"'Ey, Red. How was school?" Spike asked as he sat on the couch, feet on the cushions as he read the paper.

Willow raised an eyebrow at him. "Lucy, I'm home." She joked, dropping her bag by the door before walking into the lounge room to see the vampire sitting on the couch.

He looked up at her. "What?" He asked, wondering what could possibly make her stare at him, giving him a funny look as she did.

"You." She said, walking further into the room.

"Me? What about me?"

"Just... you. You're sitting in my lounge room reading the paper and asking how school was."

Spike straightened out the paper, turning the page. "So? How was it?"

The witch's mouth dropped. "Uh..." She drew out. "Fine. If it wasn't Saturday." She added, sitting on the opposite couch.

He looked up again, turning his head to look at her. "Saturday? Bloody hell. The week went by so quickly." With a shrug he started reading again. Ding dong. "Could you get that, Luv?"

Willow giggled, getting up. "Spike, no one knows you're here. I'd like to keep it that way so they don't stake you and put me in an asylum."

He looked up with a tiny smile. "You don't want me dust, Pet?" He asked with an amused tone.

"Who else would teach me how to 'read people'?" She asked, moving towards the door. "Buffy! Xander! Anya! Oh, uh, hi. What're you doing here?" The red head asked, a shocked and worried expression on her face. She blocked the door so they couldn't come in.

"Hey, Will. How's about letting us in?" Buffy pointed out when her friend wouldn't move.

"Oh, well, I'm... kinda... busy."

"Nonsense. You always have time for friends. Besides, Riley's busy." Buffy pushed past her.

"Oh, wait!" Willow said, stepping in front of the girl. "Uh, how about you get drinks... and food. Yeah, take your time." She quickly ushered them towards the kitchen then ran back to the lounge room. "Get your butt off the couch! Buffy's here!" She hissed in a whisper. Spike snorted, turning the page of his newspaper. The hacker felt panic wash through her and grabbed his arm, using all her strength to pull him to a sitting position. "Read somewhere else or I'll stake you, who cares about the lessons!" She hissed once more.

Spike rolled his eyes, folding the paper up as he stood, smirking when Willow started pushing him through a door that led to the den, the vampire not making the job easy for her. She came back out, closing the door behind her. "Will..." The girl jumped just as the door closed behind her. "Got any chocolate sauce?" Xander asked, holding a tub of ice-cream in his hands.

"In the pantry." She quickly replied, pulling Xander into the kitchen with her. "Hey, what's up?" She asked when she saw Buffy sitting at the counter. "Where's Anya?"

"Oh, she went to your dad's study to get some paper. We're going to teach her a game." Buffy replied.

Willow paled. "The study? Be right back." She jumped from her chair and ran around the corner and down to the study to find Anya about to open the door. "Wait! No!" She yelled, grabbing the handle. "Uh, you go sit. I'll get it. You're a guest after all." She gave her a wide smile and waved her away. Anya gave her a strange look before going. Willow slumped back against the door, walking into the study. "Up. You have to go again." She grabbed his arm and a pad while she was at it, pulling Spike out of the room and through a door to the hall, pushing him up the stairs and into the bathroom. "Stay." She ordered, running back downstairs and into the kitchen. "Hi. I'm back."

"Where'd you go?" Buffy asked after shoving some ice-cream in her mouth.

"Oh, there was no paper we could use in the den so I went upstairs to get some from my room." She lied with a smile.

The slayer nodded, continuing to devour the milky dessert. "Just a minute. Nature calls and all that." Xander said, getting up.

"Oh, the bathroom downstairs doesn't work." Willow said absently, scooping out some ice-cream for herself.

"Okay. I'll go upstairs." As Xander turned the corner and stood at the bottom of the stairs, walking up slowly, the words sunk in to the hacker's head.

Her head flew up, the ice-cream scoop dropping onto the counter as she sprinted after him to find him at the top of the stairs. "Xan, wait." His hand was on the doorknob.

"Not exactly in the position to do that, Will." He said.

"You'll have to use my parent's ensuite."

"What's wrong with this one?" He asked as she directed him away.

"Oh, uh... renovating. Yeah, that tiler guy is fixing stuff up. It's a total mess. Can't go in there. Sorry." She pushed him into her parent's old bedroom then ran to the bathroom, opening the door to find Spike sitting on the closed toilet, reading the paper. "Spike..." She trailed off, grabbing his arm and pulling her downstairs and into the laundry. "Sorry." She gave him an apologetic look when he glared at her. She quickly ran back to the kitchen with Xander following her. She relaxed and smiled brightly. "How goes the teaching?"

Anya frowned at the page. "What is the point of noughts and crosses? There's no fun in this."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "It's just a way to pass the time."

"I have other ways to pass the time. Like sex."

"But if Xander isn't there..."

"Then I can *think* of having sex with him." Anya replied.

Willow grinned as she started eating her slowly melting ice-cream. Xander laughed at his girlfriend's comment, now that he was comfortable when she'd talk the way she did, and accidentally squirted the chocolate topping back onto himself. "Oh man." He groaned. "Hey, Will, can I go wash this. Thanks." He moved towards the laundry, grabbing one of his spare shirts from the linen closet on the way.

Willow jumped up again, running after him. "No! I'll do it!" She screamed, blocking the door.

He looked taken aback at her. "O-kay." He said slowly, pulling the shirt off and putting the other one on, handing her the chocolate stained piece of clothing. He saw her sigh in relief. "What's up, Will?"

"Nothing. Just... last time you did washing here you almost blew up the washing machine." She said smoothly. "Now go eat your ice-cream before it melts." She ordered, shooing him away. When he was gone she ran in, put the shirt in the washer and turned it on.

When she looked over at Spike he sighed, folding up the paper and standing again. "Tell me this now, Pet. Will I ever get to finish reading the paper?" He asked as she pulled him up the stairs again.

"I don't know." She said honestly as she pushed him into her room. "Behave. Oh, and don't touch anything you're not supposed to." She turned back around and heard voices coming up the stairs. Her mouth dropped and she groaned.

"Willow! Hey, we just wanted to show Anya your room."

"What?!" Willow shrieked. "No, no, no." Her head shook back and forth quickly.

Xander pushed past her with a smile. "Come on, Will. You've only been here a little while it can't be that messy." He opened the door. Willow closed her eyes, ready for the ranting and raving. "See?" He pushed the door back, showing an empty room.

<But it's daylight outside. Unless Spike suddenly got sunproof there's no way he could go out!> She walked inside and saw it was empty. She slowly opened the wardrobe and found it empty too. When she turned back she saw a tiny corner of Spike's red shirt peeking out from under the bed. She ran over, kicking the material back under the quilt and turning to her friends with a smile. "See? My room." She gestured around the room.

Anya shrugged. "It's nice." She commented. "Really suits you."

Buffy mock gasped. "Was that a compliment?" She asked with shock.

The ex-demon shrugged. "Probably." She replied with a sigh. "Can we go now?" She asked Xander. The boy nodded, gave Willow a good-bye hug and left with his girlfriend through Willow's French doors. Buffy said good-bye, following the other two. Willow breathed a sigh of relief and flopped down on her bed.

"Ow. Watch it." Spike grumbled.

Willow lifted her feet from the floor, putting them on her bed. "You can come out now, Spike." She said, glad she'd closed the blinds and kept them that way the last time she was there.

When Spike came out and sat down beside her laid back form he pulled the paper out and waved it at her with a smile. "Any more interruptions, Luv?" He asked.

"No. You can read. Hey, do you think they noticed something was up?"

He gave her a 'you've got to be kidding me' look and chuckled. "No, of course not. You seemed completely normal." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh good." The red head answered then noticed. "Hey!" She yelled.

After the last move to the laundry Spike had become fed up. This next time there was no way he'd move. Who cares if the slayer saw him. He wouldn't budge from that room! He heard Willow outside talking to her friends after he'd been placed in her room and dove under the bed. They were less likely to check there than her wardrobe. A familiar scent hit him. Looking down and around he saw teddy bears, clothes that she must've shoved under there to make it look tidy... clothes mostly being underwear. He bit his bottom lip, reaching over to one pair just as the door opened. He looked over to the edge of the bed and actually hoped they didn't find him. Turning back to the panties though... "See?" He heard Xander say.

He saw Willow's foot kick the corner of his shirt back under the bed and only then did he notice it had been out. At least she knew he was under there now. "See? My room." His student announced.

"It's nice." That Anya girl said. "Really suits you."

The slayer did a mock gasped. "Was that a compliment?"

"Probably. Can we go now?" All three left through the French doors. Willow breathed a sigh of relief and flopped down on her bed.

"Ow. Watch it." The vampire grumbled.

"You can come out now, Spike." She announced.

The vampire looked back at the girl's underwear. <What the heck. It's not every day a girl's underwear sits in front of your face.> <Oh great. He's becoming his sire.> His other half said but that didn't stop the blond from grabbing a pair and shoving them in the back of his pants around the belt so she couldn't see them. He came out, sitting beside her and watching as she lay back, the top she was wearing pulled back a bit to reveal a bit of her stomach. "Any more interruptions, Luv?" He asked, trying to clear his mind of her and her underwear in his pants.