you think Xander’s not good-looking."

"I didn’t say that . . . "

Willow whispered urgently in Buffy’s ear. "Say something! We can’t have them scrapping all night!"

"Hey, guess what, I think Spike’s sexy!" exclaimed Buffy loudly.

A hush settled over the group.

"You . . . think what?" asked Tara cautiously.

"I . . . think he’s sexy," whispered Buffy miserably. "It’s the hair, and the cheekbones . . . Oh God, what’s wrong with me? Why do I find all the evil guys sexy? First Angel, then Dracula, now Spike . . . I’m violated! I’m completely violated."

"Y’know, I didn’t think she’d admit it," said Anya.

Buffy looked up sharply. "Admit?"

"Well, we all knew you found him attractive."

"What? Why? How?"

"Come on Buffy – the chemistry between you two," said Willow. "It’s tangible."

"So you planned to ask me about Spike tonight?"

Willow, Tara and Anya shared smiles. "Well . . . " ventured Anya.

"OH MY GOD!" Buffy threw her head back against her cushion in disbelief. "What – you guys think we’re good together? That we should go out? ‘Cos if you do, you’re disgusting."

"Oh, noooo," Willow answered vehemently. "Not go out. Going out with a vampire? Remember what happened last time? Just . . . we wanted you to realise there’s more men on this planet than Riley."

"Spike’s not a man," Buffy pointed out.

"Yeah, but no-one’s perfect!"

"The point is, Buffy," said Tara, rescuing the situation, "Is we don’t think you guys should date or anything. But it’s okay to find him attractive. It means that whenever you think of guys – "

" – You won’t think of that rat who visited a blood brothel and walked out of your life, leaving your heart in pieces," finished Anya.

"Thank you, Anya. You always seem to be able to put things in perspective," said Buffy sarcastically.

"Look Buffy, we’re just trying to help," said Willow. "I swear, we’ll try find you some human guys at college tomorrow. Spike was just an example."

Buffy grinned. "He is pretty hot though, isn’t he?"

The girls collapsed in a fit of giggles. And from his perch outside Buffy’s bedroom window, Spike smiled.

~*~END~*~